Question : Explain the circumstances leading to the alliance between the Khilafat and the Non-Cooperation Movements. Was it a politically wise step on the part of the Congress?
(2007)
Answer : During 1920-21 the Indian National Movement entered a new phase in a phase of mass politics and mass mobilization. The British rule was opposed through two mass movements, Khilafat and Non-cooperation Movement. Though emerging out of separate issues both these movements adopted a common programme of action. The technique of non-violent struggle was adopted a national level.
The background and the circumstances for the merger of the two movements were provided by the impact of the First World War, the Rowlett Act, the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre and the Montage Chelmsford Reforms. During the First World War, the prices of daily commodities increased sharply and the most sufferers were the common people. The volume of imports which declined during the World War I increased towards the end of the war. As a result, the Indian industries suffered, production fell, many factories were closed and the workers became its natural victims. The peasantry was also under the heavy burden of rents and taxes. So, the economic situation of the country in the post-war years became alarming. In the political fired the Nationalists were disillusioned when the British did not keep their promise of bringing in a new era of democracy and self determination for the people. This strengthened the anti-British attitude of the Indians.
The next important landmark of this period was the passing of the Rowlett Act in March 1919. This act empowered the Government to imprison any person without trail and conviction in a court of law. Its basic aim was to imprison the nationalists without giving them the opportunity to defend themselves. Gandhi decided to oppose it through Satyagraha, March and April 1919 witnessed remarkable political awakenings in India. There were hartals and demonstrations against the Rowlett Act. The same period witnessed the noted brutality of the British imperialists at Jalianwala Bagh in Amritsar, as unarmed but large crowd gathered on 13 April 1919 at Jalianwala Bagh to protest against arrest of their popular leaders. General Dyer.
The military commander of Amritsar ordered his troops to open fire without warning on the unarmed crowd, in a park from which there was no way out. Thousands were killed and wounded. This shocked the whole world. The famous poet Robindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest.
The introduction of another constitutional reform Act which is known as the Government of India Act, 1919 further disillusioned the nationalists the reform proposals failed to satisfy the rising demand of the Indian for self government.
The majority of leaders condemned it as “disappointing and unsatisfactory”.
All these development prepared the ground for a popular upsurge against the British Government. The Khilafat issue gave an added advantage to get the Muslim support and the final touch to it was given by Gandhi’s leadership.
During the World War I, Turkey allied with Germany and Austria against the British. The Indian Muslims regarded the Sultan of Turkey as their spiritual leader Khalifa, so naturally their sympathies were with Turkey. After the war, the British removed the Khalifa from power in Turkey.
Hence, the Muslims started the Khilafat movement in India for restoration of the Khalifa’s position. Their main demands were:
In early 1919, a Khilafat committee was formed in Bombay. The actions were confined to meeting, petitions, and demonstrations in favour of the Khalifa. However there soon emerged a militant trend within the movement.
The leaders of this trend were not satisfied with a moderate approach.
They advocated for the first time at an All India Khilafat Conference in Delhi 1919, Non-cooperation with the British Government in India. It was in this conference that Hazrat Mohani made a call for boycott of the British goods.
The Khilafat leadership clearly spelt out that in care the peace terms after the war were unfavourable to Muslims they would stop all cooperation with the Government. In April 1920 Shaukat Ali warned the British that in case the Government failed to pacify Indian Muslims, we would start a joint Hindu-Muslim movement of non-cooperation.
Shaukat Ali further stressed that the movement would start under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi, a man who commands the respect of both Hindu and Muslims.
The Khilafat issue was not directly linked with the politics in India, but the Khilafat leaders were eager in enlisting the support of Hindus. Gandhi saw, in this an opportunity to bring about Hindu-Muslim unity against the British.
But, in spite of his support to the Khilafat issue and being the president of the All India Khilafat Committee, Gandhi till May 1920 had adopted a moderate approach. However, the publication of the terms of the Treaty of Serve with Turkey which were very harsh towards Turkey and the publication of the Hunter Committee Report on Punjab disturbances in May 1920 unformatted the Indians and Gandhi now took an open position.
The Central Khilafat Committee met at Allahabad in June 1920. The meeting was attended by a number of congress and Khilafat leaders. In this meeting, a programme of non-cooperation towards the Government was declared. This was to include
August 1st 1920 was fixed as the date to start the movement. Gandhiji insisted that unless the Punjab and Khilafat wrongs were undone, there was to be non-cooperation with the government.
However, for the services of the movement, congress support was essential. Therefore, Gandhi’s efforts were now to make the congress adopt the non-cooperation programme. Thi8s be got successfully done at Calcutta session of the congress. The movements theirs came to merge. The congress met in a special session at Calcutta in September 1920 and endorsed Gandhi’s plan for non-cooperation with government ill the Punjab
and Khilafat wrongs were removed and Swaraj established.
The Khilafat agitation had made an important contribution to the non-cooperation movement. However, congress is interested for mixing religion with politics. As a result, it is said, religious consciousness spread to politics and in the long run fires of communalism were strengthened.
This is true to an extent. There was of course, nothing wrong in the nationalist movement taking up a demand that affected Muslims only. The nationalist leadership however failed to some extent in raising the religious political consciousness of Muslims to the higher plane.
Question : “At Karachi in 1931, the Congress defined what Swaraj would mean for the masses.”
(2007)
Answer : The Congress met at Karachi on 29th March 1931 to endorse the Gandhi-Irwin or the Delhi Pact. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev had been executed despite Gandhji’s best efforts to save their lives. The Congress endorsed the Delhi Pact and reiterated the goal of Purna Swaraj.
The Karachi session became memorable for its resolution on the Fundamental Rights and the National Economic Programs. Even though the Congress had from its inception fought for the economic interests, civil rights and political liberties of the people, this was the first time that the Congress defined what Swaraj would mean for the masses. It also declared that in order to end the exploitation of the masses, political freedom must include the real economic freedom for the starving millions.
The resolution guaranteed basic civil rights of free speech, free press, free assembly and freedom of association, equality before law irrespective of caste, creed or sex; neutrality of state in regard to all religions, elections on basis of universal adult franchise, and free and compulsory education.
It promised substantial reduction in rent and revenue, exemption from rent in case of uneconomic holdings, and relief of agricultural in datedness, control of usury, and better conditions for workers including a living wage, limited hours of work and protection of women workers. It also conferred the right to organize and form unions to workers and peasants, and state ownership or control of key industries, mines and means of transport. It also maintained that the culture, language and script of the minorities and of different linguistic areas shall be protected.
In short, the Swaraj for the masses would mean the basic civil liberties of equality freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. Further, the Swaraj for the peasants was to mean reduction in the rent, and exemption in case of uneconomic holding. For the workers, the Swaraj would mean betides complete independence, the independence to work for limited hours and protection for women workers in addition to the living wages.
The Karachi resolution by setting the parameters of the Swaraj was reflecting the then dominant leftwing ting of the national movements.
The resolution was to remain in essence the basic political and economic programme of the Congress in later years.
Question : In the summer of 1942 Gandhi was in a strange and uniquely militant mood.
(2003)
Answer : Britain and France joined together to placate Hitler. The Government of India immediately joined the war without consulting the National Congress or the elected members of the central legislature. While Congress was in full sympathy with the victims of fascist aggression, and was willing to help the forces of democracy in their struggle against fascism. So congress demanded freedom to participate actively in the struggle. The British government refused to accept this demand and tried to pit the religious minorities and princes against the Congress. The Congress therefore asked its ministers to resign.. In October, 1940 Gandhi gave the call for a limited Satyagraha.
Vinoba Bhave was the first to offer Satyagraha. By 15 May 1941, more than 25,000 Satyagrahis had been jailed. In the East, Japan was growing and occupied Rangoon in March 1942 and was moving towards India and the spectre of Japanese conquest began to haunt the people and their leaders.
In the mean time British Government desperately wanted the active cooperation of Indians in the war effort. To secure this cooperation it sent to India in March 1942 a mission headed by a Cabinet Minister, Sir Stafford Cripps, who was earlier the strong supporter of Indian National Movement. Even though Cripps declared that the aim of British Policy in India was “the earliest possible realization of self government in India”, detailed negotiations between him and the Congress leaders broke down. The British government refused to accept the Congress demand for the immediate transfer of effective power to Indians. The failure of Cripps Mission embittered the people of India. The period from April to August 1942 was one of the daily heightening tension, with Gandhiji becoming more and more militant as Japanese forces moved towards India.
The congress now decided to take active steps of compel the British to accept the Indian demand for independence. The All India Congress Committee met at Bombay on 8 August 1942. It passed a famous ‘Quit India’ Resolution and proposed the starting of a non-violent mass struggle under Gandhiji’s leadership to achieve this aim. Addressing the Congress delegates on the night of 8 August he delivered a fiery speech and gave a slogan, “Do or Die”.
Question : “Gandhi restrained mass movement, yet he retained his popularity among the masses.”
(2002)
Answer : Gandhi was primarily a man of action and his own experiences in life helped him more than his readings in involving and shaping his ideology. He was able to arouse and unite all sections of the Indian people in a militant mass national movement. The struggle in South Africa created a new image of Gandhi that he was the leader of Indian people and not of any region or religious community. This worked as a decisive factor in Gandhi’s entry into Indian politics.
Through technique of Satyagraha, Gandhi succeeded in controlling the mass movements. The abrupt withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement by Gandhi after the Chauri Chaura incident had demoralising effect on many congress leaders and had to a sharp decline in the national movement. Before launching the Civil Disobedience, Gandhi was still not sure of his plan of action. He once again tried for compromise with the Government. The Government response to Gandhi’s proposal was negative. Still Gandhi was hesitant. After all, the dominant section in the peasantry and the business groups found the Gandhian non-violent model convenient because they feared to lose if political struggle turned into uninhibited and violent Social revolution.
Gandhi brought different sections and classes by society together against the British rule. With his entry into Indian politics, there started a new era of mass mobilisation. It was by taking up regional issues that he emerged as a national leader. It is necessary to mention that there have always been strong differences of opinion on the relevence of Gandhi’s ideology. But the fact remains that his ideas deeply influenced the course of our struggle against the British rule and determined its major thrust and direction.
Question : ‘The Quit India Movement was a spontaneous revolt of the people against British rule’.
(2001)
Answer : ‘The Quit India Movement was a spontaneous revolt of people against British rule’
The All India Congress Committee met at Bombay on 8 August 1942. It passed the famous resolution, ‘Quit India’, and proposed the starting of a non-violent mass struggle under Gandhi’s leadership to achieve this aim. But on the very next day, Gandhi and other eminent leaders of the Congress were arrested. The Congress was once again declared illegal.
The news of these arrests left the country aghast, and a spontaneous movement of protest arose everywhere, giving expression to the pent up anger of the people. Left Leaderless and without any organisation, the people reacted in any manner they could. All over the country there were hartals, strikes in factories, schools and colleges. The demonstrations were lathi-charged and fired upon. Angered by repeated firings and repression, in many places the people took to violence.
They attacked the symbols of British authority. What began as revolt of unarmed turned out to be a violent revolt due mainly to the miscalculation about the hold of the congress on the Indian masses. People indulged in arson, murder and sabotage. The railways and the post and telegraph system came in for severe attack, disrupting communications. The government buildings became targets of attack. Students came out of colleges and schools. Peasants took the leading part in the revolt and so did the lower middle class. Industrial workers in many important centres declared strike but they were mostly of short duration.
In many places the rebels sieged temporary control over many towns, cities, and villages. British authority disappeared in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. In some areas the revolutionaries set up ‘parallel governments’. In general, the students, workers, and peasants provided the backbone of the revolt while the upper classes and the bureaucracy remained loyal to the Government.
Question : 'Gandhi' mystique consisted of a union of original ideas with a remarkable flair for tactics and an uncanny insight in the mass mind,' Elucidate.
(1999)
Answer : The Rowlatt Act of 1919 came like a sudden blow. To the people of India, promised extension of democracy during the war, the Government step appeared to be a cruel joke. It was like a hungry man expecting bread, being offered stones. Instead of democratic progress had come further restriction of civil liberties. Unrest spread in the country and powerful agitation agianst the Act arose. During this agitation, a new leader, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, took command of the nationalist movment. The new leader made good one of the basic weaknesses of the previous leadership. He had evolved in his struggle agianst racialism in South Africa a new form of struggle — non-cooperation — and a new technique of struggle – satyagraha — which could be put into practice against the British in India. He had, moreover a basic sympathy for and understanding of the problems and psychology of the Indian peasantry. He was, therefore, able to appeal to it and bring it into the mainstream of the national movement. He was thus able to arouse and unite all sections of the Indian people in a militant mass national movement.
After getting his legal education in Britain, he went to South Africa to practise law. Imbued with a high sense of justice, he was revolted by the racial injustice, discrimination and degradation to which Indians had to submit in the South African colonies. Indian labourers who had gone to South Africa, and the merchants who followed were denied the right to vote. They had to register and pay a poll-tax. They could not reside except in prescribed locations which were insanitary and congrested. In some of the South African colonies, the Asians, as also the Africans, could not stay out of doors after 9 pm; nor could they use public footpaths.
Gandhi soon became the leader of the struggle against these conditions and during 1893-1914 was engaged in a heroic though unequal struggle against the racist authorities of South Africa. It was during this long struggle lasting nearly two decades that he evolved the technique of Satyagraha based on truth and non-violence. The ideal satyagrahi was to be truthful and perfectly peaceful, but at the same time he would refuse to submit to what he considered wrong. He would accept suffering willingly in the course of struggle against the wrong-doer. This struggle was to be part of his love of truth. But even while resisting evil, he would love the evil-doer. Hatred would be alien to the nature of a true satyagrahi. He would, moreover, be utterly fearless he would never bow down before evil whatever the consequences. In Gandhi's eyes, non-violence was not a weapon of the weak and the cowardly.
Only the strong and the brave could practise it. Even violence was preferable to cowardice. In a famous article in his weekly journal, Young India, he wrote in 1920 that 'Non-violence is the law of our species, as violence is the law of the brute', but that 'where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence ..... I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour, then that she should, in a cowardly manner, become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour'. He once summed up his entire philosophy of life as follows :
The only virtue I want to claim is truth and non-violence. I lay no claim to super-human power ; I want none. Another important aspect of Gandhis' outlook was that he would not Separate thought and practice, belief and action. His truth and non-violence were meant for daily living and not merely for high sounding speeches and writings. Gandhiji, moreover, had an immense faith in the capacity of the common people to fight. For example, in 1915, referring to the common people who fought along with him in South Africa, in the course of his reply to an address as welcome at Madras, he said:
You have said that I inspired these great men and women, but I cannot accept that proposition. It was they, the simple-minded folk, who worked away in faith, never expecting the slightest reward, who inspired me, who kept me to the proper level, and who compelled me by their sacrifice, by their great faith, by their great trust in the great God to do the work that I was able to do.
Similarly, in 1942, when asked how he expected' to resist the might of the Empire', he replied : with the might of the dumb millions'. Gandhiji returned to India in 1915 at the age of 46. He spent an entire year in travelling all over India, understanding Indian conditions and the Indian people and then, in 1916, founded the Sabarmati Ashram at Ahmedabad where his friends and followers were to learn and practise the ideas of truth and non-violence. He also set out to experiment with his new method of struggle.
Question : Trace the course of the pople's movement in Indian States after 1937. How did the Congress Leadership react to it?
(1996)
Answer : The major development after 1937 was the spread of national movement to the princely states. Appalling economic, political and social conditions prevailed in most of them. Peasants were oppresed, land revenue and taxation were excessive and unbearable, education war retarded, health and other social services were extremely backbward, and freedom of the Press and other Civil rights hardly existed. The bulk of the state revenues were spent on the luxuries of the princes. In several states serfdom, slavery, and forced labour flourished. Throughout history, a corrupt and decadent ruler was checked to some extent by the challenge of internal revolt or external agression. British rule freed the princes of both these dangers, and they felt free to indulge in gross misgovernment.
Moreover, the British authorities began to use the princes to prevent the growth of national unity and to counter the rising national movement. The princes in turn depended for their self-preservation from popular revolt on the protection by the British power and adopted a hostile attitude to the national movement. In 1921, the chamber of Princes was created to enable the princes to meet and discuss under British guidance matters of common interest. In the Government of India Act of 1935, the proposed federal structure was so planned as to check the forces of nationalism. It was provided that the princes would get two-fifth of the seats in the Upper House and one-third of the seats in the Lower House.
People of many of the princely states now began to organise movements for democratic rights and popular governments. The All-India states People's Conference had already been founded in December 1927 to coordinate political activities in the different states. The Civil Disobedience Movement produced a deep impact on the minds of the people of these states and stirred them into political activity. Popular struggles were waged in many of the states, particularly in Rajkot, Jaipur, Kashmir, Hyderabad and Travancore. The princes met these struggles with violent repression. Some of them also took recourse to communalism. The Nizam of Hyderabad declared that the popular agitation was anti-Mulsim; the Maharaja of Kashmir branded it as anti-Hindu; while the Maharaja of Travancore claimed that Christians were behind the popular agitation.
The National Congress supported the States People's struggle and urged the princes to introduce democratic representative government and to grant fundamental civil rights. In 1938, when the Congress defined its goal of independence it included the independence of the princely states. Next year, at the Tripuri session, it decided to take a more active part in the States People's movements. As if to emphasise the common national aims of the political struggles in British India and in the states, Jawaharal Nehru became the President of the All-India States People's Conference in 1939. The States People's movement awakened national consciousness among the people of the states. It also spread a new consciousness of unity all over India.
Question : Economic changes in India from the late 1920s influenced the course of the country's politics. Elucidate.
(1995)
Answer : The 1930s witnessed the nation-wide awakening and organisation of the peasants and workers in India. The two nationalist mass movements of 1920-22 and 1930-34 had politicised the peasants and workers on a large scale. The economic depression that hit India and the world after 1929 also worsened the conditions of the presents and workers in India. The prices of agricultural products dropped by over 50 per cent by the end of 1932. The employers tried to reduce wages. The peasants all over the country began to demand land reforms, reduction of land revenue and rent, and relief from indebtedness. Workers in the factories and plantations increasingly demand better conditions of work and recognition of their trade union rights.
The Civil Disobedience Movement and the rise of the left parties and groups produced a new generation of political workers who devoted themselves to the organisation to peasants and workers. Consequently, there was rapid growth of trade unions in the cities and Kisan sabhas (peasants unions) all over the country, particularly in U.P, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and the Punjab. The first all-India peasant, organisation, the All-India Kisan Sabha, was formed in 1936 under the presidentship of Swami Sahajan and Saraswati.
Industrial progress in India was exceedingly slow and painful. It was mostly confined to cotton and jute industries and tea plantations in the 19th century, and to sugar and cement in the 1930s. As late as 1946, cotton and jute textiles accounted for 40 per cent of all workers employed in factories. In terms of production as well as employment, the modern industrial development of India was paltry compared with the economic development of other countries or with India's economic needs. It did not, in fact, compensate even. for the displacement of the indigenous handicrafts; it had little effect on the problems of poverty and over-crowding of land.
An important social consequence of even the limited industrial development of the country was the birth and growth of two new social classes in Indian society — the industrial capitalist class and the modern working class. These two classes were entirely new in Indian history because modern mines, industries and means of transport were new. Even though these classes formed a very small part of the Indian population, they represented new technology, a new system of economic organisation a new social relation, new ideas and a new outlook. They were not weighed down by the burden of old traditions, customs and styles of life. Most of all, they possessed an all-India outlook. Moreover, both of them were vitally interested in the industrial development of the country. Their economic and political importance and roles were, therefore, out of all proportion to their numbers.
The 1930s witnessed the rapid growth of socialist ideas within and outside the Congress. In 1929 there wasgreat economic slump or depression in the United States which gradually spread to the rest of the world. Everywhere in the capitalist countries there was a steep decline in production and foreign trade, resulting in economic distress and large scale unemployment. At one time, the number of unemployment was 3 million in Britain, 6 million in Germany and 12 million in the United States. On the other hand, the economic situation in the Soviety Union was just the opposite. Not only was there no slump, but the years between 1929 and 1936 witnessed the successful completion of the first two Five-Year Plans which pushed up the Soviety industrial production by more than four times. The world depression, thus, brought the capitalist system into disrepute and drew attention towards Marxism, socialism, and economic planning. Consequently, socialist ideas began to attract more and more people, especially the young, the workers and the peasants.
From its early days, the national movement had adopted a pro-poor orientation. This orientation was immensely strengthened with the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the coming of Gandhiji on the political stage and the growth of powerful left-wing groups during the 1920s and 1930s. It was Jawaharlal Nehru who played the most important part in popularising the vision of a socialist India both within the national movement and in the country at large. Within the congress the left-wing tendency found reflection in the election of Jawaharlal Nehru as president for 1929, 1936 and 1937 and of Subhas Chandra Bose for 1938 and 1939. Nehru argued that political freedom must mean the economic emancipation of the masses, especially of the toiling peasants from feudal exploition.
The growth of the radical forces in the country was soon reflected in the programme and policies of the Congress. A major point of departure was the resolution on Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy passed by the Karachi session of the congress on the urging of Jawaharlal Nehru. The resolution declared : 'In order to end the exploitation of the masses, political freedom must include real economic freedom of the starving millions. The resolution guaranteed the basic civil rights of the people, equality before law irrespective of caste, creed or sex, elections on the basis of universal adult franchise, and free and compulsory primary education. It promised substantial reduction in rent and revenue, exemption from rent in case of uneconomic holdings, and relief of agricultural indebtedness and control of many lending; better conditions for workers including a living wage, limited hours of work and protection for women workers; the right to organise and form unions by workers and peasants; and state ownership or control of key industries, mines and means of transport.
Radicalism in the Congress was further reflected in the Faizpur Congress resolutions and the Election Manifesto of 1936 which promised radical transformation of the agrarian system, substantial reduction in rent and revenue, scaling down of rural debts and provision of cheap credit, abolition of feudal levies, security of tenture for tenants, a living wage for agricultural labourers, and the right to from trade unions and peasant unions and the right to strike.In 1945 the Congress Working Committee adopted a resolution recommending abolition of landlordism.
During 1938, when Subhas Chandra Bose was its president, the Congress committed itself to economic planning and set up a National Planning Committee under the chairmanship of Jawaharal Nehru. Nehru and other leftists and Gandhi also argued for the public sector in large-scale industries as a means of preventing concentration of wealth in a few hands. In fact, a major development of the 1930s was the increaing acceptance of radical economic policies by Gandhiji. In 1933, he agreed with Nehru that 'without a material revision of vested interests the condition of the masses can never be improved'. He also accepted the principle of land to the tiller. He declared in 1942 that 'the land belongs to those who will work on it and tono one else'.
Outside the Congress the socialist tendency led to the growth of the Communist Party after 1935 under the leadership of P.C. Joshi and the foundation of the Congress Socialist Party in 1934 under the leadership of Acharya Narendra Dev and Jai Prakash Narayan. In 1939, Subhas Chandra Bose had been re-elected president of the Congress even though Gandhiji had opposed him. But the oppositionof Gandhiji and his supporters in the Congress Working Committee compelled Bose to resign from the presidentship of the Congress in April 1939.
He and many of his left-wing followers now founded the Congress the left was able to command influence over one-third votes on important issues. Moreover, socialism became the accepted creed of most of the politicised youth of India during the 1930s and 1940s.
