The Indian Nationalist

Movement and Gandhi

1900 - 1950
 Two Organizations Fought For
Independence in India
Indian National Congress Muslim League
• Comprised of Middle Class • Comprised of Middle
professionals and lawyers Class professionals and
educated in England lawyers educated in
• Majority of members Hindu England
• Wanted greater self- • Members Muslim
government for Indians in • Wanted independence for
India India and creation of 2
countries: India and
Pakistan
 Muhammad
Ali Jinnah
• Leader of the
Muslim League
who pushed for a
separate country
for Muslim
Indians.
 Mohandas Gandhi
• Studied law in England,
practiced in South Africa
• Joined the INC before
WWI
• Became leader of the INC
because he was better able
to relate to the problems of
the common people
• Believed in the idea of
non-violent resistance
(Satyagraha)
 Amritsar
Massacre 1919
•Peaceful demonstration
against British
•Resulted in over 300
deaths
•Convinced Gandhi that
cooperation with the
British was impossible
 Site of massacre
today

Alley that
prevented the
use of tanks
Jinnah and Gandhi c. 1940
 Gandhi’s Influences
•Hindu religion and
“ahimsa”
•Christ’s teaching to
love one’s enemy
•Henry David
Thoreau’s
philosophy of civil
disobedience
Gandhi’s Ideas and Methods
• Satyagraha –
protesting without
using violence in order
to win the enemy over
 Civil Disobedience
•Breaking unjust laws
•The Salt March 1930
Boycotts
•Gandhi urged
Indians to stop
buying British
products
•Making
homespun cloth
became the
symbol of his
movement
Equality for Caste and Women
• Gandhi fought to
improve conditions for
women and
untouchables in India
Hindu-Muslim Unity
• “Indian first,
Muslim or
Hindu second”
• Gandhi often
fasted to end
Hindu-Muslim
conflict
 As Gandhi’s movement grew, British
officials were forced to meet with him.
 India Received Independence in
1947
• India’s government resembles Britain's
• India was Partitioned into 2 countries: India
and Pakistan
• Mass migrations occurred and Hindu -
Muslim conflicts exploded
• Gandhi was assassinated in 1948