Nationalism in India Summary Class 10 Social Science Chapter 2

Introduction

• Modern nationalism was associated with the formation of nation-states.
• In India like many other colonies, the growth of modern nationalism is connected to the anti-colonial movement.

The First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation

• The First World War (1914-1918) created a new political and economic situation.
• India faced various problems during war period:
  1. Increase in defence expenditure.
  2. Prices increased through the war years.
  3. Forced recruitment in rural areas.
• During 1918-19 and 1920-21, crops failure in many parts of India.
• Hardships did not end after the war was over.

The Idea of Satyagraha

• Satyagraha is a novel way of fighting the colonial rule in India.
• It is a non-aggressive, peaceful mass agitation against oppression and injustice.
• Satyagraha means holding firmly to the truth. 
• It is a moral force, not passive resistance.
• In January 1915, Mahatma Gandhi returned to India.
• Gandhiji organised Satyagraha Movements in Champaran, Bihar (1916), Kheda district of Gujarat (1917) and amongst cotton mill workers in Ahmedabad (1918).

The Rowlatt Act (1919)

• This act gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.

Jallianwala Bagh massacre:

• On 13th April 1919, a huge crowd gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh.
• Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points, and opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds.
• As the news spread, strikes, clashes with the police and attacks on government buildings started.
• The government responded with brutal repression.
• Gandhi called off the Rowlatt satyagraha as the violence spread.

Khilafat Movement

• Khilafat Movement was led by two brothers Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Ali.
• Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919 to defend the Khalifa’s temporal powers.
• Gandhiji convinced the Congress to join hands with the Khilafat Movement and start a Non-Cooperation Campaign for Swaraj.
• At the Congress session at Nagpur in December 1920, the Non-Cooperation programme was adopted.

Differing strands within the movement

• The Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement began in January 1921.

The Movement in the Towns

• It started with middle class participation in cities.
• Students, teachers, lawyers gave up studies, jobs, legal practices and joined movements.
• Council elections were boycotted.
• Foreign goods were boycotted.
• Liquor shops were protested against.

Movement in the countryside

• Peasants and tribals took over the struggle which turned violent gradually.

Peasant Movement in Awadh:

• The peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra in Awadh against landlords and talukdars.
• In 1920, the Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra and a few others.

Movement of Tribals in Andhra Pradesh:

• Alluri Sitaram Raju led the guerrilla warfare in the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh.
• The rebels attacked police stations.
• Raju was captured and executed in 1924.

Swaraj in the Plantations:

• For the plantation workers, Swaraj means moving freely.
• They protested against the Inland Emigration Act (1859) which prevented them from leaving the plantation in Assam without permission.
• Each group interpreted the term swaraj in their own ways.

Towards Civil Disobedience

• In February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement.
• Many leaders such as C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party within the Congress to argue for a return to council politics.
• Younger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose pressed for more radical mass agitation and for full independence.

Factors that shaped Indian politics towards the late 1920s:

1. The Worldwide Economic Depression

• Agricultural prices collapsed after 1930 as the demand for agricultural goods fell and exports declined.

2. Simon Commission

• It was constituted by the Tory government of Britain to look into the demands of the nationalists and suggest changes in the constitutional structure of India.
• The Commission arrived in India in 1928.
• The Congress protested against this commission.

In December, 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore session of Congress formalized the demand of “Purna Swaraj”.

The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement

Gandhiji chose salt as the medium that could unite the nation as it is consumed by all the sections of the society.

Salt March

• Salt or Dandi March began on March 12, 1930.
• On 6th April 1930, Gandhiji reached Dandi, a village in Gujarat and broke the Salt Law by boiling water and manufacturing salt.

• Thus, it began the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• It was different from Non-Cooperation Movement as people were now asked not only to refuse cooperation but also to break colonial laws.
• Boycott of foreign goods, non-payment of taxes, breaking forest laws were its main features.
• The British Government followed a policy of brutal repression.
• British government arrested all the leaders including Gandhiji and Nehru.
• Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact:

• On 5 March, 1931, Lord Irwin, the Viceroy, signed a pact with Gandhi.
• In December, 1931, Gandhiji went to London for the Second Round Table Conference but returned disappointed.
• Gandhi relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement but by 1934 it lost its momentum.

How Participants saw the Movement
Rich peasants:

• Rich peasant communities expected the revenue tax to be reduced, when the British refused to do so, they did join the movement.
• They did not rejoin the movement as the movement was called without revising the revenue rates.

Poor Peasants:

• The poor peasants wanted rents of lands to be remitted.
• The Congress was unwilling to support the “no rent” campaigns due to the fear of upsetting the rich peasants and landlords.

Business Classes:

• After the war, their huge profits were reduced, wanted protection against import of foreign goods.
• The spread of militant activities, worries of prolonged business disruptions, growing influences of socialism amongst the young Congress forced them not to join the movement.

Women:

• Women also participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops.
• Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority within the organisation.

Limits of Civil Disobedience

• The Dalits or the Untouchables did not actively participate in the movement, they demanded reservation of seats, separate electorates.
• Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the leader of the Dalits, formed an association in 1930, called the Depressed Classes Association. He clashed with Gandhiji.
• Poona Pact between the Gandhiji and B.R. Ambedkar (1932) gave reserved seats in Provincial and Central Councils but were voted by general electorate.
• The leader of the Muslim League M.A. Jinnah wanted reserved seats for Muslims in Central Assembly.
• Large sections of Muslims did not participate in the Civil disobedience movement.

The Sense of Collective Belonging

• The sense of collective belonging came partly through the experience of united struggles.
• History and fiction, folklore and songs, popular prints and symbols, all played a part in the making of nationalism.
• By 1921, Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag. It was again a tricolour (red, green and white) and had a spinning wheel in the centre.