Early life and methods adopted by Mahatma Gandhi

1. Early life of mahatma Gandhi
 Mohandas karamchand gandhi popularly known
as bapu, completely dominated over Indian
national movement from 1919-1948. that is this
period is known as Gandhian era in Indian history.
 Mahata gandhi was born in1869 at porbandar in
the Kathiawad district of gujarat.
 In 1888,he went to England to study law. From
1893-1914 he practiced law in south Africa.
 During1893-1914 he was engaged in a heroic
struggle against authorities in south Africa. He
formed the Indian natal congress and suffered
imprisonment.

2. Gandhiji returned to India in 1915 and spent
the next four years in studying the Indian
situation.
Three significant struggles of Gandhiji from
1917-1918
o Champaran satyagraha 1917
o Ahmedabad satyagraha 1918
o Kheda satyagraha 1918

3. Champaran satyagraha 1917
 Place- Champaran Bihar
 Reason- The indigo cultivators were bound to grow indigo on
3/20th of their land(the tinkathia system)and sell it to the
British planters at prices fixed by them.
 Outcome- Due to the satyagraha an inquiry was conducted
into the conditions of the peasants. This helped in giving the
indigo cultivators some relief.

4. Ahmedabad satyagraha 1918
 Place- Ahmedabad
 Reason-Gandhiji led the mill workers of Ahmedabad in a strike
against the mill owners who had refused to pay them higher
wages.
 Outcome-Afraid of the consequences the mill owners agreed
on the fourth day of Gandhiji’s fast to give a 35% increase in
wages.

5. Kheda satyagraha 1918
Place- Kheda
Reason-Crops failed in kheda and the peasants were
not in a position to pay land revenue. The
government refused to forgo the land revenue.
Outcome-Due to the satyagraha the government was
forced to arrive at the settlement with the peasants.

6. Gandhiji’s methods and directions
Satyagraha -…satya (truth)…Agraha(insistence to hold
fast) ……It meant to be fearless, truthful as well as
peaceful , suffering willingly while refusing to submit to
what is wrong.
Doctrine of non violence – non violence for ahimsa
means non killing or avoiding injury , but for gandhiji, it
meant avoiding injury to anything by thought, word or
deed.
Swadeshi – It means producing necessary items in one’s
own country and using them for ones use without being
dependent.
Mass movement – The South African experiment gave
Gandhiji the experience of leading Indians belonging to
different religions regions and social classes.

7. NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT
 Gandhiji urged the Gujarati peasants to join the army, if they
wanted to win Swaraj.
 But the events of 1919 like the khilafat wrongs, passing of
the Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy greatly
disillusioned Gandhiji. He turned from a cooperator to non
cooperator and decided to start the non cooperation
movement. Gandhiji said, ‘’ Non Cooperation with evil is as
much a duty as is cooperation with good.’’
 Causes that led to non cooperation movement
 Khilafat movement
 Rowlatt act
 Jallianwala bagh act

8. Khilafat movement
 The population in India started a powerful agitation against the British
known as khilafat movement, under the leadership of the ali brothers-
Mohammed ali , shaukat ali , hakim ajmal khan and hasrat mohani.
 Khilafat day was observed on October 17,1919.
 Demands of the khilafatists
 The ottoman caliph should retain his empire
 The caliph must be left with sufficient territory to enable him to defend
the Islamic states
 The Arab lands must remain under the Muslim rule

9. Rowlatt act
• Two bills were introduced by the government in
February 1919, by sedition committee headed by
justice Rowlatt.
• The purpose of the bill was to curb the growing
upsurge in the country.
• The Rowlatt act implied
 Arrest of the person without trials
 In camera trial
 Restriction on movement of individual
 Suspension of the rights of habeas corpus

10. Jallianwala bagh tragedy
• A large big peaceful crowd gathered at the jallianwala bagh in
Amritsar on April 13,1919 to protest against the leaders like
Dr. saiffudin kitchlu and Dr satya pal.
• After closing the only exit general dyer ordered his troops to
shoot at the crowd.
• About one thousand demonstrators were killed and many
more wounded.

11. Objectives of non cooperation
movement
 To attain self government within the British empire if possible
and outside if necessary
 Annulment of the Rowlatt act and remedying the ‘Punjab
wrong’ i.e., the British government must regret on the
happening in Punjab.
 Remedying the ‘khilafat wrong’ i.e., the British should adopt a
lenient attitude towards turkey.

12. Simon Commision
• In November 1927, the British government appointed the
Indian Statutory Commision, popularly known as Simon
Commision.
• It consisted of seven British parliament members .It had
no Indian member.
• At INC’s 1927 session, it was decided to boycott the
commission at every stage and every form.
• On February 3,the day the commission reached Bombay,
an All India Hartal was organized. The Simon Commission
was welcomed with black flags and hartals.
• Popular slogan –”Simon Go Back”.
• Government used brutal methods to suppress the
opposition. As a result of which Lala Lajpat Rai was
beaten up to death.

13. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SIMON
COMMISION
• Dyarchy should be abolished and there should be
complete autonomy in the Provinces.
• Provincial Legislatives councils should be enlarged.
• Federal Government at the centre, should embrace
not only British India but also Princely States.
• The Governer-General should select and appoint
members of his Cabinets.
• British troops and British officers should stay on in
Indian regiments for many more years.
• High Courts should be under the administrative
control of the Government of India.
• The communal representation was to continue.

14. NEHRU REPORT(1928)
• Lord Birkenhead, justified the exclusion of the Indians in
the Simon Commission .The Indians were not united and
could not arrive at an ‘agreed scheme of reforms’.
• The Nehru Report proposed:
i. Dominion status of India;
ii. Parliament of India should consist of-(a)The Senate
elected for 7 years containing 200 members elected
by the provincial states.
(b)House representation with 500 members elected
for five years through adult franchise.
iii. Joint electorates with reservation of seats for
minorties.
iv. Creation of ‘new provinces’ on linguistic basis.
v. ‘Nineteen Fundamental Rights’ including right to
vote, freedom from arbitrary arrest.

15. DECLARATION OF PURNA SWARAJ
• The Calcutta session of the INC had seen an ultimatium
to the British Government to accept Nehru report by the
end of 1929 to face a mass movement.
• Jawaharlal Nehru was the president of the Lahore Session
of INC and made it a historic session. He declared that
the main objective of the congress would be ‘Poorna
Swaraj’.
• On the midnight of 31st,December 1929, Jawaharlal
Nehru hoisted the Tricolor Flag at the banks of the river
Ravi at Lahore.
• The main Programme was:
i. Preparation of Civil Disobidience.
ii. Observation of January 26th as the ‘Poorna Swaraj’
day all over the country.
iii. Resignation of members form the legislatures.

16. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
MOVEMENT(1930-34)
• The Congress Working committee met in February 1930
at Sabarmati Ashram and vested in Gandhiji to launch the
Civil Disobedience Movement.
• Before starting the movement, Gandhiji served a ‘Eleven
Point Ultimatum’.
• Gandhiji started the movement with his famous Dandi
March from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi on the Gujarat
Coast.

17. DANDI MARCH
• On 12th March, Mahatma Gandhi began the historic march
from Sabarmati ashram to Dandi.
• Many people followed Gandhiji.
• Gandhiji violated the Salt Tax at Dandi, by picking up some
salt left by the waves.
• He had selected to attack the salt tax because salt tax
affected all the sections of the society.
• Breaking of the Salt laws marked the beginning of the civil
disobedience movement.

18. THE PROGRESS OF THE MOVEMENT
• Violation of the salt laws spread rapidly over the other
parts of the country. Some of them are:
i. Defiance of forest laws in Karnataka, Maharashtra
and Central Provinces.
ii. Refusal to pay chaukidar tax in eastern India.
• People of the country joined and boycotted British goods
all over India.
• Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan organized the Khudai
Khidmatagars(or Servants of god), known as Red Shirts.
• In Nagaland, Rani Gaidilieu, at the age of 13 responded
to Gandhi’s call and raised banners against the British.