Nationalism in India - NCM & CDM
Nationalism in India - NCM & CDM
Nationalism in India - NCM & CDM
Q: Explain the new economic situation created in India during World War 1
In India and as in many other colonies, the growth of modern nationalism is intimately
connected to the anti-colonial movement. The sense of being oppressed under colonialism
provided a shared bond that tied many different groups together.
• Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in January 1915 from South Africa. Gandhiji’s
novel method of mass agitation is known as ‘Satyagraha’. Satyagraha was a
peaceful agitation launched by Mahatma Gandhi.
• Satyagraha is a novel method of non-violent mass agitation.
• It emphasizes the Power of truth.
• If the cause is true and the struggle is against injustice, then physical force is not
necessary.
• ‘Satyagraha’ is pure soul-force. Truth is the very substance of the soul. That is why
this force is called satyagraha.
• A satyagrahi could win the battle through nonviolence.
• By this struggle, truth was bound to ultimately triumph.
• Gandhi ji believed that the dharma of non-violence could unite all Indians.
• Truth was bound to ultimately triumph.
Early Satyagraha Movement
Champaran Movement: The Champaran Satyagraha was the first Satyagraha movement led by
Gandhi in Bihar. It was a farmer's uprising that took place in Champaran district of Bihar. The
Thegovernmentforced farmers of Champaran to cultivate Indigo (required for coloring cloth) to feed
the textile mills in England. In 1917 he travelled to Champaran to inspire the peasants to
struggle againstthe oppressive plantation system.
Kheda Movement: In 1917, he organised a satyagraha to support the peasants of the Kheda
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district of Gujarat. Affected by crop failure and a plague epidemic, the peasants of Kheda could
not pay the revenue and were demanding that revenue collection be relaxed.
Ahmedabad: In 1918, Mahatma Gandhi went to Ahmedabad to organise a satyagraha
movement amongst cotton mill workers.
The Rowlatt Act
This Act had been hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite the united
opposition of the Indian members.
The Rowlatt Act gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities.
It allowed detention (arrest and imprison) of political prisoners without trial for two years.
Mahatma Gandhi wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws, which would
start with a hartal on 6 April 1919. Rallies were organised in various cities; workers went on
strike and shops closed down. The government responded with brutal repression.
Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre
Protests against the Rowlatt Act were widespread across the country. On 10 April, the police
in Amritsar (Punjab) fired upon a peaceful procession, provoking widespread attacks. Martial
lawwas imposed, and General Dyer took command. Indian National Congress organised a
meeting at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on 13th April to contempt the repression and arrest of
leaders. On that day a large crowd gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh. Some
came toattend the annual Baishaki fair. Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points, and
without giving any warning opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds. His object was to
‘produce amoral effect’, to create in the minds of satyagrahis a feeling of terror and awe.
There were strikes, clashes with the police, and attacks on government buildings. The
government responded with brutal repression.
Khilafat Movement
Ali Brothers, Mohammad Ali and Shoukat Ali started the Khilafat Movement
The First World War had ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey.
Briton and her allies decided to impose a harsh treaty with the Ottoman Emperor- the spiritual
head of the Islamic world (Khalifa).
To defend the khalifa’s temporal powers, a Khilafat committee was formed in Bombay in March
1919. Gandhiji saw this as an opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified
national movement. At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, he convinced
other leaders of the need to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as
for swaraj.
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Swaraj Party : Some leaders felt that it was important to oppose British policies within the councils. C.
R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party within the Congress to argue for a returnto council
politics. But younger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose pressed for more radical
mass agitation and full independence.
Economic Depression: It was one of the factors that shaped Indian politics towards the late 1920s.
Agricultural prices began to fall from 1926 and collapsed after 1930. As the demand for agricultural
goods fell and exports declined, peasants found it difficult to sell their harvests and pay their revenue.
Simon Commission: The Tory government in Britain constituted a Statutory Commission under Sir John
Simon. The commission was set up to look into the functioning of the constitutional system in India and
suggest changes. It was a ‘White Men Commission’. It did not have a single Indian member. They were
all British. When the Simon Commission arrived in India in 1928, it was greeted with the slogan ‘Go
back,Simon’.
Dominion status: Dominion status refers to a constitutional status granted to certain self-governing
territories within the British Empire. These territories had a great degree of autonomy in their internal
affairs but, to acknowledge the British monarch as their head of state. The viceroy, Lord Irwin,
announced in October 1929, a vague offer of ‘dominion status’ for India in an unspecified future. He
also announced a Round Table Conference to discuss afuture constitution.
Rise of Radicals: The radicals within the Congress were led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra
Bose. The liberals and moderates, who were proposing a constitutional system within the framework of
British dominion (dominion status), gradually lost their influence.
Lahore Congress: In December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress
formalized the demand for ‘Purna Swaraj’ or full independence for India. It was declared that 26
January 1930 would be celebrated as Independence Day when people were to take a pledge to struggle
forcomplete independence.
Q: Why did Congress change its demand from ‘Swaraj’ to ‘Purna Swaraj’?
• Vague declaration of dominion status for India for India in an unspecified future.
• Rise of radical leaders and their leadership – Subash Chandra Bose & Jawaharlal Nehru.
• Failure of Simon Commission
Dandi March / Salt Satygraha/ Beginning of Civil Disobedience.
• 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 of all was the demand to abolish the salt tax.
• Gandhiji declared, the tax on salt and the government monopoly over its production
revealed the most oppressive face of British rule.
• He started his famous salt march from Sabarmati. Accompanied by 78 volunteers, he
marched for 24 days to reach Dandi.
• He manufactured salt without paying tax. This marked the beginning of the Civil
Disobedience Movement.
Q: “Two factors again shaped Indian politics towards the late 1920” – What are those two
factors?
• The first was the effect of the worldwide economic depression.
• The Tory government in Britain constituted a Statutory Commission under Sir John
Simon. The commission did not have a single Indian member.
• They organised their communities and participated in the boycott programmes. For them, the fight
for Swaraj was a struggle against high revenues. When the movement was restarted in 1932, many
of them refused to participate.
Poor Peasants
• The poorer peasantry was not just interested in the lowering of the revenue demand.
• Many of them were small tenants cultivating land they had rented from landlords.
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During the Depression they found it difficult to pay their rent.
Their demand for land and low revenue upset the rich peasants and landlords.
• The Congress was unwilling to support ‘no rent’ campaigns in most places. So the relationship
between the poor peasants and the Congress remained uncertain.
Business classes / Industrial Group & Civil Disobedience Movement.
How did the business class relate to the CDM?
They reacted against colonial policies because it restricted their business activities.
They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange
ratio that would discourage imports.
They formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the
Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927.
Prominent industrialists Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla were their leaders.
Industrialists attacked colonial control over the Indian economy. They gave financial assistance and
refused to buy or sell imported goods.
Most businessmen came to see swaraj as a time when colonial restrictions on business would no
longer exist and trade and industry would flourish without constraints.
Q: When Civil Disobedience was restarted (after the failure of the Second Round Tableconference
business groups were no longer uniformly enthusiastic. - Why?
Industrial workers and CDM: How did the Industrial workers relate to the CDM?
• They did not participate in the CDM in large numbers.
• As the industrialists came closer to Congress, workers stayed aloof.
• Some workers selectively adopted some of the ideas of the Gandhian programme, like
the boycott of foreign goods as part of their own movements against low wages and poor
working conditions.
• There were strikes by railway workers in 1930 and dockworkers in 1932.
• Thousands of workers in Chottanagpur mines wore Gandhi caps and participated in
protestrallies.
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The Limits of Civil Disobedience
Q: Not all social groups were moved by the abstract concept of Swaraj’ – Explain
1. Dalits Groups (untouchables):
Gandhiji declared that Swaraj would not come for a hundred years ifuntouchability was not
eliminated. He called the ‘untouchables’ harijan or the children of God.
• Many leaders were taken on a different political solution to the problems of the community. So,
Dalit participation in the CDM was limited.
• Dr. Ambedkar organised the Dalits into the depressed class organisation.
• He demanded a separate electorate for Dalits.
• Gandhiji opposed the demand and started a fast unto death when govt conceded
Ambedkar’s demand.
• He believed that the decision would slow down the process of their integration into
society.
• Ambedkar ultimately accepted Gandhiji’s position, and the result was the POONA PACT of
Sept 1932.
i. It gave the depressed (SC/ST) class reserved seats in legislative councils.
ii. They were to be voted in by the general electorate.
2. Muslims & CDM
▪ Some Muslim organisations were also lukewarm in their response to CDM.
▪ Some organisations felt alienated from the Congress (divide and rule policy)
▪ The Congress and Muslim League made efforts to renegotiate an alliance.
▪ The differences over the question of representation in the future
assemblies thatwere to be elected put the talk in a deadlock.
▪ The ‘Two Nation Theory’ of Jinnah and the demands of the Hindu
Mahasabha madematters worse.
Q: “Nationalism spreads when people begin to believe that they are all part of the same nation
when they discover some unity that binds them together” – Explain.
The sense of collective belonging came through the experience of united struggles and a variety of
cultural processes. History and fiction, folklore and songs, and popular printsand symbols, all played
a part in the making of nationalism.
• Allegory: The identity of the nation is most often symbolised in a figure or image. This
helps create an image with which people can identify the nation. With the growth of
nationalism, the identity of India came to be visually associated with the image of Bharat
Mata. Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata
• National Song: In the 1870s Bankim Chandra wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ as a hymn to the
motherland. Later it was included in his novel Anandamath and widely sung during the
Swadeshi movement in Bengal.
• Literature & Indian folklore: Ideas of nationalism also developed through a movement to
revive Indian folklore. It was essential to preserve this folk tradition in order to discover
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one’s national identity and restore a sense of pride in one’s past. In Madras, Natesa Sastri
published a massive four-volume collection of Tamil folk tales, The Folklore of Southern
India
• National Anthem: Rabindranath Tagore composed India’s National anthem.
• National Flag: Nationalist leaders became more and more aware of icons and symbols in
unifying people and inspiring in them a feeling of nationalism. During the Swadeshi
movement, a tricolour flag (red, green, and yellow) was designed. It had eight lotuses
representing eight provinces of British India, and a crescent moon, representing Hindus and
Muslims. By 1921, Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag. It was again a tricolor (red,
green,and white) and had a spinning wheel in the centre, representing the Gandhian ideal of
self-help.
• Reinterpretation of history: Another means of creating a feeling of nationalism was
through reinterpretation of history. Many Indians began looking into the past to discover
India’s great achievements. They wrote about the glorious developments in ancient times
when art and architecture, science and mathematics, religion and culture, law and
philosophy, crafts and trade had flourished.
• Even though the Civil Disobedience Movement did not succeed in attaining its main
objective ofindependence from British Rule or even manage to obtain the concession of
Dominion Status from the government, it had a significant impact for the following reasons:
• The number of participants was much more in the Civil Disobedience Movement as
compared tothe Non-Cooperation Movement. More than three times the number of
Satyagrahis went to jail.
• Foreign imports of cloth and cigarettes fell by half. Government income from land
revenue andliquor excise also took a hit.
• The movement saw the participation of poor and illiterate people on a large scale who
alsounhesitatingly went to jail for the just cause.
• Women and students participated in the movement on a large scale and it was a
liberating experience for Indian women who entered the public space in such large
numbers for the firsttime.
• Muslims participated actively in the North-West Frontier Province and Bengal. The
Muslimweaving community in Bihar, Delhi, and Lucknow was also effectively
mobilized.
• Most importantly, as mentioned above, it was for the first time that the government
negotiatedwith Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress as an equals which had not happened
earlier in the freedom struggle.
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Lesson Revisit
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Picture based question :
Identify the personalities depicted in the provided image
Case study
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Read the following abstract and answer the questions provided afterward.
‘It is said of “passive resistance” that it is the weapon of the weak, but the power which is the subject of
this article can be used only by the strong. This power is not passive resistance; indeed, it calls for intense
activity. The movement in South Africa was not passive but active … ‘Satyagraha is not physical force. A
satyagrahi does not inflict pain on the adversary; he does not seek his destruction … In the use of
satyagraha, there is no ill-will whatever. ‘Satyagraha is pure soul-force. Truth is the very substance of the
soul. That is why this force is called satyagraha. The soul is informed with knowledge. In it burns the flame
of love. … Nonviolence is the supreme dharma … ‘It is certain that India cannot rival Britain or Europe in
force of arms. The British worship the war-god and they can all of them become, as they are becoming,
bearers of arms. The hundreds of millions in India can never carry arms. They have made the religion of
non-violence their own ...’
a) What do you mean by Satysgraha? (1 marks)
b) What did Mahatma Gandhi mean when he said satyagraha is active resistance? (1 marks)
c) Why did Mahatma Gandhi choose nonviolent resistance over a militant approach in the struggle
for independence? (2 marks)
Do as directed
There are two statements marked as Assertion (A) and Reason (R). Mark your answer as per the codes
provided below:
1. Assertion(A): Mahatma Gandhi decided to launch a nationwide Satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act in
1919
Reason(R): The Rowlatt Act gave the government unrestricted power to arrest Indian political prisoners
without trial for 2 years.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
2. Assertion(A): The notions of freedom were different for every social group.
Reason(R): Every class and group felt the effects of colonialism differently .
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
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