Background and Ideology

Alongside the mainstream Congress-led constitutional and mass-movement strands of the freedom struggle, a parallel tradition of armed/revolutionary nationalism emerged, especially from the early 20th century, believing that political freedom required organised resistance, assassination of oppressive officials, and (in some strands) armed insurrection, rather than petitions or even non-violent mass mobilisation alone. This tradition was strongest in Bengal, Punjab, and Maharashtra, and later found international extensions among Indian revolutionaries abroad.