1 of 47

THEME-12

MAHATMA GANDHI

AND

THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT

Civil Disobedience and Beyond

3 of 47

Growth of Indian Nationalism

Indian National Congress- 1885, Bombay- Gokuldas Thejpal Sanscit College- 72 delegates from different parts of the country.
A.O.Hume – Father of the Congress
W.C.Banerjee – First President of INC
3 Phases- Moderates Era(1885-1905), Extremist Era (1905-1917), Gandhian Era (1917-1947)

4 of 47

Indian National Movement

Lord Curzon – 1905
Extremist leadership
Boycott of foreign goods
Encouragement of Swadeshi
Popular struggle- Anti-partition Movement
Lord Hardinge II- cancelled the Partition in 1911.
Surat split of 1907

5 of 47

Indian National Movement

Lucnow Pact- 1916
Home rule movement-1916
Rise of revolutionary movements

6 of 47

Mahatma Gandhi & National Movement

7 of 47

MAHATHMA GANDHI 1869-1948

Born on 2^ndOct.1869
Porbandhar-Sudamapuri.
Karamchand Gandhi(Kabha Ganbhi) and Puthlibhai.
Marriage with Kasthurbha.
Sons-Harilal, Manilal, Ramadas, Devadas
To England for Higher studies
In South Africa (1893-1914)- for legal practice.
Sathyaghraha- New method of struggle against racial discrimination.

8 of 47

Mahatma Gandhi

Return to India- 1915.
1916- Sabarmathi Ashram.
Gokhale- Political Guru.
Early experiments of Satyagraha in India.
On Gokhale’s advice, Gandhiji spent a year travelling around British India, getting to know the land and its peoples.

9 of 47

Entry in Indian Politics

Champaran- 1917
Kheda Sathyagraha- 1918
Ahammedabad Mill Strike- 1918
Sathyagraha against Rowlat Act- 1919

10 of 47

Champaran Satyagraha- 1917

Bihar- Indigo plantations- European owners- exploitation of the peasantry.
Peasants were compelled to cultivate indigo on 3/20 part of the land under Tinkathiya system.
Gandhiji reached Champaran on the request of peasants and started satyagraha.
Popular support threatened the British and they bowed before Gandhi and his first satyagraha became victorious.

11 of 47

Ahammedabad Mill Strike-1918

Dispute between Mill owners and workers.
Workers demanded 50% increase in their wages due to price hike.
The owners reacted with closing the Mill and Gandhiji started satyagraha against the mill owners.
Movement gradually strengthened with the support of the masses.
Finally owners granted 35% increase in the wages and thus Gandhiji ended his fast unto death.

12 of 47

Kheda Sathyagraha

Crop failure in Kheda.
Peasants demanded exemption or reduction of taxes.
But the govt.not ready to the reduction then Gandhiji started satyagraha.
He advised the peasants to non-payment of taxes till the demand accepted by the govt.
Finally Govt.accepted the demands and Gandhi suspended his satyagraha.

13 of 47

Protest against Rowlat Act-1919

During the Great War of 1914-18, the British had instituted censorship of the press and permitted detention without trial. Now, on the recommendation of a committee chaired by Sir Sidney Rowlatt, these tough measures were continued. In response, Gandhiji called for a countrywide campaign against the “Rowlatt Act”.
In towns across North and West India, life came to a standstill, as shops shut down and schools closed in response to the bandh call. The protests were particularly intense in the Punjab, where many men had served on the British side in the War – expecting to be rewarded for their service. Instead they were given the Rowlatt Act. Gandhiji was detained while proceeding to the Punjab, even as prominent local Congressmen were arrested.

14 of 47

Jallianwallabagh Massacre

The situation in the province grew progressively more tense, reaching a bloody climax in Amritsar in April 1919, when a British Brigadier ordered his troops to open fire on a nationalist meeting.
More than four hundred people were killed in what is known as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
It was the Rowlatt satyagraha that made Gandhiji a truly national leader.

15 of 47

MAJOR STRUGGLES

KHILAFAT AND NON-COOPERATION

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

QUIT INDIA

16 of 47

Khilafat & Non-cooperation

After the massacre and protest Gandhiji called for a campaign of “non-cooperation” with British rule.
Indians who wished colonialism to end were asked to stop attending schools, colleges and law courts, and not pay taxes.
To further broaden the struggle he had joined hands with the Khilafat Movement that sought to restore the Caliphate.
In Sept.1919 under the leadership of Ali Brothers an All India Khilafat Committee was formed and it started organizing countrywide agitation against the British.

17 of 47

The non-cooperation

Gandhiji hoped that by coupling non-cooperation with Khilafat, India’s two major religious communities, Hindus and Muslims, could collectively bring an end to colonial rule.
These movements certainly unleashed a surge of popular action that was altogether unprecedented in colonial India.
Students stopped going to schools and colleges run by the government. Lawyers refused to attend court.
The working class went on strike in many towns and cities: according to official figures, there were 396 strikes in 1921, involving 600,000 workers and a loss of seven million workdays.

18 of 47

The Non-cooperation

Peasants refused to pay taxes.
As a consequence of the Non-Cooperation Movement the British Raj was shaken to its foundations for the first time since the Revolt of 1857.
Then, in February 1922, a group of peasants attacked and torched a police station in Chauri Chaura, in the United Provinces (now, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal). Several constables perished in the conflagration. This act of violence prompted Gandhiji to call off the movement altogether.
During the Non-Cooperation Movement thousands of Indians were put in jail. Gandhiji himself was arrested in March 1922.

19 of 47

The Non-cooperation

Constructive Programme

Encouragement of national schools and institutions.
Promotion of indigenous goods.
Popularization of charka and Khadi.
Prohibition of liquor.

Boycott Programme

Boycott of govt. schools, law courts.
Boycott of British goods and surrender of honours and titles.
Non payment of taxes.
Boycott of elections to legislature.

21 of 47

For several years after the Non- cooperation Movement ended, Mahatma Gandhi focused on his social reform work.
In 1928, however, he began to think of re-entering politics. That year there was an all-India campaign in opposition to the all-White Simon Commission, sent from England to enquire into conditions in the colony.
Gandhiji did not himself participate in this movement, although he gave it his blessings, as he also did to a peasant satyagraha in Bardoli in the same year.

22 of 47

Lahore session and Poorna swaraj

In the end of December 1929, the Congress held its annual session in the city of Lahore.
The meeting was significant for two things: the election of Jawaharlal Nehru as President, signifying the passing of the baton of leadership to the younger generation; and the proclamation of commitment to “Purna Swaraj”, or complete independence.
On 26 January 1930, “Independence Day” was observed, with the national flag being hoisted in different venues, and patriotic songs being sung.
Lahore session decided to start a civil disobedience movement under the leadership of Gandhiji.

23 of 47

DANDI MARCH

Mahatma Gandhi announced that he would lead a march to break one of the most widely disliked laws in British India, which gave the state a monopoly in the manufacture and sale of salt.
His picking on the salt monopoly was another illustration of

Gandhiji’s tactical wisdom. For in every Indian household, salt was indispensable; yet people were forbidden from making salt even for domestic use, compelling them to buy it from shops at a high price.

The state monopoly over salt was deeply unpopular; by making it his target, Gandhiji hoped to mobilise a wider discontent against the British rule.

24 of 47

Salt Satyagraha

On 12 March 1930, Gandhiji began walking from his ashram at Sabarmati towards the ocean.
He reached his destination three weeks later(April 6,1930), making a fistful of salt as he did and thereby making himself a criminal in the eyes of the law.
Meanwhile, parallel salt marches were being conducted in other parts of the country. For eg: Payyannur Satyagraha.

25 of 47

Salt Satyagraha

The Salt Satyagraha was notable for at least three reasons.
First, it was this event that first brought Mahatma Gandhi to world attention. The march was widely covered by the European and American press.
Second, it was the first nationalist activity in which women participated in large numbers. The socialist activist Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay had persuaded Gandhiji not to restrict the protests to men alone. Kamaladevi was herself one of numerous women who courted arrest by breaking the salt or liquor laws.
Third, and perhaps most significant, it was the Salt March which forced upon the British the realisation that their Raj would not last forever, and that they would have to devolve some power to the Indians.

26 of 47

To that end, the British government convened a series of “Round Table Conferences” in London. The first meeting was held in November 1930, but no one can participate with the side of INC.
Gandhiji was released from jail in January 1931 and the following month had several long meetings with the Viceroy. These culminated in what was called the “Gandhi-Irwin Pact’, by the terms of which civil disobedience would be called off, all prisoners released, and salt manufacture allowed along the coast.
The pact was criticised by radical nationalists, for Gandhiji was unable to obtain from the Viceroy a commitment to political independence for Indians.
A second Round Table Conference was held in London in the latter part of 1931. Here, Gandhiji represented the Congress.

27 of 47

Negative attitude of Muslim League, Princess and B.R. Ambedkar.
They argued that Gandhiji and the Congress did not really represent the all sections of India.
Gandhi returned to India with frustration and resumed the civil Disobedience.
In 1935, however, a new Government of India Act promised some form of representative government.
Two years later, in an election held on the basis of a restricted franchise, the Congress won a comprehensive victory. Now eight out of 11 provinces had a Congress “Prime Minister”, working under the supervision of a British Governor.

28 of 47

Civil Disobedience

In 1939 the Second World War started and Viceroy Lilitgo declared that India should join the war on the side of the British, without consulting INC.
In protest, the Congress ministries resigned in October 1939. Through 1940 and 1941, the Congress organised a series of individual satyagrahas to pressure the rulers to promise freedom once the war had ended.
Meanwhile, in March 1940, the Muslim League passed a resolution demanding a measure of autonomy for the Muslim-majority areas of the subcontinent.
The political landscape was now becoming complicated: it was no longer Indians versus the British; rather, it had become a three way struggle between the Congress, the Muslim League, and the British.

29 of 47

Japanese Threat and Cripps Mission

Entry of Japan on the side of Germany and Italy with a surprise attack on America.
Japan’s occupation of Burma in March 1942 posed threat to the safety of British India. The British now wanted the co-operation of Indians.
So British sent a mission headed by Sir Stafford Cripps to India in March 1942. He promised India Dominion status after the war ended.
Congress demanded immediate transfer of power to Indians. Hence Mission proved a total failure. Gandhi described the offer as ‘post dated cheque’.
After the failure of the Cripps Mission, Mahatma Gandhi decided to launch his third major movement against British rule. This was the “Quit India” campaign, which began in August 1942.

31 of 47

The AICC held at Bombay on 8 August 1942, passed the historic

‘Quit India Resolution’ proposing a non-violent mass struggle under Gandhi.

Here Gandhi gave a mantra “Do or Die” – “we shall either free India or die in the attempt”.
But within no time, the govt. arrested all top leaders of Congress including Gandhi and took them to unknown destinations.
The news of the arrest led to unprecedented popular outbursts in different parts of the country.
There were hartals, demonstrations.
The repressive policy of the British provoked the people and they took to violence.

32 of 47

Quit India

The methods of struggle included;
Attacks of govt. buildings which were seen as symbols of British authority.
Destruction of railway lines.
Cutting of telegraphic wires and telephones.
Destroying bridges to disrupt traffic.
The movement gained active support from people of Bombay, Andhra, Gujarat, Orissa, Assam, UP, Karnataka and Kerala.
“Quit India” was genuinely a mass movement, bringing into its ambit hundreds of thousands of ordinary Indians. It especially energised the young who, in very large numbers, left their colleges to go to jail.

33 of 47

However, while the Congress leaders languished in jail, Jinnah and his colleagues in the Muslim League worked patiently at expanding their influence.
In June 1944, with the end of the war in sight, Gandhiji was released from prison. Later that year he held a series of meetings with Jinnah, seeking to bridge the gap between the Congress and the League.
In 1945, a Labour government came to power in Britain and committed itself to granting independence to India. Meanwhile, back in India, the Viceroy, Lord Wavell, brought the Congress and the League together for a series of talks.

34 of 47

Early in 1946 fresh elections were held to the provincial legislatures. The Congress swept the “General” category, but in the seats specifically reserved for Muslims the League won an overwhelming majority.
The political polarization was complete. A Cabinet Mission sent in the summer of 1946 failed to get the Congress and the League to agree on a federal system that would keep India together while allowing the provinces a degree of autonomy.
After the talks broke down, Jinnah called for a “Direct Action Day” to press the League’s demand for Pakistan.
On the designated day, 16 August 1946, bloody riots broke out in Calcutta. The violence spread to rural Bengal, then to Bihar, and then across the country to the United Provinces and the Punjab. In some places, Muslims were the main sufferers, in other places, Hindus.

35 of 47

In February 1947, Wavell was replaced as Viceroy by Lord Mountbatten . Mountbatten called one last round of talks, but when these too proved inconclusive he announced that British India would be freed, but also divided.
The formal transfer of power was fixed for 15 August. When that day came, it was celebrated with gusto in different parts of India.
In Delhi, there was “prolonged applause” when the President of the Constituent Assembly began the meeting by invoking the Father of the Nation – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Outside the Assembly, the crowds shouted “Mahatma Gandhi ki jai”.

36 of 47

THE LAST HEROIC DAYS

As it happened, Mahatma Gandhi was not present at the festivities in the capital on 15 August 1947. He was in Calcutta, but he did not attend any function or hoist a flag there either.
Gandhiji marked the day with a 24-hour fast. The freedom he had struggled so long for had come at an unacceptable price, with a nation divided and Hindus and Muslims at each other’s throats.
Gandhiji went round hospitals and refugee camps giving consolation to distressed people.
He “appealed to the Sikhs, the Hindus and the Muslims to forget the past and to live in peace.

37 of 47

The last heroic days…..

At the initiative of Gandhiji and Nehru, the Congress now passed a resolution on “the rights of minorities”.
The party had never accepted the “two-nation theory”: forced against its will to accept Partition, it still believed that “India is a land of many religions and many races, and must remain so”.
Whatever be the situation in Pakistan, India would be “a democratic secular State where all citizens enjoy full rights and are equally entitled to the protection of the State, irrespective of the religion to which they belong”.
The Congress wished to “assure the minorities in India that it will continue to protect, to the best of its ability, their citizen rights against aggression”.

38 of 47

After working to bring peace to Bengal, Gandhiji now shifted to Delhi, from where he hoped to move on to the riot-torn districts of Punjab.
While in the capital, his meetings were disrupted by refugees who objected to readings from the Koran, or shouted slogans asking why he did not speak of the sufferings of those Hindus and Sikhs still living in Pakistan.
There was an attempt on Gandhiji’s life on 20 January 1948, but he carried on undaunted.
Gandhiji had fought a lifelong battle for a free and united India; and yet, when the country was divided, he urged that the two parts respect and befriend one another.

39 of 47

At his daily prayer meeting on the evening of 30 January, Gandhiji was shot dead by a young man.
The assassin, who surrendered afterwards, was a Brahmin from Pune named Nathuram Vinayak Godse, the editor of an extremist Hindu newspaper who had denounced Gandhiji as “an appeaser of Muslims”.
Gandhiji’s death led to an extraordinary outpouring of grief, with rich tributes being paid to him

from across the political spectrum in India and

from the world.

40 of 47

…..

Time magazine compared his martyrdom to that of Abraham Lincoln: it was a bigoted American who had killed Lincoln for believing that human beings were equal regardless of their race or skin colour; and it was a bigoted Hindu who had killed Gandhiji for believing that friendship was possible, indeed necessary, between Indians of different faiths.

41 of 47

Gandhi as a social reformer

Gandhiji was as much a social reformer as he was a politician.
He took steps to remove social evils such as child marriage and untouchability.
He gave emphasis on Hindu Muslim harmony.
Meanwhile on the economic front Indians had to learn to become self- reliant –hence he stressed on the significance of wearing khadi rather than mill-made cloth imported from overseas.

42 of 47

Rumours of Gandhiji’s miraculous powers

There were some rumours of Gandhiji’s miraculous powers.
In some places it was said that he had been sent by the king to redress the grievances of the farmers and that he had the power to overrule all local officials.
Gandhiji’s appeal among the poor and peasants, in particular, was enhanced by his ascetic life style.
It was also claimed that Gandhi’s power was superior to that of the English Monarch and with his arrival colonial rulers would flee the district.

43 of 47