Nationalism in India

1. How national feeling grew in a colony

In Europe, modern nationalism grew with the making of nation-states; it changed how people saw their identity, with new symbols, songs and icons forging fresh links between communities. In India and other colonies, nationalism was tied directly to the anti-colonial movement. People discovered their unity in the very process of struggling against colonialism.

The shared sense of being oppressed gave many different groups a common bond. But each class felt colonialism differently — their experiences and their idea of freedom were not the same. The Congress under Mahatma Gandhi tried to bring these groups into one movement, yet, as we will see, this unity did not come without conflict.

2. The First World War and a new economic situation

The First World War (1914–18) created a new economic and political situation in India:

• Huge defence spending, financed by war loans and higher taxes — customs duties were raised and income tax was introduced.
• Prices doubled between 1913 and 1918, causing extreme hardship for ordinary people.
• Forced recruitment in the villages (forcing people to join the army) caused widespread anger.
• In 1918–19 and 1920–21, crops failed, causing acute food shortages, followed by an influenza epidemic. The 1921 census recorded that 12 to 13 million people died from famine and the epidemic.

People hoped hardship would end after the war — but it did not. At this point a new leader appeared with a new mode of struggle: Mahatma Gandhi.

3. The idea of Satyagraha

Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in January 1915, where he had fought racism through a new method of mass agitation called satyagraha.

Satyagraha stresses the power of truth and the need to search for truth. If the cause is true and the struggle is against injustice, then physical force is not necessary. A satyagrahi wins the battle through non-violence — by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor, persuading even oppressors to see the truth, rather than forcing them. Gandhi believed this dharma of non-violence could unite all Indians.

Early satyagrahas in India:

• 1917 — Champaran (Bihar): to inspire peasants to struggle against the oppressive indigo plantation system.
• 1917 — Ahmedabad: a satyagraha among cotton mill workers.
• 1918 — Kheda (Gujarat): supporting peasants hit by crop failure and plague who could not pay revenue and wanted it relaxed.

4. The Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh (1919)

Emboldened by these successes, Gandhi in 1919 launched a nationwide satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act (1919). This Act was hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite the united opposition of Indian members. It gave the government enormous powers to repress political activity and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.

Gandhi wanted non-violent civil disobedience, starting with a hartal on 6 April. Rallies were held, workers struck, shops shut. Alarmed, the British clamped down — local leaders were picked up, Gandhi was barred from Delhi. On 10 April, police in Amritsar fired on a peaceful procession, provoking attacks on banks, post offices and railway stations. Martial law was imposed and General Dyer took command.

As news spread, north Indian towns saw strikes, clashes and attacks on government buildings. The government replied with brutal repression — satyagrahis were made to rub their noses on the ground, crawl on streets and salaam all sahibs; people were flogged and villages bombed. Seeing the violence spread, Mahatma Gandhi called off the movement.

5. The Khilafat issue — bringing Hindus and Muslims together

The Rowlatt satyagraha had stayed mostly in cities. Gandhi now wanted a broader movement, but felt it needed Hindu–Muslim unity. The chance was the Khilafat issue.

The First World War had ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey, and there were rumours of a harsh peace treaty on the Ottoman emperor — the Khalifa, spiritual head of the Islamic world. To defend the Khalifa’s powers, a Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919, led by young leaders Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali. At the Calcutta session of the Congress (September 1920), Gandhi convinced leaders to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as swaraj.

6. Why Non-Cooperation, and how it was adopted

In his book Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhi argued that British rule survived only because of Indian cooperation — if Indians refused to cooperate, British rule would collapse within a year and swaraj would come.

The movement was to unfold in stages: begin with surrendering government titles and a boycott of civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils, schools and foreign goods; and, if repression followed, a full civil disobedience campaign. Through 1920, Gandhi and Shaukat Ali toured to build support.

Many Congressmen were worried — reluctant to boycott the November 1920 council elections and afraid of violence. After an intense tussle, a compromise was worked out at the Nagpur session (December 1920) and the Non-Cooperation programme was adopted.

7. Differing strands — the movement in the towns

The Non-Cooperation–Khilafat Movement began in January 1921. Every group answered the call of swaraj, but the term meant different things to different people.

In the towns (middle-class start):

• Thousands of students left government schools and colleges; headmasters and teachers resigned; lawyers gave up their practices.
• Council elections were boycotted in most provinces — except Madras, where the Justice Party (party of the non-Brahmans) saw the council as a way to gain power usually held only by Brahmans.
• Economic effect: foreign goods boycotted, liquor shops picketed, foreign cloth burnt in bonfires. The import of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922 (value fell from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore). Indian textile mills and handlooms grew.

Why it slowed in towns: khadi cloth was often more expensive than mill cloth, so the poor could not buy it for long; and boycotting British institutions needed alternative Indian institutions, which came up too slowly. Students and teachers drifted back to government schools; lawyers returned to courts.

8. Rebellion in the countryside — peasants and tribals

From the cities, the movement spread to the countryside, drawing in peasant and tribal struggles.

Awadh (peasants): led by Baba Ramchandra, a sanyasi who had earlier been an indentured labourer in Fiji. The movement was against talukdars and landlords demanding high rents and many cesses. Peasants had to do begar (forced unpaid labour) and had no security of tenure. Demands were: reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, and social boycott of oppressive landlords. Nai–dhobi bandhs were organised by panchayats to deny landlords the services of barbers and washermen. The Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up (October 1920) under Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra and others — over 300 branches within a month.

But the peasants gave the struggle their own shape — the houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked, bazaars looted, grain hoards seized; many believed Gandhi had said no taxes were to be paid and land was to be redistributed. The Mahatma’s name was invoked to sanction all action.

Gudem Hills (tribals, Andhra Pradesh): a militant guerrilla movement — not a form Congress could approve. The colonial government had closed forest areas, banning people from grazing cattle or collecting fuelwood, and forced begar for road building. Their leader, Alluri Sitaram Raju, claimed special powers; he spoke of Gandhi’s greatness and urged people to wear khadi and give up drinking — yet insisted India could be freed only by force. The Gudem rebels attacked police stations. Raju was captured and executed in 1924 and became a folk hero.

9. Swaraj in the plantations; the end at Chauri Chaura

Plantation workers (Assam): for tea-garden workers, freedom meant the right to move freely in and out of the enclosed space and to keep a link with their home village. Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, workers were not allowed to leave the tea gardens without permission. Hearing of Non-Cooperation, thousands defied authorities, left the plantations and headed home, believing "Gandhi Raj" was coming. They were caught in a railway and steamer strike, stranded, and brutally beaten by police.

These groups read swaraj in their own ways — yet by chanting Gandhi’s name and linking to the Congress, they identified with an all-India agitation beyond their locality.

10. Towards Civil Disobedience — the Simon Commission and Purna Swaraj

After the withdrawal in February 1922, some Congress leaders, tired of mass struggle, wanted to contest provincial council elections. C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party within the Congress to argue for a return to council politics, while younger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose pressed for radical mass agitation and full independence.

Two factors then shaped politics in the late 1920s:

• The worldwide economic depression — agricultural prices fell from 1926 and collapsed after 1930; peasants could not sell harvests or pay revenue.
• The Simon Commission — set up under Sir John Simon to look into India’s constitution, but it had no Indian member. When it arrived in 1928 it was met with the slogan "Go back Simon" by all parties, including the Congress and the Muslim League.

To win Indians over, Viceroy Lord Irwin announced in October 1929 a vague offer of "dominion status" and a Round Table Conference. This did not satisfy the radicals. In December 1929, at the Lahore Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru, the demand of "Purna Swaraj" (full independence) was formalised, and 26 January 1930 was declared Independence Day.

11. The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930)

Gandhi found in salt a powerful symbol to unite the nation. On 31 January 1930 he sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin with eleven demands, ranging from issues for industrialists to peasants, so all classes could identify with them. The most stirring was the demand to abolish the salt tax — salt was used by rich and poor alike, and the government’s tax and monopoly over it revealed the most oppressive face of British rule.

The letter was an ultimatum: if the demands were not met by 11 March, the Congress would launch civil disobedience. Irwin refused. So Gandhi began his famous Salt/Dandi March with 78 trusted volunteers — over 240 miles (about 10 miles a day for 24 days) from his Sabarmati ashram to Dandi. On 6 April 1930 he reached Dandi and ceremonially broke the salt law by making salt from sea water. This began the Civil Disobedience Movement.

The government arrested Congress leaders one by one, leading to violent clashes. When Abdul Ghaffar Khan was arrested (April 1930), crowds faced firing in Peshawar; when Gandhi himself was arrested, Sholapur workers attacked symbols of British rule. About 100,000 people were arrested.

12. Gandhi–Irwin Pact and the second phase

Gandhi called off the movement and signed the Gandhi–Irwin Pact (5 March 1931), agreeing to attend the Round Table Conference (which Congress had boycotted) in return for the release of political prisoners. In December 1931 Gandhi went to London for the Second Round Table Conference, but negotiations broke down and he returned disappointed. Back home, the government had begun fresh repression — Ghaffar Khan and Nehru were in jail, the Congress was declared illegal. With great apprehension, Gandhi relaunched Civil Disobedience in 1932; it continued for over a year but had lost its momentum by 1934.

13. How different participants saw the movement

• Rich peasants (Patidars of Gujarat, Jats of UP): hard hit by falling prices, they wanted the revenue demand reduced. They became enthusiastic supporters, but were disappointed when the movement was called off in 1931 without revenue cuts — many refused to rejoin in 1932.
• Poor peasants (small tenants): wanted their unpaid rent to landlords remitted. They joined radical movements led by Socialists and Communists, but the Congress — wary of upsetting rich peasants and landlords — was unwilling to support "no rent" campaigns, so their relationship stayed uncertain.
• Business classes: had profited in WWI and grown powerful. Through the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress (1920) and FICCI (1927), leaders like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla wanted protection against imports. They supported and funded the movement at first, but after the Round Table failure grew apprehensive of militancy, prolonged disruption and the rise of socialism.
• Industrial workers: stayed largely aloof (except Nagpur), as industrialists were close to Congress. Some did join — railway workers (1930), dockworkers (1932), and Chotanagpur tin-mine workers wore Gandhi caps — but Congress kept their demands out to avoid alienating industrialists.
• Women: participated on a large scale — joined marches, made salt, picketed shops, went to jail. In cities they came from high-caste families, in villages from rich peasant households. Yet Gandhi saw their role chiefly as a sacred duty; the Congress was reluctant to give women positions of authority and valued mainly their symbolic presence.

14. The limits of Civil Disobedience — dalits and Muslims

Dalits ("untouchables"): Congress had long ignored them, fearing to offend the conservative high-caste sanatanis. Gandhi declared swaraj would not come for a hundred years if untouchability was not ended; he called them harijan (children of God) and organised satyagraha for temple entry and access to wells, roads and schools. But many dalit leaders wanted a political solution — reserved seats and a separate electorate. Dr B. R. Ambedkar, who founded the Depressed Classes Association (1930), clashed with Gandhi at the Second Round Table Conference by demanding separate electorates. When the British conceded this, Gandhi began a fast unto death, believing separate electorates would slow dalit integration. The result was the Poona Pact (September 1932): reserved seats in legislative councils for the Depressed Classes, but voted in by the general electorate.

Muslims: after the decline of Non-Cooperation–Khilafat, many Muslims felt alienated as the Congress seemed close to Hindu groups like the Hindu Mahasabha. Communal clashes deepened the distance. In 1927 a Congress–League unity seemed possible; Muhammad Ali Jinnah was willing to give up separate electorates if Muslims got reserved seats in the Central Assembly and representation in Bengal and Punjab. But the All Parties Conference (1928) collapsed when M. R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha opposed compromise. So when Civil Disobedience began, in an atmosphere of distrust, large sections of Muslims could not respond — fearing their culture and identity would be submerged under a Hindu majority. Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1930) stressed the need for separate electorates to safeguard Muslim interests.

15. The sense of collective belonging

Nationalism spreads when people feel part of the same nation. Besides shared struggles, this feeling was created through cultural processes — history and fiction, folklore and songs, popular prints and symbols.

• Bharat Mata: the nation came to be visualised as a mother-figure. The image was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who wrote "Vande Mataram" in the 1870s (later included in his novel Anandamath and sung during the Swadeshi movement). Abanindranath Tagore painted Bharat Mata as a calm, ascetic, divine figure. Devotion to this mother became evidence of one’s nationalism.
• Folklore: nationalists toured villages to record folk tales and songs to revive a "true" national culture. In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore collected ballads and myths; in Madras, Natesa Sastri published the four-volume The Folklore of Southern India.
• Flags: during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal a tricolour (red, green, yellow) flag with eight lotuses (for eight provinces) and a crescent moon was designed. By 1921 Gandhi had designed the Swaraj flag — tricolour (red, green, white) with a spinning wheel in the centre, symbol of self-help. Carrying it during marches became a sign of defiance.
• Reinterpretation of history: the British painted Indians as backward; in response Indians wrote of India’s glorious ancient past in art, science, mathematics, religion and culture, urging readers to take pride and struggle to change present conditions.

16. Conclusion and the Quit India Movement

Growing anger against colonial rule brought varied groups into a common freedom struggle, which the Congress under Gandhi tried to channel into organised movements. But because diverse groups had varied aspirations, the high points of unity were followed by phases of disunity — what was emerging was "a nation with many voices".

17. NCERT Exercises — "Write in brief" answered

Q1(a). Why is the growth of nationalism in the colonies linked to an anti-colonial movement? People discovered their unity by struggling against colonialism. The shared sense of oppression bound different groups together, and out of this common struggle a national identity grew — so colonial nationalism was inseparable from anti-colonialism.

Q1(b). How did the First World War help the National Movement? The war raised taxes and customs and introduced income tax; war loans and doubled prices (1913–18) caused hardship; forced recruitment angered villages; and crop failures plus the influenza epidemic killed 12–13 million. This widespread suffering, with no relief after the war, created the mass discontent that the National Movement could mobilise.

Q1(c). Why were Indians outraged by the Rowlatt Act? It was rushed through despite united Indian opposition; it gave the government huge powers to crush political activity and allowed detention without trial for two years — a clear denial of justice and civil rights.

Q1(d). Why did Gandhi withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement? After the Chauri Chaura incident (February 1922), where a crowd turned violent and killed policemen, Gandhi felt the movement was turning violent and that satyagrahis were not yet trained for disciplined mass struggle.

Q2. What is meant by the idea of satyagraha? Satyagraha is the method of mass agitation based on the power of truth and non-violence. If the cause is just, no physical force is needed; the satyagrahi wins by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor and persuading him of the truth. It is active, soul-force — the weapon of the strong, without ill-will.

Q3(a). Newspaper report — Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Amritsar, 13 April 1919: A peaceful Baisakhi-day gathering in the enclosed Jallianwala Bagh ended in horror today. General Dyer blocked the only exits and ordered firing on the unarmed crowd of men, women and children, killing hundreds. Dyer admitted he wished to "produce a moral effect" of terror. The brutality has shocked the nation and sparked outrage across Punjab.

Q3(b). Newspaper report — Simon Commission. 1928: The Simon Commission, set up to review India’s constitution, has been met everywhere with black flags and the slogan "Go Back Simon". Indians of all parties are outraged that the commission has no Indian member — foreigners alone deciding India’s future. In one demonstration, Lala Lajpat Rai was assaulted by police and later died of his injuries.

Q4. Compare Bharat Mata with Germania (Chapter 1). Both are female figures personifying the nation, used to inspire devotion and sacrifice. Germania wears a crown of oak leaves (heroism) and represents the German nation; Bharat Mata (by Abanindranath Tagore) is shown as a calm, ascetic, divine, spiritual figure dispensing learning, food and clothing. Both are visual symbols around which national identity was built.

18. NCERT Exercises — "Discuss" answered

Q1. Social groups in the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1921 (and why they joined). Groups: town middle classes (students, teachers, lawyers), merchants and traders, peasants (Awadh), tribals (Gudem), and plantation workers (Assam). Three examples:

• Town middle class — boycotted government schools, courts and councils, hoping non-cooperation would bring swaraj; but khadi was costly and Indian institutions slow to appear, so many drifted back.
• Awadh peasants — led by Baba Ramchandra against talukdars; wanted lower rents, abolition of begar, and social boycott of oppressive landlords. They read swaraj as the end of landlord oppression.
• Plantation workers (Assam) — for them swaraj meant the right to move freely out of the gardens and keep links with their villages; they defied the Inland Emigration Act and were beaten by police.

Q2. Why was the Salt March an effective symbol of resistance? Salt was used by everyone, rich and poor, so the salt tax united all classes against a clearly unjust law. Breaking the law was simple, peaceful and dramatic; the long march drew huge crowds and worldwide attention, and exposed the most oppressive face of British rule — making it a perfect symbol around which the whole nation could rally non-violently.

Q3. Imagine you are a woman in the Civil Disobedience Movement. For the first time I stepped out of my home into public life — marching, making salt, picketing liquor and foreign-cloth shops, and even going to jail. I felt service to the nation was a sacred duty and that I was an equal participant in the freedom struggle, though leaders still saw my role mainly as symbolic.

Q4. Why did leaders differ over separate electorates? Dalit leaders like Ambedkar wanted separate electorates to gain political power and self-respect; Gandhi opposed them, fearing they would slow dalit integration into society (resolved by the Poona Pact). Muslim leaders sought separate electorates to safeguard a minority’s culture and interests; Congress feared this would divide the nation along communal lines. So the disagreement was over how best to protect minorities versus keeping national unity.

Project — Indo-China comparison (brief). Like India, Indo-China fought colonial rule, but it won independence largely through armed struggle and guerrilla warfare (against the French, then the USA), whereas India’s movement was mainly non-violent mass satyagraha under the Congress.

19. Some important dates (memorise these)

• 1918–19 — Distressed UP peasants organised by Baba Ramchandra.
• April 1919 — Gandhian hartal against Rowlatt Act; Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
• January 1921 — Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movement launched.
• February 1922 — Chauri Chaura; Gandhi withdraws Non-Cooperation.
• May 1924 — Alluri Sitarama Raju arrested, ending the two-year armed tribal struggle.
• December 1929 — Lahore Congress; demand for "Purna Swaraj" adopted.
• 1930 — Ambedkar establishes Depressed Classes Association.
• March 1930 — Gandhi begins Civil Disobedience by breaking the salt law at Dandi.
• March 1931 — Gandhi ends Civil Disobedience (Gandhi–Irwin Pact).
• December 1931 — Second Round Table Conference.
• 1932 — Civil Disobedience re-launched; Poona Pact (September).

20. Common confusions

• Non-Cooperation vs Civil Disobedience: Non-Cooperation (1921) = refuse to cooperate (boycott schools, courts, goods). Civil Disobedience (1930) = actively break the law (make salt, refuse taxes).
• Rowlatt satyagraha vs Non-Cooperation: the Rowlatt protest (1919) was against the Rowlatt Act and stayed mostly urban; Non-Cooperation (1921) was the broad movement linked to Khilafat.
• Jallianwala Bagh (13 April 1919) vs Chauri Chaura (Feb 1922): the first was British firing on Indians; the second was Indian violence against police that made Gandhi call off Non-Cooperation.
• Khalifa (spiritual head of Islam) vs Khilafat Committee (Indian body to defend him).
• Bankim Chandra wrote "Vande Mataram"; Abanindranath Tagore painted Bharat Mata — do not mix them up.
• Poona Pact (1932) gave reserved seats but not separate electorates to the Depressed Classes.

21. Quick revision checklist

• WWI hardships (taxes, prices, forced recruitment, famine + flu) → mass discontent.
• Satyagraha = truth + non-violence; Champaran, Ahmedabad, Kheda.
• Rowlatt Act → Jallianwala Bagh (13 April 1919) → Khilafat → Non-Cooperation (Nagpur 1920, begins Jan 1921).
• Town/peasant/tribal/plantation strands; ends at Chauri Chaura (Feb 1922).
• Simon Commission "Go Back" → Lahore 1929 Purna Swaraj → Salt March (6 April 1930) → Civil Disobedience.
• Gandhi–Irwin Pact (1931); relaunch 1932; Poona Pact 1932.
• Limits: dalits (Ambedkar) and Muslims; separate-electorate debate.
• Collective belonging: Bharat Mata, Vande Mataram, folklore, Swaraj flag, re-told history.