The swadeshi programme in Karnataka

The Bengalis had adopted the Boycott movement as the last resort after they had exhausted the armoury of constitutional agitation known to them, namely, vocal protests in mass meetings. Propaganda in the press appeals, petitions and conferences. It was then, and not till then, they forged this new weapon with a view to coercing the British to conceded the unanimous national demand. It is proper on our part to have the conceptualisation of the ideology behind this movement which was one of the most effective devices ever conceived by the freedom fighters of India to humble-down the British imperialism in India. In the word swadeshi “swa” in Sanskrit means “own” and “Desh” means “country”, the letter ‘I’ being the usual adjectival termination; swadesh therefore means “one’s own country”, and swadeshi, “pertaining to one’s own country”.