Importance of Swadeshi and Boycott Movements

Launched in the early 20th century, the Swadeshi movement was a direct consequence of the British India government's decision to partition Bengal. The two main goals of this movement were the use of Swadeshi goods and the boycott of foreign-made goods.

Before the Swadeshi movement was launched, petitions, speeches, memoranda, public meetings, and press campaigns were the main form of protest techniques adopted by moderate nationalist leaders. However, the main moderate leaders such as Surendranath Banerjea, Krishna Kumar Mitra and others realized that the usual moderate methods of protest were not working and that there was a need for something larger in scope with a different strategy.

Facts About the Swadeshi and Boycott Movements:::

A Boycott Resolution was passed in Calcutta City Hall on August 7, 1905, where it was decided to boycott the use of Manchester cloth and salt from Liverpool. In the district of Barisal, the masses adopted this message of boycott of foreign-made goods, and the value of the British cloth sold there fell sharply.

Bande Mataram became the boycott and Swadeshi movement theme song.

Among the movement's various forms of struggle, it was the boycott of foreign-made goods that encountered the greatest visible success on the practical and popular level. Boycott and public burning of foreign clothes, picketing of shops selling foreign goods, all became common in remote corners of Bengal as well as in many major cities and towns across the country.

Another form of mass mobilization widely used by the Swadeshi movement was the corps of volunteers (samitis). Ashwini Kumar Dutt, a school teacher, set up the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti in Barisal was the best - known volunteer organization of all of them.

The Shivaji and Ganapati festivals in Western India (Maharashtra) were organized by Lokmanya Tilak to spread the swadeshi message and boycott movements among the masses.

The Swadeshi and boycott movements placed great emphasis on ' Atmasakti ' or self - reliance as a means of reasserting national dignity in different fields.

In the field of national education, this emphasis on self - reliance was most evident. The National College of Bengal was founded as its principal with Aurobindo. Numerous national schools have been established throughout the country in a short period of time. The National Education Council was established in August 1906.

In Indians entrepreneurial zeal, self - reliance was also evident. The period saw an explosion of textile mills, factories of soap and match, tanneries, banks, insurance companies, shops, etc. While most of these Swadeshi companies were set up and run as a result of patriotic fervor than any real business interest and were unable to survive for a long time, some others like Acharya P.C. Ray

In the field of culture, Amar Sonar Bangla, written by Rabindranath Tagore in protest against Bengal's partition, became a rallying point for the Swadeshi and boycott movements and later inspired Bangladesh's liberation struggle.