---
title: "Extremists in Indian National Congress | Model Diplomat"
description: "Extremists were the radical wing of the Indian National Congress (1905–1919) demanding Swaraj through aggressive means, opposing the Moderates."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/extremists"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- The Extremists were the radical wing of the Indian National Congress, active roughly 1905–1919, who demanded Swaraj through aggressive agitation, boycott and self-reliance rather than constitutional petitioning.
- Who were the Lal-Bal-Pal trio?
- What was the immediate cause of the rise of the Extremists?
- What happened at the Surat Split of 1907?
- How did Extremist methods differ from Moderate methods?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

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## Positions at a glance

### Indian National Congress

The term Extremists (also called the Garam Dal or "hot faction") denotes the militant nationalist tendency within the Indian National Congress that crystallised in the aftermath of the Partition of Bengal in 1905 and dominated nationalist politics until the Lucknow Pact of 1916 and the Montagu Declaration of 1917. Its principal leaders were Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal — the so-called Lal-Bal-Pal trio — together with their ideological precursor Aurobindo Ghosh. They stood in conscious opposition to the Moderates (Surendranath Banerjea, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Pherozeshah Mehta), whose method of "prayer, petition and protest" they dismissed as "political mendicancy." Tilak's slogan, "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it," captured the Extremist creed: self-government (Swaraj) was a natural right, not a colonial gift, and was to be won by Indians themselves.

### All-India Muslim League

The clash between the two wings climaxed at the Surat Split of 1907, where the Congress fractured over the presidential candidate and the scope of the boycott resolution; the Extremists were effectively expelled, and Tilak's conviction and deportation to Mandalay (1908) drove the movement underground. Repression followed under the Indian Press Act and Seditious Meetings Act. Reunification came at the Lucknow Session of 1916, which readmitted the Extremists and produced the Lucknow Pact with the Muslim League. With Tilak's death in 1920 and Gandhi's ascent, the Extremist phase merged into the larger non-cooperation era. As of 2026 the Extremists are studied historiographically as the bridge between early nationalism and Gandhian mass politics.

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In 1907, at the Surat session of the Indian National Congress, Bal Gangadhar Tilak's Extremist faction split from the Moderates led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale over the boycott resolution and the choice of president.

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