class X, Nationalism in India

     

Nationalism in India

How did nationalism emerge in India? (How was nationalism associated with Anti-colonial Movement in India?)

1.    People began discovering their unity in the process of their struggle with colonialism.

2.   The sense of being oppressed under colonialism provided a shared bond that tied many different groups together.

3.   The Congress Party united all these groups together within one movement.

4. People were united under Mahatma Gandhi and he tried to forge these groups together within one movement.

5. In India, the growth of modern nationalism is intimately connected to the anti-colonial movement.

Effects of World War I in India

1.   First World War created a new economic and political situation. It led to a huge increase of taxes like customs duties and income tax was introduced.

2.  Through the war years prices increased which led to extreme hardship for the common people.

3.   Villages were called upon to supply soldiers, and the forced recruitment in rural areas caused widespread anger.

4.   From 1918 to 1921, crops failed in many parts of India, resulting in acute shortages of food. This was accompanied by an influenza epidemic.

5.   According to the census of 1921, 12 to 13 million people perished as a result of famines and the epidemic.

What is Satyagraha?

1.   The idea of Satyagraha emphasized the power of truth and the need to search for truth. Gahdhiji suggested that if the struggle was against truth and injustice, without seeking angry, vengeance or aggression, a satyagrahi could win the battle through nonviolence.

Successful Satyagraha movements from 1916 to1918

Mahatma Gandhi successfully organized three Satyagraha movements in various places.

1.   In 1916 Mahatma Gandhi travelled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system.

2.   Then in 1917, Mahatma Gandhi organized a satyagraha to support the peasants of the Kheda district of Gujarat who were affected by crop failure and a plague epidemic and were demanding that revenue collection be relaxed.

3.   In 1918, Mahatma Gandhi went to Ahmedabad to organize a satyagraha movement amongst cotton mill workers.

The Rowlatt Act and Rowlatt Satyagraha

1.   Rowlatt Act (1919) gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.

2.   Mahatma Gandhi wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws, which would start with a hartal on 6 April 1919.

3.   Rallies were organised in various cities, workers went on strike in railway workshops, and shops closed down.

Causes for Jallianwalla Bagh massacre

1.   To repress Rowlatt Satyagraha local leaders were picked up from Amritsar, and Mahatma Gandhi was barred from entering Delhi.

2.   On 10 April, the police in Amritsar fired upon a peaceful procession, provoking widespread attacks on banks, post offices and railway stations. Martial law was imposed and General Dyer took command.

3.    On 13 April a large crowd gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh to attend the annual Baisakhi fair. Being from outside the city, many villagers were unaware of the martial law that had been imposed.

4.    General Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points, and opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds.

5.    As the news of Jallianwalla Bagh spread, crowds took to the streets in many north Indian towns. There were strikes, clashes with the police and attacks on government buildings.

6. The government responded with brutal repression, seeking to humiliate and terrorise people. Seeing violence spread, Mahatma Gandhi called off the Rowlatt Satyagraha movement.

Khilafat Committee and Khilafat Movement

1.       The First World War had ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey and a harsh peace treaty( removing religious powers) was imposed on the Ottoman Emperor ( Khalifa) – the spiritual head of the Islamic world.

2.      To defend the Khalifa’s temporal powers, a Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919.

3.      Young Muslim leaders like Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, began a movement against the British in India which is called Khilafat Movement.

4.      Gandhiji saw this as an opportunity to bring Muslims and Hindus under the umbrella of a unified national movement.

5.      At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, he convinced other leaders of the need to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as for Swaraj.

Why did Gandhiji organize Non-cooperation?

1.      Mahatma Gandhi declared that British rule was established and survived in India with the cooperation of Indians.

2.      If Indians refused to cooperate, British rule in India would collapse within a year, and swaraj would come.

How could (idea of) non-cooperation become a mass movement?

(How was Non Cooperation movement unfolded in Stages?)

1.      Gandhiji proposed that the movement should begin with the surrender of titles that the government awarded.

2.      The movement should continue with boycott of civil services, army, police, courts and legislative councils, schools, and foreign goods.

3.      Then, in case the government used repression, a full civil disobedience campaign would be launched.

How did different social groups conceive of the idea of Non-Cooperation?

The Movement in the Towns with middle-class participation

1.      The movement started with thousands of students left government-controlled schools and colleges, headmasters and teachers resigned.

2.      Lawyers gave up their legal practices and boycotted courts.

3.      The council elections were boycotted in most provinces except Madras.

4.      Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops were picketed and foreign cloth burnt in huge bonfires.

5.      In many places merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods or finance foreign trade.

Why did the movement in the cities gradually slow down? Give reasons.

1.      Khadi cloth was often more expensive than mass produced mill cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it. Common people began to wear foreign cloth.

2.      Similarly the boycott of British educational institutions posed a problem because there were no alternative Indian institutions. So students and teachers began trickling back to government schools.

3.      Lawyers and officers could not survive without income so they joined back work in government courts and offices.

Rebellion in the Countryside of Awadh

1.      In Awadh, peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra – a sanyasi who had earlier been to Fiji as an indentured labourer. The movement was against talukdars and landlords who demanded high rents, free labour and a variety of other taxes.

2.      The peasant movement demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, and social boycott of oppressive landlords. In many places barbers and washer men refused to serve the landlords (nai– dhobi bandh)

3.      By October, 1920 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.

4.      When the Non- Cooperation Movement began, the houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked, bazaars were looted, and grain hoards were taken over.

5.       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.

Rebellion in the forest of Andhra Pradesh

1.      In the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh, the colonial government had closed large forest areas, preventing people from entering the forests to graze their cattle, or to collect fuel wood and fruits.

2.      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.

3.      The person who came to lead them was Alluri Sitaram Raju who 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.

4.      Raju was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement and Gandhiji. He 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.

5.      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.

Plantation workers and Non Cooperation Movement

1.      Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not permitted to leave the tea gardens.

2.      When they heard of the Non-Cooperation Movement, thousands of workers defied the authorities, left the plantations and headed home (Bihar, Bengal and Orissa).

3.      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.

4.      They believed that Gandhi Raj has come and everyone would be given land in their own villages.

5.      On the way to steamer and railway stations they were caught by the police and brutally beaten up.

What were the two factors that shaped Indian politics towards the late 1920s?

1.       The first was the effect of the worldwide economic depression. Agricultural prices began to fall from 1926 and collapsed after 1930.

2.      As the demand for agricultural goods fell and exports declined, peasants found it difficult to sell their harvests and pay their revenue.

Simon Commission

1.      In 1928 a commission was appointed under Sir John Simon called Simon Commission.

2.      It was appointed to look into the functioning of the constitutional system in India and suggest changes.

3.      The problem was that the commission did not have a single Indian member. They were all British.

4.      When the Simon Commission arrived in India it was greeted with the slogan ‘Go back Simon’.

5.      All parties, including the Congress and the Muslim League, participated in the demonstrations.

Round Table Conferences

1.      Lord Irwin, the viceroy of India announced (1929) a vague offer of ‘dominion status’ for India in an unspecified future, and a Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution.

2.      There were three Round Table Conferences held in London. Gandhiji attended the second Round Table Conference.

3.      Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930, clashed with Mahatma Gandhi at the second Round Table Conference by demanding separate electorates for dalits.

4.      When the British government conceded Ambedkar’s demand, Gandhiji began a fast unto death. He believed that separate electorates for dalits would slow down the process of their integration into society.

5.      Ambedkar ultimately accepted Gandhiji’s position and the result was the Poona Pact of September 1932.

Lahore Congress Session-1929

1.      Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose became more assertive and brought radical ideas into the Congress party.

2.      In December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress formalized the demand of ‘Purna Swaraj’ or complete independence for India.

3.      It was declared that if British government does not grant self-rule within a year, on 26 January1930 the congress party would celebrate the day as the Independence Day.

The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement

1.      Mahatma Gandhi found in salt a powerful symbol that could unite the nation. Salt was the item consumed by the rich and the poor alike, and it was one of the most essential items of food.

2.      The tax on salt and the government monopoly over its production made Mahatma Gandhi to launch a civil disobedience campaign.

3.      Mahatma Gandhi started his famous salt march accompanied by 78 of his trusted volunteers.

4.      The march was over 240 miles, from Gandhiji’s ashram in Sabarmati to the Gujarati coastal town of Dandi.

5.      On 6 April he reached Dandi, and ceremonially violated the salt law, manufacturing salt by boiling sea water. This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

How was Civil Disobedience Movement different from the Non-Cooperation Movement?

Civil Disobedience Movement	Non-Cooperation Movement
People were now asked not only to refuse cooperation with the British, but also to break colonial laws	People were asked to refuse cooperation with the British,
Participation of Muslim was less.	Participation of Muslim was more in Non Cooperation Movement
Dalit participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement was therefore limited,	Dalit participation in the Non Cooperation was not there.
Participation of women was more in Non Cooperation Movement	Participation of women was less in Non Cooperation Movement

A frightened government responded with a policy of brutal repression during the Civil Disobedience Movement- Discuss

1.      Thousands in different parts of the country broke the salt law, manufactured salt and demonstrated in front of government salt factories.

2.       As the movement spread, foreign cloth was boycotted, and liquor shops were picketed. Peasants refused to pay revenue and taxes, village officials resigned.

3.      In many places forest people violated forest laws – going into Reserved Forests to collect wood and graze cattle.

4.      When Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a devout disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, was arrested angry crowds demonstrated in the streets of Peshawar, facing armored cars and police firing. Many were killed.

5.      When Mahatma Gandhi himself was arrested, industrial workers in Sholapur attacked police posts, municipal buildings, law courts and railway stations –all structures that symbolized British rule.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact

1.      Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement and entered into a pact with Irwin called Gandhi-Irwin Pact.

2.      According to the pact Gandhiji agreed to participate in the 2^ndRound Table Conference in London.

3.      Lord Irwin agreed to release the political prisoners.

Poona Pact:

1.      Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930, clashed with Mahatma Gandhi at the second Round Table Conference by demanding separate electorates for dalits.

2.      When the British government conceded Ambedkar’s demand, Gandhiji began a fast unto death. He believed that separate electorates for dalits would slow down the process of their integration into society.

3.      Ambedkar ultimately accepted Gandhiji’s position and the result was the Poona Pact of September 1932.

4.      According to Poona Pact Gandhiji promised to give reservations to dalits after independence.

5.      According to Poona Pact B.R Ambedkar agreed to give away the separate electorate for Dalits.

How did different social groups participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

1.     Rich peasant communities:–

·  Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh – were active in the movement.

·  Being producers of commercial crops, they were very hard hit by the trade depression and falling prices.

·  As their cash income disappeared, they found it impossible to pay the government’s revenue demand.

·  These rich peasants became enthusiastic supporters of the Civil Disobedience Movement. They demanded to reduce the land revenue.

·  For them the fight for swaraj was a struggle against high revenues.

·  But they were deeply disappointed when the movement was called off in 1931 without the revenue rates being revised.

2.     The poor peasants: –

·  As the Depression continued and cash incomes dwindled, the small tenants found it difficult to pay their rent.

·  They wanted the unpaid rent to the landlord to be remitted (removed)

·  They joined a variety of radical movements, often led by Socialists and Communists.

·  Apprehensive of raising issues that might upset the rich peasants and landlords, the Congress was unwilling to support ‘no rent’ campaigns of poor peasants in most places.

·  So the relationship between the poor peasants and the Congress remained uncertain.

3.     The business classes (Industrialists):

·  Indian merchants and industrialists had made huge profits during W W 1and  now reacted against colonial policies that restricted business activities

·  They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports.

·  To organise business interests, they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927.

·  Led by prominent industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D . Birla, the industrialists attacked colonial control over the Indian economy, and supported the Civil Disobedience Movement.

·  They were apprehensive of the spread of militant activities, and worried about prolonged disruption of business, as well as of the growing influence of socialism amongst the younger members of the Congress.

4.     The industrial workers:

·  The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement in large numbers, except in the Nagpur region.

·  As the industrialists came closer to the Congress, workers stayed aloof.

·  But in spite of that, some workers did participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement, selectively adopting some of the ideas of the Gandhian programme,

·   like boycott of foreign goods, as part of their own movements against low wages and poor working conditions

·   There were strikes by railway workers in 1930 and dockworkers in 1932. In 1930 thousands of workers in Chotanagpur tin mines wore Gandhi caps and participated in protest rallies and boycott campaigns

·  But the Congress was reluctant to include workers’ demands as part of its programme of struggle because their demands are against industrialists.

5.     Participation of Women:

·  During Gandhiji’s salt march, thousands of women came out of their homes to participate in protest marches, manufacture salt, and picket foreign cloth and liquor shops.

·  Many went to jail. In urban areas these women were from high-caste families; in rural areas they came from rich peasant households.

·  Moved by Gandhiji’s call, they began to see service to the nation as a sacred duty of women.

·  Gandhiji was convinced that it was the duty of women to look after home and hearth, be good mothers and good wives.

·  And for a long time the Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority within the organisation. It was keen only on their symbolic presence.

The Limits of Civil Disobedience

Dalits

1.      For long the Congress had ignored the dalits. But Mahatma Gandhi declared that swaraj would not come for a hundred years if untouchability was not eliminated.

2.      He called the ‘untouchables’ Harijan or the children of God, organised satyagraha to secure them entry into temples, and access to public wells, tanks, roads and schools.

3.      He himself cleaned toilets to dignify the work of the bhangi (the sweepers), and persuaded upper castes to change their heart and give up ‘the sin of untouchability’.

4.      Dalit leaders began organising themselves into associations, demanding reserved seats in educational institutions, and a separate electorate that would choose dalit members for legislative councils.

5.      Dalit participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement was therefore limited, particularly in the Maharashtra and Nagpur region where their organisation was quite strong.

Muslim Political Organisations:

1.      After the decline of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat movement, a large section of Muslims felt alienated from the Congress.

2.      From the mid-1920s the Congress came to be more visibly associated with openly Hindu religious nationalist groups like the Hindu Mahasabha.

3.      As relations between Hindus and Muslims worsened, each community organised religious processions with militant fervour, provoking Hindu-Muslim communal clashes and riots in various cities.

4.      The Congress and the Muslim League made efforts to renegotiate an alliance. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was willing to give up the demand for separate electorates, if Muslims were assured reserved seats in the Central Assembly.

5.      Negotiations over the question of representation continued but all hope of resolving the issue at the All Parties Conference in 1928 disappeared when M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha strongly opposed efforts at compromise.

6. When the Civil Disobedience Movement started there was large sections of Muslims could not respond to the call for a united struggle.

How did people belonging to different communities, regions or language groups develop a sense of collective belonging?

There were  a variety of cultural processes through which nationalism captured people’s imagination- discuss

1.     Image of Bharat Mata

·  In the 20^thcentury the identity of India came to be visually associated with the image of Bharat Mata.

·  The image was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.

·  Abanindra nath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata and portrayed it as an ascetic figure, calm, composed, divine and spiritual.

·   In subsequent years, the image of Bharat Mata acquired many different forms, as it circulated in popular prints, and was painted by different artists.

·  Devotion to this mother figure came to be seen as evidence of one’s nationalism.

2.     Vande Mataram

·  In the1870s Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ as a hymn to the motherland.

·  Later it was included in his novel Anandamath and widely sung during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal and other national movements.

3.     Indian folklore

·  Nationalists believed that our traditional culture had been corrupted and damaged by outside forces.

·  It was essential to preserve this folk tradition  in order to discover one’s national identity and restore a sense of pride in one’s past

·  Nationalists began recording folk tales sung by bards and they toured villages to gather folk songs and legends.

·   In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore himself began collecting ballads, nursery rhymes and myths, and led the movement for folk revival.

·   In Madras, Natesa Sastri published a massive four-volume collection of Tamil folk tales, The Folklore of Southern India.

4.     The tricolour flag  

·  Nationalist leaders became more and more aware of using national flag and believed that such symbols would unify the people and inspire them a feeling of nationalism

·  During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, a tricolour flag (red, green and yellow) was designed and used.

·  It had eight lotuses representing eight provinces of British India, and a crescent moon, representing Hindus and Muslims

·   By1921, Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag. It was again a tricolor (red, green and white) and had a spinning wheel in the centre, representing the Gandhian ideal of self-help.

·   Carrying the flag, holding it aloft, during marches became a symbol of defiance.

5.     Reinterpretation of Indian history

·        Another means of creating a feeling of nationalism was through reinterpretation of our history.

·        Many Indians began feeling that to instill a sense of pride in the nation, Indian history had to be thought about differently.

·         The British saw Indians as backward and primitive, incapable of governing themselves.

·         In response, Indians began looking into the past to discover India’s great achievements in art and architecture, science and mathematics, religion and culture, law and philosophy, crafts and trade had flourished.

·        In their view this glorious time was followed by a history of decline, when India was colonised. These nationalist histories urged the readers to take pride in India’s great achievements in the past and struggle to change the miserable conditions of life under British rule.

Assignment for Nationalism in India

1.      What were the major Effects of World War I in India?

2.      How did nationalism emerge in India? (How was nationalism associated with Anti-colonial Movement in India?)

3.      What is Satyagraha?

4.      What were the Successful Satyagraha movements organized by Gandhi from 1916 to1918?

5.      What is the Rowlatt Act?

6.      What were the developments that took place during Rowlatt Satyagraha?

7.      Why did Gandhi call off Rowlatt Satyagraha?

8.      How would you explain the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre?

9.      Why was the Khilafat Committee founded?

10.   Why was the Khilafat Movement organized?

11.  Why did Gandhi organize Non-cooperation?

12.  How could (idea of) non-cooperation become a mass movement?

13.  How was Non Cooperation movement unfolded in Stages?

14.  How did different social groups conceive of the idea of Non-Cooperation?

15.  How did middle-class participate in the Non Cooperation Movement from Towns and cities?

16.  Why did the movement in the cities gradually slow down? Give reasons.

17.  How did the Rebellion in the Countryside of Awadh become a part of the Non Cooperation Movement?

18.  How did the Rebellion in the forest of Andhra Pradesh become a part of the Non Cooperation Movement?

19.  How did the Plantation workers take part in the Non Cooperation Movement?

20.  Why did Gandhi call off the Non Cooperation Movement?

21.  What were the two factors that shaped Indian politics towards the late 1920s?

22.  What is Simon Commission? Why did it come to India?

23.  Write a note on the Round Table Conferences

24.  What were the two major decisions taken at the Lahore Congress Session-1929?

25.  Why did Gandhi organize the Salt March?

26.  Why did Gandhi begin the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930?

27.  How was Civil Disobedience Movement different from the Non Cooperation Movement?

28.  A frightened government responded with a policy of brutal repression during the Civil Disobedience Movement- Discuss

29.  What was the Gandhi-Irwin Pact?

30.  What was the Poona Pact?

31.  How did different social groups participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

32.  How did the Rich peasant communities participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

33.  How did the poor peasants participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

34.  How did the business classes (Industrialists) participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

35.  How did the Industrial workers participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

36.  How did women participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

37.  Explain the Limits of Civil Disobedience movement.

38.  How did Dalits participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

39.  How did Muslim Political Organizations participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

40.  How did people belonging to different communities, regions or language groups develop a sense of collective belonging?

41.  There were  a variety of cultural processes through which nationalism captured people’s imagination- discuss

42.  How did the use of Image of Bharat Mata develop nationalism in the minds of people?

43.  How did the use of the slogan Vande Mataram develop nationalism in the minds of people?

44.  How did the collection and use of Indian folklore develop nationalism in the minds of people?

45.  How did use of National flag develop nationalism in the minds of people?

46.  Why did national leaders want to reinterpret Indian history?