10 HISTORY – CHAPTER – 4 – NATIONALISM IN INDIA
VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMqUTFPEm-g&t=74s
Nationalism in India primarily grew out of sentiments of anti-colonialism i.e.,
it was like an anti- colonial movement.
The congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi tried to forge unity,
develop new modes/ methods of struggle and bring diverse social groups
together within one movement. However, the unity did not emerge without
conflict.
MAIN TOPICS OF THE CHAPTER:
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The Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience Movements.
How the Congress sought to develop the national movement,
How different social groups participated in the movement, and
How nationalism captured the imagination of people.
First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation.
The First World War helped in the growth of the National Movement in India
in the following ways:
 War created adverse political and economic situations that affected
different aspects of people’s life.
 The British army, during the First World War, forcibly recruited people
from the rural areas of India. Forced recruitment in villages produced
widespread anger.
 In order to finance the defence expenditure, the British increased
custom duties and imposed income taxes.
 During 1918-19 and 1920-21, crops failed in many parts of India - which
resulted in acute food shortages.
 About 12 to 13 million people died due to famines and influenza
epidemic.
All this caused extensive anger and opposition against the British
colonial rule, and the national movement of India headed towards a
stronger and more decisive direction.

The Idea of Satyagraha
 Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in January 1915. His popular and
successful fight for the Indians in South Africa was well known.
 His novel method of mass agitation known as Satyagraha had yielded
good results.
 The idea of Satyagraha emphasized the power of truth and the need to
search for truth.
 In 1917, Gandhi travelled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the peasants
to struggle against the oppressive plantation system.
 read - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champaran_Satyagraha
 https://www.indiatoday.in/fyi/story/champaran-satyagraha-100years-gandhi-first-civil-disobedience-movement-972335-2017-04-19
 In 1917, crops failed in Kheda district of Gujrat, but the government
refused to remit land revenue and insisted on its full collection.
 Read - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kheda_Satyagraha_of_1918
 In 1918, Mahatma Gandhi intervened in a dispute between workers and
mill owners of Ahmedabad. He advised to workers to go on strike and
to demand a 35% increase in wages.
 Satyagraha brought Gandhiji into close touch with the workers in the
urban areas.
What is meant by the idea of satyagraha?
 The idea of satyagraha is a unique method of mass agitation that
emphasises the power of truth and the need to search the truth.
 It supports the belief that if the cause is true and the struggle is against
injustice, then there is no need for physical force to fight the oppressor.
 A satyagrahi seeks to win-over the oppressor without the use of
vengeance or aggression, but through non-violence.
 This can done by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor. People,
including the oppressors, are persuaded to see the truth instead of
being forced to accept truth by violence.
 By this struggle, truth was bound to be victorious.
 [ Satyagraha is not ‘passive resistance’ This power calls for intense
activity.
 Satyagraha is not physical force, it is a soul 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 whatsoever.
 A satyagrahi uses non-violence as his/ her religion.]

Q. What are the essentials of Satyagraha according to Mahatma
Gandhi?
[3]
 Satyagraha is the strength of truth – pleading with the oppressor with
the strength of truth [ satya = truth, agraha = plead]
 This power is not passive resistance; rather, it calls for intense activity.
 Nonviolence is the supreme dharma and weapon of Satyagraha’
 Satyagraha is not physical force. A satyagrahi does not inflict pain on
the adversary nor seek his destruction. In the use of satyagraha, there
is no ill-will whatever.
 Satyagraha is pure soul-force - The soul informed with knowledge. In it
burns the flame of love.
The effects of First World War on the economic, political, and social milieu
of India
War created a new economic and political situation.
 It led to huge increase in defence expenditure that was financed by war
loans and increasing taxes.
 Through the war-years prices of goods of daily use increased leading to
extreme hardship for the common people.
 There were forced recruitment to army from rural areas which caused
wide spread anger among people.
 The epidemic influenza [Spanish Flu] spread killing about 17 - 18 million
Indians.
 People hoped that their hardships would end after the war but that did
not happen.
The Rowlatt Act [Why Indians were outraged by the Rowlatt Act?]
 [1] Rowlatt Act 1919, was passed hurriedly through the Imperial Legislative
Council inspite of unanimous opposition by the Indian members.
 [2] The Act gave the government enormous powers to repress political
activities, and
 [3] The Act allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two
years.
Therefore, it was seen as unjust and oppressive for Indians.
 Reactions: Gandhiji wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such
unjust law, which would start with a hartal on 6th April.
 6th April 1919 was observed as Satyagraha Day when people all over
the country observed fast and hartal.
 1919, the country witnessed a remarkable political awakening in India.
 Local leaders were picked up from Amritsar and Mahatma Gandhi was
barred from entering Delhi.
 On 10th April, the police in Amritsar fired upon a peaceful procession,
provoking widespread attacks on banks, post offices and railway
stations
The Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre
 The infamous Jallianwalla Bagh incident took place on 13 April, the day
the Punjabis celebrate Baisakhi.
 A large crowd had gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh.
 Some came to protest against the government’s new repressive
measures. Others had come to attend the annual Baisakhi fair.
 Having arrived from outside the city, many villagers were unaware of
the martial law imposed in Amritsar.
 General Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points, and opened fire
on the crowd, killing hundreds.
 His objective, as he declared later, was to ‘produce a moral effect’, in
the minds of Satyagrahis. A feeling of terror and awe.
 More than 900 persons, including women and children, were killed and,
bullets and the commotion injured others.
 As the news of Jallianwalla Bagh massacre spread, crowds took to the
streets in many north Indian towns. People resorted to strikes, clashes
with the police and attacks on government buildings.
 The government responded with brutal repression seeking to humiliate
and terrorise people.
 Satyagrahis were forced to rub their noses on the ground, crawl on the
streets and do Salaam (salute) to all Sahibs.
 People were flogged and villages (around Gujranwala in Punjab, now in
Pakistan) were bombed.
Khilafat movement
 Satyagraha against Rowlatt Act was a widespread movement; however,
it was narrowed mostly to cities and towns.
 Mahatma Gandhi now felt the need to launch a more broad-based
movement in India.
 However, he was certain that such movement could be organized only
by bringing the Hindus and Muslims closer together.
 KHILAFAT MOVEMENT - The First World War had ended with the defeat
of Ottoman Turkey. A harsh peace treaty was imposed on the Ottoman
Emperor, who was the spiritual head (Khalifa) of the Islamic world. – It
dissolved the Ottoman empire and Khalifa’s emperorship.
Read -
https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Sevres
 The Muslims of India decided to force Britain to change her Turkish
policy.
 To defend the Khalifa’s temporal powers, a khilafat committee was
formed in Bombay in March 1919.
 A young generation of Muslim leaders like the brothers Muhammad Ali
and Shaukat Ali began discussing with Mahatma Gandhi about the
possibility of a united mass action on the issue.
NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT
ORIGIN AND RATIONALE OF NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT
a) At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, Gandhi
convinced other leaders of the need to start a non-cooperation
movement in support of Khilafat as well as for Swaraj.
b) In his famous book Hind Swaraj (1909) Mahatma Gandhi argued 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.
c) Many within the Congress were concerned about the proposals. They
were reluctant to boycott the council elections scheduled for November
1920, and they feared that the movement might lead to popular
violence. In the months between September and December there was
an intense tussle within the Congress.
d) For a while, there seemed no meeting point between the supporters
and the opponents of the movement. Finally, at the Congress session at
Nagpur in December 1920, a compromise was worked out and the NonCooperation programme was adopted.
COURSE OF ACTION: How could non-cooperation become a movement?
Gandhiji proposed that the movement should unfold in stages:
 It should begin with the surrender of titles that the government
awarded,
 and a boycott of civil services, army, police, courts and legislative
councils, schools, and foreign goods.
 Then, in case the government used repression, a full civil
disobedience campaign would be launched.
 Through the summer of 1920 Mahatma Gandhi and Shaukat Ali
toured extensively, mobilising popular support for the movement.
 In June 1920, Jawaharlal Nehru began going around the villages in
Awadh, talking to the villagers, and trying to understand their
grievances.
RESPONSE:
 The Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement began in January 1921.
 Various social groups participated in this movement, each with its own
specific aspiration.
 All of them responded to the call of Swaraj, but the term meant different
things to different people. Because, different social groups conceived
differently of the idea of Non-Cooperation.
DIFFERING STRANDS WITHIN THE MOVEMENT:
Different social group participated in the movement.
Each group had its own specific aspirations.
All of them responded to the call of swaraj but the swaraj meant different
things to different groups / people. Different social groups interpreted the
idea of Swaraj and Non-Cooperation differently.
a) Movement in the town:
 The movement started with middle class participation in the cities.
 Thousands of students left government-controlled schools and colleges,
headmasters and teachers resigned.
 Lawyers gave up their legal practices. The council elections were boycotted
in most of the provinces.
b) Effect of non-cooperation on the economic facet / dimension
 Foreign good were boycotted,
 liquor shops picketed, and
 Foreign clothes burnt in huge bonfires.
 In many places, merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods or
finance foreign trade.
 Because of this, the production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went
up.
c) Reasons for slowing down of the Non- co-operation movement
 Khadi cloth was often more expensive than mass produced mill cloth and
poor people could not afford to buy it.
 They could not boycott the mill cloth for too long.
 For the movement to be successful alternative Indian institution had to be
set up so that they could be used in place of British ones. These could not
be established immediately.
 Therefore, the students and teachers started going back to schools and
lawyers joined back work in government courts due to lack of alternative.
d) Rebellion in the countryside: –
 From the cities, the non-cooperation movement spread to the countryside.
After the war, the struggles of peasants and tribal were developing in
different parts of India.
 In Awadh peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra
 One movement here war against talukdars and landlords who demanded
from peasant exorbitantly high rents and a variety of other cesses.
 Peasants had to do begar (forced labour). The peasant movement
demanded reduction of revenue, an abolition of begar and social boycott
of oppressive landlords.
 Oudh Kisan Sabha was setup headed by Jawaharlal Nehru and others.
Within a month, over 300 branches had been set up by the villagers.
 In many places “nai dhobi” bandh were organised by panchayat to deprive
land lords of the services of even barbers and washer men.
 As the movement spread the houses of talukdars and merchants were
attacked and bazars looted.
e) Non-cooperation movement in Gudem hills of Andhra Pradesh
 Tribal peasants interpreted the message of Mahatma Gandhi and the idea
of Swaraj in yet another way.
 The colonial government had closed large forest areas preventing people
from entering the forests to graze their cattle, or to collect fuel wood and
fruits.
 The government also forced them to do beggar for road building.
 This enraged the hill people. The person who came to lead them was an
interesting figure ,Alluri Sitharam Raju
 Aura: Alluri Sitaram Raju claimed that he had a variety of special
powers: he could make correct astrological predictions and heal people,
and he could survive even bullet shots. Captivated by Raju, the rebels
proclaimed that he was an incarnation of God.
 Inspiration: Raju talked of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi, said he
was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement,
 Cultural practices: He persuaded people to wear khadi and give up
drinking.
 Route: But, he asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of
force, not non-violence.
 Means to freedom: The Gudem rebels attacked police stations,
attempted to kill British officials and carried on guerrilla warfare for
achieving swaraj.
 Attainment of heroism: Raju was captured and executed in 1924, and
over time became a folk hero.
Q. How the leadership of Alluri Sitaram Raju was different from Mahatma
Gandhi’s?
a) Alluri Sitaram Raju claimed that he had a variety of special powers and
his followers proclaimed him an incarnation of God.
Gandhi never claimed any special powers.
b) Alluri Sitaram Raju flourished as a local leader whereas
Gandhi flourished at the national level.[ pan-India leadership]
c) Raju asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of force, not
non-violence. His followers, the Gudem rebels, attacked police stations,
attempted to kill British officials and carried on guerrilla warfare for
achieving swaraj.
On the other hand, Gandhi’s methods were Non-violence and
Satyagraha.
f) Swaraj in the plantations Plantation workers too had their own
understanding of Mahatma Gandhi and the notion of swaraj:
 For plantation workers in Assam, freedom meant the right to move
freely in and out of the confined space in which they were enclosed,
and
 it meant retaining a link with the village from which they had come.
 [Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not
permitted to leave the tea gardens without permission, and in fact they
were rarely given such permission.]
 When they heard of the Non-Cooperation Movement, thousands of
workers defied the authorities, left the plantations and headed home.
 They believed that Gandhi Raj was coming and everyone would be given
land in their own villages.
 They, however, never reached their destination. Stranded on the way
by a railway and steamer strike, they were caught by the police and
brutally beaten up.
 The Tribals chanted Gandhijis name and raised slogans demanding
“Swantantra Bharat”.
Outcomes of Non-Cooperation Movement
Adverse: [defects]
1. The visions of these movements did not align with nor define by the
Congress programme.
2. They interpreted the term swaraj in their own ways – an end to their
suffering and troubles.
3. There was a clash of socio-economic and ethnic-religious aspirations
and grievances.
CONSTRUCTIVE/ positive aspects: However,
a) When the tribals chanted Gandhiji’s name and raised slogans
demanding ‘Swatantra Bharat’, they were also emotionally relating to
an all-India agitation.
b) When they acted in the name of Mahatma Gandhi, or linked their
movement to that of the Congress, they were identifying with a
movement which went beyond the limits of their immediate locality
[Factors that led to] Withdrawal of Non – Cooperation Movement:
 Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement in
February 1922 especially due the incident at Chauri Chaura[04-02-1922],
near Gorakhpur, UP.
 Appalled at the outrage, Gandhi went on a five-day fast as penance for
what he perceived as his culpability in the bloodshed.
 In reflection, Gandhi felt that
1. He had acted too hastily in encouraging people to revolt against
the British colonial government without sufficiently emphasising
the importance of ahimsa (non-violence) and
2. without adequately training the people to exercise restraint in
the face of attack.
3. He decided that the Indian people were ill-prepared and not yet
ready to do what was needed to achieve independence.
Gandhi was also arrested and sentenced to six years of imprisonment but
was later released in February 1924, on grounds of his ill health.
Read – https://www.britannica.com/place/Chauri-Chaura
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauri_Chaura
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauri_Chaura_incident
 The Movement turned violent in many places and satyagrahis needed
properly trained for mass struggle.
 Within the Congress, some leaders were by now tired of mass struggles
and
 Wanted to participate in elections to the provincial councils that had
been set up by the Government of India Act of 1919. They felt that it
was important to oppose British policies within the councils, argue for
reform and also demonstrate that these councils were not truly
democratic.
 CR Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party within the Congress
and argued for a return to Council politics.
 But younger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose
pressed for more radical mass agitation and for full independence.
Towards Civil Disobedience
In such a situation of internal debate and dissension, two factors again shaped
Indian politics towards the late 1920s.
1. The first was the effect of the worldwide economic depression.
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. By 1930,
the countryside was in turmoil.
2. Simon commission 1927
 The Tory government [Conservative Party] in Britain constituted a
Statutory Commission under Sir John Simon.
 The Commission was to look into the functioning of constitutional system
in India and suggest changes.
 The problem with the commission was that it did not have a single Indian
member.
 When the Simon Commission arrived in India in 1928, it was greeted with
the slogan ‘Go back Simon’. All parties, including the Congress and the
Muslim League, participated in the demonstrations.
 In December 1929 under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore
Session of Congress formalised the demand for Purna Swaraj.
 Outcome: In an effort to win them over, the viceroy, Lord Irwin, announced
in October 1929,
1. A vague offer of ‘dominion status’ for India
2. in an unspecified future, and
3. A Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution.
 This did not satisfy the Congress leaders. The radicals within the Congress,
led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, became more assertive.
 The liberals and moderates, who were proposing a constitutional system
within the framework of British dominion, gradually lost their influence.
 In December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore
Congress formalised the demand of ‘Purna Swaraj’ or full independence for
India.
 It was declared that 26 January 1930, would be celebrated as the
Independence Day when people were to take a pledge to struggle for
complete independence.
 However, the celebrations attracted very little attention.
 Therefore, Mahatma Gandhi had to find a way to relate this abstract idea
of freedom to more concrete issues of everyday life.
The salt march and civil disobedience movement
 Salt was a powerful symbol that could unite the nation
 On 31st January 1930 Gandhiji sent a letter to viceroy Irwin stating eleven
demands
 The most important demand was for the abolition of salt tax.
 Gandhiji’s letter was an ultimatum. If the demands were not fulfilled, the
Congress will launch a civil disobedient movement. Irwin was not ready to
negotiate.
 Therefore, Gandhi started his famous salt march accompanied by 78 of his
trusted volunteers.
 The march was from Sabarmati Ashram to a coastal town of Dandi. After
reaching Dandi he ceremonially violated the law, manufacturing salt by
boiling sea water.
 Finally, Mahatma Gandhi once again decided to call off the movement and
Gandhi entered into a pact with Irwin on 5 March 1931.[Gandhi – Irwin
Pact]
How was this movement different from the Non-Cooperation Movement?
[The unfolding of the Movement]
 People were now asked not only to refuse cooperation with the British,
as they had done in 1921-22, but
 also to break colonial laws.
 Thousands in different parts of the country broke the salt law,
manufactured salt and demonstrated in front of government salt
factories.
 As the movement spread, foreign cloth was boycotted, and liquor shops
were picketed.
 Peasants refused to pay revenue and chaukidari taxes, village officials
resigned, and
 In many places, forest people violated forest laws – going into Reserved
Forests to collect wood and graze cattle.
Differences between the Non-cooperation and Civil-Disobedience
Movements
Non-Cooperation
Civil-Disobedience
It was launched on September 5th,
1920 and it ended in February 1922
It began on March 12, 1930, through
the launch of the Salt Satyagraha
Causes: Conditions created by First
World War, Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala
Bagh Massacre, Mistreatment of
Khalifa.
Causes: 1929 depression, Simon
Commission, Rejection of Gandhi’s 11
demands.
NATURE - Non-Cooperation, PASSIVE
NATURE - Breaking colonial laws,
ACTIVE
The Non-Cooperation Movement
sought to bring the working of the
government to a standstill by not
cooperating with the administration.
The Civil Disobedience Movement
was an attempt at paralysing the
administration by breaking some
specific rules and regulations.
Goal of NCM was Swaraj or Self rule
by demanding dominion status
Goal moved further from Swaraj to
Complete Independence
There was large scale participation of
Muslim working class in the NonCooperation movement due to linking
of Khilafat movement.
The Civil-Disobedience movement
saw less participation from the
Muslim community due to the policy
of divide and rule by the British and
the communal propaganda of the
Muslim League and the Hindu
Mahasabha
Women participation was less
Marked the presence of women
The non-cooperation movement was
geographically confined to certain
parts of India
The civil disobedience movement saw
widespread geographical coverage
and mass participation in comparison
to the non-cooperation movement
LASTED AROUND 1½ years approx.)
Longer duration – in two phases
The movement was called off in 1922
due to the Chauri - Chaura
incident (Occurred on Feb4th, 1922)
The movement was withdrawn after
the signing of the Gandhi-Irwin pact
[5th March 1931]
BRITISH RESPONSE: [CHAIN OF EVENTS – DOMINO EFFECT]
o Worried by the developments, the colonial government began arresting
the Congress leaders one by one.
o This led to violent clashes in many palaces. When Abdul Ghaffar Khan,
a devout disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, was arrested in April 1930,
o Angry crowds demonstrated in the streets of Peshawar, facing
armoured cars and police firing. Many were killed.
o A month later, when Mahatma Gandhi himself was arrested,
o Industrial workers in Sholapur attacked police posts, municipal
buildings, law courts and railway stations – all structures that
symbolised British rule.
o A frightened government responded with a policy of brutal repression.
o Peaceful satyagrahis were attacked, women and children were beaten,
and about 100,000 people were arrested.
o In such a situation, Mahatma Gandhi once again decided to call off the
movement and entered into a pact with Irwin on 5 March 1931.
o
o
THE WEAKENING OF THE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT
[Reasons for the ending of civil disobedience movement]
 Violent clashes with British,
 Brutal repression of the satyagrahis by British,
 Arrests of satyagrahis
 Attack on structures of British rule.
 Seeing the grim scenario and the plight of people, Mahatma Gandhi
once again decided to call off the movement by entering into a pact
with Irwin on 5 March 1931.
 Collapse of negotiations at the 2nd Round Table Conference [By this
Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Gandhiji consented to participate in a Round Table
Conference (the Congress had boycotted the first Round Table
Conference) in London and the government agreed to release the
political prisoners. In December 1931, Gandhiji went to London for the
conference, but the negotiations broke down and he returned
disappointed].
 Loss of momentum - Back in India, he discovered that the government
had begun a new cycle of repression. Ghaffar Khan and Jawaharlal
Nehru were both in jail, the Congress had been declared illegal, and a
series of measures had been imposed to prevent meetings,
demonstrations and boycotts. With great apprehension, Mahatma
Gandhi relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement. For over a year,
the movement continued, but by 1934 it lost its momentum.

3.2 How participants saw the movement[PAGE 41]
 Participants saw the movement from different perspectives or points of
view. We can analyse their participation asking 3 questions:
1. Why did they join the movement?
2. What were their ideals?
3. What did swaraj mean to them?
B. FARMERS – RICH FARMERS AND POOR PEASANTS
a) For the PATIDARS OF GUJARAT AND JATS OF UTTAR PRADESH for them
fight for swaraj was a struggle against Revenues.
Reason for their participation:
 The rich peasant communities in the countryside, like the Patidars
of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh, were active in the
movement.
 The trade depression and falling prices hard hit commercial crops
produced by them. when their cash income disappeared, they
found it impossible to pay the government’s revenue demand.
 The British government refused to reduce the revenue demand.
 This led to widespread resentment against the British.
Response and participation:
 These rich peasants became enthusiastic supporters of the Civil
Disobedience Movement.
 They organised their communities, and
 At times forcing reluctant members to participate in the boycott
programmes.
 For them the fight for swaraj was a struggle against high revenues.
 But, they were deeply disappointed when the movement was called
off in 1931 without the revenue rates being revised.
 Therefore, many of them refused to participate when the
movement was re-started in 1932.
b) THE POORER PEASANTRY
Reason for their participation:
 Many of them were small tenants cultivating land they had rented
from landlords.
 As the Depression continued and cash incomes dwindled, the small
tenants found it difficult to pay their rent.
 The poorer peasantry were not just interested in the lowering of
the revenue demand
 They wanted the unpaid rent to the landlords to be remitted.
Response and participation:
 They joined a variety of radical movements, often led by Socialists
and Communists.
 The Congress was unwilling to support ‘no rent’ campaigns in most
places because it was apprehensive of raising issues that might
upset the rich peasants and landlords.
 [CONGRESS & PEASANTRY] Thus, the relationship between the poor
peasants and the Congress remained uncertain.
B. BUSINESS CLASS
Reason for their participation
 During the First World War, Indian merchants and industrialists had
made huge profits and become powerful (see Chapter 5).
 They were keen on expanding their business, therefore, they now
reacted against colonial policies that restricted business activities.
 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
Demands and activities:
 They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and
 A rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports.
 Refused to buy or sell imported goods.
 To organise business interests, they formed
a) The Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and
b) The Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and
Industries (FICCI) in 1927.
Response and participation:
 Prominent industrialists, like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla,
attacked colonial control over the Indian economy, and
 They supported the Civil Disobedience Movement when it was first
launched. 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.
 But after the failure of the [Second] Round Table Conference, business
groups were no longer uniformly enthusiastic.
 They were apprehensive of the spread of militant activities, and worried
about prolonged disruption of business,
 [CONGRESS & BUSINESS CLASS] They were apprehensive of the growing
influence of socialism amongst the younger members of the Congress.

C. INDUSTRIAL WORKERS’ CLASS
Lukewarm Response:
The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience
Movement in large numbers, except in the Nagpur region.
Reason: As the industrialists came closer to the Congress, workers stayed
aloof.
Participation and Demands:
 However, some workers did participate in the Civil Disobedience
Movement.
 They selectively adopting some of the ideas of the Gandhian
programme, like 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.
 In 1930 thousands of workers in Chotanagpur tin mines wore Gandhi
caps and participated in protest rallies and boycott campaigns.
 [CONGRESS & WORKERS] But, the Congress was reluctant to include
workers’ demands as part of its programme of struggle. It felt that this
would alienate industrialists and divide the anti-imperial forces.
D. WOMEN
NATURE OF WOMEN PARTICIPATION:
 Another important feature of the Civil Disobedience Movement was the
large-scale participation of women.
 During Gandhiji’s salt march, thousands of women came out of their
homes to listen to him.
 They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed
foreign cloth and liquor shops.
 Many went to jail.
 In urban areas these women were from high-caste families; in rural
areas they came from rich peasant households.
 Moved by Gandhiji’s call, they began to see service to the nation as a
sacred duty of women.
 [CONGRESS & WOMEN] Yet, this increased public role did not
necessarily mean any radical change in the way the position of women
was visualised.
 Gandhiji was convinced that it was the duty of women to look after
home and hearth, be good mothers and good wives.
 And for a long time the Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold
any position of authority within the organisation. It was keen only on
their symbolic presence.
The limitations / shortcomings of civil disobedient movement
E. DALITS
NATURE OF DALITS AS A SOCIAL GROUP:
The low caste groups in India were treated as ‘untouchables’ who from around
the 1930s had begun to call themselves dalit or oppressed.
 [CONGRESS & DALITS] For long the Congress had ignored the dalits, for
fear of offending the sanatanis, the conservative high-caste Hindus.
[GANDHI & DALIT UPLIFT]
 Mahatma Gandhi declared that swaraj would not come for a hundred
years if untouchability was not eliminated.
 He called the ‘untouchables’ harijan, or the children of God,
 organised satyagraha to secure them entry into temples, and access to
public wells, tanks, roads and schools.
 He himself cleaned toilets to dignify the work of the bhangi (the
sweepers), and
 persuaded upper castes to change their heart and give up ‘the sin of
untouchability’.
 RESPONSE AND PARTICIPATION:
 DALIT social groups/ untouchables were not inspired by the abstract
concept of swaraj.
 Many dalit leaders were keen on a different political solution to the
problems of the community.
 They were convinced that political empowerment, would resolve the
problems of their social disabilities.
 They began organising themselves, demanding reserved seats in
educational institutions, and
 A separate electorate that would choose dalit members for legislative
councils.
 Dalit participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement was therefore
limited, particularly in the Maharashtra and Nagpur region where their
organisation was quite strong.
ROLE OF AMBEDKAR:
 Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes
Association in 1930,
 He clashed with Mahatma Gandhi at the second Round Table
Conference by demanding separate electorates for dalits.
 When the British government conceded Ambedkar’s demand, Gandhiji
began a fast unto death. He believed that separate electorates for dalits
would slow down the process of their integration into society.
 Ambedkar ultimately accepted Gandhiji’s position and the result was
the Poona Pact of September 1932.
 It gave the Depressed Classes (later to be known as the Schedule Castes)
reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils, but they
were to be voted in by the general electorate.
 The dalit movement, however, continued to be apprehensive of the
Congress-led national movement.
F. MUSLIMS
Reasons for the decline in Muslim participation
 Some of the Muslim political organisations in India were also
lukewarm in their response to the Civil Disobedience Movement.
 After the decline of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat movement, a
large section of Muslims felt alienated from the Congress.
 From the mid-1920s the Congress came to be more visibly
associated with openly Hindu religious nationalist groups like the
Hindu Mahasabha.
 As relations between Hindus and Muslims worsened, each
community organised religious processions with militant fervour,
provoking Hindu-Muslim communal clashes and riots in various




cities. Every riot deepened the distance between the two
communities.
The Congress and the Muslim League made efforts to renegotiate an
alliance, and in 1927 it appeared that such a unity could be forged.
But it could not be achieved.
Negotiations over the question of representation at the All All
PartiesConference in 1928 failed [when M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu
Mahasabha strongly opposed efforts at compromise].
When the Civil Disobedience Movement started there was thus an
atmosphere of suspicion and distrust between communities.
Alienated from the Congress, large sections of Muslims could not
respond to the call for a united struggle.
Many Muslim leaders and intellectuals expressed their concern
about the status of Muslims as a minority within India. They feared
that the culture and identity of minorities would be submerged
under the domination of a Hindu majority.
Reasons for the failure of Alliance between the Congress and Muslim
League:
 From the mid-1920s the Congress came to be more visibly
associated with openly Hindu religious nationalist groups like the
Hindu Mahasabha.
 The important differences were over the question of representation
in the future assemblies that were to be elected.
 Muhammad Ali Jinnah, one of the leaders of the Muslim League, was
willing to give up the demand for separate electorates, if Muslims
were assured reserved seats in the Central Assembly and
representation in proportion to population in the Muslimdominated provinces (Bengal and Punjab).
 Negotiations over the question of representation continued but all
hope of resolving the issue at the All Parties Conference in 1928
disappeared when M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha strongly
opposed efforts at compromise.
 When the Civil Disobedience Movement started there was thus an
atmosphere of suspicion and distrust between communities.
Alienated from the Congress, large sections of Muslims could not
respond to the call for a united struggle.
 Many Muslim leaders and intellectuals expressed their concern
about the status of Muslims as a minority within India. They feared
that the culture and identity of minorities would be submerged
under the domination of a Hindu majority.
The Sense of Collective Belonging – positive outcome of Nationalist
Movement [ROLE OF RELIGION, SYMBOLS, CULTURE, LITERATURES, SONGS,
etc.]
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. But
how did the nation become a reality in the minds of people? How did people
belonging to different communities, regions or language groups develop a
sense of collective belonging?
This sense of collective belonging came partly through the experience of
united struggles. But there were also a variety of cultural processes through
which nationalism captured people’s imagination. History and fiction, folklore
and songs, popular prints and symbols, all played a part in the making of
nationalism
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Nationalist sentiment/ Movement spreads when people belonging to
different regions and communities begin to develop a sense of collective
belongingness.
2. Symbols evoke sense of oneness, identity and belonging, most often,
symbolized in a figure or image or song, etc.
3. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1870 first created the image of Bharat
Mata when he wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ in praise of our motherland.
4. Indian folk songs sung by bards, played an important role in creating the
idea of a nation. In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore and in Madras, Natesa,
Sastri - the collection of folk tales and songs, led the movement for folk
revival.
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2g_5LOGRPg
6. During the Swadeshi Movement, a tri-colour (red, green and yellow) flag
was designed in Bengal. It had eight lotuses representing eight provinces
and a crescent moon representing Hindus and Muslims.
7. Another means of creating a feeling of nationalism was through
reinterpretation of history. The nationalist writers urged the readers to
take pride in India’s great achievements in the past and struggle to change
the miserable conditions of life under British rule.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. VISUAL SYMBOL FOR THE NATION: The identity of the nation, as you know
(see Chapter 1), is most often symbolised in a figure or image. This helps
create an image with which people can identify the nation.
It was in the twentieth century, with the growth of nationalism, that the
identity of India came to be visually associated with the image of Bharat
Mata.
a) The image was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. In
the 1870s he wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ as a hymn to the motherland.
[Refer to the link at the end of this notes]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2-GTLcy65M
b) Later it was included in his novel Anandamath and widely sung
during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal.
c) Moved by the Swadeshi movement, Abanindranath Tagore painted
his famous image of Bharat Mata (see Fig. 12).
Fig. 12 – Bharat Mata, Abanindranath Tagore,
1905. Notice that the mother figure here is shown
as dispensing learning, food and clothing. The
mala in one hand emphasises her ascetic quality.
Abanindranath Tagore, like Ravi Varma before
him, tried to develop a style of painting that could
be seen as truly Indian
In this painting Bharat Mata is portrayed as
an ascetic figure;
She is calm, composed, divine and spiritual.
In subsequent years, the image of Bharat
Mata acquired many different forms, as it
circulated in popular prints, and was
painted by different artists (see Fig. 14).
Devotion to this mother figure came to be
seen as evidence of one’s nationalism.
2. REVIVAL OF INDIAN FOLKLORE: Ideas of nationalism also developed
through a movement to revive Indian folklore. In late-nineteenth-century
India, nationalists began recording folk tales sung by bards and they
toured villages to gather folk songs and legends. These tales, they
believed, gave a true picture of traditional culture that had been
corrupted and damaged by outside forces. It was essential to preserve
this folk tradition in order to discover one’s national identity and restore
a sense of pride in one’s past. In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore himself
began collecting ballads, nursery rhymes and myths, and led the
movement for folk revival. In Madras, Natesa Sastri published a massive
four-volume collection of Tamil folk tales, The Folklore of Southern India.
He believed that folklore was national literature; it was ‘the most
trustworthy manifestation of people’s real thoughts and characteristics’.
3. ICONS AND SYMBOLS EVOKING NATIONALISM AND NATIONAL UNITY:
As the national movement developed, nationalist leaders became more
and more aware of such icons and symbols in unifying people and
inspiring in them a feeling of nationalism.
a) During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, 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.
b) 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, representing the Gandhian ideal of self-help. Carrying the
flag, holding it aloft, during marches became a symbol of defiance.
4. REINTERPRETATION OF HISTORY: Another means of creating a feeling of
nationalism was through reinterpretation of history.
a. By the end of the nineteenth century many Indians began feeling that
to instil a sense of pride in the nation, Indian history had to be thought
about differently.
b. The British saw Indians as backward and primitive, incapable of
governing themselves. In response, 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.
c. This glorious time, in their view, was followed by a history of decline,
when India was colonised. These nationalist histories urged the
readers to take pride in India’s great achievements in the past and
struggle to change the miserable conditions of life under British rule.
HURDLES/ OBSTACLES IN FORGING UNITY
[Lack of inclusion/ feelings of alienation or separation]
These efforts to unify people were not without problems. When the past being
glorified was Hindu, when the images celebrated were drawn from Hindu
iconography, then people of other communities felt left out.
CONCLUSION
[What brought various groups and classes in India against the British
government?
A growing anger against the colonial government brought various groups and
classes of Indians together into a common struggle for freedom in the first half
of the twentieth century.
LEADERSHIP OF CONGRESS AND GANDHIJI
The Congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi tried to channel
people’s grievances into organised movements for independence. Through
such movements, the nationalists tried to forge a national unity.
What were the causes of failure of nationalist movements?
 The diverse groups and classes that participated in these movements
had varied aspirations and expectations.
 Different groups had different understanding and goals. They did not
understand the strategies nor the goals to be achieved.
 They had wide ranging grievances.
 Freedom from colonial rule also meant different things to different
people.
 The Congress continuously attempted to resolve differences, and
ensure that the demands of one group did not alienate another. This is
precisely why the unity within the movement often broke down.
[inability to forge unity in diversity]
 The high points of Congress activity and nationalist unity were followed
by phases of disunity and inner conflict between groups, like Hindus,
Muslims, Dalits, workers, business class, etc.
However, the end result was a nation emerging with many voices wanting
freedom from colonial rule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAP WORK BASED ON THE CHAPTER
Chapter - 3 Nationalism in India – (1918 – 1930) for Locating and Labelling
/ Identification
1. Indian National Congress Sessions:
a. Calcutta (Sep. 1920)
b. Nagpur (Dec. 1920)
c. Madras (1927)
2. Important Centres of Indian National Movement
a. Champaran (Bihar) - Movement of Indigo Planters
b. Kheda (Gujarat) - Peasant Satyagrah
c. Ahmedabad (Gujarat) - Cotton Mill Workers Satyagraha
d. Amritsar (Punjab) - Jallianwala Bagh Incident
e. Chauri Chaura (U.P.) - Calling off the Non-Cooperation
Movement
f. Dandi (Gujarat) - Civil Disobedience Movement
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Two factors Shaped Indian Politics in the late 1920s.
1. The Great Economic Depression, 1930.
2. Simon Commission, 1928
3. Lahore Session of Congress, December 1929.
4. The Salt March, 1930
Poor Peasants
Business Community
Industrial workers
Limits of Civil Disobedience Movement.
Dalits
 Poona pact 1932 between Gandhi and Ambedkar, it gave depressed
classes (SC) reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils.
Muslims
The sense of collective belonging
 History and fiction, folklore and songs, popular prints and symbols, aroused
the feeling of nationalism in Indians.
1. The image of Bharat Mata.
3. Tricolour Flag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2-GTLcy65M
वन्दे मातरम्
सुजलाां सुफलाां मलयजशीतलाम्
सस्य श्यामलाां मातरां म् .
शुभ्र ज्योत्सनाम् पुलकित याकमनीम्
फुल्ल िुसुकमत द्रुमदलशोकिनीम्,
सुहाकसनी ां सुमधु र िाकिणीम् .
सुखदाां वरदाां मातरम् ॥
िोकि िोकि िण्ठ िलिल कननाद िराले
किसप्त िोकि िुजैर्ध्रत खरिरवाले
िे बोले मा तु मी अबले
बहुबल धाररणीम् नमाकम ताररणीम्
ररपु दलवाररणीम् मातरम् ॥
तु कम कवद्या तु कम धमर, तुकम ह्रकद तु कम ममर
त्वां कह प्राणााः शरीरे
बाहुते तु कम मा शक्ति,
हृदये तु कम मा िक्ति,
तोमारै प्रकतमा गकि मक्तन्दरे -मक्तन्दरे ॥
त्वां कह दु गार दशप्रहरणधाररणी
िमला िमलदल कवहाररणी
वाणी कवद्यादाकयनी, नमाकम त्वाम्
नमाकम िमलाां अमलाां अतुलाम्
सुजलाां सुफलाां मातरम् ॥
श्यामलाां सरलाां सुक्तिताां िूकिताम्
धरणी ां िरणी ां मातरम् ॥