Surat Split (1907)

                         The INC split into two groups _ the extremists and the moderates, at the Surat session in 1907 held on the banks of the river Tapi. The extremists were led by Tilak, Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal and the moderates were led by Gopal Krishna Gokhle. 

                         At the Surat session, the moderate and extremist delegates of congress met in an atmosphere surcharged with excitement and anger.

                          The suddenness of the Surat fiasco took the extremist leaders by surprise and they offered their cooperation to the working committee of the congress by accepting president ship of Ras Bihari Ghose. But the moderates would not relent as they found themselves on firm ground. 

                          The government observing the opportunity launched a massive attack on the extremists by suppressing the newspaper and arresting their main leader, Tilak, and sending him to Mandalay Jail (Burma) for 6 years. The extremists were not able to organize an effective alternative party o to sustain the movement.  

                          Aurbindo Ghosh gave up politics and left for Pondicherry. Bipin Chandra Pal also left politics temporarily. Lajpat Rai left for British. After 1908, the national movement as a whole declined.