The making of modern South

Asia, 1757-1947
Topic 7:Gandhi against Empire
Dr. Rohan Deb Roy
• https://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=-Y3tZpAd
WTc

• This moment in the

1890s signals the
beginning of Gandhi’s
anti-imperial career.
• He would remain in
South Africa for two
more decades,
returning to India
permanently in 1915.
• Meanwhile he had led significant protests
against racial discrimination and in favour of
the interests of the Indian diaspora in South
Africa.
• Within a few years of his return to India, and
until his assassination in 1948, Gandhi
remained the most influential voice in the
anti-imperial movement in India.
 Mass mobilisation
• Before Gandhi, Indian nationalists (members of the
INC as well as their critics) were predominantly
drawn from the western educated elites of the
three maritime presidencies (Bombay, Bengal and
Madras)
• His greatest strength was his ability to extend the
social base of the nationalist movement
• Groups that were so far excluded (peasants, mill
workers, and women across South Asia) found a
place in his political imagination.
 Moderates Extremists Gandhi
Social English educated Predominantly Nationalist
constituency elites of the 3 English educated activists now
maritime elites of the 3 included women,
presidencies maritime peasants and mill
presidencies workers, and the
masses more
generally.

Goals Political and Political Political

professional independence independence
concessions for and more
Indians

Methods Prayer and Violence, if Nonviolent, non-

petition required cooperation
Religious bias? Apparently Usually Hindu Inclusive
secular communal
 Gandhian methods: Satyagraha
• Gandhi referred to his brand of resistance as
Satyagraha or truth force
• At the heart of Satyagraha was nonviolent
resistance
• It was a moral and ethical project of refraining
from causing harm to an opponent
• Rather, it involved converting the opponent to
one’s side through patient discussions
 Gandhian methods: Satyagraha
• The other aspect of Satyagraha was non-
cooperation with the British Raj
• The slogan of non-cooperation was very
effective because British rule essentially
depended on the cooperation of Indians
 Gandhian methods: Satyagraha
In crucial moments of his career, as part of his
scheme of nonviolent non-cooperation, Gandhi
appealed to the Indians to
• Boycott foreign cloths
• Boycott government liquor shops
• Withdraw from state institutions (schools,
colleges, and courts)
• Resist government salt monopoly by making
salt themselves
 Gandhian methods: Satyagraha
• These moves were aimed symbolically to
question, (if not to render dysfunctional),
certain key features of colonial political
economy
• Yet, these moves evoked everyday objects and
institutions with which the common people
could identify.
 Gandhian methods: Satyagraha
• Small wonder, then, the
main emblems of
Gandhian politics were
items associated with
the rural economy
• …the spinning wheel
and homespun clothes
Gandhian methods: Persona
Gandhi as Barrister Gandhi in action
 Gandhian methods: Persona
• He described his • Taken together he
political bases and projected the persona
residences as ‘ashrams’ of a religious
(Hindu monasteries) mendicant, a holy soul,
• He couched his political a Mahatma!
speeches in a moral
vocabulary which was
accessible to rural
masses
 3 regional Gandhian movements
Within a couple of years of his return to India,
Gandhi applied his methods (Satyagraha and
carefully projection of persona) in leading three
protests involving marginalised social groups
• 1917: In defending the rights of impoverished
indigo cultivators in Champaran (Bihar, East India)
• 1918: In support of the peasants of Kheda and
millworkers of Ahmedabad (Western India)
 Non-cooperation movement and Khilafat
(1921-22)
• Having proven his abilities at the regional level, he
convinced the Congress to launch an all-India Non-
cooperation movement in 1921.
• In this movement, Gandhi mobilised Indians around
two issues: the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, and
Khilafat (demanding the restoration of the Ottoman
Emperor as the Caliph of Islam)
• Thanks to these mobilisations, the Congress now had
unprecedented support from sections of the Indian
Muslims, peasants and mill workers.
 Reorganisation of the Congress
• During these years, he also established himself
as a mentor of a younger group of Congress
activists, who would lead the party in the
following decades.
• Prominent among them were Rajendra Prasad
(the future first President of Independent
India), Vallabhbhai Patel (the future first Home
Minister of Independent India) and Jawaharlal
Nehru (the future first Prime Minister)
 Reorganisation of the Congress
• Already at the Nagpur session of 1920, Gandhi
persuaded Congress to accept a new constitution
that gave it a permanent all-India executive, a
small Working Committee of fifteen leaders.
• The party, and its provincial and district
committees with their much enlarged
membership, were henceforth subordinated to the
control of this new body, which until his death,
Gandhi continued to dominate through his allies
and disciples.
• The reinvigorated Congress deployed Gandhi’s
appeal in organising two more all-India
movements
1. Civil disobedience (1929-1934)
2. Quit India movement (1940-1942)
• Taken together, these Gandhian mass
movements undermined the popular
legitimacy of the British Raj like never before.
• Yet Gandhi remained a lonely figure in many
ways.
• His definition of ‘Swaraj’ (self-rule) didn’t
match with most of his contemporaries.
• By ‘Swaraj’ most of his contemporaries in the
Congress meant political independence from
British rule.
• Gandhi, by contrast, argued that political
independence from the British may not necessarily
mean real ‘Swaraj’ (self-rule/self-reliance)
• To acquire true ‘Swaraj’, argued Gandhi, Indians
needed to overcome their dependence on Western
civilisation.
• Therefore, Swaraj, according to Gandhi did not
entail the straightforward transfer of power from
the British to the Indians.
• In order to achieve ‘Swaraj’ Indians had to give
up their dependence on each aspect of Western
civilisation and modernity (such as liberalism,
technology, constitutional reforms, nation-states)
• Gandhi envisioned that British rule in India
shouldn’t be replaced by a nation-state but by
decentralised, self-sufficient and egalitarian
village communities
• Most leaders in the Congress found these
views to be idiosyncratic
• Ultimately, the Congress appropriated
Gandhi’s mobilising skills, while failing to
appreciate his political visions
• When India attained independence in 1947, it
followed Nehru’s vision of a strong industrial
state designed according to western models of
development, rather than Gandhian fantasies
about decentralised village communities.
• Similarly, Gandhi’s vision about a inclusive
India was also rejected
• In 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned on
the basis of religious divisions.
• Ironically, Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu
fanatic, who blamed him for not doing enough
to prevent the partition of India
 In the seminar on the topic
• Please read the recommended pages from Brown and
Parel
• While reading think about at least 1 point in response
to these questions [overlaps allowed]
• How was Gandhian politics different from that of
Indian nationalist politicians who preceded him?
• To what extent was he successful?
• Why was he successful?
• Who among the Indians were opposed to Gandhi? (pp.
62)
 Further readings
• For overviews on this topic see Brown, Brown
and Parel; Parekh; Metcalf and Metcalf;
Chatterji
• How did common people perceive Gandhi?
Amin; Haynes
• On Gandhian political philosophy See Alter;
Trivedi; Skaria [read selectively; details not
required]