Gandhian Movements Notes for UPSC

From 1917 to 1942, Mahatma Gandhi led the Indian freedom struggle with the weapons of truth (satyagraha) and non-violence (ahimsa). He turned the national movement from an elite affair into a mass movement of peasants, workers, women and students. The three great Gandhian mass movements were the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920 to 1922), the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930 to 1934) and the Quit India Movement (1942). For UPSC, you must know their causes, programmes, events, withdrawal and impact, along with the earlier satyagrahas and related events.

Gandhi's Early Satyagrahas in India (1917 to 1918)

Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915 and, on the advice of his political guru Gopal Krishna Gokhale, first travelled across the country to understand it. His first experiments with satyagraha in India were:

• Champaran (1917): in Bihar, farmers were forced under the tinkathia system to grow indigo on a part of their land. Led by Gandhi at the request of Rajkumar Shukla, the movement won relief for the farmers. It was Gandhi's first civil disobedience in India.
• Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918): Gandhi supported the textile workers' demand for a wage increase and used a hunger strike. The mill owner Ambalal Sarabhai finally agreed.
• Kheda (1918): in Gujarat, farmers asked for the remission of land revenue after crop failure. Vallabhbhai Patel and others joined Gandhi, and the government accepted the demand.

Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh and Khilafat (1919)

The Rowlatt Act (1919) allowed the government to jail people without trial. Gandhi launched the Rowlatt Satyagraha in April 1919. On 13 April 1919, at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, General Dyer ordered his troops to fire on a peaceful crowd of men, women and children gathered on Baisakhi day, killing hundreds. The shock changed the mood of the country. At the same time, the Khilafat Movement, led by the Ali brothers (Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali), protested against the harsh treatment of Turkey and its Caliph after World War I. Gandhi joined it to unite Hindus and Muslims against the British.

Non-Cooperation Movement (1920 to 1922)

Programme

The Congress accepted the programme of non-cooperation at the special session in Calcutta (September 1920) and confirmed it at Nagpur (December 1920). The plan was to withdraw cooperation from the British government in a peaceful way:

• Give up government titles and honorary posts and boycott the legislative councils.
• Boycott government schools, colleges and courts and set up national schools and panchayats.
• Boycott foreign cloth, spin khadi on the charkha and promote Swadeshi.
• Raise the Tilak Swaraj Fund and join the Congress in large numbers.

Course and Withdrawal

Lawyers like C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru gave up their practice, students left government schools and the boycott of the Prince of Wales's visit in November 1921 was widely observed. Gandhi returned the Kaiser-i-Hind medal. The movement was at its height when, on 5 February 1922, a mob set a police station on fire at Chauri Chaura (Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh) and killed 22 policemen. Gandhi was shocked by the violence and suspended the movement on 12 February 1922. He was arrested in March 1922 and sentenced to six years in jail. Some leaders criticised the decision, but Gandhi insisted that the movement must remain non-violent. After the withdrawal, C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party (1923) to enter the councils.

Road to the Civil Disobedience Movement

The Simon Commission (1927) had no Indian member, so the Congress boycotted it with the slogan "Simon Go Back". Lala Lajpat Rai was injured in a lathi-charge in Lahore and died in 1928. The Nehru Report (1928) proposed a constitution with dominion status, but the demand was not accepted. The Bardoli Satyagraha (1928), led by Sardar Patel against a high revenue hike, was a success. At the Lahore session (December 1929), with Jawaharlal Nehru as President, the Congress declared Purna Swaraj (complete independence) as its goal, and 26 January 1930 was celebrated as Independence Day.

Civil Disobedience Movement (1930 to 1934)

Gandhi began the movement with the Dandi March. He started from Sabarmati Ashram on 12 March 1930 with 78 followers, walked about 240 miles and broke the salt law at Dandi on 6 April 1930 by making salt from the sea. The salt tax affected every Indian, so the symbol was powerful. The movement spread to the whole country: salt satyagrahas at Vedaranyam (led by C. Rajagopalachari) and Dharasana (led by Sarojini Naidu after Gandhi's arrest), the non-payment of taxes, boycott of foreign cloth and liquor shops and a big role for women. In the North-West Frontier Province, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan led the non-violent Khudai Khidmatgars (Red Shirts).

The Gandhi-Irwin Pact (5 March 1931) ended the first phase: the government released the political prisoners and allowed the making of salt for personal use, and Gandhi agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference. The conference in London (1931) failed to produce results. In August 1932, the Communal Award gave separate electorates to the Depressed Classes. Gandhi fasted in Yerwada jail in protest, and the Poona Pact (24 September 1932) between Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar replaced it with reserved seats within the general electorate. The movement was withdrawn in 1934.

Individual Satyagraha and the Cripps Mission

When the Viceroy Linlithgow declared India at war in 1939 without consulting Indians, the Congress ministries resigned. In October 1940 Gandhi started the Individual Satyagraha, in which chosen persons offered symbolic protest against the war effort; Vinoba Bhave was the first and Jawaharlal Nehru the second. In March 1942, the Cripps Mission offered dominion status after the war with the right of provinces to stay out of the Union, which the Congress rejected.

Quit India Movement (1942)

The Quit India Movement was launched by the All India Congress Committee at Gowalia Tank, Bombay, on 8 August 1942. Gandhi gave the slogan "Do or Die" and called on the British to leave India. Within hours of the speech, on 9 August, Gandhi and almost all top leaders were arrested, so the movement became leaderless and spontaneous. Ordinary people attacked government buildings, railway stations and telegraph lines. Young leaders like Aruna Asaf Ali (who hoisted the flag at Gowalia Tank), Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Usha Mehta (who ran the underground Congress Radio) carried on the work.

Parallel governments were set up in Ballia (Uttar Pradesh), Tamluk (Midnapore, Bengal) and Satara (Maharashtra). The government used great force to crush the movement, killing and imprisoning many. The Muslim League, the Communist Party and many princes did not support the movement. Even so, Quit India made it clear to the British that they could not rule India for long.

Comparison of the Three Movements

Mains Angle: Why Was Gandhi's Leadership Successful?

Gandhi connected with ordinary people through simple symbols (salt, charkha, khadi), used non-violent mass action that was hard for the state to defeat, built Hindu-Muslim unity (though not fully), and included women, farmers and workers, the business class and the educated in one movement. His constructive work (khadi, removal of untouchability, education) strengthened society. Limitations include the sudden withdrawal of movements and the growth of communal division. A balanced conclusion: Gandhi's methods gave the movement moral strength and a mass base and prepared the country for independence in 1947.

Practice Statements and Common Mistakes

• "The Non-Cooperation Movement was withdrawn after the Chauri Chaura incident." Correct.
• "The Dandi March began from Dandi." Wrong. It began from Sabarmati Ashram and ended at Dandi.
• "The Poona Pact was signed between Gandhi and Jinnah." Wrong. It was between Gandhi and Ambedkar.
• Do not mix up the Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931, Civil Disobedience) with the Cripps Mission (1942).

Quick Revision

• Champaran 1917, Ahmedabad 1918, Kheda 1918; Rowlatt Satyagraha 1919.
• Non-Cooperation 1920 to 1922; Civil Disobedience from Dandi March, 1930; Quit India, 8 August 1942.
• Gandhi-Irwin Pact 1931; Poona Pact 1932; Cripps Mission 1942.

The Gandhian movements are the core of the freedom struggle. Learn the dates in a timeline, revise the three movements in a comparison table and practise a Mains answer on Gandhi's techniques, and you will be fully prepared for this topic.

Related Notes to Read Next

Continue your preparation with these related notes from the same subject:

• Socio-Religious Reform Movements Notes for UPSC
• Constitutional Developments in British India (1773 to 1935)
• Governor-Generals and Viceroys of India Notes for UPSC
• All Modern Indian History notes

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What were Gandhi’s first satyagrahas in India?

Gandhi’s first satyagrahas in India were Champaran (1917) for indigo farmers, the Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918) for textile workers and Kheda (1918) for farmers affected by crop failure.

Why was the Non-Cooperation Movement started?

It was started in 1920 in response to the Rowlatt Act, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the Khilafat issue, to withdraw cooperation from the British government peacefully.

Why did Gandhi withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement?

Gandhi withdrew the movement on 12 February 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident, in which a mob burnt a police station and killed 22 policemen, because he believed the movement had become violent.

What was the Dandi March?

The Dandi March was Gandhi’s march from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi from 12 March to 6 April 1930, where he broke the salt law, starting the Civil Disobedience Movement.

What was the Gandhi-Irwin Pact?

Signed on 5 March 1931, it ended the first phase of the Civil Disobedience Movement. The government released political prisoners and allowed salt-making for personal use, and Gandhi agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference.

What was the Poona Pact?

The Poona Pact of 24 September 1932 was an agreement between Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar that gave reserved seats to the Depressed Classes in the general electorate instead of separate electorates.

What was the Communal Award?

The Communal Award of 1932, announced by Ramsay MacDonald, gave separate electorates to minorities including the Depressed Classes. Gandhi opposed it for the Depressed Classes and fasted against it.

What was the slogan of the Quit India Movement?

Gandhi gave the slogan "Do or Die" (Karenge ya Marenge) at the Quit India Movement’s launch on 8 August 1942 in Bombay.

Where was the Quit India resolution passed?

It was passed at the All India Congress Committee session at Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay on 8 August 1942.

Who ran the Congress Radio during the Quit India Movement?

Usha Mehta and her associates ran the underground Congress Radio during the Quit India Movement, with the help of Ram Manohar Lohia and others.

What was the Individual Satyagraha?

It was a limited protest launched by Gandhi in October 1940 in which selected individuals offered symbolic opposition to the war. Vinoba Bhave was the first satyagrahi.

Why did the Quit India Movement fail to achieve immediate independence?

It was brutally repressed, all major leaders were jailed, it lacked a central plan and some groups did not support it, but it showed that the British could not continue to rule India.