Struggle and Freedom PDF

# Struggle and Freedom ## The Stain of Indigo - Mahatma Gandhi details the circumstances that made him participate in the indigo farmers' protest at Champaran in Bihar in 1917. - He started his social activities in India helping the indigo farmers in Champaran. - Gandhi eventually gained the trus...

# Struggle and Freedom ## The Stain of Indigo - Mahatma Gandhi details the circumstances that made him participate in the indigo farmers' protest at Champaran in Bihar in 1917. - He started his social activities in India helping the indigo farmers in Champaran. - Gandhi eventually gained the trust and recognition of the common people of India. ### Reasons for his success: - The agitations he conducted in South Africa - His lifestyle as a common man (food, clothing, language) - His methods of struggle were based on non-violence - People found in Gandhiji a savior, who could solve their problems. ## Gandhiji and South Africa - Gandhiji reached South Africa as an advocate of an industrialist. - He was pushed out of the first class compartment of a train while traveling from Durban to Pretoria, he was told he had no right to travel along with the British. - He stayed for 21 years in South Africa trying to solve the problems of the non-Europeans in South Africa. ## Early Struggles of Mahatma Gandhi ### Regional Struggles | Struggle | Area | Year | |---|---|---| | The Struggle of indigo farmers in Champaran | Bihar | 1917 | | Ahmedabad cotton mill strike | Gujarat | 1918 | | Peasant struggle in Kheda | Gujarat | 1918 | - In Champaran, Gandhiji resorted to disobedience of the British rules and Satygraha. - His involvement compelled the authorities to pass laws in favour of the indigo farmers. - After his struggle in Champaran, Gandhiji worked for the progress of Champaran region by establishing primary schools, initiating medical aids and involving in clean activities. - Cotton mill workers in Ahmedabad started their strike in 1918 when they were denied 'Plague Bonus'. - Gandhiji got involved in this strike and adopted the same method of protest that he used in Champaran. - The strike came to an end when authorities agreed to hike the wages of the employees. - Due to drought and crop failure farmers in Kheda were living in utter misery. The rulers decided to collect tax from these poor villagers. - Starting Satygraha in (1918) Gandhiji protested against the decision. - He advised people not to pay tax. - Authorities were forced to reduce tax rates. - His early struggles based on Satyagraha and Ahimsa made Gandhiji a popular leader. #### **Results of the Early Struggles** - The struggles Gandhiji took up popularised his ideologies and method of protest. - Till his entry into the political scenario, national movement was confined to the educated section of the society, his methods attracted the laymen to the movement. - The city centric national movement spread to rural areas. - Gandhiji became a national leader acceptable to all strata of the society. ## Towards the National Movement - Gandhiji entered Indian national movement with his protest against the Rowlatt Act. - The British Parliament passed the Rowlatt Act in 1919 limiting the civil rights. - As per this Act any person could be arrested and imprisoned without trial. ## Jallianwala Bagh Massacre - People gathered at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on 13 April, 1919 to protest against the arrest of Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satyapal. - The city was under the control of the army. - Accusing that the protesters violated his instructions, the army chief General Dyer ordered to shoot without warning. - The innocent, harmless people were trapped as the ground was surrounded by buildings and the only entrance was blocked by the armed British soldiers. - As per the British records, the shooting of ten minutes killed 379 protesters. - In fact, the death toll was actually double this. - The massacre at Jallianwala Bagh intensified the protests at the national level. - Gandhiji said: "If the Battle of Plassey laid the foundation for the British rule, Jallianwala Bagh shook the foundation." ## Non-cooperation and the Khilafat Movements - The first national level struggle by the Indian National Congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi was the non-cooperation movement. - The confidence gained from the anti- Rowlatt protest motivated Gandhiji to declare non-cooperation against the British. #### **Examples of Indian Societal Response to Gandhiji's Appeal for Non-cooperation:** - Farmers in Awadh refused to pay taxes. - The tribal groups in northern Andhra entered the forests and collected the forest produces violating the forest laws. - Farmers in Uttar Pradesh refused to carry the luggage of the colonial officials. - Workers struck work. - Lawyers boycotted courts. - Students quitted colleges and schools run by the British. - The public, including women, burnt foreign clothes on the streets. - In addition to his appeal for non-cooperation, Gandhiji motivated the people to participate in constructive programmes. - People began to make indigenous products, spin khadi cloth using charka, establish national schools and popularise Hindi. - Kashi Vidya Pith Gujarat Vidya pith, Jamia Millia, etc., are some of the national educational institutions started during this time. - Students who boycotted English education were attracted to national educational institutions. - During the same period Maulana Mohamad Ali and Maulana Shoukath Ali intensified the activities of the Khilafat Movement. - By declaring the Khilafat Movement as a part of Indian national movement, Gandhiji ensured active participation of Muslims in the freedom struggle. - He traveled across India with Khilafat leaders and propagated his ideologies. - As a result, Anti-British feeling spread to the nook and corner of the nation. - Hindu-Muslim unity was intensified ### The Khilafat Movement - After the First World War, Britain tried to limit the power of Khalifa, the ruler of Turkey and the spiritual leader of world Muslims. - The worldwide protest against this is called the Khilafat Movement. ### Poorna Swaraj and Civil Disobedience - The Lahore session of the Indian National Congress held in 1929 under the chairmanship of Jawaharlal Nehru was a turning point in the history of freedom movement in India. - The session declared that the ultimate aim of Indian freedom struggle was to attain complete freedom (Poorna Swaraj) for the country. - It also resolved to start the civil disobedience movement under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. - With the civil disobedience Gandhiji meant to disobey all anti-popular and anti-democratic civil laws made by the British government. #### **Gandhiji's Proposed Actions during Civil Disobedience:** - To lift salt tax - To declare 50% tax relaxation for farmers - To increase the tax on imported foreign clothes - To release political prisoners - To cut short military budget and high salary of top officials - To dissolve the secret surveillance wing formed to watch Indians - To start coastal shipping service - To implement prohibition of liquor #### **Reasons for Choosing Salt as a Weapon Against the British:** - Salt tax constituted two fifth portion of the income collected by the British through taxes. - This tax was a heavy burden for the poor people. - The British government banned small scale indigenous salt production. - There was three fold hike on salt price. - The demand for lifting salt tax was a slogan suitable to inspire all segments of the society. ## Round Table Conferences - The British government convened at James Palace in London three Round Table conferences in 1930, 1931 and 1932 to discuss the administrative reforms to be implemented in India. - Representing Indian National Congress Gandhiji attended the Second Round Table Conference. - Inspired by the call of Gandhiji, people in various parts of the country started to produce salt on their own, violating the British regulations. - This led to protests in Payyannur in Kerala, Vedaranyam in Tamil Nadu, Bombay in Maharashtra, Noakhali in Bengal and North West Frontier Province. - As part of the protest, volunteers made salt and distributed it to the public, hoisted national flag and chanted anti-British slogans. - The British police severely tortured a team of volunteers led by Sarojini Naidu who had set out to Dharasana salt field in Gujarat. - Gandhiji was arrested and the movement was suppressed callously. ## The British Quit India - "Here is a Mantra, a short one that I give you, you may imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours give expression to it. The Mantra is Do or Die' - We shall either free India or die in the attempt. We shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery." -Gandhiji - This was the call of Gandhiji in the conference of the National Congress held in Bombay in 1942. - The Quit India movement was the last popular protest organized by the Indian National Congress under the leadership of Gandhiji. ## Quit India - Quit India was yet another popular movement like the Civil Disobedience Movement. It was a mass movement based on the ideology of non-violence (Ahimsa) meant to force the British to leave the country offering complete freedom to Indians. #### **Reasons for Quit India Movements**: - Reluctance of the British to implement constitutional reforms in India - Public disgust with price hike and famine - The assumption that the British would be defeated in the Second World War #### **Gandhiji's Calls During the Quit India Movement:** - Princely states shall recognize the sovereignty of their people. - Farmers shall not pay land tax. - Government officials shall disclose their loyalty to Indian National Congress without resigning their positions. - Without quitting their positions in the army, soldiers shall disobey orders to shoot and kill Indians. - If possible, students shall boycott education till attaining freedom. - The British government suppressed the movement very severely and arrested leaders including Mahatma Gandhi. - In protest, the uncontrolled mob demolished government offices, electric lines and transportation facilities. - At the end of 1942, India was under the fire of popular unrest. - The Quit India movement was a clear indication of the people's determination to grab freedom for their country. ## Alternative Paths - "To sound the order of retreat just when public enthusiasm was reaching the boiling point was nothing short of a national calamity. The principal lieutenants of the Mahatma, Deshabandhu Das, Pandit Motilal Nehru and Lala Lajpat Rai, who were all in prison, shared the popular resentment. I was with the Deshabandhu at that time and I could see that he was beside himself with anger and sorrow at the way Mahatma Gandhi was repeatedly bungling."- Subhash Chandra Bose - This is how Subhash Chandra Bose responded to Gandhiji's decision to withdraw the non-cooperation movement following the Chauri Chaura incident. - Many such movements and persons who had difference of opinion towards the Gandhian approach to the struggle for independence also played crucial roles in attaining freedom for our country. - Their objective was also nothing but India's freedom from colonial clutches. ### Organizations formed as an Alternative to Gandhian approach: - C.R.Das and Motilal Nehru, who opposed Gandhian idea of boycott movement, formed the Swaraj Party in 1923. - They argued for making legislative assemblies as platforms for raising our voices instead of boycotting them and they contested elections. - Gradually, the opposition to Gandhian method of struggle intensified. - Revolutionaries from Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar gathered in Delhi and formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association in 1928. - Bhagat Singh, Chandra Sekhar Azad, Raj Guru and Sukh Dev were at the helm of this movement. - They floated a military wing called Republican Army' for armed revolution. - Their plan was to overthrow the colonial government through military action and establish a federal republic of Indian states. - In Lahore Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukh Dev shot to kill Saunders, the police officer who was responsible for the lathi charge that had led to the death of national leader Lala Lajpat Rai. - Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs at the Central Legislative Assembly to protest against the attempt to pass laws curtailing civil rights. - They were arrested and sent to jail. - On March 23, 1931, Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukh Dev were hanged to death by the British government. - Given below are the names of some revolutionary organisations and their leaders who dedicated their life to attaining freedom for India: - Abhinav Bharat Society - V.D. Savarkar - Anuseelan Samithi - Bareender Kumar Ghose, Pulin Bihari Das - Ghadar Party - Lala Hardaval - Indian Republican Army - Surya Sen - Taking cue from the Russian revolution, socialist ideologies started to spread in India in 1930s and these ideas influenced a section of Congress activists. - Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jai Prakash Narayan and Aruna Asaf Ali led the Congress Socialist fraction within the Indian National Congress. - At a meeting held under the chairmanship of Jai Prakash Narayan in Bombay in 1934, the Congress Socialist Party was formed. - This new organisation played a decisive role in the Quit India Movement. - When Gandhiji and other top leaders of the Congress were arrested, Socialist Party leaders like Jai Prakash Narayan and Aruna Asaf Ali led the movement from their hideouts. - At various stages of the national movement, Subhash Chandra Bose expressed his difference of opinion on Gandhian ideas of struggle. - Quitting the Congress he formed a political party called Forward Bloc. - He took the charge of the Indian National Army (INA) formed by Rash Bihari Bose to attain freedom for India. - He formed a provisional government for free India in Singapore, with the aim of forcing the British to quit India. - The Indian National Army had a women wing called the Jhansi Regiment. - Captain Lekshmi, a Keralite, was in-charge of this regiment. - With the support of the Japanese army the Indian National Army marched to the east west border of India and hoisted Indian flag in Imphal.