Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hind Swaraj, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Passive Resistance and Indian Independence
Modern Civilization and Colonialism
The Personal and the Political
Indian Nationhood and Identity
Summary
Analysis
The reader asks what sparked the existing home-rule movement, and the editor replies that it was the Partition of Bengal, which the English split up by religion in 1905. Indian leaders began demanding a reunited Bengal and starting to conceive of India as a single united nation. Realizing that they have to organize and demand change from the government, Indians began forming the Swadeshi movement for independence. Protest is grueling and difficult, often requiring self-sacrifice, but Indians are learning to confront the British with courage. Indeed, the nationalist spirit is spreading fast, all over India. However, the Congress is also growing divided between moderate and extremist groups.
The backlash to the Partition of Bengal is significant because it suggests that Indians agree with Gandhi’s perception that they’re a single nation who should govern themselves through a unified democratic system. The spread of nationalist sentiment also shows how protest movements naturally build momentum over time: the more the government represses the people, the more people recognize this and join the movement for independence. However, the Congress’s divisions threaten to erode this growing momentum, and this is why Gandhi intervenes in the conversation to propose structuring the independence movement around passive resistance.
Themes
