NATIONAL MOVEMENT IN INDIA

SUBMITTED TO :
Dr. PRIYA DARSHINI
(Faculty of HISTORY)

Submitted
by:-
MOHAMMAD ESHTYAQUE ALI
ROLL NO. 943
2
nd
SEMESTER


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT


Writing a project is one of the most significant academic challenges I have ever
faced. Though this project has been presented by me but there are many people
who remained in veil, who gave their all support and helped me to complete
this project.
First of all I am very grateful to my subject teacher Dr.Priya Darshini without the
kind support of whom and help the completion of the project was a herculean
task for me. He donated his valuable time from his busy schedule to help me to
complete this project and suggested me from where and how to collect data.
I am very thankful to the librarian who provided me several books on this topic
which proved beneficial in completing this project.
I acknowledge my friends who gave their valuable and meticulous advice which
was very useful and could not be ignored in writing the project. I want to
convey my sincere thanks to all the people who have helped me directly or
indirectly throughout the project.









Mohammad Eshtyaque ali

Roll No. 943

2
nd
semester



Table of Contents


INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................

METHODOLOGY .......................................................................

AIM AND OBJECTIVE.


Chapter-(1)
SWADESHI MOVEMENT .............................................................................................................

Chapter-(2)
THE NON CO-OPERATION MOVEMENT ..................................................................................

Chapter-(3)
BICOTT OF SIMON COMMISSION..............................................................................................

Chapter-(4)
THE DANDI MARCH OR THE SALT SATYAGRAHA..

Chapter-(5)

THE QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT.


Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................

Bibliography .................................................................................
Websites .......................................................................................
Methodology

The methodology of the present project includes Doctrinal techniques.
In this research, field work is not required and mere use of library and various website is enough.
The researcher has taken extensive use of books available in the library. The various websites
have been a great importance to the researcher.





AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The scope of work entitled the following specific tasks as per he research work carried by the
researcher.

1.What was the role of individual people in these movement?
2.What are the factors due to which these movement failed to win independence for india?
3.How the people were affected due to failure of these movement?




INTRODUCTION
The Nationalist Movements in India was organised mass movements emphasising and raising
questions concerning the interests of the people of India. In most of these movements, people
were themselves encouraged to take action. Due to several factors, these movements failed to
win Independence for India. However, they did promote a sense of nationalism among the people
of the country. The failure of these movements affected many people due to withdrawal from
Government offices, schools, factories and services. Though they did manage to get a few
concessions such as the Salt March in 1930, they did not help India much from the point of view
of their objective.
vjv,Nizamiyat the local nawabs of Oudh and Bengal and other smaller powers. Each was a
strong regional power influenced by its religious and ethnic identity. However, The East India
Company ultimately emerged as the predominant power. One of the results of the social,
economic and political changes instituted in the country throughout the greater part of 18th
century was the growth of the Indian middle class. Although from different backgrounds and
different parts of India, this middle class and its varied political leaderships contributed to a
growing "Indian" identity".The realisation and refinement of this concept of national identity
fed a rising tide of nationalism in India in the last decades of the 19th century
1
. The Indian
National Congress was formed in December 1885 by a group of 72 politically conscious educated
Indians. Mr. A.O. Hume a retired English Indian Civil Service officer played a significant role in its
formation. Among its members were Pherozeshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji, WC Bonnerji,
Surendranath Banerji, Anandamohan Bose and Romesh Chandra Dutt. This organisation was by no
means the first such association of the Indian people. The English educated class in India was slowly
becoming politically conscious and several political associations were being formed between 1875
and 1885. Dwarkanath Ganguly of Calcutta, Ranade and GV Joshi of Poona, KT Telang of
Bombay and G Subramaniya Iyer, Viraraghavachari of Madras were already associated with
regional political associations. The names of their organizations were Indian Association, Poona
Sarvajanik Sabha, Bombay Presidency Association, and Madras Mahajan Sabha, respec- tively. The
agenda of these associations was limited and far from the ideal of complete independence. These
associations were raising their voice against policies of the colonial regime that might be inimical to
the interests of Indians. The primary issues of concern taken up by the early nationalists belonging
to these associations were as follows:
(a) cotton import duties to be made favourable for Indians
(b) Indianization of government services
(c) Opposition to Afghan policy of the British Government
(d) Opposition to Vernacular Press Act and control over the press
What made the Indian National Congress (INC) different from the other associations was its
attempt to provide a common political platform for the people of India which enabled it to
claim that it represented the country. Although the British administrators attempted to play
down the significance of the INC, it did manage to reflect the aspirations of the people.
Thus the most important and the foremost objective of this organization was to create the
consciousness among the people of belonging to a single nation. The task was daunting
because of the existence of diverse cultural, linguistic and religious traditions of the land. All
the different forces had to be brought together against the common adversary, the British

1
National Movement in India,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalist_Movements_in_India,visited on 16/4/2014
imperialism
2
.
At first the founders of the INC had hoped to influence the colonial government in matters that
affected the wellbeing of the country and specially its economic upliftment. They expected
that if the problems of the nation were brought to light through proper propaganda, the colonial
government would take steps to improve matters. Thus in the initial years through lectures,
writings in newspapers the nation- alists put forward the main problems of the nation and ways in
which they could be remedied. The most valuable contribution of the so called moderates or the
initial members of the Congress was to formulate an economic critique. Firstly Dadabhai
Naoroji and thereafter other nationalists found that instead of bringing about an indus- trial
revolution, which the Indian intelligentsia were expecting, the British rule was making the nation
poorer and was, destroying its indegenous handicraft production. This discovery led to some
disillusionment among the early nationalists who had hoped that India would be modernized as a
result of British rule. The other concerns of the early Congress were as
follows:

(a) The reform of Supreme and Local Legislative Councils with greater powers for Indian
representatives
(b) Indianization of the Civil Services with simultaneous examinations to be held in England
and India.
(c) Changes in the forest laws that affected the Indian people
(d) Organization of campaigns against indentured labour in Assam tea plantations
Slowly, there came to the fore other younger leaders who realised that colonial rule
would bring no positive gains for India and her people and the end of colonial rule was
the only way in which India can progress. Thus was born a new group of leaders who condemned
the moderates for their methods of appeal and petition. Aurobindo Ghosh, Aswinikumar Dutt,
Lajpat Rai, BG Tilak,were the new breed of leaders who sought to generate mass support for
their goal of Swaraj and Swadesh.
3



2
National Movement in India,Contemporary India,62-63 visited on 16/4/2014
3
National Movement in India,Contemporary India,62-63 visited on 16/4/2014












SWADESHI MOVEMENT
The Swadesh Movement had its genesis in the anti-partition movement which was stated to
oppose the British decision to partition Bengal. The Governments decision to partition Bengal
had been made public in December 1903. The official reason given for the decision was that
Bengal with a population of 78 million (about a quarter of the population of British India) had
become too big to be administered. This was true to some extent, but the real motive behind the
partition plan was the British desire to weaken Bengal, the nerve centre of Indian
nationalism.This it sought to achieve by putting the Bengalis under two administrations by
dividing them (i) on the basis of language (thus reducing the Bengalis to a minority in Bengal
itself as in the new proposal. Bengal proper was to have 17 million Bengalis and 37 million
Hindi and Oriya speakers), and (ii) on the basis of religion, as the western half was to be a Hindu
majority area (42 million out of a total 54 million) and the eastern half was to be a Muslim
majority area (18 million out of a total of 31 million).Trying to woo the Muslims, Curzon, the
viceroy at that time, argued that Dacca could become the capital of the New Muslim Viceroys
and kings. Thus, it was clear that the Government was up to its old policy of propping up Muslim
communalists to counter the Congress and the national movement.
4

Moderates Agitation (1903-05):
During the period, the leadership was provided by men like Surendranath Benerjea, K.K. Mitra
and Prithwishchandra Ray. The methods adopted were petitions to the Government, public
meetings, adopted were petitions to the Government, public meetings, memoranda, and
propaganda through pamphlets and newspapers such as Hitabadi, Sanjibani and Bengalee.Their
objective was to exert sufficient pressure on the Government through an educated public opinion
in India and England to prevent the unjust partition of Bengal from being implemented. Ignoring
a loud public opinion against the partition proposal, the Government announced partition of
Bengal in July 1905. Within days, protest meetings were held in small towns all over Bengal.It
was in these meetings that the pledge to boycott foreign goods was first taken. On August 7,
1905, with the passage of Boycott Resolution in a massive meeting held in the Calcutta Town
hall, the formal proclamation of Swadeshi Movement was made. After this, the leaders dispersed
to other parts of Bengal to propagate the message of boycott of Manchester cloth and Liverpool
salt.October 16, 1905, the day the partition formally came into force, was observed as a day of
mourning throughout Bengal. People fasted, bathed in the Ganga and walked barefoot in
processions singing Bande Mataram.People tied rakhis on each others hands as a symbol of
unity of the two halves of Bengal. Later in the day, Surendranath Benerjea and Ananda Mohan
Bose addressed huge gatherings .Within a few hours of the meeting, Rs 50,000 were raised for
the movement.Soon, the movement spread to other parts of the countryin Poona and Bombay
under Tilak, in Punjab under Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh, in Delhi under Syed Haider Raza,
and the Madras under Chidambaram Pillai.The Indian National Congress, meeting in 1905 under
the presidentship of Gokhale, resolved to:
(i) condemn the partition of Bengal and the reactionary policies of Curzon and
(ii) support the anti- partition and Swadeshi Movement of Bengal.

4
Swadeshi Movement, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swadeshi_movement ,visited on 16/4/2014
The militant nationalists led by Tilak, Lajput Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh
wanted the movement to be taken outside Bengal to other parts of the country and go beyond a
boycott of foreign goods to become a full-fledged political mass struggle with the goal of
attaining swaraj. But the Moderates, dominating the Congress at that time, were not willing to go
that far.However, a big step forward was taken at the Congress session held at Calcutta (1906)
under presidentship of Dadabhai Naoroji, where it was declared that the goal of the Indian
National Congress was self-government or swaraj like the United Kingdom or the colonies.The
Moderate-Extremist dispute over the pace of the movement and techniques of struggle reached a
deadlock at the Surat session of the Indian National Congress (1907) where the party split with
serious consequences for the Swadeshi Movement.
5

Militant Movement:
After 1905, the Extremists acquired a dominant influence over the Swadeshi Movement in
Bengal. There were three reasons for this:
1. The Moderate-led movement had failed to yield results.
2. The divisive tactics of the Governments of both the Bengals had embittered the nationalists;
and
3. The Government had resorted to suppressive measures, which included atrocities on
students many of whom were given corporal punishment; ban on public singing of Bande
Mataram; restriction on public meetings; prosecution and long imprisonment of swadeshi
workers; clashes between the police and the people in many towns; arrests and deportation of
leaders; and suppression of freedom of the press.
Emboldened by Dadabhia Naorojis declaration at the Calcutta session (1906) the self-
government or swaraj was to be the goal of the Congress, the Extremists gave a call for passive
resistance in addition to swadeshi and boycott which would include a boycott of government
schools and colleges, Government service, courts, legislative councils, municipalities,
Government titles, etc. so as to, as Aurbindo put it, make the administration under present

5
Swadeshi Movement in India,Contemporary India,63-65 visited on 16/4/2014

conditions impossible by an orgnised refusal to do anything which will help either the British
commerce in the exploitation of it.The militant nationalists put forward several fresh ideas at
the theoretical, propaganda and programme levels. Among the several forms of struggle thrown
up by the movement were:
Boycott of foreign good:
This included boycott and public burning of foreign cloth, boycott of foreign-made salt or sugar,
refusal by priests to ritualize marriages involving exchange of foreign goods, refusal by
wahermen to wash foreign clothes. This form of protest met with great success at the practical
and popular level.
Public meeting and procession:
These emerged as major methods of mass mobilisation and simultaneously as forms of popular
expression.
Crops of volunteers of Samitis:
Samitis such as the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti of Ashwini Kumar Dutta (in Barisal) emerged as a
very popular and powerful method of mass mobilization. These samitis generated political
consciousness among the masses through magic lantern lectures, swadeshi songs, physical and
moral training to their members, social work during famines and epidemics, organization of
schools, training in swadeshi crafts and arbitration courts.
Imaginative use of traditional popular festivals and meals:
The idea was to use such occasions as a means of reaching out to the masses and spreading
political massages. For instance, Tilaks Ganapatii and Shivaji festivals became a medium of
swadeshi propaganda not only in western India, but also in Bengal. In Bengal also, the traditional
folk theatre forms were used for the propose.
Emphasis given to self-reliance or atma shakti:
This implied re-assertion of national dignity, honour and confidence and social and economic
regeneration of the villages. In practical terms, it included social reforms and campaigns against
caste oppression, early marriage, dowry system, consumption of alcohol, etc.
Programme of swadeshi or national education. Bengal National Collage, inspired by Tagores
Shantiniketan, was set with Aurobindo Ghosh as its principal. Soon national school and colleges
sprang up in various parts of the country. On August 15, 1906, the National Council of
Education was set up to organize a system of educationliterary, scientific and technicalon
national lines and under national control.
Education was to be imparted through the medium of vernaculars. A Bengal Institute of
Technology was set up for technical education and funds were raised to send students to Japan
for advanced learning.
Swadeshi or indigenous enterprises:
The swadeshi spirit also found expression in the establishment of swadeshi textile mills, soap
and match factories, tanneries, banks, insurance companies, shops etc. These enterprises were
based more on patriotic zeal than on business acumen.
Impact in the cultural sphere:
The nationalists of all hues took inspiration from songs written by Rabindranath Tagore,
Rajnikant Sen, Dwijendralal Ray, Mukunda Das, Syed Abu Mohammad and others. Togores
Amar Sonar Bangla written on this occasion was later to inspire the liberation struggle of
Bangladesh and was adopted by it as its national anthem.In painting, Abanindranath Tagore
broke the domination of Victorian naturalism over Indian art and took inspiration of Victorian
naturalism over Indian art and took inspiration from Muhgal, Ajanta and Rajput paintings.
Nandlal Bose, who left a major imprint on Indian art, was the first recipient of a scholarship
offered by the Indian Society of Oriental Art, founded in 1907.In science, Jagdish Chandra Bose,
Prafullachandra Roy and others pioneered original research which was praised the world over.
6

Mass Participation:
Students came out in large numbers to propagate and practise swadeshi, and to take a lead in
organizing picketing of shops selling foreign goods. Police adopted a repressive attitude towards
the students. Schools and colleges whose students participated in the agitation were to be
penalized by disaffiliating them or stopping of grants and privileges to them.Students who were

6
Swadeshi movement in India, http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/swadeshi-movement-in-india-
indian-history/656 ,visited on 16/4/2014

found guilty of participation were to be disqualified for government jobs or for government
scholarships, and disciplinary actionfine, expulsion, arrest, scholarships, etc. was to be taken
against them.Women, who were traditionally home-centred, especially those of the urban middle
classes, took active part in processions and picketing. From now onwards, they were to play a
significant role in the national movement.Some of the Muslims participatedBarrister Abdul
Rasul, Liaqat Hussain, Guzanvi, Maulana Azad (who joined one of the revolutionary terrorist
groups)but most of the upper and middle class Muslims-stayed away or, led by Nawab
Salimullah of Dacca, supported the partition on the plea that it would give them a Muslim-
majority East Bengal.
Thus, the social base of the movement expanded to include certain sections of the zamindari, the
students, the women and the lower middle classes in cities and towns. An attempt was also made
to give political expression to economic grievances of the working class by organizing strikes in
British- owned concerns such as Eastern Indian Railways.But the movement was not able to
garner support of the Muslims, especially the Muslim peasantry, because of a conscious
government policy of divide and rule helped by overlap of class and community at places. To
further government interests, the All India Muslim League was propped up in 1907 as an anti-
Congress front and reactionary elements like Nawab Salimullah of Dacca were encouraged.
THE NON CO-OPERATION MOVEMENT
Martial law was imposed in Punjab after the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre. Inhuman treatment was
meted out to Indians e.g. men were made to crawl on their bellies in the bylane where a
European woman had been attacked. Although the Rowlatt satyagraha had been withdrawn, the
feeling of resentment toward British rule grew even more bitter. The Montague Chelmsford
reforms of 1919 frustrated the hopes of those who still had any faith in the colonial governments
intention for bringing about reforms enabling Indians to participate in the government.

At this juncture a large group of enlightened Muslim leaders emerged and they had a special
reason for discontent with the British government. The Muslims were of-fended by the
insensitive treatment of Turkey after the First World War. Muslims all over the world regarded
the Caliph of Turkey as their spiritual leader and they had been assured that the Caliph will be
treated leniently after the defeat of Turkey and its allies in the War. However in the post war
treaty with Turkey the powers of the Caliph were severely curtailed.

Matters came to a head when the Hunter Committee that was appointed by the government to
look into the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy submitted its report. In this report they upheld the action
of General Dyer and all other kinds of repression. This report enraged all the Indian leaders and
the moment was ripe for the next movement of protest. It was at this time that Gandhi
contemplated a non-violent non-cooperation movement. The non-cooperation movement was an
expression of the growing resentment of all classes of the Indian people against oppressive
British rule. Gandhi took up three specific points on which the movement was initiated: (a) the
Khilafat wrong, (b) the Punjab wrong, and (c) Swaraj.
7


The call for non-cooperation first came from the All India Khilafat Conference at Delhi on 22-
23rd November 1919 at the initiative of the Ali brothers (Mohammad and Shaukat). At the
Allahabad meeting of the Khilafat Conference, a programme of four-stage non-cooperation was
announced- boycott of titles, of the civil services, of the police and army and finally non -
payment of taxes. Thereafter, Gandhi began to urge the members of the Congress to give theirs
support to the movement. In the historical Calcutta special session in September, 1920 the
Congress adopted a programme of giving up of titles, a boycott of schools, courts and Councils
and also boycott of foreign goods. This boycott would be side by side with the establishment of
national schools and courts to resolve matters without taking recourse to the judicial system of
the government and the adoption of khadi. In the Nagpur Congress of December 1920, veteran
Congress leader of Bengal Chittaranjan Das lent his sup-port to the movement. Although the
movement was formally initiated on 1
st
August 1920, the Congress leaders support gave a new
impetus to it and from January 1921, it gained great strength. Within a month a large number of
students left government aided schools and colleges and joined national institutions that had been
started in different parts of the country.
8

Several well-established lawyers like CR Das, Motilal Nehru, Saifuddin Kichhlu, Vallabhbhai
Patel, C Rajagopalachari, Asaf Ali etc, gave up their lucrative practices. This sacrifice inspired

7
Non Co-operation Movement , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-cooperation_movement ,16/4/2014
8
Non Co-operation Movement, http://www.gktoday.in/non-cooperation-movement-1920/ visited on 16/4/2014

the people. Boycott of foreign goods, picketing of shops selling foreign cloth were other forms of
protest. Charkhas began to be distributed and handspun cloth became popular among
nationalists. Nationalist newspapers held ad-vertisements inviting people to participate in
bonfires of foreign goods. The value of cloth exports fell to a great extent. Along with cloth
shops there was also for the first time picketing of liquor shops.

To the alarm of the British government Muhammad Ali in July 1921 appealed to all Muslims in
the British Indian army and declared that they must consider it morally wrong to be a part of the
British army and that they should not continue in it.

He was arrested at once. This call was taken up by the Congress and Gandhi. A manifesto was
issued calling all men (civilian and soldier) to sever all links with the British Indian army. In the
midst of this the Prince of Wales visited India in November 1921, and was greeted by a hartal in
Bombay where he landed and also in the rest of the country. Gandhi addressed a huge meeting
on the day of the Prince of Wales arrival and anti- British feeling was so strong that a riot
situation occurred when the people dispersing from the meeting came across the others who had
gone for the welcome procession of the Prince. Gandhi had to go on a four day fast to reduce
tension.

The non-cooperation movement was gaining strength progressively. In Midnapur district of
Bengal a movement was organized against Union Board taxes and a no-tax movement was also
organized in Andhra Pradesh. The refusal to pay taxes under the Gandhian scheme was to be
resorted to in the very last and most radical stage of the movement. In the Awadh region of UP
the kisan movement was gaining ground through the kisan sabhas which were becoming more
organized and a great threat to British rule
9
.

The stand of the colonial government was also becoming more rigid. The fall in cloth exports,
the show of resentment from the students, lawyers, government officials, workers, peasants,
plantation workers and attempts to influence the army finally led to the adoption of repressive

9
http://www.mapsofindia.com/personalities/gandhi/non-cooperation-movement.html visited on 16/4/2014

measures against the movement. Public meetings and assemblies were banned, newspapers
repressed, and midnight raids were conducted at Congress and Khilafat offices. The Congress
under Gandhis guidance was begin-ning to chalk out a programme of civil disobedience at
Bardoli. This move was how-ever cut short by a violent incident at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur
district of UP. A Khilafat and Congress procession on being confronted by some policemen
turned violent and attacked the police. The policemen tried to take shelter in the police station,
however the enraged mob set fire to it and hacked to death those policemen who came out to
escape the fire. Twenty-two policemen were killed. This incident occurred on the 5
th
of February
and on the 12
th
Gandhi withdrew the non-cooperation movement. This withdrawal proved that at
this stage Gandhi did not want to lead a movement which he could not control and it also proved
that the nationalists would heed Gandhis call, for though there were many who differed from
him, no one thought of defying his call for withdrawal.

Within the Congress party there was a difference of opinion between those who wanted to enter
the legislative councils through the soon to be held elections; and those who wanted to undertake
Gandhian constructive work in villages and preparing for the next step of the struggle.
Rajagopalachari, Ansari and others advocated rural constructive work while Motilal Nehru,
Vithalbhai Patel and Hakim Ajmal Khan wanted to enter the councils and disrupt the business of
the government through creating a deadlock in the system. Rajendra Prasad and Vallabhbhai
Patel supported the former view while CR Das adhered to the latter view. Das and Motilal Nehru
set up a Swaraj Party in 1923 to contest the elections. The No-Changers as the group of
Gandhians was called gained support with the release of Gandhi from jail in 1924. However the
Congressmen could not be prevented from standing in the elections though they were made to
acknowledge the importance of constructive work.

The Congress candidates did win several seats in the elections held in November 1924 in the
Central Provinces and in Bengal. Initial efforts at disrupting the processes of the Councils began,
but whatever regulation the members did not allow to be passed was pushed through by the
special powers assigned to the Governor exposing the limitations of the system of dyarchy. Soon
the elected members began to lose direction and were slowly beginning to be absorbed in the
system. In Bengal, CR Das suddenly passed away causing a leadership problem there. At this
stage of the nation-alist movement amidst political uncertainties and a lull in the activities under
the main-stream Congress movement arose a far more radical group of activists in the second
phase of the revolutionary movement.
10












BOYCOTT OF SIMON COMMISSION

Amidst this reformulation and resurgence of the revolutionary movement and the subdued state
of the mainstream movement was announced the Simon Commission to formulate further
constitutional reforms for India. The all-white commission did not include any Indian and thus it
was clear that the forthcoming reforms, if any, would not fulfill the aspirations of the Indian
people. Dyarchy had already shown itself to be a great farce with all the key decision-making
powers still firmly in the hands of the colonial government. The announcement of the all-white
Simon Commission sparked off widespread discon-tent and fanned the fires of the nationalist
movement. All shades of political opinion in India unanimously condemned the Commission as
not a single Indian was included in it.
11


The Indian response to the Commission was a unanimous resolution by leaders of every shade of

10
http://www.preservearticles.com/201106278534/gandhi-and-the-non-cooperation-movement-1920.html visited
on 16/4/2014
11
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Commission
opinion to boycott it. All the important cities and towns observed a hartal on the day that the
members of the Commission landed in India (3rd February 1928). There were mass rallies and
processions and black flag demonstrations against the Commission. Go Back Simon was
imprinted on banners, placards and even kites. Black flags were waved at the Commission
wherever it went. Needless to say police repression was harsh and merciless and processions
were attacked and not even the most prominent leaders were spared. The most insensitive attack
was on Lala Lajpat Rai, one of the outstanding leaders of the extremist era in Lahore. This, now
elderly, leader was hit by lathis and he succumbed to this attack a few days later. The death of
Lajpat Rai created tremendous resentment against the British rule all over. During this period an
important development within the Congress was the adoption of Purna Swaraj or complete
independence as its objective. Complete independence meant a total severance from the British
connection.

As a result of the adoption of the Purna Swaraj pledge there was a rise of great expectations in
the country and similar independence pledges were taken all over the country on 26
th
January
1930. There was unrest brewing in the country proof of which was a railway strike led by the
communists based in the Bombay-Nagpur region. The Congress led movement started getting
ready for a movement of civil disobedience that would include non-payment of taxes in its
extreme form. Congress legislators were instructed to resign preparation for the next round of
struggle. Gandhi however began with issuing an ultimatum to theViceroy Irwin on 31
st
January,
which did not mention anything about complete independence, or Purna Swaraj. The Eleven
points were rather a set of specific demands that the nation was making from the colonial
government. One of the demands was for the abolition of the salt tax and the government
monopoly of manufacture of salt. The demands also included fifty per cent reduction in land
revenue, protection of textiles, fifty per cent cuts in army expences and civil service salaries
etc.
12






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http://www.preservearticles.com/2011090412850/short-notes-on-boycott-of-the-simon-commission.html














THE DANDI MARCH OR THE SALT SATYAGRAHA

As there was no response to the eleven point ultimatum, the movement of civil dis-obedience
was launched based on the issue of salt. Salt was an item of basic neces-sity for all and any
taxation on it would affect the poorest of the poor, thus salt became the symbol of the
deprivation and oppression of the Indian people. Both the masses and the nationalist leaders
began to identify with the issue. On the 12
th
of March 1930, Gandhi accompanied by 80 of his
followers at the Sabarmati ashram began a march upto the sea at Dandi. The dramatic Dandi
march drew a great response from people. Crowds of people greeted and followed the marchers
all along the way. Villagers spun yarn on charkhas, as Gandhi went past, to show their solidar-ity
to him. On 6
th
April, Gandhi reached the sea at Dandi and picked up a handful of salt at the sea
side launching a country-wide civil disobedience movement by break-ing the salt law. All over
India people began the illegal manufacture of salt. Through careful planning and large scale
recruitment of volunteers the movement spread from one part of the country to another, from
Madras to Maharashtra and from Bengal and Assam to Karachi. In the farthest north there was a
massive demonstration at Peshawar, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and his followers the Khudai
Khidmatgars or the Red Shirts had been active here doing constructive work for some years and
the response was tremendous. The city came under the control of the masses for atleast a week
and the soldiers of the Garhwali regiment refused to fire at the unarmed crowds. Nehrus arrest
on 14
th
April was followed by public protests in Madras, Calcutta and Karachi. The colonial
government was in a dilemma as they had not expected the salt satyagraha to create such an
upheaval. Finally it decided to act and Gandhi was also arrested in May that only resulted in
further intensification of the movement. The most important aspect of the civil disobedience
movement was the widespread participation the youth, particularly students and also women.
Women picketed liquor shops and shops that sold foreign goods. The government started to issue
ordinances curbing the civil liberties of the people and civil disobedience organizations began to
be banned in the provinces. The Con-gress Working Committee was banned in June and the
Congress President Motilal Nehru was arrested. Local Congress Committees were also banned
by August. A number of local issues also become a part of the civil disobedience movement.
13


In the midst of government repression and the intensification of the- movement the Simon
Commission report was published and there was no suggestion that India might be given
dominion status. This resulted in turning the most moderate of Indian political opinion against
the British. The Viceroy then extended the invitation for a Round Table Conference and
reiterated the intention of discussing the award of Dominion Status. Motilal and Jawaharlal
Nehru were taken to Gandhiji to discuss the offer. However no headway could be made between
the Congress and the government. The First Round Table Conference was held in London in
November 1930 between the Indian leaders and the British but the Congress was not
represented. However it was evident that in any negotiation involving the British and Indian
leaders on an equal footing the absence of the Congress would fail to bring any results. The next
Conference was scheduled to be held in the next year. The Government released Gandhiji on 25
th

January 1931, all other members of the Congress Working Commit-tee were also released
unconditionally. The Congress was asked to deliberate on the Viceroys offer to participate in
the next Round Table Conference.


13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_March
After a lot of deliberation and discussions with the delegates of the First Round Table
Conference the Congress assigned Gandhi the task of negotiating with the Viceroy. The
discussions between Gandhi and Irwin went on for a fortnight. Finally on 5
th
March 1931 the
Gandhi-lrwin Pact was signed. The terms of the Pact were as fol-lows

(a) all people arrested for non-violent protest were to be released immediately

(b) fines that had not been collected were to be remitted

(c) confiscated land that had not been sold off yet was to be returned to peasants

(d) government employees who had resigned were to be treated leniently

(e) villages along the coast were to be given the right to make salt for consumption

(f) the right to peaceful and nonaggressive picketing was granted

On its part the Congress agreed to withdraw the civil disobedience movement and also agreed to
participate in the next Round Table Conference. Many among the nationalist leaders perceived
this agreement as a temporary truce. However many were not convinced of the necessity of this
settlement. This gave rise to the renewed activities of the revolutionary secret societies and the
more radical communist movements. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were executed at this
time as the communist movement spread throughout the country.
14


The Congress in the Karachi session in March 1931 while reiterating the goal of Purna Swaraj,
also in the same breath endorsed the Delhi Pact between Gandhi and Irwin. Although the Delhi
Pact had made no mention of independence, the Congress at Karachi was preparing for the
framing of Indias Constitution and it adopted resolutions on Fundamental Rights and a National
Economic policy. This resolution was one of the landmarks of our constitutional history, where
the civil liberties of free speech, free press and freedom of association was worked out.

14
http://www.history.com/topics/salt-march
Neutrality in religious matters, equality before law, universal adult franchise, free and
compulsory primary education and many other provisions anticipated Constitutional provisions
of free India.

Gandhi set off to attend the second Round Table Conference in August 1931. Mean-while the
British Governments stand was hardening in Britain and in India. Irwin was replaced by
Willingdon and the favourable attitude of the Home Government had also changed. As a result
not only did Gandhi gain nothing from the discussions at the Round Table but on his return in
December 1931 he found that new Viceroy did not wish to meet him. It was as if the colonial
government was regretting that they had put the Congress at an equal footing with themselves by
making an agreement with them. The government had also arrested Jawaharlal Nehru and had
repressed the movement of the Khudai Khidmatgars in the North West Frontier Province by
arrest-ing their leader Abdul Ghaffar Khan.

Under these circumstances the Congress decided to resume the civil disobedience movement on
the eve of which Gandhi had requested to meet the Viceroy to negoti-ate peace and the Viceroy
refused. The colonial Government thereafter launched a severe offensive the first step of which
was to arrest Gandhi in early January and a total curtailment of the civil liberties of the people.
This was followed by the govern-ment getting the right to appropriate property and detain the
people. Armed with this power the Government put all the prominent leaders of the Congress
behind bars.




























This was followed by a massive reaction by the people. Thus mass demonstrations, picketing of
liquor shops and those selling foreign goods, unlawful gatherings etc occurred in a large scale
which was followed by severe repression by a Government that was in no mood to come to an
understanding with the nationalists. Jails were filled, the Congress was banned, Gandhian
ashrams were occupied by the police. Processions were beaten up and scattered, people who
refused to pay taxes were beaten and jailed and their properties attached. The people of the
country with most of the leaders in jails and on their own initiative with ruthless rep from the
government managed to sustain this civil disobedience for more than two years. Finally in April
Gandhi withdrew the movement. This movement exemplified the moral strength of the common
people or India and the stronghold of Gandhi as a national leader. Even at this stage the leaders
arid the people alike, in spite of difference in opinion, obeyed his decisions regarding the
continuance of a movement.
15


15
Salt March ,Contemporary India 74-78,visited on 16/4/2014















THE QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT
The years between 1930 and 1934 was also marked by an unprecedented explosion of acts of
revolutionary terrorism with its focus in Bengal and Punjab. A total of 92 incidents were reported
in 1931 itself that included 9 murders. Exemplary among them was the Chittagong Armory Raid.
In Chittagong a group of revolutionaries under Surya Sen captured the local armoury, issued an
Independence Proclamation in the name of Indian Republican Army and put up a brave fight
with the British in the hills of the countryside for several days. The number of terrorist cases kept
rising in spite of severe repression by the colonial administration. The HSRA had also become
very active in the Punjab with 26 incidents reported in 1930 alone.
16

The freedom struggle was never confined to the single path of Gandhian satyagraha. It contained
the very violent and extremist revolutionary movement, it also comprised of the socialist
ideology that came to India after the Russian Revolution, it would also include a military
offensive. These different strands of the movement were by no means isolated. Most of the
revolutionaries had participated in the Gandhian non-cooperation movement. In fact the


16
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quit_India_Movement
Chittagong armoury was siezed amidst cries of Gandhi raj has come! Chandrashekhar Azad
and Bhagat Singhs revolutionary groups adopted Socialism as did sections of the Congress
under Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Bose.Socialism combined the freedom struggle with a clear
cut agenda of social equality through organized mass movements that helped to mobilise the
working class. The initiative of working out the ideology of the communist movement in India
was taken up by eminent men like MN Roy who interpreted Marxism and the ideas of Lenin to
fit the Indian context. Seven Indians including Roy founded the Communist Party of India at
Tashkent in October 1920. Slowly the idea of Communism found favour among many Indian
intellectuals and even members of the Congress.Subhas Chandra Bose was a unique personality
influenced by a wide variety of ideolo-gies and epitomized the spirit of the nationalist movement
from non-cooperation through giving up of government posts, to the revolutionary extreme, upto
the ideas of socialist thought and finally choosing the courageous option of military offensive.
Bose straddle all these different strategies and proved that there was in essence no basic conflict
between the different visions of freedom at work within the nationalist movement.
In 1935 was passed the Government of India Act that extended some concessions to the
nationalist movement by introducing more autonomy to the elected members in the legislatures
of the provinces. This Act also extended the voting rights to a greater percentage of the Indian
People.
The British after introducing the 1935 Act announced the holding of elections to the provincial
legislatures in early 1937. After the resolution of the dilemma within the Congress, it took part in
the electoral process and did very well. The Congress had absolute majorities in five out of the
eleven provinces. This win encouraged the na-tionalist movement with students, peasants and the
working class. They all made their presence felt and soon there were movements among these
classes even in the Princely States that were outside the full control of the colonial State.
Congress governments in different provinces remained in office for over two years and
undertook various measures in the interest of various sections of the people. Reduction in rent for
the peasantry, release of political prisoners and the lifting of restriction on the press were some
of the steps taken by the Congress governments. But above all it indicated that the Indian people
were capable to governing themselves.
17


17
Quit india movement ,Contemporary india,74-78 visited on 16/4/2014

Towards the end of 1939 all the Congress governments resigned. The second world war broke
out in 1938 and the Viceroy unilaterally declared that India, as a British colony was a party to the
war on the British side. As a marks of protest against this decision, the Congress high command
instructed all the Congress governments to resign.
With the resignation of the Congress ministers, an important phase in the national movement
came to an end. As a result of the non-cooperation and civil disobedience movement, the
national movement had reached out to new areas and groups. This led to an erosion of the British
control from the minds and hearts of the people. The effective running of the government by the
congress in the proving undermind the British control further.
The second world war created a new crisis for the British. The War created a new demand for
various commodities like clothes and food for the soldiers. These de-mands could only be met
through extractions from the society. This added to general resentment against the British and
weakened their support base further. To take an example, as a part of the requirement for the
war, large quantities of food stuffs had to carried out of Bengal. This resulted in a severe famine
in Bengal and over three million people died due to starvation. Thus the situation created by the
second world war created tremendous hardships for the people. It also created an unprecedented
crisis for the British rule in India.
In these circumstances a constantly declining support base of the British, Mahatma Gandhi
decided to launch a final offensive against the British rule. Thus began the famous Quit India
movement in August 1942. In this movement no demands were made from the British. They
were simply asked to quit India. The British retaliated to Gandhis call to Quit India by
arresting him and all the members of congress work-ing committee. The news of the arrest of
Congress leader angered the people further who came out on the streets and attacked the British
government which way they could. In the absence of their leaders people became their own
leaders and attacked, looted and destroyed government property. The government dealt with the
movement with severe brutality and many people were killed in police firing.
In the end of British government was able to suppress the movement only with the help of large
scale killings and arrests. According to official figures, the number of people arrested by the end
of 1943 was well over 91,000. Although the movement had been suppressed, it became very
clear to the British government that they would not be able to hold on to India for long. The
British themselves had realized it. Uptill now they had ruled the country with the help of a
support system that they had built in India since the 19
th
century. This support system had been
eroded by the national movement, through a series of struggles. Without the help of various
sections of Indians (peasants, workers, middle classes, rich people, police, army among others) it
was not possible for the British to rule India.
Once the British realized this they began to make preparations for a gradual and peaceful
withdrawal from India. From 194445 onward, they released all the Con-gress leaders and
initiated a process of negotiations for a transfer of power from British to Indian hands.
And so it was that India became free in August 1947. The attainment of freedom was a matter of
great joy for Indian people. Indian people had won their battle against mighty British
imperialism. But it was not an absolute victory. Along with the freedom of India came the
partition of the land in two nation states-India and Pakistan. The British government had always
tried to prevent a unity of the Indian people. They had never agreed that all the Indian people
were one with common interests. And so, when they left India they decided to divide the country
on the basis of religion. The Partition of India was also accompanied by communal violence at a
very large scale.
18

The year 1947 is a very important phase in the history of India. It was a year of triumph of Indian
people as they achieved their freedom from foreign rule. But it was also the year of a great
tragedy for the unity of Indian people as the country was partitioned into two separate nation-
states.










18
http://www.preservearticles.com/201012271756/quit-india-movement.html














CONCLUSION

The Nationalist Movements in India was organised mass movements emphasising and raising
questions concerning the interests of the people of India. In most of these movements, people
were themselves encouraged to take action. Due to several factors, these movements failed to
win Independence for India. However, they did promote a sense of nationalism among the
people of the country. The failure of these movements affected many people due to
withdrawal from Government offices, schools, factories and services. Though they did manage
to get a few concessions such as the Salt March in 1930, they did not help India much from the
point of view of their objective. The Swadesh Movement had its genesis in the anti-partition
movement which was stated to oppose the British decision to partition Bengal. The
Governments decision to partition Bengal had been made public in December 1903. The
official reason given for the decision was that Bengal with a population of 78 million (about a
quarter of the population of British India) had become too big to be administered. This was true
to some extent, but the real motive behind the partition plan was the British desire to weaken
Bengal, the nerve centre of Indian nationalism.This it sought to achieve by putting the Bengalis
under two administrations by dividing them (i) on the basis of language (thus reducing the
Bengalis to a minority in Bengal itself as in the new proposal. Bengal proper was to have 17
million Bengalis and 37 million Hindi and Oriya speakers), and (ii) on the basis of religion, as the
western half was to be a Hindu majority area (42 million out of a total 54 million) and the
eastern half was to be a Muslim majority area (18 million out of a total of 31 million).Trying to
woo the Muslims, Curzon, the viceroy at that time, argued that Dacca could become the capital
of the New Muslim Viceroys and kings. Thus, it was clear that the Government was up to its old
policy of propping up Muslim communalists to counter the Congress and the national
movement. Martial law was imposed in Punjab after the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre. Inhuman
treatment was meted out to Indians e.g. men were made to crawl on their bellies in the bylane
where a European woman had been attacked. Although the Rowlatt satyagraha had been
withdrawn, the feeling of resentment toward British rule grew even more bitter. The Montague
Chelmsford reforms of 1919 frustrated the hopes of those who still had any faith in the colonial
governments intention for bringing about reforms enabling Indians to participate in the
government. The movement of civil dis-obedience was launched based on the issue of salt. Salt
was an item of basic neces-sity for all and any taxation on it would affect the poorest of the poor,
thus salt became the symbol of the deprivation and oppression of the Indian people. Both the
masses and the nationalist leaders began to identify with the issue. On the 12
th
of March 1930,
Gandhi accompanied by 80 of his followers at the Sabarmati ashram began a march upto the sea
at Dandi. The dramatic Dandi march drew a great response from people. Crowds of people
greeted and followed the marchers all along the way. Villagers spun yarn on charkhas, as Gandhi
went past, to show their solidar-ity to him. On 6
th
April, Gandhi reached the sea at Dandi and
picked up a handful of salt at the sea side launching a country-wide civil disobedience movement
by break-ing the salt law. All over India people began the illegal manufacture of salt. Through
careful planning and large scale recruitment of volunteers the movement spread from one part of
the country to another, from Madras to Maharashtra and from Bengal and Assam to Karachi. In
the farthest north there was a massive demonstration at Peshawar, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and
his followers the Khudai Khidmatgars or the Red Shirts had been active here doing constructive
work for some years and the response was tremendous. The city came under the control of the
masses for atleast a week and the soldiers of the Garhwali regiment refused to fire at the
unarmed crowds. Nehrus arrest on 14
th
April was followed by public protests in Madras,
Calcutta and Karachi. The colonial government was in a dilemma as they had not expected the
salt satyagraha to create such an upheaval. Finally it decided to act and Gandhi was also arrested
in May that only resulted in further intensification of the movement. The most important aspect
of the civil disobedience movement was the widespread participation the youth, particularly
students and also women. Women picketed liquor shops and shops that sold foreign goods. The
government started to issue ordinances curbing the civil liberties of the people and civil
disobedience organizations began to be banned in the provinces. The Con-gress Working
Committee was banned in June and the Congress President Motilal Nehru was arrested. Local
Congress Committees were also banned by August. A number of local issues also become a part
of the civil disobedience movement. The years between 1930 and 1934 was also marked by an
unprecedented explosion of acts of revolutionary terrorism with its focus in Bengal and Punjab.
A total of 92 incidents were reported in 1931 itself that included 9 murders. Exemplary among
them was the Chittagong Armory Raid. In Chittagong a group of revolutionaries under Surya
Sen captured the local armoury, issued an Independence Proclamation in the name of Indian
Republican Army and put up a brave fight with the British in the hills of the countryside for
several days. The number of terrorist cases kept rising in spite of severe repression by the
colonial administration. The HSRA had also become very active in the Punjab with 26 incidents
reported in 1930 alone.
















BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Indias struggle for Independence (Bipin Chandra,Mridula Mukherjee,Aditya Mukherjee)
2. National Movement in India (Bipin Chandra)
3. Contemporary India
WEBSITES
,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalist_Movements_in_India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swadeshi_movement
http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/swadeshi-movement-in-india-indian-
history/656
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-cooperation_movement
http://www.gktoday.in/non-cooperation-movement-1920/
http://www.mapsofindia.com/personalities/gandhi/non cooperation-movement.html
http://www.preservearticles.com/201106278534/gandhi-and-the-non-cooperation-movement-
1920.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Commission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_March

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_March

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quit_India_Movement

http://www.preservearticles.com/201012271756/quit-india-movement.html