UPSC Mains 2013 GS Paper 1 Q4: model answer

Charles Freer Andrews was so trusted by Indians that they called him 'Deenabandhu', friend of the poor, and Gandhi called him 'Charlie'. He was one of several foreigners who adopted India as home and joined its struggle.

Founding and early phase

• A.O. Hume, a retired British civil servant, helped found the Indian National Congress (1885); William Wedderburn and George Yule (president, 1888) also supported it.

Home Rule and social reform

• Annie Besant, Irish theosophist, founded the Home Rule League (1916) and became Congress president (1917).
• Sister Nivedita (Margaret Noble), disciple of Vivekananda, supported nationalism and women's education.

Gandhian phase

• C.F. Andrews ('Deenabandhu') worked for indentured labourers and the workers' cause.
• Mirabehn (Madeleine Slade) joined Gandhi's ashram and the Quit India movement.
• B.G. Horniman, editor of the Bombay Chronicle, was deported for opposing the Rowlatt Act.

Assessment

• They gave the movement international credibility, organisational help and moral support.
• Their role was supportive rather than leading, and some, like Hume, were moderate in outlook.

Other contributors

• Samuel Stokes, an American, settled in Himachal, joined the Congress and introduced apple farming that still sustains the state.
• Nellie Sengupta, born in Britain, was elected Congress president (1933) and was jailed for her role.

These foreigners show that the Indian freedom struggle was also a universal struggle for justice that attracted people of conscience from other lands.