Press and its role in independence

In 1798, lithography was invented. It used the specially prepared surface of a stone for printing a script, a picture, or drawing. A large number of copies of the same text could be printed in this way. From about 1820 onwards, hundreds of pamphlets and books were printed, which catered to the needs of the growing literate population of India. It was the biggest boon which the West had conferred on India. As a result, by the end of the nineteenth century, the press had become a powerful tool for influencing public opinion.

Since the new printing presses were not costly, their number grew at a fast pace. This, in turn, encouraged a large number of writers to produce literature in different Indian languages. Their original works as well as translations and adaptations of old Indian and Western classics helped enrich our cultural heritage. This helped to bring about an awakening of the Indians.

Weeklies, fortnightly journals and daily newspapers were published almost in every language. Although the total number of readers of newspapers was small as compared to their number in the European countries, a whole new set of national literature in the form of novels, essays and poems played a significant role in generating nationalism.

Bankim Chandra’s Anandamatha, Dinabandhu Mitra’s Neeldarpan, Bhartendu Harish Chandra’s Bharat Durdasha, Lakshminath Bezbarua’s works in Assamese, Subramaniam Bharti’s writing in Tamil and Altaf Hussain’s works in Urdu stirred the minds of the Indians.

Media, especially the Print Media, has all along been the backbone of all mass movements or popular upsurge, and Indian independence struggle is no exception. Right from the time of India's First War of Independence in 1857, Hindi/Urdu journals like Payam-e-Azadi and Samachar Sudhavarshan supported the struggle for freedom,and exhorted people to throw out the British rulers.

This provoked the British to hit back with the notorious Vernacular Press Act, popularly known as the Gagging Act, imposing many restrictions on the newspapers and periodicals of the day. Similarrly Amrita Bazaar Patrika faced the Government's ire and was forced to close down in 1871,before moving to Calcutta from Jessore to continue their fight against the ruling establishment.

In fact,many of the tallest leaders of the Freedom movement themselves turned journalists too, and used the press to propagate their ideas to the masses. The following list of publications run by some of the leaders would illustrate the point:

• Rastiguftar run by Dadabhai Naoroji.
• Kesari and Maratha both edited jointly by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. For this Tilak Maharaj was tried and convicted for sedition, and exiled from the country for six years.
• Hindustan run by Madan Mohan Malaviya.
• Punjabi,Bandemataram,The People - all by Lala Lajpat Rai.
• Young India,Navajeevan and Harijan - all edited and run by the Mahatma himself to communicate his views with his followers.
• In Kerala, Swadeshabhimani, Malayala Manorama, and Mathrubhumi were started to propagate the message of the freedom movements.

The owner of the Swadeshabhimani was deported in 1910 for his anti-British stance, the properties of Malayala Manorama were confiscated in 1938, and Damodara Menon, the editor of Matrubhumi was arrested in 1942 for supporting the Quit India movement.

In the then Madras presidency, G.Subramania Aiyer, a prominent member of the Indian National Congress started The Hindu in English in 1878, and Swadesa Mitran ( Friend of Self Rule) in Tamil in 1881 to propagate the Nationalist ideas. The iconic Tamil poet, Mahakavi Bharathiyar worked as sub-editor for Swadesamitran for a number of years, fueling the struggle for independence with his inspiring poems,informative columns and incisive cartoons. B

harathi later on started his own publications, Indian in Tamil,and Bala Bharathi in English. For his nationalistic activities, the British tried to imprison Bharathi, and to evade arrest,he migrated to Pondicherry, then ruled by the French, and continued his activities from there, where he also met and associated with Sri Aurobindo.

So much for the role of the press/print media,and the challenges faced by them from the colonial rulers. Now,let us briefly see the role of audio-visual media,namely the Stage and the Movies. In a scenario where most people are illiterates, even the press can hope to achieve only partial success. So,it was left to the Theater initially and the movies later to effectively carry the message to the masses.

I will speak here only about the Tamil stage/movies, as I know little about other languages/regions. In most of the stage plays, though they were either mythological or folklore, the actors,who were also great singers used to intersperse the dialogues with the messages of the leaders like Gandhi,or used to sing songs inspiring nationalist sentiments. I heard from my father that it was not unusual for Lord Karthikeya on stage to suddenly burst into a song "Pandita Motilal Nehruvai pari koduthomey" lamenting the demise of Motilal Nehru, or Sage Naradha break out full throatedly singing "Gandhiyai pol oru santha swarupanai kanbadhu elidhamo" in praise of the Mahatma and his non violence movement.

The movie moghuls of the day, S.S.Vasan and A.V.Meiyappan made many films either based on the freedom struggle itself or included song and dance sequences eulogizing nationalist fervor.For instance AVM made the film Naam Iruvar in 1947, where the famous Bharathi song Aaduvome Pallu Paduvome celebrating the Indian independence, and a couple of songs in praise of the Mahatma were inserted.

Even much before, in 1939, K.Subramnyam one of the pioneers of south Indian cinema made a film titled Thyagabhoomi (The Land of sacrifice) based on a novel of the same name by the popular writer of the day, Kalki Krishnamurthy, which dealt with the nationalist theme, and even had live vignettes of Mahatma Gandhi interspersed in the story.

As can be expected, the British government promptly banned the screening of the film. It was then that the director,and S.S.Vasan who was the distributor, came up with the novel idea of throwing open the shows to public totally free. Thus the movie was seen by thousands of people before the ban could be effected,and even led to lathi charge on the people in the theater screenign the film,refusing to disperse without seeing the film in full. Such was the role of media - both print and audio visual - in shaping and mobilizing the peoples' sentiments during the great Indian freedom struggle.