Non-Cooperation Movement

Non-Cooperation Movement

Causes

• The two immediate causes responsible for launching the Non-Cooperation movement were the Khilafat and the Punjab wrongs.
• While the Khilafat issue related to the position of the Turkish Sultan vis-a-vis the holy places of Islam, the Punjab issue related to the exoneration of the perpetrators of the Jallianwala massacre.
• The British courts of enquiry totally praised Reginald Dyer and Michael O’Dwyer of the crime perpetrated at Jallianwala.

Khilafat Movement 

• In the First World War the Sultan of Turkey sided with the Triple Alliance against the allied powers and attacked Russia.
• After the war, Britain decided to weaken the position of Turkey and the Treaty of Sevres was signed.
• The dismemberment of the Caliphate was seen as a blow to Islam. Muslims around the world, sympathetic to the cause of the Caliph, decided to oppose the move.
• Muslims in India also organised themselves under the leadership of the Ali brothers – Maulana Muhammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali started a movement known as Khalifat Movement.
• The aim was to the support the Ottoman Empire and protest against the British rule in India.
• Numerous Muslim leaders such as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, M.A. Ansari, Sheikh Shaukat Ali Siddiqui and Syed Ataullah Shah Bukhari joined the movement. 
• They demanded that the Muslim sacred places must be handed over to the Sultan and should be controlled by him.
• The Sultan must be left with sufficient territory to enable him to defend the Islamic faith and The Jazirat-ul-Arab (Arabia, Syria, Iraq and Palestine) must remain under his sovereignty.
• Gandhi presided over the All India Khilafat Conference held at Delhi in November 1919.
• Gandhi supported Shaukat Ali’s proposal of three national slogans, Allaho Akbar, Bande Mataram and Hindu-Musslamanki Jai.
• The Khilafat Committee meeting in Allahabad on 9 June 1920 adopted Gandhi’s non–violent non- cooperation programme.
• Non-Cooperation was to begin on 31 August 1920.
• In Tamil Nadu Khilafat Day was observed on 17 April 1920, with a meeting presided over by Maulana Shaukat Ali.

Rowlatt Act

• The Government of India Act 1919 and the Rowlatt Act of the same year were promulgated.
• Despite every elected member of the central legislature opposing the bill, the government passed the Rowlatt Act in March 1919.
• This act empowered the Government to arrest any citizen without investigation.
• Gandhi called it a ‘Black Act’ and in protest called for a nation-wide Satyagraha on 6 April 1919.
• The ‘Satyagraha Sabha’ founded by Gandhi, which pledged to disobey the Act first.
• The symbol of this change was to be khadi, which soon became the uniform of nationalists.
• Gandhi was arrested and prevented from visiting Punjab.

Rowlatt Satyagraha (Tamil Nadu)

• On 18 March 1919 Gandhi addressed a meeting on Marina Beach.
• On 6 April 1919 hartal was organised to protest against the “Black Act”.
• They devoted the whole day to fasting and prayer in the Marina beach. 
• Madras Satyagraha Sabha was formed.
• Rajaji, Kasturirangar, S. Satyamurty and George Joseph addressed the meeting.
• A separate meeting of workers was addressed by V. Kalyanasundaram (Thiru.V.Ka) B.P. Wadia.
• An important aspect of the movement was that the working classes, students and women took part in large numbers.

Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre

• On Baisaki day (spring harvest festival of Sikhs), 13 April 1919 a public meeting was arranged at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar.
• More than two thousand people had assembled at the venue to peacefully protest against the arrest of their leaders Satyapal and Saifuddin Kitchlew.
• Michael O’Dyer was the Lt. Governor of Punjab and the military commander was General Reginald Dyer.
• Dyer ordered firing on the trapped crowd with machine guns and rifles till the ammunition was exhausted.
• According to official estimates 379 were killed and more than a thousand injured. Unofficial estimates put the toll at more than a thousand.
• Protesting against the brutalities many celebrities renounced their titles, of whom Ravindranath Tagore was one. 
• Rabindranath Tagore returned his Knighthood and Gandhi surrendered his Kaiser-i-Hind medal.

Launch of Non-Cooperation Movement

• The Khilafat Conference, at the instance of Gandhi, decided to launch the Non-Cooperation movement from 31 August 1920.
• The Congress met in a special session at Calcutta in September 1920 and resolved to accept Gandhi’s proposal on Non-Cooperation with the colonial state till such time as Khilafat and Punjab grievances were redressed and self-government established.
• Non-Cooperation movement included boycott of schools, colleges, courts, government offices, legislatures, foreign goods, return of government conferred titles and awards.
• Then the resolution was passed in December 1920 at Nagpur Session under Salem C.Vijayaragavachariyar.
• In order to broad base the Congress, the workers were to reach out to the villages and enroll the villagers in the Congress on a nominal fee of four Annas (25 paise).

Components of Non-Cooperative Movement:

• Surrender of all titles of honours and honorary offices.
• Non-participation in government functions and suspension of practice by lawyers, and settlement of court disputes by private arbitration.
• Boycott of government schools, legislature, and spreading the doctrine of Swadeshi
• Refusal to accept any civil or military post.

Spread of the Movement in India

• Gandhi accompanied by the Ali brothers undertook a nationwide tour.
• Gandhi promised Swaraj, if Indians participated in the Non-Cooperation movement on non-violent mode within a year.
• Educational institutions were organised under the leadership of Acharya Narendra Dev, C.R.Das, Lala Lajpat Rai, Zakir Hussain, Subhash Bose (who became the principal of National College at Calcutta) and included Jamia Milli at Aligarh, Kashi Vidyapeeth, Gujarat Vidyapeeth and Bihar Vidyapeeth.
• Many lawyers gave up their practice, some of whom were Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, C.R. Das, C. Rajagopalachari, Saifuddin Kitchlew, Vallabhbhai Patel, Asaf Ali, T. Prakasam and Rajendra Prasad. 
• Foreign cloth were burnt publicly and their imports fell by half.
• The Ali brothers gave a call to the Muslims to resign from the Army as that was unreligious.
• In November 1921, the visit of the Prince of Wales to India invited strikes and demonstrations. 

1. A no-tax movement against union board taxes – Midnapore (Bengal) and in Guntur (Andhra) was going on.
2. Strikes in tea plantations – Assam, 
3. Strikes in steamer services – Assam-Bengal Railways (organised by J.M. Sengupta).
4. No-tax payment to the zamindars – The peasants of Andhra.
5. The whole population of Chirala-Perala refused to pay taxes and vacated the town en-mass.
6. Tamil Nadu was organised and led by – C. Raja gopalachari, S. Satyamurthi and Periyar E.V.R.
7. Anti-jenmi struggles – Kerala.

Ahmadabad Congress Session 1921

• Even when Maulana Azad was in prison, it was agreed that he would be the leader. The execution of the Non-Cooperation Movement was completely given into the hands of Gandhi.
• On February 1, 1922 Gandhi announced that he would lead a mass civil disobedience, including no tax campaigns, at Bardoli, if the government did not ensure press freedom and release the prisoners within seven days.

Two very violent revolts 

1. In the Rampa region of coastal Andhra the tribal revolted under the leadership of Alluri Sitarama Raju.

• The British enacted the first Forest Act in 1865. This act restricted the access of the forest dwellers to the forest areas to collect firewood, cattle fodder and other minor forest produce such as honey, seeds, nuts, medicinal herbs.
• The Indian Forest Act of 1878 claimed that original ownership of forests was with the state.
• Shifting cultivation practised by, the tribal people, was prohibited.
• Alluri Sitarama Raju made Adivasi areas in the Eastern Ghats (the forest area along the Visakapatnam and Godavari district) his home.
• The Adivasis who were organized by Alluri Sitarama Raju lived in abject poverty.
• They were also harassed by police, forest and revenue officials in ‘Manyam’ (forest area).
• Raju’s efforts at fighting corrupt officials to protect the interests of Rampa tribals prompted the British to target his life.
• A special Malabar Police team was sent to quell the uprisings (1922-24) of Rampa Adivasis.
• Alluri Sitarama Raju attained martyrdom for the cause of forest dwellers.

2. Malabar, Muslim Mapilla peasants rose up in armed rebellion against upper caste landholders and the British government.

Chauri Chaura Incident 

• Chauri-Chaura, a village in Gorakhpur district of UP, on 5 February 1922, a Congress procession, 3000 strong, was fired upon by police. Enraged by the firing, the mob attacked and burnt down the police station and 22 policemen lost their lives. 
• It was this incident which made Gandhi announce the suspension of the Non-Cooperation movement. 
• Both Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Bose were critical of Gandhi, who was arrested and sentenced to 6 years in prison and was released only in 1924.
• The Khilafat issue was made redundant when the people of Turkey under the leadership of Mustafa Kamal Pasha rose in revolt and stripped the Sultan of his political power and abolished the Caliphate and declared that religion and politics could not go together.

‘Real Swaraj will come not by acquisition of authority by a few, but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority, when abused.” -M. K. Gandhi

No Tax Campaigns and Temperance Movement in Tamil Nadu

• A no-tax campaign took place in Thanjavur.
• Councils, schools and courts were boycotted. Foreign goods were boycotted.
• One of the important aspects of the movement in Tamil Nadu was the temperance movement or movement against liquor.
• In November 1921 it was decided to organise civil disobedience.
• Rajaji, Subramania Sastri and EVR were arrested.
• The visit of Prince of Wales on 13 January 1922 was boycotted.

Constructive Programme of Gandhi

• After the Chauri Chaura incident, Gandhi felt that the volunteers and the people had to be trained for a non-violent struggle.
• As a part of this effort he focused on promoting Khadi, Hindu-Muslim unity and the abolition of untouchability.
• He exhorted the Congressmen, “Go throughout your districts and spread the message of Khaddar, the message of Hindu-Muslim unity, the message of anti-untouchability and take up in hand the youth of the country and make them the real soldiers of Swaraj.”
• Gandhi believed that without attaining these objectives Swaraj could never be attained.  
• He made it compulsory for all Congress members to wear khaddar.
• The All India Spinner’s Association was formed.