The
non-cooperation movement , was the first-ever series of nationwide people's movements of
nonviolent resistanceNonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving socio-political goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence....
and
civil disobedienceCivil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical violence. It is one of the primary methods of nonviolent resistance...
, led by
Mahatma GandhiMohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
and the
Indian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian...
. The Movement opened the
Gandhi Era in the
Indian Independence MovementThe term Indian independence movement incorporates various national and regional campaigns, agitations and efforts of both nonviolent and militant philosophy. The term encompasses a wide spectrum of political organizations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending the British...
and took place from September 1920 until February 1922 .
The Rowlatt Acts were legislation that imposed authoritarian restrictions upon
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n people. The notion of
habeas corpusHabeas corpus is a legal action, or writ, through which a person can seek relief from the unlawful detention of him or herself, or of another person. It protects the individual from harming him or herself, or from being harmed by the judicial system...
was discarded, and the police and army were empowered to search and seize property, and detain and arrest any Indian without the slightest need for evidence.
The
non-cooperation movement , was the first-ever series of nationwide people's movements of
nonviolent resistanceNonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving socio-political goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence....
and
civil disobedienceCivil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical violence. It is one of the primary methods of nonviolent resistance...
, led by
Mahatma GandhiMohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
and the
Indian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian...
. The Movement opened the
Gandhi Era in the
Indian Independence MovementThe term Indian independence movement incorporates various national and regional campaigns, agitations and efforts of both nonviolent and militant philosophy. The term encompasses a wide spectrum of political organizations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending the British...
and took place from September 1920 until February 1922 .
The Rowlatt Acts were legislation that imposed authoritarian restrictions upon
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n people. The notion of
habeas corpusHabeas corpus is a legal action, or writ, through which a person can seek relief from the unlawful detention of him or herself, or of another person. It protects the individual from harming him or herself, or from being harmed by the judicial system...
was discarded, and the police and army were empowered to search and seize property, and detain and arrest any Indian without the slightest need for evidence. Promulgated by the British Parliament, the Viceroy and the
Imperial Legislative CouncilThe Imperial Legislative Council was a legislature for India during the middle years of the British Raj.The Government of India Act 1909 increased the number of members of the Legislative Council to sixty, of which twenty-seven were to be elected...
, they were to be enforced on April 6, 1919.
Furthermore, many Indians were already infuriated by the British authorities' decision to send Indian soldiers to
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
without the slightest consultation with the Indian people in any manner or form.
The calls of liberal and moderate political leaders like Mohammad Ali Jinnah,
Annie BesantAnnie Wood Besant was a prominent Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule.-Early life:...
,
Gopal Krishna GokhaleGopal Krishna Gokhale, CIE was one of the founding social and political leaders during the Indian Independence Movement against the British Empire in India. Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and founder of the Servants of India Society...
and
Bal Gangadhar TilakBal Gangadhar Tilak –, was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer and independence fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called him the "Father of the Indian unrest"...
for
Home Rule were accompanied only by petitions and major public meetings. They never resulted in disorder or obstruction of government services.
Champaran, Kheda, Khilafat and Amritsar
Mahatma GandhiMohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
had shown in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
and in 1918 in Champaran,
BiharBihar is a state in eastern India. Bihar is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at 38,202 sq mi , and 3rd largest by population. Close to 85 percent of the population lives in villages...
and
KhedaKheda is a town and a municipality in Kheda district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Kheda, also known as Kaira, is 35 km from Ahmedabad. The National Highway no. 8 connecting Ahmedabad and Mumbai passes through Kheda...
,
GujaratGujarat is the westernmost state in India. It is home to the Gujarati speaking people of India. The state encompasses major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization such as Lothal and Dholavira. Gujarat played an important role in the economic history of India throughout the history of India...
that the only way to earn the respect and attention of British officials was to actively resist government activities through
civil disobedienceCivil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical violence. It is one of the primary methods of nonviolent resistance...
.
Now in
ChamparanThe first Satyagraha revolutions inspired by Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian Independence Movement occurred in Kheda district of Gujarat and the Champaran district of Bihar between the years of 1918 and 1919...
and
KhedaThe first Satyagraha revolutions inspired by Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian Independence Movement occurred in Kheda district of Gujarat and the Champaran district of Bihar between the years of 1918 and 1919...
in 1918 he led impoverished farmers, mired in social evils like unhygienic conditions, domestic violence, discrimination, oppression of women and
untouchabilityUntouchability is the social practice of ostracising a minority endogamous group by regarding them as "ritually polluted" and segregating them from the mainstream by social custom or legal mandate. The excluded group could be one that did not accept the norms of the excluding group and...
. On top of their miseries, these people were forced to grow cash crops like
indigoIndigo is the color on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet. Although traditionally considered one of seven divisions of the optical spectrum, modern color scientists do not usually recognize indigo as a separate division and...
,
tobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or...
and
cottonCotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa. The fiber most often is spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft,...
instead of food, and for this they were virtually not compensated. In addition, they had to pay taxes despite a famine.
The Governments of the affected regions signed agreements suspending taxation in face of the famine, allowing the farmers to grow their own crops, releasing all political prisoners and returning all property and lands seized. It was the biggest victory against the
British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
since the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
.
Mahatma Gandhi was assisted by a new generation of Indian revolutionaries like
Rajendra PrasadDr. Rajendra Prasad was the first President of the Republic of India .He was an independence activist and, as a leader of the Congress Party, played a prominent role in the Indian Independence Movement. He served as President of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the constitution of the...
and
Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru was an Indian statesman who was the first, and has been the longest-serving prime minister of India to date, having served from 1947 until 1964...
. In Kheda, the entire revolt had been led by
Sardar Vallabhbhai PatelVallabhbhai Patel was a political and social leader of India who played a major role in the country's struggle for independence and guided its integration into a united, independent nation...
, who was to become Gandhi's lieutenant.
Millions of India's Muslims were also antagonized by the Government's support of Mustafa Kemal of
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, who had overthrown the Sultan of Turkey, considered the
CaliphThe Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transliterated version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
of
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
. Muslim leaders formed the Khilafat committee to protest the actions and find a way to effectively stop the British authorities from neglecting their concerns.
A public meeting of unarmed civilians at
Jallianwala BaghJallianwala Bagh is a public garden in Amritsar in the Punjab province of India, and houses a memorial of national importance, established in 1951 to commemorate the murder of peaceful celebrators on the occasion of the Punjabi New Year on April 13, 1919 in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre...
in Amritsar was fired upon by troops under the command of
Reginald DyerBrigadier-General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer CB was a British Indian Army officer responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.-Early life and assignments:...
. Hundreds of people died and perhaps thousands were injured. Women, children and the elderly were not spared. The outcry in
PunjabThe Punjab The Punjab The Punjab (pronounced or ; Punjabi: ਪੰਜਾਬ, The Punjab (pronounced or ; [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]: [[Gurmukhī script|ਪੰਜਾਬ]], The Punjab (pronounced or ; [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]: [[Gurmukhī script|ਪੰਜਾਬ]], [[Shahmukhi script|, ), also spelled Panjab ' onMouseout='HidePop("92956")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Bal_Gangadhar_Tilak">Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak –, was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer and independence fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called him the "Father of the Indian unrest"...
,
Bipin Chandra PalBipin Chandra Pal was an Indian nationalist. He was among the triumvirate of Lal Bal Pal.-Early life and background:...
, Mohammad Ali Jinnah,
Annie BesantAnnie Wood Besant was a prominent Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule.-Early life:...
opposed the idea outright. The All India Muslim League also criticized the idea. But the younger generation of Indian nationalists were thrilled, and backed Gandhi. The Congress Party adopted his plans, and he received extensive support from Muslim leaders like Maulana Azad,
Mukhtar Ahmed AnsariDr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was an Indian nationalist and political leader, and former president of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League during the Indian Independence Movement.-Early life and medical career:...
,
Hakim Ajmal KhanAjmal Khan Hakim Ajmal Khan ’s ancestors, a distinguished line of physicians, had come to India during the reign of Babar, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India. All members of the family of Hakim Ajmal Khan were Unani doctors. The family had been practicing this ancient form of medicine from...
,
Abbas TyabjiAbbas Tyabji was an Indian freedom fighter from Gujarat, who once served as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court. Mahatma Gandhi appointed Tyabji, at age seventy-six, to replace him as leader of the Salt Satyagraha in May, 1930 after Gandhi’s arrest. Tyabji was arrested soon afterward and...
,
Maulana Mohammad AliMaulana Mohammad Ali Jouhar was an Indian Muslim Jurist journalist and poet, and was among the leading figures of the Khilafat Movement.-Early life:...
and
Maulana Shaukat AliMaulana Shaukat Ali was an Indian Muslim nationalist and leader of the Khilafat movement. He was the brother of Maulana Mohammad Ali.-Early life:...
. Gandhi was elected President of the
Indian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian...
in 1919 and 1920, as well as the All India Home Rule League -- the latter once dominated by Gandhi's critics like Jinnah, Besant and Tilak.
Success and suspension
The success of the revolt was a total shock to British authorities and a massive encouragement to millions of Indians. Then on February 4, 1922, in the
Chauri ChauraChauri Chaura is a town near Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The town is famous for an event that took place on 4 February 1922 during British rule when a police chowki was set on fire by a nationalist mob, killing 23 of the police occupants.-Background:In the years of 1920 & 1921, Indians...
, after violent clashes between the local police and the protestors in which three protestors were killed by police firing, the police
chowki (pron.-chau key) (station) was set on fire by the mob, killing 22 of the police occupants.
Gandhi felt that the revolt was veering off-course.Gandhi was disappointed that the revolt lost its Non-Violent nature. He did not want the movement to degenerate into a contest of violence, with police and angry mobs attacking each other back and forth, victimizing civilians in between. Gandhi appealed to the Indian public for all resistance to end, went on a fast lasting 3 weeks, and called off the mass civil disobedience movement.
Aftermath
The Non-Co-operation Movement was withdrawn because of the Chauri-Chaura incident.
Although he had stopped the national revolt single-handedly, on March 10, 1922, Gandhi was arrested. On March 18, 1922, he was imprisoned for two years for publishing seditious materials.
Although most Congress leaders remained firmly behind Gandhi, the disillusioned broke away. The Ali brothers would soon become fierce critics.
Motilal NehruMotilal Nehru was an early Indian independence activist and leader of the Indian National Congress. He was the founder patriarch of India's most powerful political family, the Nehru-Gandhi family.-Early life:...
and
Chittaranjan DasChittaranjan Das was a Bengali lawyer and a major figure in the Indian independence movement....
formed the
Swaraj PartyThe Swaraj Party was a political party in India that sought greater self-government and political freedoms for the Indian people from the British Raj. It was inspired by the concept of Swaraj...
, rejecting Gandhi's leadership. Many nationalists had felt that the Non-Cooperation Movement should not have been stopped due to isolated incidents of violence, and most nationalists, while retaining confidence in Gandhi, were discouraged.
Contemporary historians and critics suggest that the movement was successful enough to break the back of British rule, and possibly even result in the independence most Indians strove for until 1947.
But many historians and Indian leaders of the time also defend Gandhi's judgment. If he had not stopped the revolts, India could have descended into a chaotic rebellion which would have alienated common Indians and impress only violent revolutionaries.
Redemption
Gandhi's commitment to non-violence was redeemed when, between 1930 and 1934, India committed itself to full independence and tens of millions again revolted in the
Salt SatyagrahaThe Salt Satyagraha was a campaign of nonviolent protest against the British salt tax in colonial India which began with the Salt March to Dandi on March 12, 1930. It was the first act of organized opposition to British rule after Purna Swaraj, the declaration of independence by the Indian National...
which made India's cause famous worldwide for its unerring adherence to non-violence. The Satyagraha ended in glorious success: the demands of Indians were met, and the Congress Party was recognized as the real representative of the Indian people. The
Government of India Act 1935The Government of India Act 1935 was passed during the "Interwar Period" and was the last pre-independence constitution of India.The Act was originally passed in August 1935 , and is said to have been the longest Act of Parliament ever enacted by that time...
also gave India its first taste in democratic self-governance.