Nationalism in India Class 10 History

Nationalism in India: The rise of national consciousness in India in the

19th century was mainly the result of the British rule.

Various reasons contributed to the awakening of national consciousness in

India, but all were related in some way or the other to the administrative
policies of the British government.

● In 1878 , the then Viceroy Lord Lytton passed the 'Vernacular

Press Act' and imposed strict restrictions on the press .
● In 1879 , by the 'Arms Act', it was declared illegal for Indians to
keep weapons.
● Passage of 'Ilbert Bill' in 1883 . The purpose of this bill was to try
the criminal cases of Indian and European persons in the
Common Court and to end the privilege which the residents of
Europe had till now and under which their cases could be heard
only by European judges. The European public protested
against this, due to which the government had to withdraw this
bill.
● In 1899 , Lord Curzon passed the 'Calcutta Cooperation' Act,
which reduced the number of elected members and increased
the number of non-elected members in the municipality.
● Government control over universities was increased by the
University Act in 1904 .
● Partition of Bengal in 1905 by Curzon on the basis of
communalism.
● In 1910 , the Indian Press Act was passed to punish those who
published provocative articles.

commercial purpose

● To collect cash crops at their own arbitrary prices.

● Laborers and workers facing problems in industrial areas
 ● Removal of import duty on cotton cloth in 1882 .
● The problem of industrialization in India.
● Collecting more land revenue (Lagaan).

social causes

● Looking down on Indians by the British.

● Misbehavior with English Indians in trains, in clubs, on the
streets and in hotels.
● Discrimination against Indians in the Indian Civil Service.

religious reasons

● religious reform movement

● To awaken the feeling of loyalty among the people towards
religion.
● Many religious reformers taught the lesson of unity, equality and
freedom.
● India's interrelationship between the causes and consequences
of the First World War
● Nationalist leaders like Tilak and Gandhi gave every possible
support to the war efforts of the British government, because
they had full faith in the government's assurance regarding
Swaraj.
● The illusion of the Indians was shattered as the war progressed.
● Between 1915-17 , Annie Besant and Tilak, inspired by Ireland,
started the Home Rule League movement in India.
● Three successful Satyagraha movements of Champaran, Kheda
and Ahmedabad took place under the leadership of Mahatma
Gandhi.

Effect

● Unemployment
 ● Dearness
● Reduction of import duties on foreign goods.
● Passage of the Rowlatt Act.
● Rise of Nationalism in India.
● Beginning of Khilafat movement.
● Gandhian Phase in the National Movement.

Rowlatt Act: Lord Chelmsford appointed a committee under the

chairmanship of Justice Sidney Rowlatt to suppress the growing
revolutionary incidents and discontent.

On the recommendation of the committee, the Rowlatt Act was passed on

March 25 , 1919 . Under this, there was a provision for the formation of a
special court against whose decision no appeal could be made. A person
could also be arrested on invalid evidence and without a warrant.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre:

● Two local leaders Dr. Satyapal and Kitchlu were arrested on

April 9 , 1919 after a nationwide strike on April 6, 1919, in
protest against the Rowlatt Act .
● A public meeting was called in Jallianwala Bagh on April 13 ,
1919 to protest against his arrest . Where District Magistrate
General O'Dwyer opened fire on a peaceful meeting without any
warning and killed 1000 people. Many people were also injured.
This incident is known as Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Khilafat Movement

● The head of Islam was called 'Caliph'.

● Muslims considered 'Caliph' as ​a religious and spiritual leader.
● The Sultan of Turkey, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, used to
be the Caliph of the Islamic world.
 ● The Ottoman Empire disintegrated as a result of Turkey's defeat
against Britain in the First World War.
● The Turkish Sultan was deprived of exercising his power in his
remaining territories also.
● In the early 1920s , Indian Muslims started a vigorous
movement, called the 'Khilafat Movement', to force Britain to
change its policy towards Turkey.
● The Khilafat movement was started due to the ill-treatment
meted out to Muslim Turkey by India.
● The Khilafat movement was started by the Ali brothers (Shaukat
Ali and Muhammad Ali).
● In November 1919, Mahatma Gandhi became the President of
the All India Khilafat Movement.
● This movement became very strong after getting support from
Mahatma Gandhi and the Amritsar session of the Indian National
Congress (December 1919) .
● Gandhi saw this as a great opportunity for Hindu-Muslim unity.
(Rastravad in India)

Three point demand letter:

● The Sultan (Khalifa) of Turkey should be given sufficient secular

authority so that he can protect Islam.
● Arab region should be brought under Muslim rule (Khalifa).
● The Caliph should be made the guardian of the holy places of
Muslims.

Khilafat Day was celebrated all over India on 17 October 1919 .

Non-cooperation Movement (1920-22)

Reasons for non-cooperation movement:

● Khilafat issue.
 ● To get justice against the barbaric actions of the government in
Punjab.
● Attaining Swaraj
● On August 1 , 1920, the non-cooperation movement started
under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.

On February 12 , 1922, as per the decision of Gandhiji, the movement

was suspended.

Two types of programs were adopted in this movement.

● To weaken and morally defeat the British government, to give up

titles and unpaid positions, to boycott official and non-official
functions, to boycott government schools and colleges, to
boycott elections to the Legislative Council, to boycott foreign
goods. as well as the refusal of a job in Mesopotamia.
● Accepting the decision of Panches in place of court,
establishment of national schools and colleges, adoption of
Swadeshi, popularizing Charkha Khadi.
● Educational institutions like National Schools, Jamia Millia
Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University and Kashi Vidyapeeth were
established during the movement.
● Prominent barristers like Motilal Nehru and Chittaranjan Das
gave up their active practice and provided leadership to the
movement. The Prince of Wales was greeted with a nationwide
hartal in Bombay on 17 November 1921 .
● The government declared the movement illegal and arrested
about 30,000 agitators.
● Gandhiji threatened civil disobedience movement in protest
against the arrest.
● In protest against the police firing on a political procession in
Chauri-Chaura of Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, a mob
attacked the police station and killed 22 policemen on February
5 , 1922 .
 ● On February 12 , 1922, as per the decision of Gandhiji, the
movement was suspended.
● Gandhiji was arrested by the British Government in March, 1922
and sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. (Bharat Me
Rastravad)

Result :

● The Khilafat issue also came to an end due to the sudden

suspension of the non-cooperation movement and the arrest of
Gandhiji.
● Hindu-Muslim unity broke down and communalism prevailed all
over India.
● Neither Swaraj was achieved nor the injustices of Punjab were
redressed.
● Despite these setbacks the movement achieved great
achievements.
● The faith of the entire Indian public was awakened in Congress
and Gandhi.
● For the first time the whole country got agitated together.
● Charkha and loom were also encouraged.

Civil disobedience movement

● Gandhiji started the Civil Disobedience Movement with the

Dandi March .
● On March 12 , 1930, started the historic journey from
Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi beach with 78 of his followers.
● After marching 250 kilometers in 24 days, he reached Dandi on
5 April .
● On April 6 , he violated the law by making salt from sea water.

program of the movement

 ● Violation of salt law everywhere .
● Students should boycott schools and colleges.
● Foreign clothes should be burnt.
● No tax should be paid to the government.
● Women should protest in front of liquor shops.
● Lawyers should leave the court and government employees
should resign.
● People in every house cut the spinning wheel and make yarn.
● Only if truth and non-violence are kept paramount in all these
programs can complete Swaraj be achieved.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact:

● The scale of the civil disobedience movement forced the British

government to compromise.
● The government had to compromise with Gandhi. Which is
known as 'Gandhi-Irwin Pact'. It is also known as 'Delhi Pact'.
● This agreement was signed between Gandhiji and Lord Irwin on
March 5 , 1931 .
● Under this, Gandhiji suspended the movement and agreed to
participate in the Second Round Table Conference.
● Gandhiji participated in the Second Round Table Conference,
but could not agree on any issue there. So he returned
disappointed.
● On the other hand, the British government had intensified the
process of repression. Then Gandhiji again started the civil
disobedience movement.
● It did not have the same edge and enthusiasm as before, due to
which the movement was completely withdrawn in 1934 AD .

Champaran Movement

● The condition of the indigo farmers of Bihar was very pathetic.

 ● Here the Tinkathiya system was prevalent by the Nilahe Goras,
in which the farmers had to cultivate 3/20th of their land. This
was generally a fertile land.
● Farmers did not want to cultivate indigo because it reduced the
fertility of the land.
● In 1908 , an attempt was made to reform the Tinkathiya
system , but this did not bring any change in the deteriorating
condition of the farmers.
● The farmers were troubled by this tyranny of indigo.
● At the same time in 1916 , in the Lucknow session of Congress,
Rajkumar Shukla, a farmer from Champaran, drew everyone's
attention towards the problem and requested Mahatma Gandhi
to come to Champaran.
● Mahatma Gandhi started the Champaran movement in 1917
regarding the demands of the farmers .
● On the pressure of Gandhiji, the government formed
'Champaran Agrarian Committee' . Gandhiji was also a
member of this committee.
● On the recommendation of this committee, the British
government also abolished the Teenkathia system and other
taxes on farmers.

Kheda movement

● Farmers launched a movement for waiver of rent in Kheda

district of Gujarat.
● Mahatma Gandhi supported the demand of farmers for waiver of
rent as the Kharif crop had suffered extensive damage due to
excessive rains in 1917 .
● There was no provision for waiver of rent in such a situation
under the Rent Act.
● Here on June 22 , 1918 , Gandhiji called for Satyagraha, which
continued for a month.
 ● Meanwhile, with the onset of Rabi harvest and the government
ending repressive measures, the situation changed and Gandhiji
announced the end of Satyagraha.
● Through this Satyagraha, farmers in the rural areas of Gujarat
also gained courage to oppose the exploitative laws of the
British.

Moplah Rebellion

● A major revolt of the peasants took place on the Malabar Coast

of modern Kerala state, which is known as the Moplah rebellion.
● The Moplas were local tenants and cultivators who were
followers of Islam, while the local 'Namboodiris' and 'Nair'
landowners were upper caste Hindus.
● Like other landowners, they too had government protection and
were supported by the police and the courts.
● A new situation arose in 1921 when Congress demanded land
and revenue reforms in the interest of farmers and supported the
Khilafat movement.
● Encouraged by this new situation, the Moplah rebels declared a
religious leader, Ali Musaliar, as their king and began attacking
government institutions.
● Seeing the seriousness of the situation, military action against
the rebels started in October 1921 .
● By December, more than ten thousand rebels were killed and
more than fifty thousand were taken prisoner.
● In this way this rebellion gradually ended.

Bardoli Satyagraha

● In February 1928, a feeling of discontent arose among the

peasants against the increase in rent in Bardoli taluka of Gujarat.
● The farmers were also dissatisfied with the
recommendations of the 'Bardoli Inquiry Commission'
 constituted by the government and they started agitation against
the decision of the government.
● Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel played a decisive role in this. On this
occasion he was given the title of Sardar.
● Railway strike took place in Bombay in support of farmers.
● KM Munshi and Lalji Narangi resigned from the membership of
the Bombay Legislative Council in support of the movement.
● The government had to form a new inquiry committee under the
leadership of Bloomfield and Maxwell.
● The new investigating committee considered this increase unfair.
● Ultimately, the government had to reduce the rate of rent.
● This movement was completed successfully.

labor movement

● Industrialization in Europe and Marxist ideas had an impact in

India as well, as a result of which consciousness was awakened
in the working class along with industrial progress.
● In 1917 , due to the plague epidemic in Ahmedabad, mill
owners increased the wages of workers to prevent them from
leaving the city, but this was abolished when the epidemic
ended.
● In 1920 , the Congress Party established the 'All India Trade
Union Congress' .
● The workers' support continued in the national movement.
(Rastravad in India)

tribal movement

● Like the 19th century, tribal movements continued to take place

in many parts of India in the 20th century.
● Like Rampa rebellion of 1916 , Khond rebellion of 1914 ,
many rebellions took place under the leadership of Jatra Bhagat
from 1914 to 1920 AD .
Indian political party

Indian National Congress

● The Indian National Congress was founded by Allan Octrovian

Hume.
● Its first president was Vyomeshchandra Banerjee .
● It was established in 1885 AD .

Left/Communist Party

● In 1920 AD, M.N. Rai founded the Communist Party of India in

Tashkent.

Muslim League:

● Under the leadership of Sir Aga Khan laid the foundation for the
establishment of the Muslim League in 1906 .
● A conference was called in Dhaka on 30 September 1906
where it was renamed as 'All India Muslim League' .
● Its objective is to provide proper proportion of place to Muslims
in government services and also to provide place to Muslims on
the posts of judges.