NATIONALISM IN INDIA

*1.How did the First World War help in the growth of the national movement in India?
1.The war created a new economic and political situation. It led to a huge increase in defence expenditure which was
financed by war loans and increasing taxes: customs duties were raised and income tax introduced.
2.Through the war years prices increased – doubling between 1913 and 1918 – leading to extreme hardship for the
common people.
3.Villages were called upon to supply soldiers, and the forced recruitment in rural areas caused widespread anger.
4.Then in 1918-19 and 1920-21, crops failed in many parts of India, resulting in acute shortages of food.
5.This was accompanied by an influenza epidemic. According to the census of 1921, 12 to 13 million people perished
as a result of famines and the epidemic.
People hoped that their hardships would end after the war was over.
2.Explain Gandhi’s Idea of Satyagraha.
1.The idea of satyagraha emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for truth. It suggested that if the cause
was true, if the struggle was against injustice, then physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor.
2.Without seeking vengeance or being aggressive, a satyagrahi could win the battle through nonviolence .
3. This could be done by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor. People – including the oppressors – had to be
persuaded to see the truth, instead of being forced to accept truth through the use of violence.

OR

Mahatma Gandhi on Satyagraha

‘It is said of “passive resistance” that it is the weapon of the weak, but the power which is the subject of this
article can be used only by the strong. This power is not passive resistance; indeed it calls for intense activity.
The movement in South Africa was not passive but active …
‘ Satyagraha is not physical force. A satyagrahi does not inflict pain on the adversary; he does not seek his
destruction … In the use of satyagraha, there is no ill-will whatever.
‘ Satyagraha is pure soul-force. Truth is the very substance of the soul. That is why this force is called
satyagraha. The soul is informed with knowledge. In it burns the flame of love. … Nonviolence is the supreme
dharma …
‘It is certain that India cannot rival Britain or Europe in force of arms. The British worship the war-god and they
can all of them become, as they are becoming, bearers of arms. The hundreds of millions in India can never carry
arms.
They have made the religion of non-violence their own .
3.Describe initial satyagrahas of Gandhi ji.
Between 1916 to 1918 Gandhiji organized three localized satyagrahs (……….)
1.After arriving in India, Mahatma Gandhi successfully organized satyagraha movements in various places. In 1916
he travelled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system.
2.Then in 1917, he organised a satyagraha to support the peasants of the Kheda district of Gujarat. Affected by crop
failure and a plague epidemic, the peasants of Kheda could
not pay the revenue, and were demanding that revenue collection be relaxed.
3.In 1918, Mahatma Gandhi went to Ahmedabad to organize a satyagraha movement amongst cotton mill
workers.

*4. Khilafat movement

1. The First World War had ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey. And there were rumours that a harsh
peace treaty was going to be imposed on the Ottoman emperor – the spiritual head of the Islamic world
(the Khalifa).
2. To defend the Khalifa’s temporal powers, a Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919.
3. A young generation of Muslim leaders like the brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, began
discussing with Mahatma Gandhi about the possibility of a united mass action on the issue.
4. Mahatma Gandhi felt the need to launch a more broad-based movement in India. But he was certain that
no such movement could be organised without bringing the Hindus and Muslims closer together. One
way of doing this, he felt, was to take up the Khilafat issue.
 5 . Gandhiji saw this as an opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified national
movement. At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, he convinced other leaders of the
need to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as for swaraj.
5 . Describe Rowlatt Act.
1. This Act had been hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite the united opposition of
the Indian members. Gandhiji in 1919 decided to launch a nationwide satyagraha against the proposed Rowlatt
Act (1919).
Rowlatt Act
2.It gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities, and allowed detention of political
prisoners without trial for two years.
Indian Response
3. Mahatma Gandhi wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws, which would start with a
hartal on 6 April.
4.Rallies were organised in various cities, workers went on strike in railway workshops, and shops closed down.
5. Alarmed by the popular upsurge, and scared that lines of communication such as the railways and telegraph
would be disrupted, the British administration decided to clamp down on nationalists.
6 .Explain Jallianwala Bagh incident .
1. On 10 April, the police in Amritsar fired upon a peaceful procession, provoking widespread attacks on banks,
post offices and railway stations. Martial law was imposed and General Dyer took command.
2.On 13 April the infamous Jallianwalla Bagh incident took place. On that day a large crowd gathered in the
enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh.
Act of General Dyer
3. Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points, and opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds. As the news of
Jallianwalla Bagh spread, crowds took to the streets in many north Indian towns.
Government response
4.There were strikes, clashes with the police and attacks on government buildings. The government responded
with brutal repression, seeking to humiliate and terrorise people: 5.Satyagrahis were forced to rub their noses on
the ground, crawl on the streets, and do salaam (salute) to all sahibs; people were flogged and villages were
bombed.

7. How could non-cooperation become a movement ?

. Gandhiji proposed that the movement should unfold in stages.
1. It should begin with the surrender of titles that the government awarded, and a boycott of civil services,
army, police, courts and legislative councils, schools, and foreign goods.
2. Then, in case the government used repression, a full civil disobedience campaign would be launched.
3.Through the summer of 1920 Mahatma Gandhi and Shaukat Ali toured extensively, mobilising popular support
for the movement.
Many within the Congress were, however, concerned about the proposals. They were reluctant to boycott the
council elections scheduled for November 1920, and they feared that the movement might lead to popular
violence.
In the months between September and December there was an intense tussle within the Congress. For a while
there seemed no meeting point between the supporters and the opponents of the movement. Finally, at the
Congress session at Nagpur in December 1920, a compromise was worked out and the Non-Cooperation
programme was adopted.
*8 . Describe Non –Cooperation Movement in the countryside ( Awadh)
Describe Non –Cooperation Movement in towns. What were the limitations of this movement?
1.In Awadh, peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra – a sanyasi who here was against talukdars and landlords who
demanded from peasants exorbitantly high rents and a variety of other cesses.
Grievances of Peasants
2. Peasants had to do begar and work at landlords’ farms without any payment. As tenants they had no security of
tenure, being regularly evicted so that they could acquire no right over the leased land.
Demand of Peasants
3.The peasant movement demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, and social boycott of oppressive
landlords.
In many places nai – dhobi bandhs were organised by panchayats to deprive landlords of the services of even barbers
and washermen.
Jawaharlal Nehru
4. In June 1920, Jawaharlal Nehru began going around the villages in Awadh, talking to the villagers, and trying to
understand their grievances.
Oudh Kisan Sabha
5.By October, the Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba
Ramchandra and a few others. Within a month, over 300 branches had been set up in the villages around the region.
9 . Describe Non –Cooperation Movement in the the Gudem Hills of Andhra .
Effects of Forest Acts
1.In the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh the colonial government had closed large forest areas, preventing people
from entering the forests to graze their cattle, or to collect fuel wood and fruits.This enraged the hill people.
2. Not only were their livelihoods affected but they felt that their traditional rights were being denied.When the
government began forcing them to contribute beggar for road building, the hill people revolted.
Alluri Sitaram Raju
3.Alluri Sitaram Raju claimed that he had a variety of special powers: he could make correct
astrological predictions and heal people, and he could survive even bullet shots. Captivated by Raju, the rebels
proclaimed that he was an incarnation of God.
Raju and Mahatma Gandhi
4.Raju talked of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi, said he was inspired by the Non-cooperation Movement, and
persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking.
Guerrilla Warfare
5.The Gudem rebels attacked police stations, attempted to kill British officials and carried on
guerrilla warfare for achieving swaraj. Raju was captured and executed in 1924, and over time became a folk hero.

2.3 Swaraj in the Plantations

10. How did the Plantation workers
1.Workers too had their own understanding of Mahatma Gandhi and the notion of swaraj. For plantation workers
in Assam, freedom meant the right to move freely in and out of the confined space in which they were enclosed,
and it meant retaining a link with the village from which they had come.
2.Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not permitted to leave the tea gardens
without permission, and in fact they were rarely given such permission. When they heard of the Non-
Cooperation Movement, thousands of workers defied the authorities, left the plantations and headed home.
3.They believed that Gandhi Raj was coming and everyone would be given land in their own villages. They,
however, never reached their destination. Stranded on the way by a railway and steamer strike, they were caught
by the police and brutally beaten up.

*11 .When and why was Simon Commission constituted? Why did Indians oppose it? How did Indians
Oppose it?
1.Tory government in Britain constituted a Statutory Commission under Sir John Simon in1927. Set up in response to
the nationalist movement.
i.The Commission was to examine the success of earlier Reforms( ACT OF 1909 and Act of 1919)
ii. And to suggest for Reforms for future.
Why did Indians oppose it
2.The problem was that the commission did not have a single Indian member. They were all British. So it was labeled
as ``All White Men Commission`` by Indians.
How did Indians Oppose it?
3.When the Simon Commission arrived in India in 1928, it was greeted with black placards and the slogan ‘Go back
Simon’. All parties, including the Congress and the Muslim League, participated in the demonstrations.

12 .Why did Gandh ji launch Salt Satyagraha? Describe Dandi march.

SALT LAW
Government Monopoly
1.Indians were not allowed to make salt and they were forced to pay tax on salt and the Mahatma Gandhi declared it
the most oppressive face of British rule.
An ultimatum to the British
2.Mahatma Gandhi’s letter was an ultimatum to the British . If the demands were not fulfilled by 11 March the
Congress would launch a Civil Disobedience Movement. Irwin was unwilling to negotiate.
Dandi March
3.So Mahatma Gandhi started his famous salt march accompanied by 78 of his trusted volunteers. The march was
over 240 miles, from Gandhiji’s ashram in Sabarmati to the
Gujarati coastal town of Dandi.
4.The volunteers walked for 24 days, about 10 miles a day. Thousands came to hear Mahatma Gandhi wherever he
stopped, and he told them what he meant by swaraj and urged them to peacefully defy the British.
Manufacturing Salt
3. On 6 April he violated the law, manufacturing salt by boiling sea water. This marked the beginning of the
Civil Disobedience Movement.

3.2 How Participants saw the Movement

Different social groups that participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
13. Why did rich peasant communities join the movement Civil Disobedience Movement ? What were
their ideals? What did swaraj mean to them?
1.In the countryside, rich peasant communities – like the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh – were
active in the movement.
2. Being producers of commercial crops, they were very hard hit by the trade depression and falling prices. As
their cash income disappeared, they found it impossible to pay the government’s revenue demand.
3. And the refusal of the government to reduce the revenue demand led to widespread resentment. These rich
peasants became enthusiastic supporters of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
4. Organizing their communities, and at times forcing reluctant members, to participate in the boycott
programmes. For them the fight for swaraj was a struggle against high revenues.
5.But they were deeply disappointed when the movement was called off in 1931 without the revenue rates being
revised. So when the movement was restarted in 1932, many of them refused to participate.

`4. The relationship between the poor peasants and the Congress remained uncertain. Why?

1. The poorer peasantry were not just interested in the lowering of the revenue demand.
2.Many of them were small tenants cultivating land they had rented from landlords. As the Depression continued
and cash incomes dwindled, the small tenants found it difficult to pay their rent.
3. They wanted the unpaid rent to the landlord to be remitted. They joined a variety of radical movements, often
led by Socialists and Communists.
4.Apprehensive of raising issues that might upset the rich peasants and landlords, the Congress was unwilling to
support ‘no rent’ campaigns in most places.
5.So the relationship between the poor peasants and the Congress remained uncertain.
15. What about the business classes? How did they relate to the Civil Disobedience Movement?
1.During the First World War, Indian merchants and industrialists had made huge profits and become
powerful. Keen on expanding their business, they now reacted against colonial policies that restricted business
activities.
.They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would
discourage imports.
2. To organise business interests, they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the
Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
3. Led by prominent industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla, the industrialists attacked
colonial control over the Indian economy, and supported the Civil Disobedience Movement when it was first
launched.
4.They gave financial assistance and refused to buy or sell imported goods. Most businessmen came to see
swaraj as a time when colonial restrictions on business would no longer exist and trade and industry would
flourish without constraints.
5.But after the failure of the Round Table Conference, business groups were no longer uniformly enthusiastic.
They were apprehensive of the spread of militant activities, and worried about prolonged disruption of business,
as well as of the growing influence of socialism amongst the younger members of the Congress.
16. The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement in large
numbers.
Why ?
1.The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement in large numbers,
except in the Nagpur region.
2. As the industrialists came closer to the Congress, workers stayed aloof. But in spite of that, some workers did
participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
3.Selectively adopting some of the ideas of the Gandhian programme, like boycott of foreign goods, as part of
their own movements against low wages and poor working conditions.
4.There were strikes by railway workers in 1930 and dockworkers in 1932. In 1930 thousands of workers in
Chotanagpur tin mines wore Gandhi caps and participated in protest rallies and boycott campaigns.
5.But the Congress was reluctant to include workers’ demands as part of its programme of struggle. It felt that
this would alienate industrialists and divide the anti-imperial forces.

17. Women and CDM

1.Another important feature of the Civil Disobedience Movement was the large-scale participation of women.
During Gandhiji’s salt march, thousands of women came out of their homes to listen to him.
2.They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Many
went to jail. In urban areas these women were from high-caste families; in rural areas they came from rich
peasant households.
3. Moved by Gandhiji’s call, they began to see service to the nation as a sacred duty of women.
4.Yet, this increased public role did not necessarily mean any radical change in the way the position of women
was visualised. Gandhiji was convinced that it was the duty of women to look after home and hearth, be good
mothers and good wives.
5. And for a long time the Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority within the
organisation. It was keen only on their symbolic presence.

*18. Explain the effects of Civil Disobedience Movement.

1.People were now asked not only to refuse cooperation with the British, as they had done in 1921-22, but also to
break colonial laws.
2.Thousands in different parts of the country broke the salt law, manufactured salt and demonstrated in front of
government salt factories. As the movement spread, foreign cloth was boycotted, and liquor shops were picketed.
3.Peasants refused to pay revenue and chaukidari taxes, village officials resigned, and in many places forest people
violated forest laws – going into Reserved Forests to collect wood and graze cattle.
4. During Gandhiji’s salt march, thousands of women came out of their homes to listen to him. They participated in
protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Many went to jail.
5.In urban areas these women were from high-caste families; in rural areas they came from rich peasant households.
Moved by Gandhiji’s call,they began to see service to the nation as a sacred duty of women.
19. Trace the development that led to the Poona Pact. What was its effect on Dalits?
Separate Electorates for Dalits.
1.Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930, clashed with
Mahatma Gandhi at the second Round Table Conference by demanding separate electorates for dalits.
Gandhiji began a fast
2.When the British government conceded Ambedkar’s demand, Gandhiji began a fast unto death. He believed that
separate electorates for dalits would slow down the process of their integration into society.
Poona Pact
3. Ambedkar ultimately accepted Gandhiji’s position and the result was the Poona Pact of September 1932 position
and the result was the Poona Pact of September 1932.
Reserved Seats
4.It gave the Depressed Classes reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils but they were to be voted
in by the general electorate.
5.The dalit movement continued to be apprehensive of the Congress led movements
3.3 The Limits of Civil Disobedience
1.Not all social groups were moved by the abstract concept of swaraj. One such group was the nation’s
‘untouchables’, who from around the 1930s had begun to call themselves dalit or oppressed.
2. For long the Congress had ignored the dalits, for fear of offending the sanatanis, the conservative high-caste
Hindus. But Mahatma Gandhi declared that swaraj would not come for a hundred years if untouchability was not
eliminated.
3. He called the ‘untouchables’ harijan,
OR

*DIFFERENT APPROCH BY DIFFERENT LEADERS FOR THE UPLIFTMENT OF DALITS

1.Gandhi called the ‘untouchables’ harijan, or the children of God, organised satyagraha to secure them entry
into temples, and access to public wells, tanks, roads and schools.
2.He himself cleaned toilets to dignify the work of the bhangi (the sweepers), and persuaded upper castes to
change their heart and give up ‘the sin of untouchability’.
But many dalit leaders were keen on a different political solution to the problems of the community.
3.Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930.
They began organising themselves, demanding reserved seats in educational institutions, and a separate
electorate that would choose dalit members for legislative councils.
4.While Gandhi believed that this separation of Dalits will isolate them permanently Ambedker thought
Political empowerment would resolve the problems of their social disabilities.
5. Dalit participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement was therefore limited, particularly in the Maharashtra
and Nagpur region where their organisation was quite strong.

*20. CONGRESS AND MUSLIM LEAGUE

1.The Congress and the Muslim League made efforts to renegotiate an alliance, and in 1927 it appeared that such
a unity could be forged. The important differences were over the question of representation in the future
assemblies that were to be elected.
2.Muhammad Ali Jinnah was willing to give up the demand for separate electorates, if Muslims were assured
reserved seats in the Central Assembly and representation in proportion to population in the Muslim-dominated
provinces.
3.Negotiations over the question of representation continued but all hope of resolving the issue at the All Parties
Conference in 1928 disappeared when M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha strongly opposed efforts at
compromise.
4.When the Civil Disobedience Movement started there was thus an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust
between communities. Alienated from the Congress, large sections of Muslims could not respond to the call for a
united struggle.
5. Many Muslim leaders and intellectuals expressed their concern about the status of Muslims as a minority
within India. They feared that the culture and identity of minorities would be submerged under the domination of
a Hindu majority.

21. How did Images or figures help in creating feeling of Nationalism?

Nationalism
1.Nationalism spreads when people begin to believe that they are all part of the same nation, when they discover some
unity that binds them together.
The Image of Bharat Mata by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
2.The identity of the nation is most often symbolised in a figure or image. This helps create an image with which
people can identify the nation. It was in the twentieth century, with the growth of nationalism, that the identity of
India came to be visually associated with the image of Bharat Mata.
3.The image was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. In the 1870s he wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ as a
hymn to the motherland.
Abanindranath Tagore
4.Later it was included in his novel Anandamath and widely sung during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal. Moved
by the Swadeshi movement, Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata .
5.In this painting Bharat Mata is portrayed as an ascetic figure; she is calm, composed, divine and spiritual. In
subsequent years, the image of Bharat Mata acquired many different forms, as it circulated in popular prints, and was
painted by different artists. Devotion to this mother figure came to be seen as evidence of one’s nationalism.
*22. How did Folk Lore and Folk Tale help in creating feeling of Nationalism?
Revival of Indian Folklore
1.Ideas of nationalism also developed through a movement to revive Indian folklore. In late-nineteenth-century India,
nationalists began recording folk tales sung by bards and they toured villages to gather folk songs and legends.
2.These tales, they believed, gave a true picture of traditional culture that had been corrupted and damaged by outside
forces. It was essential to preserve this folk tradition in order to discover one’s national identity and restore a sense of
pride in one’s past.
Rabindranath Tagore
3.In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore himself began collecting ballads, nursery rhymes and myths, and led the movement
for folk revival.
The Folklore of Southern India
4.In Madras, Natesa Sastri published a massive four-volume collection of Tamil folk tales.
5.The Folklore of Southern India, he believed that folklore was national literature; it was ‘the most trustworthy
manifestation of people’s real thoughts and characteristics’.
23. How did Icons and Symols help in creating feeling of Nationalism?
Icons and Symbols
1.As the national movement developed, nationalist leaders became more and more aware of such icons and symbols
in unifying people and inspiring in them a feeling of nationalism.
Tricolour Flag
2.During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, a tricolour flag (red, green and yellow) was
designed. It had eight lotuses representing eight provinces of British India, and a crescent moon, representing Hindus
and Muslims.
Gandhiji`s Swaraj Flag
3.By 1921, Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag. It was again a tricolor (red, green and white) and had a spinning
wheel in the centre, representing the Gandhian ideal of self-help. Carrying the flag, holding it aloft, during marches
became a symbol of defiance.
*24. How did Reinterpretation of history help in creating feeling of Nationalism?
Instill a Sense of Pride
1. Reinterpretation of history was another means of creating a feeling of nationalism . By the end of the nineteenth
century many Indians began feeling that to instill a sense of pride in the nation, Indian history had to be thought about
differently.
British View about Indians
2,The British saw Indians as backward and primitive, incapable of governing themselves. In response, Indians began
looking into the past to discover India’s great achievements.
3.They wrote about the glorious developments in ancient times when art and architecture, science and mathematics,
religion and culture, law and philosophy, crafts and trade had flourished.
Pride in India’s Great Achievements in the Past
4.This glorious time, in their view, was followed by a history of decline, when India was colonised. These nationalist
histories urged the readers to take pride in India’s great achievements in the past and struggle to change the miserable
conditions of life under British rule.
5.These efforts to unify people were not without problems. When the past being glorified was Hindu, when the
images celebrated were drawn from Hindu iconography, then people of other communities