Role of Media in pre Independence in India

Role of Media in pre Independence in India 

  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. Similarly 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 Mahratta 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. Bharathi 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.