Gandhian era

By - Ved Kulkarni
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● Mohandas karamchand gandhi Born on 2nd october 1869

went to england to study law after receiving early education
in india he returned to india and started practising law.in
1893 he received a 1 year contract from an indian law firm in
natal south africa
● In south africa he experienced discrimination in its worthy
form and was deeply humiliated by discrimination the
Indians suffered there. He resisted the racial policy of the
white government of south africa
- He developed the technique of satyagraha(a form of
protest based on truth and non violence)Gandhi came back
to india in 1915 and founded the sabarmati ashram in 1916 at
ahmedabad
● Prior to him the indian national congress had either never
attempted or failed to mobilise the masses gandhi found a
way to involve the masses in national movements
● Because he realised without the involvement of masses the
dream of achieving independence would never come true
● He appealed for hindu muslim unity and emancipation of low
classes and women thus his his aims were meant for the
population for india
Non violent satyagraha movement results
- At champaran in 1917 gandhi fought for the indigo planters
who suffered to the british
- A resolution between the workers and mill owners of
ahmedabad
- He helped the peasants in kheda gujarat against their
struggle of land collection revenue when their crops had
failed

Rowlatt satyagraha

- the passing of the rowlatt act brought gandhi to the national

political arena.he opposed the act and organised 30 march
1919 as day of hartal
- The government adopted measures like breaking of
processions and meetings and opening fire,imprisonment
and deportation of political leaders to suppress the
movement quickly

- The people of punjab were agitated as gandhi wasn't

allowed to enter punjab some political leaders were
deported from amritsar on 10th april on the same day there
was a peaceful procession and it was fired at.in protest a
meeting was held on jallianwala bagh in 13 april 1919
- For the dispersal dyer had organised his troops to open fire
hundreds died a wave of horror swept the country
- Rabindranath tagore surrendered his knighthood title given
to him by the queen and gandhi returned his kesar-i-hind
title given to him for his service in the boer war
Khilafat and non cooperation movements

- Turkey was defeated by the allied powers in world war 1 the

indian muslims were nervous for the state for the sultan of
turkey who was the khalifa for this the khalifa committee
was formed by ali brothers(muhammad ali and shaukat ali)
- It's purpose was to organise a country wide agitation if the
composition of the khalifa was undermined
- Gandhi and other national congress leaders realised this was
the way to bring hindus and muslims together on the
national front and decided to support it
- In june 1920 an all party conference was set in allahabad
and a adopted a programme of adoption of boycott of
schools colleges and law courts the khilafat committee
launched a non cooperation movement on 31 august
1920.gandhi was the first to join it
- The non cooperation movement was led by gandhi and it
aimed to fulfil the demands of the congress and khilafat
committee

Non cooperation movement:

1. Refusal to attend government or semi-government

functions
2. Surrendering all titles and honorary office
3. Boycott of foreign goods

Constructive features of non cooperation movement

- Promotion of swadeshi
- Removal of untouchability among hindus and muslims
- Promotion of hindu-muslim unity
Course of movement:

As a result swadeshi become popular and khadi was recognized

as symbol of freedom.huge bonfires were organised across the
county of foreign cloth
Swaraj fund was started to fund the non cooperation movement
The visit of the prince of wales wawa boycotted and a hartal was
organised in bombay the day of his visit

Suspension of non cooperation movement:

This movement came to an end due to a violent movement in

chaur chaura in a police station a town 15 miles away from
gorakhpur in Uttar pradesh 1922
- A police opened fire on a mob of peasants and when the
ammunition ended the mob attacked the police the police
took shelter in the police station however the mob burned it
down resulting ion the death of 22 police men
- When gandhi got the news he felt disturbed at suspended
the movement
- This was sad as people gained tremendous confidence and
self esteem

Simon commission:

In November 1927 the British government appointed a mandatory

commission to suggest administrative reforms in india. This
commission was headed by sir john simon to prepare a report on
the working of dyarchy introduced in act of 1919 and suggests
further reforms when the commission arrived in india in february
in 1927 it was greeted with country wide hartal. The congressman
waved black flags in a peaceful demonstration in madras under
the leadership of dr ansari.
The opposition of the simon commission led to economic
discomfort and growth of terrorist activities
A young wing of socialist leanings arose with the fold of the
congress it was led by jawaharlal nehru and chandra bose

Civil disobedience movement:

The congress held its annual session in december 1929 at lahore

with jawaharlal nehru as president. The session declared complete
independence as its goal.
The lahore session decided to celebrate independence day all over
india on 26 th january 1930

That day the tricolour flag was hoisted at many places.

The congress advised gandhi to start a civil disobedience
movement including non-payment of taxes with the goal of
attaining poorna swaraj

Mahatma Gandhi announced the civil disobedience movement

and launched the famous dandi march/salt satyagraha on 12th
march 1930.he left sabarmati ashram with seventy-nine
satyagrahis and reached Dandi gujarat and broke the role of
collecting salt from coast

Government repression:

This movement became popular all over the country. The

government then had to arrest 60k people but these repressions
broke out everywhere and people were setting fire to public
structures.the government came down with an iron hand to
suppress the revolt.gandhi arrested in congress was declared and
measures were ineffective. Hence they decided to call mahatma
gandhi to suspend the civil disobedience movement and a signed
a pact in 1931 known as the gandhi-Irwin pact
He suspended civil disobedience movement and attended the
second round table conference in london in 1931.but nothing
materialised he came back and renewed the civil disobedience
movement he was arrested and congress was declared an illegal
organisation

Communal awards:

In 1932 the government announced the communal award. Gandhi

opposed this scheme later he signed the poona pact with
Ambedkar
In the meantime the third round table conference was held from
17th november to 24th december 1932.
In june 1933 gandhi advised the suspension of mass civil
disobedience movement but continuance of satyagraha
It continued for 8 months with no results and eventually the
movement was suspended in april 1934

Quit india movement:

On 8th august 1942 the all india congress committee voted for a
starting movement on a large scale.
Gandhi made a slogan” we shall either free india from british or
die’ which became do or die
Congress demanded an immediate end to British rule. And riots
illegal organisation

Indian national army:

Subhas chandra bose the founder of azad hind fauj believed in

revolutionary methods to achieve independence he escaped
calcutta prison in 1941 and travveled to berlin
He organised the azad hind fauj which consisted of indian soldiers
who had been made prisoners of war in singapore by the
japanese army

During the second world war when the Japanese army marched
towards India the INA joined them. He gave the slogan “chalo
delhi” but the INA had to surrender after japan lost during the
second world war

Mountbatten plan:

In 1947 lord Mounbtatten presented a plan for the division of india

into 2 countries the Indian union and pakistan even when the
congress wasn't ready for this plan

The bill contain the provisions of the mountbatten plan 3rd june
1947 was introduced to the british prime minister clement attlee at
the house of commons the bill was passed as the indian
independence act 1947

The act made india and pakistan independent dominions.the act

laid down detailed measures for the partition of india and transfer
of political power to the new governments of india and pakistan

Independence and partition:

According to india independence act 1947, india was partitioned

On 15th august 19 47 into india and pakistan
● Lord mountbatten was appointed governor general of free
india
 ● And mohammed ali jinnah the first governor-general of
pakistan
● Liaqat ali became its first prime minister

Building a new India:

The constituent assembly was setup in december 1946 with the

task of framing a free India
Dr rajendra prasad was elected the president of constituent
assembly and Dr ambedkar president of drafting committee

They completed the work in november 1949

The constitution of India came into frame on 26th January 1950.
This day was chosen in memory of complete independence