Class 10 History · Chapter 2 NotesNationalism in India

The First World War created severe economic hardship in India. Defence expenditure rose, taxes and customs duties were increased, and prices nearly doubled between 1913 and 1918. Forced recruitment of soldiers in villages caused anger. Crop failures in 1918-19 and 1920-21 led to food shortages, and an influenza epidemic followed. According to the 1921 census, 12 to 13 million people died due to famines and the epidemic. People expected relief after the war, but it did not come. Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in January 1915 and introduced satyagraha, a method of mass agitation based on truth and non-violence. He organised satyagrahas at Champaran in Bihar in 1917, in Ahmedabad among cotton mill workers in 1918, and in Kheda district of Gujarat in 1918. In 1919 he launched a nationwide satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act, which allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years. The movement began with a hartal on 6 April. On 13 April 1919, General Dyer ordered firing on a crowd at Jallianwalla Bagh in Amritsar, killing hundreds. Violence spread, and Gandhiji called off the movement. He then took up the Khilafat issue to bring Hindus and Muslims together. A Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919, and at the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, Gandhiji convinced leaders to start a non-cooperation movement for Khilafat and swaraj.

• Satyagrahaa method of mass agitation emphasising truth and non-violence.
• Rowlatt Act (1919)allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
• Jallianwalla Bagh incident13 April 1919, Amritsar.
• Khilafat Committee formed in Bombay in March 1919.

In his book Hind Swaraj (1909), Mahatma Gandhi argued that British rule in India survived only because Indians cooperated with it. If Indians refused to cooperate, British rule would collapse within a year and swaraj would come. Gandhiji proposed that the movement should unfold in stages. It would begin with the surrender of titles awarded by the government and a boycott of civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils, schools and foreign goods. If the government used repression, a full civil disobedience campaign would be launched. Through the summer of 1920, Gandhiji and Shaukat Ali toured extensively to mobilise support. Many Congress leaders were reluctant to boycott the council elections scheduled for November 1920 and feared popular violence. After intense debate, a compromise was worked out at the Nagpur session of the Congress in December 1920, and the Non-Cooperation programme was adopted.

• Hind Swaraj (1909)Gandhiji's book explaining the idea of non-cooperation.
• Stages of non-cooperationsurrender of titles, boycott of institutions and foreign goods, then civil disobedience if needed.
• Nagpur Congress session, December 1920Non-Cooperation programme adopted.

The Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement began in January 1921. Different social groups joined it with different aspirations. In towns, thousands of students left government schools and colleges, teachers resigned, and lawyers gave up practice. Council elections were boycotted in most provinces except Madras, where the Justice Party participated. Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and foreign cloth burnt. The import of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922, its value falling from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore. Indian textile mills and handlooms increased production. However, the movement slowed down because khadi was expensive for poor people, and alternative Indian institutions were slow to develop. In the countryside, peasants in Awadh were led by Baba Ramchandra against talukdars and landlords who demanded high rents and forced labour (begar). They demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, and social boycott of oppressive landlords. Jawaharlal Nehru toured villages and helped set up the Oudh Kisan Sabha in October 1920. In the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh, Alluri Sitaram Raju led a militant guerrilla movement. In Assam, plantation workers under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859 were not allowed to leave tea gardens without permission. Hearing of the Non-Cooperation Movement, thousands left the plantations, believing that Gandhi Raj was coming and they would get land in their own villages. They were caught by police and beaten. In February 1922, at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, a peaceful demonstration turned violent, and Gandhiji withdrew the movement.

• Begarforced labour without payment.
• Oudh Kisan Sabhaset up in October 1920, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra and others.
• Alluri Sitaram Rajuled the Gudem rebels; captured and executed in 1924.
• Chauri Chaura incident, February 1922Gandhiji withdrew Non-Cooperation Movement.

After the withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement, some Congress leaders wanted to participate in provincial council elections. C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party. Younger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose demanded more radical mass agitation and full independence. The worldwide economic depression affected Indian agriculture; prices fell from 1926 and collapsed after 1930. In 1928, the Simon Commission arrived in India to look into the constitutional system, but it had no Indian member. It was greeted with the slogan 'Go back Simon'. In October 1929, Viceroy Lord Irwin offered 'dominion status' in an unspecified future, but this did not satisfy Congress leaders. In December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress formalised the demand for 'Purna Swaraj' or full independence. It was declared that 26 January 1930 would be celebrated as Independence Day. Since the celebrations attracted little attention, Gandhiji looked for a concrete issue to unite the nation.

• Swaraj Partyformed by C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru.
• Simon Commissionset up in 1928, had no Indian member.
• Lahore Congress, December 1929demand for Purna Swaraj.
• 26 January 1930declared as Independence Day.

Mahatma Gandhi found in salt a powerful symbol that could unite the nation. On 31 January 1930, he sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin stating eleven demands, the most stirring being the demand to abolish the salt tax. Salt was consumed by rich and poor alike, and the tax and government monopoly over its production revealed the most oppressive face of British rule. Gandhiji warned that if the demands were not fulfilled by 11 March, the Congress would launch a civil disobedience campaign. Irwin was unwilling to negotiate. So Gandhiji started the famous salt march on 12 March 1930 with 78 trusted volunteers. The march covered over 240 miles from Sabarmati ashram to Dandi, and the volunteers walked for 24 days, about 10 miles a day. On 6 April, Gandhiji reached Dandi and ceremonially violated the law by manufacturing salt from sea water. This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement. People were now asked not only to refuse cooperation but also to break colonial laws. Thousands broke the salt law, boycotted foreign cloth, picketed liquor shops, refused to pay revenue and chaukidari taxes, and violated forest laws. The government arrested Congress leaders, leading to violent clashes. Abdul Ghaffar Khan was arrested in April 1930, and angry crowds demonstrated in Peshawar. When Gandhiji was arrested, industrial workers in Sholapur attacked police posts and government buildings. About 100,000 people were arrested. Gandhiji called off the movement and signed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact on 5 March 1931. He agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London, and the government agreed to release political prisoners. The negotiations failed, and Gandhiji returned disappointed. He relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement, but by 1934 it lost momentum.

• Salt Marchfrom Sabarmati to Dandi, 12 March to 6 April 1930.
• DandiGandhiji broke the salt law on 6 April 1930.
• Gandhi-Irwin Pact5 March 1931.
• Second Round Table ConferenceDecember 1931, in London.

Different social groups joined the Civil Disobedience Movement for different reasons. In the countryside, rich peasant communities like the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh were active. They were producers of commercial crops and were hard hit by the trade depression and falling prices. They found it impossible to pay the government's revenue demand and wanted it reduced. For them, swaraj meant a struggle against high revenues. They were disappointed when the movement was called off in 1931 without revenue rates being revised, and many refused to participate when it was restarted in 1932. The poorer peasantry, including small tenants, wanted unpaid rent to be remitted. They joined radical movements led by Socialists and Communists. The Congress was unwilling to support 'no rent' campaigns, so its relationship with poor peasants remained uncertain. Business classes, led by industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla, supported the movement when it was first launched. They wanted protection against imports and a favourable rupee-sterling exchange ratio. They formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927. They gave financial assistance and refused to buy or sell imported goods. But after the failure of the Round Table Conference, they became less enthusiastic. Industrial workers did not participate in large numbers, except in the Nagpur region. Some workers adopted Gandhian ideas like boycott of foreign goods in their own movements for better wages and working conditions. There were strikes by railway workers in 1930 and dockworkers in 1932. Women participated in large numbers. They came out of their homes, listened to Gandhiji, participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Many went to jail. In urban areas, these women were from high-caste families; in rural areas, they came from rich peasant households. However, the Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold positions of authority within the organisation.

• Rich peasantsPatidars of Gujarat and Jats of Uttar Pradesh.
• Business groupsIndian Industrial and Commercial Congress (1920), FICCI (1927).
• Womenparticipated in marches, salt manufacturing, picketing, and went to jail.
• Workersrailway strike in 1930, dockworkers' strike in 1932.

Not all social groups were moved by the abstract concept of swaraj. The 'untouchables', who from around the 1930s began to call themselves dalit or oppressed, were one such group. The Congress had long ignored the dalits for fear of offending the sanatanis, the conservative high-caste Hindus. Mahatma Gandhi declared that swaraj would not come for a hundred years if untouchability was not eliminated. He called the 'untouchables' harijan, or children of God, organised satyagraha to secure them entry into temples and access to public wells, tanks, roads and schools. He himself cleaned toilets to dignify the work of the bhangi. But many dalit leaders wanted a different political solution. They demanded reserved seats in educational institutions and a separate electorate that would choose dalit members for legislative councils. Dr B. R. Ambedkar organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930 and clashed with Mahatma Gandhi at the Second Round Table Conference by demanding separate electorates for dalits. When the British government conceded Ambedkar's demand, Gandhiji began a fast unto death. Ambedkar ultimately accepted Gandhiji's position, and the result was the Poona Pact of September 1932. It gave the Depressed Classes reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils, but they were to be voted in by the general electorate. Many Muslim political organisations were also lukewarm in their response to the Civil Disobedience Movement. After the decline of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement, a large section of Muslims felt alienated from the Congress. From the mid-1920s, the Congress came to be more visibly associated with openly Hindu religious nationalist groups like the Hindu Mahasabha. As relations between Hindus and Muslims worsened, communal clashes and riots occurred in various cities. The Congress and the Muslim League tried to renegotiate an alliance, but differences over representation in future assemblies could not be resolved. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was willing to give up the demand for separate electorates if Muslims were assured reserved seats in the Central Assembly and representation in proportion to population in Muslim-dominated provinces. But all hope of resolving the issue at the All Parties Conference in 1928 disappeared when M. R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha strongly opposed efforts at compromise. When the Civil Disobedience Movement started, there was an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust between communities.

• Dalitterm meaning oppressed, adopted by the 'untouchables' from around the 1930s.
• Depressed Classes Associationorganised by Dr B. R. Ambedkar in 1930.
• Poona PactSeptember 1932, gave reserved seats to Depressed Classes in legislative councils.
• Communal tensionHindu Mahasabha and Muslim League differences over representation.

Nationalism spreads when people begin to believe that they are all part of the same nation. This sense of collective belonging came partly through the experience of united struggles. But there were also cultural processes through which nationalism captured people's imagination. History and fiction, folklore and songs, popular prints and symbols all played a part. The identity of the nation was symbolised in the image of Bharat Mata. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote 'Vande Mataram' in the 1870s as a hymn to the motherland. It was included in his novel Anandamath and widely sung during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal. Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata in 1905, portraying her as an ascetic figure, calm, composed, divine and spiritual. Devotion to this mother figure came to be seen as evidence of one's nationalism. Nationalism also developed through a movement to revive Indian folklore. Nationalists recorded folk tales sung by bards and toured villages to gather folk songs and legends. In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore collected ballads, nursery rhymes and myths. In Madras, Natesa Sastri published a four-volume collection of Tamil folk tales, The Folklore of Southern India. During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, a tricolour flag (red, green and yellow) was designed with eight lotuses representing eight provinces and a crescent moon representing Hindus and Muslims. By 1921, Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag, a tricolour (red, green and white) with a spinning wheel in the centre, representing the Gandhian ideal of self-help. Another means was the reinterpretation of history. Indians began looking into the past to discover India's great achievements in art, architecture, science, mathematics, religion, culture, law, philosophy, crafts and trade. They urged readers to take pride in India's past and struggle to change the miserable conditions under British rule. However, these efforts to unify people were not without problems. When the past being glorified was Hindu, and the images celebrated were drawn from Hindu iconography, people of other communities felt left out.

• Bharat Mataimage first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay; painted by Abanindranath Tagore in 1905.
• Vande Mataramhymn to the motherland, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
• Swaraj flagdesigned by Gandhiji in 1921, tricolour with spinning wheel.
• Folklore revivalRabindranath Tagore in Bengal, Natesa Sastri in Madras.