CBSE Class 10 History Notes Chapter 2 – Nationalism in India
Introduction
• Modern nationalism was associated with the formation of nation-states.
• In India like many other colonies, the growth of modern nationalism is connected to the anti-colonial movement.
The First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation
• The First World War (1914-1918) created a new political and economic situation.
• India faced various problems during war period:
→ Increase in defence expenditure.
→ Prices increased through the war years.
→ Forced recruitment in rural areas.
• During 1918-19 and 1920-21, crops failure in many parts of India.
• Hardships did not end after the war was over.
The Idea of Satyagraha
• Satyagraha is a novel way of fighting the colonial rule in India.
→ It is a non-aggressive, peaceful mass agitation against oppression and injustice.
• Satyagraha means insistence on truth.
• It is a moral force, not passive resistance.
• In January 1915, Mahatma Gandhi returned to India.
• Gandhiji organised Satyagraha Movements in Champaran, Bihar (1916),
Kheda district of Gujarat (1917) and amongst cotton mill workers in
Ahmedabad (1918).
The Rowlatt Act (1919)
• This act gave the government enormous powers to repress political
activities and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial
for two years.
Jallianwala Bagh massacre
• On 13th April 1919, a huge crowd gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh.
• Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points, and opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds.
• As the news spread, strikes, clashes with the police and attacks on government buildings started.
• The government responded with brutal repression.
• Gandhi called off the Rowlatt satyagraha as the violence spread.
Khilafat Movement
• Khilafat Movement was led by two brothers Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Ali.
• Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919 to defend the Khalifa’s temporal powers.
• Gandhiji convinced the Congress to join hands with the Khilafat Movement and start a Non-Cooperation Campaign for Swaraj.
• At the Congress session at Nagpur in December 1920, the Non-Cooperation programme was adopted.
Differing strands within the movement
• The Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement began in January 1921.
The Movement in the Towns
• It started with middle class participation in cities.
• Students, teachers, lawyers gave up studies, jobs, legal practices and joined movements.
• Council elections were boycotted.
• Foreign goods were boycotted.
• Liquor shops were picketed.
Movement in the countryside
• Peasants and tribals took over the struggle which turned violent gradually.
Peasant Movement in Awadh
• The peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra in Awadh against landlords and talukdars.
• In 1920, the Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra and a few others.
Movement of Tribals in Andhra Pradesh
• Alluri Sitaram Raju led the guerrilla warfare in the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh.
• The rebels attacked police stations.
• Raju was captured and executed in 1924.
Swaraj in the Plantations
• For the plantation workers, Swaraj means moving freely.
• They protested against the Inland Emigration Act (1859) which prevented them from leaving the plantation without permission.
• Each group interpreted the term swaraj in their own ways.
Towards Civil Disobedience
• In February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement.
• Many leaders such as C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj
Party within the Congress to argue for a return to council politics.
• Younger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose pressed
for more radical mass agitation and for full independence.
Factors that shaped Indian politics towards the late 1920s
• The Worldwide Economic Depression
→ Agricultural prices collapsed after 1930 as the demand for agricultural goods fell and exports declined.
• Simon Commission
→ It was constituted by the Tory government of Britain to look into the
demands of the nationalists and suggest changes in the constitutional
structure of India.
→ The Commission arrived in India in 1928.
→ The Congress protested against this commission.
The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement
• Gandhiji chose salt as the medium that could unite the nation as it is consumed by all the sections of the society.Salt March
• Salt or Dandi March began on March 12, 1930.→ On 6th April 1930, Gandhiji reached Dandi, a village in Gujarat and broke the Salt Law by boiling water and manufacturing salt.
→ Thus, it began the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• It was different from Non-Cooperation Movement as people were now asked not only to refuse cooperation but also to break colonial laws.
• Boycott of foreign goods, non-payment of taxes, breaking forest laws were its main features.
• The British Government followed a policy of brutal repression.
• British government arrested all the leaders including Gandhiji and Nehru.
• Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement.
Gandhi-Irwin Pact
• On 5 March, 1931, Lord Irwin, the Viceroy, signed a pact with Gandhi.
• In December, 1931, Gandhiji went to London for the Second Round Table Conference but returned disappointed.
• Gandhi relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement but by 1934 it lost its momentum.
How Participants saw the Movement
Rich peasants
→ They did not rejoin the movement as the movement was called without revising the revenue rates.
Poor Peasants
• The poor peasants wanted rents of lands to be remitted.→ The Congress was unwilling to support the “no rent” campaigns due to the fear of upsetting the rich peasants and landlords.
Business Classes
• After the war, their huge profits were reduced, wanted protection against import of foreign goods. → The spread of militant activities, worries of prolonged business disruptions, growing influences of socialism amongst the young Congress forced them not to join the movement.Women
• Women also participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops.
→ Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority within the organisation.
Limits of Civil Disobedience
• The Dalits or the Untouchables did not actively participate in the
movement, they demanded reservation of seats, separate electorates.
• Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the leader of the Dalits, formed an association in 1930, called the Depressed Classes Association.
• He clashed with Gandhiji.
• Poona Pact between the Gandhiji and B.R. Ambedkar (1932) gave reserved
seats in Provincial and Central Councils but were voted by general
electorate.
• The leader of the Muslim League M.A. Jinnah wanted reserved seats for Muslims in Central Assembly.
→ Large sections of Muslims did not participate in the Civil disobedience movement.
The Sense of Collective Belonging
• The sense of collective belonging came partly through the experience of united struggles.
• History and fiction, folklore and songs, popular prints and symbols, all played a part in the making of nationalism.
• By 1921, Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag. It was again a
tricolour (red, green and white) and had a spinning wheel in the centre.
Vikash Kumar
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