Ch 2Nationalism in India

Chapter 2: Nationalism in India

In India, the growth of modern nationalism is intimately connected to the anti-colonial movement. People began discovering their unity in the process of their struggle against colonialism. The Congress under Mahatma Gandhi tried to forge different groups together within one movement, but the unity did not emerge without conflict.

1. The First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation

Effects of the First World War (1914-18) on India

• 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 by increasing taxes — customs duties were raised and an income tax was introduced.
• Prices increased — doubling between 1913 and 1918 — causing extreme hardship to the common people.
• Villages were called upon to supply soldiers, and forced recruitment in rural areas caused widespread anger.
• In 1918-19 and 1920-21, crops failed in many parts of India, resulting in acute food shortages. This was accompanied by an influenza epidemic. According to the census of 1921, around 12-13 million people perished as a result of famines and the epidemic.

The Idea of Satyagraha

Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in January 1915. Satyagraha emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for truth. It suggested that if the cause was true and the struggle was against injustice, physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor — a satyagrahi could win the battle through non-violence. Early satyagraha movements:

• Champaran, Bihar (1917) — to inspire peasants to struggle against the oppressive indigo plantation system.
• Kheda, Gujarat (1917-18) — supported peasants demanding relaxation of revenue collection after crop failure and a plague epidemic.
• Ahmedabad (1918) — satyagraha among cotton mill workers.

The Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh

• The Rowlatt Act (1919) was hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite united opposition of Indian members. It gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
• Gandhiji launched a nationwide satyagraha against it; a hartal was observed on 6 April 1919.
• On 13 April 1919, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in Amritsar. General Dyer blocked the exit points and opened fire on a peaceful crowd (many had come to attend the Baisakhi fair), killing hundreds. His object, as he declared, was to "produce a moral effect" — to create terror in the minds of satyagrahis.

Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movement

• To defend the temporal powers of the Ottoman Khalifa (Sultan of Turkey), a Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919, led by the brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali. Gandhiji saw this as an opportunity to bring Hindus and Muslims under one umbrella.
• In his book Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhiji had declared that British rule survived only because of Indian cooperation; if Indians refused to cooperate, British rule would collapse within a year.
• The Non-Cooperation programme was adopted at the Calcutta session of Congress (September 1920) and confirmed at the Nagpur session (December 1920).
• Programme: surrender of government titles, boycott of civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils, schools, and foreign goods.
• In towns: middle-class participation — students left schools, lawyers gave up practice, foreign cloth was boycotted and burnt. Import of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922 (value fell from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore).
• The movement slowed in cities because khadi was expensive and alternative Indian institutions were slow to come up.

2. Differing Strands within the Movement

• Awadh peasants: movement led by Baba Ramchandra, a sanyasi who had earlier worked as an indentured labourer in Fiji. The peasants fought against talukdars and landlords who demanded high rents and begar (forced labour). Demands: reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, social boycott of oppressive landlords. The Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up (headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra and others) by October 1920.
• Tribal peasants of Gudem Hills, Andhra Pradesh: a militant guerrilla movement led by Alluri Sitaram Raju, who claimed special powers. The colonial government had closed large forest areas, preventing cattle grazing and collection of fuelwood and fruits, and forced them into begar for road building. Raju talked of Gandhiji and persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking, but asserted that India could be liberated only by force. He was captured and executed in 1924.
• Plantation workers of Assam: for them freedom meant the right to move freely in and out of the confined plantations (denied under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859) and retaining a link with their villages. Hearing of Non-Cooperation, thousands defied authorities and left plantations, but were caught and brutally beaten.

In February 1922, at Chauri Chaura (Gorakhpur), a peaceful demonstration turned violent and policemen were killed. Gandhiji, feeling the movement was turning violent, called off the Non-Cooperation Movement.

3. Towards Civil Disobedience

• Swaraj Party — formed by C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru within the Congress to argue for a return to council politics.
• Simon Commission (arrived 1928) — a statutory commission set up under Sir John Simon to review the constitutional system; it had not a single Indian member, so it was greeted with the slogan "Go back Simon". In October 1929 Viceroy Lord Irwin announced a vague offer of "dominion status".
• Lahore Congress (December 1929) — under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, it formalised the demand of "Purna Swaraj" (complete independence). 26 January 1930 was declared Independence Day.
• Salt March: On 31 January 1930 Gandhiji sent a letter to Irwin stating 11 demands; the most stirring was the demand to abolish the salt tax, since salt was consumed by rich and poor alike. The march began on 12 March 1930 from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal town of Dandi — over 240 miles, covered in 24 days with 78 volunteers. On 6 April 1930 Gandhiji ceremonially violated the salt law by manufacturing salt from sea water. This started the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• Civil Disobedience differed from Non-Cooperation: people were now asked not only to refuse cooperation but to break colonial laws. Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Gandhiji were arrested; the government responded with brutal repression.
• Gandhi-Irwin Pact (5 March 1931): Gandhiji agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London (December 1931); the government agreed to release political prisoners. The conference broke down, and on return Gandhiji relaunched Civil Disobedience. By 1934 it lost momentum.

How Participants Saw the Movement

• Rich peasants (Patidars of Gujarat, Jats of UP): hit by falling prices in the depression, they wanted reduction of revenue; for them swaraj meant a fight against high revenues. They were disappointed when the movement was called off in 1931 without revenue rates being revised.
• Poor peasants wanted the unpaid rent to landlords remitted; Congress was unwilling to support "no rent" campaigns fearing it would upset rich peasants and landlords.
• Business classes: formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress (1920) and FICCI (1927). Led by industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G.D. Birla, they wanted protection against imports and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio. For them swaraj meant an end to colonial restrictions on business.
• Industrial workers participated only in a limited way (except Nagpur region); Congress was reluctant to include workers' demands, fearing it would alienate industrialists.
• Women participated in large numbers — marches, salt manufacture, picketing of liquor shops; many went to jail. Yet Congress was for long reluctant to give them positions of authority; they were seen as symbols of sacrifice and idealised as mothers of the nation.

The Limits of Civil Disobedience

• Dalits (Depressed Classes): Gandhiji called them harijans and organised satyagraha for temple entry and access to wells, tanks, roads and schools. Dr B.R. Ambedkar organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes Association (1930) and demanded separate electorates, which the British conceded. Gandhiji began a fast unto death, believing separate electorates would slow integration. The Poona Pact (September 1932) gave the Depressed Classes reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils, but they were to be voted in by the general electorate.
• Muslim political organisations remained lukewarm; after the decline of Non-Cooperation-Khilafat, relations worsened (Hindu Mahasabha, communal riots). 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 failed at the All Parties Conference of 1928 when M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha opposed compromise.

4. The Sense of Collective Belonging

• Nationalism spread through united struggles, but also through figures, images, songs, folklore, symbols and history.
• Bharat Mata: the identity of India came to be visually associated with this image. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote 'Vande Mataram' in the 1870s (later included in his novel Anandamath). Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata — a calm, composed, divine and spiritual ascetic figure.
• Folklore: nationalists toured villages collecting folk tales and songs to preserve national identity. In Madras, Natesa Sastri published a four-volume collection, The Folklore of Southern India, calling folklore "national literature".
• Flag: during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal a tricolour (red, green, yellow) flag with eight lotuses and a crescent moon was designed. By 1921 Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag — a tricolour (red, green, white) with a spinning wheel at the centre, symbolising self-help.
• Reinterpretation of history: nationalists urged Indians to take pride in India's great achievements in ancient times — art, architecture, science, mathematics, religion, culture, trade — and to struggle against the miserable conditions under British rule.

Timeline of Important Dates and Events