Student Politics in Colonial India

Student politics in India began as an organized anti-colonial force during the Anti-Partition and Swadeshi Movement in Bengal in 1905. Students became the primary operational cadre for enforcing the boycott of British goods, picketing foreign cloth shops, and promoting native industries.

Colonial Crackdowns and Nationalist Counter-Measures

• Carlyle Circular (1905): Issued by R.W. Carlyle, Chief Secretary of Bengal, it prohibited students from participating in political rallies under threat of expulsion, rustication, and withdrawal of institutional grants.
• Anti-Circular Society (1905): Formed by Sachindra Prasad Bose to arrange alternative education, national schools, and financial assistance for students penalized under government decrees.
• National Council of Education (1906): Founded by nationalist leaders to impart literary, scientific, and technical education under national control. It led to the establishment of the Bengal National College, with Aurobindo Ghose as its first principal.
• Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar: Secret revolutionary societies in Bengal that recruited college students for underground radical activities and direct action against colonial officers.

Non-Cooperation Movement and National Universities

The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–1922) transformed student activism from regional agitation into a mass nationwide movement. Following Mahatma Gandhi’s call to boycott government-controlled educational institutions, thousands of students left British-funded schools and colleges.

Rise of National Educational Institutions

To accommodate boycotting students, leaders established indigenous educational institutions across the country in 1920 and 1921.

• Gujarat Vidyapith: Established by Mahatma Gandhi at Ahmedabad in 1920 to promote swadeshi education.
• Jamia Millia Islamia: Founded at Aligarh in 1920 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan, and Dr. Zakir Hussain, later shifting to Delhi.
• Kashi Vidyapith: Founded by Babu Shiv Prasad Gupta and Bhagwan Das at Varanasi in 1921.
• Bihar Vidyapith: Inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Rajendra Prasad at Patna in 1921.

Institutionalization of Youth and Student Organizations

During the late 1920s, student activism transitioned from temporary campaign-based groups to permanent political organizations. Younger nationalist leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose steered youth politics toward radical social reform and complete independence (Purna Swaraj).

Major Student and Youth Organizations

Revolutionary Radicalism among Student Groups

Student organizations in North India and Bengal embraced Marxist and socialist doctrines in the 1920s and 1930s, shifting focus toward class struggle and armed resistance.

Naujawan Bharat Sabha and HSRA

Bhagat Singh founded the Naujawan Bharat Sabha in March 1926 at Lahore. It functioned as an open student and youth organization designed to propagate anti-imperialist, secular, and worker-peasant solidarity ideas. In September 1928, revolutionary youth reorganized the Hindustan Republican Association into the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. Led by Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru, the group focused on overthrowing foreign rule to establish a socialist republic.

Female Student Participation in Bengal

The 1930s marked a sharp rise in active armed participation by female students in Bengal, influenced by Surya Sen’s Indian Republican Army in Chittagong.

• Pritilata Wadedar: Led a raid on the Pahartali European Club in Chittagong in 1932 before swallowing potassium cyanide to avoid arrest.
• Kalpana Datta: Worked alongside Surya Sen in manufacturing explosives and transporting arms before her capture.
• Santi Ghose and Suniti Choudhury: High school students in Comilla who shot dead British District Magistrate Charles Stevens in December 1931.
• Bina Das: Fired shots at Bengal Governor Stanley Jackson during her graduation ceremony at Calcutta University in February 1932.

All India Students’ Federation (AISF) and Institutional Unity

The student movement achieved nation-wide structural coordination with the creation of the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) in August 1936 at Lucknow. Over 900 delegates representing 200 local student unions attended the inaugural session. Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated the conference, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah presided over one of its plenary sessions. Prem Narayan Bhargava became the first General Secretary. The AISF published its official monthly magazine, Student, to circulate anti-fascist and anti-imperialist literature. In 1940, ideological disagreements over World War II split the organization. Pro-Congress factions broke away to form the All India Students’ Congress (AISC), while communist student groups retained the AISF banner.

Underground Operations in the Quit India Movement

Students served as the frontline leaders during the Quit India Movement of 1942 after colonial police arrested senior Congress leaders under Operation Zero Hour. Students shut down universities, organized strikes, disrupted transport lines, and set up clandestine communication networks. Young student cadres operated underground networks like the Azad Dasta, organized by Jayaprakash Narayan along the Nepal border, to train youth in sabotage tactics against colonial transport networks. Usha Mehta, alongside student volunteers, operated the secret Congress Radio station from undisclosed locations in Bombay to broadcast news across the country.

Facts for Competitive Exams

The first session of the All India College Student Conference was held at Nagpur in December 1920 under the presidency of Lala Lajpat Rai, formally linking student unions with the Non-Cooperation Movement. In December 1928, the All India Youth Congress held its inaugural session in Calcutta, electing Jawaharlal Nehru as its President. During the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930, student picketing boards halted foreign cloth sales and reduced excise revenues from liquor shops across major urban centers. In 1923, M. Singaravelu Chettiar organized youth labor forums under the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan in Madras, introducing early socialist literature to student circles in South India. The Bihar Students’ Conference, created in 1906, served as the primary training ground for prominent political figures from eastern India, including Anugrah Narayan Sinha and Sri Krishna Sinha.