Details — Nationalism in India

1. How Nationalism Grew in India

Modern nationalism in colonies was closely tied to anti-colonial struggle. Shared oppression created a bond, but each class experienced colonialism differently. Congress under Gandhi tried to unite groups; unity did not come without conflict. This chapter focuses on the 1920s onward: Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience.

2. First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation

War impact

Defence spending rose; war loans; higher taxes; customs raised; income tax introduced.
Prices doubled between 1913 and 1918.
Forced recruitment angered villages.
Crop failures (1918–19, 1920–21) + influenza epidemic; census 1921: 12–13 million deaths from famines and epidemic.
Hardships did not end after the war.

Idea of Satyagraha

Gandhi returned January 1915 from South Africa. Satyagraha: power of truth; if cause is just, physical force unnecessary; win through non-violence by appealing to the oppressor’s conscience.

Early satyagrahas:

Year	Place	Issue
1917	Champaran (Bihar)	Oppressive plantation system
1918	Ahmedabad	Cotton mill workers
1918	Kheda (Gujarat)	Peasants unable to pay revenue after crop failure and plague

Rowlatt Act (1919)

Passed despite Indian members’ opposition. Allowed repression of political activity and detention without trial for two years. Gandhi planned nationwide satyagraha with hartal on 6 April.

Rallies, strikes, shop closures followed. Local leaders arrested in Amritsar; Gandhi barred from Delhi. 10 April: police fired on peaceful procession in Amritsar → attacks on banks, post offices, stations; martial law; General Dyer took command.

Jallianwala Bagh, 13 April 1919: Crowd (protest + Baisakhi fair); many unaware of martial law. Dyer blocked exits and fired, killing hundreds — to ‘produce a moral effect’. News sparked strikes and attacks; government repression (crawling orders, flogging, bombing near Gujranwala). Gandhi called off the movement due to violence. Movement was mostly urban; Gandhi sought Hindu–Muslim unity via Khilafat.

Khilafat and Non-Cooperation

Ottoman Turkey defeated in WWI; fear of harsh treaty on the Khalifa. Khilafat Committee (Bombay, March 1919); Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali. Calcutta Congress (Sept 1920): Non-Cooperation for Khilafat and swaraj.

Hind Swaraj (1909): British rule survived through Indian cooperation; refusal would bring collapse and swaraj.

Stages proposed: surrender titles; boycott civil services, army, police, courts, councils, schools, foreign goods; then full civil disobedience if repressed.

Nagpur Congress (Dec 1920) adopted the programme after internal tussle (fear of violence; reluctance to boycott council elections).

3. Differing Strands within Non-Cooperation (from Jan 1921)

Towns

Students left schools/colleges; teachers resigned; lawyers gave up practice. Council elections boycotted except Madras (Justice Party of non-Brahmans entered councils). Foreign cloth boycott: imports halved 1921–22 (Rs 102 crore → Rs 57 crore). Liquor shops picketed. Indian mill and handloom production rose.

Slowdown: Khadi costly for poor; alternative Indian institutions slow; students/lawyers returned to British institutions.

Countryside — Awadh peasants

Led by Baba Ramchandra (former indentured labourer in Fiji). Against talukdars/landlords: high rents, cesses, begar, insecure tenure. Demands: reduce revenue, abolish begar, social boycott (nai–dhobi bandhs). Oudh Kisan Sabha (Oct 1920) with Nehru, Baba Ramchandra — 300+ branches. Congress tried to integrate them; movement turned violent (attacks, looting); local leaders claimed Gandhi ordered no taxes and land redistribution.

Bardoli Satyagraha (1928): Vallabhbhai Patel; against land revenue enhancement; successful.

Gudem Hills (Andhra Pradesh)

Colonial forest closures denied grazing, fuelwood, fruits; forced begar for roads. Alluri Sitaram Raju led guerrilla struggle; praised Gandhi and khadi but believed force necessary. Attacked police stations; executed 1924; folk hero.

Plantation workers (Assam)

Under Inland Emigration Act (1859) could not leave tea gardens without permission. Thousands left believing Gandhi Raj would give village land; stranded by strikes; beaten by police.

Chauri Chaura (1922): Peaceful demonstration turned violent clash with police in Gorakhpur; Gandhi halted Non-Cooperation.

4. Towards Civil Disobedience

After Non-Cooperation

Gandhi withdrew Feb 1922 (violence; need for training). Some leaders wanted council politics (Swaraj Party: C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru). Younger leaders (Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose) wanted radical mass agitation and full independence.

Late 1920s: Worldwide depression; agricultural prices fell from 1926, collapsed after 1930; peasants couldn’t pay revenue.

Simon Commission (1928): All-British; slogan ‘Go back Simon’; Congress and Muslim League protested. Lala Lajpat Rai died after police assault during protest.

Lord Irwin (Oct 1929): Vague dominion status offer + Round Table Conference — unsatisfactory.

Lahore Congress (Dec 1929): Under Nehru; demand for Purna Swaraj; 26 January 1930 as Independence Day. Little public attention — need for concrete symbol.

Salt March and Civil Disobedience

31 Jan 1930: Gandhi’s letter to Irwin with 11 demands; abolish salt tax as most stirring (salt used by rich and poor). Ultimatum to 11 March.

Salt March: 78 volunteers; Sabarmati to Dandi (~240 miles, 24 days, ~10 miles/day). 6 April: boiled seawater, broke salt law → Civil Disobedience begins.

Difference from Non-Cooperation: Not only refuse cooperation — break colonial laws. Salt law broken widely; boycott; picketing; refuse revenue/chaukidari taxes; forest law violations.

Repression: Abdul Ghaffar Khan arrested (Peshawar firing); Gandhi arrested → Sholapur workers attack symbols of rule; ~100,000 arrested.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact (5 March 1931): Congress to Second Round Table; political prisoners released. Dec 1931 negotiations fail; repression resumes; movement relaunched; loses momentum by 1934.

5. How Participants Saw Civil Disobedience

Group	Meaning of struggle / swaraj	Notes
Rich peasants (Patidars, Jats)	Against high revenue	Disappointed when 1931 called off without revenue revision; many stayed away in 1932
Poor peasants	Remission of unpaid rent	Radical/Socialist-Communist movements; Congress hesitant on ‘no rent’
Business classes	End colonial business restrictions; protect against imports	FICCI 1927; Thakurdas, G.D. Birla supported initially; later feared militancy/socialism
Industrial workers	Low wages, conditions; selective boycott	Limited CD participation except Nagpur region; strikes 1930/1932
Women	Service to nation as sacred duty	Large participation; Congress kept them mostly symbolic; Gandhi’s view of domestic duty

HSRA (1928, Ferozeshah Kotla): Bhagat Singh, Jatin Das, Ajoy Ghosh; Assembly bomb April 1929 (Bhagat Singh, Batukeswar Dutta); sought social revolution, not cult of bomb.

6. Limits of Civil Disobedience

Dalits

Congress long ignored dalits fearing sanatanis. Gandhi: swaraj impossible without ending untouchability; called them harijan; temple entry, public access satyagrahas. Many dalit leaders wanted reserved seats and separate electorates. Ambedkar’s Depressed Classes Association (1930); clash at Second Round Table; Gandhi’s fast; Poona Pact (Sept 1932): reserved seats but elected by general electorate. Dalit movement remained apprehensive.

Muslims

After Non-Cooperation-Khilafat decline, many Muslims felt alienated; Congress linked with Hindu Mahasabha from mid-1920s; communal riots. 1927 unity hopes; Jinnah ready to give up separate electorates if reserved seats/population-based representation in Bengal and Punjab; blocked by M.R. Jayakar (Hindu Mahasabha) at All Parties Conference 1928. Large Muslim sections lukewarm to Civil Disobedience; minority identity fears. Iqbal (1930 Muslim League president) defended separate electorates as minority safeguard.

7. Sense of Collective Belonging

Created through united struggle and culture: history, fiction, folklore, prints, symbols.

Bharat Mata: image first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay; ‘Vande Mataram’ (1870s) in Anandamath; Abanindranath Tagore painting (1905) — ascetic, calm, spiritual.
Folklore: Tagore collected ballads in Bengal; Natesa Sastri’s The Folklore of Southern India in Madras.
Flags: Swadeshi tricolour (red, green, yellow) — 8 lotuses, crescent; Gandhi’s Swaraj flag (1921) — red, green, white with spinning wheel.
History reinterpretation: Celebrate ancient achievements against colonial portrayal of Indians as backward; problem when past glorified as only Hindu — other communities felt left out.

8. Conclusion and Quit India (Additional box in chapter)

Congress channelled grievances into organised movements but diverse aspirations caused phases of unity and conflict — a nation with many voices seeking freedom.

Quit India (1942): After Cripps Mission failure and WWII discontent; Wardha resolution 14 July 1942; Bombay AICC 8 August — ‘Do or Die’; mass hartals and processions; leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan, Aruna Asaf Ali, Ram Manohar Lohia; women such as Matangini Hazra, Kanaklata Barua, Rama Devi; suppressed over more than a year.