Important Questions (1 Mark): Nationalism in India - UPSC MCQ

Forced recruitment is a process by which the colonial state forced people to join the army. The British government in India resorted to it at the time of the First World War in order to boost the number of soldiers fighting from its side.

The growth of modern nationalism is intimately connected to the anti-colonial movement in India, just like in any other country.
In the process of their struggle with colonialism people began discovering their unity.

(i) The business class wanted protection against imports of foreign goods.
(ii) They wanted to free the business from colonial restrictions.
(iii) The business community interpreted Swaraj in their own way. They came to see Swaraj at the time when colonial restrictions on business would no longer exist and trade industry would flourish without constraints.

The Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930, which was started with the breaking of the Salt Law at Dandi, and the Quit India Movements were classic examples when Gandhi and his colleagues used Satyagraha as a weapon of the soul force.
 

Mahatma Gandhi successfully organised satyagraha movements in Champaran in Bihar, Kheda district of Gujarat and Ahmedabad.
In 1917, he organised a satyagraha to support the peasants of the Kheda district of Gujarat who were demanding that revenue collection be relaxed.
In 1918, he went to Ahmedabad to organise a satyagraha movement amongst cotton mill workers.

Mahatma Gandhi , in his famous book Hind Swaraj ( 1909) , declared that British rule was established in India with the cooperation of Indians and had survived only because of this cooperation. If Indians refuse to co-operate, British rule in India would collapse within one year and Swaraj would come.

Peasants and Tribals 

In various places peasants and tribal also participated in the movement. The movement was launched against the talukdars and landlords. For them Swaraj meant they would not be required to pay land dues i.e., land revenue, and the land they were cultivating would be distributed among them.

Though the Khilafat issue was not directly linked to Indian politics but it provided the immediate background to the movement and gave an added advantage of cementing Hindu-Muslim unity against British.It was wrong treatment meted out to Turkey by British where the Khalifa was removed from Khilafat.The Gandhiji felt it as a good chance to weld the unity among the Hindus and the Muslims against the common enemy British.

In his famous book Hind Swaraj (1909) Mahatma Gandhi declared that British rule was established in India with the cooperation of Indians, and had survived only because of this cooperation. If Indians refused to cooperate, British rule in India would collapse within a year, and swaraj would come. Gandhiji believed that if Indians begin to refuse to cooperate, the British rulers will have no other way than to leave India.

The plantation workers of Assam gave the slogan "swatantra bharat ". Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not permitted to leave the tea gardens without permission, and they were rarely given such permission.

Correct Answer :- C

Explanation : Peasants organized movements against Talukdars and Landlords in villages under the leadership of Baba Ramchandra. Tribal people started an armed struggle in the Gudem hills of Andhra Pradesh under the leadership of Alluri Sitaram Raju.

Baba Ramchandra led the peasant movement in Awadh.

He was a sanyasi, who had earlier been to Fiji as an indentured labourer.

He started the movement against talukdars and landlords, who demanded high rent and taxes from the peasants.

The Swaraj Party was formed by Motilal Nehru and Chittaranjan Das in order to fight British colonialism from within and give the people of India a responsible and responsive government by making the colonial state accountable. The formation of this party allowed the Congress leaders who believed in participating in government an avenue to contest elections.

The two factors that shaped Indian politics towards late 1920s were:
The first was the effect of the worldwide economic depression. Agricultural prices began to fall from 1926 and collapsed after 1930. 
The Tory government in Britain constituted the Simon Commission to look into the functioning of the Constitutional government in India. The Simon Commission came to India in 1928.

Non-Cooperation Movement spread in cities across the country:
(i) The movement started with middle class participation in the cities.
(ii) Thousands of students left government controlled schools and colleges.
(iii) Headmasters and teachers resigned and lawyers gave up their legal practices. 
(iv) The council elections were boycotted in most provinces except Madras where Justice Party took part in elections.

Gandhiji withdrew from the Civil Disobedience Movement to focus on Harijan welfare. Objectives of Harijan Campaign were as below:
1. Eradication of untouchability.
2. Social, economic and cultural upliftment of the Harijans.
3. The opening of wells, roads, and particularly temples plus humanitarian work. He refused to attack caste as a whole.

J.L. Nehru presided over the Lahore Session of the INC in December 1929. The immediate effect of this session of Congress was the demand of ‘Purna Swaraj’ or full liberty of India from the British rule. It was concluded that 26 January 1930 would be observed as the Day of India's Independence. But the judgment of Lahore Session was inadequate to bring much attention. By using the idea from this Purna Swaraj program Gandhiji organized ‘Dandi March’ (against the unjust salt laws) as the primary action for Civil Disobedience.

Mahatama Gandhi started this march along with 78 volunteers from sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, the coastal town of Gujarat.
Reasons for Dandi March
British government imposed salt tax and established its monopoly over salt production.
Activities that were done in this march
They reached Dandi on April 6,1930 and violated the law by manufacturing Salt.

Because of violence Gandhiji called off the movement (Civil Disobedience).
And signed the pact with Viceroy Irwin, popularly known as Gandhi - Irwin pact.
Thus, option (D) is correct.

The main cause for business classes to participate in civil disobedience movement was the protection against import of foreign goods and thus affect in their business.