Nationalism in India New Notes-10
Nationalism in India New Notes-10
Class-10
Introduction
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In 1918, Mahatma Gandhi went to Ahmedabad to organize a Satyagraha
movement amongst cotton mill workers who were asking for revision in wages
and better working conditions.
Rowlatt Act (1919)
This Act was h u r r i e d l y passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite
the united opposition of the Indian members.
It gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities and allowed
detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
Gandhi wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws, which would
start with a hartal on 6th April, 1919.
Rallies were organized in various cities.
Workers went on strike in railway workshops and shops were closed down.
A crowd of villagers had come to Amritsar to attend a fair and gathered in the
enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh.
They gathered to protest against government repressive measures and to protest against
the arrest of the two nationalist leaders, Satya Pal and Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew.
Being from outside the city, they were unaware of the martial law that had been
imposed. .
Suddenly, a British military officer, General Dyer, without even giving a warning to the
people he ordered his troops to fire at the unarmed crowd for ten minutes till their
ammunition was exhausted.
His aim was to ‘produce moral effect’ and create a feeling of terror in the minds of
satyagrahis.
Khilafat Movement
Mahatma Gandhi felt the need to launch a more broad-based movement in India by
bringing the Hindus and Muslims together.
The First World War had ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey. There were
rumors that a harsh peace treaty was going to be imposed on the Ottoman emperor the
spiritual head of the Islamic world (the Khalifa).
To defend the Khalifa’s temporal powers, a Khilafat Committee was formed in
Bombay in March 1919.
Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali discussed with Mahatma Gandhi about the possibility
of a united mass action on the issue.
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.
Non-Cooperation Movement
In the book Hind Swaraj (1909) Mahatma Gandhi declared that British rule was
established in India with the cooperation of Indians. If Indians refused to cooperate,
British rule in India would collapse within a year, and Swaraj would come.
It should begin with the surrender of titles that the government awarded. It should
be followed by boycott of civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils,
schools and foreign goods.
Many within the Congress were reluctant to boycott the council elections scheduled
for November 1920.
Between September and December, there was an intense fight within the Congress.
Finally, at the Congress session at Nagpur in December 1920, a compromise was
worked out and the Non-Cooperation programme was adopted.
Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops were picketed and foreign cloth burnt in
huge bonfires.
The import of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922.
In many places, merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods or finance
foreign trade.
As the boycott movement spread, and people began discarding imported clothes and
wearing only Indian ones, production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up.
But this movement in the cities gradually slowed down due to the following
reasons- Khadi cloth was more expensive than mass- produced mill cloth and poor
people could not afford to buy it.
The boycott of British institutions posed a problem. For the movement to be
successful, alternative Indian institutions had to be set up so that they could be used in
place of the British ones. These were slow to come up. So students and teachers began
trickling back to government schools and lawyers joined back work in government
courts.
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In the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh, a militant guerrilla movement spread in the
early 1920s. The colonial government had closed large forest areas, preventing people
from entering the forests to graze their cattle or to collect fuelwood and fruits.
Not only were their livelihoods were affected, but they also felt that their traditional
rights were being denied.
When the government began forcing them to contribute begar for road building, the hill
people revolted.
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.
He persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking. But at the same time he
asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of force, not non-violence.
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.
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.
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 disobeyed
the authorities, left the plantations and headed home. 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. They interpreted
the term Swaraj in their own ways, imagining it to be a time when all suffering and all
troubles would be over.
Yet, when the tribal chanted Gandhiji’s name and raised slogans demanding ‘Swatantra
Bharat’, they were also emotionally relating to an all-India agitation.
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The Chauri Chaura incident, took place on February 5, 1922, in the Gorakhpur
district of British India, is considered as one of the most prominent incidents of pre-
independent India. During the non-cooperation movement, a group of protestors
clashed with police and as a result of this, policemen opened fired on the protestors.
Provoked by this shooting incident, the demonstrators burnt down a police station,
killing all its occupants. Resulting in the death of 22 or 23 policemen and three
civilians, the incident also turned many against Mahatma Gandhi as he called off
the ‘Non-cooperation Movement’ after the incident.
Gandhi felt the movement was turning violent in many places and satyagrahis needed to
be properly trained before they would be ready for mass struggles.
Within the Congress, some leaders wanted to participate in elections to the provincial
councils that had been set up by the Government of India Act of 1919.
They felt that it was important to oppose British policies within the councils, argue
for reform and also demonstrate that these councils were not truly democratic.
C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party within the Congress to
argue for a return to council politics. But Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose
pressed for more radical mass agitation and for full independence.
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Offer for a Dominion Status
Lord Irwin, announced in October 1929, a vague offer of dominion status for
India and a Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution.
This did not satisfy the Congress leaders. The radicals within the Congress, led
by Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, became more determined.
The liberals and moderates gradually lost their influence.
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On 6 April he reached Dandi, and violated the law, manufacturing salt by
boiling sea water. This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience
Movement.
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To restore the confiscated properties of the satyagarhis.
To permit the free collection or manufacture of salt.
Gandhiji agreed to participate in the First Round Table Conference to be held in
London
Round Table Conference
Gandhiji went to London for the conference, but the negotiations broke down and he
returned disappointed.
New Cycle of Repression
Ghaffar Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru were both in jail. The Congress had been declared
illegal and a series of measures had been imposed to prevent meetings, demonstrations
and boycotts.
Relaunching of Civil Disobedience Movement
With great apprehension (doubt), Mahatma Gandhi re-launched the Civil Disobedience
Movement. For over a year, the movement continued, but by 1934 it lost its momentum.
How Participants Saw the Movement?
Rich Peasant Communities: The Patidars of Gujarat and Jats of Uttar Pradesh
Being producers of commercial crops, they were hit hard by the trade depression and
falling prices. As their cash income disappeared, they found it impossible to pay the
government’s revenue demand.
Refusal of the government to reduce the revenue demand led to widespread
resentment (anger).
These rich peasants became enthusiastic supporters of the Civil Disobedience
Movement.
For them, the fight for Swaraj was a struggle against high revenues.
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.
The Poorer Peasantry
They wanted reduction in the revenue.
Many of them were small tenants cultivating land they had rented from landlords. As
the Depression continued and cash incomes decreased, the small tenants found it
difficult to pay their rent. They wanted the unpaid rent to the landlord to be forgiven.
Apprehensive (doubtful) of raising issues that might upset the rich peasants and
landlords, the Congress was unwilling to support ‘no rent’ campaigns in most places.
So the relationship between the poor peasants and the Congress remained uncertain.
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The Business class
During the First World War, Indian merchants and industrialists had made huge
profits. 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.
They formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the
Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927.
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. 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.
But after the failure of the Round Table Conference, business groups were doubtful
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.
The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience
Movement in large numbers, except in the Nagpur region.
As the industrialists came closer to the Congress, workers stayed aloof (away). But in
spite of that, some workers did participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement,
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.
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.
But the Congress was reluctant to include workers’ demands as part of its programme
of struggle. It felt that this would isolate industrialists and divide the anti- imperial
forces.
Participation of women
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Yet, this increased public role did not necessarily mean any radical change in the
way the position of women was visualized.
Gandhiji was convinced that it was the duty of women to look after home and be
good mothers and good wives. And for a long time the Congress was reluctant to allow
women to hold any position of authority within the organization.
They only seem to have a symbolic presence.
For long the Congress had ignored the Dalit, for fear of offending the sanatanis, the
conservative high-caste Hindus.
But Mahatma Gandhi declared that Swaraj would not come if untouchability was
not eliminated (removed). He called the ‘untouchables’ Harijan and
organized satyagraha to secure them entry into temples, and access to public wells,
tanks, roads and schools.
He himself cleaned toilets to dignify the work of the bhangi (the sweepers) and
persuaded upper castes to give up ‘the sin of untouchability’.
But many Dalit leaders demanded reserved seats in educational institutions
and a separate electorate that would choose Dalit members for Legislative Councils.
They believed that political empowerment would resolve the problems of their social
disabilities.
Dalit participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement was therefore limited,
particularly in the Maharashtra and Nagpur region where their organization was quite
strong.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who organized 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.
When the British government rejected 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.
Ambedkar ultimately accepted Gandhiji’s position and the result was the Poona Pact of
September 1932. It gave the Depressed Classes reserved seats in provincial and central
legislative councils, but they were to be voted in by the general electorate.
The Dalit movement, however, continued to be doubtful of the Congress- led
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national movement.
Muslims
Some of the Muslim political organizations in India were indifferent in their response to
the Civil Disobedience Movement.
After the decline of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat movement, a large section of
Muslims felt isolated from the Congress. From the mid-1920s the Congress came to be
more visibly associated with openly Hindu religious nationalist groups like the Hindu
Mahasabha.
As relations between Hindus and Muslims worsened, each community organized
religious processions and provoked Hindu-Muslim communal.
The important differences between the Congress and the Muslim were over the
question of representation in the future assemblies that were to be elected.
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 (Bengal and Punjab).
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.
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.
The identity of India came to be associated with the image of Bharat Mata.
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay first created the image. In the 1870s, he wrote ‘Vande
Mataram’ as a hymn to the motherland. 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. In this painting, Bharat Mata is portrayed as an ascetic figure. She is
calm, composed, divine and spiritual.
Indian Folklore
Tri-colour Flag
During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, a tricolor 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.
By 1921, Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag. It was again a tricolor (red, green and
white) and had a spinning wheel in the center, representing the Gandhian ideal of
self-help.
Carrying the flag, holding it aloft, during marches became a symbol of resistance.
Reinterpretation of History
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.
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.
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.
This glorious time was followed by a history of decline, when India was colonized.
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.
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QUESTION BANK
SUBJECT: HISTORY (Chapter-2 Nationalism in India)
CLASS: 10
___________________________________________________________________________
INSTRUCTIONS:
Attempt questions no: 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20 and 24
Answer to the Questions carrying 1 mark should not exceed 20 words.
Answer to the Questions carrying 3 marks should not exceed 80 words.
Answer to the Questions carrying 5 marks should not exceed 120 words.
1. Which of the following is not true regarding Rowlatt Act, of 1919? (1)
a. The Act was passed by the Imperial Legislative Council.
b. It gave power to the government to repress political activities.
c. It empowered the government to detain the political prisoner without trial.
d. The Act controlled the movement of plantation workers
2. The Poona-Pact took place in: (1)
a. August 1933
b. September 1932
c. July 1933
d. May 1932
3. Name the author of the book ‘Hind Swaraj’. (1)
4. Arrange the following in the correct sequence: (1)
a. Chauri Chaura Incident
b. Khilafat Movement
c. Jallianwala Bgah Incident
d. Mahatma Gandhi returned to India
Options:
A. i-ii-iii-iv
B. iii-ii-i-iv
C. iv-ii-i-iii
D. iv-iii-ii-i
5. Which incidence forced Mahatma Gandhi to withdraw the Non-Cooperation movement?
(1)
6. Simon Commission was greeted with the slogan ‘Go Back Simon’ at arrival in India.
Justify the statement. (1)
7. Under which Act the plantation workers of Assam were not permitted to leave the tea
gardens? (1)
8. Where did Mahatma Gandhi successfully organize Satyagraha movement in various
places just after arriving in India? (3)
9. Gandhiji decided to launch a nationwide Satyagraha in 1919. Why? (3)
10. What was the main recommendation of the Simon Commission? How was it greeted in
India? (3)
11. How did business classes relate to the Civil Disobedience Movement? Why were they no
longer uniformly enthusiastic after the failure of Second Round Table Conference? (3)
12. His object, as declared later, was to ‘produce a moral effect’, to create in the minds of
Satyagrahis a feeling of terror and awe. Who declared this? What was this incident?
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Explain. (3)
13. When was the Gandhi-Irwin Pact signed? Mention its provisions. (3)
14. Who launched the Khilafat Movement? Why was the movement launched? (3)
15. What emotions did Bharat Mata invoke in the hearts of the Indians? (3)
16. Mention the two type of demands asked by Gandhiji in his letter to Viceroy Irwin on 31 st
January 1930? Why was the abolition of salt tax most stirring demand? (3)
17. Explain the new economic and political situation created during the First World War in
India. (3)
18. How did people belonging to different communities, regions or language groups in India
develop a sense of collective belonging? (5)
19. Why was Congress reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority within the
organisation? How did women participate in Civil Disobedience Movement? Explain.
(5)
20. How did Non-Cooperation movement start with participation of middle class people in
the cities? Explain its impact on the economic front (5)
21. How did plantation workers have their own understanding of Mahatma Gandhi and the
notion of Swaraj? Explain. (5)
22. In his book Hind Swaraj, what means did Gandhiji state to achieve Swaraj? Was this
belief shared by all the sections of society? Discuss the responses of peasants, landlords
and industrialists in this regard. (5)
23. ‘Not all social groups were moved by the abstract concept of Swaraj’. In the light of this
statement discuss the limitations of Civil Disobedience Movement. (5)
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