The Making of the National Movement

Nationalism Emerges
 Britishers were exercising control on lives of Indian and India’s resources – so
need was to end this control
 Political associations after 1850 depicted this clearly – especially those in 1870s
and 1880s
 Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (of or for all people) – goal of all people of India
irrespective of region, community or class –with idea of Sovereign (act without
interference)
 Reasons for intensification of dissatisfaction from British rule
 Arms Act, 1878 – Indians couldn’t possess arms
 Vernacular Press Act – silence those who were critical of government, confiscate
newspaper asset if the content was objectionable
 Ilbert Bill, 1883 – trial of British persons by Indian and equality b/w Indian and
British judges (but was withdrawn as whites opposed) – racial attitude of
Britishers

Indian National Congress

 Established in 1885 with 72 delegates

 Dadabhai Naoroji (businessman and publicist settled in London), Pherozeshah
Mehta,
 Badruddin Tyabji, W.C. Bonnerji, Surendranath Banerji, Romesh Chandra Dutt,
S.
 Subramania Iyer
 Mainly in Bombay and Calcutta
 A.O.Hume – brought Indians from various regions
 Naoroji wrote Poverty and Un-British Rule in India – criticism of economic
impact of British rule
Nation in Making
 1 st 20 years was moderate – wanted Indian voice in government
 Legislative council to be more representative, more powers
 Indians to be placed in high position in government – civil service exams in India
and London
 Indianisation of administration – as major jobs monopolized by whites – with aim
to reduce drain of wealth
 Separation of judiciary from executive
 Repeal of Arms Act
 Freedom of speech and expression
 Declared British rule led to poverty and famines: increase in the land revenue had
impoverished peasants and zamindars, and exports of grains to Europe had
created food shortages
 Reduction of revenue
 Cut in military expenditure
 More funds for irrigation
 Resolution on salt tax, treatment of Indians abroad & sufferings of forest dwellers
 Develop public awareness about unjustice of British rule
 Published newspapers, articles and speeches

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The Making of the National Movement
Freedom is Our Birth Right

 By 1890s – question about political style of Congress

 Lal Bal Pal (Bipin Chandra Pal, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai)
 Radical objectives
 Criticized moderates
 Emphasized self-reliance and constructive work
 Rely on one’s own strength
 Fight for swaraj
 Tilak - Freedom is my birthright and I shall have it!
 Kesari - Marathi newspaper edited by Tilak, became one of the strongest critics
of British rule.

Partition of Bengal
 In 1905 by Lord Curzon
 Bengal was biggest province of British India and included Bihar and Odisha
 Tied to British interests
 Rather than removing the non-Bengali areas from the province, government
separated East
 Bengal and merged it with Assam
 British wanted to curtail influence of Bengali politicians and split Bengali people
 Both moderates and extremists opposed it
 Public meetings and demonstrations were made

Swadeshi Movement

 Strongest in Bengal (also called as Vandemataram movement in Andhra Pradesh)

 Opposed British rule
 Encouraged self-help, swadeshi enterprise, national education and Indian
languages
 Boycott of British institutes and goods
Revolutionary violence started
All India Muslim League

 Formed in Dacca in 1906

 Supported partition of Bengal
 Wanted separate electorates for Muslims in 1909
 Seats in councils were reserved for Muslims

Congress Split in 1907

 Moderates were opposed to boycott

 They felt it involved force
 Dominated by Moderates
 Later two reunited in 1915
 Lucknow Pact – b/w Congress and Muslim League was signed to work together
for representative government

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The Making of the National Movement

Growth of Mass Nationalism

 Involved peasants, tribals, students, factory workers and women

 WW-I: huge rise in defence expenditure which was imparted on individual
income as taxes – led to price rise for common people but businessmen earned
huge profits (demand for industrial goods like cloth, jute, iron rails); industries in
India expanded, expansion of army (villages pressurized to supply soldiers to be
sent abroad)
 1917 – Revolution in Russia inspired the local workers

Advent of Mahatma Gandhi

 1895 – Established Natal Congress to fight racial discrimination

 Arrived in India from South Africa in 1915
 Emerged as mass leader
 Had contact with various types of Indians: Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and
Christians;
 Gujaratis, Tamils and north Indians; and upper-class merchants, lawyers and
workers
 1 st year he travelled throughout India to understand needs
 Interventions in Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad
 Came in contact with Rajendra Prasad & Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
 1918 – successful mill worker strike in Ahmedabad

Rowlatt Act

 1919 – satyagraha against Rowlatt Act (it curbed freedom of expression and
strengthened police powers)
 Criticized by Gandhi and Jinnah as devilish and 6th April as “day of humiliation
and prayer” with hartals (strikes)
 Satyagraha sabhas were set up –against British government but was restricted to
cities
 Jallianwala Bagh atrocities, inflicted by General Dyer in Amritsar on Baisakhi
day (13 April), were a part of this repression
 Tagore renounced the knighthood (honor granted by British Crown for
exceptional achievement)
 Hindus and Muslims were united against the fight

Khilafat Agitation

 1920 – British imposed treaty on Turkish Sultan or Khalifa

 Indian Muslims were keen that the Khalifa be allowed to retain control over
Muslim sacred places in the erstwhile Ottoman Empire
 Led by Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali - wished to initiate a full-fledged Non-
Cooperation Movement
 Was supported by Gandhiji

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The Making of the National Movement
 Congress to campaign against Jallianwala massacre, Khilafat wrongs and demand
swaraj

Non-Cooperation Movement

 Gained momentum in 1921-22

 Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das, C. Rajagopalachari and Asaf Ali gave up their law
practices
 British titles were surrendered
 Legislatures were boycotted
 Public bonfire of foreign cloth (import reduced drastically)
 In Kheda, Gujarat, Patidar peasants organised nonviolent campaigns against the
high land revenue demand of the British.
 In coastal Andhra and interior Tamil Nadu, liquor shops were picketed
 In Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, tribals and poor peasants staged a number
of “forest satyagrahas”, sometimes sending their cattle into forests without paying
grazing fee.
 Sindh, Muslim traders enthusiastic about Khilafat & same was in Bengal
 Punjab - Akali agitation of the Sikhs sought to remove corrupt mahants
(functionaries of
 Sikh Gurudwaras - supported by British)
 Assam - tea garden labourers asked for “Gandhi Maharaj ki Jai”, demanded a big
increase in their wages. Vaishnava song was substituted by “Gandhi Raja”

People’s Mahatma
 Considered messiah by some
 Build class unity and not class conflict
 Help in fight against zamindars
 Peasants in Pratapgarh in United Provinces (UP) managed to stop illegal eviction
of tenants

Happenings of 1922-29

 Gandhiji called of Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922 when set of people put

fire to police station in Chauri Chaura – 22 policemen died
 Called for constructive works in rural areas
 Chittaranjan Das (lawyer in East Bengal) and Motilal Nehru – party should fight
elections to enter councils and influence govt. policies
 Formation of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) & Communist Party of India
 Bhagat Singh was also active during this period - It takes a loud voice to make
the deaf hear.
 Inquilab Zindabad!
 Founded Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) in 1928 at
Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi. HSRA members assassinated Saunders, a police
officer who had led a lathicharge that caused the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.
 Along with his fellow nationalist B.K. Dutt, he threw a bomb in the Central
Legislative

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The Making of the National Movement
 Assembly on 8 April 1929. He was tried and executed at age of 23
 1927 – Simon Commission by Lord Simon to decide India’s political future with
no Indian representative – created outrage in India – “Simon Go back”
 1929 – Purna Swaraj (Complete Independence) under Jawaharlal Nehru and 26
Jan 1930 was observed as Independence Day
Dandi March

 1930 – March to break salt law (state has monopoly over manufacture and sale of
salt) as it was sinful to tax salt
 240 miles from Sabarmati to the coastal town of Dandi
 Sarojini Naidu (1st women president of INC) persuaded him to allow women to
join the movement
 Participation of rich and poor, peasants and tribals
 Govt. tried to crus action against peaceful satyagrahis
 GoI Act 1935 – brought provincial autonomy
 1937 – Govt. announced elections to provincial legislatures (Congress govt. was
formed in 7 of 11 provinces)
 In 1939, WW-II broke out – Congress leaders were ready to support British
against Hitler but wanted independence which was refused by British
 Veer Lakhan Nayak (a legendary tribal leader who defied the British) was
hanged.
 Baji Mohammed, President of the Nabrangpur Congress in Orissa mobilized
20,000 people – participated in WW-II and Quit India Movement
 Women in Freedom Struggle - Ambabai of Karnataka had been married at age
12. Widowed at 16, she picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops in Udipi. She was
arrested, served a sentence and was rearrested. Between prison terms she made
speeches, taught spinning, and organized prabhat pheris. Ambabai regarded these
as the happiest days of her life because they gave it a new purpose and
commitment.
 In 1941 – Subhash Chnadra Bose founded INA (Indian National Army) – he left
secretly
 from Calcutta to Singapore via Germany to raise fund for Azad Hind Fauj. In
1944, it entered India through Imphal and Kohima but campaign failed

Quit India Movement & Onwards

 In August 1942
 New movement in middle of WW-II
 People moved with “Do or Die” but non-violently
 Many leaders were jailed
 By end of 1943, around 90,000 were arrested and 1,000 killed in firing
 Muslim league was demanding separate state in NW and East India
 Brought some tension b/w Hindus and Muslims
 Provincial elections of 1937 – Muslims as minority
 Talk b/w Muslims and League failed as League saw itself as spokesperson of
India Muslims but Congress had a huge support from Muslims
 Elections to provinces held again in 1946 – Congress performed in general
Constituencies but League succeeded in Muslim seats

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The Making of the National Movement
 In March 1946 the British cabinet sent 3-member mission to Delhi to examine
this demand and to suggest a suitable political framework for a free India – India
must be united and must be a confederation with autonomy of Muslim majority
areas (but could not get Muslim
 League to agree on specific details of proposal) – partition became inevitable now
 After failure of Cabinet Misison – Muslim League decided for mass agitation to
win Pakistan demand
 16 August 1946 – announced as “Direct Action Day” – riots in Calcutta and by
March 1947 to major parts of India
 Joy of independence came with mixed pain and violence of Partition
 Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Badshah Khan) – Pashtun leader from NWFP &
founder of Khudai Khidmatgars (non-violent movement amongst Pathans) –
opposed partition & criticized Congress for agreeing for 1947 division
 Maulana Azad (born in Mecca) – Bengali father and Arab mother – scholar of
Islam - exponent of the notion of wahadat-i-deen, the essential oneness of all
religions – Hindu Muslim unity and opposed Jinnah’s two-nation theory
 C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) – member of Interim Govt. in 1946 & as free India’s
first Indian Governor General – Salt Satyagarha in south
 Sardar Patel – Born in Karamsad, Gujarat – from peasant-proprietor family –
freedom movement and president of INC in 1931
 Mohammad Ali Jinnah – Promoter of Hindu-Muslim unity till 1920 – main role
in Lucknow Pact but recognized Muslim league after 1934 & major spokesperson
for demand for Pakistan
 Jawaharlal Nehru - leading architect of the national movement and of free
India’s economy and polity.
Nationalism in Africa
 Colonial rule in Africa was dictatorial
 Only “Chiefs” were allowed to rule on behalf of the foreign powers
 Laws affecting Africans were created in all-white legislatures
 Africans had no decision-making powers or representation, not until after WW-II
at least.
 1957 – Ghana (Gold Coast) was 1st Sub-Saharan African nation to gain
independence –
 movement led by Kwame Nkrumah’s Convention People’s Party

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