Indian Freedom Struggle and

Mahatma Gandhi
A New Way of Agitation: Satyagrah
Gandhi was 24 when he arrived in South Africa to work as a legal
representative for the Muslim Indian Traders based in the city of Pretoria.
He spent 21 years in South Africa where he developed his political views,
ethics and political skills. He was employed as a lawyer by wealthy
Muslims and by Hindu indentured labourers with very limited rights.
During this period of time he developed his new way of agitation which he
termed as Satyagrah. The incidents which led him to develop the idea of
Satyagrah are as follows:

In South Africa, Gandhi faced the discrimination directed at all coloured

people. Once he was thrown off the train for not moving from the first
class, the other day he was beaten up by the driver of a train for not
making space for a European passenger. In the other instance he was
ordered by the magistrate of a Durban court to remove his turban,
which he refused to do.
These events were a turning point in Gandhi's life and shaped his social
activism and awakened him to social injustice. After witnessing racism,
prejudice and injustice against Indians in South Africa, Gandhi began to
question his place in society and his people's standing in the British
Empire.
After realising the plight of Indians in South Africa, he waited for an
opportunity to come his way, so that he could assist Indians in their
struggle against the apartheid government
The opportunity that he had been waiting for came in the form of a bill,
which denied the Indians the right to vote. Though his efforts were
unable to stop the bills passage, his campaign was successful in
drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa.
In 1906, when the British declared war against the Zulu Kingdom in
Natal, Gandhi encouraged the British to recruit Indians. He argued that
Indians should support the war efforts to legitimise their claims to full
citizenship. The British accepted Gandhi's offer to let a detachment of
20 Indians volunteer as a stretcher-bearer corps to treat wounded
British soldiers. During the war he realised that it was hopeless to
directly challenge the overwhelming military power of the British army

he decided it could only be resisted in nonviolent fashion by the

purity of heart.
He got another chance to assist the Indians in their struggle when, in
1906, the Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling
registration of the colony's Indian population. He again organised a
protest against this act also.
At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg on 11 September that
year, Gandhi adopted his still evolving methodology of Satyagraha
(devotion to the truth), or nonviolent protest, for the first time.The
community adopted this plan, and during the ensuing seven-year
struggle, thousands of Indians were jailed and repressed brutally, for
defying the act or being involved in any form of nonviolent resistance.
The government successfully repressed the Indian protesters, but the
public outcry against the unjust doing of the government against the
peaceful protesters left the government with no choice. So, the South
African Government leader Jan Christiaan Smuts negotiated a
compromise with Gandhi
Gandhi's ideas took shape, and the concept of Satyagraha matured
during this struggle, against the Transvaal Government.

After Mahatma Gandhi had successfully fought against the South African
racist regime his idea of Satyagrah had totally matured. His idea of
Stayagrah was as follows:

It emphasized on the power of truth and the need to search for truth
It suggested that if the cause was true and the struggle was against
injustice then there is no need to fight the oppressor with physical
force.
Without seeking vengeance or being aggressive, a satyagrahi could win
the battle through non-violence. This could be done by appealing to the
conscience of the oppressor.
People-including the oppressors had to be persuaded to see the truth,
instead of being forced to accept the truth through use of violence

By this struggle Mahatma Gandhi believed that, truth was bound to

ultimately triumph. He also believed that the dharma of non-violence
could unite all Indians.

Rowlatt Satyagrah

The Rowlatt satyagrah was the first nationwide satyagrah organised by

Gandhiji and hence it marked the arrival of Gandhiji in the Indian
national struggle against the Britishers.
The Imperial Legislative Council in London on 10 March 1919 had
passed an oppressive act, indefinitely extending "emergency
measures" enacted during the First World War in order to control public
unrest and root out conspiracy, in India. This act was known as the
Rowlatt Act which outraged the Indians.
The features of the Rowlatt Act were as follows: Stricter control of the press.
Arrests without warrant.
Indefinite detention without trial.
Juryless in camera trials for proscribed political acts.
The accused was denied the right to know the accusers and the
evidence used in the trial.
Those convicted were required to deposit securities upon release
The convicted were also prohibited from taking part in any
political, educational, or religious activities.
The reasons for this criticism and outrage against the Rowlatt Act was
as following: This Act had been hurriedly passed by the Imperial legislative
council despite the united opposition of the Indian members.
It gave the government enormous power to repress political
activities, and allowed detention of political prisoners without
trial for two years
Of course, this act was unjust and an insult to the Indians which
outraged them.
Mahatma Gandhi organised a non-violent civil disobedience against
such an unjust law. The course and the reaction of the government to
this satyagrah was as follows: The satyagrah started with a hartal on 6 April, 1919
Rallies were organised in various cities, workers went on strike in
railway workshops, and shops closed down.
Alarmed by the popular upsurge and scared that lines of
communication such as the railways and telegraphs would be
disrupted, the British administration decided to clamp down on
nationalists.
Local leaders were picked up from Amritsar, and Mahatma
Gandhi was barred from entering Delhi.
On 10 April, the police in Amritsar fired upon a peaceful
procession and also two leaders of the congress, Dr. Satya Pal
and Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and took them to an unknown place,
provoking widespread attacks on government buildings.
Martial law was imposed and General Dyer took command.

On 13 April some people had gathered in the Jallianwalla Bagh to

protest against the governments new repressive measures and
others had come to attend the annual Baisakhi fair. Being from
outside the city, they were unaware of the martial law that had
been imposed. Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points,
and opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds.
As the news of Jallianwalla Bagh spread, crowds took to the
streets in many north Indian towns. There were strikes, clashes
with the police and attacks on government buildings.
The government responded with brutal repression, seeking to
humiliate and terrorise people.
Seeing the violence spread Mahatma Gandhi decided to call off
the movement.
At last, accepting the report of the Repressive Laws Committee,
the Government of India repealed the Rowlatt Act, the Press Act and
twenty-two other laws in March 1922.

The Non-Cooperation Khilafat Movement

Some of the tensions between the Indians and the Indian British
government before the Non Cooperation Khilafat movement, which
eventually led to the mass movement itself were as follows: The last year of the second decade of twentieth century found
India highly discontented. The Rowlatt Act, the Jallianwala Bagh
massacre and martial law in Punjab. The Montagu-Chelmsford
reforms, announced towards the end of 1919, satisfied few.
The Indian Muslims were incensed when they discovered that
their loyalty had been purchased during the War by assurances
of generous treatment of Turkey after the War - a promise British
statesman had no intention of fulfilling.
Even those who were willing to treat the happenings at
Jallianwala Bagh and other places in Punjab as aberrations that
would soon be 'corrected', were disillusioned when they
discovered that the Hunter Committee appointed by the
Government to enquire the Punjab disturbances was an eye wash
and that the House of Lords had voted in favour of General
Dyer's action.
Events which led to the formation of the Khilafat committee which
jointly launched the non - cooperation movement with the Indian
national Congress:-

By the end of the first quarter of 1920, all the excuses in favour
of the British Government were fast running out.
The Khilafat leaders were told quite clearly that they should not
expect anything more and the Treaty of Sevres signed with
Turkey in May 1920 made it amply clear that the dismemberment
of the Turkish Empire was complete.
To defend the Khalifas temporal powers, a Khilafat Committee
was formed in Bombay in March 1919, led by a young generation
of Muslim leaders like the brothers Maulana Muhammad Ali and
Maulana Shaukat Ali.
The Ali Brothers began discussing with Mahatma Gandhi about the
possibility of a united mass action on the issue. Gandhiji saw this as an
opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified national
movement and suggested them to adopt a programme of non-violent
non-cooperation to protest the Government's behaviour.
On 9 June 1920, the Khilafat committee at Allahabad unanimously
accepted the suggestion of non-cooperation and asked Gandhiji to lead
the movement.
The movement was launched formally on 1st August 1920, after the
expiry of the notice that Gandhiji had given to the Viceroy in his letter
of 22nd June and the passing away of Lokamanya Tilak in the early
hours of 1st August; and the day of mourning and launching of the
movement merged as people all over the country observed hartal and
took out processions. Many kept a fast and offered prayers.
The Congress met in September at Calcutta and accepted 'noncooperation as its own. The main-opposition, led by C.R. Das, was to
the boycott of legislative councils elections to which were to be held
very soon. But even those who disagreed with the idea of boycott
accepted the Congress discipline and withdrew from the elections. The
voters, too, largely stayed away.
On December that year, when the Congress, met for its annual session
at Nagpur, it was C.R. Das who moved the main resolution on noncooperation. The programme of non-cooperation included within its
ambit the following : Surrender of titles and honours.
Boycott of government affiliated schools and colleges, law courts
& foreign cloth.
Resignation from government services.
Mass civil disobedience including the non-payment of taxes.
The adoption of the Non-Cooperation Movement (initiated earlier by the
Khilafat Conference) by the Congress gave it a new energy and from
January, 1921, it began to register considerable success all over the
country

Gandhiji, along with the Ali brothers (who were the foremost Khilafat
leaders), undertook a nation-wide tour during which he addressed
hundreds of meetings and met a large number of political workers.
Events that took place during the Non Cooperation movement: Thousands of students left schools and colleges and joined more
than 800 national schools and colleges that had sprung up all
over the country.
The educational boycott was particularly successful in Bengal,
where the students in Calcutta triggered off a province-wide
strike led by Subhash Bose. Punjab too, responded to the
educational boycott and was second only to Bengal, Lala Lajpat
Rai playing a leading part here.
Boycott of law courts by lawyers was not as successful as the
educational boycott, but it was very dramatic and spectacular.
Many leading lawyers of the country, like C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru,
M.R. Jayakar, Saifuddin Kitchlew, Vallabhbhai Patel etc. gave up
lucrative practices, and their sacrifice became a source of
inspiration for many. In numbers again Bengal led, followed by
Andhra Pradesh, U.P., Karnataka and Punjab.
The most successful item of the programme was the boycott of
foreign cloth. Volunteers would go from house to house collecting
clothes made of foreign cloth, and the entire community would
collect to light a bonfire of the goods. This also halved the value
of imports between 1921 and 1922.
At the All India Khilafat Conference held at Karachi on 8 July,
declared that it was 'religiously unlawful for the Muslims to
continue in the British Army' and asked that this be conveyed to,
every Muslim in the Army. As a result, Mohammed Ali, along with
other leaders was immediately arrested.
The next dramatic event was the visit of the Prince of Wales
which began on 17 November, 1921. The day the Prince landed
in Bombay was observed as a day of hartal all over the country.
This led to a riot between those who had gone to attend the
welcome function and the crowd that was returning from
Gandhiji's meeting which resulted in 59 deaths
By December 1921, the Government felt that things were really going
too far and announced a change of policy by declaring the Volunteers
Corps illegal and arresting all those who claimed to be its members.
C.R. Das was among the first to be arrested, followed by his wife
Basantidebi. In the next two months, over 30,000 people were
arrested from all over the country, and soon only Gandhiji out of the
top leadership remained out of jail.
After a long period of disciplined and non violent protest the
movement took its inevitable violent turn in Chauri Chaurah district of

U.P on 5 February 1922. Irritated by the behaviour of some policemen,

a section of the crowd attacked them. The police opened fire. At this,
the entire procession attacked the police and when the latter hid inside
the police station, set fire to the building. Policemen who tried to
escape were hacked to pieces and thrown into fire. In all twenty-two
policemen were done to death.
On hearing of the incident, Gandhiji decided to withdraw the
movement. He also persuaded the Congress Working Committee to
ratify his decision. The nation was shocked at this decision, but on 12th
February 1922, the non-cooperation movement came to an end.
The movement had gradually slowed down in cities due to the following
reasons: Khadi cloth was often more expensive than mass produced mill
cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it, hence they were
unable to boycott mill cloth for too long.
For the movement to be successful, alternative Indian institutions
had to be set up so that they could be used in place of the British
ones. These were slow to come up. So students and teachers
began trickling back to government schools and lawyers joined
back work in government courts.

Quit India Movement

The Quit India Movement (Bharat Chhodo Andolan) or the August

Movement was a civil disobedience movement in India launched on 8
August 1942 in response to Gandhi's call for immediate independence
of India and against sending Indians to World War II. He asked all
teachers to leave their schools, and other Indians to leave their
respective jobs and take part in this movement. Due to Gandhi's
political influence, his request was followed by a massive proportion of
the population.
At the outbreak of war, the Congress Party had during the Wardha
meeting of the working-committee in September 1939, passed a
resolution conditionally supporting the fight against fascism, but was
rebuffed when they asked for independence in return.
In March 1942, faced with an increasingly dissatisfied sub-continent
only reluctantly participating in the war and deterioration in the war
situation in Europe and South East Asia and with growing
dissatisfaction among Indian troops and among the civilian population
in the sub-continent, the British government sent a delegation to India
under Stafford Cripps, the Leader of the House of Commons, in what
came to be known as the Cripps mission.
The purpose of the Cripps mission were as follows:-

To negotiate with the Indian National Congress a deal to obtain

total co-operation during the war.
In return the Indians would have progressive devolution and
distribution of power from the crown and the Viceroy to an
elected Indian legislature.
The talks failed, as they did not address the key demand of a timetable
of self-government and of definition of the powers to be relinquished,
essentially making an offer of limited dominion-status that was wholly
unacceptable to the Indian movement.
In order to end the deadlock, the British government on 22 March
1942, sent Sir Stafford Cripps to talk terms with the Indian political
parties and secure their support in Britain's war efforts. A Draft
Declaration of the British Government was presented, which included
terms like: Establishment of Dominion
Establishment of a Constituent Assembly.
Right of the Provinces to make separate constitutions.
The factors contributing to the launching of the Quit India Movement
are as follows: Widespread dissatisfaction that prevailed over the rejection of
the demands made by the Congress.
The Cripps' Mission and its failure.
The threat of Japanese invasion of India.
Realization of the national leaders of the incapacity of the British
to defend India.
The aim of the movement was to bring the British Government to the
negotiating table by holding the Allied War Effort hostage.
The call for determined but passive resistance that signified the
certitude that Gandhi foresaw for the movement is best described by
his call to Do or Die, issued on 8 August at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in
Bombay, since renamed August Kranti Maidan.
The incidents that took place after the declaration of the start of the
Quit India movement on 8th August 1942 are as follows: The governments response to the movement was quick. The
Congress was banned and most of its leaders were arrested
before they could start mobilizing the people.
The people, however, were unstoppable as for the first six or
seven weeks after 9 August, there was a tremendous mass
upsurge all over the country. There were hartals and
demonstrations all over the country.
People devised a variety of ways of expressing their anger. In
some places, huge crowds attacked police stations, post offices,
kutcheries (courts), railway stations and other symbols of
Government authority.

Crowds of villagers, often numbering a few hundreds or even a

couple of thousand, physically removed railway tracks.
Elsewhere, small groups of individuals blew up bridges and
removed tracks, and cut telephone and telegraph wires.
In some places, people even set up their independent
government.
National Flags were forcibly hoisted on public buildings in
defiance of the police.
At other places, groups of satyagrahis offered arrest in tehsil or
district headquarters.
Students went on strike in schools and colleges all over the
country and busied themselves taking out processions, writing
and distributing illegal news-sheets hundreds of these 'patrikas'
came out all over the country. They also became couriers for the
emerging underground networks.
The British responded with terrible brutality. The army was called
out to assist the police.
Unarmed crowds faced police and military firing on 538 occasions
and they were also machine-gunned by low-flying aircraft.
Repression also took the form of taking hostages from the
villages, imposing collective fines running to a total of Rs 90
lakhs, whipping of suspects and burning of entire villages whose
inhabitants had run away and could not be caught.
By the end of 1942, over 60,000 persons had been
arrested. Twenty-six thousand people were convicted and 18,000
detained under the Defence of India Rules
The Congress leadership was cut off from the rest of the world for over
three years.
Gandhi's health was failing, despite this Gandhi went on a 21-day fast
and maintained his resolve to continuous resistance. Although the
British released Gandhi on account of his health in 1944, Gandhi kept
up the resistance, demanding the release of the Congress leadership.
However, the British government realized that India was ungovernable
in the long run, and the question for postwar became how to exit
gracefully and peacefully.
Finally, India got Independence on 15th August 1947 after the
heartbreaking partition of India into Pakistan and India with the speedy
passage through the British Parliament of the Indian Independence Act
1947, at 11:57 on 14 August 1947 Pakistan was declared a separate
nation, and at 12:02, just after midnight, on 15 August 1947, India also
became an independent nation.