Mahatma Gandhi And The Nationalist Movement

When did Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi return to India?

January 1915

Spent two decades in South Africa

Madras Resistance

Vizagapatam

Person in Central Province

Jubbalpore

Seth Govindas

Who formed All-Bengal Civil Disobedience council?

J.M Sengupta

What led to political polarization in 1946?

Elections

How long did it take to suppress Quit India?

More than a year

When did Gandhi shave his head?

Tour to South India

What were the other protests in non-cooperation?

Peasants hated colonial forest laws that kept them and their cattle out of the woods

Factory workers went on strike

Lawyers boycotted British courts

Students refused to attend government-run educational institutions

When did Nehru become president of Congress?

1936

What was the feud between Nehru and Patel that Gandhi mediated? Happened through letter

Nehru like socialism after coming back from Europe

Conservates such as Rajendra Prasad and Sardar Patel threatened to resign from the Working Committee

They turned to Gandhi to mediate in his Ashram in Wardha

Who wrote offensive remarks on the government?

Press Kesari Bomaby

Moderate paper Vividh Vrititi pointed out the futility

Key message of Gandhi during his march towards the seashore

Urging local officials to join the freedom struggle

What was the “Making of Mahatma”?

South Africa

Said by Chandran Devansan

How was India different from when Gandhi left?

It was more politically active

INC had a lot of branches

Swadeshi Movement

What techniques did Gandhi forge in South Africa?

Satyagraha (Non Violent Protest)

Promoted harmony between religions

Alerted upper-caste Indians to their discriminatory treatment of low castes and women

When did Gandhi visit Noakhali and other riot-torn areas to stop communal violence?

1946

When did Mahatma Gandhi leave India?

1893

How did the INC broaden its appeal among the middle classes?

Swadeshi movement

1905-07

Who were the leaders of the Swadeshi movement?

Bal Gangadhar Tilak of Maharashtra

Bipin Chandra Pal of Bengal

Lala Lajpat Rai of Punjab

What were the leaders of the Swadeshi movement known as?

Known as Lal, Bal and Pal

Alliteration conveying the all India character of their struggle

What did the leaders of the Swadeshi movement advocate for?

Militant opposition to colonial rule

What did the moderates prefer?

A more gradual and persuasive approach

Who was Gandhi’s mentor?

Gopal Krishna Gokhale

Who were the leaders of the Moderates?

Gopal Krishnan Gokhale

Mohammad Ali Jinnah

What was Gokhale’s advice?

That Gandhi spend one year travelling around British India getting to know the land and its people

What was Gandhi’s first public apperance?

Opening of the Banaras Hindu University

February 1916

Invited on account of work in South Africa

Who all were there at the BHU opening?

Annia Beasant

Princes and Philanthropists

What were Gandhi’s remarks at BHU?

That the Indian elite showed a lack of concern for the laboring poor

Nobody other than the farmer could save them

“certainly a most gorgeous show”.

Contrast between “richly bedecked noblemen” and “millions of the poor”

“there is no salvation for India unless you strip yourself of this jewellery and hold it in trust for your countrymen in India”

“There can be no spirit of self government about us,”

“if we take away or allow others to take away from the peasants almost the whole of the results of their labour. Our salvation can only come through the farmer. Neither the lawyers, nor the doctors, nor the rich landlords are going to secure it.”

What was the opening at BHU supposed to be?

Occasion of celebration, first nationalist university. Sustained by Indian money and Indian initiative

Gandhi chose to remind people of peasants and workers who were unrepresented

What was the statement of fact in Gandhi’s speech ant BHU?

Indian nationalism was an elite phenomenon created by lawyers and doctors and landlords

Wanted to make Indian nationalism more properly representative of the Indian people as a whole

When did Champaran from Bihar tell Gandhi about his harsh treatment of Indigo workers?

December 1916

In annual Congress held in Lucknow

How did Gandhi spend the year of 1917?

In Champaran seeking to obtain for the peasants security

What were the two interventions in 1918?

Labor dispute in Ahmedabad demanding better working condition in textile mill

Peasants in Kheda asking the state from remission of taxes following failure of their harvest

What initiatives marked Gandhi out as a nationalist with deep sympathy for poor?

Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda

When did the colonial rulers deliver an Issue into Gandhi’s lap?

1919

When did the British institute censorship of the press?

1914-18

Detention without trial

Who chaired the committee that allowed censorship to continue?

Sir Sidney Rowlatt

What did Gandhi’s opposition to the “Rowlatt Act” do?

In towns across North and West India life came to standstill

Shops and schools shut down in response to bandh call

Where were protests against the Rowlatt act intense?

Punjab because they fight on the British side and were rewarded with censorship

Gandhi was arrested while proceeding the Punjab

Local congressmen were also arrested

What was the climax of the opposition to the Rowlatt act?

April 1919

Amritsar

British Brigadier ordered his troops to open fire on a nationalist meeting

How many people were killed in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre?

More than 400

April 1919

Amritsar

What made Gandhi a truly national leader?

Rowlatt satyagraha

What did Gandhi hope to do by coupling non-cooperation with Khulafat?

Unite Hindus and Muslims

What was the campaign of “non-cooperation”?

Indias were asked to stop attending school, colleges, and law courts, and not pay taxes

renunication of all voluntary association with British Government.

Win swaraj within one year if it was effectively carried out

Also joined hands with Khilafat Movement

What was the Khilafat Movement?

1919-1920

Indian Mulsims

Led by Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali

The Turkish Sultan or Khalifa would retain control over Muslim sacred places in the Ottoman Empire

The jazirat-ul-Arab(Arabia, Syria, Iraq and Palestine) must remain under Muslim sovereignty

Khalifa must be left with sufficient territory to enable him to defend the Islamic faith

Supported by Congress and Gandhi

How many strikes were there in 1921? Non-cooperation

396

600,000 workers

Loss of seven million workdays

What did hill tribes in Northern Andhra do? Non cooperation

Violated forest laws

What did Peasants in Awadh? Non cooperation

Did not pay taxes

What did Peasants in Kumanun do? Non cooperation

Refused to carry loads for colonial officers

How did peasants, workers and others interpret non cooperation?

Ways that best suited their interest

Who was Mahatma Gandhi’s American biographer?

Louis Fischer

How did Louis Fischer describe non-cooperation?

Negative enough to be peaceful

Positive enough to be effective

Entailed denial, renunciation and self-discipline

Training for self rule

What did Non-Cooperation hope to do?

Denial, renunciation and self-discipline

Training for self-rule

When was British Raj shaken for the first time since 1857?

Non-Cooperation Movement

When did a group of peasants torch a police station?

In Chauri Chaura in the United Province

February 1922

Several Constables perished

Gandhi said “No Provocation can possibly justify (the) brutal murder of men who had been rendered defenceless and who had virtually thrown themselves on the mercy of the mob.””

When was Gandhi jailed?

March 1922

Charged with sedition

Who was the judge that presided over Gandhi case in March 1922?

C.N. Broomfield

Admired Gandhi for his high ideals and saintly life

Wanted to reduce sentence

Sentence was 6 years

By when did Gandhi transform Indian Nationalism?

1922

What did other nationalist leaders wear?

A western suit of an Indian bandgala

Why did people call Gandhi “Mahatma” and appreciate him?

He dressed like them

Lived like them

Spoke like them

What did Gandhi wear?

Simple dhoti or loin cloth

Spent part of each day working on the charkha and encouraged other leaders to do the same

What did the act of spinning do?

Break boundaries within traditional caste system

Broke boundaries between mental labour and manual labor

Could provide poor with supplementary income and make them self-reliant

Not glorifying machines and technology

Who traced Mahatma Gandhi’s image in eastern Uttar Pradesh?

Shahid Amin

Adored by crowds when he came in February 1921

How did the Hindi newspaper describe what happed in Gorakhpur?

There were not less than 15,000 to 20,000 people at Nunkhar, Deoria, Gauri Bazar, Chauri Chaura and Kusmhi (stations) … Mahatmaji was very pleased to witness the scene at Kusmhi

Station was in middle of jungle but 10,00 people came

People wanted to give him bhent(donations)

A sheet was spread and currency notes and coins started raining

What was Gandhi known as between peasants?

Gandhi baba, Gandhi Maharaj of Mahatma

Would rescue them from high taxes and oppressive officials

What were rumors about Gandhi?

Had been sent by King to redress grievances of farmers

Had the power to overrule local officials

Power was superior than English monarch

When he arrived colonial rule would flee the district

People who criticised him Had house and crops fall

Would save them from high taxes and oppressive officials

Person in Gorakpur house was on fire when he questioned Charkha

Abused Gandhi and his goats were bit by four of his dogs

Drunkard had brickbats but when he uttered Gandhi’s name they stopped

Karah split into two

Wheat became seasum because of Gandhi

Why was Gandhi’s appeal so high?

Ascetic Life

Dhoti and Chakra

What was Gandhi by caste?

A merchant

A lawyer by profession

Loved working with hands

What were Praja Mandals for?

TO promote nationalist creed in princely states

What did Gandhi advocate for linguistically?

Regional languages should be used at Congress meetings rather than English

Why did rich Industrialist support Gandhi?

When India was to become free it would not favor them if they did not switch

Which industrialist openly supported the national movement?

G.D. Birla

Who attached themselves with Gandhi in between 1917-1922?

Mahadev Desai,

Vallabh Bhai Patel,

J.B. Kripalani,

Subhas Chandra Bose,

Abul Kalam Azad,

Jawaharlal Nehru,

Sarojini Naidu,

Govind Ballabh Pant and

C. Rajagopalachari.

When was Gandhi released from prison?

February 1924

What did Gandhi do after being released from prison?

February 1924

Devote his attention to the promotion of home-spun cloth (khadi) and abolition of untouchability

What social changes needed to take place according to Gandhi?

More Social reformer than politician

Abolition of untouchability and child marriage

Indian had to grow genuine tolerance for one another (Hindu-Muslim)

Indians had to learn to become self-reliant.

Stressed on importance of wearing khadi rather than mill-made cloth imported from overseas

When did Gandhi begin to think of re-entering politics?

1928

Where did the peasant satyagraha happen?

Bardoli

Gandhi gave his blessings

What was the all-White Simon Commission?

Sent from England to enquire into conditions in the colony

1928

Gandhi did not give his Blessing to this movement

Did Gandhi participate in the opposition of the all-White Simon Commission?

No but he gave his blessings

Why was the December 1929 Congress annual session important?

Lahore

Jawaharlal Nehru was the president showing the passing of Baton

Commitment to “Purna Swaraj”

When was Independence Day observed?

26 January 1930

How was Independance Day to be observed according to Gandhi?

Should happen in whole villages and cities

Would be good if meetings took place at the same time

Advertised through beating of drums

Would begin by hoisting national flag

Rest of day would spend doing constructive work such as spinning, service of untouchables, reunion of Hindus and Musselman or prohibition work

Participants would take a pledge affirming that it was the inalienable right of the Indian people to enjoy fruits of their toil and if someone oppresses them to have the right to alter or abolish it

Why did Gandhi pick salt?

It was used in every Indian household, people were forbidden from making it for domestic use.

State monopoly was unpopular

Who did Gandhi give an advance to for the Salt Match?

Viceroy Lord Irwin

When did Gandhi begin the Salt March?

12 March 1930

Where did Gandhi start the Salt March?

His ashram at Sabarmati towards the ocean Dandi

Reached destination after three weeks

What was described as a dog-in-manger policy?

Salt tax

What do salt officers do?

Destroyed Salt

How is salt a fourfold cuse?

It deprives the people of a valuable easy village industry

Involves wanton destruction of property that nature produces in abundance

the destruction itself means more national expenditure

an unheard-of tax of more than 1,000 per cent is exacted from a starving people

When did Gandhi speak at Dandi?

5 April 1930

How many dissenters were arrested after the Salt March?

60,000

Gandhi was one of them

What did Gandhi say in the village at Wasna? During Dandi Match

For a Swaraj upper castes must serve untouchables

Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Sikhs have to come together

Also asked government officials to give up office

What did the secret spies observe? What did the District Superintendent of Police say?

That there were thousands of volunteers

Many officials who had resigned

“Mr Gandhi appeared calm and collected. He is gathering more strength as he proceeds”

What did Time say about Gandhi and his mission?

Remarked of his “spindly frame” and his “spidery loins”

Claimed that Gandhi “sank to the ground” at the end of the second day walking

Said that he wouldn’t be able to walk further

Said that British rulers were “desperately anxious”

Saluted as a “saint” and “statesman”

Using “Christian acts as a weapon against men with Christain beliefs"

Three reasons for which Salt March was notable?

Brough Mahatma to world attention

First Nationalist activity in which women participated in large number (Kamaladevi liquor and salt)

Forced realization upon British that their Raj would not last forever and that they would have to give some powers

Who persuaded Gandhi not to restrict the protests to men alone?

socialist activist Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay

Why was the first meeting of Round Table Conference stopped?

Gandhi was in Jail

When was the first “Round Table Conference” convened?

November 1930

Gandhi was not there

When was Gandhi released from Jail for the Dandi march?

January 1931