Class 8 History

Ch. 12: The National Movement: Second Phase

Time line:












Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Born- 2 October 1869 at Porbandar (Gujarat);early education in India...later went
to England to study law...went to South Africa to practice law.
Emergence of Gandhi Ji as national leader:
Gandhiji returned to India in 1915 and travelled extensively to understand
conditions in India. He evolved new method of struggle during his stay in South
Africa and he used the same in India.
1917: Champaran
satyagraha
1918:
Ahmedabad Mill
strike
1918: Kheda
Satyagraha
1919: Rowlatt
Act , Jallianwala
Bagh Massacre
1920:
Khilafat
Movement
1920-22 Non
cooperation
Movement
1923:
Formation of
Swaraj party
1924:
Formation
of HRA
1928: Bardoli
Satyagraha
1927: Simon
commission
1930-34: Civil
Disobedience
Movement
1930:
1
st
RTC
1931: Gandhi-
Irwin Pact, 2
nd

RTC
1942: Cripps
Mission, Quit
India
Movement
1935: Govt. Of India Act
1943:Formation of INA
1946: Cabinet Mission
1947: Independence
and partition
1916: Home
rule Movement
In Africa he fought against the white rulers suppression against the Indians living
there. During his struggle he evolved the concept of satyagraha or non-violent
struggle against oppression. It was based on truth or satya and non-violence or
ahimsa. According to Gandhiji only the brave and strong could practice
satyagraha, which was not for the weak and cowards.
Early campaigns:
1. Champaran (Bihar in 1917) Satyagraha First Civil disobedience: Here, peasants
were forced to grow indigo and sell the same at the lower price fixed by European
planters. Gandhiji protested against this and forced the government to increase
the price.
2. Ahmedabad Mill strike(1918) Satyagraha First hunger strike: Workers were
demanding plague bonus which mill owner denied. Gandhiji led workers against
mill owner. Finally mill owner has to increase the wages of the workers.
3. Kaira(Kheda) (Gujarat in 1918) First non cooperation: Because of the drought
crops failed in Kheda district, but British was still demanding tax. Gandhiji asked
people not to cooperate with government and not to pay any tax.
Achievements: Because of the efforts of Gandhiji the common people for the first
time became involved in the national movement.
Method used: Peaceful demonstrations, boycott of courts and educational
institutions, peaceful defiance (bold disobedience) of law, non-payment of taxes
and picketing of shops selling foreign goods.
Home rule Movement: In 1916 Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak Launched
the Home Rule Movement in India on lines of a similar movement in Ireland.
Aim: attainment of Home Rule or Self Government within the British empire.
Method Used: Organizing discussions, propaganda through public meeting,
newspaper, pamphlet, poster; educate and organize public opinion in the country.
Achievements: It succeeded in bringing women to forefront of the Indian national
movement. It also involved masses.
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre: (1919)
1. On 10
th
April 1919 two national leaders Dr.Saifuddin kitchlew and Dr. Satya Pal
were arrested in Punjab.
2. On 13
th
April 1919 people gathered in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in protest of
the arrest as this was also the day of Baisakhi. Many women and children also
joined in unknowingly of the reason of the gathering.
3. General Dyer the military commander of Amritsar with some soldiers blocked
the only entrance of the park. He then ordered his men to open fire on the
peaceful gathering. The firing lasted for about 10 minutes, till all the ammunition
was exhausted.
4. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands were critically wounded. The
massacre shocked the entire country. Many national leaders rose against this act.
5. Rabindranath Tagore renounced (returned) his Knighthood in protest. Martial
law (rule of the military) was declared in Punjab. People were tortured and
newspapers were banned. This however strengthened peoples determination to
fight against oppression.
Khilafat Movement: (1920)
1. The Khilafat Movement was organized by Ali brothers (Mohammad Ali and
Shaukat Ali) in protest against the injustices done to Turkey (which had fought
against the British) after 1
st
world war.
2. Turkey was important to Indian Muslims as the Sultan of Turkey was also the
Caliph (or Khalifa) and was considered as the religious head of Muslim
community throughout the world.
3. The Muslims demanded for a better treatment to Turkey. This movement was
joined with non cooperation movement later. This strengthened the Hindu
Muslim unity and put lots of pressure on the British government. The congress
leaders joined this agitation and popularized it.

Non cooperation Movement (1920-1922): (under the leadership of Gandhiji)
AIM: The protest movement was started at all India level after Jallianwala Bagh
massacre (against the British repression in Punjab) also known as the Punjab
wrongs and their policy towards Turkey. It was also for the attainment of self-
government.

Start of the Movement (movement was to be launched in stages)
1. It started with the giving up of honorary titles received by Indians from the
government. Gandhiji gave up the title of Kaiser-i-Hind.
2. People started boycotting schools, colleges, legislature, law court etc.
3. People were asked not to work and not to cooperate with government in
any form.
4. Foreign cloths were burnet in public bonfires and strikes were organized at
many places.
The non cooperation movement was a success.

Withdrawal of non cooperation movement:
As Gandhiji was totally against violence he called off movement when it was in full
swing claiming that society built on violence cannot live peacefully and people still
need to know what real satyagraha is.
Chauri-Chaura incidence:
1. It was a small town in Uttar Pradesh. On 5 February 1922, a crowd of
peasants was leading a protest march through the village which was met
with police oppression.
2. The police beat a volunteer picketing shops. Angered peasants set fire to
the police station killing 22 police men.

NON-COOPERATION TO CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE (1922-1930)
Formation of Swaraj party 1923:
Withdrawal of non cooperation movement divided congress into two parts







Swaraj Party
1. It was to be functioned as a part of the Congress.
2. The Congress allowed Swarajists to contest the elections.
3. The Swaraj Party contested the elections and won some seats in the
legislatures.
4. By opposing every British move, they made it extremely difficult for the
British to get their policies and proposals approved n the legislatures.

After the withdrawal of the Non-cooperation Movement, Gandhiji had been
jailed. He was released in February 1924.
After the release of Mahatma Gandhi, some issues that were focused upon-
Removal of untouchability.
Promotion of Hindi-Muslim unity.
Spread of khadi.

Pro-Changers or Swarajists
1. One group led by C.R.Das, Motilal Nehru, Vithalbhai Patel.
2. They thought that if the Congress would boycott the elections then
the people who were loyal to the British would get elected and thus
the government would have absolute power to do anything it wanted.
3. Wanted Congress to take part in the elections, join the government
and then disturb the internal working of the legislatures.
4. So, these Pro-Changers wanted to enter the legislature and disturb the
functioning of the government by opposing all its policies.
No- Changers
1.Another group led by
Vallabhbhai Patel,C.
Rajagopalachari and Rajendra
Prasad.
2. This group wanted to take
up constructive work till the
next mass struggle.
Mobilization of the Peasants:
1. Peasants had been active participants during non cooperation movement.
2. Kisan Sabhas fought against the British and Zamindars(the agents of British).
3. Nationalist leaders also worked to solve the problems faced by the peasants.
4. In 1928 Vallabhbhai Patel organized the Bardoli Satyagraha to protest against
an increase in the taxes paid by the peasants.

Revolutionary movements (second phase):
Formation of Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) in 1924 by the
revolutionary leaders. Its objective was to overthrow British through an
armed revolution.
Kakori Conspiracy case: In 1925 a group of revolutionaries robbed
governments money from a train at Kakori(Uttar Pradesh). This money was
to be used for revolutionary activities. The group faced sever oppression
later where in some were killed and some were given life imprisonment
and death sentence.
In 1928 they killed a British Officer named Saunders. He was responsible for
the death of Lala Lajpat Rai as he ordered lathi charge on a peaceful
demonstration in which Lalaji died a few months back.
Later HRA was changed to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. As
some of the revolutionaries including Bhagat Singh started believed that
socialism should be one of their goal.
On 8 April 1929 Bhagat singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bomb in the
central legislative assembly against the Public Safety Bill and the arrest of
31 labour leaders. They made sure that the bomb was harmless and
nobody was injured. After throwing the bomb and shouting anti-British
slogans they both surrendered.

The revolutionary movement in Bengal was very strong. Young men
targeted unpopular police officers and magistrates. In 1930 three young
revolutionaries Benoy Bose, Badal Gupta and Dinesh Gupta killed the
Inspector-General of prisons.
The most famous revolutionaries of Bengal was Surya Sen. He organized
the Indian Republican Army. On 18 April 1930 alongwith some other
revolutionaries he attacked and occupied the police armoury (a place
where arms and ammunitions are kept) at Chittagong to get arms for use
against the British. He was later arrested and subsequently hanged.
Women also took an active part in the revolutionary movement. They
acted as messengers, gave shelter to the revolutionaries. Pritilata
Waddedar became a martyr in the struggle to free the country.
The movement ended when the British came down heavily on the
revolutionaries. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged on 23
March 1931.
Chandra Shekhar Azad also died fighting the British at Allahabad.

Simon Commission 1927:
In 1927 government appointed a commission to look into the working of
Government Of India Act of 1919 and to suggest further administrative reforms. It
was boycotted by Indians because:
1. All members of the commission were Englishmen.
2. The government refused to accept the demand for self-government.

The commission was sent back Simon Go Back when it arrived in India on
4 February 1928.


Purna Swaraj Resolution (1929):
1. In 1928 (annual session) Congress passed resolution demanding Dominion
Status (little less than complete independence) i.e., government by the Indians.
(It was decided that if dominion status was not given within an year, the congress
would settle for nothing less than complete independence.)
2. In December 1929 at the annual session of congress at Lahore Jawaharlal
Nehru (president of this session of congress) passed the resolution of Purna
Swaraj or complete independence as its ultimate goal. It asked all the legislatures
and not to participate in the forthcoming elections.
3. It was decided that 26 January will be celebrated as Independence Day.

Civil disobedience movement and Dandi march 1930-1934:
Dandi march 1930
1. Congress launched the civil disobedience movement in 1930 under the
leadership of Gandhiji. It started with Dandi march.
2. Government had a monopoly on salt production and its sale. People had to
buy salt from the government when they could make salt themselves.
3. As salt was used by everyone so anything related to the salt was bound to
affect all Indians this was the idea behind breaking of salt law by gandhiji.
4. On 12 March 1930 with his 78 followers he left Sabarmati Ashram
(Ahmedabad) and travelled a distance of 385 Km for 25 days to reach Dandi
(a village on the west coast of India).
5. At Dandi he broke salt law by making salt (he collected the natural salt lying
on the seashore and boiled it to make salt). Soon making salt became
symbol of peoples opposition to the government.



Other program involved: (people faced lathis & bullets with great courage but no
one struck back-non-violent struggle)
1. Breaking of unjust law. People stopped paying taxes. Hartals were there.
2. Large scale boycott of schools, colleges and offices.
3. Bonfires of foreign goods.
4. Participation of women at large scale.
Other such protests-
1. In Tamil C Rajagopalachari led a similar march.
2. In Gujarat, Sarojini Naidu protested in front of the salt depots.
Gandhi Irwin Pact 1931: Viceroy Irwin met Gandhiji. Under this government
agreed to release all political prisoners except those with charges of violence.
Congress in turn agreed to suspend the Civil Disobedience Movement and
participate in the second round table conference.
Government of India act (GOI) 1935:
Main features:
1. India was to become a federation if more than half princely states join it.
2. Provincial autonomy (freedom to provinces) granted and power of
legislature increased. Right to vote remained limited (only 14% people had
voting rights). The ministers of the provincial governments were
responsible to the legislature.
3. Dyarchy (dual government) was abolished at province level and introduced
at the centre. Viceroy was made more powerful and was not responsible to
legislature.
The act was rejected by congress. Elections to the provincial legislative assemblies
were held in 1937. Congress was an absolute majority of seats in 6 provinces and
emerged as the single largest part in 3 provinces. Formed ministries in 7/11
provinces. These ministries did useful work in the field of education and
upliftment of Harijans.


Cripps mission 1942: The Second World War was started in 1939. Britain involved
India in this war without consulting the leaders of Congress. In March 1942, Sir
Stafford Cripps was send to India with some proposals to seek Indias support in
Second World War. Gandhiji described the Cripps proposal to be too little and too
late. Gandhiji described the Cripps proposals as a post dated cheque on a
crashing bank. He decided to start another mass movement.


Quit India Movement (Bharat Chhodo Andolan):
1. In August 1942 Gandhiji launched quit India movement and gave the slogan
do or die (Karo ya Maro).
2. On 8 August 1942, All India Congress Committee passed a resolution in
Bombay declaring its demand for immediate end of British rule.
3. Governments response was too aggressive; congress was banned and most
of its leaders were arrested before they could start mobilizing people.
4. People were unstoppable. There were Hartals, demonstrations; mass
participation from all sections of the society; attacked every symbol of
British government-law courts, railway stations and police stations; Railway
lines were damaged; telegraph line were cut. At some places people even
set up independent governments.
5. British responded with lathi-charge and firing on unarmed demonstrations.
Protestors were arrested and tortured, and their homes were raided and
destroyed. By December 1942, over 60,000 people had been jailed.
6. Due to Second World War there was a terrible famine in Bengal in 1943 in
which over 30 lakh people died. The government did little to provide relief.




Azad Hind Fauj:
1. Indian National Army (INA) popularly known as Azad Hind Fauj was formed
by the efforts of Indian Independence League formed by Rash Behari Bose.
2. It consisted largely of Indian prisoners of war who were serving the British
and had been captured by Japanese during the Second World War.
3. Some Indians settled in South-east Asia had also joined the army, raising its
strength to over 45,000 soldiers.
4. In 1943 INA came under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose (Netaji). On
21 October 1943, he declared the formation of the Provisional Government
(temporary government) of Independent India in Singapore.
5. In 1944 INA attempted to enter India through north-eastern route with the
slogan of Delhi Chalo and Jai Hind.
6. A separate women regiment called Rani Jhansi Regiment was formed due
to large number of women. It was led by Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan.


Towards Independence:
1. Cabinet Mission: In 1946 cabinet mission arrived in India. It presented the
Independence plan which proposed formation of interim government
(temporary government till the proper government is formed) and
formation of constituent assembly composed of members elected by the
provincial legislatures and the nominees of the rulers of the princely states.
2. An interim government headed by Jawaharlal Nehru was formed. In
December 1946 constituent assembly started framing the constitution.


Partition:
1. The Muslim League and Indian princes refused to participate in the working
of constituent assembly.
2. Muslim League started demanding for a separate country for the Muslims.
3. Lord Mountbatten came to India in 1947 and presented plan for two
separate nations- Pakistan and India. Princely states were having the choice
to join either.
4. Lakhs of people were killed and millions became homeless. Gandhiji kept a
fast unto death to stop these killings
5. Hindu-Muslim riots had already broken out in many parts. The
announcement of the partition broke more riots, particularly in Punjab and
Bihar as congress was still against division but to stop further bloodshed it
accepted the partition.
6. A separate country comprising of West Punjab, Sind, North-West Frontier
Province and East Bengal was createdcalled as Pakistan.
7. On 15 August 1947, India became independent after almost 200 years of
British rule. Jawaharlal Nehru became the first prime minister of India.
8. On 30 January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead.