This mood of struggle was soon transformed, into retreat. On S February, a Congress procession of 3,000 peasants at Chauri Chaura, a village in the Gorakhpur District of U.P., was fired upon by the police. The angry crowd attacked and burnt the police station causing the death of 22 policemen. Gandhiji took a very serious view of this incident. It convinced him that the nationalist workers had not yet properly under* stood nor learnt the practice of non-violence without which, he was convinced, civil disobedience could not be a success. Apart from the fact that he would have nothing to do with violence, he also perhaps believed that the British would be able to crush easily a violent movement, for people had not yet built up enough strength a ad stamina to resist government repression. He therefore decided to suspend Ihe nationalist campaign. The Congress Working Committe met at Bardoli in Gujarat on 12 February and pa.s.sed a resolution stopping alt activities which would lead to breaking of laws. It urged Congressmen to donate their time to to the constructive programme-popularisation of the charkha, national schools and
Froccwicn of Non-Coo pet.i.tion volunteers parading Jo Calcutta (Courtesy: Nthru Memorial Muieum and Library)
temperance The Bardoli resolution stunned the country and had a mixed reception nmong the nationalists While some had implicit faith in Gandhiji, others resented this decision to retreat. Subhash Bose, one of the popular and younger leaders of the Congress, has written in his autobiography, The Indian Struggle: To sound the order of reircat just when public enthusiasm was reaching the boiling- point was nothing short of a national calamity. The princ.i.p.al lieutenants of ihe Mahatma, Deshbandhu Das, Pandit Motllal Nehru and Lala L ajpat Rai, who were all in prison, shared the pc, ular resentment I was with the Deshbandhu at the time and I could see that he was beside himself with anger and sorrow at (he way Mahatma Gandhi was repeatedly bungling.
Many other young leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru had a similar reaction. But both the people and the leaders had faith in Gandhi and did not wemt to oppose him in public. They accepted his decision without open opposition. The first non-cooperation and civil disobedience movement virtually came to an end.
The last act of the drama was played when the Government decided to take full advantage of the situation and to strike hard. It arrested Mahatma Gandhi on 10 March 1922 and charged him with spreading disaffection against the Government. Gandhi was sentenced to six years" imprisonment after a trial which was made historic by the statement that Gandhi made before the court. Pleading guilty to the prosecution.s charge, he invited the court to award him "the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime, and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen." He traced at length his own political evolution from a supporter of British rule to its sharpest critic and said: I came reluctantly to the conclusion that the"British connection had made India n>ore tielpku than she ever was before, politically and economically. A disarmed India has no power of resistance against any aggression ... She has become so poor that she has little power of resisting famines. .. Littk do (own dwellers know how the semi-starved ma.s.ses of India are slowly sinking to lifelessness. Little do they know that {heir miserable comfort represents ihe brokerage they get for the work they do for the foreign exploiter, that the profits and the brokerage are sucked from the ma.s.ses. Little do they realise lhai the Go"errment established by law in British India is carried on for the exploitation of the ma.s.ses.
No sophistry, no jugglery in figures, can explain away the evidence that the skeletons in many villages present to the naked eye ___________________________ In my opinion, administration of the law is thus prost.i.tuted, consciously or unconsciously, for the benefit of the exploiter. The greater misfortune is that Englishmen and their Indian a.s.sociates in the administration of the country do not know that they are engaged in the crime I have attempted to describe. I am satisfied that many Englishmen and Indian officials honestly believe that they are administering one of the best systems devised in the world, and that India is making steady, though slow progress. They do not know that a subtle but effective system of terrorism and an organized display of force on the one hand, and the deprivation of all powers of retaliation or self defence on the other, have emasculated the people and induced in them the habit of simulation.
In conclusion, Gandhi expresssed his belief that "non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good." The judge noted that he was pa.s.sing on Gandhi the same sentence as was pa.s.sed on Lokamanya Tilak in 1908.
Very soon the Khilarat. question also lost relevance. The people of Turkey roBe up under the leadership of Mustafa Kamal Pasha and, in November 1922, deprived the Sultan of his political power. Kamal Pasha took many measures to modernise Turkey and to make it a secular state. He abolished the Caliphate (or the inst.i.tution of the Caliph) and separated the state from religion by eliminating Islam from the Const.i.tution. He nationalised education, granted women extensive rights, introduced legal codes based on European models, and took steps to develop agriculture and to introduce modem industries. All these steps broke the back of the Khilalat agitation.
The Khilafat agitation had made an important contribution to the non-cooperation movement. It had brought urban Muslims into the nationalist movement and had been, thus, responsible in part for the feeling of nationalist enthusiasm and exhilaration fhat prevailed in the country in those days. Some historians have criticised it for having mixed politics with religion. As a result, they say, religious consciousness spread to politics, end in the long run, the forces of communalism were strengthened. This is true to some extent. There was, of course, nothing wrong in the nationalist movement taking up a demand that affected Muslims only. It was inevitable that different sections of society would come to understand the need for freedom through their particular demands and experiences. The nationalist leadership, however, failed to some extent in raising the religious political consciousness of the Muslims to the higher plane of secular political consciounsness. At the same time it should also be kept in view that the Khilafat agitation represented much wider feelings of the Muslims than their concern for the Caliph. It was in reality an aspect of the general spread of anti-imperialist feelings among the Muslims. These feelings found concrete expression on the Khilafat question. After all there was no protest in India when Kamal Pasha abolished the Caliphate in 1924.
It may be noted at this stage that even though the non-cooperation and civil disobedience movement had ended in failure, national movement had been strengthened in more than one way. Nationalist sentiments and the national movement had now reached the remotest corners of the land. The educated Indians had learnt to rely on their own people. The Indian people had lost their sense of fear-the brute strength of British power in India no longer frightened them. They had gained tremendous self-confidence and self-esteem, which no defeats and retreats could shake. This was expressed by Gandhijt when he declaied that "the fight that was commenced in 1920 is a fight to the finish, whether it lasts one month or one year or many months or many years."
THE SWARAJISTS.
Disintegration and disorganisation set in after the withdrawal of the civil" disobedience movement. Enthusiasm evaporated and disillusionment and discouragement prevailed in the ranks of the Congress party. Moreover, serious difference arose among the leaders.
A fresh lead was now given by C.R-. Das and Martial Nehru who advocated a new line of political activity under the changed conditions. They said that nationalists should end the boycott of the Legislative Councils, enter them, obstruct their working according to official plans, expose their weaknesses, and thus use them to arouse public enthusiasm. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr. Ansari, Babu Rajcndra Prasad, and others, known as "no- changers", opposed Council-entry. They warned that legislative politics would weaken nationalist fervour and create rivalries among the leaders. They therefore continued to emphasise the constructive programme of spinning, tempcrance, Hmdu-Muslim unity, and V, (+r * . ^ "* "* " "* -i t -* * .. V J "
1. " *
Gandhiji with the Ali Brothers t the Beigaum session of the Congress,1924 (Courtesy: Photo Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt, of India)
removal of untouchability.
In December 1922, Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Congress- Khilafat Swaraj Party with Das as president and Motlilal Nehru as one of the secretaries. The new party was to function as a group within the Congress. It accepted the Congress programme except in one respect- it would take part in Council elections.
The Swarajists and the "no-changers" now engaged in fierce political controversy. Even Ga..idhiji, who had been released on 5 February 1924 on grounds of health, failed in his efforts to unite them. But on his advice the two groups agreed to remain in the Congress though they would work in their separate ways.
Even though the Swarajists had had little time for preparations they did very well in the election of November 1923. Theywon 42 seats out of the 101 elected seats in the Central Legislative a.s.sembly. With the cooperation of other Indian groups they repeatedly outvoted the Government in the Central a.s.sembly and in several of the Provincial Councils. In March 1925, they succeeded in electing Vithalbhai J. Patel, a leading nationalist leader, as the president (Speaker) of the Central Legislative a.s.sembly, But they failed to change the policies of the authoritarian Government of Tndia and found it necessary to walk out of the Central a.s.sembly in March 1926. What was worse, their work failed to bring the ma.s.ses or the middle cla.s.ses into active politics. At the same time the "no-changers" were also not succcssful in this respect. In fact, both groups failed to check ihe spreading political rot, But as there was no basic difference between the two wings and because they kept on the best of terms and recognised each other"s anti-imperialist character, they could readily unite later when the time was ripe for a new national struggle. Meanwhile the nationalist movement and the Swarajists suffered another grievous blow in the death of De&hbandhu Das in June ^925.
As the non-cooperation movement petered out and the people felt frustrated, communalism reared its ugly head. The communal elements took advantage of the situation to propagate their views and after 1923 the country was repeatedly plunged into communal riots. The Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha, which was founded in December 1917, once again became active. The result was that the growing feeling that all people were Indians first received a set-back. Even the Swarajist Party, whose main leaders, Motilal Nehru and Das, were staunch nationalists, was split by communalism, A group known as "responsivkts", including Madan Mohan Maiviya, Lala Lajpat Rai, and N.C, Keikar, offered cooperation to the Government so that the so-called Hindu interests might be safeguarded. They accused Motilai Nehru of letting down Hindus, of being anti-Hindu, of favouring cow-slaughter, and of eating beef. The Muslim communalists were no less active in fighting for the loaves and fishes or office. G&ndhiji, who had repeatedly a.s.serted that "Hindu-Muslim unity must be our creed for all time and under ail circ.u.mstances" tried to intervene and improve the situation. In September 1924, he went on a 21 days. fast at Delhi in Maulana Mohammed Ali.s house to do penance for the inhumanity revealed in the communal riots. But his efforts were of little avail.
The situation in the country appeared to be dark indeed. There was general political apathy; Gandhi was living in retirement, the Swarajists were split, communalism was flourishing. Gandhi wrote in May 1927: "My only hope lies in prayer and answer to prayer." But, behind the scenes, forces of national upsurge had been growing. When in November 1927 the announcement of the formation of the Simon Commission came, India again emerged out of darkness and entered a new era of political struggle.
THE SECOND NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT.
The year 1927 witnessed many portents of national recovery and evidence began to gather that the people were waiting for a lead. Politically this force and energy found reflection in the rise of a new left-wing in the Congress under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose. The two soon toured the country preaching the new ideology of socialism. They attacked imperialism, capitalism, and landlordism, and told the people that if freedom had to be won by the people, it would not come as a gift from the British Parliament. They soon came to be idolised by the students and other young people.
Indian youth were becoming active. All over the country youth leagues were being formed an< p="">
^ social Ills from which the country was suffering. They also put forward and popular*ze< p="">
Socialist and Communist groups came into existence in the 1920.s. Th< example="" of="" the="" russian="" revolution="" had="" aroused="" interest="" among="" many="">
young nationalists. Many of them were dissatisfied with Gandhi HI political ideas and programmes and turned to socialist ideology for guidance. M.N. Roy became the first Indian to be elected to the leadership of the Communist International. In 1924, the Government arrested Muzaffar Ahmed and S.A. Dange, accused them of spreading Communist ideas, and tried them along vrith others in the Kanpur Conspiracy case. In 1925, the Communist /Party came into existence. Moreover, many workers and peasants parties were founded in different parts pf the country, These parties and groups propagated Marxist and Communist ideas.
The peasants and workers were also once again stirring. In Uttar Pradesh, there was large scale agitation among tenants for the revision of tenancy laws. The
Jawaharhi Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose arriving to attend a Congress meeting (Courtesy: Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi)
tenants wanted lower rents, protection from eviction, and relief from indebtedness. In Gujarat, the peasants protested against official efforts to increase land revenue. The famous Bardoli Satyagralia occured at this time. In 1928, under the leadership of Sardar Yallabhbhai Patel the peasants organised a No Tax Campaign and in the end won their demand. There was a rapid growth of trade unionism under the leadership of the All India Trade Union Congress. Many strikes occurred during 1928. There was a long strike lasting for two months, in the railway workshop at Kharagpur. The South Indian Railway workers went oil strike. Another strike was organised in the Tata Iron and Steel Works at Jamshedpur. Subhash Chandra Bose played an important role in the settlement of this strike. The most important strike of the period was in Bombay textile mills. Nearly 150,000 workers went on strike for over five months. This strike was led by the Communists. Over five lakh workers took part in strikes during 1928.
Another reflection of the new mood was the growing activity of the revolutionary terrorist movement which too was beginning to take a socialist turn. The failure of the first non-cooperation movement had led to the revival of the terrorist movement. After an All India Conference the Hindustan Republican a.s.sociation was founded in October 1924 to organise an armed revolution. The Government struck at it by arresting a large number of terrorist youth and trying them in the Kakori conspiracy case (1925). Seventeen were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, four were transported for life, and four, including Ram- prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla, were hanged. The terrorists soon came under the influence of socialist ideau, and, in 1928, under the leadership of Chandra Shekhar Azad changed the t.i.tle of their organisation to the Hindustan Socialist Republican a.s.sociation.
A dramatic manifestation of revol utionary terrorist activity was the a.s.sa-ssination of a British police officer by Bhagat Singh, Azad and Rajguru, who had earlier ordered lathi charge on a demonstration led by Lala Lajpat Rai. This had resulted in a fatal injury to the great Punjabi leader, known popularly as Sher-e-Punjab. The a.s.sa.s.sination was justified by the revolutionary young men as follows: The murder of a leader respected by millions of people at the unworthy bands of an ordinary police official... .was an insult to tbe nation. It was ibe bounden duty of young men of India to efface it... .We regret to have had to kill a person but he was part and parcel of that inhuman and unjust order which has to be destroyed. In him, an agent of British rule has been done away with, Shedding of human blood grieves us but bloodshed at the altar of revolution is unavoidable. Our objective is to work for a revolution which would end exploitation of man by man.
Similarly, Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt threw a bomb in the Central Legislative a.s.sembly on 8 April 1929. They wanted to protest against the pa.s.sage of the Public Safety Bill, which would haye reduced civil
Bh*gat Singh (Courtesy: Nehru Memorial Museum and Library)
liberties. The bomb did not harm anyone for it had been deliberately made harmless. The aim was not to kill bu(, as a terrorist leaflet put it, "to make the deaf hear". Bhagat Singh and B. K. Dutt could have easily escaped after throwing the bomb but they deliberately chose to be arrested for they wanted to make use of the court as a forum for revolutionary propaganda.
Ip Bengal too revolutionary terrorist activities were revived. In April 1930, a raid was organised on the govermrent armoury at Chittagong under the leadership of Surya Sen. This was the first of many attacks on unpopular government officials. A remarkable aspect of the terrorist movement in Bengal was the partic.i.p.ation of young women.
The Government struck hard at the revolutionary terrorists. Many of them were arrested and tried in a series of famous cases, Bhagat Singh and a few others were also tried for the a.s.sa.s.sination of police officers. The statements of the young revolutionaries in the courts and their fearless and defiant att.i.tude won the sympathy of the people. Particularly inspiring was the hunger strike they undertook as a protest against the horrible conditions in the prisons. As political prisoners they demanded an honourable and decent treatment. During the course of this hunger-strike, Jatin Das, a frail young man, achieved martyrdom after a 63 days. epic fast. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were executed on 23 March 1931, despite popular protest. In a letter to the Jail Superintendent written a few days before their execution the three affirmed: "Very soon, the final battle will begin. Its outcome will be decisive. We took part in the struggle and we are proud of having done so."
In two of his last letters, Bhagat Singh also affirmed the revolutionary teirorist faith in socialism. He wrote: "The peasants have to liberate themselves not only from foreign yoke but also from the yoke of landlords and capitalists." In his last message of 3 March 1931 he declared that the struggle in India would continue so long as "a handful of exploiters go on exploiting the labour of the common people for their own ends. It matters little whether these exploiters are purely British capitalists, or British and Indians in alliance, or even purely Indian."
The heartless att.i.tude of the Government in refusing to change their sentence to life imprisonment further hardened the people.s anger, while the deep patriotism, invincible courage and determination, and sense of sacrifice displayed by the young revolutionaries stirred the Indian people. The revolutionary terrorist movement, which played an important role in spreading nationalist and socialist consciousness, soon abated though stray activities were carried on for several years more. Chandra Shekhar Azad was killed in a shooting encounter wuh the police in a public park, later renamed Azad Park, at Allahabad in February 1931. Surya Sen was arrested in February 1933 and hanged soon after. Hundreds of other revolutionaries were arrested and sentenced to varying terms of imprisonments.
Thus a new political situation was beginning to arise by the end of the twenties. Writing of these years, Lord Irwin, the Viceroy, recalled later that "some new force was working of which even those, whose knowledge of India went back for 20 or 30 years, had not yet learnt the full significance." The Government was determined to suppress this new trend. As we have seen, the terrorists were suppressed-with ferocity. The growing trade union movement and Communist movement were dealt with in the same manner. In March 1929, thirty-one prominent trace union and communist leaders (including three Englishmen) were arrested and, after a trial (Meerut Conspiracy Case) lasting four years, sentenced to long periods of imprisonment.
Boycott of the Simon Commission In November 1927, the British Government appointed the Indian Statutory Commission, known popularly after the name of its Chairman as the Simon Commission, to go into the question of further const.i.tutional reform. All the members of the Commission were Englishmen. This announcement was greeted by a chorus of protest from all Indians. What angered them most was the exclusion of Indians from the Commission and the basic notion behind this exclusion that foreigners would discuss and decide upon India.s fitness for self-government. In othef words, the British action was seen as a violation of the principle of self-determination and a deliberate insult to the self-respect of the Indians. At its Madras Session in 1927, presided over by Dr. Ansari, the National Congress decided to boycott the Commission "at every stage and in every form," The Muslim League and the Hindu Muhasabha decided to support the Congress decision. In fact, the Simon Commission united, at least temporarily, different groups and parties in the country. As a gesture of solidarity with the nationalists, the Muslim League even accepted the principle of joint electorates, provided seats were reserved for the Muslims.
All important Indian leaders and parties decided to meet the British rhallenge by drawing up an agreed const.i.tution for India. An All Parties Conference was convened for the purpose first at Delhi and then at Poona. The Conference appointed a sub-committee headed by Motilal Nehru and included among its members Ali Imam, Tej Bahadur Sapru, and Subhash Bose. The sub-committee submitted its report known as the Nehru Report in August 1928. The Report recommended that the attainment of Dominion Status should be considered the "next immediate step," India should be a federation built on the basis of linguistic provinces and provincial autonomy, the executive should be fully responsible to the legislature, elections should be by joint electorates on (he basis of adult suffrage, and that seats in the legislatures should be reserved for religious minorities for a period of 10 years. Unfortunately, the All Parly Convention, held at Calcutta in December 1928, failed to pa.s.s the NehrU Report. Objections were raised by some of the communal-minded leaders belonging to the Muslim League, the Hmdu Mahasabha and the Sikh League. The Muslim League was itself split on the issue along nationalist and communal lines. Mohammed AH Jinnah put forth lin "fourteen point" demands at this time, claiming, among other things, separate electorates, one third of the seats in the central legislature for the Muslims, reservation of seats for the Muslims in Bengal and the Punjab in proportion to population, and the vesting of residual powers in the provinces. The Hindu Maliasabha denounced the Report as pro-Muslim. Thus the prospects of national unity were foiled by communal groups.
So far as merely const.i.tutional questions were concerned the gulf between the nationalists and the comnvunalists was not really large at this time. The nationalists had willingly provided the necessary safeguards to protect the interests of the minorities. Religion, culture, language and the. fundainental rights of individuals as well as the minorities were all to be protected. Unfortunately, these leaders failed to fully understand the psychology of the minorities at the time. The minorities, particularly the Muslims, felt what was perhaps an unreasonable fear of the majority. Only by practical expcricnce of modem politics would they gradually lose this fear and then refuse to be exploited by reactionary leaders or the alien governmci"< t:my="" lmlnmt.ili^ls="" ic.meis="" i="" can="" sod="" ikii="" hiiiv="" writ="" inlci,="" jawaharh="" -="" u.="" fin="" example,="" wrote="" in="" h="">i3 that: "o ;> .iic exlent itns for is justified, or is at least unilcrilanJtdilc in a nuiiaut)" ^omimwitv .. A special responsibility does oltn^li to (tic Dirnli.ii in f .h,i K-"n hecuuse they are the majority community and because economically and educationally they are moie advanced. The (Hindu) Maliasabha, instead of discharging that responsibility, lias acted in a manner winch has undoubtedly increased llie co minimal ism of Ihe Muslims and made them distmsl the Hindus all the more. ..One communal is m does not end the otbci; each feeds on the olhei and both fallen In another article written in 1934, he advised: "We should therefore remove this fear complex and make the Muslim ma.s.ses realise that they can have any protection that they ieally desire." Even Jinnah accepted this at the time. In a speech in 1931 he said: My position is that I would rather have a settlement even on the footing of separate electorates, hoping and trusting (hat when w work out new const.i.tution and when both Hindus and Muslims get rid of distrust, suspicion and fears, and when they get (heir freedom, we would rise to the occasion and probably separate clcctorate will go sooner than most of us think-.
But most of the nationalist leaders would either not accept this view or m any case failed to act upon it at the time. On the one hand they were pressurized by the Hindu communalists, on the other they felt that since the fears of the minority were illusory and the communal leaders had no ma.s.s support, their demands could be safely rejected. This was a mistake. The result was that even a nationalist like Maulana Muhammad Ali complained that the nationalist headers were willing to compromise with the British Government on the question of complete freedom but refused to conciliate their own communalists. Maulana Azad commented at that time1 The Muslims were fools to ask for safeguards, and the Hindus were greater fools to refuse them " Tn a/iy case, Muslim commu- nalism began to grow steadily after this.
It should also be noted that there existed a basic difference between the politics of the nationalists and the politics of the communalists. The nationalists carried on a political struggle against the alien government to win political rights and freedom for the country. This was not the case with the communalists, Hindu or Muslim. Their demands were made on the nationalists; on the other hand, they usually looked to the foreign government for support and favours. They frequently struggled against the Congress and cooperated with the Government.
Far more important than the proceedings of the All Parties Conference was the popular upsurge against the Simon Commission. The Commission"s arrival in India led to a powerful protest movement in which nationalist enthusiasm and unity reached new heights.
On 3 February, the day the Commission reached Bombay, an all India hartal was organised. Wherever the Commission went it was greeted with hartals and black-flag demonstrations under the slogan Simon Go Back.. The Government used brutal suppression and police HuacKs to break the popular opposition.
The anti-Simon Commission movement did not immediately lead to a wider political struggle because Gandhi, the unquestioned though undeclared leader of the national movement, was not yet convinced that the time for struggle had come. But popular enthusiasm could not be held back for long for the country was once again in a mood of struggle.
Poo mi Swaraja The National Congress soon reflected this new mood. Gandhi came back to active politics and attended the Calcutta session of the Congress in December 1928. He now began to consolidate the nationalist ranks. The first step was to reconcile the militant left-wing of the Congress. Jawaharlal Nehru was now made the President of the Congress at the historic Lah.o.r.e session of 1929. This event had its romantic side too. Son had succeeded father (Motilal Nehru was the President of the Congress- in 1928) as the official head of the national movement, marking a -unique family triumph In the annals of modern, history.
The Lah.o.r.e session of the Congress gave voice to the new, militant spirit. It pa.s.sed a resolution declaring Poorna Swaraj (Full Independence) to be the Congress objective. On 31 December 1929 wa hoisted the
After the resolution demanding complete Independence was pa.s.sed by the Congress, the Indian People observed 26 January at the "Independence Day" every year. The ill.u.s.tration shows mounted police charging people who had gathered to observe the "Independence Day1. in Calcutta, 1931. {Couritsy: Gandhi Smark Sangrahalya Samitt, New Delhi)
$lebge of 3nt>rpenbcnte A* tfcfcltt It thi Ptoru 01 tNW* on Puina SvMkJij Day, January 24, lt Wnr /**/ rf fi /Ar /Nfw#wWr r/jV 0/ /ir JWJM ii of n> oftir to Aiw /w/o ^ /rMfi 0/ /irir tod omd &n iiv tfrrttMn of fc/r. i< fw="" rj="" m*y="" bur="" fott="" opportunity="" fro/.="" miw="" jw="" kw="" r/="" tt=""> toi"trmmffit Jepwtvet s propU of tbre nA/i ond ^^iin Mth, /4r &M1 1 fneiirr njibi tQ diet it m to wbdhb it. TAr 0rrfiiA Coiwaaftf >4 Wm 4u wof n*f) Jrpri%*J ti# fpr/ww /Arir freedom but bm bus*J lArlf om ibt *xpto*t*t*Mr of the Miiki, sttd hot t*t*r4 f*Jn rcomtmicdly, pdittrdfy, rJfMMlf) omJ iptrttmdfy Vr M*riC there far thmt luJtm ***/ arirr /if britnb ik*a omj ofton r*rM Skw^f w atmpttff isJr^rWrwy, (gi flrr* mtned nMiwrrn//;, ?6r vic**t" /ra oar people mompntafed u iu hraft fmrihrr bnrdent om tht >MMM/ry Brttab mattttftwin ted gooit rouihiuie tbr bulk of ome loiporti CdiIomi inltfx bftroy t.i.tof p4rttdity for Brtiub mmuforlnrti, and ftvtme firr 0Tbtir*ry bt bfru ft*r if /Ai 9*(t*t WJJH b rtwUfd im mttfntm Jrtt.u.r.d *wtf /vow the trtttniry tvttfu ttly, IwJtrff i/0fm bn unrr fxrn h trJurtl gt vtiJer it* Bninb rtxmt No reform /mh1 puttth d Jnmr to ibt pntpir. Tbv nf *1 b* bfmi brfvrr f*n*W *tburtty> Thr Tt^Lli rtf fret txpmuau nf npuinrt W fwtt wito* to/ton b*it t*VH JfntfJ to *nJ mitts ttf v*r ttnnirymeM are <0 in*="" tn="" eidt="" ***4="" rftmrtt="" io="" tfk"tr="" bt*nr*="" alf="" sjtttmnirithr="" taent="" n="" kilttd="" thr="" maivi="" 6ir="" to="" be="" nitifirj="" tutib="" h*ji=""> ^Unt n0itei tad ifaktbipt, C*t*h"*tly* fbf lyitrm of tJimtnH bet toro mt from nut ionrw& mnt om trmoutu hit moJr *t bog the t*rv rbtiut tb*i fund *.S^iritmitty, ) iiiMrmnmrHf /**< rnajr="" m="" mmtusttty="" tnj="" thr="" pretense="" of="" art="" t.i.tttr="" ormy="" of="" orfxfut**m*="" em^toyej="" mffo="" jtojty="" rfict"i="" to="" nnib="" lit="" mi="" ihe="" ipirtt="" of="" t*ikl*at*t="" b*t="" m#lf="" tn="" tbiitk="" tbot="" wr="" t="" itjob.="" sfirr="" onrteiin="" or="" pm!="" up="" 4="" de="" fetter="" ojtoihtl="" fore*x*="" ojmretsiot*.="" ot="" n="" t*="" jrfruj="" unr="" bom="" ft="" a="">tJ fo*ii(ti from *be otfmkt of tbki*r, robbers and murmn/i Vt bcid it to be j crime mw Gait io tubmit guy fouler ta 4 roll itfoi &** coottJ ibn foutftdd dhdiifr to rtr ratmlry. Wr rera/ittne, bou"ewe, ifut tbr mtni rfniin K#> *tf freeJum if uni through tie, W*
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Text of the Pledge of Independence. as taken by (he People of India on Puina Swaraj Day, 26 January 1930
newly adopted tri-colour flag oF freedom. 26 January 1930 was fixed as tlie first Independence Day, -which was to be so celebrated every year with the people taking the pledge that it was "a crime against man and G.o.d to submit any longer" to British rule. The Congress session also announced the launching of a civil disobedience movement. But it did not draw up a programme of struggle. That was left to Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress organisation being placed at his disposal. Oncc again the nationalist movement led by Gandhi faced the Govern-ment. The country was again filled with hope and exhilaration and the determination to be free.
The Second Civil Disobedience Movement The Second Civil Disobedience Movement was started by Gandhi on 12 March 1930 with his famous Dandi March. Together with 78 chosen followers, Gandhi walked nearly 200 miles from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, a village on the Gujarat sea-coast. Here Gandhi and his followers made salt in violation of the salt laws. This act was a symbol of the Indian people.s refusal to live under British-made laws and therefore* under British rule. Gandhi declared: The British rule in India has brought about moral, material, cultural, and spiritual ruination of this great country, I regard this rule as a curse. I am out to destroy this system or Government _____________________________ Sedition has become my religion. Ours is a nonviolent battle. We are not to kill anybody but it is our dharma to sec that the curse of this Government is blotted out.
The movement now spread rapidly. Everywhere in the country people joined hartals, demonstrations, and the campaign to boycott foreign goods and to refuse to pay taxes. Lakhs of Indians offered pa.s.sive resistance. In many parts of the country, the peasants withheld payment of land revenue and rent, A notable feature of the movement was the wide partic.i.p.ation of women. Thousands of them left the seclusion of their homes and offered Satyagraha. They took active part in picketing shops selling foreign cloth or liquor. They marched shoulder to shoulder with the men in processions.
The movement reached the extreme north-western corner of India and stirred the brave and hardy Pathans. Under the leadership of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, popularly known as "the Frontier Gandhi", the Pathans organised the society of Khudai Khidmatgars (or Servants ot G.o.d), known popularly as Red Shirts, They were pledged to non-violence and the freedom struggle. Another noteworthy incident occurred in Peshawar at this time. Two platoons of Garhwali soldiers refused to open fire on ma.s.s demonstrators even though it meant facing court martial and long terms of imprisonment. This episode showed that nationalism was beginning to penetrate the Indian army, the chief instrument of British rule.
Similarly, the movement found an echo in the easternmost corner of India. The Manipuris took a brave part in it and Nagaland produced a brave heroine in Ram Gaidinliu who ut the age of 13 responded to the call of Gandbi and the Congress and raised the banner of rebellion against foreign rule. The young Rani was captured in 1932 and sentenced to life imprisonment. She wasted her bright youthful years in the dark cclls of various a.s.sam jails, to be released only in 1947 by the Government of free India, Jawaharlal Nehru was to write of her in 1937 : "A day will come when India also will remember her and cherish her"
The Government.s reply to the national struggle was the same as before -an effort to crush it through ruthless repression, lathi charges and firing on unarmed crowds of men and women. Over 90,000 Satyagrah s, including Gandhi and other Congress leaders, were imprisoned. The Congress was declared illegal. The nationalist press was gagged through strict censorship of news. According to official figures over 110 persons were killed and over 300 wounded in police firings. Unofficial estimates place the number of dead far higher. Moreover, thousands of persons had their heads and bones broken in lathi charges. South India in particular experienced repression in its most severe form. The police often beat up men just for wearing khadi or Gandhi cap. !n the end people resisted"at Eliora in Andhra, leading to a firing by the police in which several people lost their lives.
Meanwhile, (he British Government summoned in London in 1930 the first Round Table Conference of Indian leaders and spokesmen of the British Government to discuss the Simon Commission Report. But the National Congress boycotted the Conference and its proceedings proved abortive. For a conference on Indian affairs without the Congress Was like staging Ramlila without Rama.
The Government now made attempts to negotiate an agreement with the Congress so that it would attend the Round Table Conference. Finally, Lord Irwin and Gandhi negotiated a settlement in March 1931. The Government agreed to release those political prisoners who had remained non-violent, while the Congress suspended the Civil Disobedience Movement and agreed to take part in the Second Round Table Conference. Many of the Congress leaders, particularly, the younger, left-wing section, were opposed to the Gandhi-Irwin Pact for the Government had not accepted even one of the major nationalist demands. It bqd not agreed even to the demand that the death sentence on Bhagat Singh and his two comrades be commuted to life imprisonment. But Gandhi was convinced that Lord Irwin and the British were sincere in their desire to negotiate on Indian demartds. His concept of Satyagraha included the need to give the opponent every chance to show a change of heart. He prevailed upon the Karachi session of the Congress to approve the agreement. The Karachi session is also memorable for a resolution on Fundamental Rights and the National Economic Programme. The resolution guaranteed basic civil and political rights to the people. It provided for the nationalization of key industries and transport, better conditions for the workers, agrarian reform, and free and compulsory primary education, It also a.s.sured that "the culture, language and script of the minorities and of the different linguistic areas shall be protected."
Gandhi went to England in September 1931 to attend the Second Rojind Table Conference. But in spite of his powerful advocacy, the British Government refused to concede the basic nationalist demand for freedom on the basis of the immediate grant of Dominion Status. On his return, the Congress resumed the Civil Disobedience Movement.
The Government now headed by the new Viceroy Lord Willington was tins time fully determined and prepared to crush the Congress. In fact, the bureaucracy in India had never relented. Just after the signing of the Gandhi-Invin Pact, a crowd had been fired upon in East G.o.davari, in And"nra, and foar persons were killed simply because the people had put up Gandhi.s portrait. Aft".-r the failure of the Round Table Confejence, Gandhi and other leaden of the Congress were again arrested and the Congress declared illegal. The normal working of laws was suspended and the administration carried on through special ordinances. The police indulged in naked terror and committed innu-merable atrocities on the freedom fighters. Over a lakh of satyagrahis were arrested; the lands, houses, and other property of thousands was confiscated. Nationalist literature was banned while the nationalist newspapers were again placed under censorship.
Government repression succeeded ia the end, helped as it was by the differences among Indian leaders on communal and other questions. The Civil Disobedience Movement gradually waned and political enthusiasm and exhilaration gave way to frustration and depression. The Congress officially suspended the movement in May 1933 and withdrew it in. May 1934. Gandhi once again withdrew from active politics. Congress membership dropped to less than five lakhs.
NATIONALIST POIITICS, 1935-1939.
The Government of India Act, 1935 While the Congress was in the thick of battle, the Third Round Table Co iference met in London in November 1932, once again without the leaders of the Congress. Its discussions eventually led to the pa.s.sing of the Government of India Act of 1935. The Act provided for the establishment of an All India Federation and a new system of government for the provinces on the basis of provincial autonomy. The federation was to be based on a union, of the provinoes of British India and the Princely States. There was to be a bicameral federal legislature in which the States were given disproportionate weightage. Moreover, the representatives of the States were not to be elccted by the people, but Appointed directly by the rulers. Only 14 per cent of the total population in British India was given the right to vote. Even this legislature, in which the Princes were once again to be used to check and counter the nationalist elements, was denied any real power. Defence and foreign affairs remained outside its control, while the Governor- General retained special control over the other subjects. The Governor-General and the Governors were to be appointed by the British Government and were to be responsible to it. In the provinces, local power was increased. Ministers responsible to the provincial a.s.semblies were to control all departments of provincial administration. But the Governors were given special powers. They could veto legislative action and legislate on their own. Moreover, they retained full control over the civil service and the police. The Act could not satisfy the nationalist aspiration for both political and economic power continued to be concentrated in the hands of the British Government, foreign rule was to continue as before, only a few popularly elected ministers were to be added to the structure of British administration in India. The Congress condemned the Act as "totally disappointing,"
The fei?ral part of the Act was never introducM but the provincial part was soon put into operation. Bitterly opposed to the Act though the Congress was., it decided to contest the elections under the new Act of 1935, though with the declared aim of showing how unpopular the Act was. The elections conclusively demonstrated that a large majority of Indian people supported the Congress which swept the polls in most of the provinces. Congress ministries were formed in July 1937 in seven out of eleven provinces. Later, Congress formed coalition governments in two others. Only Bengal and. the Punjab had non- Congress ministries.
The Congress Ministries The Congress ministries, could obviously not change the basically imperialist character of British administration in- India and th&y failed to introduce a radical era. But they did try to improve the condition" of the people within the narrow limits of the powers given to them under the- Act of 1935. The Congress ministers reduced their own salaries drastically to Rs. 500 per month. Most of then* travelled second Or third cla.s.s on the railways. They set up new standards of honesty andf public service. They paid1 greater attention to primary, technical, and higher- education1 and public health. They helped the peasant by1 pa.s.sing anti-usury and tenanoy legislation". They promoted civil liberties. Political prisoners were released1* Theee was *relase$ion_f police and secret service raj". Freedom ot the press was enhanced. Trade unions felt freer and were able to win wage increases for workers. The laigest gain was psychological. People felt as if they were breathing the air of victory and self-government, for was it not a great achievement that men who were in prison till the other day were now ruling in the secretariat?
The period between 1935 and 1939 witnessed several other important political developments which, in a way, marked a new turn in the nationalist movement and the Congress.
Growth of Socialist Ideas The 1930.s witnessed the rapid growth of socialist ideas within and outside the Congress. In 1929 there was a great economic slump or depression in the United States which gradually spread to the rest of the world. Everywhere in the capitalist countries there was a steep decline in production and foreign trade, resulting in economic distress and large scale unemployment. At one time, the number of unemployed was 3 million in Britain, 6 million in Germany, and 12 million in the United States. On the other hand, the economic situation in the Soviet Union was just the opposite. Not only was there no slump, but the years between 1929 and 1936 witnessed the successful completion of the first two Five Year Plans which pushed the Soviet industrial production by more than four times. The world depression, thus, brought the capitalist system into * disrepute and drew attention towards Marxism, socialism, and economic planning. Consequently, socialist ideas began to attract more and more people, especially the young, the workers, and the peasants.
The economic depression also worsened the conditions of the peasants and workers in India. The prices of agricultural products dropped by over 50 per cent by the end of 1932. The employers tried to reduce wages. The peasants all over the country began to demand land reforms, abolition of zamindari, reduction of land revenue and rent, and relief from indebtedness. Workers in the factories and plantations increasingly demanded better conditions of work and recognition of their trade union rights. Consequently, there was rapid growth of trade unions in the cities and the kisan sabhas (peasants. unions) in many areas, particularly, in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and the Puqjab. The first all-India peasant organisation, the All-India Kisan Sabha was formed in 1936. The peasants also began to take a more active part in the national movement.
Within the Congress the left-wing tendency found reflection in the election of Jawaharlal Nehru as president for 1936 and 1937 and of Subhash Chandra Bose for 1938 and 1939. In his presidential address to the Lucknow Congress in 1936, Ne)iru urged the Congress to accept socialism as Us goal and to bring itself closer to the peasantry and the working cla.s.s. This was also, he felt, the best way of weaning away the Muslim ma.s.ses from the influence of their reactionary communal leaders. He said: I am convinced that the only key to the solution of the world.s problems and of India.s problems liM in socialism, and, when I use this word, I do so not in a.
vague humanitarian way but in the scientific, economic sense _____________ That involves vast and revolutionary changes in our political and social structure, the ending of vested interests in land and industry, as well as the feudal and autocratic Indian states system. That means the ending of private property, except in a restricted sense, and the replacement of the present profit system by a higher ideal of cooperative service. It means ultimately a change in our instincts and habits and desires. In short, it means a new civilization, radically different from the present capitalist order.
Outside the Congress, the socialist tendency led to the growth of the Communist Party under the leadership of P.C. Joshi and the foundation of the Congress Socialist Party under the leadership of Acharya Narendra Dev and Jai Prakash Narayan. In 1938, Subhash Chandra Bose had been re-elected president of the Congress even though Gandhi had opposed him. But opposition of Gandhi and his supporters in the Congress Working Committee compelled Bose to resign from the presidentship of the Congress in 1939. He and many of his left-wing followers now founded the Forward Bloc.
Congress and World Affairs A second major development of the period 1935-1939 was the increasing interest the Congress took in world affairs. The Congress had from its inception in 1885 opposed the use of the Indian army and of India.s resources to serve British interests in Africa and Asia. It had gradually developed a foreign policy based on opposition to the"sprcad of imperialism. In February 1927, Jawaharlal Nehru on behalf of the National Congress attended the Congress of oppressed nationalities at Brussels organised by political exiles and revolutionaries from the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, suffering from economic or political imperialism. The Congress was called to coordinate and plan their common struggle against imperialism. Many left-wing intellectuals and political leaders of Europe also joined the Congress. In hr .d dress to the Congress, Nehru said: We realise that there is much in common in the struggle which various subject and semi-subject and oppressed peoples are carrying on today. Tbeit- opponents are often the same, although they sometimes appear in different guises and the means employed for their subjection are often similar, Nehru was elected to the Executive Council of the League Against Imperialism that was born at this Congress. In 1927, the Madras session of the National Congress warned the Government that the people of
Jawaharlal Nehru and V.K. Krishna Menon with General Lister at General Lister"s headquarters in Spain. (Courtesy; Nehru Memorial Museum and Library)
India would not support Britain in any war undertaken to further its imperialist aims.