NATIONALISM IN INDIA

1. Explain the new economic and political situation created by the First World war in India?
 The First World War led to huge increase in defence expenditure which was financed
by war loans and increasing taxes.
 In India, customs duties were raised and income tax introduced.
 Through the war years prices increased. This created extreme hardship for the
common people.
 Forced recruitment of soldiers in rural areas caused widespread protest.
 According to the census of 1921, 12 to 13 million people perished as a result of
famines and epidemic.
2. What was the idea of satyagraha, according to Gandhi?
 Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of satyagraha emphasised the power of truth and non
violence
 According to him, if the struggle was against injustice, physical force was not
necessary to fight the oppressor.
 Without being aggressive , a satyagrahi could win the battle by appealing to the
moral sense of the oppressor.
3. Why did Gandhiji decide to launch a nationwide satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act?
 The Rowlatt Act gave the government enormous powers to repress political
activities.
 The Act allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
 This Act had been hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite
the united opposition of the Indian members.
4. What was the Khilafat Movement? Why did Gandhiji support it?
 The Ottoman Turkish emperor was the spiritual head (Khalifa) of the Islamic world.
 In the First World War, Turkey was defeated and there were rumours that a harsh
peace treaty was going to be imposed on Turkey.
 To defend the Khalifa, a Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919.
 The leaders like Muhammed Ali and Shoukat Ali discussed the possibility of a united
struggle in this issue with Gandhiji.
 Gandhiji saw this as an opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella of national
struggle and supported it.
5. What was the ideological basis of the Non- Cooperation Movement?
 The ideology of the Non Cooperation Movement was explained by Gandhiji in his
book ‘Hind Swaraj’ published in 1909.
 According to him British rule was established in India with the cooperation of
Indians, and had survived only because of this cooperation.
 If Indians refused to co operate , British rule in India would collapse within a year
and swaraj would come.
6. Why did the Non Cooperation Movement gradually slow down in the cities?
 Khadi cloth was more expensive than mill cloth and people could not afford to buy
it. Therefore they could not boycott foreign cloths for long time.
 The national leaders were not able to set up alternative Indian institutions in place
of the British ones.
  So students and teachers joined back in the government schools and colleges and
lawyers restarted practice in government courts.
7. What was the response in cities and towns towards the Non Cooperation Movement?
 Thousands of students left government controlled schools and colleges,
headmasters and teachers resigned, and lawyers gave up their legal practice.
 The council elections were boycotted except in the province of Madras.
 Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed and foreign cloths burnt in
public bonfires.
8. What was the impact of the Non Cooperation movement in the economic field?
 The import of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922, its value dropped from
Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore.
 In many places merchants refused to trade in foreign goods or finance foreign trade.
 Production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up.
 Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed and foreign cloths burnt in
public bonfires.
9. Explain the peasant movement in Awadh.
 In Awadh, the peasant movement was against talukdars and landlords who
demanded high rents and a variety of other cesses.
 Peasants had to do ` begar’ and work at landlord’s farms without any payment.
 The Oudh Kissan Sabha’ was set up in Oct.1920 under the leadership of Jawaharlal
Nehru and Baba Ramchandra to organise the peasants.
10. How did the plantation workers interpret swaraj?
 For plantation workers in Assam, freedom means the right to move freely in and out
of the plantations.
 Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not permitted to
leave the tea gardens without permission.
 When they heard of the Non Cooperation Movement, thousands of them defied the
authorities and headed home.
 They believed that Gandhi Raj was coming and everyone would be given land in
their own villages.
11. What was the significance of Lahore Congress?
 The Lahore Congress was held in December 1929 under the presidency of Jawaharlal
Nehru.
 It formalised the demand of Purna Swaraj or full independence for India.
 It declared that 26 Jan 1930 would be celebrated as Independence Day and people
would take a pledge to struggle for complete independence.
12. Explain the rebellion of the tribal peasants in the Gudem hills of Andhra Pradesh.
 In Gudem hills a militant guerrilla movement spread in early 1920’s under the
leadership of Alluri Sitaram Raju.
 The tribals were prevented from entering the forests to graze their cattle or to
collect fuel wood or fruits.
 The government forced them to contribute begar(forced labour) for road building.
 The Gudem rebels attacked police stations, attempted to kill British officials and
carried on guerrilla warfare for achieving swaraj.
13. Describe briefly the Salt March?
  On 31 Jan 1930 Gandhiji sent a letter to the viceroy Irwin stating 11 demands. The
most important was the demand to abolish the salt tax.
 When his demands were not accepted, Gandhiji started his famous salt march
accompanied by 78 followers on 11 March.
 The march was over 240 miles from Sabarmati Ashram to the Gujarat coastal town
of Dandi. The volunteers walked 24 days, about 10 miles a day.
 On 6 April they reached Dandi, violated the salt law and manufactured salt by boiling
sea water. This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
14. What was Gandhi Irwin Pact?
 When the Civil Disobedient Movement turned to violence Mahatma Gandhi decided
to call of the movement and entered into a pact with Irwin.
 The Gandhi Irwin Pact was signed on 5 March 1931.
 By this, Gandhiji agreed to participate in the second Round Table Conference held
in London.
 The government agreed to release the political prisoners.
15. Under what circumstances did Gandhiji re launch the Civil Disobedience Movement?
 When the negotiations in the second Round Table Conference broke down, the
government started a new cycle of repression in India.
 Congress had been declared illegal and a series of measures had been imposed to
prevent meetings, demonstrations and boycott.
 Leaders including Nehru and Ghaffar Khan were arrested and imprisoned.
 In that situation Gandhiji decided to re launch the movement
16. Why did the rich peasants communities actively participate in the Civil Disobedience
movement?
 The rich peasant communities like Jats of UP and Patidars of Gujarat were active in
the movement.
 Being producers of commercial crops, they were hard hit by the trade depression
and the falling prices.
 As their cash income disappeared , they found it impossible to pay the
government’s revenue demands.
 The government refused to reduce the revenue. This created widespread
resentment and they supported the movement
 For them the fight for swaraj was a struggle against high revenuees.
17. How did the business classes participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?
 The business classes supported the Civil Disobedience movement when it was first
launched.
 They gave financial assistance and refused to buy or sell imported goods.
 They see swaraj as a time when colonial restrictions on business would no longer
exist and trade and industry would flourish .
18. What was the response of women towards the Civil Disobedience Movement?
 Large number of women participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
 During Gandhiji’s salt march, thousands of women came out of their homes to listen
him.
 They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth
and liquor shops.
  Many of them faced lathi charge, arrested and went to jail.
19. Mention the efforts made by Gandhiji to get Harijans their rights.
 Mahatma Gandhi called the untouchables `Harijans’,the children of God, and
organised satyagraha to allow their entry into temples.
 He faught for their right to use public wells, tanks, roads and schools.
 He himself cleaned the toilet to dignify the work of the sweepers
 He persuaded the upper castes to change their heart and give up the sin of
untouchability.
20. Explain the Poona Pact of 1932.
 Ambedkar, who organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930,
clashed with Mahatma Gandhi in the Round Table Conference demanding separate
electorate for dalits.
 When the British government conceded the demand Gandhiji began a fast un to
death.
 Gandhiji believed that separate electorate would weaken the national movement
and slow down the process of the integration of the dalits into the main stream of
Indian society.
 In September 1932 Poona Pact was signed to resolve the question of separate
electorate for dalits.
 It gave depressed classes reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils.
21. Dalit participation was limited in the Civil Disobedience Movement. Why?
 The Congress had ignored the dalits for fear of offending the upper caste Hindus.
 So they began organising themselves, demanding reserved seats in educational
institutions, and separate electorate in councils.
 They were keen on a different solution to the problems of their community . Hence
majority of them held aloof from the Civil Disobedience Movement.
22. “Some of the Muslim political organisations were lukewarm in their response to the Civil
Disobedience Movement” Explain
 A large section of Muslims felt alienated from the Congress after the decline of the
Non Cooperation- Khilafat Movement.
 From mid 1920s Congress came to be more associated with Hindu religious
nationalist groups like the Hindu Mahasabha.
 The Hindu- Muslim communal clashes widened the gap between two communities.
 The important issue between Congress and Muslim political parties was over the
question of representation in the future assemblies. The All Parties Conference in
1928 failed to resolve the issue.
 So, when the Civil Disobedience movement started , large section of Muslims could
not respond to the call for a united struggle.
23. How did a variety of cultural processes promote nationalism in India?
 The identity of the nation was symbolised in the image of Bharat Matha. The image
was created by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in the song Vande Mataram and painted
by Abanindranath Tagore. Devotion to this mother figure came to be seen as an
evidence of one’s nationalism.
 Ideas of nationalism also developed through the revival of folklore. It gave a true
picture of national identity and helped in restoring a sense of pride in our culture.
 During the swadeshi movement, a tri colour (red, green, yellow) flag was designed.
It had eight lotuses representing eight provinces and a crescent moon to show
Hindu- Muslim unity. By 1921, Gandhiji designed the swaraj flag in red, green and
white colours. Carrying the flag became a symbol of defiance.
 Another factor created national feeling was the re interpretation of Indian history.
The national historians wrote about the glorious developments in different fields in
India in ancient times and urged the Indians to take pride in the great achievements.