By reading Indian History through multiple sources, it can be argued that the entry of Gandhi into Indian politics by the mid-1910s actually delayed the efforts for gaining swaraj from the British for another 20 years (instead of augmenting it).
The moderates had lost significant ground (both morally and intellectually) to the extremists. Even long-term moderates like SN Banarjee and Ghokhle had given into the demands of young political leaders. The passing away of many moderate stalwarts also created a political vacuum.
Moderates were being attacked left and right, and there was a consensus emerging among young leaders that the functioning of the congress sessions had become merely performative, where leaders met annually to only pass some meaningless resolutions.
BG Tilak kept attacking moderates for the mendicant constitutionalism and their policy of “Three P’s- pray, please and protest” and argued that it would not do “anything good unless backed by solid force.”
For Aurobindo, the Congress was nothing more than “half-a-dozen lawyers, meeting in a casual way at the Local Bar Library” & argued that it needed new leaders to “enable a fallen nation to shake off its weakness, turn cowards into heroes & selfism men into self-denying martyrs.”
Lala Lajpat Rai, asked rhetorically, “is it not a matter of shame for us that this National Congress in the last twenty-one years should not have produced at least a number of political sanyasis that could sacrifice their lives for the political regeneration of the country.”
So, an intellectual ground for the freedom struggle was already created before Gandhi made his entry. A political consciousness that demanded equal rights for the natives had reached every part of the country and there were many localized struggles that had emerged.
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