B.A. FIRST YEAR, NATIONALISM IN INDIA, UNIT 1 CH # 1 APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF NATIONALISM ,NOTES

What Is Nationalism ?

Nationalism Is An Ideology And Most Powerful Force Even Today. It Is A
Sentiments And Feelings For Which Messes Live And Die. It Is
Combined With The Ideology Of Liberalism, Socialism ,Fascism And Ex-
Colonial Peoples. It Means Love For Motherland For Homeland And
Promotions Of One's Culture And Civilization.
Western Scholars Who Have Gave Ideas Of Nationalism Are
Geller, Andersen, Hans Kohn, Hobsbawm
Whereas Indian Thinkers Are Gandhi, Ambedkar ,Sri
Aurbindo , Ravindra Nath Tagore ,Vivekananda And
Dindayal Upadhyay
Gandhi Wanted Indian Nationalism To Be Non Violent And Anti Militaristic.
According To The Ambedkar There Are Two Condition To Be Met For
Nationality To Grow Into Nationalism
First There Must Be A Will Among People To Live As A Nation And
Second There Must Be A Territory Which The People Can Acquire And
Make It The Cultural Home Of The Nation.

Rise Of Nationalism

The Rise Of Nationalism In Europe Took Place With The Rise Of National
Consciousness And Differentiation Of Nationalities Which Took Place
Between 15th And 18th Century.
Hayes Argued That The Factors Responsible For The Rise Of National
Consciousness Are Linguistic And Literacy ,Political ,Economic ,Commercial
And Ecclesiastical Religious And Cultural.

The Principle Factors Which Lead Rise Of Nationalism Can Be Enumerated As

The Rise Of Renaissance And Reformation
The Collapse Of Authority Of Church
Abolition Of Higher Rate Of Tariffs Which Resulted In The Peaceful Condition Of Trade
The Desire Of Peace, Order And Security
Awareness Among People Regarding Their Right And Liberty
Principle Of Territorial Sovereignty

Approaches Of Nationalism

There Is A Strong Relation Between The History And Nationalism. In
India's Case The Study Of Colonialism And Nationalism In India Has Been
Done From Four Major Perspective

IMPERIALIST APPROACH
NATIONALIST APPROACH
MARXIST APPROACH
SUBALTERN APPROACH

IMPERIALIST APPROACH

The Imperialist Approach Also Known As The Cambridge School
Approach Emerged During The Viceroy Lore Dufferin, Curzon
And Minto. It Was Brought Into Public Domain By V Chirol, Vereny
Lovett And Montagu Chelmsford Report. It Has Two Aspects Liberal
And Conservative
The Liberal Version Of It Was Elaborated By Coupland And
Percival Spear. They Claim That India Under The British Rule Was Evolved To A
Stage That It Can March Forward Towards The Path Of Self Governance.
The Conservative Version For Anil Seal ,Gallagher, Judith Brown And
Others. They Believe That It Was Simply A Foreign Rule. They Are Not In
The Favor Of Overthrowing The Colonial State. They Do Not Consider
India As A Nation For Them India As A Nation Was Myth.
They Regarded India As A Nation Of Various Cost And Religious Group.
This Approach Defines National Movement As Motiveless And
Just Struggle For Power Among Various Indian And Between
Them The Foreign Elites To Serve There On Narrow Interests.

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The Nationalist Approach

The nationalist approach in the earlier phase was described by S N
BANERJEE ,LALA LAJPAT RAI, AC MAJMUDAR ,R.G. PRADHAN, PATTABI
SITARAMAYYA and later by BR NANDA ,KAMLESH TRIPATHI AND
BISHESHWAR PRASAD .
They Blame Britishers For The Backwardness Of The Indian Economy.
They Say That Due To This Economic Exploitation Modern Industries And
Agricultural Failed In India.
The Historians on a whole Feel that The Nationalist Movement
It Was The Result Of The Spread And Realization Of Liberty.
They Too Feel That The Awareness Among The
People Of Their Exploitation Has United Them.
The Rise Of Patriotic Feeling Conceit In Old Tradition, Customs And
Values And Hatead Towards The Colonial Rules Has Combinedly Set
Up The Foundation For A Separate And Peaceful Nation. This
Approach Supported To India Becoming A Nation And Sees The
National Movement As The Movement Of The People.

MARXIST APPROACH

"The Nation That Oppressors Another Nation Forges Its Own Change" - Karl Marx
Marxist Approach Criticizes The Imperialist Approach. In The Beginning This
Approach Was Forwarded By Karl Marx And F Engels Further Formatted By
Rajni Palme Dutta And A R Desai. According To The Marx Societies Were
Divided On The Basis Of Class Rather Than Nationalities. He Considered
Nationalism As An Expression Of Bourgeois Interests
Marx’s Believes Only Economic Factor Change History
Religious Does Not Play Any Role , he Dubbed Religious The
Opium Of The People. He Believes In The Theory Of
Revolution And Urges Workers To Fight For Their Rights As
They Have Nothing To Lose But Their Chains. He Says That
Capitalism Was Destroying The Nationalism.
Marxist Approach Believes That Colonialism Transfer
Indian Society Various Mode Of Production I.e.
Feudalism To Capitalist. Introduce Modern Means Of
Transport Communication And Education But All
These Efforts Are Made Only To Fulfil The Interest Of
British Capitalist Class In India

Subaltern Approach

This Approach Was The First Which Focus On The Lower Class
Individual Of The Society Major Proponents Of This Approach
Are Ranjeet Guha And Gyan Pandey They Divided The Society
Into Group.

The Elite
The Subordinate

The Elite Are Holders Of Truth Consumers And Producers Of Knowledge
They Regarded As The Privileged Group In All Types Of Society And They
Decided The Standard Of Rights Liberty And Justice Whereas The
Subordinate Message Consists Of Poor Peasants Workers, Labours, Out-
castes, Migrants ,Tribals And Untouchables. they Works Under The Elite
Class And Are Considered Unprivileged Group They Are Also Exploited By
The Elite Class.
Subaltern Scholars Blame To Elite Class For The
Limited Growth Of Nation. They Believe That Indian
People Are Never United Against Anti-imperialist
Struggle And There Was No Any Entire As A Nation
Nationalism And National Movements.
This Approach Says That Consciousness Of The Sarkar, Sahukar And
Zamidar Was Different From That National Leadership. They Just
Fight To Fulfill Their On Selfish Motives. And Subordinate Groups
Were The Victim Of Colonialism. In The 20th Century The Scholar
Who Forwarded The Sab Ultron Philosophy And Fight For The
Rights Of Lower State Was Ambedkar He Wanted Equality And Civil
Rights For Those Who For Centuries Deprived Of Them.

Merit of nationalism

Nationalism Helps To Promote Internationalism.
It Is A Vital Force Which Unites People It Makes No Compromise With Tyranny Governments.
It Promotes Civilization And Culture As It Gives Birth To Democratic And Secular Ideas.
It Promotes Mutual Cooperation And Brotherhood.
Throw Nationalism Casts And Class Division Vanishes.
The Tide Of Imperialism And Colonialism Can Be Checked By The Force Of Nationalism.
It Provides Stability To The State And Make Peoples Loyal Towards The Nation.
It Create A Fertile Ground For Healthy Competition And Brings Country On The Path Of Prosperity And Modernity.