Advent of Gandhi_Rowlatt Act _Jallianwala Bagh massacre_and other movements

INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT

(1917-1947)

Indian National Movement (1917-1947) 

Advent of Gandhi (1917-1947) 

          The third and the final phase of the Nationalist Movement (1917-1947) is known as the Gandhian era. During this period Mahatama Gandhi became the undisputed leader of the National Movement. His principles of non-violence and Satyagrah were employed against the British Government. Gandhi made the nationalist movement a mass movement. 

            Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born at Porbandar in Gujrat on 2 October 1869. He studied law in England. He returned to india in 1891. In April 1893 he went to South Africa and involved himself in the struggle against  𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙙 (Racial discrimination against the blacks)  for twenty years. Finally, he came to India in 1915. Thereafter, he fully involved himself in the Indian National Movement. 

          Mahatma Gandhi began his experiments with Satyagrah against the oppressive European indigo planters as Champaran in Bihar in 1917. In the next year ha launched another Satyagraha at Kheda  in Gujrat in Support of the Peasants who were not able to pay the land tax due to failure of crops. During this struggle, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel emerged as one of the trusted followers of Gandhi. In 1918, Gandhi undertook a fast unto death for the cause of Ahmedabad Mill Workers and finally the mill owners conceded the just demands if the workers. 

          On the whole, the local movements at Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad brought Mahatma Gandhi closer to the life if the people and their problems at the grass roots level. Consequently he became the leaders of the masses. 

Rowlatt Act (1919) 

          In 1917, a committee was set up under the presidentship of Sir Sydney Rowlatt to look into the militant National activities. On the basis of its report the Rowlatt Act was passed in March 1919 by the Central Legislative Council. As per this Act, any person could be arrested on the basis of suspicion. No appeal or petition could be filed against such arrests. This Act was called the Black Act and it was widely opposed. An all-India hartal was organized on 6 April 1919. Meetings were held all over the country. Mahatma Gandhi was arrested near Delhi. Two prominent leaders of Punjab, Dr Satya Pal and Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew, we're arrested in Amritsar. 

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre 

(13 April, 1919) 

          The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre took place on 13 April 1919 and it remained a turning point in the history of India's freedom movement. In Punjab there was an unprecedented support to the Rowlatt Satyagraha. Facing a violent situation, the Government of Punjab handed over the administration to the military authorities under Genral Dyer. He banned all public meetings and detained the political leaders. On 13th April, the Baisakhi day (harvest festival), a public meeting was organized at the Jallianwala Bagh (garden). Dyer marched in and without any warning opened fire on the crowd. The firing continued for about 10 to 15 minutes and it stopped only after the ammunition exhausted. According to official report 379 people were killed and 1137 wounded in the incident. There was a nation-wide protest  against this massacre and Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood as a protest. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre gave a tremendous impetus to the freedom struggle. 

Khilafat Movement

          The chief cause of the Khilafat Movement was the defeat if Turkey of Sevres (1920) was  felt by the Muslims as a great insult to them. The whole movement was based on the Muslim belief that the Caliph (the Sultan of Turkey) was the religious head of the Muslims all over the world. The Muslims in India were upset over the British attitude against Turkey and launched the Khilafat Movement. 

           Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, M.A. Ansari, Saifuddin Kitchlew and the Ali brothers were the prominent leaders of this movement. A Khilafat Committee had been formed and in 19th October 1919, the country had observed the Khilafat day. On 23 November, a joint conference of the Hindus and the Muslims had also been held under the chairmanship of Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi was particularly interested in bringing the Hindus and the Muslims together to achieve the country's independence. Subsequently, the Khilafat Movement Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920.

Non-Cooperation Movement

 (1920-1922) 

          Mahatma Gandhi announced his plan to begin Non-Cooperation with the government as a sequel to the Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the Khilafat Movement. It was approved by the Indian National Congress at the Nagpur session in December, 1920.

 PROGRAMMES

The programmes of the Non-Cooperation Movement were:

Surrender if titles and honorary positions. 

• Resignation of Membership from the local bodies. 
• Boycott of elections held under the provisions of the 1919 Act. 
• Boycott of government functions.
• Boycott of courts, government schools and colleges. 
• Boycott of foreign goods. 
• Establishment of national schools, colleges
• Private panchayat courts. 

Popularising Swadeshi goods and Khadi

       The movement began with Mahatma Gandhi renouncing thr titles, which were given by the British. Other leaders and influential persons also followed him by surrounding their honorary posts and titles. Students came out of the government educational institutions. National schools such as the kashi Vidyapeeth, the Bihar Vidyapeeth and the Jamia Milia Islamia were set up. All the prominent leaders of the country gave up their lucrative legal practice. Legislatures were boycotted. No leader of the Congress came forward to contest the elections for the Legislatures. 

            In 1921, mass demonstrations were held against the Prince of Wales during his tour of India. The government resorted to strong measures of repression. Many leaders were arrested. The Congress and the Khilafat Committees were proclaimed as illegal. At several places, bonfires of foreign clothed were organised. The message of  𝙎𝙬𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙞 spread everywhere. Most of the households took to weaving cloths with the help of  𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙝𝙖𝙨. 

         But the whole movement was abruptly called off on 11th February 1922 by  Gandhi following the  𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙧𝙞 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙧𝙖 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 in the Gorakhpur district of U.P. Earlier on 5th February an angry mob set fire to the police station at Chauri Chaura and Twenty two police men were burnt to death. Many top leaders of the country were stunned at this sudden suspension of the Non-Cooperation movement. Mahatma Gandhi was arrested of 10 March 1922.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 

NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT

1. It was the real mass movement with the participation of different sections of Indian Society such as peasants, workers, students, teachers and women. 
2. It witnessed the spread of Nationalism to the remote corners of India. 
3. It also marked the height of Hindi-Muslim unity as a result of the merger of Khilafat Movement
4. It demonstrated the willingness and ability of the masses to endure hardships and make sacrifices. 

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