Social Sciences: Class 10 (Part 3) — Chapter 2: Nationalism in India

• Defence Expenditure: Led to a huge increase in defence expenditure financed by war loans and increasing taxes (customs duties were raised and income tax was introduced).
• Price Rise: Prices doubled between 1913 and 1918, leading to extreme hardship for the common people.
• Forced Recruitment: Villages were called upon to supply soldiers, and forced recruitment in rural areas caused widespread anger.
• Crop Failure & Epidemic: In 1918-19 and 1920-21, crops failed in many parts of India, resulting in acute food shortages, accompanied by an influenza epidemic. According to the 1921 census, 12 to 13 million people perished.

Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in January 1915, where he had successfully fought the racist regime with a novel method of mass agitation called satyagraha.

• Core Philosophy: Emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for truth. It suggested that if the cause was true and the struggle was against injustice, physical force was not necessary. A satyagrahi could win the battle through non-violence by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor.
• Early Satyagraha Movements in India:
  • 1917 (Champaran, Bihar): To inspire peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system.
  • 1918 (Kheda, Gujarat): To support peasants affected by crop failure and plague epidemic demanding revenue relaxation.
  • 1918 (Ahmedabad, Gujarat): To organise a satyagraha movement amongst cotton mill workers.

Passed hurriedly through the Imperial Legislative Council despite united Indian opposition, the Rowlatt Act gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.

• The Protest: Gandhiji decided to launch a nationwide satyagraha starting with a hartal on 6 April 1919. Rallies were organised, workers went on strike, and shops closed down.
• Government Repression: Local leaders were arrested, Gandhiji was barred from entering Delhi, and martial law was imposed under General Dyer.
• Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre: On 13 April 1919, a large crowd gathered at Jallianwalla Bagh (some to protest, others to attend the annual Baisakhi fair). General Dyer blocked the exit points and opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds, to 'produce a moral effect' and strike terror.
• Aftermath: Widespread strikes and clashes led to brutal government repression. Seeing violence spread, Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement.

To launch a more broad-based movement, Gandhiji felt it was necessary to bring Hindus and Muslims closer together by taking up the Khilafat issue.

• The Issue: The First World War ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey, and rumours spread of a harsh peace treaty on the Ottoman emperor (the Khalifa, spiritual head of the Islamic world).
• Khilafat Committee: Formed in Bombay in March 1919 by leaders like Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali.
• Congress Support: At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, Gandhiji convinced other leaders to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as for swaraj.

In his book Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhiji declared that British rule was established in India with the cooperation of Indians, and if Indians refused to cooperate, British rule would collapse within a year and swaraj would come.

• Proposed Stages: Surrender of government-awarded titles, followed by a boycott of civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils, schools, and foreign goods.
• Adoption: After intense tussles within the Congress, the Non-Cooperation programme was formally adopted at the Nagpur Congress session in December 1920.

• Participation: Middle-class led. Thousands of students left government schools, teachers resigned, and lawyers gave up legal practices. Council elections were boycotted in most provinces (except Madras, where the Justice Party participated).
• Economic Impact: Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and foreign cloth burnt. Imports of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922 (value dropping from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore).
• Why it Slowed Down: Khadi cloth was often more expensive than mass-produced mill cloth, which the poor could not afford. Additionally, alternative Indian institutions were slow to come up, forcing students, teachers, and lawyers to return to government setups.

• Awadh Peasants: Led by Baba Ramchandra (a sanyasi). The movement was against talukdars and landlords who demanded high rents and forced peasants to perform begar (labour without payment). The Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up in October 1920, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru and Baba Ramchandra.
• Tribal Peasants (Gudem Hills, Andhra Pradesh): Led by Alluri Sitaram Raju. The colonial government had closed forest areas, preventing tribals from grazing cattle or collecting fuelwood. Raju, inspired by Gandhiji, persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking, but asserted that India could be liberated only by force, not non-violence. The Gudem rebels used guerrilla warfare. Raju was captured and executed in 1924.

For plantation workers in Assam, freedom meant the right to move freely in and out of the confined spaces where they were enclosed, and retaining a link with their home villages.

• Inland Emigration Act of 1859: Plantation workers were not permitted to leave the tea gardens without permission, which was rarely granted.
• Defiance: Hearing of Non-Cooperation, thousands of workers defied authorities, left the plantations, but were stranded by railway/steamer strikes, caught by the police, and brutally beaten.
• Chauri Chaura (1922): In February 1922, at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, a peaceful demonstration turned into a violent clash with the police, resulting in the burning of a police station. Hearing of this, Mahatma Gandhi immediately called off the Non-Cooperation Movement.

• Swaraj Party: Formed by C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru within the Congress to argue for a return to council politics to oppose British policies from within.
• Economic Depression: Late 1920s saw falling agricultural prices, which collapsed after 1930, leaving the countryside in turmoil.
• Simon Commission (1928): A Statutory Commission under Sir John Simon set up to look into India's constitutional system. It did not have a single Indian member. It was greeted with the slogan 'Go back Simon' upon arrival in 1928.
• Purna Swaraj (1929): In December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress formalised the demand for Purna Swaraj (complete independence), declaring 26 January 1930 as Independence Day.

Gandhiji found in salt a powerful symbol that could unite the nation, as it was consumed by rich and poor alike.

• The Ultimatum: On 31 January 1930, Gandhiji sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin stating eleven demands, including the abolition of the salt tax.
• The Salt March (Dandi March): Started on 12 March 1930. Gandhiji, accompanied by 78 trusted volunteers, marched over 240 miles from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal town of Dandi. On 6 April 1930, he reached Dandi and ceremonially violated the law by manufacturing salt from seawater. This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• Difference from Non-Cooperation: People were now asked not only to refuse cooperation but also to break colonial laws.
• Government Repression & Gandhi-Irwin Pact: Over 100,000 people were arrested, including Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Gandhiji. Gandhiji called off the movement and signed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact on 5 March 1931, agreeing to participate in the Second Round Table Conference in London. The conference failed, and upon return, Gandhiji relaunched the movement, which lost momentum by 1934.

• Rich Peasants (Patidars of Gujarat, Jats of UP): Active supporters because of falling prices of commercial crops. For them, the fight for swaraj was a struggle against high revenues.
• Poor Peasants: Wanted unpaid rent to landlords remitted. They often joined radical movements led by Socialists and Communists, which the Congress was reluctant to support.
• Business Classes: Led by prominent industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G.D. Birla, they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress (1920) and the FICCI (1927). They supported the movement financially but grew apprehensive after the failure of the Round Table Conference.
• Industrial Working Class: Did not participate in large numbers, except in the Nagpur region.
• Women: Participated on a large scale in protest marches, salt manufacturing, and picketing.

• The Dalits: Ignored by the Congress for long to avoid offending conservative high-caste Hindus (sanatanis). Gandhiji called them harijans (children of God) and worked for their upliftment. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar demanded separate electorates for Dalits, leading to a clash with Gandhiji and the signing of the Poona Pact (September 1932), which gave reserved seats to Depressed Classes in provincial and central councils.
• Muslim Organizations: Lukewarm response due to alienation from the Congress after the decline of the Khilafat movement and the visible association of Congress with Hindu nationalist groups like the Hindu Mahasabha. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was willing to compromise on separate electorates if Muslims were assured reserved seats in the Central Assembly, but negotiations failed.

Launched by Gandhiji in August 1942 following the failure of the Cripps Mission and the discontent of World War II, demanding complete British withdrawal from India. Gandhiji gave the famous slogan 'Do or Die'. It was a massive, non-violent popular movement that brought the state machinery to a standstill before being suppressed by force.