British Indian Association

Bengal in 1857 was not prepared for systematic political efforts for the achievement of a well-defined political programme. There were, however, bold adventurers who could perceive dimly the inevitable trend in India’s political evolution. Harish Chandra Mukherjee wrote in the Hindu Patriot on 14 January 1858, in connection with the proposal for transferring the government of India to the Crown: “Can a revolution in the Indian government be authorised by Parliament without consulting the wishes of vast millions of men for whose benefit it is proposed to be made? The reply must be in the negative. The time has nearly come when all Indian questions must be solved by Indians.”

The British Indian Association was established on 31 October 1851. Its formation was a major event of 19th-century India. Its establishment meant Indians had come together and could no longer be ignored. It developed enormous hopes amongst the Indians about their future.

The first committee of the association was composed of : Raja Radhakanta Deb – President, Raja Kalikrishna Deb – Vice-President, Debendranath Tagore – secretary, Digambar Mitra – Asst Secretary, members – Raja Staya Saran Ghosal, Harakumar Tagore, Prasanna Coomar Tagore, Ramanath Tagore, Jay Krishna Mukerjee, Asutosh Deb, Harimohan Sen, Ramgopal Ghosh, Umesh Chandra Dutta (Rambagan), Krishna Kishore Ghosh, Jagadananda Mukhopadhyay, Peary Chand Mitra, and Sambhunath Pandit.

Most of the early leaders of the British Indian Association were conservatives by tradition and temperament, although there were some progressive like Ramgopal Ghosh and Peary Chand Mitra.

It was formed by the amalgamation of the Landholders’ Society and the Bengal British India Society.

It gave to the people the first lesson in the art of fighting constitutionally for their rights, and taught them manfully to assert their claims and give expression to their opinions. Ostensibly, it advocated the rights of zamindars, but as their rights were intimately bound up with those of the ryots, the one cannot be separated from the other.

The Zamindari Association, which was later renamed Landholders’ Society, was established in 1838 by Dwarkanath Tagore, Prasanna Kumar Tagore, Radhakanta Deb, Ramkamal Sen and Bhabani Charan Mitra.

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Wikipedia