Nationalism in India 2 Flashcards
when did the non-cooperation khilafat movement begin?
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.
how did the non cooperation mvmnt start
The movement started with middle-class participation in the cities.
Thousands of students left government-controlled schools and
colleges, headmasters and teachers resigned, and lawyers gave up
their legal practices. The council elections were boycotted in most
provinces except Madras, where the Justice Party, the party of the
non-Brahmans, felt that entering the council was one way of gaining
some power – something that usually only Brahmans had access to.
explain the non cooperation movement from the economic front
The effects of non-cooperation on the economic front were more
dramatic. Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed,
and foreign cloth burnt in huge bonfires. The import of foreign
cloth halved between 1921 and 1922, its value dropping from
Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore. In many places merchants and traders
refused to trade in foreign goods or finance foreign trade. As the
boycott movement spread, and people began discarding imported
clothes and wearing only Indian ones, production of Indian textile
mills and handlooms went up
why did the mvmnt slow down in cities
But this movement in the cities gradually slowed down for a variety
of reasons. Khadi cloth was often more expensive than massproduced mill cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it.
How then could they boycott mill cloth for too long? Similarly the
boycott of British institutions posed a problem. For the movement
to be successful, alternative Indian institutions had to be set up
so that they could be used in place of the British ones. These were
slow to come up. So students and teachers began trickling
back to government schools and lawyers joined back work in
government courts.
how did the non cooperation spread tocounty side
From the cities, the Non-Cooperation Movement spread to the
countryside. It drew into its fold the struggles of peasants and tribals which were developing in different parts of India in the years
after the war
describe the movement led in awadh by baba ramchandra
In Awadh, peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra – a sanyasi who
had earlier been to Fiji as an indentured labourer. The movement
here was against talukdars and landlords who demanded from
peasants exorbitantly high rents and a variety of other cesses. Peasants
had to do begar and work at landlords’ farms without any payment.
As tenants they had no security of tenure, being regularly evicted so
that they could acquire no right over the leased land. The peasant
movement demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, and
social boycott of oppressive landlords. In many places nai – dhobi
bandhs were organised by panchayats to deprive landlords of the
services of even barbers and washermen.
describe the formation of oudh kisan sabha
In June 1920, Jawaharlal
Nehru began going around the villages in Awadh, talking to the
villagers, and trying to understand their grievances. By October, the
Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba
Ramchandra and a few others. Within a month, over 300 branches
had been set up in the villages around the region. So when the NonCooperation Movement began the following year, the effort of the
Congress was to integrate the Awadh peasant struggle into the wider
struggle
what made the congress not accept the awad peasant strugg;e
The peasant movement, however, developed in forms that
the Congress leadership was unhappy with. As the movement spread
in 1921, the houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked,
bazaars were looted, and grain hoards were taken over. In many
places local leaders told peasants that Gandhiji had declared that
no taxes were to be paid and land was to be redistributed among
the poor. The name of the Mahatma was being invoked to sanction
all action and aspirations.
how did the tribal people interpret The message of gandhi and the idea of swaraj
Tribal peasants interpreted the message of Mahatma Gandhi and
the idea of swaraj in yet another way. In the Gudem Hills of Andhra
Pradesh, for instance, a militant guerrilla movement spread in
the early 1920s – not a form of struggle that the Congress could
approve. Here, as in other forest regions, the colonial government
had closed large forest areas, preventing people from entering
the forests to graze their cattle, or to collect fuelwood and fruits.
This enraged the hill people. Not only were their livelihoods
affected but they felt that their traditional rights were being denied.
When the government began forcing them to contribute begar
for road building, the hill people revolted. The person who came
to lead them was an interesting figure- Alluri sitaram Raju.
describe alluri sitaram raju
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. Raju talked of the greatness of
Mahatma Gandhi, said he was inspired by the Non-Cooperation
Movement, and persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking.
But at the same time he asserted that India could be liberated only
by the use of force, not non-violence. The Gudem rebels attacked
police stations, attempted to kill British officials and carried on
guerrilla warfare for achieving swaraj. Raju was captured and
executed in 1924, and over time became a folk hero.
what did swaraj mean to the workers in the 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
explain the inland emigration act and its repurcussions
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
how were these movements all relating to one
The visions of these movements were not defined by the Congress
programme. They interpreted the term swaraj in their own ways,
imagining it to be a time when all suffering and all troubles would
be over. Yet, when the tribals chanted Gandhiji’s name and raised
slogans demanding ‘Swatantra Bharat’, they were also emotionally
relating to an all-India agitation. 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
what happened in chauri chaura in 1922
At Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, a peaceful demonstration in a bazaar turned into a
violent clash with the police. Hearing of the incident, Mahatma Gandhi called a halt
to the Non-Cooperation Movement.
define picket
A form of demonstration or protest
by which people block the entrance to a shop,
factory or office
