Khilafat and Non-Cooperation

20 Jan 2020

1915 - Satyagraha

Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from Africa in Jan 1915 with the idea of Satyagraha.
Satyagraha is advocated noble method of mass agitation.
The idea of satyagraha emphasized on power of truth and the need to search for truth.
It suggested that physical power is not necessary to fight against oppressor.
Mahatma Gandhi believed that non-violence could unite all Indian.

1917-18 - C-A-K-E [ Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda]

Champaran 1917
People in Champaran were forced to grow Indigo on their fields.
Indigo leaves the soil years to recover it's fertility and also had less demand charge.

Kheda 1917
Gujrat was hit by a plague and crop failure which lead to food shortage and great
economic loss.
The peasants of Kheda could not afford to pay revenue and demanded the revenue
collection to be relaxed.

Ahmedabad 1918
The cotton mill workers were forced to do overtime since cotton was highly in demand
all over the world but the workers wages very low and they were not paid for the
overtime as well.
Cotton mill workers demanded a rise in their wages and with help of Mahatma Gandhi
their wages were increased by 30%.

1919 - Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh

• This act was hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite the
opposition of Indian members.
• This act gave government enormous power to repress the political activities.
 • It also allowed the detention of political prisoners without the trial of 2 years.
• Mahatma Gandhi decided to oppose this act with Satyagrahis.
• He wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws so he called an
hartal on 6th April.
• Shops were closed, rallies were organized, workers in railway workshops and other
shops went of strike.
• This angered the British government even more.
• They clamped down the nationalists.
• Local leaders were picked up and Gandhi Ji was barred from entering Delhi.
• On 10th April the Amritsar police fired upon this peaceful procession.
• Martial Law was secretly passed and General Dyer took command.
• Martial Law means no protest and curfew.

• On 13th April many people gathered in Jallianwala Bagh to celebrate Baisakhi and
some joined to protest against the laws.
• Many people weren't aware of the Martial Law as it was secretly imposed.
• General Dyer entered the area and ordered to block the only exit and started to
open fire in the closed Jallianwala Bagh, killing hundreds of innocent people.
• His objective was to produce moral effect or more like to create the feeling of terror
and awe in Satyagrahis.

• Everyone was deeply shook by incident and the northern crowd infatuated in anger.
• They went on strikes and clashes with the police and attack on government
buildings.
• The government also responded with brutal repression and humiliation to terrorise
the people.
• Satyagrahis were forced to rub their noses on the ground, salaam to the sahibs,
kicked out of their own villages and brutally beaten on streets.
Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement.

With the end of first world war the harsh peace treaty was imposed on Ottoman empire.
So to protest against this and to unify the hindus and muslims of India, Mahatma Gandhi
formed a Khilafat committee in Bombay in March 1919 with Shaukat and Muhammad Ali.

1920 - Khilafat and Non-cooperation

Mahatma Gandhi saw this as a opportunity to unify the Hindus and Muslims for a
national movement.
At Calcutta session of Congress in Sep 1920, Swaraj with Khilafat started a non-
cooperation movement.

Mahatma Gandhi wrote in his book called Hind Swaraj that British rule was established
in India with cooperation of Indians, and had survived only because of this cooperation.

The non-cooperation movement began with:

• Surrender of titles that government awarded.
• Boycotting of civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils, schools and
foreign goods.

• Congress was reluctant to boycott the council elections scheduled for November
1920 , and the feared that the movement might lead to popular violence.
• Finally at congress session at Nagpur in Dec 1920, the non-cooperation movement
was adopted.
• Various social groups participated in this movement, each with its own meaning of
swaraj.
Differing Strands within the Movement
22 February 2022 09:07 AM

Everyone had their own meaning of swaraj since congress never revealed
real meaning or goal of swaraj.

Early 1920s - Guerrilla Movement & Gudem hills of andhra pradesh

• A millitnt guerrilla movement spread in the early 1920s
• The colonial government had closed large forest areas, preventing
people from entering the forests.
• Their livelihoods as well as their traditional rights were affected.
• People were tired of working as forced begar for road construction.

1924 - Delulu's Death

The movement for Tribals
• Led by alluri sitaram raju (aka delulu hooman)
• (Delulu) claimed that he had variety of special powers
• Rebels proclaimed him as incarnation of god
• He persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking
• But at the same time he believed that india could be liberated only
through use of force and not non-violence.
• Gudemn rebels attacked police stations
• Attempted to kill british officials and carried on to guerrilla warfare for
achieving swaraj
• Delulu was captured and executed in 1924.

1921 & 1922 - NCM in Towns, Countryside, Tribals & Plantations

Effects of NVM on economic front

• Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and foreign cloth
burnt in huge bonfire.
• The import of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922.
• Result- production of Indian textile mills and handlooms increased.
• Merchants and traders refused to trade foreign goods or finance foreign
trade.
Movement in the towns
• The movement started with middle class participation.
• Students and teachers left the government- controlled schools and
lawyers left the court.
• Council elections were boycotted in most of the places except madras,
where justice party felt that entering the council was one of the way of
gaining some power.

Why did NCM slow down in cities?

• Expensive khadi clothes
• Students and teachers began trickling back to government schools
• Lawyers joined back work in government courts, due to lack of
alternative solutions.

Movement in countryside
• 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 oppressive talukdars and landlords
• The peasants movement demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of
begar and social boycott of oppressive landlords.
• Nai-- Dhobi bandhs were organised by panchayats to deprive landlords
of the services of even barbers and washermen.
• By oct the oudh kissan sabha was set up headed by jawaharlal nehru,
baba ramchandra and few others.
• Within a month, over 300 branches had been set up in the villages
around the region.
• However, the peasants movement developed in forms that the congress
leadership was unhappy with.

Reasons behind movement failure in countryside

• Houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked.
• Bazaars were looteds, grain hoards were taken over.
• Local leaders told peasants that gandhiji jad declared that land was to
be redistributed among the poor.
• The name of mahatma was being invoked to sanction all actions and
aspirations.
Swaraj in Plantations
• For plantation workers, swaraj meant ' right to move freely'
• It also meant retaining a link with a village from which they had come.
• Under Inland Emigration Act of 1859. plantation workers were not
permitted to leave the tea gardens without permission.
• When they heard of non cooperation they started to defy the
authorities, leave the plantations and started to head home.
• They believed gandhi raj was coming and they would be given land in
their own villages
• However they never reached their destination.
• They were caught by police and brutally beaten up.
Civil Disobedience
22 February 2022 09:21 AM