Evaluate the policies of Lord Curzon and their long-term implications on the national movement.

Lord Curzon served as India’s Viceroy between 1899 and 1905. He represented the peak of the imperialist tendency who largely focused around institutionalising paramountcy and checking the anti-British movement. This reactionary approach gave the national movement a mass push.

The Policies of Lord Curzon:

1. Calcutta Corporation Act, 1899: Reduced the number of elected Indian members.

2. Ancient Monuments Act, 1904: Aimed to protect the important monuments.

3. Educational Reforms,1904: The real motive was to control the voices coming from the university, and to suppress them.

4. Partition of Bengal: Considered as one of the major drawbacks of Curzon. Its aim was to divide Bengal into a communal division.

5. Agricultural Reforms: The Punjab Land Seizure Act in 1900 & The Co-operative Credit Union Act in 1904.

6. Railways: He also abolished the railway department. He organized the Railway administration on a commercial line with the objective of earning profit.

7. Foreign policies of Lord Curzon:

a. With Afghan: Motivated by fears of Russian expansion.

b. With Tibet: Curzon broke the 1890 trade relations between Tibet and British India.

c. With the Northwest Frontier: Curzon pursued a policy of consolidating and protecting British-occupied territories in the North-West.

d. With Persia: Curzon personally visited the gulf in 1903 to protect the British interest by getting their support.

The Implication of Lord Curzon Policy:

1. Positive:

a. Rise in Nationalist sentiments like the Swadeshi and Vande Mataram Movement.

b. Curzon’s anti-Indian policies helped India gain the support of the Indian diaspora. 

c. Curzon’s policies made Indians proud of their rich heritage and the inferiority complex of Indians was greatly reduced.

d. It strengthened the nationalist feelings of the Indians, and the request for swaraj became more intense.

e. Many factories, schools, and colleges were opened. Such a step gave Indians the confidence to be self-reliant.

2. Negative:

a. It was his policy that gave birth to the divide and rule policy in India.

b. It led to the rise of extremism in the Indian National Congress.

Though Curzon’s courses of actions had caused a great amount of resent­ment among the Indians, yet unknowingly, it created a national awakening and religious renaissance as well.