BharatNotes Extremist
noun; also adjectiveUsage in a UPSC answer
A resilient democracy counters the extremist not merely through coercive policing but by addressing the socio-economic alienation and ideological vacuum on which radicalisation feeds, thereby denying violent fringes their reservoir of recruits.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
extremism (n), extreme (adj/n), extremely (adv), extremity (n), extremists (n pl)
Root
Latin extrēmus = outermost, utmost; -ist = suffix denoting a person who holds a belief; attested c. 1806
Etymology
From Latin extrēmus ("outermost, utmost") + -ist (suffix denoting a person who holds a belief); first attested in English c. 1806.
Memory Hook
EXTREME + -ist: one who lives at the EXTREME edge of the spectrum, refusing all middle ground.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
The assertive nationalist faction within the Congress, and the label itself deserves interrogation because it was applied by opponents and by the colonial state rather than chosen. The division that split the Congress at Surat in 1907 was over method rather than goal: the Moderates favoured petition and constitutional agitation on the premise that British rule could be reformed from within, while the group around Lajpat Rai, Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh held that rights are never conceded but must be extracted, and adopted the fourfold programme of swadeshi, boycott, national education and passive resistance. The term misleads a modern reader because it suggests violence, whereas these leaders were largely constitutional in method though radical in aim, and the revolutionary terrorists were an entirely separate current. That is why historians now prefer Assertive Nationalists, and being able to explain why the label is contested is itself the mark of a considered answer.
Don’t Confuse It With
Extremist was the label applied by opponents and by the colonial administration, and historians now prefer Assertive Nationalist, since the group was radical in aim but largely constitutional in method. Moderates differed over method rather than objective, favouring petition and constitutional agitation. Revolutionary terrorists were a distinct current that did adopt violence, and conflating them with the Extremists is a frequent error. The Surat split of 1907 was the formal rupture, healed at Lucknow in 1916.
Hindi Meaning
गरमपंथी (garampanthī); नरमपंथी (naramapanthī) for the Moderates.
Common Questions
- Why do historians avoid the term Extremist?
- Because it was applied by opponents and suggests violence, whereas the group was radical in its aims but largely constitutional in its methods; Assertive Nationalist is now preferred.
- What separated the Moderates from the Extremists?
- Method rather than objective. Moderates believed British rule could be reformed through petition and constitutional agitation, while the Extremists held that rights must be extracted rather than requested.
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