A Step to Bring in Change but Only on Paper

While there are many courageous tales etched in history about Indians fighting for their freedom from the British, this is anything but. Here is the story of the association that started with high ideals but could not bring in any structural changes.

A portrait of Radha Kanta Deb, one of the founders of the Indian Association; Image Source- GK Section

We all know that the British faced a massive tussle with the Indian forces in the Battle of Plassey (1757) after which they began to slowly hegemonise their control over Indian by extracting huge profits from it. By the 1800s, the British had solidly established themselves as the overlords to their Indian subjects.

In this situation, a few groups looked at this change as a threat while a few welcomed it as a means to civilise the barbaric backward Indians. Some Indians even encouraged the British in their administration. They thought that in this manner they could both please the British as well as the Indians by suggesting the British to enact a few necessary changes. British Indian Association was one such body.

It took birth on 29th October 1851 under Raja Radhakanta Dev and the great industrialist Debendranath Tagore (father of Rabindranath Tagore). One commendable factor about this body was that its access was only open to Indians which meant that the decision of this organisation could not be swayed by colonial interests.

On paper the objective of the British Indian Association was “to secure improvements in the local administration of the country and in the system of government laid down by Parliament” but on action, it was just an advisory body with no mandate at all. The funny thing was that the “advise” were never taken up by the British parliament.

It wanted to correct few regressive laws and administrative practises for which it even squeamishly appealed to the British parliament that the Indians were not benefitted from the British rule as much as they had expected. It seems that the members of this association were a bit disillusioned by the main objectives of the British East India Company’s occupation of India.

However, the British Indian Association of Indian were very observant about the cracks in the society caused due to British measures. They demanded relaxation on the pressure put on the revenue systems, institutional control of British East India Company and molestation and torture of Indian peasants among other things.

All of such good measures were only enlisted on a paper of grievances that brought in no structural changes. The British Indian Association also has numerous shortcomings. Although its membership was open to Indians, it was only controlled by upper caste aristocratic classes which fought for their interests over anything else. They also argued within the purview of British East India Company because they benefitted from the Company rule.

Thus from its very inception, the British Indian Association was doomed to fail because it took a very soft approach to British rule, one can say that they almost welcomed them. They lost their relevance after the revolt of 1857 when Indians came under the British crown and after 1954 following the abolition of the zamindari system, the British Indian Association ceased to exist.

Debendranth Tagore was the other founder of the British Indian Association; Image Source- The Print