JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

FACULTY OF LAW, NEW DELHI

SUBMITTED BY:
NAME: RAHUL SISODIA
ROLL N.O:41
SEMESTER: Ⅲ
COURSE:B.A.LL.B.(SELF FINANCED)
PROJECT TOPIC:NON COOPERATION MOVEMENT

SUBMITTED TO: VINOD CHAUHAN

 Acknowledgment
I am very glad that I got an opportunity to learn and imbibe so many things while making
This project. It helped to a great extent in developing researching skills which are very
important for a student of law. First and foremost, I would like to than VINOD CHAUHAN
For giving me this opportunity and always being such a great support. Secondly, I would
Like to thank my friends and family who are always there for me and without whom I Won’t
think that I could achieve anything in life.

.
Causes

Gandhi entered the Indian political arena around 1916 and initially his ideals were aligned
towards the fairness of the British rule. Prior to entering the political scene whole-heartedly,
he was involved in the quasi-political causes like demand for fair wages for cultivators of
Champaran district of Bihar, peasants of the Kheda district in Gujarat and the textile workers
of Ahmedabad. In his sense of sympathy towards the Government he even advocated to raise
volunteers to be recruited as soldiers to fight on behalf of the English in the First World War.
Like other contemporary political minds, he had assumed that, post war, the people of India
would move towards self-governance rapidly. His assumptions proved wrong when the the
Government promulgated the Rowlatt Act and disregarded the demands put forward by the
Khilafat Movement. Closely spaced incidents like mobilization of the Martial Law in Punjab,
the Jalianwala Bagh massacre, failure of the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms and the
dismemberment of Turkey by the British following the Treaty of Severs in May 1920, incited
widespread resentment among all sections of the people of India.
In the year 1919, the British Government passed a new rule called Rowlatt Act. Under this
Act, the Government had the authority to arrest people and the power to keep them in prisons
without any trial if they are suspected of anti-Raj activities. The Government also earned the
power to refrain the newspapers from reporting and printing news.
Result of the Non-Cooperation Movement

The Non-Cooperation movement saw definite success despite its abrupt end. The movement
and unified the nation in an unprecedented feat of protest against the Government. In the first
few weeks of the movements, around 9 thousand students had left government-backed
schools and colleges. About 800 national institutions were established across the country to
accommodate students under the leadership of Acharya Narendra Dev, C.R. Das, Zakir
Hussain, Lala LajpatRai, and Subhash Bose. Renowned institutions like Jamia Millia at
Aligarh, Kashi Vidyapeeth, Gujarat Vidyapeeth and Bihar Vidyapeeth were established
during this period. The educational boycott was most successful in Bengal followed by the
Punjab. Areas of Bihar, Bombay, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Assam also saw active
participation in the programs. The impact of the movement was also seen in Madras. The
boycott of educational institutes was more successful than the boycott of law courts by the
lawyers. Many prominent lawyers like, C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru, M.R. Jayakar, V. Patel, A.
Khan, Saifuddin Kitchlew and many others gave up their flourishing law practices, which
inspired many more to follow suit. Once again, Bengal led by example and that inspired other
states like Uttar Pradesh, Andhra, Punjab and Karnataka. The boycott of law courts and
educational institutes fared well but the most successful program of the Non-Cooperation was
the boycott of foreign clothes. It reduced the value of import of the foreign clothes from 102
crore rupees in 1920-21 to 57 crore rupees in 1921-22.

The Government proclaimed Sections 108 and 144 of the code of criminal procedure at
various centers of agitation. The Congress Volunteer Corpse was declared illegal. By
December 1921 more than thirty thousand people were arrested from all over India. Except
Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi, most of the prominent leaders were inside jail. In mid-
December, Madan Mohan Malaviya initiated a negotiation with the British but that proved
futile. The terms and conditions put forward by the British meant sacrificing the Khilafat
leaders, which was unacceptable to Gandhi.

Gandhi’s sudden decision to stop the movement was met with discontent by leaders like
Subhash Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Neheru who openly voiced their disappointments.
They argued that the movement which had garnered enough enthusiastic participation from
the masses against the British government should have been allowed to continue to reach its
culmination. They feared that discontentment and protest might shape into violent protests
leading to widespread riots in the country. Although their opinion that Gandhi’s decision will
push back the freedom movement by several years was justified, one cannot ignore the
arguments that Gandhi put forward in lines of morality of the same. He sincerely believed
that violence like the Cauri Chaura incident marks a deviation from the ideals behind the
whole movement which if allowed would take the movement out of control and would be
rendered useless against the powerful military strength the British Government would resort
to in order to crush it.

After the movement was suspended, the Government decided to deal with Gandhi strongly.
He was immediately arrested on 10th March, 1922. He was sentenced to six years
imprisonment and sent to Yaravada Central Jail at Poona.

The Non-Cooperation resolution garnered mixed responses from national leaders. While the
likes of Motilal Nehru and Ali Brothers supported Gandhi’s resolution, it received opposition
from prominent figures like Annie Besant, Pt. Malaviya and C.R. Das. They feared that large
scale mass action against the British government would lead to violence on a wide scale, as
occurred during the protest against the Rowlatt Act.

Significance of the Non-Cooperation Movement

Even though the Non-Cooperation movement did not achieve its stated aims but the strategic
and leadership role of Mahatma Gandhi gave India’s freedom struggle new dimensions. The
biggest gain of the movement was that it gave a new confidence to the common people and
taught them to be fearless in their political pursuit. Mahatma Gandhi made the idea and need
for Swarajya a more popular notion, which, in turn; created a new wave of patriotic
enthusiasm. Satyagraha or protesting through passive resistance became the primary tool of
the Indian freedom movement. Promotion of Charkha and Khadi as the symbol of Indian
nationalism helped Indian handloom products gain recognition. Native weavers found
renewed employment. The most significant contribution of Non-cooperation movement and
Gandhi to Indian National movement was the unanimous unification of the entire nation
behind a single cause.