Nationalism in India

Nationalism in India

Impact of first world war:

1.The war led to a huge increase in defense  expenditure. This was financed by war loans and    

     higher taxes .

2.Custom duties were raised, Income tax was  introduced. This, meant higher burden on all

3.Imports had become costlier ;military demand for  goods had increased hoarding and  

   speculation  was rampant as a  result prices of basic goods  rises. This caused immense   

    hardship

4.Villages were called upon to supply soldiers  forced recruitment in rural areas caused    

    widespread resentment

People expected that misery would end once the war was over the post war period provide a fertile ground for the nationalist movement to flourish

At this stage a new leader appeared and suggested a new mode of struggle

Mahatma  Gandhi  returned in  January 1915(fought racist regime with mass agitation which he called Satyagraha)

Idea of Satyagraha: It emphasized the need to search for the truth it suggested that physical force was not necessary to fight against injustice . A  Satyagrahi could win the battle through non-violent methods by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor . Satryagraha was adopted  as a means of struggle for freedom from the British rule.

It meant the use of peaceful ,non-violent legitimate method against injustice

Gandhi  ji was aware that by no stretch of imagination the Britishers could be defeated in an armed struggle

By this struggle, truth was bound to ultimately triumph, he believe that it would unite the nation

1916- champaran in Bihar , to inspire the peasant to struggle against the oppressive plantation system

1917-kheda in Gujarat, to support the peasant affected by crop failure and a plague epidemic could not pay the revenue and demanded it should be relaxed

1918-ahmedabad organized satyagrah movement amongst cotton mill workers

The rowlatt Act :

 This act was hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite the united   

  Opposition of the indian members

It gave the government enormous powers to repress the political activities, and allowed

  Detention of political prisoners without trail for two years

            No Appeal , No Dalil , No Vakil

 Gandhi ji started a nationwide satyagrah against this act ,non-violent  civil-disobedience act  

  He started with hartal on 6^th april

On feb 1919 founded the satyagraha samba, members took pledge to disobey

Rallies were organized in various cities, workers  went on strike in railway workshops and shops were closed down,Britishers decided to suppress, as a result local leader were picked up from Amritsar . Gandhi ji was barred from entering delhi .

On 10 April the police man fired upon a peaceful procession (Dr saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr satyapal were arrested) provoking widespread attack on banks, post office and railway

Martial law was imposed and General Dyer took command on 13 April the in famous Jallianwalla Bagh accident took place. On that day a large crowd gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh where some came to protest against the government new repressive measures and other come to attend the annual Baisakhi fair, being from outside they were not aware about the martial law as a result hundreds of people were killed in an opened fire .

When the news of jallianwalla bagh spread, there were strikes, clashes with the police and attacks on government buildings . Government responded with brutal repression, seeking to humiliate.

Satyagrahi has to rub his noses on the ground crawl on the streets , and do salaam to all sahibs ,people were flogged and villages were bombed  seeing this violence Gandhi ji called off the movement

Now Gandhi ji want to start  a nation wide movement and he knows that such a movement couldn’t be organized without bringing Hindus and Muslims together

For that Gandhi ji  took up the Khilafat issue

After the world war –I  Ottoman turkey was defeated and their was a rumor that a harsh treaty was going to be imposed . To support ottoman turkey a khilafat committee was formed in Bombay in march 1919 a young generation of Muslim leaders like the brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali began discussing with mahatma Gandhi about the possibility of united mass action on the issue .

Gandhi ji found this as  an opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella  of a unified national movement

Calcutta session of the congress in Sept 1920  Gandhi ji convinced other leader of the need to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as for Swaraj

Non- cooperation khilafat  Movement  (In protest against Jallianwala Bagh and in support of the demand of Swaraj)

Book ‘Hind Swaraj’1909 by Mahatma Gandhi ,he declared that British rule was established in India with the cooperation of Indians ,and had survived only because of this cooperation ,if Indian refuse tp cooperate then British rule will collapse within a year.

Stage –I In this stage all the titles of honour bestowed on Indians by the British were given up. This was done to show that the Indians did not want to do any thing with the Brtishers

Stage-2 The Indians were asked to boycott legislature, educational institutions ,court and foreign goods.(Indians were encourage to set up their own institution and produce goods)

Stage -3 In this stage the people were asked not to pay any taxes to the government . The government was declared illegal as it does not look after the welfare of the people

Many within the congress were reluctant to boycott the council elections schedule for November 1920

There is intense tussle within the congress; finally at the congress session at Nagpur in December 1920 a compromise was adopted

Swaraj meant different things to different people :

Middle classes in the cities: These mainly comprised

 students, teachers and lawyers .They responded enthusiastically to the call for non-cooperation and boycott .thousands of student left school, headmasters and teachers resigned and lawyers gave up their legal practices. They saw the movement as a gateway to freedom from foreign domination. council election were boycotted Except madras (justice party of non Brahmans) However ,the enthusiasm gradually slowed down . This is because there were not many alternatives for them to fall back upon . For example ,khadi cloth was often more expensive than mass produced mill cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it . Likewise , students and teachers and no choice but to go back to government school ,likewise lawyers had no choice but to go back to courts

Peasants and Tribal's :

At many places, peasant joined the non-cooperation movement . The movement was primarily against talukdars and landlords. .(Jawaharlal Nehru,Baba Ramchandra set up Oudh Kisan Sabha ,300 Branches ,When this movement start congress want  to integrate,congress was unhappy the way the movement developed  ) By swaraj they understood that they would not be required to pay any taxes and that lands would be redistributed .The peasant movement often turned violent and the peasants had to face bullets and police brutality

Tribal people: In the Guden Hills of Andhra pradesh a millitant guerrilla movement spread, which congress did not approved , In forest region ,the colonial government closed large forest area , preventing people from entering the forests to graze their cattle or to collect fuel wood and fruits ,Govt force the people to do begar for road building (Alluri Sitaram raju )

 Plantation workers:

Plantation workers too joined the movement led by Gandhi. They had their own understanding of the notion of swaraj. For them , freedom meant the right to move freely in and out of the confined space in which they were enclosed , and it meant retaining a link with the village from which they had come. Under the Inland Emigration Act 1859, Plantation worker not permitted to leave the garden without the permission, they believe that Gandhi raj will come and everyone will get land in their own village

Gandhi ji called off the movement

Chauri Chaura is a small town in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, when the movement was at it peak ,people turned violent and set fire to a police station . It caused the death of 22 police men

Bardoli  Resolution was passed by the working committee of the congress on February 12, 1922   and it was decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation movement Gandhi ji pleaded that people need more time to get ready for peaceful mode of agitation

Toward civil disobedience

Government of India Act :

The Montagu –Chemsford Act was passed in the year 1919 ,known as Government of India act 1919

1.The power of state and centre government were clearly defined

2.The central legislature now became bicameral

3.System of dual government  was started

4.Right to vote was limited it was based on property ,qualification and communal electorate

5.Governors were made more powerful than councils

The act opposed :

   There was no hope of Swaraj , councils were without adequate power ,councils were not elected bodies, communal electorate were provided

Swaraj party : It  was formed by C.R.Das and Motilal Nehru they were moderates who wanted to participate in elections to the provincial councils that had been set up by the government of India act 1919 ,they will oppose their policy within the councils and  demonstrate that the councils were not democratic

The British government had appointed a commission under the chairmanship of John Simon  to look into the working of government of India act 1919 and suggest any changes if they were necessary.

But when it arrived in India in February 1928 . It had a hostile reception at the hands of the Indians it was opposed with the slogan ‘Go Back Simon’ as it  did not include  a single Indian delegate ,It did not provide any hope of Swaraj to Indians

In ocotber 1929 Lord Irwin announced a vague offer of ‘dominion status’ and RTC to discuss a future constitution

Congress session at Lahore december1929

1.It was presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru ,following decisions taken , Purna Swaraj or   

    complete independence for India was accepted as the goal of congress

2.The congress  resolved to launch a Civil Disobedience Movement

3.January 26 was declared as Independence Day People were urge to observe January 26,1930

     as the first independence day

Civil disobedience movement :

Prior to the Civil disobedience movement Gandhi ji sent a letter to Viceroy Lord Irwin (31 Jan 1930),In this letter he had raised eleven demands which were wide-ranging ,so that all classes within Indian society could unite.

Gandhi ji found in salt a powerful symbol that could unite the nation. Salt was something consumed by the rich and poor alike ,therefore Gandhi ji declared that the tax on the salt and the government monopoly over its production  revealed the most oppressive face of British rule.

The civil disobedience movement or the salt movement was started by Gandhi on 12 March 1930  with his famous Dandi march ,the volunteers walked for 24 days about 10 miles a day Together with his 78 trusted followers Gandhi ji walked  nearly 240 miles from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi ,on 6 April he reached Dandi and ceremonially violated the law, manufacturing salt by boiling sea water this was the beginning of civil disobedience movement

In this people were asked not to refuse cooperation but also to break the colonial rule ,the movement spread quickly ,everywhere  in the country people joined hartals,demonstrations,and boycott foreign goods ,in many places forest people violated forest law.

A notable feature of the movement was the wide participation of women

It reached the extreme north-west corner of India The Pathan under the leadership of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan , Popularly known as ‘Frontier Gandhi’ organized a society of ‘Khudai Khidmatgars’ or the servant of God, known as Red Shirts they were pledged to non-voilent and the freedom struggle.

It was also spread  in the easternmost corner of India ,the Manipuri's took a brave part in it and Nagaland produces a brave heroine in Rani Gaidinliu , at the age of 13 raised the banner against the British rule

The government reply to the civil disobedience was same ,lathi-charged and bullets were showered on unarmed and crowd of men and women.

Mean while the British government summoned in 1930 , in London the first round table conference of Indian leaders and spokesmen of the British government to discuss the Simon Commission report ,not could be done at the conference in the absence of congress British government realize that there was no possibility of the successful working of the new reforms unless the congress was willing to work them

Finally the viceroy lord Irwin and Gandhi negotiated a settlement in march 1931 ,known as Gandhi-Irwin pact .The government agreed to release those political prisoners who had remained non-violent while the congress suspended the civil disobedience movement and agreed to take part in the second round table conference .

Gandhi ji went to London to participate in the second round table conference as the sole representative of the congress . But no settlement could be arrived at that conference and Gandhi ji returned to India as a frustrated person . He again revived the civil disobedience movement after a lapse of nearly one year .The new viceroy Lord Willingdon suppressed it by repressive measures

Ideas of the different social groups that participated in the civil disobedience movement

1.Rich peasant : Being producer of commercial  crops, they were very hard hit by the trade depression and falling prices ,as their income fells ,they found it difficult to pay the taxes to the government .The government refused to reduce taxes .This let to widespread resentment, for rich peasant the fight for Swaraj was a struggle against high revenue

2.Poor peasants : Many of them were small tenants cultivating land they had rented from landlords . As

The depression continued and their income fell ,they found difficult to pay the rent, for them the fight for Swaraj was a struggle against high rents 

3.Business classes: Keen on expanding their business; the business classes wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports. Business organizations like FICCI and the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress supported the civil disobedience movement in the hope that their cause would be favorable considered at the round table conference . But after the failure of the conference ,business classes became lukewarm towards the movement.

4.Industrial workers:  As the industrialist came closer to the congress ,workers stayed aloof . The congress was also reluctant to include workers demands as a part of its programme  of struggle . It felt that this would alienate industrialist and divide the anti-imperialist forces. Except for the Nagpur region the industrialist working classes did not participate in the civil disobedience movement .

5.Womens : they began to see service to the nation as a sacred duty of women, during salt march thousand of women came out of their homes to listen to Gandhi ji .women participated in protest marched ,manufactured salt and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops ,many went to jails

Thy were not allowed to hold any position of authority in the congress organization. It was because Gandhi ji believed that it was the duty of women to look after home and hearth ,be good mothers and good wives

Gandhi ji views for Dalits :

Mahatma Gandhi declared that Swaraj would not come for a hundred years if Untouchability was not eliminated, He called the Untouchables ‘Harijans’or the children of god

He organized Satyagrah to secure their entry into temples and provide them access to public well,tanks,roads and schools.

He himself cleaned the toilets to dignify the work of the ‘bhangi’-the sweepers

He persuaded the upper castes to change their heart and give up ‘the sin of untouchability’

Limitation of civil disobedience movement :

1.Problem of depressed classes : For long the congress had ignored the Dalits or depressed classes for fear of offending the conservative high caste Hindus. Dr B.R.Ambedkar who organized Dalits into the depressed class association, set up in 1930, clashed with Mahatma Gandhi at the second RTC ,by demanded separate electorate for Dalits.

The British government were always on the lookout for anything that divided Indians .they conceded the demand for separate electorate ,in spite of Gandhiji’s strong  resistance and protest ,Gandhi ji believed that separate electorate for Dalits would slow down the process of their integration into the society Ambedkar finally relented and agreed with Gandhi ji’s position .

The Poona Pact  was signed in 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 electorates

2.Wedge between Hindu and Muslims:

From the mid 1920’s the congress came to be more visibly associated with openly Hindu Mahasabha, So a large section of Muslims felt alienated .Each community started blaming each other,

Muslims leader like Muhammad Ali a Jinnah and Muhammad Iqbal (proposed a two nation theory under which it was presumed that both communities belong to different nations) ,asked for separate electorate tot safeguard the interests of the Muslims .They felt that majority of the people were Hindus and so in case of joint electorate ,the Muslims would have little chance of winning the elections .So Muslims could not respond to the call for a united struggle.

Leader’s who were demanding separate electorate felt that the culture and identity of minorities would be submerged under the domination of Hindu majority

3.Non- participation of industrial worker:

The industrial working classes did not participate in the civil disobedience movement in large number except in Nagpur region .This was because industrialist were supporting the movement in large numbers and congress was reluctant to include worker’s demand as a part of the movement.

Sense of collective belonging or the cultural process through which nationalism captured people’s imagination

1.Figure and image : The identity of nation is most often symbolised in a figure of image Examples : Marianne in France, Germania in Germany and Bharat Mata in India(Abanindranath painted his famous image of Bharat Mata .Devotion to this mother figure came toe be seen as evidence of one’s nationalism)

2.Song: In 1870, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote ‘Vande Mataram’  as a hymn to the motherland .It acquired the status of a nationalist song.

3.Folklore: Nationalist began recording folk tales sung by bards .They toured villages to gather folk songs and legends .These tales gave a true picture of traditional culture .It was considered necessary to preserve the folk traditions in order to discover one’s national identity and restore a sense of pride in one’s past

4.Flag : In Bengal , a tricolour flag was designed .Gandhi himself had designed the Swaraj flag .It was again a tricolour with a  charkha in the centre . Charkha represented the Gahdhian ideal of self-help. The flag became a symbol of defiance .

5.Reinterpretation of History: Indian wrote about the glorious developments in ancient times when art and architecture ,science and mathematics ,religion and culture ,law and philosophy ,craft and trade flourished . India saw a decline with the coming of the colonial power. Therefore ,it was propagated that it was necessary to do away with British rule in order to achieve past glory