Class 10th (Nationalism in India--Ch 3-History)

 Introduction
• Modern nationalism was associated with the formation of nation-states.

• In India like many other colonies, the growth of modern nationalism is connected to the anti-
colonial movement.

 The First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation

 The First World War (1914-1918) created a new political and economic situation.
 Emergence of a new economic and political landscape due to the war.
 Surge in defense spending, funded through war loans and increased taxes (elevated customs
duties and the introduction of income tax).
 Escalation of prices and hardships for the general populace.
 Compulsory recruitment of individuals for the war effort. Severe shortage of food leading to
widespread famine and suffering.
 According to the census of 1921, 12 to 13 million people perished as a result of famines and
the epidemic.
 Growing realization among Indians that their involvement in the war was unwarranted.
 This realization fostered unity among Indians against British rule
 The Idea of Satyagraha

 January 1915: Mahatma Gandhi returns to India from South Africa, initiating the Satyagraha
movement.
 Satyagraha focuses on the power of truth and the imperative to seek it.
 Gandhi advocates non-violence as a means to unite all Indians and achieve victory.
 It suggested that if the cause was true, if the struggle was against injustice, then physical force
was not necessary to fight the oppressor.
 1917: Gandhi travels to Champaran, Bihar, inspiring peasants to resist the oppressive
plantation system.
 Same year: Organizes satyagraha in Kheda, Gujarat, supporting peasants in their struggle.
 1918: Gandhi leads a satyagraha movement among cotton mill workers in Ahmedabad.

 The Rowlatt Act

 Gandhiji, in 1919, decided to launch a nationwide satyagraha against the proposed Rowlatt Act
of 1919.

 Provisions of the Rowlatt Act were:

 Act had been hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite the united
opposition of the Indian members.
 It gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities, and allowed
detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.

 Events happened:-

 Commencement of non-violent civil disobedience against the unjust law.

 Organization of rallies in different cities to protest the legislation.
 Workers initiating strikes in railway workshops as part of the resistance.
 Closure of shops in protest against the unjust law.
 Local leaders were picked up from Amritsar, and Mahatma Gandhi was barred from entering
Delhi.

 Jallianwalla Bagh incident:

 On 13 April, the Jallianwalla Bagh incident took place.
 On that day a crowd of villagers who had come to Amritsar to attend a fair gathered in the
enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh.
  Being from outside the city, they were unaware of the martial law that had been imposed.
 Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points, and opened fire on the crowd, killing
hundreds.
 His object, as he declared later, was to ‘produce a moral effect’, to create in the minds of
satyagrahis a feeling of terror and awe.

 Result of rowlatt Act(after Jallianwala bagh incident):-

 crowds took to the streets in many north Indian towns.
 There were strikes, clashes with the police and attacks on government buildings.
 The government responded with brutal repression.
 satyagrahis were forced to rub their noses on the ground.
 people were flogged and villages (around Gujranwala in Punjab, now in Pakistan) were
bombed.
 The reasons for starting the Khilafat Movement
 The First World War had ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey.
 rumors circulated about an impending severe peace treaty for the Ottoman emperor (Khalifa).
 To defend the Khalifa’s temporal powers, a Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in
March 1919.
 Muhammad Ali persuaded fellow leaders to initiate a non-cooperation movement in solidarity
with Khilafat and Swaraj.
 Gandhiji saw this as an opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified national
movement.
 At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, he convinced other leaders of the
need to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as for swaraj.

Why Non-cooperation?

 In his famous book Hind Swaraj (1909) Mahatma Gandhi declared that British rule was
established in India with the cooperation of Indians
 If Indians refused to cooperate, British rule in India would collapse within a year.
 Gandhiji proposed that the movement should unfold in stages.
 began with the surrender of titles that the government awarded.
 a boycott of civil services, army, police, courts and legislative councils, schools, and foreign
goods.
 Through the summer of 1920 Mahatma Gandhi and Shaukat Ali toured mobilising popular
support for the movement.
  at the Congress session at Nagpur in December 1920, a compromise was worked out and the
Non-Cooperation programme was adopted.

 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.

 The Movement in the Towns

 it started with middle-class participation in the cities.

 Thousands of students left government-controlled schools and colleges, headmasters and
teachers resigned.
 lawyers gave up their legal practices.
 Council elections were boycotted.
 Liquor shops were picketed.
 Foreign goods were boycotted.
 The import of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922, its value dropping from Rs 102
crore to Rs 57 crore.
 production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up.

NOTE----
The council elections were boycotted in most provinces except Madras,
where the Justice Party, the party of the non-Brahmans, felt that entering
the council was one way of gaining some power – something that usually
only Brahmans had access to.

 Rebellion in the Countryside

 Awadh Peasants: Baba Ramchandra, a sanyasi, led the peasants of Awadh in a movement
against oppressive talukdars and landlords.
 The landlords and talukdars imposed exorbitant rents and other cesses on the peasants,
who were forced to engage in unpaid beggar work and toil on landlords' farms without
compensation.
 Peasants, as tenants, lacked security of tenure and were frequently evicted from their
homes. The peasant movement aimed for a reduction in revenue, the abolition of beggar
work, and a social boycott against oppressive landlords
 Panchayats organized nai-dhobi bandhs in many places, depriving landlords of essential
services such as barbers and watermen.
  The Oudh Kisan Sabha, led by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra, and others, was
established to advocate for peasant rights.
 In 1921, there were instances of attacking talukdars' and merchants' houses, looting
bazaars, and taking over grain hoards as part of the protest.

 Tribal Peasants:
 Tribal peasants interpreted the message of Mahatma Gandhi and the idea of swaraj in yet
another way.
 In the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh, for instance, a militant guerrilla movement spread in
the early 1920s.
 Large forest areas were closed by the colonial government, barring people from grazing their
cattle, collecting fuel wood, and gathering fruits, causing resentment among the hill people.
 The closure of these forests not only impacted their livelihoods but also led to the perception
that their traditional rights were being denied.
 The government's imposition of unpaid beggar work for road construction further fueled the
discontent of the hill people.
 Faced with the denial of traditional rights and forced beggar work, the hill people initiated a
revolt against the colonial authorities.
 The Gudem rebels attacked police stations, attempted to kill British officials and carried on
guerrilla warfare for achieving swaraj.

 Alluri Sitaram Raju:

 Alluri Sitaram Raju, a tribal leader in the Gudem hills of Andhra Pradesh, initiated a militant
guerrilla movement.
 The tribal community opposed colonial policies, which adversely affected their livelihoods and
denied them traditional rights.
 Inspired by Gandhiji’s Non-Cooperation movement, Alluri Sitaram Raju encouraged people to
wear khadi and abandon drinking.
 He claimed to possess special powers, including making astrological predictions, healing
people, and surviving bullet shots.
 Despite advocating for non-violent practices like khadi-wearing and abstinence from alcohol,
he maintained that India could only achieve liberation through the use of force, rejecting the
path of non-violence.
 Raju was captured and executed in 1924, and over time became a folk hero.

 Swaraj in the Plantations

  For plantation workers in Assam, freedom meant the right to move freely in and out of the
confined space in which they were enclosed.
 it meant retaining a link with the village from which they had come.
 Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not permitted to leave
the tea gardens without permission.
 When they heard of the Non-Cooperation Movement, thousands of workers defied the
authorities, left the plantations and headed home.
 They, however, never reached their destination.
 Stranded on the way by a railway and steamer strike, they were caught by the police and
brutally beaten up.

 In February 1922, Gandhiji made the decision to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement
following the Chauri Chaura incident, which occurred in Gorakhpur district of UP on 4th
February 1922.
 The incident unfolded when a peaceful demonstration in a bazaar escalated into a violent
clash with the police, resulting in the deaths of three civilians and approximately 22 or 23
policemen.
 Gandhiji believed that Satyagrahis required proper training before they could effectively
engage in mass struggles.

 Towards Civil Disobedience

 In February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement

because
 Violence was escalating in various locations within the movement.
  Gandhiji believed that Satyagrahis must undergo adequate training before being prepared for
large-scale struggles.
 Many leaders such as 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.

 Factors that shaped Indian politics towards the late 1920s

 the Worldwide Economic Depression
 Agricultural prices collapsed after 1930 as the demand for agricultural goods fell and exports
declined.
 As the demand for agricultural goods fell and exports declined, peasants found it difficult to
sell their harvests and pay their revenue.

 Simon Commission
 the new Tory government in Britain constituted a Statutory Commission under Sir John
Simon.
 the commission was to look into the functioning of the constitutional system in India and
suggest changes.
 The problem was that the commission did not have a single Indian member. They were all
British.
 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.

 Effect of protest against Simon Commision

 the viceroy, Lord Irwin, announced in October 1929 , a vague offer of ‘dominion status’ for
India in an unspecified future.
 a Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution.
 The radicals within the Congress, led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose,
became more assertive.
 In December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress
formalised the demand of ‘Purna Swaraj’ or full independence for India.
 It was declared that 26 January 1930, would be celebrated as the Independence Day.

 The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement

  On January 31, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi dispatched a letter to Viceroy Irwin outlining eleven
demands.
 Among these demands, the most impactful was the call for the abolition of the salt tax, a
burden borne by both the wealthy and the impoverished.
 The letter conveyed that these demands needed fulfillment by March 11, or else the Congress
would initiate the civil disobedience campaign.
 Irwin was unwilling to negotiate.
 The famous salt march was started by Mahatma Gandhi accompanied by 76 of his trusted
followers from Sabarmati to Dandi.
 On the 6th of April, they reached Dandi, and violated the law, by manufacturing soil and
marking the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

 Events during this movement

 Thousands in different parts of the country broke the salt law, manufactured salt and
demonstrated in front of government salt factories.
 As the movement spread, foreign cloth was boycotted, and liquor shops were picketed.
 Peasants refused to pay revenue and chaukidari taxes.
 village officials resigned.
 in many places forest people violated forest laws – going into Reserved Forests to collect
wood and graze cattle.
 the colonial government began arresting the Congress leaders one by one.
 When Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a devout disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, was arrested in April 1930,
angry crowds demonstrated in the streets of Peshawar, facing armoured cars and police firing.
 Many were killed.
 Mahatma Gandhi once again decided to call off the movement and entered into a pact with
Irwin on 5 March 1931.

 Round Table Conference

 the government agreed to release the political prisoners.

 In December 1931, Gandhiji went to London.
 the negotiations broke down and he returned disappointed.
 Back in India, he discovered that the government had begun a new cycle of repression.
  Ghaffar Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru were both in jail, the Congress had been declared
illegal.
 Mahatma Gandhi relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement.
 For over a year, the movement continued, but by 1934 it lost its momentum.

 How Participants saw the Movement

 Rich peasants

 rich peasant communities – like the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh – were
active in the movement.
 their cash income disappeared, they found it impossible to pay the government’s revenue
demand.
 Rich peasant communities expected the revenue tax to be reduced, when the British refused to
do so, they did join the movement.
 They did not rejoin the movement as the movement was called without revising the revenue
rates.

 Poor Peasants
 The poor peasants wanted rents of lands to be remitted.
 They joined a variety of radical movements, often led by Socialists and Communists.
 The Congress was unwilling to support the “no rent” campaigns due to the fear of upsetting the
rich peasants and landlords.
 So the relationship between the poor peasants and the Congress remained uncertain.

 Business Classes

 During the First World War, Indian merchants and industrialists had made huge profits and
become powerful.
 To organise business interests, they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in
1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927.
 After the war, their huge profits were reduced, wanted protection against import of foreign
goods.
 Led by prominent industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla, the industrialists
attacked colonial control over the Indian economy, and supported the Civil Disobedience
Movement.
  They gave financial assistance and refused to buy or sell imported goods.
 Most businessmen came to see swaraj as a time when colonial restrictions on business would
no longer exist
 trade and industry would flourish without constraints.
 The spread of militant activities, worries of prolonged business disruptions, growing influences
of socialism amongst the young Congress forced them not to join the movement.

 Women

 Women also participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and
liquor shops.
 Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority within the
organisation.
 Many went to jail.
 Moved by Gandhiji’s call, they began to see service to the nation as a sacred duty of women.
 for a long time the Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority
within the organisation.

 Limits of Civil Disobedience

 The Dalits or the Untouchables did not actively participate in the movement.
 Mahatma Gandhi, recognizing their importance, termed them Harijans or the children of God,
emphasizing their indispensable role in achieving Swaraj.
 they demanded reservation of seats, separate electorates.
 Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the leader of the Dalits, formed an association in 1930, called the
Depressed Classes Association.
 He clashed with Gandhiji.
 Poona Pact between the Gandhiji and B.R. Ambedkar (1932) gave reserved seats in Provincial
and Central Councils but were voted by general electorate.
 Following the decline of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat movement, Muslim alienation from
Congress intensified, leading to a deterioration in Hindu-Muslim relations.
 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.
 However, the prospect of reaching a resolution during the All Parties Conference in 1928
faded away when M.R. Jayakar from the Hindu Mahasabha vehemently opposed attempts at
finding a compromise.
 Many Muslim leaders and intellectuals expressed their concern about the status of Muslims as
a minority within India.
 The Sense of Collective Belonging

 This sense of collective belonging came partly through the experience of united struggles.
 History and fiction, folklore and songs, popular prints and symbols, all played a part in the
making of nationalism.
 In Madras, Natesa Sastri published a massive four-volume collection of Tamil folk tales, The
Folklore of Southern India.
 Nationalist histories 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.
 By 1921, Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag. It was again a tricolour (red, green and white)
and had a spinning wheel in the centre.
 Carrying the flag, holding it aloft, during marches became a symbol of defiance.
 With the growth of nationalism, that the identity of India came to be visually associated with
the image of Bharat Mata.
 Devotion to this mother figure came to be seen as evidence of one’s nationalism.
 In the 1870s he wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ as a hymn to the motherland.

Note---(Bharat Mata)
 The image was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
 Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata.
In this painting Bharat Mata is portrayed as an ascetic figure; she is calm, composed, divine
and spiritual.
In subsequent years, the image of Bharat Mata acquired many different forms, as it
circulated in popular prints, and was painted by different artists.