HIMANI JAIN

PRESENTATION
SHIFT-II
Div –‘A’

ON INDIAN
FREEDOM
MOVEMENT (1857-
1947)
REVOLT OF 1857

■ Also called India’s first war of independence, it began at Meerut on May 10, 1857, and
slowly spread across Delhi, Agra, Kanpur and Lucknow.
■ It was the first significant uprising against the East India Company. Although the Revolt
was unsuccessful, it had a significant impact on the masses and inspired India’s entire
Independence Movement.
■ It was the revolt of 1857 which gave a clear message to the British Crown that the East
India Company had failed to exercise control over the country, demonstrating its
incapacity.
■ The British East India Company’s control came to an end with this fight for
independence.
SWADESHI MOVEMENT (1905-1911)

■ Bal Gangadhar Tilak was an Indian nationalist teacher,social reformer, lawyer. He was
the first leader of the Indian independence movement and he was the first leader who
has started this movement
■ The main slogan of Swadeshi movement was “BANDE MATARAM”.
■ The symbol of Swadeshi movement was “THE CHARKHA”
■ It was began in 1905 and continued up to 1908.
■ There was some Swadeshi products also:-
■ Swadeshi ayush kadha , Swadeshi tulsi drop, Swadeshi giloy ras juice and manymore.
■ The government's decision to ■ Bengal was divided by language and
partition Bengal was made in religion: the western half would be
December 1903. The official reason primarily Hindu, and the eastern half
was that Bengal, with a population of would be primarily Muslim.
78 million, was too large to be
■ The British reunited Bengal in 1911
administered; the real reason,
and shifted their capital to New
however, was that it was the center of
Delhi. The Swadeshi movement took
the revolt, and British officials could
on a new meaning after the
not control the protests, which they
reunification of Bengal.
thought would spread throughout
India.
GHADAR MOVEMENT: komagata
maru incident (1914-1917)
■ The ghadar party was an Indian revolutionary organisation primarily founded by
punjabis. The party had membership of all denominations like Sikh,Hindu and Muslim
leaders.
■ The headquarters of the party were in San Francisco, united states.
■ Early in the 20th century, a number of stringent immigration laws based on racial
discrimination were put in place to reduce the number of Indian immigrants coming to
Canada in search of employment
 KOMAGATA MARU INCIDENT

■ A ship from Canada by the name of Komagatamaru that was carrying immigrants from
India was sent back. Several of the ship’s passengers were killed or detained in a clash
with the British police as it headed back to India.
■ The ship was returned only after two months of privation and uncertainty which later
took the form of an embroiled controversy.
■ The belief of canadian authorities being influenced by British hurt indians.
■ While the ship returned to Calcutta in September 1914, the passengers were asked to
take Punjab-bound train, which they refused and in conflict 22 people died.
■ Many meetings were held in California in 1914 by Ghadarites to the Indian community
there where the Ghadar leaders used this incident to appeal to the community for their
engagement with their cause. People were also recruited to the movement in the wake of
this unfortunate incident. Prominent Ghadar leaders included Tarak Nath Das,
Barkatullah and Sohan Singh
HOME RULE MOVEMENT (1916-
1918)
■ Home Rule Movement was started by Bal Gangadhar Tilak at Belgaum in April 1916 and later by
Annie Besant in Madras in September 1916.
■ Home Rule Movement served as the country’s response to the First World War and a powerful means
to express opposition to British rule.
■ However, Besant and Tilak were not able to convince Congress to support their decision to set up
home rule leagues. Besant managed to convince the Congress to pledge to educative propaganda and
the establishing of local-level committees.
■ Accordingly, she set up her Home Rule League in September 1916. Tilak, however, was not bound by
any such condition and so had set up his league in April 1916.
■ Objective:- This movement was targeted at achieving self-rule, without the interference of the British
Government.
■ To build confidence among Indians to speak against the government’s suppression.
■ To demand a larger political representation for Indians from the British government.
 CHAMPARAN SATYAGRAHA –(1917)
■ Champaran Movement was Mahatma Gandhi’s first act of civil disobedience during the struggle for independence,
which took place in the Bihar region of Champaran in 1917.
■ Gandhi was persuaded by an indigo farmer, Rajkumar shukla, to visit Champaran to look into the plight of the
farmers, who were subjected to oppressive regulations and high taxes. Under the tinkathia system, they were
compelled to grow indigo by the British colonists.
■ Gandhi gathered support from the local farmers and masses to organise nonviolent protests against planters and
landlords, and as a result, the government decided to do away with the oppressive tinkathia system. Additionally,
the peasants were compensated with a part of the money taken from them.
■ Gandhi organised three protests in Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda during the years 1917 and 1918, before
beginning the Rowlatt Satyagraha.

■ Although the Champaran Satyagraha was the first to be organised, the term ‘Satyagraha’ was first used during the
anti-Rowlatt Act protest, which means, a non-violent method of protest.
ROWLATT SATYAGRAH

■ The Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, passed by the British Indian government, was more often known as the Rowlatt
Act.
■ Mahatma Gandhi began a non-violent Satyagraha on April 6, 1919, to protest against the British government’s unfair Rowlatt Act, which
was called the Rowlatt Satyagraha.
■ A hartal was organised on 6 april 1919 . Rallies were conducted, shops were closed down, workers conducted strike. Transport and
communication systems came to a standstill.
■ The act was passed by the rowlatt committee chaired by a judge, Sir Sidney Rowlatt.
■ The act was widely condemned by Indian leaders and the public. The bills came to be known as ‘black bills’.
■ The British were also afraid of a Ghadarite revolution in Punjab and the rest of the country.
■ Many freedom fighters and nationalist were arrested after protesting against this act.
■ Two popular congress leaders SATYA PAL and SAIFUDDIN KITCHLEW were arrested.
■ The protest was very intense when the act came into effect and the army was called in Punjab to tackle the situation.
■ Any person could be arrested on the basis of suspicion of ‘treason’ no appeal or petition could be filed against such arrests for up to 2years.
JALLIANWALA BAGH MASSACRE
(1919)
■ On 10th April 1919, two nationalist leaders- Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satya Pal
were arrested in Punjab under the infamous Rowlatt Act. On 13th April 1919, people
gathered in a small park in Amritsar which was called the Jalllianwala Bagh, to protest
against these arrests. The peaceful gathering was attended by men, women and children.
General Dyer, a British military officer, stationed a regiment of soldiers at the only
entrance of the park, declared the meeting illegal and without warning ordered his
soldiers to fire. The firing lasted for ten minutes, till all the ammunition was exhausted.
More than a thousand people were killed and over twice that number wounded. The
massacre was worth calling genocide and it stunned the entire country. On 30th May
1919, Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood. Gandhi returned the Kaiser-i-
Hind Gold medal given to him for his work during Boer War.
KHILAFAT MOVEMENT (1920)

■ The Indian Muslims were not happy with the way the British dethroned the Caliph in
Turkey. So, in 1919, various protests were held against the Britishers. The Muslim
League and Congress came together during this time. Both of these parties worked
together to organise numerous political protests. The movement was initially introduced
on August 31, 1920, when the Khilafat Committee began a campaign of non-
cooperation.
■ The khilafat movement was led by the brothers shaukat and muhammad ali and by abul
kalam azad.
NON COOPERATION MOVEMENT-
(1920-1922)
■ Non cooperation movement, unsuccessful attempt in 1920–22, organized by Mahatma Gandhi, to induce the British
government of India to grant self-government, or swaraj, to India.
■ The movement was essentially a peaceful and non-violent protest against the British government in India.
■ People were asked to boycott foreign goods and use only Indian-made goods.
■ The non-cooperation movement was a decisive step in the independence movement because, for the first time, the INC was
ready to forego constitutional means to achieve self-rule.
■ On 4 February 1922, at Chauri Chaura (a place in modern Uttar Pradesh), the British police opened fire at a large
group of people who were participating in the Non-cooperation movement.
■ In Chauri Chaura, Uttar Pradesh, a violent mob set fire to a police station killing 22 policemen during a clash between the
police and protesters of the movement

■ Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Bose, and many others recorded their disagreement on
Gandhiji’s views.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT-
(1930)
■ Mahatma Gandhi led a non-violent Civil Disobedience Movement in colonial India known as the Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, the Dandi
March, and the Dandi Satyagraha.
■ After the Non-Cooperation movement ended Gandhiji started a bigger movement, the civil disobedience movement. One of the main reasons for this movement
was the monopoly the British had on salt in India. Indians were prohibited from collecting and manufacturing salt. Indians had to buy it from the British and also
pay heavy tax when buying salt.
■ On March 12, 1930, Mahatama Gandhi led a large group of people from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, a seaside town in Gujarat, where they produced salt from
seawater in violation of the law.
■ More than 60,000 individuals were detained as the movement swept across the nation, including Mahatma Gandhi.
■ When Gandhiji was finally allowed to leave prison in 1931, he met with Lord Irwin, who was keen to put a stop to the civil disobedience movement and the
media attention it had garnered.
■ The then Viceroy, Lord Irwin was hardly perturbed by the threat of a salt protest and the government did nothing to prevent the salt march from taking place.
■ Sarojini Naidu joined him on the way. Every day more and more people joined him and on 5th April 1930, they reached Dandi.At this time, there were about
50,000 people participating in the march.On the morning of 6th April 1930, Gandhiji broke the salt law by making salt. Thousands of people followed suit.
■ The Congress Party was declared illegal. But this did not deter the satyagrahis who continued the movement. Thousands of women also took part in the
Satyagraha.
■ Foreign clothes were boycotted. Liqueur shops were picketed. There were strikes all over.
INDIVIDUAL SATYAGRAHA- (1940)

■ Gandhiji was not satisfied with the “August offer “ but had some regarding the launch of a mass
struggle.
■ The Allies, Britain and france were after all fighting for a just cause and should not be embarrassed
during the war.
■ Differences of opinion among the congress ranks left the partyin shams- not suitable for a mass struggle.
■ According to Gandhiji amidst communal tensions initiating a mass struggle communal could easily
transform into communal riots.
■ Brahma Datt, Vinoba Bhave and Jawaharlal Nehru were the first three satyagrahis. The satyagrahis also
started a march towards Delhi, which was called the ‘Delhi Chalo Movement’.
■ Although the movement failed to pick up steam and was aborted in December 1940, it put the Britishers
under immense pressure.
QUIT INDIAN MOVEMENT –(1942)

■ This was one of the final straws that gave India its independence. During the World War
II on the 8th of August 1942, Gandhiji and Indian National Congress launched the Quit
India Movement. They had only one demand, that the British rule in India must end
completely. Although the movement itself was unsuccessful, since Winston Churchill
refused to withdraw from India, it was effective in its own right. It caused the British to
realize that their power in India was waning.
INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT
(1947)
■ The Indian Independence Act 1947 passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom
divided British India into two new independent dominions; the Dominion of India (later
to become the Republic of India) and the Dominion of Pakistan (later to become the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan).This Act received Royal Assent on 18 July 1947.India and
Pakistan became independent on August 15th, 1947.India continues to celebrate August
15th as her Independence day, while Pakistan chose to celebrate August 14th as her
Independence day as per their cabinet decisions.