Freedom and Partition in India
Chapter 9
Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi
Gandhi saw his life as
the search for
ultimate truths and selftransformation (#1)
Gandhi (#2)
Born: Oct. 2,
1869
Porbandar,
Gujarat
Died: Jan.
30, 1948
Assassinated
Gandhi and His Wife
Kasturba
Gandhi
married
Gandhi at age
13 years old
(1883) (#3)
Mohandas Gandhi
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Born into a middle class family
Leader of India’s freedom movement (INC)
Left for Britain at age 17 to study law (#4)
Lawyer – trained in Britain, practiced in
South Africa
• Helped unite the various groups within
India to fight for a common cause
First Action for Indian Civil Rights
• In South Africa, fighting for Indian rights (#5 & 6)
– Train ride and effects: thrown off the train for refusing to move to
3rd class where non-whites were expected to sit
– Effects: humiliation lead to his desire for change and how to get
justice
• Civil Disobedience – The active refusal to obey unjust
laws or the demands of an oppressive government (#6)
– Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation
with good.
• Satyagraha = truth force – convert the wrongdoer (#6)
and reconciliation
• Non-violence – ex. Rosa Parks, MLK Jr.
Lawyer in South Africa
Appealing to all Indians – Returned
to India 1915 at age 45 (#7)
Gandhi’s Principles
• His beliefs were a blend of Hindu and
Christian beliefs
• Non-violent resistance to end injustice
• Satyagraha = truth force – convert the
wrongdoer
• Inspiration
– Hindu – nonviolence, respect for all life
– Christianity – love one’s enemies
• Mahatma: Great Soul
Himalayan Blunder
• Although this nation-wide strike hit the
British hard, and led to thousands of
Indians being jailed, in 1922 it erupted into
violence.
• A mob of “Satyagrahis” lit fire to a police
station, killing two dozen police officers
trapped inside.
• Gandhi called off the entire Satyagraha
• mistakenly believed that his followers truly
understood non-violence Clip – 1:17: 22 -1:24
Gandhi’s Principles
• He wanted the world to see the injustice in
India without using violence
• Gandhi wanted the British to see the err in
their wrong doings
• The same principles were used with
apartheid in South Africa
• Satyagraha = truth force – convert the
wrongdoer
Yo Yo Yo
GANDHI RAPS
#1
Gandhi’s Principles
Amritsar Massacre 1919
• Causes
– Oppressive new laws limited freedoms
–Rowlatt Acts
–trials without juries
–permitted internment of suspects without
trial
–Ban on mass meetings
–Limited freedom of press
–protest against the arrest of two leaders
of the Indian National Congress in 1919
• “The Indians were ‘packed together so
that one bullet would drive through three
or four bodies’; the people ‘ran madly this
way and the other. When fire was
directed upon the centre, they ran to the
sides. The fire was then directed to the
sides. Many threw themselves onto the
ground, and fire was then directed on the
ground. This continued for eight or ten
minutes, and it stopped only when the
ammunition had reached the point of
exhaustion…” Winston Churchill
Amritsar Massacre
• British Brig. Gen. who led the massacre
was removed from duty but some honored
him at home for crushing the Indians
Rattan Devi stated, ''I saw three men writhing in great
pain and a boy of about 12. I could not leave the place.
The boy asked me for water but there was no water in
that place. At 2 am, a Jat who was lying entangled on
the wall asked me to raise his leg. I went up to him and
took hold of his clothes drenched in blood and raised
him up. Heaps of bodies lay there, a number of them
innocent children. I shall never forget the sight. I spent
the night crying and watching..." clip from 1:24 – 1:31
show clip
Amritsar Massacre
• 'The Martyr's' well at
Jallianwala Bagh
• Other than those got
shot, many died by
jumping into the
solitary well on the
compound to escape
the shooting
Amritsar Massacre
Results of Amritsar Massacre (#9)
• Effects:
– 379 Indians dead - 1,100 Indians injured
– Ridiculous Rules forced against the Indians
– All Indians must crawl on their hands and knees on a city
street
– Indiscriminate whippings
– British General Dyer, removed from duty but some
honored him at home
• “Teach Indians a lesson”
– Turning Point for India’s struggle for
complete independence
– Nationalist movement took off
– All Indians united against British
• Gandhi became one of the masses
Yo Yo Yo
GANDHI RAPS
#2
Amritsar Massacre
Indian Self-Reliance (#10)
(#11) To be seen as
the leader of all
Indians; connected
with the masses;
Bapu: Father
• Gandhi won the support
of all groups by stressing
India’s heritage and Selfreliance
– Examples
• Gave up Western ways
• Spun his own cotton,
wore simple white
clothing
• Western clothes
symbolized cultural
dependence
• Vegetarianism
• Wanted to reform caste
system (untouchables)
• Included Muslims
Non Violent Protests
• Gandhi supported nonviolent acts of civil
disobedience
– Boycotted British made goods
– Supported workers strikes
– Did not want lose the moral high ground and
threatened by acts of violence(#12)
– The Salt March
– Quit India Movement
The Salt March – 1930 (#13)
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Indians were not allowed to make their own salt
They had to purchase heavily taxed British salt
Gandhi led Indians on a march over 200 miles
to the Arabian Sea
Starts with 80 people ends with hundreds of
thousands
On his march to the sea, Gandhi says “They
are not in control; we are”. “Explain.
They made their own once they reached the
ocean
The Salt March – 1930 (#13)
• Effects: (#13)
– Gandhi and 50,000 protester were arrested
– British violence against protesters
– Britain responded with violence to the
satyagraha protests
– Worldwide interest and debate especially in
Great Britain whether to hold on to India
Amritsar Massacre
Yo Yo Yo
GANDHI RAPS
#3
Salt March
August 1942
Gandhi demands independence for India (#14)
‘Do or Die’ Speech
• Starts the Quit India Movement – August 8, 1942
• I am not going to be satisfied with anything short of
complete freedom. May be, he will propose the abolition
of salt tax, the drink evil, etc. But I will say, “Nothing less
than freedom.”
Here is a mantra, a short one, that I give you. You may
imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours
give expression to it. The mantra is : ‘Do or Die’. We
shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not
live to see the perpetuation of our slavery. Every true
Congressman or woman will join the struggle with an
inflexible determination not to remain alive to see the
country in bondage and slavery.
Gandhi Jailed (#15)
• At age 73
• Jailed for his announcement of the Quit
India Movement and the “Do or Die”
mantra
• Issues b/c of
leadership arrests
WWII – Quit India (#15)
• Gandhi leads non-support efforts in India during
World War II
• 'Do or die' speech that inspired the Quit India
movement August 8th 1942,
• India would support Britain if they were granted
immediate independence, Britain refused
• Massive civil disobedience campaign and riots
• Mass arrests on Indians
WWII – Quit India (#15)
• Importance of the Quit India Movement :
– British government astonished by observing the
powerful nationalistic feelings of the Indians added
with anti-British feeling
– convinced the British Government that their days
were numbered in India and they had to free the
country – anti-British feeling too much
– The Quit India Movement quickened the process of
freedom.
• India gains independence August 15, 1947
(#17)
Yo Yo Yo
GANDHI RAPS
#4
Quit India Movement
Gandhi & Hindu/Muslim Conflict
• Brought by the prospect of independence (#16)
• Deep differences led to conflict - historical
conflict
• some cooperation at first
• division between INC and Muslim League
• Gandhi hoped the two could live peacefully
together, with independence
• Muslims fears
– the Hindu Nationalists would not grant them rights
– Muslim feared being a minority in a Hindu nation
=own nation
• the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali
Jinnah, demands for a separate Muslim nation
(#16)
Two Nations; disappointed Gandhi
• August 15, 1947: Indian Independence
(#17) – Britain no longer had resources to
rule
– Indian Independence Act (1947)
– (#20) Non-violent Revolution
• Lord Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of
India.
• Mountbatten was appointed Viceroy of
India in 1947 and he oversaw the creation
of the independent states of India and
Pakistan.
Yo Yo Yo
GANDHI RAPS
#5
Independence of India
(East Pakistan)
Jawaharlal Nehru
 Ally of Gandhi.
 1st Prime Minister
of India,
1947-1964.
Pakistan
 Led by
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
 governor-general of a newly
formed Pakistan.
 Conflicts in Pakistan divides
(1972)
 W. Pakistan = Pakistan
 E.
Pakistan = Bangladesh
Two Nations; disappointed Gandhi
The subcontinent was divided (partitioned)
into:
– Muslim: Pakistan - to protect Muslin minority –
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
– Hindu: India
• Gandhi refused to celebrate Indian
independence b/c of the violence,
Heartbroken (#17)
Yo Yo Yo
GANDHI RAPS
#6
Formation of Pakistan
Hindu-Muslim Conflict
• At partition, Mutual violence during mass
migration (#17)
• 500,000 died in the fighting between the
two nations
• Gandhi: guilt b/c he failed to convert
people to non-violence
• Gandhi’s Hunger strike to end the violence
(#18)
– successful
Yo Yo Yo
GANDHI RAPS
#7
Hindu/Muslim Conflict
India after Gandhi
• Gandhi assassinated about 1 year after
India’s independence (1948)
• shot by a Hindu extremist – Nathuram
Godse (#19) on 30 January 1948
I took courage in both my hands
and I did fire the shots at Gandhiji
on 30th January 1948, on the
prayer-grounds of Birla House.
I do say that my shots were fired at
the person whose policy and action
had brought rack and ruin and
destruction to millions of Hindus.
There was no legal machinery by
which such an offender could be
brought to book and for this reason
I fired those fatal shots.
Rama – Indian Word: God(#19)
• Some questions on last words
Raj Ghat - A National Memorial
The body of Mahatma Gandhi lying in state
at Birla House, New Delhi, before the
funeral cortege leaves for the burning
ghats on the banks of the river Yamuna on
2 February 1948. Keystone/Getty Images
Funeral procession of Gandhi at New Delhi
on 6 February 1948
The Governor General’s Bodyguard heading the
procession on the 5.5 mile route through New Delhi
to the funeral pyre during the funeral of Mahatma
Gandhi on 4 February 1948. Keystone/Getty Images
The ashes of Mahatma Gandhi are
collected at his funeral, held in Delhi and
attended by several thousand people on 9
February 1948
• George C. Marshall, US Secretary of State
– "Mahatma Gandhi had become the
spokesman for the conscience of all mankind.
He was a man who made humility and simple
truth more powerful than empires.
• Albert Einstein
– "Generations to come will scarce believe that
such a man as this ever in flesh and blood
walked upon this earth."
Yo Yo Yo
GANDHI RAPS
#8
Assassination of Gandhi
India After Gandhi