The 'Safety Valve theory' propounded by leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai in the context of the formation of the Indian National Congr…

Question

The 'Safety Valve theory' propounded by leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai in the context of the formation of the Indian National Congress suggests that-

1. A. The British used Congress to directly recruit the Indians for World War-II.
2. B. The Congress was formed to protect small Indian Industries from British competition.
3. C. Congress was established as a platform to secure the religious interests and prevent communal disputes.
4. D. The congress was formed to provide a peaceful outlet for public discontent and prevent another revolt like 1857. (Correct answer)

Correct Answer

Option D — The congress was formed to provide a peaceful outlet for public discontent and prevent another revolt like 1857.

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is The congress was formed to provide a peaceful outlet for public discontent and prevent another revolt like 1857.

Key Points

• The Safety Valve theory holds that the Indian National Congress was created at the initiative of the British — specifically the retired civil servant A.O. Hume, acting with the knowledge of Viceroy Lord Dufferin — to give growing Indian discontent a constitutional and harmless channel, thereby averting a violent uprising of the kind seen in 1857.
• The theory rests on William Wedderburn's biography of Hume, which cited secret reports suggesting an imminent rebellion.
• Lala Lajpat Rai invoked this argument in *Young India* (1916), writing that "the Congress was a product of Lord Dufferin's brain" — using it to criticise the Moderates for their excessive faith in petitioning.

Additional Information

• How later historians assessed the theory: most modern scholars, including Bipan Chandra, reject the safety-valve explanation as a myth. Their reasoning is that
  • the Congress emerged from two decades of Indian political activity through bodies such as the Indian Association, the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, the Madras Mahajan Sabha and the Bombay Presidency Association;
  • the early nationalists used Hume as a lightning conductor, since an Englishman's involvement reduced the risk of official suppression in the organisation's fragile early years;
  • the British soon turned hostile, which they would not have done to a body of their own design.
• The founding of the Congress: first session held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay, from 28 to 31 December 1885, with 72 delegates. W.C. Bonnerjee was the first president, and A.O. Hume its General Secretary.
• The Extremists' critique was that the safety-valve theory exposed the futility of the "three P's" — petition, prayer and protest — and justified a shift to passive resistance and boycott.