Chapter 3 - Nationalism In India

Alluri Sitaram Raju was the individual who led the tribal people and supported them to fight for their traditional rights when the government imposed restrictions on them which affected their livelihoods.

Alluri Sitaram Raju is well-known because-

• He asserted that he possesses special powers through which he could make the right astrological predictions and has the power to heal people.

• Also, he could also survive bullet shots.

The People who found Alluri Sitaram Raju interesting declared him as an incarnation of God. He spoke about Mahatma Gandhi and his thoughts. Even though he convinced people that he is inspired by the Non-Cooperation movement and encouraged people to wear khadi and to quit drinking, but at the same time he argued that India would become free only through violence or force and not by ahimsa or peace.

Lord Irwin was the viceroy who announced a vague offer of domination status for India in October 1929. In 1928, when Simon commission arrived in India, welcomed with a slogan ‘Go back, Simon’. Congress, Muslim League and all the other parties demonstrated. In order to win their support, Lord Irwin announced ‘dominion status’ for India with unstated future and also a Round Table Conference to discuss the future constitution.

NOTE – People demonstrated against Simon Commission because it didn’t have even a single Indian member. It included all the British to make changes in the functioning of the established constitutional system in India.

Everyone interpreted the term ‘Swaraj’ in their own way, so did the workers. They have their own views regarding Mahatma Gandhi and about Swaraj. For example – Plantation workers in Assam expected that freedom would ultimately allow them to move freely anywhere and establish a connection with their village. Inland Emigration Act of 1859 didn’t permit plantation workers to leave the tea gardens without permission. Thousands of workers refused to obey what authorities said, left the plantations and went home. They did this because they came to know about the Non-Cooperation Movement and believed that Gandhi Raj would give the land in their own villages. However, in midway only they were stopped by the police and brutally beaten up. Congress didn’t support what these movements had visualised to do.

The congress was reluctant to include workers’ demand as part of its programme of the struggle because-

• Workers thought that time would come when their all troubles and sufferings would come to an end.

• Also, they associated the movement with that of the Congress and in the name of Mahatma Gandhi which went beyond the limits.

In 1930, Dalits were organised into the Depressed Classes Association by Dr B.R. Ambedkar. At the second round table conference, Gandhiji and Dr Ambedkar fought as he demanded separate electorates for Dalits. When the British Government accepted his demand, Gandhiji began a fast unto death. Ultimately, Ambedkar realised that Gandhiji is right that separate electorates for Dalits will become the hindrance in the process of integration of society. This resulted in the Poona Pact of September 1932.

The significance of Poona Pact was –

• According to the Poona Pact, Depressed classes also known as Scheduled castes, were given reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils. However, they had to vote through the general electorate only.

Nation became to identify with the image or a figure and gradually the image was created so that people can identify the nation. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote the famous novel Anandamath. As India came to be associated with the image of Bharat Mata in the 20th century, he was the first person to create the image and wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ as a hymn in the 1870s.

The famous novel Anandamath included this hymn, and during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, this hymn was widely sung.

NOTE - Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was the Indian writer, poet and Journalist who with his various works inspired activist during the Indian Independence movement.

Non-Cooperation Movement focussed on denying all the facilities, jobs, titles and products provided by the British government in India. Their main motive is to not to cooperate with the British government anymore.

Gandhiji decided to launch the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920 due to the following reasons –

• In September 1920, Mahatma Gandhi at the Calcutta session of the Congress tried to persuade other leaders that the time has come to launch the Non-Cooperation Movement so that they could get the support for Khilafat and for Swaraj.

• Gandhiji believed that the British government was able to establish their rule in India because of the cooperation by them. The time when Indians refuse to cooperate, British rule in India will come to an end, and that will be the beginning of the Swaraj. He mentioned this in his famous book Hind Swaraj (1909).

OR

As Mahatma Gandhi realised that it was due to the cooperation of the Indians that British rule continued in India. So he decided to launch the Non-Cooperation movement which reaches its destination in stages. The development which led to the launching of the Non-cooperation Movement in 1920 was as follows:

• The first task was to give up all the titles given to them by the British government and to boycott civil services, army, police, courts and legislative councils, schools, and foreign goods. If the government try to suppress them, then they will launch the Civil disobedience campaign.

• Mahatma Gandhi and Shaukat Ali travelled to many places throughout the summer of 1920 to gain support for the movement.

• People were reluctant to accept this and were not ready to boycott the council elections which was planned to hold in November 1920, and there was also the fear that the movement might end up in violence. But later, they negotiated at the Congress session at Nagpur in December 1920, and the Non-Cooperation movement was launched.

When Non-cooperation movement was started middle-class participated. Students began to boycott government-controlled schools and colleges, headmasters and teachers resigned. Except for Madras, council elections were boycotted.

Also, economically, Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and foreign cloth burnt in huge bonfires by the people. Merchants and traders also refused to trade foreign goods or finance foreign trade. This resulted in an increase in the manufacturing of the Indian textile mills and handlooms, but in cities and towns, the Non-Cooperation Movement gradually slow down due to the following reasons:

• The poor people could not afford to pay for the khadi cloth which was very expensive as compared to the mass-produced mill cloth which was cheap. So it became difficult for them to boycott the mill cloth.

• One of the tasks under Non-cooperation movement was to boycott all the British institutions but in order to do this one had to establish the alternative institutions which were slow to come up. This became a problem for people.

• As a result, students and teachers joined government schools and college again, and lawyers joined government courts.

Workers interpreted the term ‘Swaraj’ in their own way. They have their own views regarding Mahatma Gandhi and about Swaraj. For example – Plantation workers in Assam expected that freedom would ultimately allow them to move freely anywhere and establish a connection with their village.

The conditions of the plantation workers during colonial rule were as follows:

• Inland Emigration Act of 1859 didn’t permit plantation workers to leave the tea gardens without permission.

• As a result, thousands of workers refused to obey what authorities said, left the plantations and went home. They did this because they came to know about the Non-Cooperation Movement and believed that Gandhi Raj would give the land in their own villages. However, in midway only they were stopped by the police and brutally beaten up.

• Workers thought that time would come when their all troubles and sufferings would come to an end. Plantation workers became emotionally connected to all-India agitation when they were chanting Gandhiji’s name and demanded ‘Swatantra Bharat’.

• They associated the movement with that of the Congress and in the name of Mahatma Gandhi which went beyond the limits.

Salt was the daily used product of everyone’s life, Gandhiji considered it as a powerful symbol that could unite the nation. He sent the letter to Lord Irwin stating 11 demands on 31 January 1930. The demands were of general interest and other specific demands of different classes like Industrialists and peasants. The motive was to fulfil such demands so that people of all classes could relate to it and come together for the campaign.

One such demand was the abolition of the salt tax, as salt was something which was consumed by the rich as well as by the poor people and is the most essential food item. The imposition of the salt tax and government’s monopoly over its production was the unfair practice of the Britishers against Indians.

The letter stated that if the demands were not fulfilled by 11th March, they would launch the Civil Disobedience movement. As Irwin refused to negotiate, Mahatma Gandhi with his 78 trusted volunteers started the salt march. The march started from Gandhiji’s ashram in Sabarmati and ended in Gujarati coastal town of Dandi. It was total 240 miles; volunteers walked for 24 days and covered about 10 miles a day. While he was walking, he met people at every stop made them understand what Swaraj meant and requested for peaceful refusal of the British rule. Finally, on 6th April, he reached Dandi and successfully violated the law by manufacturing salt by boiling sea water.

This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience movement by Mahatma Gandhi.

By successfully violating the salt law by manufacturing salt at Dandi, Gandhiji initiated the Civil disobedience movement. Their motive was to violate the rules and restrictions put on them. They demanded were related to the general interest of the people, and other specific demands of different classes like Industrialists and peasants. The motive was to fulfil such demands so that people of all classes could relate to it and come together for the campaign

The main features of the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930 were as follows:

• According to the Civil Disobedience movement, people not only disapproved of co-operating but also asked to break the colonial laws.

• For example - in different parts of the country thousands of people broke the salt law by manufacturing salt and demonstrated in front of the government salt factories.

• As the intensity of the movement increased, the foreign clothes were boycotted and protested against the liquor shops.

• Peasants said no to the paying of revenue and chaukidari taxes, and villages officials resigned from their post.

• By goinginto the Reserved Forests to collect wood and graze cattle, forest people violated many such rules.

OR

When the developments happened during the Civil disobedience movement such as people broke the colonial laws, the foreign clothes were boycotted and protested against the liquor shops, Peasants said no to the paying of revenue and chaukidari taxes and villages officials resigned from their post and forest people violated rules by going into the Reserved Forests to collect wood and graze cattle. It was regarded that this movement was important for making changes among the people of India.

The significance of the Civil Disobedience Movement was as follows:

• When people started demonstrating against the colonial rule, the British government got worried about these developments, and they arrested Congress leaders and Abdul Ghaffar Khan. When Mahatma Gandhi himself got arrested, the situation became worse. As a result, police posts, municipal buildings, law courts and railway stations, and all the other symbols related to British rule was damaged by the industrial workers in Sholapur. Women and children were also beaten up. However, to stop the movement, on 5 March 1931, Gandhiji and Irwin signed a pact which allowed them to participate in the Round Table Conference in London and also released the political prisoners.

• Rich peasants communities like Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh were worried about the trade depression and falling prices. They didn’t have the capacity to pay the government’s revenue demand. When the government refused to cooperate, they revolted. Because of this situation, rich peasants united and organised their communities to support the Civil Disobedience Movement. Moreover, they also made other people participate in this movement.

• There was also the time when business class people came together to support this movement. Well-Known industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla was against the control which was established by the Britishers over the Indian economy. Their motive was that industries should flourish without any restrictions.

• Workers came together to support the movement by boycotting foreign goods and were also against the low wages and poor working conditions.

• One of the most important significance of the Civil-disobedience movement was that a large number of women participated in this movement. Thousands of women gathered to listen to him during Dandi march. They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Women in the urban areas were from the high caste families, and in rural areas, they were from rich peasant households. They started considering that it is their responsibility to provide service to the nation.

All this shows that the civil-disobedience movement brought people together and made them put their demand against the British rule.

Nationalist before independence started travelled to many villages to gather folk songs and legends and to record folk tales sung by bards. They believed that traditional culture depicts what are actual culture is and at that time was corrupted by the outside forces. So it had become essential to preserve this traditional culture like Indian folklore by discovering one’s identity and create a sense of pride among them. Following were the examples -

• Rabindranath Tagore in Bengal started collecting ballads, nursery rhymes and myths and initiated the movement to revive the folk tradition.

• Natesa Sastri in Madras published a book called The Folklore of Southern India which was included four volumes all associated with Tamil folk tales.

• Natesa Sastri considered folklore as national literature and ‘the most trustworthy manifestation of people’s real thoughts and characteristics’.

• The famous novel Anandamath, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay included the hymn titled ‘Vande Mataram’, and during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, this hymn was widely sung.

Thus, it is clear that “Ideas of Nationalism also developed through a movement to revive Indian folklore.”

The icons and symbols used by the nationalists because –

• The nation became to identify with the image or a figure and gradually the image was created so that people can identify the nation.

• Their motive was to unite them through the use of symbols and icons.

• Generate in them a feeling of nationalism.

As a result, a tricolour flag was created which was in red, yellow and green colour during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal. The flag had eight lotuses signifying eight provinces of British India, and a crescent moon, representing Hindus and Muslims. It was in 1921, that ‘Gandhiji designed the Swaraj Flag. It was again a tricolour which was in red, green and white, and had a spinning wheel in the centre.’ This was representing the Gandhian ideal of self-help.

The values which were represented through the icons and symbols used by the nationalist leaders were-

• It acted as the symbol of defiance when the flag held upwards.

• The Bharat Mata figure drawn by the Abanindranath Tagore in 1905 was shown mother figure providing, learning, food and clothing. The Mala on her one hand was representing her ascetic quality. Before this, he also tried to create a painting which was Indian style.

• In a popular print of ‘Jawaharlal Nehru, a popular print’ shown Nehru holding the image of Bharat Mata and the map of India in his hand which was held near his heart.

• There were also other prints, in which depicted nationalist leaders sacrificed their heads to Bharat Mata. It signifies that value of sacrifice for the mother was considered as powerful.

• One figure of Bharat Mata was shown holding a Trishul, standing beside a lion and an elephant which was the symbol of power and authority.

A. Peasant Satyagraha – Awadh (Uttar Pradesh), Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh

B. Movement of Indigo Planters – Champaran (Bihar)

C. Place where Jallianwala Tragedy took place – Amritsar (Punjab)

A. Place where Indian National Congress session was held in 1929 – Lahore (Punjab province of Pakistan)

B. Place where Gandhiji organized a satyagraha in 1916 - Champaran (Bihar)

C. Place where a police station was set on fire by enraged people – Chauri Chaura (Uttar Pradesh)

A. Place where the Indian National Congress Session was held in September 1920 – Calcutta (West Bengal)

B. The place where the cotton mill workers Satyagraha was organised in 1918 – Ahmedabad (Gujarat)

A. The Place where the Indian National Congress Session was held in December 1920 – Nagpur (Maharashtra)

B. The place where Non-Cooperation Movement was called off - Chauri Chaura (Uttar Pradesh)

(i) Ahmedabad (Gujarat) – the cotton mill workers Satyagraha

(ii) Place where Gandhiji broke salt law – Dandi (Gujarat)

(iii) Place associated with the Indian National Congress Session of 1927 – Madras (Chennai)