HISTORY (XII)-THEME-13

MAHATMA GANDHI AND THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT

(LESSON NOTES)
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❖ INTRODUCTION
➢ In the history of Nationalism often a Leader is identified with a nation.
For example-
▪ Garibaldi - Making of Italy,
▪ George Washington -American War of Independence
▪ Ho Chi Minh -The struggle to free Vietnam
➢ In the same manner, Mahatma Gandhi has been regarded as the
‘Father’ of the Indian nation. He was the most influential and revered
of all the leaders who participated in the freedom struggle of India.
➢ This chapter analyses Gandhiji’s activities in India during the 1915-
1948. It explores his interactions with different sections of the Indian
society and the popular struggles that he inspired and led.
❖ MAHATMA GANDHI IN SOUTH AFRICA
➢ Mahatma Gandhi went to South Africa in 1893 as a Lawyer but he
stayed their almost 22 years. There he fought against the apartheid
system. Historian Chandran Devanesan has rightly remarked that
“South Africa was the making of the Mahatma”. It was in South
Africa that Mahatma Gandhi
▪ Adopted his technique of non-violent protest or Satyagraha.
▪ Promoted harmony between religions.
▪ Alerted upper caste Indians for their discriminatory treatment of
low castes and women
❖ SITUATION IN INDIA IN 1915
➢ Mahatma Gandhi return to India in 1915. There was different from the
one that he had left in 1893.
▪ There was more activeness found in the political sense in India.
▪ The Indian National Congress which was founded in 1885 had
many branches in major cities and towns.
▪ Through the Swadeshi movement of 1905-07 INC increased their
presence among the middle classes. It also emerged the radical age
leaders known as Lal, Bal, Pal
• Lala Lajpat Rai of Punjab
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak of Maharashtra,
• Bipin Chandra Pal of Bengal
❖ DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MODERATES AND REDICALS
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 MODERATE RADICALS
In freedom movement 1885 to In freedom movement 1905 to
1905 time period is referred as 1915 time period is referred as
moderate age. radical age.
The leaders who preferred These leaders advocated militant
gradual and persuasive opposition to colonial rule,
approach towards Britishers
The leaders of moderate age were Three important leaders known as
Dada Bhai Noraji, Gopal Krishan Lal, Bal, Pal-Lala Lajpat Rai,
Gokhle, Mohammad Ali Jinnah Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin
Annie Besant. etc. Chandra Pal

❖ THE SPEECH OF MAHATAMA GANDHI AT BHU

➢ On the advice of his political Guru Gopal Krishna Gokhale Mahatma
Gandhi travelling around British India to know the problem of Its
people. He was invited at the opening of the Banaras Hindu
University (BHU) in February 1916. He was almost unknown
compare to other leaders. There he gave his first speech which focus
on these issues-
▪ In his speech Gandhiji charged the Indian elite with a lack of
concern for the labouring poor.
▪ He told that Indian nationalism was an elite phenomenon, a
creation of lawyers, doctors and landlords.
▪ Gandhiji chose to remind those present, of the peasants and
workers who constituted a majority of the Indian population, yet
were unrepresented in the audience.
▪ The first public announcement of Gandhiji’s own desire was to
make Indian nationalism more properly representative of the Indian
people as a whole.
❖ INITIALLY CAMPAIGN OF MAHATMA GANDHI
➢ CHAMPARAN SATYAGRAHA
▪ In annual congress session of Lucknow held in Dec.1916 Mahatma
Gandhi come to know about the harsh treatment of the Indigo
peasant of Champaran by the British.
▪ So, in 1917, Mahatma Gandhi organized a Satyagraha in
Champaran (Bihar) to obtain the peasants security of tenure as
well as the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice.
➢ AHMADABAD TEXTILE MILL STRIKE
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 ▪ In Feb 1918, Gandhiji started a Satyagraha in Ahmadabad for
demanding better working conditions for the textile mill workers.
➢ KHEDA SATYAGRAHA
▪ In 1918, Kheda Satyagraha was launched by Gandhiji for the
farmers. They demanded remission of taxes from the state due to
the failure of their harvest.
➢ All the initially satyagraha of Gandhi were associated with poor
persons and resolve the problem and Non-violence way.
❖ ROWLATT ACT
➢ After the first world war (1914-18) to crab the nationalist activities
Britishers imposed censorship and on the recommendation of
committee chaired by Sir Sidney Rowlatt, new act was passed which
was known as Rowlatt Act.
➢ This act authorized the government to imprison, without trial any
person suspected of terrorism.
➢ This act makes the Indian very aggressive and led a great protest.
❖ Movement against Rowlatt act
➢ Gandhiji called for a country wide agitation against the Rowlatt Act.
On April 6th a hartal was declared by Gandhiji.
➢ Indian become very aggressive against this Black Law. British
imposed curfew in many areas.
➢ Gandhiji and prominent local Congressmen were arrested.
➢ The protests against the Rowlatt Act intense reaching a climax in
Amritsar on 13 April 1919, when a British Brigadier O Dyer ordered
his troops to open fire on a nationalist meeting.
➢ More than 400 people were killed there which is known as the
Jalliawala Bagh massacre.
➢ It was the Rowlatt Act that made Gandhiji a truly national leader.
❖ NON COOPERATION MOVEMENT
➢ All the incidents happen after world war as censorship, rowlatt act,
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre etc. made Gandhi ji to launch a nationwide
Movement against Britishers.
➢ Gandhi believed that British exist here only because of the
cooperation of Indian. So, he said that India would win swaraj within
a year if non-cooperation was effectively carried out.
➢ For the Non-cooperation Gandhiji asked to
▪ To stop attending British schools and colleges
▪ Lawyers boycott the law courts,
▪ By not paying taxes.
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 ▪ Boycotted the foreign goods, clothes etc.

❖ KHILAFAT MOVEMENT
➢ Khilafat Movement (1919-1920) was a movement of Indian Muslims,
led by Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali.
➢ The Turkish Sultan or Khalifa was referred as spiritual leader for all
Muslim but he was abolished by the Turkish ruler Kemal Attaturk,
supported by Britishers.
➢ So, they launch the Khilafat movement against Britishers. They
demanded that Khalifa must retain control over the Muslim sacred
places and have sovereignty.
➢ The Congress supported this movement. Gandhi decided to couple the
khilafat issue with the Non-Cooperation. He wanted to bring Hindus
and Muslims collectively to end colonial rule.
❖ KNITTING A POPULAR MOVEMENT -NCM
➢ The non-cooperation movement people actively participated in large
scale.
➢ This movement started according to the planning as students stopped
going to schools and colleges run by the British government.
➢ Lawyers also refused to attend the court.
➢ The people boycotted the foreign goods and Foreign cloth being
collected to be burnt in bonfires
➢ The working class also went on strike in many towns and cities.
➢ Hill tribes in Northern Andhra violated the forest laws.
➢ Farmers in Awadh refused to pay taxes.
➢ These protest movements were sometimes carried out in defiance of
the local nationalist leadership.
➢ Gandhiji taught the people self-discipline, renunciation, self-denial,
Ahimsa, Satyagraha through Non-cooperation Movement. The aim of
the movement was self-rule.
➢ The Movement shook the foundation of the British rule in India.
Britishers also brutal repression the movement. They put thousand
people in jail. The fired on innocent people.
➢ This make the people furious so on 5 February 1922, a group of
peasants fired a police station at Chauri Chaura in U.P. in which 22
policemen were killed.
➢ This act of violence prompted Gandhi to call off the movement.
❖ GANDHI AS PEOPLE’S LEADER

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 ➢ The time period between 1915 to 1947 is referred as Gandhian age in
Indian freedom movement. Gandhiji had transformed the nationalist
movement into a mass movement. His qualities make him as the
leader of common people as-
➢ Simplicity
▪ Gandhiji belong to Merchant community and a lawyer by
profession but he lived like a common person.
▪ His dressed were like a common person and spoke their language
so people appreciated him.
➢ Concern to the problems of poors
▪ In his first speech given in BHU, he reminded that peasants and
workers who are majority of Indian population are not present here.
▪ It was Gandhiji’s desire to make Indian nationalism representative
of the Indian people.
➢ Self-reliance
▪ He spent part of each day working on the charkha (spinning wheel)
and encouraged other nationalists to do likewise.
▪ He identified himself with common man. This was strikingly
reflected in his dress, while other nationalist leaders dressed
formally, wearing a western suit or an Indian bandgala, Gandhiji
went among the people in a simple dhoti or loin cloth.
➢ New political set up
▪ The base of Indian National Movement broadened under Gandhiji.
▪ He brought changes in the congress organization. New branches of
the congress were set up in various parts of India.
▪ Prajamandals were established to promote nationalism in the
princely states.
▪ The provincial committees of the congress were based on linguistic
divisions rather than the artificial boundaries set up by the British
administration.
▪ Gandhiji advocated the spreading of the nationalist message in the
mother tongue, rather than English.
➢ Social reformer
▪ Gandhiji was as much a social reformer as he was a politician.
▪ He took steps to remove social evils such as child marriage and
untouchability.
▪ He gave emphasis on Hindu Muslim harmony.
➢ Supported by Rich and poors
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 ▪ The simplicity and speech of Gandhiji attracted not only poor
person but rich industrialist and elite class.
▪ Many Industrialist though that in free India they will more
benefitted so they joined the congress as the Indian entrepreneurs.
For example, G.D Birla supported the national movement openly.
▪ Highly talented Indians attached themselves to Gandhiji.

❖ RUMOURS OF GANDHIJI’S MIRACULOUS POWERS

➢ As Gandhi ji become popular among the poor and common persons
they referred him as Gandhi Baba, Maharaj or Mahatma. There were
also many rumours spread about his miraculous powers as-
▪ Some people told that he had been sent by the king to redress the
grievances of the farmers and that he had the power to overrule all
local officials.
▪ It was also claimed that Gandhi’s power was superior to that of the
English Monarch and with his arrival colonial rulers would flee the
district.
▪ Stories spread of dire consequences for those who opposed him.
▪ Those who criticized Gandhi found their houses mysteriously
falling apart or their crops failing.
▪ Gandhiji appeared to the Indian peasant as a saviour, who could
rescue them from high taxes and oppressive officials and restore
dignity and autonomy to their lives.
❖ THE SALT SATYAGRAHA-A CASE STUDY

❖ MAJOR POLITICAL EVENTS FROM 1928TO 1930

➢ SIMON COMMISSION
▪ In 1927 a Commission was appointed to enquire into conditions in
the colony under the leader Sir John Simon, so known as Simon
commission.
▪ But in the Simon commission all 7 members were Britishers so
when it reach in India in 1928 a large campaign were organised to
opposition the commission.
▪ Although Gandhiji did not participate in this movement but he
blessed this protest.
❖ SATYAGRAHA IN BARDOLI
➢ In 1928 Mahatma Gandhi organised a satyagraha in Baradoli (Gujarat)
with Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel for the peasants.
❖ LAHORE CONGRESS SESSION-1929
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 ➢ In December 1929, the annual session of Congress was held in
Lahore under Jawaharlal Nehru as president. This session was very
significant because
▪ The leadership of congress was passed to younger generation.
▪ Proclamation of commitment to “poorna swaraj” or complete
independence.
▪ It was decided that on 26 January 1930 Independence Day will be
celebrated with the national flag being hoisted at different venues
and by doing the constructive work as spinning, or service of
‘untouchables’, or reunion of Hindus and Mussalmans.
❖ THE SALT MARCH
➢ Soon after the observance of Independence Day Gandhi Mahatma
Gandhi announced that he would lead a march to break the salt law.
He decided to lead this march against the Salt law because
▪ The state has the monopoly over manufacturing of salt which was
deeply unpopular.
▪ The price of Salt was very high.
▪ Salt was an indispensable item in every Indian house so he hoped
that It mobilize the people against British rule.
▪ Gandhiji had given advance notice of his “salt march” to the
Viceroy Lord Irwin, who failed to grasp the significance of the
action.
❖ SALT MARCH
➢ On 12 March 1930, Gandhi began his march from his Sabarmati
Ashram towards oceans .
➢ After 24 days on 6, April Gandhiji reached Dandi with thousand
people and made a handful of salt and to break the law.
➢ With the break of salt law, a large protest started in different part of
India like Non-cooperation movement.
▪ People started to manufacturing the salt in many places.
▪ Forest people break colonial forest laws started to collect the
woods.
▪ Factory workers went on strike while lawyers boycotted British
courts and students refused to attend government run educational
institutions.
▪ The rulers responded by detaining the dissenters. Nearly 60,000
Indians were arrested including Gandhiji.
❖ SOURCES TO TRACE THE SALT MARCH
➢ The progress of Salt March can be traced by different sources
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 ➢ Secret report of Police
▪ These reports tell that Gandhiji encouraged the Government
officers to join the freedom struggle
▪ These also tell that Gandhiji also argued the higher caste person to
do well for untouchable for sawraj.
▪ He also told that all Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Sikhs will have to
unite for sawraj.
▪ These reports also tell that people from all background come to
hear Gandhiji and join the march.
➢ Report Published in Times Magazine of USA
▪ The Salt March of Gandhiji was reported in the American news
magazine, Time.
▪ In its report on the march the magazine was deeply sceptical of the
salt march reaching its destination.
▪ But shortly it changed its view and saluted Gandhi as a “saint” and
“statesman”
❖ SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SALT MARCH
The Salt March was notable for at least three reasons.
➢ Firstly, this event brought Mahatma Gandhi to world attention. The
March was widely covered by the European and American press.
➢ Secondly, it was the first nationalist activity in which women
participated in large numbers.
➢ The socialist activists Kamaladevi Cahttopadhyay had persuaded
Gandhi not to restrict the protests to men alone. She herself courted
arrest by breaking salt and liquor laws.
➢ Thirdly, it made the British realize that their rule was not to last
forever, and they would have to share some power with the Indians.
To discuss the same the British tried to hold Round Table Conference
in London to get to some kind resolution.
❖ GANDHI-IRWIN PACT
➢ In January 1931, Mahatma Gandhi was released from jail. After that
many meetings were held with the Viceroy Irwin that are known as he
Gandhi-Irwin pact. The terms of pact were as follows:-
▪ It was declared to call off Civil Disobedience Movement.
▪ All prisoners who were put in jail without trial to be released.
▪ Allow the salt manufacturing along the coasts.
▪ Gandhiji represented the congress at Second Round Table
Conference at London.
▪ This pact was criticised by radical nationalists.
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❖ THE ROUND TABLE CONFERENCES
➢ The first Round Table Conference was held in London in
November 1930 but it ended without any fruitful decision due to the
absence of major Indian nationalist leaders.
➢ Second Round Table Conference
▪ It was held in London in the latter part of 1931.
▪ Gandhiji represented the congress and claimed that his party
represented all of India. But three parties, the Muslim League, the
Princes and the lawyer thinker B.R. Ambedkar opposed that claim.
▪ Mahatma Gandhi opposed the demand of separate electorates of
BR Ambedkar as it will divide Indian and also not helpful for the
development of Dalits.
▪ Thus the conference in London was inconclusive, so Gandhi
returned to India and resumed in 1932 civil disobedience
movement.
➢ Third round table conference also held in London in which congress
did not participated.
❖ MAJOR EVENTS BETWEEN 1935 AND 1945
➢ The year 1935 saw the coming of the Government of India Act of
1935, which promised some form of representative government.
➢ In 1937, for the first time, elections were held on restricted franchise
and congress party held a majority in the legislature. It won the
election in 8 out of 11 provinces.
➢ In 1939, World War II broke out and the Indian leaders agreed to
support the British as long as they promised to grant Indian
Independence after the war. The offer was refused and in October
1939, congress ministries resigned.
➢ In protest a series of individual Satyagraha were organized by the
congress to pressurize the British to promise the freedom once the war
ended.
➢ In March 1940, Muslim League passed a resolution demanding and
planning to create a separate nation for Muslims.
➢ In 1942, worried on the continuous spread of nationalist movement
prime minister of England Winston Churchill sent Sir Stafford
Cripps to India to try to reach to a compromise with Gandhi and the
congress.
➢ The Cripps Mission failed as no agreement to grant Independence to
India could be made.
➢ In August 1942, Quit India Movement was launched.
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❖ QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT
➢ After the failure of the Cripps Mission, Quit India Movement was
launched on 8, August 1942, by Mahatma Gandhi.
➢ It was the third major movement against the British rule.
➢ But on the next day Gandhiji and other important leaders were
arrested and jailed.
➢ But it spread under other and socialist leaders like Jayaprakash
Narayan. They organized strikes and acts of sabotage all over the
country.
➢ It was a mass movement in which thousands students and ordinary
Indians joined together for freedom.
➢ Independent governments were proclaimed in several districts, such as
Satara in the west and Midnapur in the East.
➢ In 1943, some of the younger leaders in the Satara district of
Maharashtra set up parallel government (pratisarkar), with volunteer
corps (sebadals)and village units (tufan dals). They ran people’s
courts and organized constructive work.
❖ MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS IN THE YEAR 1945-47
➢ In1945, the Labour Government came to power in Brtiain. It was
committed for Indian Independence.
➢ In India, the Viceroy Lord Wavell, negotiated with the congress and
the Muslim League.
➢ Early in 1946, the provincial legislative elections were held in which
the congress won the General and League won reserved
constituencies.
➢ A Cabinet Mission was sent to the summer of 1946, failed to make
consensus between congress and League.
➢ Jinnah called for a “Direct Action Day” to force the League’s
demand for Pakistan on 16 August 1946 leading to bloody riots in
many parts of India.
➢ In February 1947, Lord Mount batten appointed as Viceroy .He
too held inconclusive talks and he announced that India would be
freed, but also divided. The formal transfer of power was fixed for 15
August.
❖ THE LAST HEROIC DAYS
➢ Mahatma Gandhi refused to take part in the Independence Day
celebrations in Delhi on 15h August 1947.
➢ He was in Calcutta. He did not attend any function or hoist a flag in
Calcutta either. The freedom he had struggled so long for had come at
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 an unacceptable price with a nation divided. Gandhi marked the day
with a 24 hour fast.
➢ Gandhiji went around hospitals and religious camps giving
consolation to distressed people.
➢ Gandhiji had fought a lifelong battle for a free and united India. When
the country was divided, he urged that the two parts respect and
befriend on another.
➢ On 30 January 1948, Gandhiji was shot dead by Nathuram Godse
who had denounced Gandhiji as “an appeaser of Muslims”.
❖ KNOW ABOUT GANDHIJI THROUGH DIFFERENT SOURCES
➢ One important source is the writings and speeches of mahatma
gandhi and his contemporaries, including both his associates and his
political adversaries.
➢ Within these writings we need to distinguish between those that were
meant for the public and those that were not.
➢ Speeches allow us to hear the public voice of an individual, while
private letters give us a glimpse of his or her private thoughts.
➢ Autobiographies give us an account of the past that is often rich in
human detail, they are retrospective accounts written very often from
memory. they tell us what the author could recollect, what he or she
saw as important, or was keen on recounting or how a person wanted
his or her life to be viewed by others.
➢ Another vital source is government records, for the colonial rulers
kept close tabs on those they regarded as critical of the government.
the letters and reports written by policemen and other officials were
secret at the time; but now can be accessed in archives.
➢ Contemporary newspapers, published in english as well as in the
different indian languages, which tracked mahatma gandhi's
movements and reported on his activities also represented what
ordinary Indians thought of him.
➢ One important source is the writings and speeches of Mahatma
Gandhi and his contemporaries, including both his associates and his
political adversaries. Out of those a distinction is to be made which
were for the public and which not. It helped to hear his public voice.
Private letters gave a glimpse of his private thoughts. Many letters are
written to individuals, and are therefore personal, but they are also
meant for the public.

YEAR EVENTS
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 1885 Foundation of Indian National Congress (INA) by A.O.
Hume
1893 Mahatma Gandhi went to South Africa
1885-1905 Moderate Age
1905-1907 Swadeshi Movement
1906 Foundation of Muslim League
9 Jan, 1915 Mahatma Gandhi returns from South Africa
Feb, 1916 Mahatma Gandhi gave his speech at BHU
1917 Champaran movement
1918 Mill Workers’ movement in Ahmedabad and Peasant
movements in Kheda (Gujarat)
1919 Rowlatt Satyagraha (March-April)
13 April, 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April)
1920 Khilafat Movement led by Muhammad Ali and
Shaukat Ali.
1921 Non-cooperation
5 Feb, 1922 Called off the NCM due to Chauri Chaura incident
(near Gorakhpur)
March 1922 Mahtma Gandhi announce 6 year Imprisonment on the
charged of Sedition by Judge C.N.Broomfield.
1928 Simon Commission reached in India and all India
campaign against this white commission
1928 Peasant movement in Bardoli under Sradar Patel And
Mahatma Gandhiji.
1929 “Purna Swaraj” accepted as Congress goal at the
Lahore Congress (December)
1930 Dandi March (12, March1930 to 6 April 1930)
Civil Disobedience Movement begins
First Round table conference held at London
1931 Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March); Second Round Table
Conference (December)
1932 Relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement
Poona pact Br Ambedkar and Gandhiji
1935 Government of India Act promises some form of
representative government
1937 Election held and Congress form the government in 8
Province out of 11 provinces.
October, 1939 Congress ministries resign due to 2nd world war.

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 1940 Muslim League resolution for separate nation for
Muslim majority area.
Individual Satyagraha was launched by Congress
1942 Quit India Movement begins (August)
Crips Mission
1943 Parallel Government in Satara (Maharashtra) and
Midnapur in west Bengal
1945 Labour Government come in Power in Britain and
Lord Wavell Become the Governor
1946 Cabinet Mission Plan visit India
On 16 August Direct action day was declare by League
for Pakistan.
Mahatma Gandhi visits Noakhali and other riot-torn
areas to stop communal violence
Feb, 1947 Lord Mountbatten Become Viceroy
Pakistan India declare Independence
1948 Gandhiji died on 30 January.

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