Category: History

How Different Groups Reacted

• Farmers : For the farmers, the fight for swaraj was a struggle against high revenues.
• When the movement was called off in 1931, without the revenue rates being revised, the farmers were highly disappointed.
• Many of them refused to participate when the movement was re-launched in 1932.
• The small tenants just wanted the unpaid rent to the landlord to be remitted.
• They often joined the radical movements which were led by Socialists and Communists.
• Congress did not want to alienate the rich landlords and hence, the relationship between the poor peasants and Congress was uncertain.

• Businessmen : The Indian merchants and industrialists could grow their business during the First World War
• They were against those colonial policies which restricted their business activities.
• They wanted protection against imports and a Rupee-Sterling Foreign Exchange ratio which would discourage imports.
• The Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress was formed in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) was formed in 1927.
• These were the results of attempts to bring the common business inter on a common platform.
• For the businessmen, Swaraj meant an end to oppressive colonial policies.
• They wanted an environment which could allow the business to flourish.
• They were apprehensive of militant activities and of growing influence of socialism among the younger members of the Congress.

• Industrial Workers : The industrial workers showed lukewarm response to the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• Since industrialists were closer to the Congress, workers kept a distance from the movement.
• But some workers selectively participated in the Movement.
• Congress did not want to alienate the industrialists and hence preferred to keep the workers’ demands at bay.

• Women’s Participation : Women also participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement in large numbers.
• However, most of the women were from high-caste families in the urban areas and from rich peasant households in the rural areas.
• But for a long time, the Congress was reluctant to give any position of authority to women within the organization.
• The Congress was just keen on the symbolic presence of women.
• The Sense of Collective Belonging
• Nationalist Movement Spreads when people belonging to different regions and communities begin to develop a sense of collective belongingness.
• The identity of a nation is most often symbolized in a figure or image.
• This image of Bharat Mata was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1870 when he wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ for our motherland.

• Indian folk songs and folk sung by bards played an important role in making the idea of nationalism.
• In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore and in Madras, Natesa, Sastri collection of folk tales and songs, this led the movement for folk revival.

• During the Swadeshi Movement, a tri-color (red, green and yellow) flag was designed in Bengal.
• It had eight lotuses representing eight provinces and a crescent moon representing Hindus and Muslims.
• Means of creating a feeling of nationalism was through reinterpretation of history.
• The nationalist writers urged the readers to take pride in India’s great achievements in the past and struggle to change the miserable conditions of life under British rule.

Simon Commission

• The British government constituted a Statutory Commission under Sir John Simon.
• The Commission made to look into the functioning of the constitutional system in India and suggest changes.
• But since all members in the Commission were British, the Indian leaders opposed the Commission.
• The Simon Commission arrived in India in 1928.
• It was greeted with the slogan ‘Go back Simon‘.
• All parties joined the protest.
• In October 1929, Lord Irwin announced a vague offer of ‘dominion status‘ for India but
  its timing was not specified.
• He also offered to hold a Round Table Conference to discuss the future Constitution

Salt March (Beginning of Civil Disobedience Movement)

• Mahatma Gandhi believed that salt could be a powerful symbol to unite the whole nation.
• Most of the people including the British scoffed at the idea.
• Abolition of the salt tax was among many demands which was raised by Gandhiji through a letter to Viceroy Irwin.
• The Salt March or Dandi March was started by Gandhiji on 12th March 1930.
• He was accompanied by 78 volunteers.
• They walked for 24 days to cover a distance of 240 miles from Sabarmati to Dandi.
• Many people joined them in the way.
• On 6th April 1930, Gandhiji ceremonially violated the law by taking a fistful of salt
• The Salt March marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• Thousands of people broke the salt law in different parts of country.
• People demonstrated in front of government salt factories.
• Foreign clothes were boycotted.
• Peasants refused to pay revenue.
• Village officials resigned.
• Tribal people violated forest laws

Response of British Rulers :

• The colonial government began to arrest the Congress leaders.
• This led to violent clashes in many places.
• Mahatma Gandhi was arrested about a month later.
• People began to attack the symbols of British rule; such as police posts, municipal buildings, law courts and railway stations.
• The government repression was quite brutal.
• Even women and children were beaten up.
• About 100,000 people were arrested.

Round Table Conference :

• When things began to take a violent turn, Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement
• He signed a pact with Irwin on 5th March 1931.
• This was called the Gandhi-Irwin Pact.
• As per the Pact,
• Gandhi.agreed to participate in the Round Table Conference in London.
• In lieu of that, the government agreed to release the political prisoners.
• Gandhiji went to London in December 1931.
• The negotiations broke down and Gandhiji had to return with disappointment.
• When Gandhiji came back to India, he found that most of the leaders were Put in jail.
• Congress had been Declared Illegal .
• Gandhiji was arrestedas soon as he reached Bombay.

Effects of First World War on India

• The First World War led to a huge increase in defence expenditure.
• This was financed by war loans and by increasing taxes.
• Custom duties were raised and income tax was introduced to raise extra revenue.
• Prices of items increased during the war years.
• The prices doubled between 1913 and 1918.
• The common people were the worst sufferers because of price rise.
• Forced recruitment of rural people in the army was another cause of widespread anger among people.
• Crop failure in many parts of India resulted in acute shortage of food.
• Influenza epidemic further aggravated the problem.
• According to 1921 census people died because of famines and
  epidemic.

Arrival of Mahatma Gandhi and Satyagraha

• Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in January, 1915.
• His heroic fight for the Indians in South Africa was well known.
• His novel method of mass agitation known as Satyagraha had yielded good results.
• The idea of Satyagraha emphasized the power of truth and the need to search for truth.
• In 1916, Gandhiji traveled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system
• Mahatma Gandhi advocated a novel method of mass agitation; called Satyagraha.
• This method was based on the idea that if someone is fighting for a true cause, there is no need to take recourse to physical force to fight the oppressor.
• Gandhiji believed that a satyagrahi could win a battle through non-violence,  without being aggressive or revengeful.

Some early Satyagraha movements organized by Gandhiji :

• Peasants’ Movement in Champaran (Bihar) in 1916.
• Peasants’ Movement in Kheda district (Gujarat) in 1917.
• Mill workers’ Movement in Ahmedabad in 1918

Notes on Nationalism in India for Class 10th History

The Rowlatt Act (1919) :

• The Rowlatt Act was passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in 1919.
• The Indian members did not support the Act, but it was passed; nevertheless.
• The Act gave enormous powers to the government to repress political activities.
• It allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
• On 6th April, 1919; Gandhiji launched a nationwide Satyagraha against the proposed Rowlatt Act.
• The call of strike on 6th April got huge response. People came out in support in various cities, shops were shut down and workers in railway workshops went on strike.
• The British administration decided to clamp down on the nationalists.
• Several local leaders were arrested. Mahatma Gandhi was barred from entering Delhi.

Jallianwalla Bagh :

• On 10th April 1919, in Amritsar the police fired upon a peaceful procession. This provoked widespread attacks on government establishments.
• Martial law was imposed in Amritsar and the command of the area was given
  to General Dyer.
• The infamous Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre took place on 13th April, the day on which Baisakhi is celebrated in Punjab
• A crowd of villagers came to participate in a fair in Jallianwalla Bagh. This was enclosed from all sides with narrow entry points.
• General Dyer blocked the exit points and opened fire on the crowd. Hundreds of people were killed in the incident.
• Public reaction to the incident took a violent turn in many north Indian towns.
• The government was quite brutal in its response. Things took highly violent turn.
• Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement as he did not want violence to continue.

Khilafat Movement:

• The Khilafat issue gave Mahatma Gandhi an opportunity to bring the Hindus and Muslims
  on a common platform.
• The Ottoman Turkey was badly defeated in the First World War
• There were rumors about a harsh peace treaty likely to be imposed on the Ottoman emperor, who was the spiritual head of the Islamic world (the Khalifa).
• A Khilafat committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919 to defend the Khalifa.
• This committee had leaders like the brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali.
• They also wanted Mahatma Gandhi to take up the cause to build a united mass action.
• At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, the resolution was passed to launch a Non-Cooperation movement in support of Khilafat and also for swaraj.

Non-Cooperation Movement:

• In his famous book Hind Swaraj (1909), Mahatma Gandhi declared that British empire  was established in India with the cooperation of Indians, and had survived only because of this cooperation.
• Indians refused to cooperate, British rule in India would collapse within a year, and swaraj would come.
• Gandhiji believed that if Indians begin to refuse to cooperate, the British rulers would have no other way than to leave lndia.
• Some of the proposals of Non-Cooperation Movement:
• Surrender the titles which were awarded by the British government.
• Boycott of civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils and schools.
• Boycott of foreign goods.
• Launch full civil disobedience campaign, if the government persisted with repressive measures.

Differing Strands within the Movement :

• The Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement began in January 1921.
• Various social groups participated in this movement, each with its own specific aspiration.
• All of them responded the call of Swaraj, but the term meant different’ things to different people
• The peasants’ movement in Awadh was led by Baba Ramchandra. He was a sanyasi who had earlier
• in Fiji as an indentured labourer. The peasants were against the high rents and may other cesses, which demanded by talukdars and landlords.
• The peasants demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, social boycott of oppressive landlords.
• Peasants : Tribal peasants gave their own interpretation of Mahatma Gandhi and the idea of swaraj.
• They were prevented from entering the forests to graze cattle, or to collect fruits and firewood.
• The new forest laws were a threat to their livelihoods. The government forced them to do begar on road construction.
• Many rebels from the tribal areas became non-violent and often carried guerrilla warfare against the British officials.
• In the Plantation The plantation workers were not permitted to leave the tea gardens without permission
• As per the Indian Emigration Act of 1859. When the news of Non-Cooperation Movement spread to the plantations, many workers began to defy the authorities.
• They left plantations and headed towards their homes
• But they got stranded on the way because of a railway and steamer strike.
• They were caught by the police brutally beaten up.