Causes of Non Cooperation Movement, Impact and Objectives in detail...

 

Rowlatt Act of 1919

The Government of lndia Act could not satisfy the demands of the nationalist leaders.

This led to the large scale protest, demonstrations, rallies and meeting in different parts of India.

This situation alarmed the British government which passed the Rowlatt Act in 1919. This act authorised the govemment to imprison any person without trial and conviction.

This act empowered the police authorities to arrest anyone and put in jail on the basis of mere suspicion

Consequently, this act was widely criticised by the Indian leaders since it was plainly designed to curb and suppress the demands of the nationalists.

By using the provisions under this act, the government put hundreds of freedom fighters into the jail. Many of

them were directly executed by the government.

The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919)

The Rowlatt Act angered the nationalists along with Gandhiji who found the act, completely unjust.

As a result, Hartals and protest meetings were held all over the country opposing the Rowlatt Act.

In February 1919, Gandhiji established the Satyagraha Sabha whose members decided to disobey the Act.

This technique of Satyagraha took the nationalist struggle to a next level who were hitherto confined to the method of popular agitation

However, the British government was firmed on suppressing this agitation. The government officials mercilessly lathi-charged the agitators and shot

unarmed people.

Gandhiji protested against this by calling a hartal on 6 April 1919, to which people reciprocated by assembling in large numbers. The form of protests to be observed were

nationwide hartal, fastings and civil disobedience, Gandhiji got arrested on the same day followed by the arrest of Dr. Satya Pal and Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew in Punjab.

On 13 April, 1919, the festival of Baisakhi, a peaceful public meeting was held at Jallianwala Bagh in

Amritsar, to protest against the arrests of their popular leaders Dr. Satya Pal and Dr. Kitchlew.

General Dyer, the military commander of Amritsar, led a group of soldiers to block the only exit of the park which was enclosed by the three other sides, he then ordered to open fire without any warning on the helpless men, women and children gathered there.

The soldiers of Dyer, fired till their ammunition was exhausted.

Thousands of people were killed while others were injured. The Jallianwalan Bagh incident created a nationwide

anger towards the British government.

Dyer defended his action by terming it necessary to teach a moral lesson to

Punjab.

In protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood which was

conferred on him by the British government.

After this massacre, martial law was declared throughout Punjab. This was the most uncivilised atrocity unleashed

on the people of Punjab.

The violent reaction of the people compelled the British to hold an enquiry into the incident. The enquiry,

conducted by Hunter Commission, justified the firing but Dyer was not forgiven by Indians for this brutal act.

Meanwhile, the Indian National Congress constituted a

committee of enquiry to look into the Jallianwala Bagh massacre under the leadership of Madan Mohan Malviya. The Committee also included Motilal Nehru,Mahatma Gandhi and C R Das.

The Khilafat Movement (1920)

A new wave started in the nationalist movement with the Khilafat movement.

The common nationalist agitation against the Rowlatt Act had brought different sections of the society together.

The Hindus and the Muslims participated in this agitation alike.

Under such conditions, the nationalist trend among the Muslims took the form of Khilafat movement which was

later politicised by Gandhi against the British government.

In 1919, a movement was launched to protect the Ottoman Empire of Turkey, which was on the verge of collapse

after the First World War.

The Sultan or the Caliph (Khalifa) of Turkey's position as the religious head of the Muslims was threatened as

British partitioned the Ottoman empire.

The educated and politically conscious Muslims were critical of the treatment towards the Ottoman empire by

the British government.

In 1920, the Ali Brothers, Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, launched the Khilafat Movement to pressurise the

British to protect the Caliph.

A Khilafat Committee was soon formed in 1919 under the leadership of the Ali Brothers, Maulana Azad,

Hakim Ajmal Khan and Hasrat Mohani and a national level protest was initiated. Gandhiji as a President of

the All India Khilafat Committee perceived this as an opportunity to unite the Hindus and Muslims, against

the British.

Non-Cooperation Movement (1920)

In September 1920, the Indian National Congress (INC) held its Calcutta Session. Gandhiji launched the non-violent, Non-Cooperation

Movement. The Congress supported Gandhi's plan forNon-Cooperation.

People were urged not to cooperate with the British and defined Swaraj as the ultimate goal.

The Non-Cooperation Movement had the following

aims :

To redress the injustice done to Punjab and Turkey during the Jallianwalan Bagh massacre and Post Second World War respectively.

To attain Swaraj for the people of India by using legitimate and peaceful means. The physical violence was renounced as a wrongful mean to achieve one's goal.

To mobilise people against the wrongdoings of the British government. Further, it was aimed to aware the people of their exploitation on their own soil.

The Non-Cooperation resolution was endorsed in the Nagpur Session of Congress, December 1920.

     Methods of Non-Cooperation

The Non-Cooperation Movement aimed to disrupt normal life and bring the British administration to a standstill

It was to proceed in stages, beginning with the renunciation of titles which Indians had received from the British

Gandhiji returned his prestigious Kaiser-1-Hind medal.

Meanwhile, Rabindranath Tagore and G. Subramania Iyer returned their knighthoods.

People were asked to boycott foreign goods. Huge bonfires were lit to burn foreign goods.

Gandhiji advocated the spinning and wearing of Khadi and boycotting of British made clothes. This was done

to endorse the Swadeshi goods. Khadi cloth was also a sign of self-dependency. Students were asked to boycott educational institutes run by the British government.

Indigenous educational istitutions such as Jamia Millia Islamia in 1920 and Kashi Vidyapith was set up in 1921

along with Bihar and Gujarat Vidyapith.

A campaign for non-payment of taxes was to start at the last stage of the movement. The employers were asked to give resignation from their jobs.

The region of Bardoli (Gujarat) was chosen as the first place where taxes would not be paid. The Indian soldiers

in the British army refused to serve in the army.

This movement achieved great success. While schools

and colleges were boycotted, the British government continued the suppression of mass civil non-cooperation by arresting nearly 30,000 people.

In its Ahmedabad Session held in 1921, under Hakim Ajmal Khan, the Congress decided to continue the

movement until Punjab and Khilafat grievances were redressed and Swaraj was achieved.

Provincial Congress Committees were reorganised on linguistic basis.

Government took repressive measures declaring activities of Congress and Khilafat workers illegal. By the end of 1921, all important nationalist leaders except Gandhi were arrested

In November 1921, huge demonstrations greeted Prince of Wales during his tour to India. In Bombay, Government tried to suppress the demonstration killing 53 people in

this process.

     Moplah Rebellion (Kerala) 1921

Moplah Rebellion broke out as an armed rebellion in Malabar, Kerala. The Muslim peasants of Moplah rose the banner of revolt against the exploitation by the Hindu landlords as well as British revenue officials.

The Moplah attacked and took control of police stations and government treasuries.

Though it started as a protest against the British government but it soon took a violent furn which ended in the displacement and later killing of many Hindus, the clash between Muslim peasants and Hindu landlords turned it communal.

It was also a reaction of the Khilafat campaign's suppression by the British government, which was meant

to protect the seat of the Caliph in Turkey.

Hundreds of people were killed in attack and retaliation. The rebellion disturbed and weakened the inter communal harmony.

Importance of Non-Cooperation Movement

The movement for the first time saw nation-wide participation

The Hindu-Muslim unity strengthened, except for a few instances. Women had been drawn into the movement.

       Chauri-Chaura Incident (1922)

On 5 February, 1922 the Police opened fire upon the Congress procession of 3000 peasants at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

In retaliation, the angry crowd burnt down the police station which resulted in the death of nearly 22 policemen.

Similar kind of violent protests were witnessed in different parts of the country. As a result of this, Gandhiji was forced to call of the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Gandhiji declared his Satyagraha Campaign to be a Himalayan miscalculation because he had asked to pursue it by those people who could not afford to be non-violent.

This drew mixed reactions among all the people. Jawaharlal Nehru and Subash Chandra Bose resented

this decision of Gandhiji.

The Working Committee of the Congress met on 12 February 1922, at Bardoli, (Gujarat) passing a resolution stopping all activities that would lead to breaking of law and decided to concentrate their energies on the following matters :

Popularising the Charkha

Promoting Hindu-Muslim unity

Combating the practice of Untouchability

Empowering Women and establishing national schools.

On 10 March, 1922. Gandhiji was arrested and was sentenced to six years imprisonment.