The Home rule movement was started to get a Self-government for India within the British Raj that is to get dominion status. It was established in 1916 as The All India home rule league similar to the Irish home rule league as a political organisation.

There were two home rule leagues, one established by B.G. Tilak at Poona in April 1916 while the other by Annie Besant at Madras in September 1916.

Factors that Led to the War 

  • People opposed the war mainly the revolutionary but moderates supported it this led to division of class
  • The high tax and prices due to war led to anger and hatred for the British government and the people got a push to start any movement or protest
  • Tilak was back from jail and was ready to adopt the moderate approach and agreed to the fact that the acts of aggression retard the pace of progress in the country
  • Further Annie Besant of the theosophical society of India wanted to expand her activities by launching a home rule movement

League

Both the key leaders realised that an integration of the moderates and the extremists was crucial for the movement to succeed. For that a session was organised in the year 1914 but it failed to revive the ties. So, Annie Besant launched her campaign for self-government for India in 1915. The campaigning was through her newspapers the New India and the Commonweal and through various public gatherings, meetings and conferences.

In the 1916 session the Extremists were admitted in the Congress and finally the efforts were a success but due to Congress non agreement on the scheme if Home rule and revival of local level congress committee Annie was forced to start her own movement. Separate league was set up by Annie and Tilak to avoid any Ideological differences.

Features of Tilak’s League

  • Tilak’s league was restricted to areas like Maharashtra, Central Province, Berar and Karnataka.
  • It was set up in April 1916 
  • The league had six branches
  • The major demands of this league are -Swaraj, Education in vernacular languages and the formation of linguistic states

Features of Beasant’s League

  • It included the rest of the areas including Bombay
  • It Was set up in 1916 in Madras

Members

  • The home rule movement was joined by big leaders like – Jawaharlal Nehru, Motilal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malviya, Chitranjan Das, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Lala Lajpat Rai and others
  • Leaders of Gokhale’s Servants of Indian society and the moderates also joined
  • Muslims, Anglo Indians, and non-Brahmin didn’t join due the fact that they felt Home rule meant Hindu majority rule and that too high caste 

The league campaigned to promote the concept of self-government with the help of religious songs, newspapers, conferences, plays. Further promoting political education and discussion in public forums also helped in the dissemination of the idea.

Positive Gains of the Home Rule League

  • This created the backbone for future struggle as it created nationalist by promoting political education, which led to creation of a mass struggle in the Gandhian era
  • It acts as fill up between the dormant phase of the India national congress and the mass struggle during the later phase
  • It gives a kick start to the later uprising that led to independence
  • Home rule league increased connectivity between various towns that proved to be an asset in the later years
  • It created a pronationalist environment in the country
  • In 1920 it was merged with Congress to form a united front against the British government
  • In 1921 the All India Home Rule league changed its name to Swarajya Sabha and further the movement was shifted from the educated people to the masses
  • The areas of influence of the home rule movement were different and new like Sindh, United province, Bihar, Madras, Gujarat, Punjab, United province and so on
  • It prepared the masses for the upcoming politics in the Gandhian phase 
  • It created a generation of ardent nationalist
  • It gave a new dimension and hope to the National movement
  • Tilak’s and Beasant’s efforts of Moderate – Extremists reunion was a crucial step in the revival of Congress

Annie’s League

The All India home rule league was established in 1916 with George Arundale as the secretary and Subramania Aiyar as the honorary President. The members of the league like Jamnadas Dwarkadas, Indulal Yagnik started a paper and also a fund to publish pamphlets. The pamphlets talk about the demand of Self-rule. Various articles in newspapers were written to promote the people to join the movement.

Around 200 branches of the league were established but the league was loosely organised as most members were inactive.

Government Response

  • Severe Repression of students who were prohibited from attending meetings
  • Key leaders like Beasant, George Arundale and Wadia were arrested
  • Tilak was barred from entering Delhi and Bombay

Conclusion 

The Home rule movement was a step to get a Dominion status for India like other countries Australia, Canada etc. The concept was based on the Irish Home rule league and got triggered due to post war hardships faced by the masses. The key players of the movement Annie Beasant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak established their separate leagues and worked to spread the idea of self-government among the masses.