UNIT 3 NATIONAL MOVEMENT

Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Early Nationalist Activities
3.2.1 Indians Realise Colonial Discrimination
3.2.2 Demand for Increase in Indian Representation
3.3 Extremist Nationalist Phase
3.4 Ghadar and the Home Rule Movement
3.4.1 Ghadar Movement
3.4.2 Home Rule Movement
3.5 Coming of Gandhi and the Non-Cooperation Movement
3.5.1 Gandhi and Peasantry
3.5.2 Protest against the Rowlett Act
3.5.3 Non-Cooperation Movement
3.6 Rise of the Peasantry, Working Classes and the Left
3.6.1 Gandhi-Ambedkar Debate
3.6.2 Arrival of Marxism
3.6.3 Growthpf Communalion
3.7 Civil Disobedience Movement and its Aftermath
3.7.1 The Simon Commission
3J.2 Civil Disobedience Movement
3.8 The War and the Quit India Movement
3.9 Post-War Upsurge
3.9.1 The Indian National Army
3.10 Communal Riots, Independence and Partition
3.11 LetUsSumUp
3.12 Some Usehl Books
3.13 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

3.0 OBJECTIVES
The legacy of the Indian ~ a t i o n a lMovement affected politics in India in
more ways than one. An understanding of the Indian National movement
will enable you to understand the politics of contemporary India better. After
going through this unit, you will be able to:
Understand the role of leaders with varying ideological background in the
India; qational movement;
To now the cdntribution of various classes lie the peasanw and woring class;
To establish the line between certain developments which preceded the
achievement of Independence, and contribution of politics to it; and
To analyse the unfinished task of the national movement;
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 National Movement
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The Indian National Movement and the Chinese revolution of 1949 were
two significant mass movements in world history, which influenced the destiny
of millions of people. The former articulated the desire for hedom of millions
of Indians, and inspired movements in colonised Asia and .Africa. The Indian
National Movement passed through several phases.

3.2 EARLY NATIONALIST ACTIVITIES

As you have studied in the units 1 and 2 the British exploited the Indians
in several ways and different sections of society responded to it in different
ways.
3.2.1 Indians Realise Colonial Discrimination
There was a gradual realisation of the exploitative and discriminating character
of British rule. The writings of Dadabhai Naoroji, Badruddin Tyabji, K.T.
Telang, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, R.C. Dutt and M.G. Ranade clearly laid
the responsibility for the growing poverty and unemployment among the
people on the colonial state. They also criticised the colonial authorities for
not associating Indians with the country's administration. When Surendra Nath
Banerjee (1848-1925) was disqualified from joining the civil services on a
flimsy ground, he travelled across the country and educated his countrymen
regarding the discriminating nature of colonial rule. In 1883, the Illbert bill
attempted to empower an Indian judge to preside over the trial of European.
The vehement and organised protests of the British and European public
against the bill, which they thought was subverting the racial hierarchy, opened
the eyes of a large section of Indians to the essentially racial character of
the state. It made them conscious of their position as subject people, and
as not entitled to the equality promised in the Queen's proclamation (1858),
or which they had hoped to acquire through education.
!

3.2.2 The Demand for Increase in the Indian Representation

As a result of this realisation, the Madras Native Association, Poona Sarvajanik
Sabha (1870), Indian Association (1877) in Bengal, and Madras Mahajan
Sabha (1 884) were formed. They demanded increased Indian representation
in the Legislative bodies and viceroy's Executive Councils, and increasing
the age of eligibility for Civil Service examinations and the government budget
on education and other developmental activities. Newspapers like Arnrita
Bazar Patrika, The Berdgalee, The Hindu, and the Tribune were started, to
express the concerns of the people. The Indian National Congress organised
by Allan Octavian Hume (1829-1912), which was a product of this need,
held its first conference in Bombay from 25-28 December 1885, to take
up issues of national importance.

Early Nationalists like Firozshah Mehta, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, M.G.

Ranade, Surendra Nath Banerjee, P. Ananda Charulu, and S. Subramaniam
Iyer strongly believed that the common interests and well being of Indians
were being thwarted by the exploitative acts of the colonial state, such as
the draining of resources fiom India. They, however, stressed that the colonial
state was amendable to reasons, and once cognisant of its mistakes it would
pltimately give Indians their due. They were also conscisus of the existence
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 Historical Background
of heterogeneity of community and society in India. It was the measures '

of the British administration, new communication channels and English education

that made it possible to unite people into a collective community called nation.
But this consciousness was not equally developed and strong among all
segments of the population. Thus, while demand for reforms was to be
articulated for the nation, simultaneously, efforts were needed to concretise
and collectivise disparate sections into the fold of the nation. The nationalists
tried to inform public opinion along these lines.

3.3 EXTREMIST NATIONALIST PHASE

There was a heightened sense of colonial and racial arrogance in the last
decade of the 19th century. This was at a time when several non-European
people were exhibiting signs of assertiveness. Abyssinia defeated Italy in
1896, while tiny Japan defeated powerful Russia in 1905. In India, Annie
Besant, Rajendralal Mitra, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Banlum Chandra Chatterjee
and above all Vivekananda asserted the superiority of the Indians and their
gloriou<past. This new confidence was represented by a fresh generation
of leaders; Bipin Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghosh and Ashwini Kumar Dutt
in Bengal; Ajit Singh and Lala Lajpat Rai in Punjab; Bal Gangadhar Tilak
in Maharashtra; and G. Subramaniam Iyer, N.K. Ramaswamy Iyer, C.
Vijayaradgavachariar, T. Prakasham and M. Krishna Rao in Madras. They
criticised the moderate tone of the Congress leaders; Instead of prayer and
petition, they advocated passive resistance, boycott, adoption of Swadeshi
and national education as new modes of protest.

The solidarity of the Indians was shown when Bengal was partitioned in
1905, and east Bengal was amalgamated with Assam to create a new
province. It was said that Bengal was too large and unwieldy for efficient
administration. But the regular pronouncements of different officials since 1930
made it known that the real reason behind the partition was to weaken
the growing nationalist sentiments in Bengal, particularly those of the 'Bengali
babus'. The protest against the partition soon took an organised shape, and
finally the Swadeshi Movement officially commenced fkom 7 August 1905.
Boycott of foreign goods and government schools became the prime modes
of protest. National schools and Swadeshi manufacturing units were opened.
On 16 October 1905, when partition was to become operative, many people
in Bengal fasted, and at Tagore's suggestion tied Rakhi on each other's
wrist as a mar of solidarity. Processionists around the cities sang songs
written by Rabindranath Tagore and others. The Swadeshi movement spread
to other parts of the country, and provided the first spurt of nationalist
activity in Assam, Orissa and Punjab.

The new leaders demanded a more assertive Congress, which the early
nationalists saw as disastrous not only for the Congress but also for the
reform process initiated by the Congress. Their political vocabulary did not
include faith in public agitation and movements. However, this was not
because tney belonged to the educated or middle class. It was more due
to their different perception of the colonial state and their lack of understanding
of the current political mood.

At the adnual cession in Banaras in 1905, the new leaders succeeded in

Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU making the Congress adopt Swadeshi, boycott and national education as
its policies. In 1906, achievement of Swaraj in terms of Dominion status National Movement

within the British empire was adopted as the goal of the Congress. The
new extremist leaders tried to push the moderates out of the Congress. This
disastrous move finally led to the split in Congress at Surat in 1907, where
the extremists were pushed out of the party. The colonial state, taking
advantage of the situation, suppressed the extremist leaders with heavy hands.
Tilak was imprisoned and sent to Mandalay jail in Burma. Moderate leaders
began l~singpopular sympathy, and henceforth lived with the hope that they
were leading the country towards liberation through constitutional reforms.

The Swadeshi movement brought into the national movement new forces like
students and urban youth, and places like Assam and Orissa into the
mainstream. Bengal, Punjib and Maharashtra, however, reniained the centre
of activities. Individual acts of terrorism, displaying a high sense of patriotism
and sacrifice, by Khudiram Bose, Aurobindo and Barindra Ghose, Rashbehari
Bose and Sachin Sanyal, Ajit Singh and Madanlal Dhingra, and Damodar
Savarkar, captured the imagination of the country's youth. Khudiram Bose
and Prafulla Chaki who hurled a bomb at the Muzzafarpur Magistrate
Kingsford's carriage but unfortunately killed two innocent ladies (1908),
became household names when Khudirarn was hanged. Rashbehari Bose and
Sachin Sanyal (1912), in a state procession, threw a bomb that hurt the
Viceroy Lord Hardinge who was seated on an elephant.

Notwithstanding their unalloyed sense of patriotism, the extremists used

cultural s$rnbols like Shivaji, Ganesha or Goddess Kali for organisational and
inspirational purposes. They also lacked concern for the peasantry, and the
absence of any social programme later acted as an impediment both to its
own ideological development and to the growth of the movement.
.Check Your Progress Exercise 1
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers.
3 Check your answers with the model answers given at the end
of the unit.
1) What was the outcome of the realisation by Indians about-the exploitative
nature of colonial rule?

2) What according to the early nationalists was the contribution of the

colonial administration, their exploitative and discriminatory nature?
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3) What were modes of protest suggested by the extremist leadership?
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 Historical Background .:...........!, ....
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3.4 GHADAR AND THE HOME RULE MOVEMENT

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3.4.1 Ghadar Movement '

Rarnnath Puri, G.D. Kumar, Taraka Nath Das and others, with the help
of Indian settled in north America, since 1905-06 had been circulating ideas
advocating free Hindustan. With the arrival of Lala Hardayal in 1911, the
Ghadar (revolution) movement centered in the west coast of USA began,
named after a newspaper. It became the focus of the anti-colonial sentiments
of the large Indian population settled there and in East Asian countries. The
Ghadar revolutionaries invited Rashbehari Bose to organise the scattered
revolutionaries and lead the revolution in India. Bose came to Punjab and
after organising people, fured the date for revolution on 21st February 1915,
later changed to 19th February 1915. But the government obtained prior
information and suppressed the Ghadar revolutionaries. Forty-five people
were hanged while hundreds were imprisoned. The revo~utionaryvision of
the Ghadar and the Ghadarites, however, left a permanent imprint on the
minds of people in bunjab and India.
3.4.2 Home Rule Movement
At the time of the First World War, the Home Rule movement led by Annie
Besant and Tilka tried to inspire the scattered nationalist forces into action.
Influenced by the Irish movement for Home rule, it demanded home rule
on the ground that Indians had now come of age. Home Rule Leagues
of Tilak (1915) and Besant (1916) enlisted volunteers and published pamphlets
in which the demands, reasons and modes of Home Rule were articulated.
By 19 17, Tilak's leagues in Kamataka, Central Provinces, Bengal and United
Provinces had 14000 volunteers, while Annie Besant's League, which
propagated ideas through New India and Commonwealth, had 7000 volunteers.
A number of future leaders of India including Jawaharlal Nehru, Shankarlal
Banker and Byornkesh Chakravarty learned their first political lessons as
volunteers of these leagues. The government was not happy with the popularity
and radicalism of the movement. Besant was arrested in 1947, raising a
storm of protest. She was released in September, and on the request of
Tilak was elected the president of Congress.

Tilak and Besant wanted to revive the Congress by involving it with the
Home Rule movement. Home Rule volunteers came in large numbers to the
Lucknow session of the Congress in 1916, where the Congress and Muslim
League met. Tilak played a crucial role in bringing the Congress-League
pact for electoraVcornrnuna1 representation. It seemed like a radical solution
at the point but proved to be a stumbling block in the development of
the national movement.

3.5 COMING OF GANDHI AND

THE NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT
Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU The firct wnrld wac CPVP~P~V gffe~tpC1'the life nf the npacnntrv and the new
 andustrialworking class. The breach of faith by the British agitated the Muslim National Movement

intelligentsia. The former had promised to recognise the Ottorqan emperor

as the Khalifa or the spiritual and temporal head of the Islamic world, in
lieu of the support of the Indian Muslims towards the British War efforts.
It was around this time in 1915 that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, born
in 1869 in Kathiawad in Gujarat, returned to India after spending twenty
years in South Afica, where he organised the poor Indian coolies and others
against the racial and discriminating policies of the South Afkican government.
It was here that he tried his methods of Satyagraha and non-violence as
political weapons.
3.5.1 Gandhi and Peasantry
In 1917, Indians witnessed the first test of Gandhi's methods of agitation
at Charnparan in Bihar, where the European indigo planters forced the
peasants to pay illegal rent and other exactions. When Gandhi reached
Charnparan, the District Commissioner ordered him to leave the district, which
he refused. It was a new event in the history of the national movement.
Gandhi and his associates recorded the exact and detailed camplaints of
the peasants, &d placed these before the government. The government unable
to ignore the enormous facts finally forced the planters to return 25% of
the illegal exaction to the peasants. This destroyed the pLanters prestige and
the peasants' fear of them. Gandhi also led the workers in Ahmedabad
against the mill owners, and the Kheda peasants against the colonial
administration. By the end of 1918, he had established himself through his
unique protests against exploitation and injustice. His simple and austere life
led the comnion masses to identify with him.

Muhammad Ali, Shaukat Ali, Abdul Kalam Azad and sections of ulama
particularly fiom Firangi Mahal, Lucknow, were at this time engaged in the
Khilafat agitation. When they approached Gandhi, they found him sympathetic
to their cause. Gandhi appealed to the Congress to side with the Khilafists
against what was a serious breach of trust by the British. At this juncture,
the government humedly passed the Rowlatt Act. The Act provided for
imprisonment of Indians without trial, and soon became the rallying ground
for the movement.
3.5.2 Protest Against the dowlett Act
Gandhi suggested formation of Satyagraha Sabhas to protest against this
draconian law. An all India hartal was planned for 30 March 1919, which
was put off till 6th April 1919. Hartal was observed in Orissa, Assam,
Madras, Bombay and Bengal. On the Baisakhi day of 13 April 1919, the
police under General Dyer opened fire on a peaceful gathering at Jallianwala
Bagh in Arnritsar, and killed an official estimate of 379 unarmed and
, defenceless people. Subsequently, marital law was clamped, and people were
I
even made to crawl of their belly before Europeans. The Jallianwala Bagh
'
incident incensed the country. Rabindranath Tagore returned the Knighthood
conferred by the British crown. Instead of questioning General Dyer, the
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British people presented a purse to him. The Hunter commission inquiring
1 into the incident published, in the words of Gandhi, "page after page of
, white wash."
1
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 Historical Background
3.5.3 Non-Cooperation Movement
In November 1919, the All India Khilafat Committee met at Allahabad,
and Gandhi's proposal of a non-violent Non-Cooperation movement was
accepted. The movement soon engulfed the country. Abul Kalarn h a d ,
Maulana Akram Khan and Muniruzamman Islamabadi popularised the
movement in Bengal. Akrarn Khan's Moharnmadi propaghted the spirit of
Swadeshi and Boycott. Mohamrnad Ali's Hamdard and Comrade, and Abul
Kalam Azad's A1 Hial were powerful organs in spreading the message
of the movement. Meanwhile, Gandhiji tried to make Congress accept the
idea of a non-violent Non-Cooperation movement. He thought the Punjab
and Khilafat wrong should be made the basis for non-coohration. In
1
the special Congres session convened at Calcutta in September 1920,
,

there was some opposition to this. In December 1920, however, the

Congress at its m u d session at Nagpur unanimously accepted the Non-
Cooperation resolution.

/
Khilafat and Non-Cooperation together produced India' first p o w e m mass
upheavel. Schools, courts and foreign cloths were boycotted, and charkha
and Swadeshi cloth were adopted throughout the country. The Congress had
already announced in Nagpur that Swaraj was to be attained by peaceful
and legitimate means. There was a new enthusiasm regarding the impending
freedom, which Gandhi promised within a year. The peasants joined the
movement in Oudh, Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Bihar and Assarn. A new
leadership, largely fiom rural areas, emerged. Gandhiji's movement and
message also influenced the tribal movements in Bihar and Manipur hills.
But on 4 February 1922, a group of people in Chaurichaura in Gorakhpur,
when provoked by the police attacked the police station and burnt the
policemen alive. Gandhi suspended the movement, and despite the criticism
by most leaders he remained unmoved. He refused td sacrifice or delute
the principle of non-violence.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2
Note: 3 Use the space given below for your answers.
n) Check your answers with the model answers given at the end
of the unit.

1) What was the result of Gandhi's participation in the peasant movement

in Champaran?

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I

Why did the British government pass Rowlett Act?

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 National Movement
3) What mode of protest was used in the non-cooperation and Khilafat
movement?
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3.6 RISE OF THE PEASANTRY, THE WORKING CLASS

AND THE LEFT
The sudden suspension of the Non-Cooperation movement created a sense
of helplessness. C.R. Das (1870-1925) and Motilal Nehru (186 1- 1931) led
the Swarajists who wanted to enter the legislative assemblies and wreck
them from within. Gandhi's programme had no place for electoral battle.
So, while the Swarajists fought elections and made impressive forays into
the Legislative assemblies of Central Provinces, Bengal, and also in the
Central Legislative assembly, Gandhiji and others concentrated on their social
agenda of constructive work. This involved village reconstruction works,
upliftment of artisans, propagation of Charkha and removal of untouchability.
For Gandhiji, social and political movements were inseparable,' and here he
differed £tom those for whom nationalism meant just £i-eeing the country fi-om
the foreign rule.
3i6.1 Gandhi- Ambedkar Debate.
Gandhiji launched his biggest social movement against the practice of
untouchability. He argued against the notion of occupational hierarchy, which
gradually had come to define the varna system. Because some works were
considered inferior, the performer of those essential jobs came to be regarded
as untouchable. He wished to destroy this notion of hierarchy, so that the
varna system regained its pure and indiscriminate form. Ambedkar opposed
Gandhi, and argued that untouchability was legitimised by the varna system.
Unless the caste system itself was abolished, caste oppression would not
go. Gandhi, however, did not agree because the institution of caste had
endured for centuries, and it was merely its cancerous growth that needed
to be removed. Both argued vehemently, but true to the democratic ethos
of the national movement, respected each other's opinion and tried to
convince each other of the' merit of their respective positions. Temple entry
movements at vaikom and Guruvayur in Kerala using Satyagraha as the
weapon and the country wide movement for the upliftment of lower caste
people were the direct result of Gandhiji's constructive programme.
3.6.2 Arrival of Marxism
A large number of people, particularly the youth, began to gravitate towards
Marxism in the 1920s. The Russian Revoluticn had inspired their imagination.
Kazi Nazrul Islam the Bengali poet, gave powerful expression to the new
vigour that socialist thought had brought into the minds of nationalists. His
Sarvahara (the proletariat) and Bisher Banshi (flute of venom) were proscribed,
and he was .sentenced to a year's imprisonment. M.N. Roy was the tallest
leader of the socialist youth. Labour and Kisan parties were organised by
Singaravelu, Hemanta Sarkar, Muzaffar Ahrnad, S.A. Dange and Shaukat
Usmani in Madras Bengal and Bombay and the Kirti Kisan Party wasContent Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU
 Historical Background established in Punjab. Later on, they were brought under the banner of the
Peasants and Workers party. The latter worked within the Congress and
wanted to make it a people's party. Trade union ativities helped organise
the labour, and articulate labour issues at the national level. Formation of
the Communist Party of India (1925) provided a focus to the socialist
movement and also a radical orientation to the national movement.

Acts of individual heroism, however, still moved the revolutionary terrorists.

But the revolutionaries were organised keeping sight of a larger social
programme. This new thinking was reflected in the acts of Surya Sen, Bhagat
Singh, Jatin Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin), Jadu Gopal Mukherjee, Bhagwat
Charan Vohra, Yashpal and Chandrasekhar Azad. The 'Philosophy of the
Bomb' written by Sachindra Sanyal was the best statement of this change.
The Hindustan Revolutionary Army was formed as a result.

Born in 1907 and nephew of the famous revolutionary Ajit Singh, Bhagat
Singh (1907-193 1) best syrnbolised this change. He founded the Punjab
Naujawan Bharat Sabha in 1926. Bhagat Singh understood the role of the
masses for any revolution. He also realised the increasing danger of
communalism to society. In 1928 itself, he and his fiiends opposed entry
of members of any religious or communal organisation into Naujawan Sabha,
a decision taken by the Congress only in 1938. At the age of 22, while
in jail he wrote the famous tract 'Why I am in Atheist.' He could see
that the forces of change were located in Indian fields and factories.

Popularly known as Masterda, Surya Sen (1894-1934) was another brilliant

revolutionary terrorist. Surya Sen and his followers unsuccessfully raided
the two armories located in Chittagong, on 18 April 1930. Sen was
arrested in 1933 and was hanged on 12 January 1934. Women participated
in large numbers in the Chittagong armory raid. In the post-Non-Cooperation
phase, a number of women including Pritilata Wadedar, Kalpana Dutt,
Shanti Ghose, Suniti Choudhury, Mina Das, Manikuntala Sen and Ashalata
Sen played a crucial role in the national movement and in orgbising
peasants and labour.
3.6.3 Growth of Communalism
Some of the greatest leaders parted company with either the Congress
or the nationalist cause during the 1920s. Mohammed Ali Jinnah with
implacable secular credentials, left the Congress as a reaction of Gandhian
politics. Lajpat Rai, V.D. Savarkar, Asutosh Lahry and many othir patriots
began to view the popular phase of the national movements as harmful
to the cause of the Hindu community. The post-non-~o~peration communal
riots at Kohat in N W P , Malabar and Calcutta (1926) added to the
heightening communal perceptions. The Ali brothers, close colleagues of
Gandhi during the Khilafat days, accused Gandhi of betraying the Muslims.
Communal ideas and organisations rapidly proliferated. The most important
reasofis fi-. this was the success of the national movement's programme
and vision in inspiring peasants, labourers and masses to join the movement.
The loyalists and upper classes were alarmed by this radical turn of the
national movement and the Congress. This also partially explains why most
communal organisation like Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha were
thoroughly anti-Congress.
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3.7 CIVIL DISOBED'IENCE MOVEMENT AND ITS
AFTERMATH
3.7.1 The Simon Commission
'It was at this juncture of the movement that the British sent the Simon
Commission, with an Indian representative in it, to recommend the future
reforms for India. Congress, in its 1927 session, resolved to boycott the
Commission. The Commission was greeted with hartal everywhere it went.
The authorities challenged the Indian leaders to produce a commonly agreed
constitution. The Congress set up a committee under Motilal Nehru, which
produced the Nehru Report. Jinnah recommended amendments, which would
have changed the very character of the polity suggested in the Report.
Subhash Bose and Nehru also attacked the report for not recommending
complete independence for the country.
3.7.2 Civil-Disobedience Movement
With Independence as its official goal, 26 January 1930 was observed as
Independence day. The session also authorised the working committee to
launch a civil disobedience programme. Gandhi sent an ultimatum to the
Viceroy, writing in detail his programme, and asking the government to go
ahead and prevent him fiom breaking the salt laws. o n 12 March 1930
he along with 78 volunteers began the 240 krn. march fiom Ahmedabad
to the coast of Dandi, and on 6 April 1930 they symbolically broke the
salt laws. The entire country plunged into the Civil Disobedience movement.
In Bengal, volunteers fiom Abhay Ashram i n Commilla, east Bengal, went
to Contai, the Midnapur coast in West Bengal, to break salt laws. C.
Rajagopalachari marched from Trichinapally to Vedaranyam on the Tanjore
coast, while on the Malabar coast, K. Kelappan made sa1t:A new centre
of Civil Disobedience emerged in the shape of the North West Frontier
Province, where Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and his followers - the Khudai
Khidmatgars - began non-violent civil disobedience. When ordered to shoot
at them, the Garhwali soldiers refused to obey orders and were later
imprisoned. Large scale incident's of picketing of liquor and foreign cloth
shops, refusal to pay taxes and giving up of legal practices symbolised the
movement. Peasants in Bihar and Bengal resisted the Chowludari tax. Anti-
forest law campaigns began in Puri district of Orissa. Gandhi was arrested
on 4 May 1930. There were countrywide strikes and demonstration in
protest. The movement was suspended when the Gandhi-Irwin pact was
signed, and Gandhi agreed to participate in the Second Round Table Coderence
in Britain. Nothing was achieved at the conference as the authorities branded
the Congress as one of many voices and openly patronised the princes,
reactionaries, depressed class leaders and communal leaders against the
Congress.

The dilemma of a mass movement entering into electoral politics, and then
accepting office became acute during the 1937 elections won by the Congress
in many provinces. After much review and debate, the Congress decided
to form ministries in six provinces, and introduced its social and economic
programme. This created apprehensions in some quarters, such as the landlords
in United Provinces. The Muslim League too began to attack the Ministries
for its atrocities upon Muslims. Though never substantiated, these propagandist
allegations ,were used to paint the future shape of a Congress ruled Hindu Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU
 Historical Background Raj. Some of the Congress ministries, like those of Madras and Bombay,
worked to suppress the communists and other radical groups.
Check Your Progress Exercise 3
Note: 9 Use the space given below for your answers.
ni Check your answers with the model answers given at the end
of the unit.
1) What were the basic differences between Gandhi and Ambedkar?

2) What was the most important reason for the rise of communalism?

3.8 THE WAR AND THE QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT

The Second World War was declared in Europe on 1st September 1939.
The Indian Government, without consulting public opinion in India, declared
war on Germany. The war became inevitable due to several reasons, but
primarily due to the emergence of Hitler and Nazism. Hitler eliminated almost
six million Jews because he believed that they belonged to an inferior race
and were the cause of all ills of Germans society, including its defeat in
the First World War. Mussolini in Italy, General Franco in Spain and the
emerging military dictatorship in Japan provided an authoritarian and fascist
phalanx to the Nazi aggression. For the Indians, war provided the opportunity
to revive the anti-colonial movement. However, the Indian leaders were not
in favour of such opportunism, as it would harm the cause of the democratic,
anti-fascist forces. But the British, despite declaring war as a fight for
democracy, showed no concern for Indians and their cause. After carefbl
consideration, Gandhi decided to launch a low-key individual Satyagraha on
17 October 1940, with carefblly chosen individual Satyagrahis. The first
individual was Vinoba Bhave, and the second Jawaharlal Nehru. Individuals
had to make public speeches against cooperation with the war effort, and
thereafter court arrest.

Japan joined the war in December 1941 and threatened the Indian borders.
The news of retreating British forces, leaving Indians and others to the mercy
of the Japanese, created a sense of anger and helplessness in India. Army
artrocities and war-time crises made the people restive. Gandhi understood
this growl::g unrest and, despite strong reservations of most leaders, decided
to launch a movement. On gth August at 1942. at Bombay, he gave the
call of 'Do or Die' and asked the British to 'Quit India'. Gandhiji and
other leaders were arrested that night. From the next day, people across
the country came out in the open, and a massive anti-colonial movement
began. Government property was damaged, and parallel governments were
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 Satara in Maharashtra. Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia (1910- National Movement

1967), Achyut Patwardhan, Aruna Asaf Ali made heroic contributions. h a

Asaf Ali operated an underground radio. The authorities suppressed the
movement with heavy hands.

3.9 POST-WAR UPSURGE

i
3.9.1 The Indian National Army
' After the war was over, the leaders were fieed in July 1945 and an election
was declared. Meanwhile, the Indian National Army (INA) had captured
the popular imagination. Mohan Singh and others of the British India Army,
who were made Prisoners of War by the Japanese, formed it in 1940.
subhash Chandra Bose leaving the country in a dazzling display of courage,
took the lead in organising the army &esh. Facing all sorts of discrimination
at the hands of the Japenese army, the soldiers braved the difficult terrain
and reached the Kohima border. But soon the Japanese reversal began, the
INA's hopes of hoisting the Indian flag atop the Red Fort were shattered.
The INA soldiers were taken prisoners by the British and tried for treason
in 1945. The first trial began in November in the Red Fort. In November
1945 and in February 1946, the entire country angrily protested against the
I trials and sentences of these heroes of Indian Independence.
I
1
It was amidst this nationalist wave that elections to Provincial and Central
legislatures were held. Though the right to vote was limited to a small section
of the population, the election was a test of the ideologies of nationalism
and its opponents. Congress candidates won unprecedented victories, while
the Muslim League won all Muslim seats. This vindicated its claim of being
the sole representative of the Indian Muslims. Large number of Pirs and
Sajjadanashins canvassed for the League in Punjab and Sindh. The body
of ulamas, Zamaitul-ulama-I-hind, which opposed the Pakistan demand, openly
supported the Congress. The Hindu Mahasabha, which claimed to be the
sole representative of the Hindus, was badly routed, with its leader Syama
Prasad Mukherjee getting only 146 votes against his opponent's 6,000 in
the Calcutta seat.
Check Your Progiess Exercise 4
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers.
ii) Check your answers with the model answers given at the end
of the unit.
1) What was the Individual Satyagr*?

2) What was the Quit India Movement?

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 Historical Background
3.10 COMMUNAL RIOTS, INDEPENDENCE AND .
PARTITION
The mutiny by the Naval Ratings at Bombay and Karachi made apparent
the signs of disaffection within the army. A demoralised bureaucracy was
also evident. It was clear that Britain could not hold India any longer. The
Muslim League, with active patronage of the bureaucracy, opposed any move
by the British to quit India without first granting Pakistan. The Cabinet
Mission was sent in 1946 to recommend fiture arrangements. The Mission
rejected Pakistan as a viable alternative, but its recommendation of a grouping
system of provinces was taken by the League as endorsement of its Pakistan
demand, which the Congress leaders like Nehru firmly rejected. To force
its demand of Pakistan, the League rejected the Cabinet Mission
recommendations and declared Direct Action Day on 16 August 1946. With
no anti-colonial programme, direct action against the congress or those who
opposed Pakistan was implied. The result was a communal carnage in
Calcutta claiming more than 5000 lives, where the Muslim League Chief
Minister had declared 16 August a holiday. A reaction in the form of anti-
Hindu violence broke out in Noakhali, which was a major outpost of the
peasant movement since the IVon-Cooperation/Khilafat days. Communal
ideology by now had a complete sway. Counter reactions began in Bihar,
where villages were burnt down and Muslims killed in thousands with such
ferocity, causing Nehru to threaten that he would bomb the area if rioting
did not stop. The colonial masters were not ready to take responsibility
for a situation they had assiduously helped create. They noddecided to
quit India, betraying the essentially irresponsible character of colonialism,
which left most colonised societies iti a state of chaos either by partitioning
I
or dividing them from within.

The realisation dawned that if Independence was so near, Pakistan too

was not very far. Both were inevitable. The consequences of not having
Pakistan were visible from the riots of Calcutta, Naokhali and Bihar. Thus,
when the Congress leaders and Gandhi accepted partition, they were
accepting the inevitable. It was hoped that partition would solve the
problem of communalism forever. On 15th August 1947, India became
free.

,
3.11 LETUSSUMUP
Independence was the conclusion of a long struggle against colonialism. The
early nationalists and extremists inculcated a high sense of patriotism among
the people. Gandhi under the aegis of the Congress brought peasantry,
labouring classes and the exploited masses into the vortex of nationalism.
The social programmes of the nationalists aimed at more than a mere political
liberation of the people. But the idea of the early nationalists that India
was a nation in the making proved to be true because partition displayed
h e lack of a strong foundation of the Indian nation. The force of nationalism
that caused the British to quit, was now to be employed to resolve social
questions of poverty, illiteracy and development, with the help of a democratic
and secular polity.
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 National Movement
3.12 SOME USEFUL BOOKS
Banerjee, Surendra Nath, A Nation in the Making, Calcutta, 1963

Bondurant, Joan V, Conquest of Violence, Barkeley, 1971

-Chandra
-
Bipan et. al. (eds.), India's Struggle for Independence, Delhi, 1989

Dutt, R. Palme, India today, Delhi, 1949

Nehru, Jawaharlal, An Autobiography, Delhi, 1934

Prasad, Rajendra India Divided, Bombay, 1947

Sarkar, Sumit, Modern India 1885-1947, Delhi, 1983

Verma (ed.), Shiv, Selected Writings of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, New Delhi,
1986

3.13 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERClSES
Check Your Progress Exercise 1

1) They became' conscious of their position and organised protest against

the British.
2) The early nationalists believed that the common interest and well-being
of the Indians were being hampered by the colonial state, mainly due
to the draining of resources from India.
3) It advocated the followings as the made of protest: passive resistance,
boycott, adoption of swadeshi and national education.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2 '
1) As a result of Gandhi's participation in the Champaran movement the
government forced the planters to return 25% of the illegal exaction
to the peasants.
2) It passed the 'Rawlatt Act, as it would have provided for the imprisonment
of Indians without trial.
3) Non-violent Non-Coopera'tion movement.
Check Your Progress Exercise 3
1) Gandhi believed that the occupational hierarchy could be destroyed by
regaining the purity of the varna system. Arnbedkar on the other hand
believed that hieararchy and untouchability existed because of the
Hindu vama system; this could be removed by destroying the Vama
system.
2) The success of the programmes and vision of the national movement
in inspiring peasants, laboures and masses to join the movement. This
alarmed the upper classes who encouraged communalism.
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 Historical Background
Check Your Progress EXC rcise 4
1) It was an inhvidual low-key satyagrah which was launched on October
17, 1940. Individual leaders participated in it by making public speeches
against colonial powers and by courting arrest.
2) It was launched under the leadership of Gandhiji on August 8, 1942,
by asking the British to a quit India and giving the call to the Indians
to 'do or die' for the cause of Indian Independence.

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