Arrival of Gandhi

Arrival of Gandhi
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XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
q Birth: 2 October 1869, at Porbander in princely state of Kathiawar
q His father was a diwan of the state.
q 1893: Went to South Africa for his client Dada Abdullah

q His first opposition came, when he was thrown out of 1st class
compartment of a train.
q Fought for the cause of indentured Indian laborer in SA suffering

from white racism.
q He first started his Satyagrah or passive resistance in SA.
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Making of Gandhi
● The South African Experiment
○ Witnessed the ugly face of white racism & the humiliation

and contempt to which Asians were subjected.
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Making of Gandhi
○ The Indians in South Africa consisted of three categories:
■ Indentured Indian labor from South India, who migrated

to South Africa after 1890 to work on sugar plantations;
■ the merchants—mostly Memon Muslims who had

followed the labourers;
■ the ex-indentured labourers who had settled down in

South Africa after the expiry of their contracts.
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Moderate Phase of Struggle (1894-1906)
○ Relied on sending petitions & memorials to the authorities in
South Africa & in Britain.
○ Hoping they would take sincere steps to redress their

grievances as the Indians British subjects.
○ To unite different sections of Indians, he set up the Natal

Indian Congress and started a paper Indian Opinion.
○ Gandhiji’s abilities as an organizer, as a fund-raiser, as a

journalist & as a propagandist, all came to the fore during
this period.
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Phase of Passive Resistance(1906-14)
● Use of the method of passive resistance or civil disobedience,
which Gandhi named satyagraha.
○ Satyagraha against Registration Certificates (1906)
○ Campaign against Restrictions on Indian Migration
○ Campaign against Poll Tax & Invalidation of Indian

Marriages.
○ Protest against Transvaal Immigration Act
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Satyagraha against Registration Certificates -1906
○ A new legislation in South Africa made it compulsory for

Indians there to carry at all times certificates of registration
with their fingerprints.
○ Indians organised a meeting on 11 September 1906, in the

Empire Theatre in Johannesburg under Gandhi's leadership &
decided not to submit to this discriminatory measure.
○ Gandhi formed the Passive Resistance Association to conduct

the campaign of defying the law & suffering all the penalties
resulting from such a defiance.
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○ The Government jailed Gandhi (King Edward’s Hotel) & others
who refused to register themselves.
○ Thus was born satyagraha or devotion to truth, the technique
of resisting adversaries without violence.
○ General Smuts called Gandhiji for talks, & promised to
withdraw the legislation if Indians voluntarily agreed to
register themselves.
○ Gandhiji accepted & was the first to register.
○ But Smuts had played a trick; he ordered that the voluntary
registrations be ratified under the law.
○ The Indians under the leadership of Gandhi retaliated by
publicly burning their registration certificates.
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● Campaign against Restrictions on Indian Migration
○ The earlier campaign was widened to include protest against

a new legislation imposing restrictions on Indian migration.
○ Indians defied this law by crossing over from one province to

another and by refusing to produce licences.
○ Many of these Indians were jailed.
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Setting up of Tolstoy Farm
q As it became rather difficult to sustain the high pitch of the struggle,
Gandhi decided to devote all his attention to the struggle.
q The funds for supporting the families of the Satyagrahis & for running
Indian Opinion were fast running out.
q Gandhiji’s own legal practice had virtually ceased since 1906, the year
he had started devoting all his attention to the struggle.
q At this point, Gandhiji set up Tolstoy Farm, made possible through the
generosity of his German architect friend, Kallenbach, to house the
families of the Satyagrahis & give them a way to sustain themselves.
Modern History: Module XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement

Continued….
q This Farm was the precursor of the later Gandhian ashrams that
were to play so important a role in the Indian national movement.
q Funds also came from India — Sir Ratan Tata sent Rs. 25,000 &
the Congress & the League, as well as the Nizam, made their
contributions.

● Campaign against Poll Tax
○ Poll tax of 3 pounds was imposed on all ex-indentured
Indians
○ The inclusion of demands for the abolition of poll tax (which

was too much for the poor ex-indentured Indians who
earned less than 10 shillings a month) in the ongoing
struggle further widened the base of the campaign.
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● Campaign against Invalidation of Indian Marriages
○ Supreme Court order which invalidated all marriages not

conducted according to Christian rites & registered by the
registrar of marriages drew the anger of the Indians & others
who were not Christians.
○ By implication, Hindu, Muslim & Parsi marriages were illegal

and children born out of such marriages, illegitimate.
○ The Indians treated this judgement as an insult to the honour
of women & many women were drawn into the movement
because of this indignity.
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● Protest against Transvaal Immigration Act
○ Indians protested by illegally migrating from Natal into
Transvaal.
○ The campaign was launched by the illegal crossing of the
border by a group of 16 Satyagrahis, including Kasturba,
who marched from Phoenix Settlement in Natal to Transvaal,
& were immediately arrested.
○ Government held these Indians in jails.
○ Miners and plantation workers went on a lightning strike.
○ In India, Gokhale toured the whole country mobilising public
opinion in support of the Indians in South Africa.
○ Even the viceroy, Lord Hardinge, condemned the repression
& called for an impartial enquiry
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Compromise Solution
○ A series of negotiations involving
○ Gandhi,
○ Lord Hardinge,
○ C.F. Andrews
&
○ General Smuts
○ An agreement was reached by which Government of South

Africa conceded the major Indian demands relating to the
poll tax, the registration certificates & marriages
solemnized according to Indian rites promised to treat the
issue of Indian immigration in a sympathetic manner.
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Important Events
q 1893: Gandhi arrives in South Africa to provide legal support.
q 1894: The Natal Indian Congress is founded
q 1896: Gandhi is attacked by a mob after his ship, the SS Courtland,
docks in Durban when he returns to South Africa with his family after
a home visit
q 1899: Gandhi organises the Indian Ambulance Corps to serve the
British in the South African War (Second Anglo-Boer)
q 1900: The Indian Ambulance Corps assists at the Battle of Spioenkop
q 1903: Gandhi founds the weekly Indian Opinion
q 1904: The Phoenix Settlement is established
Important Events
q 1906: A meeting at the Empire Theatre in Johannesburg sows the
seeds for satyagraha movement.
q 1908: Gandhi is imprisoned at the Old Fort in Johannesburg for the 1st
time
q 1908: A crowd, led by Gandhi, burn their passes outside the Hamidia
Mosque in Fordsburg
q 1909: Gandhi publishes the book Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule)

Important Events
q 1910: Tolstoy Farm is established outside Johannesburg
q 1913: Gandhi leads a march of 2k Indian coal miners & sugar-

plantation workers across the border to the Transvaal
q 1914: Gandhi & Smuts reach an agreement to relax certain

restrictions on Indians in return for ending the satyagraha
campaign. Gandhi & Kasturba leave South Africa for good

Gandhi’s Experience in South Africa
● Gandhi found that the masses had immense capacity to
participate in & sacrifice for a cause that moved them.
● He was able to unite Indians belonging to different religions &

classes, & men and women alike under his leadership.
● He also came to realise that at times the leaders have to take

decisions unpopular with their enthusiastic supporters.
● He was able to evolve his own style of leadership & politics &
new techniques of struggle on a limited scale, untrammelled by
the opposition of contending political currents.
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Principles of Satyagraha
q Identify Truth (Relative Truth or Absolute Truth)
q Insist on truth
q Fight using non-violence

q Change the mind & heart of opponents through self-suffering
q Make God a witness of your deeds
q Be fearless

Technique of Satyagraha
● Based on truth and non-violence.
● Basic Tenets:
○ A satyagrahi was not to submit to what he considered as
wrong, but was to always remain truthful, non-violent &
fearless.
○ A satyagrahi works on the principles of withdrawal of

cooperation & boycott.
○ Methods of satyagraha include non-payment of taxes &

declining honors & positions of authority.
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● A satyagrahi should be ready to accept suffering in his struggle
against the wrongdoer. This suffering was to be a part of his love
for truth.
● Even while carrying out his struggle against the wrongdoer, a true
satyagrahi would have no ill feeling for the wrongdoer; hatred
would be alien to his nature.
● A true satyagrahi would never bow before the evil, whatever the
consequence.
● Only the brave & strong could practise satyagraha; it was not for
the weak & cowardly. Even violence was preferred to cowardice.
Thought was never to be separated from practice. In other words,
ends could not justify the means.
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2018
Q. Throw light on the significance of the thoughts of Mahatma

Gandhi in the present times. (10 marks)

2011
Q. Mahatma Gandhi said that some of his deepest convictions were
reflected in a book titled, “unto this last’’ and the book transformed his
life. What was the message from the book that transformed mahatma
Gandhi ?
(a) Uplifting the oppressed and poor is the moral responsibility of an
educated man
(b) The good of individual is contained in the good of all.
(c) The life of celibacy and spiritual pursuit are essential for a noble life.
(d) All the statements (a), (b) and (c) are correct in this context.

Explanation:
Statement A is wrong because from Ruskin's writing Gandhi derived the
massage that "the job of a lawyer is equal to a job of a barber, & both
have right to earn their livelihood".
Statement B is correct because Gandhi clearly mentioned in one of his
writing that the good of individual is contained in the good of all, this is
something which inspired him to translate the book into "sarvodaya".
Statement C is wrong what Gandhi derived from this book was of a "life
of labour" & not life of celibacy. Celibacy or Brahamcharya was
something which actually came out of his own guilt beginning as early as
the days of death of his father".
2015
How different would have been the achievement of Indian

independence Without Mahatma Gandhi? Discuss

Gandhi in India
● Returned to India on 9th January 1915.
● His efforts in South Africa were well known not only among the
educated but also among the masses.
● He decided to tour the country the next 1 year & see for himself
the condition of the masses.
● He also decided not to take any position on any political matter
for at least one year.
● As for the political currents prevalent at that time in India, he was

convinced about the limitations of moderate politics & was also
not in favor of Home Rule agitation which was becoming popular
at that time.
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● He thought that it was not the best time to agitate for Home Rule
when Britain was in the middle of a war.
● He was convinced that the only technique capable of meeting the

nationalist aims was a non-violent satyagraha.
● He also said that he would join no political organisation unless it too
accepted the creed of non-violent satyagraha.
● During 1917 & 1918, Gandhi was involved in 3 struggles—in

Champaran, Ahmedabad & Kheda—before he launched the Rowlatt
Satyagraha.
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Champaran Satyagraha: 1st Civil
Disobedience
● Requested by Rajkumar Shukla to look into the problems of the
farmers in context of indigo planters of Champaran.
● European planters had been forcing the peasants to grow indigo

on 3/20 part of the total land (called tinkathia system).
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Champaran Satyagraha: 1st Civil
Disobedience
● When towards the end of the 19th century German synthetic dyes
replaced indigo, the European planters demanded high rents &
illegal dues from the peasants in order to maximise their profits
before the peasants could shift to other crops.
● Also, the peasants were forced to sell the produce at prices fixed
by the Europeans.
● Indigo Cultivation was destroying the productivity of the land
which was the main reason of the peasant’s protest.
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● When the authorities ordered him to leave, Gandhi defied the order &
preferred to face the punishment.
● Gandhi was arrested but then later released by the magistrate.
● This passive resistance of an unjust order was a novel method at that
time
● The government appointed a committee(Indigo commission) to go into
the matter & nominated Gandhi as a member.
● Gandhi was able to convince the authorities that tinkathia should be
abolished & that the peasants should be compensated for the illegal
dues extracted from them.
● As a compromise with the planters, he agreed that only 25 % of the
money taken should be compensated.
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Gandhi’s comrades–
q Rajendra Prasad,
q Mazhar-ul-Haq,
q Narahari Parekh,
q JB Kriplani
q Mahadev Desai,
q Brajkishore Prasad,
q Anugrah Narayan Sinha,
q Ramnavmi Prasad
q Shambhusharan Varma.
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Which one of the following is a very significant aspect of the Champaran
Satyagraha?
(a) Active all India participation of lawyers, students & women in the
National Movement
(b) Active involvement of Dalit and Tribal communities of India in the
National Movement
(c) Joining of peasant unrest to India’s National Movement
(d) Drastic decrease in the cultivation of plantation crops & commercial
crops

Ahmedabad Mill Strike -
1st Hunger Strike
● Unlike Champaran, in this case both the workers & employers
were Indians.
● Gandhi intervened in a dispute between cotton mill owners of
Ahmedabad & the workers over the issue of discontinuation of
the plague bonus.
● The workers were demanding a rise of 50 % in their wages so

that they could manage in the times of wartime inflation (WWI).
● The mill owners were ready to give only a 20 % wage hike.
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Ahmedabad Mill Strike -
1st Hunger Strike
● Gandhi asked the workers to go on a strike & demand a 35 %
increase in wages instead of 50 %.
● This was the 1st strike called by Gandhi in India.

● Gandhi advised the workers to remain non-violent while on
strike.
● When negotiations with mill owners did not progress, he himself
undertook a fast unto death (his 1st)to strengthen the workers’
resolve.
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q The fast also had the effect of putting pressure on the mill owners
who finally agreed to submit the issue to a tribunal. The strike was
withdrawn.
q Industrialist referred the issue to a tribunal which awarded 35%

wage hike to the workers.
q Ambalal Sarabhai’s sister, Anasuya Behn, was one of the main

lieutenants of Gandhiji in this struggle in which her brother was one
of the main adversaries.
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Kheda Satyagraha
q The crops failed in Kheda district
q According to Revenue Code of British Government law, if the yield
was less than 1/4th the normal produce, the farmers were entitled
to remission.
q The government threatened that the property of the farmers
would be seized if the taxes were not paid.
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Kheda Satyagraha
● Gandhi asked the farmers not to pay the taxes.
● Gandhiji was mainly the spiritual head of the struggle.

● It was Sardar Patel & a group of other devoted Gandhians -
Narahari Parikh, Mohanlal Pandya & Ravi Shankar Vyas, who went
around the villages, organised the villagers & guided them &
gave the necessary political leadership.
● Patel along with his colleagues organised the tax revolt which the
different ethnic & caste communities of Kheda supported.
● He left his lucrative practice at the Bar at this time to help Gandhi
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q Indulal Yagnik became Gandhi follower.
q Ultimately, the government agreed to
q suspend the tax for the year in question, & for the next;
q reduce the increase in rate;
&
q return all the confiscated property
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2011
Q. What was the reason for Mahatma Gandhi to organize a
satyagraha on behalf of the peasants off Kheda ?
1.The administration did not suspend the land revenue collection in

spite of a drought.
2.The administration proposed to introduce permanent settlement in
Gujarat.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only.
(c) Both 1 and 2.
(d) Neither 1 nor 2.

Gains from Champaran, Ahmedabad &
Kheda
● Gandhi demonstrated to the people the efficacy of his technique
of satyagraha.
● He found his feet among the masses & came to have a surer
understanding of the strengths & weaknesses of the masses.
● He acquired respect & commitment of many, especially the youth
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2019
Q. Many voices had strengthened and enriched the nationalist

movement during the Gandhian phase. Elaborate (250 words)

Rowlatt Act 1919
q Government on one hand gave carrot of constitutional reforms in form of

GoI Act 1919, on the other hand armed itself with extraordinary powers
to suppress the violators
q Also known as Anarchical & Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919
q Rowlatt committee was a Sedition Committee appointed in 1918 by the

British Indian Government with Sir Sidney Rowlatt, an English judge, as
its president.

Rowlatt Act 1919
q It was a legislative act passed by the Imperial Legislative Council
in Delhi, indefinitely extending the emergency measures of
preventive indefinite detention, incarceration without trial &
judicial review enacted in the Defence of India Act 1915 during the
1st World War.
q To investigate the ‘seditious conspiracy’ of the Indian people.

Rowlatt Act (1919) Continued….
q According to this act any Indian could be arrested on the charge of sedition even
on suspicious ground & without any trail could be jailed for up to 2 years. Thus
suspended right of “habeas corpus” which is foundation of the civil liberty
q The act allowed political activists to be tried without juries or even
imprisoned without trial.
q It allowed arrest of Indians without warrant on the mere suspicion of ‘treason’.
q Police had immense power which could be easily misused as the clause of
suspicious grounds was not specified correctly.
q Slogan of the movement was “No appeal, no daleel, no wakeel”
q Jinnah, Madan Mohan Malaviya & Mazhar Ul Haq – resigned in protest.

Satyagraha Against the Rowlatt Act—1st Mass Strike
● He called the Rowlatt Act the “Black Act” & argued that not everyone
should get punishment in response to isolated political crimes.
● Having seen the constitutional protest fail Gandhi organized a

Satyagraha Sabha Sarvadharma Prarthana Sabha (prayer meeting
for all religions) & roped in younger members of Home Rule Leagues
& the Pan Islamists.
● The forms of protest finally chosen included observance of a
nationwide hartal accompanied by fasting & prayer, & civil
disobedience against specific laws, & courting arrest & imprisonment.
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● There was a radical change in the situation by now.
○ The masses had found a direction; now they could ‘act’

instead of just giving verbal expression to their grievances.
○ From now onwards, peasants, artisans and the urban poor

were to play an increasingly important part in the struggle.
○ Orientation of the national movement turned to the masses

permanently. Gandhi said that salvation would come when
masses were awakened and became active in politics.
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q 6 April 1919 was the 1st All India Strike Day.
q Before April 6 itself mass scale resistance grew against British
rule , there were large-scale violent, anti-British demonstrations

in Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, Ahmedabad, etc.
q In Punjab, the situation became so very explosive due to wartime
repression, forcible recruitments and ravages of diseases. So

Army was called which put martial law there.
q The Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, Sir Michael O’Dwyer, is said
to have used aircraft strafing against the violent protests.
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2015
With reference to Rowlatt Satyagraha, which of the following statements is / are
correct ?
1.The Rowlatt Act was based on the recommendations of the ‘Sedition
Committee’.
2.In Rowlatt Satyagraha, Gandhiji tried to utilize the Home Rule League.
3.Demonstrations against the arrival of Simon Commission coincided with Rowlatt
Satyagraha.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

2009
During the Indian freedom struggle , why did Rowlatt Act arouse
popular indignation?
(a) It curtailed the freedom of religion
(b) It Suppressed the Indian traditional education
(c) It authorized the government to imprison people without trial
(d) It curbed the trade union activities

2012
Q. The Rowlatt act aimed at:
(a) compulsory economic support to war efforts
(b) imprisonment without trial and summary procedures for trial
(c) suppression of the Khilafat movement
(d) imposition of restrictions on freedom of the press

1997
What do you know about Rowlatt Act?

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
q Park in Amritsar
q There was a curfew imposed in Amritsar on 13
April but people from rural area had no
knowledge about it.
q 13 April was celebrated as Baisakhi &
peasants had come to celebrate at Jallianwala.
q Incidentally a group of protestors protesting
the arrest of 2 leaders Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew
& Dr. Satypal Malik had also come to the
same place.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
q General Dyer entered the place and ordered his
men to fire at the crowd killing 379 people
(according to government records).
q Media & local people said that number of people

killed were more than 1000.
q Hunter Commission was setup to look into the

event.

● Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest when
House of Lords called this act by Gen Dyer as act of bravery
● Gandhi gave up the title of Kaiser-i-Hind, bestowed by the

British for his work during the Boer War.
● Gandhi was overwhelmed by the atmosphere of total violence &

withdrew the movement on April 18,1919.
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Hunter Commission
q The Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montagu, ordered that a committee of inquiry to be
formed to investigate this matter.
q Hunter Committee/Commission was formed, Lord William Hunter as its chairman & having 3
Indians among the members, namely, Sir Chimanlal Harilal Setalvad, Pandit Jagat Narayan, &
Sardar Sahibzada Sultan Ahmad Khan.
q Unanimously condemned Dyer’s actions.

q The Commission on the Punjab atrocities proved to be an eyewash.
q In fact, House of Lords endorsed General Dyer's action & the British public showed solidarity
with Dyer by helping The Morning Post collect 30k pounds for him. A famous contributor to the
fund was Rudyard Kipling.
q Did not impose any penal or disciplinary action because Dyer’s actions were condoned by
various superiors.

Hunter Commission Continued….
q Hunter Commission did not impose any penal or disciplinary action
because Dyer's actions were condoned by various superiors (later upheld
by the Army Council).
q The Legal & Home Members on the Viceroy's Council ultimately decided
that, though Dyer had acted in a callous & brutal way, military or legal
prosecution would not be possible due to political reasons.
q He was finally found guilty of a mistaken notion of duty & relieved of his
command.

● The honouring of Dyer by the priests of Sri Darbar Sahib,
Amritsar, was one of the reasons behind the intensification of the
demand for reforming the management of Sikh shrines already
being voiced by societies such as the Khalsa Diwan Majha &
Central Majha Khalsa Diwan.
● Resulted in the launch of the Gurdwara Reform movement.
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2001
The Hunter commission was appointed after the
(a) Black hole incident
(b) Jallianwala Bagh massacre
(c) Uprising of 1857
(d) Partition of Bengal

Congress’ Position
● Appointed its own non-official committee that included Motilal
Nehru, C.R. Das, Abbas Tyabji, M.R. Jayakar & Gandhi.
● Congress criticized Dyer’s act as inhuman & also said that there
was no justification in the introduction of the martial law in
Punjab.
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Assassination of Michael O'Dwyer
q 13 March 1940: At Caxton Hall in London, Udham Singh, who had
witnessed the events in Amritsar & was himself wounded, shot &
killed Michael O'Dwyer, the British Lieutenant- Governor of Punjab
at the time of the massacre, who had approved Dyer's action &
was believed to be the main planner.
q Udham Singh, bore the name, Ram Mohammad Singh Azad.

Continued….
q Dyer himself had died in 1927.
q Udham Singh was hanged for the murder on 31 July 1940.
q At that time, many, including Nehru & Gandhi, condemned the

action as senseless even if it was courageous.
q In 1952, Nehru honored Udham Singh. Soon after this recognition

by the PM, Singh received the title of Shaheed.

Arrival of Gandhi

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Arrival of Gandhi

q 1893: Went to South Africa for his client Dada Abdullah

q Fought for the cause of indentured Indian laborer in SA suffering

○ Witnessed the ugly face of white racism & the humiliation

■ Indentured Indian labor from South India, who migrated

■ the merchants—mostly Memon Muslims who had

■ the ex-indentured labourers who had settled down in

○ Hoping they would take sincere steps to redress their

○ To unite different sections of Indians, he set up the Natal

○ Gandhiji’s abilities as an organizer, as a fund-raiser, as a

○ Satyagraha against Registration Certificates (1906)

○ Campaign against Restrictions on Indian Migration

○ Campaign against Poll Tax & Invalidation of Indian

○ Protest against Transvaal Immigration Act

○ A new legislation in South Africa made it compulsory for

○ Indians organised a meeting on 11 September 1906, in the

○ Gandhi formed the Passive Resistance Association to conduct

○ The earlier campaign was widened to include protest against

○ Indians defied this law by crossing over from one province to

○ Many of these Indians were jailed.

Modern History: Module XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement

Modern History: Module XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement

○ The inclusion of demands for the abolition of poll tax (which

○ Supreme Court order which invalidated all marriages not

○ By implication, Hindu, Muslim & Parsi marriages were illegal

○ An agreement was reached by which Government of South

Modern History: Module XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement

q 1913: Gandhi leads a march of 2k Indian coal miners & sugar-

q 1914: Gandhi & Smuts reach an agreement to relax certain

Modern History: Module XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement

● He was able to unite Indians belonging to different religions &

● He also came to realise that at times the leaders have to take

q Fight using non-violence

q Make God a witness of your deeds

Modern History: Module XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement

○ A satyagrahi works on the principles of withdrawal of

○ Methods of satyagraha include non-payment of taxes &

Q. Throw light on the significance of the thoughts of Mahatma

Modern History: Module XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement

Modern History: Module XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement

How different would have been the achievement of Indian

Modern History: Module XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement

● As for the political currents prevalent at that time in India, he was

● He was convinced that the only technique capable of meeting the

● During 1917 & 1918, Gandhi was involved in 3 struggles—in

● European planters had been forcing the peasants to grow indigo

q Anugrah Narayan Sinha,

Modern History: Module XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement

● The workers were demanding a rise of 50 % in their wages so

● The mill owners were ready to give only a 20 % wage hike.

● This was the 1st strike called by Gandhi in India.

q Industrialist referred the issue to a tribunal which awarded 35%

q Ambalal Sarabhai’s sister, Anasuya Behn, was one of the main

q According to Revenue Code of British Government law, if the yield

q The government threatened that the property of the farmers

would be seized if the taxes were not paid.

● Gandhiji was mainly the spiritual head of the struggle.

q Ultimately, the government agreed to

q reduce the increase in rate;

1.The administration did not suspend the land revenue collection in

Modern History: Module XII: Arrival of Gandhi, Towards Mass Movement

● He acquired respect & commitment of many, especially the youth