NATIONALISM IN INDIA
Mahatma Gandhi’s Role in Nationalism
Mahatma Gandhi played a significant role in nationalism. He was practising law in South
Africa. He returned to India from South Africa in 1915.
Due to Colonialism, every Indian citizen was a British prisoner. He started many
movements to help Indians get freedom from Britishers. He gave the idea of Sathyagraha.
Sathyagraha: It emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for truth. It
suggested that if the cause was true, if the struggle was against injustice, then physical
force was not necessary to fight the oppressor.
It involved mass agitation against injustice in a peaceful manner. The movement
emphasises the power of truth and the need to search for truth. Mahatma Gandhi led the
Satyagraha movement in Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad.
Year Sathyagraha Sathyagraha type Reason for Sathyagraha
name
Farmers were forced to grow
indigo by the British planters
1917 Champaran Civil Disobedience under the tinkathia system.
(3/20 parts)
During draughts, as per law, the
farmers were entitled to
1918 Kheda Non Cooperation remission if the produce was
less than a quarter of the normal
(11th output. But the officials wanted
March) to collect tax.
The owners wanted to withdraw
the plague bonus to the workers
1918 Ahmedabad mill Hunger Strike while the workers were
strike demanding a hike of 50% in
(15th their wages.
March)
The First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation
• The First World War (1914-1918) created a new political and economic situation.
• India faced various problems during war period:
→ Increase in defence expenditure.
→ Prices increased through the war years.
→ Forced recruitment in rural areas.
• During 1918-19 and 1920-21, crops failure in many parts of India.
• Hardships did not end after the war was over.
The Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
The British government passed the Rowlatt Act in 1919. This act gave them the power to
control any political activity and authorise the detention of political prisoners without
trials for up to 2 years.
On 13th April 1919, the Baisakhi fair was held at the Jallianwala Bagh (Amritsar), which
was attended by several villagers when there was countrywide martial law.
General Dyer blocked the entry and exit points of the bagh and opened fire at the
civilians. This killed thousands of men, women and children at the fair.
This brutal act of Britishers enraged other Indian citizens. There were riots, attacks on
government structures, and widespread protests.
Mahatma Gandhi decided to end the Rowlat Sathyagraha because of the complete chaos
and violence in the nation.
Khilafat Movement
During that time, the First World War ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey. In
March 1919, a Khilafat committee was formed in Bombay to defend the Khalifa’s
temporal powers.
After the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy, Mahatma Gandhi took up the Khilafat movement,
which brought Hindus and Muslims together. The movement was led by two brothers,
Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Ali.
In 1920, Mahatma Gandhi convinced National Congress leaders to start a non-
cooperation movement supporting Khilafat and Swaraj.
At the Congress session at Nagpur in December 1920, the Non-Cooperation programme
was adopted.
Why Non-Cooperation?
Mahatma Gandhi believed that British rule was established in India because of the cooperation of
the Indians. If Indians had refused to cooperate, British rule would have collapsed within a year.
As a step to get freedom from Britishers, Mahatma Gandhi introduced the non-cooperation
movement. The movement began with the surrender of titles awarded by the government.
The middle class began the movement; thousands of students, teachers, and headmasters deserted
government-run schools and colleges, and lawyers stopped practising law. People started
boycotting foreign goods. As a result, the production of Indian textiles and handlooms increased.
Rebellion in countryside
Peasant Movement in Awadh
• The peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra in Awadh against landlords and talukdars.
• In 1920, the Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba
Ramchandra and a few others.
Movement of Tribals in Andhra Pradesh
• Alluri Sitaram Raju led the guerrilla warfare in the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh.
• Raju was captured and executed in 1924.
Swaraj in the Plantations
• For the plantation workers, Swaraj means moving freely.
• They protested against the Inland Emigration Act (1859) which prevented them from
leaving the plantation without permission.
• Each group interpreted the term swaraj in their own ways.
Towards Civil Disobedience
In February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation
Movement after the Chauri Chaura incident where 22 police men where burnt alive.
Many leaders like C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party within the
Congress to argue for a return to council politics.
Younger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose pressed for more
radical mass agitation and for full independence.
In 1929, the Lahore Congress, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, established the demand for
“Purna Swaraj,” or complete independence.
Simon Commission
When the Simon Commission arrived in India in 1928, it was greeted with the slogan ‘Go
back Simon’.
The problem was that the commission did not have a single Indian member. They were
all British.
All parties, including the Congress and the Muslim League, participated in the
demonstrations.
In an effort to win them over, the viceroy, Lord Irwin, announced in October 1929, a vague offer
of ‘dominion status’ for India in an unspecified future, and a Round Table Conference to discuss
a future constitution. This did not satisfy the Congress leaders
The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement
The Salt March was a non-violent protest action in India led by Mahatma Gandhi. He demanded
Viceroy Irwin abolish the salt tax.
He began the Salt March with 78 of his trusted volunteers. The march covered more than 240
miles from Gandhiji’s ashram in Sabarmati to the Gujarati coastal town of Dandi.
On April 6, he arrived in Dandi and broke the law by manufacturing salt by boiling seawater.
This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement
• It was different from Non-Cooperation Movement as people were now asked not only to refuse
cooperation but also to break colonial laws.
• Boycott of foreign goods, non-payment of taxes, breaking forest laws were its main features.
• The British Government followed a policy of brutal repression and arrested all the leaders
including Gandhiji and Nehru.
• Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement because of the crowd turning violent in its approach
and also with the Gandhi-Irwin Pact being signed.
Gandhi-Irwin Pact
• On 5 March, 1931, Lord Irwin, the Viceroy, signed a pact with Gandhi.
• In December, 1931, Gandhiji went to London for the Second Round Table Conference but
returned disappointed.
• Gandhi relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement but by 1934 it lost its momentum.
The Poona Pact
The Poona Pact was an agreement between Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar on
behalf of dalits, depressed classes and the upper caste Hindu leaders.
The pact was regarding the reservation of electoral seats for the lower classes in the
legislature of British India in 1932.
The act was formulated as dalits refused to participate in the movement without separate
electorates and reservation of seats.
Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the leader of the Dalits, formed an association in 1930, called the
Depressed Classes Association.
Limits of Civil Disobedience
• The Dalits or the Untouchables did not actively participate in the movement, they demanded
reservation of seats, separate electorates.
• The leader of the Muslim League M.A. Jinnah wanted reserved seats for Muslims in Central
Assembly.
→ Large sections of Muslims did not participate in the Civil disobedience movement.
Vande Mataram
History nationalism in India was encouraged by means of patriotic and historical fiction,
folklore, songs, etc. In the 20th century, the identity of India became visually associated with the
image of Bharat Mata.
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay created the image. He wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ in the
1870s as a patriotic song Later it was included in his novel Anandamath
Gandhiji designed the Swaraj flag in 1921. It was a tricolour (red, green, and white) with
a spinning wheel in the middle, signifying the Gandhian ideal of self-help.
