(b) How did British governments deal with demands for Indian independence?
For years the British tried to ignore Indian nationalism, having apparently convinced themselves that there were too many differences in Indian society for the Indians ever to form a united movement; there were social, regional and above all, religious differences especially between Hindus and Muslims. However, during the war, Hindus and Muslims began to work together to pressurize the British, who were slowly coming round to the idea that India would have to be given a measure of self In 1917 the Indians were promised ‘the gradual development of self institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire’. However, many Conservatives, including Winston Churchill and Lord Birkenhead (Secretary of State for India from 1924 to 1928), were utterly opposed to the idea. Seeing India as ‘the brightest jewel in the imperial crown’, they could not come to terms with the idea of ‘giving it away’; Indian independence would be the beginning of the end of the British Empire. Not surprisingly the pace was far too slow for the impatient nationalists, whose leaders, the Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, both lawyers educated in London, organized an anti-British campaign. The stages in the gradual move towards independence were: