Aadishesh/ncerts · Datasets at Hugging Face

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The year is 1921. You are a student in a
government-controlled school. Design a
poster urging school students to answer
Gandhiji’s call to join the Non-Cooperation
Movement.Activity59
Nationalism in Indiawhich were developing in different parts of India in the years
after the war.
In Awadh, peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra – a sanyasi who
had earlier been to Fiji as an indentured labourer. The movement
here was against talukdars and landlords who demanded from
peasants exorbitantly high rents and a variety of other cesses. 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. 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. In June 1920, Jawaharlal
Nehru began going around the villages in Awadh, talking to thevillagers, and trying to understand their grievances. By October, the
Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba
Ramchandra and a few others. Within a month, over 300 brancheshad been set up in the villages around the region. So when the Non-
Cooperation Movement began the following year, the effort of the
Congress was to integrate the Awadh peasant struggle into the widerstruggle. The peasant movement, however, developed in forms that
the Congress leadership was unhappy with. As the movement spread
in 1921, the houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked,
bazaars were looted, and grain hoards were taken over. In many
places local leaders told peasants that Gandhiji had declared that
no taxes were to be paid and land was to be redistributed amongthe poor. The name of the Mahatma was being invoked to sanction
all action and aspirations.New words
Begar – Labour that villagers were forced to
contribute without any payment
If you were a peasant in Uttar Pradesh in 1920,
how would you have responded to Gandhiji’scall for Swaraj? Give reasons for your response.Activity
On 6 January 1921, the police in United Provinces fired at peasants near Rae Bareli. Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to go tothe place of firing, but was stopped by the police. Agitated and angry, Nehru addressed the peasants who gatheredaround him. This is how he later described the meeting:
‘They behaved as brave men, calm and unruffled in the face of danger . I do not know how they felt but I know what
my feelings were. For a moment my blood was up, non-violence was almost forgotten – but for a moment only. Thethought of the great leader, who by God’s goodness has been sent to lead us to victory, came to me, and I saw the
kisans seated and standing near me, less excited, more peaceful than I was – and the moment of weakness passed, I
spoke to them in all humility on non-violence – I needed the lesson more than they – and they heeded me andpeacefully dispersed.’
Quoted in Sarvapalli Gopal,
Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography , Vol. I.SourceSource BIndia and the Contemporary World
60Tribal peasants interpreted the message of Mahatma Gandhi and
the idea of swaraj in yet another way. In the Gudem Hills of Andhra
Pradesh, for instance, a militant guerrilla movement spread inthe early 1920s – not a form of struggle that the Congress could
approve. Here, as in other forest regions, the colonial government
had closed large forest areas, preventing people from enteringthe forests to graze their cattle, or to collect fuelwood and fruits.This enraged the hill people. Not only were their livelihoodsaffected but they felt that their traditional rights were being denied.When the government began forcing them to contribute begar
for road building, the hill people revolted. The person who cameto lead them was an interesting figure. Alluri Sitaram Raju claimedthat he had a variety of special powers: he could make correctastrological predictions and heal people, and he could surviveeven bullet shots. Captivated by Raju, the rebels proclaimed thathe was an incarnation of God. 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.
But at the same time he asserted that India could be liberated onlyby the use of force, not non-violence. The Gudem rebels attackedpolice stations, attempted to kill British officials and carried onguerrilla warfare for achieving swaraj. Raju was captured and
executed in 1924, and over time became a folk hero.
2.3 Swaraj in the Plantations
Workers too had their own understanding of Mahatma Gandhi
and the notion of swaraj. For plantation workers in Assam, freedommeant the right to move freely in and out of the confined space inwhich 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 thetea gardens without permission, and in fact they were rarely givensuch permission. When they heard of the Non-CooperationMovement, thousands of workers defied the authorities, left theplantations 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 wayby a railway and steamer strike, they were caught by the police andbrutally beaten up.Find out about other participants in the
National Movement who were captured and
put to death by the British. Can you think of a
similar example from the national movement
in Indo-China (Chapter 2)?Activity61
Nationalism in IndiaThe visions of these movements were not defined by the Congress
programme. 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 tribals chanted Gandhiji’s name and raised
slogans demanding ‘ Swatantra Bharat’ , they were also emotionally
relating to an all-India agitation. When they acted in the name of
Mahatma Gandhi, or linked their movement to that of the Congress,
they were identifying with a movement which went beyond the limitsof their immediate locality.
Fig. 5 – Chauri Chaura, 1922.
At Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, a peaceful demonstration in a bazaar turned into a
violent clash with the police. Hearing of the incident, Mahatma Gandhi called a haltto the Non-Cooperation Movement.India and the Contemporary World
623 Towards Civil Disobedience
In February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the
Non-Cooperation Movement. He felt the movement was turningviolent in many places and satyagrahis needed to be properly trainedbefore they would be ready for mass struggles. Within the Congress,some leaders were by now tired of mass struggles and wanted toparticipate 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 forreform and also demonstrate that these councils were not trulydemocratic. C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Partywithin the Congress to argue for a return to council politics. Butyounger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose
pressed for more radical mass agitation and for full independence.
In such a situation of internal debate and dissension two factors
again shaped Indian politics towards the late 1920s. The first wasthe effect of the worldwide economic depression. Agricultural pricesbegan to fall from 1926 and collapsed after 1930. As the demandfor agricultural goods fell and exports declined, peasants found it
difficult to sell their harvests and pay their revenue. By 1930, the
countryside was in turmoil.
Against this background the new Tory government in Britain
constituted a Statutory Commission under Sir John Simon. Set upin response to the nationalist movement, thecommission was to look into the functioning of
the constitutional system in India and suggest
changes. The problem was that the commissiondid not have a single Indian member. They wereall British.
When the Simon Commission arrived in India in
1928, it was greeted with the slogan ‘Go back
Simon’. All parties, including the Congress and the
Muslim League, participated in the demonstrations.In an effort to win them over, the viceroy, LordIrwin, announced in October 1929, a vague offerof ‘dominion status’ for India in an unspecifiedfuture, and a Round Table Conference to discuss a
future constitution. This did not satisfy the Congress
leaders. The radicals within the Congress, led by
Fig. 6 – Meeting of Congress leaders at Allahabad, 1931.
Apart from Mahatma Gandhi, you can see Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel (extreme left), Jawaharlal Nehru (extreme right) and SubhasChandra Bose (fifth from right).63
Nationalism in IndiaJawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, became more assertive.
The liberals and moderates, who were proposing a constitutional
system within the framework of British dominion, gradually lost
their influence. In December 1929, under the presidency of JawaharlalNehru, the Lahore Congress formalised the demand of ‘PurnaSwaraj’ or full independence for India. It was declared that 26 January1930, would be celebrated as the Independence Day when peoplewere to take a pledge to struggle for complete independence. But
the celebrations attracted very little attention. So Mahatma Gandhi
had to find a way to relate this abstract idea of freedom to moreconcrete issues of everyday life.

The year is 1921. You are a student in a

government-controlled school. Design a

poster urging school students to answer

Gandhiji’s call to join the Non-Cooperation

Movement.Activity59

Nationalism in Indiawhich were developing in different parts of India in the years

after the war.

In Awadh, peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra – a sanyasi who

had earlier been to Fiji as an indentured labourer. The movement

here was against talukdars and landlords who demanded from

peasants exorbitantly high rents and a variety of other cesses. 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. 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. In June 1920, Jawaharlal

Nehru began going around the villages in Awadh, talking to thevillagers, and trying to understand their grievances. By October, the

Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba

Ramchandra and a few others. Within a month, over 300 brancheshad been set up in the villages around the region. So when the Non-

Cooperation Movement began the following year, the effort of the

Congress was to integrate the Awadh peasant struggle into the widerstruggle. The peasant movement, however, developed in forms that

the Congress leadership was unhappy with. As the movement spread

in 1921, the houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked,

bazaars were looted, and grain hoards were taken over. In many

places local leaders told peasants that Gandhiji had declared that

no taxes were to be paid and land was to be redistributed amongthe poor. The name of the Mahatma was being invoked to sanction

all action and aspirations.New words

Begar – Labour that villagers were forced to

contribute without any payment

If you were a peasant in Uttar Pradesh in 1920,

how would you have responded to Gandhiji’scall for Swaraj? Give reasons for your response.Activity

On 6 January 1921, the police in United Provinces fired at peasants near Rae Bareli. Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to go tothe place of firing, but was stopped by the police. Agitated and angry, Nehru addressed the peasants who gatheredaround him. This is how he later described the meeting:

‘They behaved as brave men, calm and unruffled in the face of danger . I do not know how they felt but I know what

my feelings were. For a moment my blood was up, non-violence was almost forgotten – but for a moment only. Thethought of the great leader, who by God’s goodness has been sent to lead us to victory, came to me, and I saw the

kisans seated and standing near me, less excited, more peaceful than I was – and the moment of weakness passed, I

spoke to them in all humility on non-violence – I needed the lesson more than they – and they heeded me andpeacefully dispersed.’

Quoted in Sarvapalli Gopal,

Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography , Vol. I.SourceSource BIndia and the Contemporary World

60Tribal peasants interpreted the message of Mahatma Gandhi and

the idea of swaraj in yet another way. In the Gudem Hills of Andhra

Pradesh, for instance, a militant guerrilla movement spread inthe early 1920s – not a form of struggle that the Congress could

approve. Here, as in other forest regions, the colonial government

had closed large forest areas, preventing people from enteringthe forests to graze their cattle, or to collect fuelwood and fruits.This enraged the hill people. Not only were their livelihoodsaffected but they felt that their traditional rights were being denied.When the government began forcing them to contribute begar

for road building, the hill people revolted. The person who cameto lead them was an interesting figure. Alluri Sitaram Raju claimedthat he had a variety of special powers: he could make correctastrological predictions and heal people, and he could surviveeven bullet shots. Captivated by Raju, the rebels proclaimed thathe was an incarnation of God. 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.

But at the same time he asserted that India could be liberated onlyby the use of force, not non-violence. The Gudem rebels attackedpolice stations, attempted to kill British officials and carried onguerrilla warfare for achieving swaraj. Raju was captured and

executed in 1924, and over time became a folk hero.

2.3 Swaraj in the Plantations

Workers too had their own understanding of Mahatma Gandhi

and the notion of swaraj. For plantation workers in Assam, freedommeant the right to move freely in and out of the confined space inwhich 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 thetea gardens without permission, and in fact they were rarely givensuch permission. When they heard of the Non-CooperationMovement, thousands of workers defied the authorities, left theplantations 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 wayby a railway and steamer strike, they were caught by the police andbrutally beaten up.Find out about other participants in the

National Movement who were captured and

put to death by the British. Can you think of a

similar example from the national movement

in Indo-China (Chapter 2)?Activity61

Nationalism in IndiaThe visions of these movements were not defined by the Congress

programme. 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 tribals chanted Gandhiji’s name and raised

slogans demanding ‘ Swatantra Bharat’ , they were also emotionally

relating to an all-India agitation. When they acted in the name of

Mahatma Gandhi, or linked their movement to that of the Congress,

they were identifying with a movement which went beyond the limitsof their immediate locality.

Fig. 5 – Chauri Chaura, 1922.

At Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, a peaceful demonstration in a bazaar turned into a

violent clash with the police. Hearing of the incident, Mahatma Gandhi called a haltto the Non-Cooperation Movement.India and the Contemporary World

623 Towards Civil Disobedience

In February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the

Non-Cooperation Movement. He felt the movement was turningviolent in many places and satyagrahis needed to be properly trainedbefore they would be ready for mass struggles. Within the Congress,some leaders were by now tired of mass struggles and wanted toparticipate 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 forreform and also demonstrate that these councils were not trulydemocratic. C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Partywithin the Congress to argue for a return to council politics. Butyounger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose

pressed for more radical mass agitation and for full independence.

In such a situation of internal debate and dissension two factors

again shaped Indian politics towards the late 1920s. The first wasthe effect of the worldwide economic depression. Agricultural pricesbegan to fall from 1926 and collapsed after 1930. As the demandfor agricultural goods fell and exports declined, peasants found it

difficult to sell their harvests and pay their revenue. By 1930, the

countryside was in turmoil.

Against this background the new Tory government in Britain

constituted a Statutory Commission under Sir John Simon. Set upin response to the nationalist movement, thecommission was to look into the functioning of

the constitutional system in India and suggest

changes. The problem was that the commissiondid not have a single Indian member. They wereall British.

When the Simon Commission arrived in India in

1928, it was greeted with the slogan ‘Go back

Simon’. All parties, including the Congress and the

Muslim League, participated in the demonstrations.In an effort to win them over, the viceroy, LordIrwin, announced in October 1929, a vague offerof ‘dominion status’ for India in an unspecifiedfuture, and a Round Table Conference to discuss a

future constitution. This did not satisfy the Congress

leaders. The radicals within the Congress, led by

Fig. 6 – Meeting of Congress leaders at Allahabad, 1931.

Apart from Mahatma Gandhi, you can see Sardar Vallabhbhai

Patel (extreme left), Jawaharlal Nehru (extreme right) and SubhasChandra Bose (fifth from right).63

Nationalism in IndiaJawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, became more assertive.

The liberals and moderates, who were proposing a constitutional

system within the framework of British dominion, gradually lost

their influence. In December 1929, under the presidency of JawaharlalNehru, the Lahore Congress formalised the demand of ‘PurnaSwaraj’ or full independence for India. It was declared that 26 January1930, would be celebrated as the Independence Day when peoplewere to take a pledge to struggle for complete independence. But

the celebrations attracted very little attention. So Mahatma Gandhi

had to find a way to relate this abstract idea of freedom to moreconcrete issues of everyday life.