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Non-Cooperation Movement and Mahatma Gandhi

The document discusses the emergence of the non-cooperation movement led by Mahatma Gandhi as a significant part of India's struggle against British colonial rule, following a series of events exacerbated by World War I, such as economic hardship and forced military recruitment. Gandhi's arrival in India marked the beginning of mass mobilization for freedom, culminating in protests against oppressive laws like the Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which intensified national sentiment. The movement rallied supporters from various backgrounds, promoting unity among Hindus and Muslims while facing challenges from both internal divisions and the colonial government's repression.

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The Non-Cooperation Movement and Mahatma Gandhi Made by :- Rahul Kumar
As we all know, the British East India company established themselves in India in the year 1600 with the sole purpose of trade. But their hungry imperialistic rulers didn’t restrict themselves only with trade . They moved on to conquer the lands of India because it was no sooner that they discovered its political, geographical and economical importance. It all started with the battle of Plassey and Buxar in the years 1757 and 1764 respectively in Bengal. These two battles were followed by the widespread conquest of the whole Indian subcontinent within the next few years. And that was the beginning of a new colonial rule that would last for a reigning 190 years. For the first few decades, people thought that it was for the betterment of the society that the “East India Company” had overthrown the Indian rulers. But it was not long before the natives came to know about the lurking greed of the colonizers, and started revolting. It is to be noted that this fight for freedom took a lot of time and an organized sense of protest before it could transform itself from mere revolts to a big war for independence. More importantly, it took a sense of collective belonging to fight the British. On looking back at the past, we find out that it was only after Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, an ordinary barrister in South Africa, came to India that the country unified and a unanimous feeling of freedom was felt. The first huge wave was that of the “Non-Cooperation Movement” which started in 1919. This is precisely what we’ll be discussing in the following presentation. Hope you like it.
• The first World War created a new economic and political situation. It led to the huge increase in defence expenditure which was financed by war loans and increasing taxes that were paid by the Indians and a new “income tax” was introduced. • The prices of goods and services increased- doubling between 1913 and 1918. It led to extreme hardships among the common people, which led to hyperinflation. • Villages were called upon to supply soldiers and the process of forced recruitment- a process by which the colonial state forced the people to join the army, in rural areas caused widespread anger. • In 1918-19 and in 1920-21, crops failed in many parts of India causing acute shortages of food. This resulted in unhygienic living condition and an influenza epidemic broke out, resulting in the deaths of 12 to 13 million people. • At first, the people thought that with the end of the world war, the British would leave the Indian subcontinent, but this did not happen. As a result of these many incidents, a new sense of “not bearing the British” was felt.
Posters inspired the youth to join the army Inflation caused small things to cost a lot Forced recruitments were made into the British Indian Army Famine caused a lot of loss of life
•Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in the year 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat, India. He was born to a Diwan of Porbandar, Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi and his wife, Putlibai Gandhi. •He went abroad in the year 1888, left by steamer for London to attend law school. He attended the University College of London law school and was called to the English bar on June 10, 1891. •He went to South Africa to practice law and did only fairly well career wise. He was not that good an orator as he was a writer. He did fight many cases but could succeed only in a few. There he was exposed to the biggest factor that encouraged him to fight against the colonizers- Racism •The most prominent of the incidents that shaped Gandhi's ideologies, was when he was thrown out of a train because Indians, colored and black people could not sit in a coach that was meant to be for the British even if they did have a ticket legitimately. •Gandhi spent 21 years of his life in South Africa shaping his political views, ethics and political leadership skills. Gandhi in Durban Young Gandhi
•Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in January 1915. •He successfully introduced the idea of SATYAGRAHA which was a novel method of mass agitation without the use of violence. • After arriving in India, Mahatma Gandhi successfully organised SATYAGRAHA movements in various places including CHAMPARAN in Bihar and KHEDA and AHMEDABAD in Gujarat. Gandhi with his wife Gandhi as a barrister Wearing his trademark khadi cap
Champaran Movement [1916]: • It was a movement of workers in the indigo plantations of the Champaran district of Bihar. It was against the oppressive plantation system. Kheda Movement[1917]: • Crop failure and plague epidemic made the life of the farmers miserable in the Kheda district of Gujarat. So, they started a movement under Gandhiji’s leadership with the demand for a reduction in land revenue. Mill workers Movement: • Low wages and poor working conditions forced the mill workers of Ahmedabad to start a movement under Gandhiji’s leadership in 1918. Gandhiji in Champaran Gandhiji in Kheda
• This act was introduced by Sir Sidney Rowlatt • This act gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities, and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years. • Aim of this act was to destroy the national movement by imprisoning the national workers. • It was a black law because it was against basic human rights. • Under this act, DR. SATYAPAL and DR. SYED KITCHLEW were arrested. • Mahatma Gandhi wanted a non violent protest against this act which would start on 6th April 1919 SIR SIDNEY ROWLATT Announcement of Rowlatt act in newspapers
•Following the Hartal launched by Mahatma Gandhi on 6th April 1919, rallies were organized in various cities and workers went on strike in railway workshops and shops closed down. •Alarmed by the popular upsurge, and scared that lines of communication such as railways and telegraph would be disrupted, the British administration decided to clamp down on nationalists. •Local leaders were picked up from Amritsar and Mahatma Gandhi was barred from entering Delhi. •Martial law was imposed and General Dyer, who was then a Colonel took over. •On 10th of April 1919, a peaceful procession was fired upon, which provoked widespread attacks on banks, post offices and railway stations Protest against Rowlatt Act
•On 13 April 1919, a public meeting was organized at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar to protest against the arrests of national leaders, namely Dr. Satyapal and Dr Syed Kitchlew. It was a completely non-violent gathering • Many villagers who came to attend a fair were also present in the park. •Many of them were also passers-by who just stopped by to take a look of what all the crowd was about. •Some of the people present in the park were also pilgrims who were unaware about the martial law that had been passed on that particular day. •According to that martial law, not more than 4 people could be seen together. According to the intelligentsia, this law was read out in Punjabi, Hindi, Sindhi, Urdu and English. •But not many people were aware of this as, much of the public came to know about it later or it was spread by word of mouth which, no doubt would have been unreliable. • Colonel Dyer reached the meeting place along with the British troops. Without warning the crowd to disperse, he blocked all the entrances. Dyer ordered the troops to start firing towards the densest region where the people were accumulated. •The firing lasted for nearly 10 minutes. About 1,650 rounds of bullets were fired. •People were shot mercilessly. •More than thousand people were killed and many were wounded. This incident is called Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. •When later on asked upon as to what was the motive behind such ruthless killing, General Dyer declared that it was done to create a feeling of terror and awe in the minds of the satyagrahis.
Colonel Reginald Dyer Present day Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Preserved bullet marks on the wall “Martyrs’ Well” where the people jumped Michael O’Dwyer Shaheed Udham Singh
•As the news of Jallianwala Bagh spread, crowds took to the streets in many north Indian towns. •There were strikes, clashes with the police and attacks on government buildings. •The government too responded with brutal repression, seeking to humiliate and terrorise people: satyagrahis were forced to rub their noses to the ground, crawl on the streets and do salaam to all the sahibs. •People were flogged and villages (around Gurjanwala in Punjab, now in Pakistan) were bombed. •Seeing the atrocities of the Britishers, Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement. •Even though the Rowlatt satyagraha had been a widespread movement, it was restricted only to the cities and towns.
•Mahatma Gandhi now felt that a more broad-based movement had to be launched in India. •He knew that there was no other way to do this except bringing the Hindus and Muslims closer together. •One way of doing this, he felt, was taking up the Khilafat issue. • The first World War had ended with the defeat of the Ottoman empire. There were also rumors that a harsh peace treaty was about to be imposed on the ruler of the Ottoman empire- the Caliph, who happened to be the spiritual head of the Islamic world( which was known as the Khalifa). •To defend the Caliph’s temporal powers, a Khilafat committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919. •This committee was headed by a young generation of Muslim leaders like the Ali brothers- Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali. •Mahatma Gandhi saw this as an opportunity to unite the Hindus and Muslims. •He began discussing with the Ali brothers, the possibility of a united action on the Khalifa’s issue. •Gandhiji saw this as an opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified national movement. •Thus, at the Calcutta session of Congress in September 1920, he convinced the other leaders of the need to start a non- cooperation movement in support of swaraj as well as in support of the Khalifa.
Members of the Khilafat Movement Muhammad Ali (left) and Shaukat Ali (right) Caliph of Ottoman empire during WW1 Mehmed V
•Mahatma Gandhi, in his book Hind Swaraj(1909) declared that the British rule was established in India only with the cooperation of Indians and had survived only because of this cooperation. •If Indians would refuse to cooperate with the British, the British rule would collapse within a year, and Swaraj would come. •But how could non-cooperation become a movement ? Gandhiji proposed that the movement should unfold in stages. It should begin with the surrender of government titles and awards that were given by the government. •Then, a boycott of civil services, army, police, courts and legislative councils, schools and foreign goods should be made. •Further, in case the government used repression, a full scale Civil Disobedience campaign would be launched. •Through the summer of 1920, Mahatma Gandhi and the Ali brothers toured extensively, mobilizing popular support for the movement. •All this had to be done without the use of violence, thus causing a great resistance.
Cover of the original book Hind Swaraj Posters encouraging the Indians to Boycott the foreign dresses Advertisement promoting Indian goods
•Many members in the Indian National Congress were concerned about adopting the non-cooperation movement and the boycott movement. • This was because they were reluctant to boycott the council elections of November 1920. •Also they feared that the movement might lead to popular violence. •In the months between September and December, there was intense tussle within the Congress. •For a while, there seemed to be no meeting point between the supporters and the opponents of this movement. •But finally, in December 1920, a compromise was worked out and the Non- Cooperation programme was adopted.
DIFFERING STRANDS WITH THE NON- COOPERATION MOVEMENT
•In towns, the movement started with the participation of the middle class. •Thousands of students left the government controlled schools and colleges. Headmasters and teachers resigned and lawyers gave up legal practices. •The council elections were boycotted in most provinces except Madras, where the Justice Party, a party for the non-Brahmins, felt that entering the council was one way of gaining power – something that only the Brahmins had access to. •The effects of non-cooperation movement on the economic front were dramatic. Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops were picketed and foreign cloth was burnt in huge bonfires. The import of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922, its value dropping from 102 crore to 57 crore. In many places merchants refused to trade in foreign goods or finance foreign trade. •As the boycott movement spread, and people began disregarding imported clothes and wearing only Indian ones, the production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up. •But this movement in cities gradually slowed down for a variety of reasons. Khadi cloth was more expensive than mass produced mill cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it. So, the boycott of foreign clothes was not for long. •Similarly, the boycott of British institutions posed a problem. For the movement to be successful, alternative Indian institutions had to be set up so that they could replace the British ones. But these Indian institutions took a long time to come up. So, the students, teachers, and headmasters started trickling back into the government schools and lawyers joined back work in government courts.
Making of a bonfire of foreign clothes Public announcement of the bonfire of foreign clothes Students protesting
•From the cities, the non-cooperation movement spread into the countryside. It drew into its fold the struggles of peasants and tribal's which were developing in different parts of India in the years after the war. •In Awadh, the peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra- a sanyasi who had earlier been to Fiji as an indentured labourer. The movement here, was against the talukdars, and landlords who demanded exorbitantly high rents and a variety of other cesses. Peasants had to do begar and work at landlords’ farm without any payment. As tenants, they had no security of tenure, being regularly evicted, so that they could acquire no right over the leased land. •The peasant movement demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of begar and social boycott of oppressive landlords. •In many places, nai-dhobi-bandhs were organized by panchayats to deprive the landlords of even barbers and washermen. •By October 1920, the “Oudh Kisan Sabha” was set up and headed by Jawarharlal Nehru , Baba Ramchandra and a few others. Within a month, over 300 branches were set up in the villages around the area. So, the next year, when the non-cooperation movement began, one of the major efforts of the Congress was to integrate the Awadh peasant struggle into the wider struggle. •As the movement spread in 1921, the hoses of talukdrs and merchants were attacked, bazaars were looted and grain hoards were taken over. •The name of Mahatma Gandhi was invoked to sanction all action and aspirations which were not even directed.
•Tribal peasants interpreted the message of Mahatma Gandhi and swaraj in yet another way. In the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh, a militia guerilla movement spread in the early 1920s- which was not the spirit of the non-cooperation movement. •Here, the colonial government had closed large forest areas, preventing people from entering the forests to graze their cattle or to collect fuel wood and fruits. •This enraged the hill people. Not only were their livelihoods affected but they felt that their traditional rights were being denied. When the government began forcing them to contribute begar for road building, the hill people revolted. •The person who came to lead them was an interesting person by the name of Alluri Sitaram Raju. He claimed that he had a variety of special powers: he could make correct astrological predictions and heal people and also he could survive bullet shots. Captivated by Raju, the tribals proclaimed that he was an incarnation of God. •Raju talked of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi, said that he was inspired by the non- cooperation movement, and persuaded the people to wear khadi and give up drinking. •But, at the same time, he asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of force, not non-violence. •The Gudem rebels attacked police stations, attempted to kill British officials and carried on guerilla warfare for achieving swaraj. •Raju was captured and executed in 1924, and over time, became a folk hero.
Alluri Sitaram Raju
•Workers too had their own understanding of Mahatma Gandhi and the notion of swaraj. •For plantation workers in Assam, freedom meant the right to freely move in and out of the confined space in which they were kept in. It meant a link with the village from where they had come. •Under the Inland Immigration act(1859), plantation workers were not allowed to leave the tea gardens without permission, and in fact, they were rarely given such a permission. •When they heard of the non-cooperation movement, thousands of workers defied the authorities, left the plantations and headed home. •They believed that Gandhi raj was coming and everyone was being given land in their own villages. •They however did not reach their destination. Stranded on the way by a railway and steamer strike, they were caught up by the police and brutally beaten up.
•Gandhiji withdrew the Non Co operation Movement because: •The movement became violent in some places. In february 1922, in Chauri chaura (Uttar Pradesh) people turned violent and set fire to a police station. Twenty two police men were killed in this incident. Gandhiji was against violence. •The movement slowed down in urban areas. • He thought that it was necessary to train the people in non violent satyagraha.
•Non Co operation movement was a large scale mass movement. It attracted common people from all social groups. •Non Co operation Movement and Khilafat Movement went together. So, they promoted Hindu-Muslim unity. •Peasants’ and tribals’ movements became a part of the Indian National Movement. •It was a non violent movement. So, it popularised the Gandhian idea of Non violent satyagraha.
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