Revolutionary Nationalism (1897 to 1918)

Disappointed with petitions and the failure of mass movement, young revolutionaries in Maharashtra, Bengal, Punjab and abroad used armed action to challenge British rule.

Maharashtra

• Chapekar brothers (Damodar and Balkrishna) killed W.C. Rand, the Poona Plague Commissioner, on 22 June 1897. Damodar was hanged (1898).
• Mitra Mela (1899), then Abhinav Bharat (1904) by V.D. Savarkar and his brother Ganesh. The Nasik conspiracy: collector A.M.T. Jackson was killed (1909). Savarkar was arrested in London (1910), tried to escape at Marseilles, and was sentenced to transportation for life (50 years) to the Andamans (1911).

Bengal

• Anushilan Samiti (1902, Calcutta, Pramathanath Mitra; Dhaka branch by Pulin Bihari Das, 1906) and the Yugantar group (Barindra Ghosh).
• Muzaffarpur (30 April 1908): Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki threw a bomb to kill the unpopular magistrate Kingsford, but killed two English women instead. Chaki shot himself and Khudiram was hanged (11 August 1908).
• Alipore Bomb Case (1908 to 1909): Aurobindo Ghosh, Barindra Ghosh and others were tried. Aurobindo was defended by C.R. Das and acquitted; Barindra was transported.

Delhi and the North

• Delhi Conspiracy (23 December 1912): a bomb was thrown at the procession of Viceroy Hardinge in Delhi (by Basanta Kumar Biswas, planned by Rash Behari Bose). Hardinge was hurt but survived.
• Lala Har Dayal, Ajit Singh in Punjab.

The revolutionaries abroad

• India House, London (1905): by Shyamji Krishna Varma, with the journal The Indian Sociologist. Madan Lal Dhingra killed Curzon Wyllie on 1 July 1909 and was hanged.
• Madame Bhikaiji Cama unfurled a nationalist flag at Stuttgart (22 August 1907) at the Second International Socialist Congress.
• Ghadar Party (1913): the Hindustan Association of the Pacific Coast, set up in San Francisco by Sohan Singh Bhakna (president), Lala Har Dayal (secretary) and Kartar Singh Sarabha, among Indian immigrants. Its paper was Ghadar. The planned mutiny of February 1915 failed. Kartar Singh Sarabha was hanged (1915).
• Komagata Maru (1914): Baba Gurdit Singh chartered a Japanese ship with 376 Indian passengers for Canada. They were refused entry at Vancouver, and on return, there was a clash at Budge Budge near Calcutta (29 September 1914) with about 19 killed.
• Berlin Committee (1914): Virendranath Chattopadhyay, Champakaraman Pillai. Provisional Government of India at Kabul (1 December 1915): Raja Mahendra Pratap (president), Maulana Barkatullah (prime minister), Obaidullah Sindhi. Silk Letter Conspiracy (1916).
• Singapore Mutiny (February 1915): the 5th Light Infantry. Bagha Jatin died at Balasore (1915).