Nationalism In India (Easily find answers within the notes)

Introduction:

In this chapter we will look at the events that led Indians to form a nation state and you will also get to learn about the fact, how the feeling of being the people of one nation developed among all Indians. To become free from the control of the colonial govt. was a far cry for most of the Indians, however some brave people made this possible through their efforts. They also made ordinary people believe in themselves. Encouraged them to raise the voice for independence. They organized anti-colonial movements with the support of the masses who participated in the freedom struggle.

First World War, Khilafat, Non Cooperation Movement:

i) First World War- (1914-1918)

• It created a new political and Economic situation.
• It spread the feeling of nationalism among different groups to free the country from colonial rule.

Impact of 1st World War:

1. Huge increase in defense Expenditure.
2. Custom duties were increased and Income tax introduced.
3. People suffered extreme hardships due to the increase in the prices. (1913-1918)
4. Forced recruitment in Rural areas to supply soldiers.

After 1st World War-

1. In 1918-19 and 1920-21, Crop failed in many parts of India.
2. In 1921, 12-13 Million people died due to famines and Epidemics.

To solve the problems and improve the condition of the people of India, Gandhi ji came up with the Idea of Satyagraha.

THE IDEA OF SATYAGRAHA :

The word “Satyagraha” originated from the Sanskrit words Satya- “truth” and agraha- “polite insistence“, or “holding firmly to”. Since Gandhi’s understanding and faith was in non-violence. Satyagraha was a novel method of mass agitation that emphasized upon the power of truth and the need to search for truth in order to fight against injustice without using physical force.

In 1915:

Mahatma Gandhi Returned India from South Africa. He organized three Satyagraha Movements: 1916, 1917, 1918

In 1916, Several leaders from Bihar (at the first meeting of the Congress at Lucknow) approached M.K. Gandhi with a request to start a movement against the atrocities on farmers in Champaran.

1. 1917 – Champaran (Bihar)
   • To help the peasants (plantation workers) against the oppressive plantation system.
2. 1917 – Kheda District (Gujarat)
   • To support the peasants as they were unable to pay high revenue demanded by the Britishers.
3. 1918 – Ahmedabad (Gujarat)
   • To help cotton Mill workers because prices had gone up and the mill workers were demanding higher wages in Ahmedabad. However the mill owners refused to pay high wages and bonuses to the workers of the mill.
   • They were demanding higher wages and better working conditions.

Since all movements were successful, Gandhi ji decided to launch a nationwide Satyagraha against Rowlatt Act.

In 1919:

Nationwide Satyagraha for Rowlatt Act.

Rowlatt Act / Black Act:

The Anarchical and Revolutionary crimes of 1919 (popularly known as the Rowlatt Act.) by British India. The Act curbed fundamental rights such as the freedom of expression and strengthened police powers. It gave British officers enough power to repress any political activities and put leaders in prison for 2 years without any trial.

Non-violent civil disobedience against (Rowlatt Act) unjust law:

1. It began with a hartal on 6 April.
2. Rallies were organized in various cities.
3. Workers went on strikes in railway workshops.
4. Shops were closed.

This led British administration take action:

On 10th April 1919 :

• In Amritsar, Punjab:
  1. officials arrested two nationalist leaders- Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satya Pal under the infamous Rowlatt Act.
  2. And they even arrested Mahatma Gandhi while he was going to Punjab against the Rowlatt Act.
  3. On the same day (April 10), police in Amritsar fired upon a peaceful procession.
     • This provoked widespread attacks on banks, post offices and railway stations.
• To see that, General Dyer implemented the Martial Law.

Martial Law :

• Army control power in place of local police in emergency situation.( Military Govt.)
• No more than two people could form a group and meet at a place.

April 13, 1919

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre:

1. People did not know about Martial law being imposed as the place was away from the city.
2. Some people came to protest against the government’s new repressive measures while some people had come to attend the annual Baisakhi fair.
3. General Dyer entered there. He ordered to block the exit points and started open fire in order to strictly enforce Martial Law
4. In this, hundreds of people died.

Raged people started protesting:

• Crowed took to the streets in many north Indian towns.
• They went for strikes.
• began to fight with the police.
• They attacked Government Buildings.

Government began terrorizing people:

• People were beaten.
• and had to face humiliation.
• Villages were bombed.

In viewing this, Gandhiji called off the Movement.

Limitations:

• Rowlatt Satyagraha was limited to towns and cities.
• Gandhi ji thought of conducting a broad Movement. Thus felt the need of bringing Hindu and Muslim come together.

then they started Khilafat Movement

ii) Khilafat Issue: (1919 – 1924)

1. In the 1st World War Ottoman Turkey was defeated. Rumors were there that a harsh treaty would be imposed on the Khalifa (the spiritual head of the Islamic world).
2. To defend this, Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay headed by two brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali.
3. Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali went to meet Gandhi ji, he saw this as an opportunity to bring Hindu and Muslim together.
4. At the Calcutta session of the congress in September 1920 Gandhi ji convinced other leaders.
5. N.C.M. was started in support of Khilafat and for Swaraj.

iii) Why ‘Non Cooperation Movement’?

• According to Gandhiji, British rule was established in India with the cooperation of Indians. If Indians refuse to cooperate , British rule will end within a year. and India would become Independent.

Gandhi ji had written about this in his book Hind Swaraj.

Non Cooperation Movement ( 1 August 1920 – February 1922)

Mahatma Gandhi proposed that the movement should unfold in stages:-

• He said, It should begin with the surrender of titles that Government awarded,
• and a boycott of civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils, schools, Foreign goods.
• They would also launch a full civil disobedience campaign in case the government used repression.

Earlier, Congress did not support N.C.M. because:-

1. Council’s election was scheduled in November 1920. They were of the view that if they would come to power they could defend and make changes in Policies, created by the British.
2. Non Cooperation Movement would create popular violence.

Finally in the congress session held at Nagpur in December 1920, N.C.M. was adopted.

Differing Strands within the Movement:

January 1921:

• Non cooperation Khilafat Movement was started.
• Various social groups participated in this movement.
• For each social group, the meaning of the term ‘swaraj’ was different as everyone had different issues.

TOWNS COUNTRYSIDE (Villages) PLANTATIONS

Towns : (Middle Class participated and began the movement from cities)

1. Thousands of students left government controlled schools and colleges.
2. Headmasters and teachers resigned.
3. Lawyers gave up their legal practices.
4. The council elections were boycotted in most provinces except Madras.
5. Foreign goods were boycotted.
6. Liquor shops were picketed and burnt all foreign clothes.

Who did not participate in this movement?

• Non-Brahmans did not take part as they felt that entering the council was the only way to gain some power.

Effects:

1. Import of foreign cloths halved between 1921 and 1922. Imports of goods (cloth) decreased from 102 crores to 57 crores.
2. Merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods or finance foreign trade.
3. People began discarding imported clothes and began wearing Indian clothes (khadi).
4. Production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up.

But this movement gradually slowed down due to many reasons.

Reasons:

1. Khadi cloth was often more expensive than mass-produced mill cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it. So they had to wear foreign clothes.
2. Indian Institutions were slow to come up as there were no alternative Indian Institutions so students and teachers joined back government schools and colleges.
3. Lawyers rejoined in government courts.

Countryside: (Peasants and Tribal people)

Peasants:

• In Awadh, peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra. He was a sanyasi who had earlier been to Fiji as an indentured laborer.
• The movement here was against talukdars and landlords who demanded high rent and asked to do begar (compulsory Labor without payment).

Demands of Peasants:

1. They demanded a reduction of Revenue.
2. Abolition of Begar.
3. Social Boycott of oppressive landlords.

In protest against talukdars and landlords :

1. In many places, Panchayats organized nai-dhobi bandhs to deprive landlords from the services like washerman and barbar.
2. Peasants attacked the houses of Talukdars and Merchants.
3. They Looted bazaars, and took over grain hoards .
4. The local leaders used Mahatma Gandhi ‘s name to fulfill their aspirations. 

June 1920:

• Jawaharlal Nehru began going around the villages in Awadh where he talked to villagers to understand their grievances.

October 1920:

• Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra (the leader of peasants in Awadh) and few others set up Oudh Kisan Sabha.
• It helped integrate the peasants in the N.C.M.

Tribal People:

In Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh, a militant Guerrilla movement spread in the early 1920s.

Problems faced by tribal people:

1. The Colonial Government closed the forest area.
2. They could not graze their cattle or collect their fuel wood.
3. Changes affected their lives badly.
4. They felt that their traditional rights were being denied by the British government.
5. They were also forced to do Begar for building roads.

Consequence:

The Guerrilla Movement started, led by Alluri Sitaram Raju.

• He claimed that he had special powers to make astrological predictions, heal people and he could even survive bullet shots.
• Gandhi’s Non Cooperation Movement was an inspiration for him.
• He told people to wear Khadi and give up drinking.
• However, he believed that India could be liberal only by force, not by Non-Violence.

Guerrilla Movement:

1. Rebels attacked police stations.
2. They Attempted to kill British officials.

In 1924:

• Alluri Sitaram Raju was captured and executed.
• Overtime he became a folk hero.

Plantation Workers:

1. Under the inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not allowed to leave the tea garden without permission.
2. When they heard of N.C.M. They interpreted in their own way and thousands of workers left the plantation and headed home.
3. They Believed that Gandhi Raj was coming and everyone would be given land in their own villages.
4. But they could not reach their destination and were beaten by Police.

Everyone interpreted Swaraj in their own ways. They started imagining that all suffering and troubles would be over. The slogan ‘Swatantra Bharat’ further added to their emotions.

4 February, 1922: (Chauri Chaura Incident)

• At Chauri Chaura in the Gorakhpur district of the united provinces in British India : Modern Uttar Pradesh
• A peaceful demonstration in the bazaar turned into a violent clash with the police.
• Hearing of the incident, Mahatma Gandhi called off the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Towards Civil Disobedience:

In February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement as it was becoming violent in many places.

• He felt satyagrahis needed to be properly trained before they would be ready for mass struggles.
• Some leaders in Congress were tired of mass struggle.
• They wanted to participate in elections so that they could oppose British policies and argue for reform.
• On 1^st January 1923, Chittaranjan Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj party to argue for a return to council politics.
• But Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose did not participate as they thought India would get full Independence by mass struggle only.

Two factors that shaped Indian politics towards the late 1920s:-

1. World Wide Economic Depression:

• Agricultural prices began to fall in 1926 and collapsed after 1930.
• As the export of Agricultural goods declined, peasants found it difficult to sell their harvest crops and pay their Revenue.

2. Britain set up a statutory commission under Sir John Simon in response to the nationalist movements.

• It was to look into the functioning of the constitutional system of India and suggest changes.
• But the problem was that there were all Britishers in the commission.
• When the Simon Commission arrived in India in 1928. It was greeted with the slogan ‘Go back Simon’.
• All parties including the Congress and the Muslim League, participated in the demonstrations.

In October, 1929

The Viceroy, Lord Irwin, announced a vague offer of ‘dominion status’ for India. He arranged a round table conference to discuss the future constitution. However, this did not satisfy the Congress leaders.

In December, 1929

Under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress formalized the demand of ‘Purna Swaraj’ It was declared that 26 January 1930, would be celebrated as an Independence day although it attracted very little attention. Mahatma Gandhi had to find a way to relate this abstract idea of freedom to more concrete issues of everyday life.

The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement

• On 31st January 1930, Gandhiji sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin in which he had stated 11 demands.
• Some of these were of general interests and others were specific demands of different classes, from industrialists to peasants.
• The Idea was to make demands wide ranging so that all classes within Indian society could be united. Some demands were:
  • Abolition of salt tax.
  • Look into land Revenue.

However, Viceroy did not accept Gandhiji’s demands.

On 11th March 1930

Gandhi with other leaders gave an ultimatum, if demands were not fulfilled then congress would launch Civil Disobedience Movement (C.D.M). Despite that, Irwin was reluctant to Negotiate. As a consequence, Gandhi ji had to take the steps further:-

• Gandhi ji selected salt. As salt was something consumed by both rich and poor and everyone had to pay tax to the Government for it.
• Government had a monopoly over salt production, others could not produce.
• On 12th March 1930, Gandhi started his Dandi March.

Dandi March:

• Salt March accompanied by 78 trusted Volunteers of Mahatma Gandhi.
• They walked about 390 Km.
• They started to walk from Sabarmati to Dandi.
• On 6th April, they reached Dandi.
• Violated the law and manufactured salt by boiling water.

This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

How C.D.M. was different from N.C.M.?

1. N.C.M. : Don’t cooperate with the British.
2. C.D.M. : Not only they refused cooperation but also broke colonial laws.

• Thousands of people in different parts of India broke salt law.
• People started boycotting Foreign clothes.
• They also picketed liquor shops.
• Peasants refused to pay the ‘Chaukidari tax’.
• Furthermore, Forest people violated forest laws. They started going to reserved forests for collecting fuel wood and grazing their cattle.

Colonial Government:

Worried by the developments, the colonial government began arresting the congress leaders one by one. Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Gandhi ji were also arrested. Angry crowds demonstrated in the streets and industrial workers attacked police posts, municipal buildings, law courts and railway stations- all structures that symbolized British Rule.

Government Responded with the policy of brutal repression

• The British Government attacked peaceful people.
• They beat Women and children.
• Also, they arrested about 100,000 people.

Due to this, Gandhi ji once again decided to call off the movement on January 25, 1931 and entered into a pact with Irwin on 5 March 1931.

Gandhi – Irwin Pact :

1. In this, Gandhi consented to participate in a round table conference in London.( the Congress had boycotted The first Round Table Conference) and the government agreed to release the political prisoners.
2. In December 1931, Gandhiji went to London for the conference, but the negotiations broke down and he returned disappointed.
3. After returning back, he saw Ghaffar Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru were both in Jail.
4. The British government declared congress illegal.
5. After that, Gandhi ji relaunched C.D.M. (we can call this C.D.M. II) but it lost its momentum by 1934.

How Participants saw the Movement:

Poona Pact:

1. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was nominated as leader of the oppressed class from a round table conference.
2. He clashed with Gandhi (in the second round table conference), demanding separate electorate for dalits.
3. The British accepted Ambedkar’s demand. Gandhi ji began fast unto death. He believed that a separate Electorate for Dalits would slow down the process of integration of society.
4. The Poona Pact was signed in September 1932. It gave depressed class reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils but they were to vote by General Electorates.

The Sense of Collective Belonging:

How people developed a sense of collective belonging?

1. United Struggle: Everyone wanted to throw the British Raj out of India.
2. Cultural process: History and fiction, folklore and songs, popular prints and symbols, all played a part in the making of nationalism.
   • Bharat Mata: (symbol) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya depicted the idea of symbol in his book to raise patriotic feelings among Hindus. He also composed the national song ‘Vande Mataram’. Later included this hymn in the novel ‘Anandmath’.
     • Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata.
     • Rabindranath Tagore began collecting ballads, nursery rhymes and myths.
   • The sense of collective belonging also developed from Indian folklore.
     • Natesa Sastri published a massive four volume collection of Tamil folk tales. (Folk of the Southern India)
   • During The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal, a tricolor Indian flag was designed (red, green and yellow).
     • It had eight lotuses representing eight provinces of British India, and a crescent moon, representing Hindus and Muslims.
     • Gandhiji had designed the tricolor Swaraj Flag (red, green and white) and had a spinning wheel in the center, representing the Gandhian ideal of self-help.
3. Reinterpretation of History: British saw Indians as backward and incapable of governing themselves, Indians saw their history as the greatest Achievement.