INDIAN NEWSPAPER REPORTS, c1868-1942
from the British Library, London

Part 7: Bombay, 1901-1921

Introduction

Bombay, known as Mumbai since 1995, is the capital of the state of Maharashtra. It is the world’s most populated city, with an estimated population of 13 million and is the commercial and entertainment capital of India, housing the headquarters of the large Indian banks and Bollywood, India’s Hindi film and television industry. The early decades of the twentieth century were very significant in shaping the future of this modern metropolis.

The town of Bombay was the East India Company’s first port in 1668 and in 1687 became the Company’s headquarters. During the American Civil War (1861-1865) the city became the world’s chief cotton trading market and the opening of the Suez canal in 1869 transformed it into one of the largest seaports on the Arabian Sea.

By 1906 it had a population of one million, making it the second largest city after Calcutta. It was the capital of the Bombay Presidency and was a major base for the Indian independence movement – especially boycotts of non-Indian goods, the political activities of prominent moderates and their demands for Dominion status, the All India Home Rule League and the protests from the large migrant labour force such as the general strike of Bombay mill workers in January 1919. Later on, it was in Bombay that the Quit India movement was launched in August 1942. After India’s independence in 1947 it became the capital of Bombay state.

Criticism of British rule, British agents and the administration of justice throughout the Bombay Presidency increased in the period after 1880. Lord Ripon’s repeal of Lytton’s Vernacular Press Act in 1881 saw the abolition of the Press Commissionership. The relaxation in the attempted exercise of political control by the British over the press in India opened the way for vigorous debate on the future of India. The writings of the Indian intelligentsia found their way into an increasing number of new newspapers, Anglo-Indian and Vernacular. The increasingly active independence movement later formed into two separate camps in 1907. There was the Garam Dal (the extremists or “hot faction”) of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who founded the Marathi daily Kesari (The Lion), and the Naram Dal of Gopal Krishna Gokhale (the moderates or “soft faction”).  Gokhale was a champion of public education and a mentor to men such as Mahatma Gandhi and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the future founder of Pakistan. Tilak was arrested and tried for sedition in 1908 after he had defended the Bengali youths who had killed a District Judge. “In spite of the verdict of the Jury, I maintain that I am innocent. There are higher powers that rule the destiny of men and nations and it may be the will of providence that the cause which I represent may prosper more by my suffering than my remaining free”. These were his last words at his trial and they are now imprinted in the wall of Room No 46 at the Bombay High Court. The Press Act of 1914 only served to exacerbate problems with its imposition of even stricter censorship on the press. Any editor who disregarded the rules on what could be published was liable to find himself in prison.

These reports of the Bombay newspapers, 1901-1921 cover landmarks in India’s history - the repercussions of Lord Curzon’s arrival as Viceroy in 1899, the partition of Bengal in 1905, the founding of the Bombay Chronicle in 1910, the Press Act of 1914, Gandhi’s arrival in Bombay in 1915, the new Government of India Act and Rowlatt Act of 1919, the Amritsar Massacre of the same year and the growth in the demand for Home Rule.

Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, founder of the Bombay Chronicle in 1910, and a member of the Bombay Legislative Council from 1893, is recognised as a significant figure in Indian history. He is known as ‘the Father of Municipal Government in Bombay’. He had been municipal commissioner in 1873 and was chairman of the Municipal Council in 1884-5 and again in 1905. He had been responsible for drafting the Bombay Municipal Act of 1872 setting out the duties of the municipal corporation in key areas such as sanitation and health, the water supply, the creation and maintenance of roads, the management of hospitals, refuse collection and disposal, sewerage, cemeteries, crematoria, parks, public spaces, beaches and building works. When Gandhi arrived in India from South Africa, Mehta presided over the public meeting held to welcome him. He was twice President of the reception committee when the Congress sessions met in Bombay in 1899 and 1904. Mehta had also presided over the Congress meeting in Calcutta in 1890.  In his dual role of political activist and newspaper owner Mehta made his English language weekly into an important nationalist voice of its time documenting the political upheavals of a volatile pre-independent India.

The Indian National Congress, formed in 1885, was comprised chiefly of members of the western-educated professional elite. The very first meeting of Congress was in Bombay. Public opinion had started to turn against the British government of India and it sought to represent the views of the populace from both urban and rural areas. There was an undercurrent of feeling that British rule was unfair and this is reflected in the newspaper reports contained in this collection. Agitation and disturbances in the streets were common and the media played a huge role in re-enforcing feelings of real and imagined grievances. Congress during the first two decades of the twentieth century continued to be a moderating influence with the professional elites keeping the upper hand.

During the First World War the newspaper reports provide a good indication of the mixed reactions to Indian involvement in the conflict. The Indian National Congress decided that the cause of Indian Independence would be best served by helping the British Empire as much as possible – but many people in India disagreed. Despite this, 800,000 troops fought in the various different theatres of conflict. Some 1.5 million volunteered to fight. Tilak was released from prison in Burma in 1914. He re-united with his fellow nationalists and rejoined the Indian National Congress in 1916.

With lots of Indian soldiers fighting on behalf of the British Empire there were growing demands for Dominion status for India. The All India Home Rule League was founded in 1916 by Annie Besant, Muhammed Ali Jinnah and Tilak to demand self government for India. Jinnah headed up the League’s Bombay branch. Although Tilak was a critic of Gandhi’s strategy of non-violence, in his later years he mellowed considerably and favoured political dialogue and discussion as an effective way to obtain political freedom for India. Gandhi paid his respects at Tilak’s cremation in Bombay in 1920 along with 200,000 people.

The Government of India Act of 1919 was passed by the British to enable more Indians to participate in the government of India. The Act provided for a dual form of government whereby in each province some areas of government were answerable to a Provincial Council and other areas of government remained under the control of the Viceroy. The Indian National Congress was unhappy at these reforms and condemned them, believing they did not go far enough in political reform.

Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915. His struggle from this point to 1921, when he was invested with executive authority on behalf of the Indian National Congress, can be followed in these newspaper reports. He believed that Indian independence could be obtained not by violence but by non-cooperation and peaceful resistance and under his leadership the National Congress was reorganised with the goal of “Swaraj” (self rule). As part of his strategy he adopted the “swadeshi” policy, the aim of which was to boycott foreign made goods, especially British goods. He also encouraged Indians to wear homespun cloth (khadi) and to actually spin the material themselves in support of the independence movement. He took a major role as peacemaker after the Amritsar massacre on April 1919 when innocent civilians were massacred in the Jallianwala Bagh near the Golden Temple in the Punjab by British troops. After the disturbances at Chauri Chaura in Uttar Pradesh in February 1922 when Gandhi felt that his movement was becoming violent he called off the campaign of civil disobedience. He was arrested in March 1922 for sedition and was sentenced to six year’s imprisonment of which he only served two owing to ill health. He spent most of the 1920s out of the limelight but returned to prominence in 1928 when he resumed his campaign for Indian independence and for Home Rule.

The Rowlatt Act of 1919 was passed by the British to extend “emergency measures” after the end of the First World War and was aimed at controlling public unrest. It singled out the Bombay Presidency and the Punjab as “centres of dangerous conspiracy”. It had powers to imprison without trial any person suspected of terrorism in India. It caused great upheaval and Gandhi among other leaders was extremely critical of the Act. It was to lead to the massacre at Amritsar when two leaders of the Congress were arrested and a demonstration took place.

As well as much on political life in India, there is also lots of information to be found on advances in communications and living standards in the country which had begun in the late nineteenth century, with the construction of major roads linking the main cities and regions and the development of the railway system. An enormous amount of detail about the impact of the railways can be found in the newspaper reports together with information on the expansion of education, the increase in industrialisation, the growth of agriculture and the development of the first suburbs.

Indian Newspaper Reports

The Indian Newspaper Reports from the Asia, Pacific and Africa Department at the British Library, constitute an important series to be found in the Record Department Papers of the Oriental and India Office Collections. The reports consist of abstracts taken from Anglo-Indian and Vernacular newspapers for the various different regions of India.

The reports were completed weekly and consist of typewritten abstracts of the contents of Indian newspapers with some extracts, translated by an official translator whose name is given at the end of the week’s report. An extremely wide variety of newspapers was looked at weekly, ensuring that a wide spectrum of ideas, views and politics was addressed. The reports list the languages of the newspapers, where the papers were published, with a note on the number of issues published, how often and the name, age and religion of the editor.

Part 7: Bombay, 1901-1921

The newspaper reports for Bombay included in Part 7 cover the years 1901-1921 and complete those for Bombay started in Part 6. The abstracts and extracts contained in the reports will provide scholars with an invaluable insight into Indian social and political events, urban and rural conditions, criticisms of the British government, popular protest and the development of nationalist feelings.   

The lists of Native Papers (from 1913 called Indian Papers) contain around 165 newspapers each week (over twice as many as those of the average list in Part 6), divided into the following languages: English; Anglo-Gujarati; Anglo-Kanarese; Anglo-Marathi; Anglo-Portuguese; Anglo-Sindi; Anglo-Urdu; English, Marathi and Gujarati; English, Marathi and Kanarese; Gujarati; Hindi; Kanarese; Marathi; Sindi; Urdu; Marathi and Kanarese; Marathi and Urdu; Portuguese and Konkani. The largest amount of papers consulted are in Marathi and Gujarati. In the early years of this part the report for each week has a list of the papers consulted but by the latter part the list is only given at the beginning of each year.

Extracts from the lists for the weeks ending 2 April 1910 and 29 March 1913 will give an idea of the names of papers listed, the editors and the circulation figures:

By 1921 circulation figures of Bengal newspaper reports had grown tremendously as the Indian population became more literate as the figures given below illustrate. It should also be noted that some papers were discontinued over the years and new papers were added.

The contents of the abstracts for each week are divided into the following sections:

Politics and the Public Administration

Legislation

Education

Railways

Municipalities

Native States

Intelligence extracted from the Press

The early reports such as those for 1901 and 1905 contain mostly detail concerning social and economic conditions and give only an intimation of the problems to come. Topics include:

• Agrarian problems and news from the Forestry Department
• Bombay Legislative Council
• Indian National Congress
• Famine and orphanages
• Indian budget
• Indian census
• Spirit of Independence in European countries
• News on colleges and schools and related conferences
• Extravagance of native chiefs
• Land Revenue Bill
• Lord Curzon speeches
• Visit of Lord Northcote to Kathiawar
• Dacoities in Dharwar
• Visit of Prince of Wales
• Protest meetings against Lord Curzon’s Convocation Address
• Railway grievances
• Housing problems
• Proposed demolition of Hindu temples by the Bombay City Improvement Trust
• Oppression of Muhammedans by the Hindu authorities of Mundi
• Riots by mill-hands in Bombay
• Complaints about British rule in India, the possibility of India’s political regeneration and “Swadeshi” meetings
• Hospitals
• Sind politics – usually a large section dealing with all kind of matters relating to the area
• Partition of Bengal

By 1910 the topics to be found in the papers start to reflect wider feelings of unrest and the growth of discontentment against British rule in India with articles on topics such as:

• How can India be regenerated?
• Warnings to white colonials to beware of the future
• Workings of the new Press Act of 1914
• Training of Anglo-Indian officials
• Treatment of political prisoners
• Oppression in the state of Idar
• Hostile attitude of Parsi newspapers to Moslems
• Disturbances at sittings of the All India Moslem League

By 1921, with the influence of Gandhi and the introduction of the Rowlatt Act, the amount of space devoted to political agitation, nationalism, Home Rule and Gandhi had expanded enormously and large sections under Politics on Non-Cooperation, British Rule, the Governor, Indian Reforms and the Press Act were featured. Subjects included are:

• Appeal to the public to agitate for the repeal of the Rowlatt Act
• Comments on letters from Gandhi to the press regarding agitation
• Comments by Tilak on non-Brahmin representation on the council
• Calls for the Press Act to be repealed
• Bombay’s government’s attitude to non-cooperation and their warnings of revolution in India
• Extracts from Gandhi’s letters on a wide range of topics including non-cooperation, civil disobedience, the Afghan war, the moderates
• Reports on interviews between the Viceroy and Gandhi

The following extracts provide an idea of the richness of the material:

The report for the week ending 20 April 1913 includes the following comments from the Dnyan Prakash concerning the formation of a United India League:

“At the last session of the Moslem League held at Lucknow the Honourable Mr Shafi made a suggestion for the formation of an United India League wherein all creeds and castes would join hands. Now that the Honourable gentleman has addressed a letter to the press urging the same idea, we should like to point out that there is no necessity for organising a new body, for we have already amongst us the India National Congress which has been carrying on its propaganda on strictly constitutional and unsectarian lines. The Muhammedans would do well to join it in the interests of all concerned….”

The same paper in the newspaper report ending 27 May 1916 comments on home rule agitation which had grown during the First World War:

“…. Because small demands of the Congress and of other institutions were systematically ignored, the Home Rule agitation has received such an impetus now. So long it was said that political agitation was carried on by a handful of educated men but those who read the proceedings of the Congress and of the Legislative Councils will see the wide public character of our movement. Merchants want Home Rule for commercial purposes. Other professionals want Home Rule as it would encourage their professions…. The demand for Home Rule is becoming universal in this manner in India and the present war has made it quite an insistent question….”

The report for the week ending 14 March 1920 includes the following from the Gujarati concerning amendments to the Press Act of 1914:

“Commenting upon the assurance given in the Imperial Legislative Council by Sir William Vincent that the Press Act will be amended, the Gujarati remarks:The most objectionable portion of the Press Act is that section of it which enumerates the offences under the Act. As long as that section stands intact the Press will have to dance to the tune of the bureaucrats or the judges, in spite of any amendments that might be carried out as suggested by Sir Shivaswami Iyar….”

The report for the week ending 13 August 1921 includes the following from Young India giving Gandhi’s views on the non-Cooperation movement and the use of violence:

“I have never believed and I do not now believe that the end justifies the means. On the contrary it is my firm conviction that there is an intimate connection between the end and the means so much so that you cannot achieve a good end by bad means…. I am fully aware that I am trying a most dangerous experiment – that of inducing thousands of Mussalmans and for that matter, Hindus too, to become and remain strictly non-violent…”