UNIT 3 GANDHIS EMERGENCE IN THE INDIAN POLITICS: TOWARDS A GREAT FUTURE

Structure 3.0 Objectives 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Gandhis return to India

3.2.1 Gokhales Assurance to Gandhi

3.3 Improving Hindu Muslim Relations 3.4 Gandhis Middle Path

3.4.1 The Champaran Satyagraha

3.5 The Cause of Mill Workers and Kheda Cultivators 3.6 Towards the Non-Cooperation Movement
3.6.1 Rowlatt Committee Recommendations 3.6.2 Jallianwala Bagh Tragedy 3.6.3 The Khilafat Committee

3.7 Let Us Sum Up

3.0 OBJECTIVES
This unit explains Mahatma Gandhis role in Indian politics after his return from South Africa in 1915. After going through this unit you should be able to: recall that when Gandhi returned to India, he was already a hero; trace his journey across India to rediscover the country; explain that politically Gandhi chose a middle path between Annie Besants Home Rule and Tilaks Purna Swaraj; highlight the causes and events of Champaran Satyagraha; and discuss the major events/causes leading to the non-cooperation movement.

3.1 INTRODUCTION
In unit 2, you have read how Gandhi became a staunch satyagrahi by fighting against oppression and injustice in South Africa. This unit begins with the return of Gandhi from South Africa in 1915, and the welcome he received not only on his arrival at Bombay but also in different parts of the country that he visited to acquaint himself with the conditions of people in India. During the first five years after his return, Gandhi came in contact with various leaders Moderates like Gokhale, Home Rule champion, Besant and Extremists like Tilak. He chose a middle path and emerged as a prominent leader who showed the way of peaceful struggle to the peasants as well as the workers.
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Gandhi worked hard for Hindu Muslim unity. You will read in this unit, how he utilised the Khilafat agitation along with peoples anger against Rowlatt Bills and Jallianwala Massacre to plan and launch the non-violent, non-cooperation movement.

3.2 GANDHIS RETURN TO INDIA

Gandhi returned to India in 1915 with the hope of using his passive resistance to get Home Rule for India. He was convinced that Indians in South Africa, despite their great cultural

heritage, could not expect to get the respect they deserve, unless they get their due respect in their own country. He was also convinced that India was far better a ground to experiment with satyagraha and he would be able to achieve his goal in a not too distant future. In India, Gandhi was well known at least in the educated circles, led by persons like Gokhale, Tilak and Besant. Some newspapers highlighted his thoughts and work in South Africa. His name was no longer uncommon among the people of India. Thus, when Gandhi returned to India, he was already a hero. There was another salutary situation, which proved helpful to Gandhi: India was in the insipient stage of resurgence and a great debate on how to move forward was on. The extremist youth were getting ready to strike at the very base of the British Raj. They wanted to throw away the British from the Indian soil using the same means (guns), which the British had used to subjugate India. Then, on the other extreme were those who were not against the British Empire as such but wanted the British to involve Indians more closely with the administration. In between were people who were fully in agreement with the ideals of the extremists but not with their means because if the uprising of 1857 could not dislodge the British, then terrorism, even if well organised, could not have achieved that goal. They were on the look-out for a middle path between terrorism and petitioning, which could force the British to give Home Rule for India. In 1917, no one except the Extremists was thinking of an independent India in the near future. Home Rule as enjoyed by Canada and Australia with just a loose link with the Crown was the goal. Gandhi praised the Extremists as patriots, but overzealous and misguided because they wanted India to be a replica of the West and the means they had adopted to make the country free was also Western. Gandhi considered them to be misguided also because they did not know the strength of the Indian culture and civilisation and did not know the real meaning of freedom. Gandhi was not happy with the Moderates either. He was convinced that the petitions bring result only if they are backed by a force, which is superior to the one the oppressors have. And that force was passive resistance, a moral force backed by truth and non-violence, which the people of India had been practicing since time immemorial.
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Gandhi landed at Bombay on January 9, 1915. He was received by several Indian leaders and was greeted by hundreds of common people on the way. On 12th January, over 800 elite of Bombay representing all walks of life welcomed Gandhi in Jehangir Petits house. Sir Ferozshah Mehta praised the services and sufferings of Gandhi and Kasturba in South Africa. The Gujarati community gave a special reception in which Jinnah, a Gujarati, was

also present. The Governor of Bombay also called on him. From Bombay, Gandhi went to Poona to meet Gokhale. Gokhale was keen to make Gandhi a member of the Servants of India Society but it never materialised, as the other members were not sure of his suitability for membership.

3.2.1 Gokhales Assurance to Gandhi

Gokhale assured Gandhi all the help he needed to start his activities including the opening of an Ashram where passive resisters could be trained. From Poona he went to Rajkot, Porbandar and other places in Kathiawad and came to know about the problems people face due to Viramgaon customs. Gandhi approached the Government of India but without any favourable response. Gandhis next halt was at Shantiniketan at Bolpur to meet the poet Tagore and his Phoenix colleagues who were lodged there. It was here that he met his future colleagues like Kaka Kalelkar and Chintaman Shasri. On being informed that Gokhale had passed away, Gandhi left for Poona along with Kasturba and Maganlal. In a condolence meeting at Shantiniketan, he said:I set out to find a true hero and I found only one in the whole of India. That hero was Gokhale. Gandhi once again tried to become a member of the Servants of India Society, but some of the members wanted him to become familiar with the country before his membership could be considered. Gandhi withdrew his application. Therein I thought lay my loyalty to the society and Gokhale. To get a first hand picture of India and its problems, Gandhi travelled in third class railway compartment in ordinary dress. He visited Rangoon, Calcutta, Hardwar, Madras, Mayavaram, Nellore, Poona, Kathiawad etc. During these visits, he addressed many gatherings. He did not like the way he was honoured at different places with flattering speeches and garlands. Nor did he agree with what the leading figures of India were doing for the country. Gandhi considered Gokhale his guru. At Nellore, he said: Gokhales life, his message, his words, his methods, have been to me a guiding star, and they will still remain an important guide; and we can best revere his memory by translating some part of his life into our own. My life is dedicated to that, and I appeal to you, my countrymen not spoil us, not to isolate us in the service, not to overrate what we have done in South Africa. You may spoil us for two reasons. We may lose our heads and so be lost to the country. The other is that you may raise enormous expectations about us and disappointment may at last be the result. He decided to have his Ashram near Ahmedabad because he expected the business

community there to help him financially. He set up Satyagraha Ashram at Kochrab with 25 men and women as the first inmates. They lived together, ate together and worked together. Our creed is devotion to truth, and our business is the search for an insistence on
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truth. The Ashramites had to observe eight vows: 1) Vow of truth 2) Vow of ahimsa 3) Vow of celibacy 4) Control of palate 5) Vow of non-stealing 6) Vow of non-possession 7) Swadeshi, and 8) Fearlessness The first crisis in the Ashram arose when an untouchable family was invited to the Ashram. There was opposition from the Ashramites for the fear of losing financial aid. Gandhi decided to fight this social menace and even thought of shifting the Ashram to the untouchables quarters. He ultimately succeeded in convincing everyone of the need to treat all human beings as equal. A person should be known by his deeds, not by religion or caste. Gandhis next experiment was Khadi, started in 1915. The object that was set before us was to be able to clothe ourselves entirely in cloth manufactured by ourselves. We, therefore, discarded the use of mill-woven clothes made from Indian yarn. Everyone had to learn to spin and weave. One Gangubai Mazumdar, a social worker at Baroda found out that spinning wheel was being used in some villages to make yarn. Methods to make slivers of cotton were also found. Soon the spinning wheel, in an improved version, was being manufactured to produce Khadi in the Ashram. Gandhi was conferred with the medal of Kaiser-i-Hind on the Kings birthday on 3rd June 1915 for his public services and Tagore was knighted. In December, the Bombay session of the Congress, on the initiative of Surendranath Banerjee, demanded full selfgovernment for India. The session was presided over by Sir S. P. Sinha, a member of the Viceroys Executive. Tilak, though released from Andaman jail, was kept out; Gandhi could not be elected to the Subject Committee and therefore was nominated by the President. This session, however, opened the door for the radicals led by Tilak to enter the Congress.

3.3 IMPROVING HINDU MUSLIM RELATIONS

In the mean time, a new leadership was emerging among the Muslims, with key figures like Maulana Azad, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The Muslim League adopted a new constitution to promote among Indians loyalty to the British Crown,

to protect the rights of the Muslims and to attain a system of suitable self-government for India. The year 1915 saw the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League on the same platform in Bombay. At the initiative of Jinnah, the Muslim League set up a committee to draft, in consultation with the Congress, a scheme of reforms for India. By February 1916, Gandhis pledge not to say anything for two years on Indian politics was complete. Gandhi was invited by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya to speak on the
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inaugural ceremony of the Benaras Hindu University (BHU) and Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy, laid the foundation stone. Eminent persons from all over India including the Maharajas attended the ceremony. Gandhi was given time to speak on 4th February. He was asked to stop the speech by the president Besant, but on the demand of the audience, he continued and completed the speech. Here are a few experts from what Gandhi said: If you, the students, consider for one moment that the spiritual life, for which this country is noted and for which this country has no rival, can be transmitted through the lip, pray, believe me, you are wrong. You will never be able merely through the lip, to give the message that India, I hope will one day deliver to the world. Gandhi then advocated Hindustani as the medium of instruction and making the living environment clean. Citing the speech of the Maharaja of Darbhanga, wherein he referred to the grinding poverty in India, and gorgeous display of jewellery and pomp in the ceremony, Gandhi said there is no salvation for India unless you strip yourself of this jewellery and hold it in trust for your countrymen in India. Sir, whenever I hear of a great palace rising in any great city of India, I become jealous at once and say oh it is the money that has come from the agriculturists. Our salvation can only come through the farmer. Neither the lawyers, nor the doctors, nor the rich landlords are going to secure it. I honour the anarchist for his love of the country. I honour him for his bravery in being willing to die for his country; but I ask him: Is killing honourable? Is the dagger of an assassin a fit precursor of a honourable death? I deny it. There is no warrant for such methods in any scriptures. The bomb-thrower creates secret plots, is afraid to come out into the open, and when caught pays the penalty of misdirected zeal. From Benares, he went to Poona and then on to Karachi and Madras. At Madras he elaborated his idea of swadeshi and politics and suggested that unless swadeshi was adopted, the poverty that grinds the Indian peasantry would continue, Swadeshi is the only doctrine consistent with the law of humility and love.

3.4 GANDHIS MIDDLE PATH

Gandhi chose a middle path between Besant and Tilak. Government tried to prosecute Tilak but his popularity increased. The Indian National Congress and the Muslim League reached a honourable Hindu-Muslim Accord called Lucknow Pact, and the Lucknow Congress, held in December 1916, approved the same. Earlier, Jinnah had supported the constitutional reforms worked out jointly by the Congress and the Muslim League. Within

the Congress, the so-called extremists and moderates represented by Tilak and Besant also closed their ranks and attended the Lucknow Congress. The Lucknow Pact gave a higher representation to Muslims than their population in the provinces. Over 2300 delegates attended the Congress. The Hindu-Muslim brotherhood reached a new height in 1916. Gandhi had however a different wavelength. He was interested in going in the political circles, but was more deeply involved in giving the future of Indian politics a new dimension and meaning. Addressing the Muir College Economics Society in Allahabad, he observed:
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I know little economics, as you naturally understand them. does Economic Progress Clash with Real Progress? By Economic progress we mean material advancement without limit, and by real progress we mean moral progress, which again is the same thing as progress of the permanent elements in us. The subject may, therefore, be stated thus: does not moral progress increase in the same proportion as the material progress? If, therefore, material does not clash with moral progress, it must necessarily advance the latter. Every human being has a right to live and therefore to find the wherewithal to feed himself and where necessary to clothe and house himself. But for this very simple performance we need no assistance from economists and their laws. In well-ordered society the securing of ones livelihood should be and is found to be easiest thing in the world. Indeed the test of orderliness in a country is not the number of millionaires it owns, but of starvation among the masses. The only statement that has to be examined is, whether it can be laid down as a law of universal application that material advancement means moral advancement. Citing examples from both past and present, Gandhi said, if I am not afraid of treading on dangerous ground, I would even come nearer home and show you that the possession of riches had been a hindrance to real growth. Under the British aegis we have learnt much, but it is my firm belief, that if we are not careful, we shall introduce all the vices that she had been a prey to owing to the disease of materialism. We can profit by that connection only if we keep our civilisation and morals straight, that is if instead of boasting of the glorious past, we express the ancient moral glory in our own lives and let our lives bear witness to our past. If we copy her because she provides us with rulers, both they and we shall suffer degradation. We need not be afraid of ideals or of reducing them to practice even to the uttermost. Ours will only then be a truly spiritual nation when we shall show more truth than gold, greater fearlessness than pomp of power and wealth, greater charity than love of self. If we will but clean our houses, our palaces and temples of the attributes of wealth and show in them the attributes of morality, one can offer battle to any combination of hostile forces,

without having to carry the burden of a heavy militia. Let us first seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and the irrevocable promise is that everything will be added unto us. These are real economics. May I and you treasure them and enforce them in our daily life. While touring the country to know the problems of India, he did not forget the problems of indentured labour he had left behind in South Africa. In 1916 Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya moved a resolution in the Imperial Legislative Council for the abolition of the indentured labour system. It did not produce the desired results. So Gandhi decided to call on Lord Chemsford, the then Viceroy of India and requested him to do the needful. Failing to get any definite assurance, Gandhi decided to launch a campaign. The Imperial Citizenship Association framed a resolution on 31st May 1917 and the same was passed at various public meetings throughout India. The result was the cessation of the indentured labour system on 1st January 1920. Thus a fight, which Gandhi set in motion by drafting the first petition protesting against indentured labour in 1894, came to an end.
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3.4.1 The Champaran Satyagraha

There was another obnoxious system of labour prevailing in the country. It was the forced production and sale of indigo to factory owners in Champaran, Bihar. Gandhi decided to mitigate the woes of indigo cultivators. Indigo had been produced in Champaran since the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The land was cultivated by poor peasants as lessees; later on, the Europeans took over from the Indians both indigo and sugarcane cultivation. Poor cultivators were forced to produce indigo and sell the same to factories at a given price. The system was called tinkhatia. Gandhi visited some of the villages of Champaran and saw the wretched condition in which the poor peasants lived. He made up his mind to fight for the liberation of Champarans peasants. He met Rajendra Prasad and J.B. Kripalani at Muzaffarpur and told them that fighting cases in courts would not help. Satyagraha was the only way but we cannot move forward unless the peasants of the region are prepared for that. Further, there must be local leaders who understand the local dialects and can communicate with the people. Unless people are prepared to suffer and go to jail, nothing could be achieved. Gandhi was not interested in their legal knowledge; he was interested in their assistance as satyagrahis. The lawyer politicians were taken aback; they had so far only helped the peasants fight their cases in the court; now they were asked to court arrest. Gandhi was so persuasive that they agreed to follow him. The champaran struggle began. Leaders like Madan Mohan Malaviya, Rajendra Prasad and Mazharul Haq and Andrews sent telegrams supporting Gandhi. Wherever he went, people followed him. He gave detailed instructions to his colleagues on how to conduct the campaign once he was arrested. He

continued the enquiry at Motihari and the surrounding villages the following day, unmindful of what was happening on the government front.
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Gandhi was asked to appear before the sub-divisional magistrate at Motihari. When Gandhi asked his followers what they would do in case he was jailed, they replied, they will follow him. Gandhi exclaimed, Now I know we shall succeed. The eyes of the country were turned on Champaran. On 18th April thousands of tenants assembled in the court compound and 2000 of them followed him inside the court. Gandhi took the permission of the court to make a statement. He told the court that he had been informed of the pitiable condition of the ryots; that he wanted to get a first hand information before doing anything else; and that it was his duty to make enquiries; and that he had been prohibited from dong so. Since he could not stop doing his duties, he preferred not to obey the order. And for the disobedience, he was ready for punishment. I venture to make this statement not in any way in extenuation of the penalty to be awarded against me, but to show that I have disregarded the order served upon me not for want of respect for lawful authority, but in obedience of the higher law of our being, the voice of conscience. Since the order under section 144 was illegal, the magistrate wanted to postpone the case, but Gandhi wanted the punishment to be given then and there. He pleaded guilty again. Said the magistrate, If you leave the district now and promise not to return, the case against you would be withdrawn. That cannot be. Not to speak of this time alone, I shall make Champaran my home even after my return from jail, replied Gandhi. The judgement was to be delivered at 3 PM. Gandhi, in the mean time, sent telegrams to the Viceroy and all his colleagues including Malaviya. The case was postponed to 21 April and Gandhi was released on bail of Rupees 100. When he refused to present a bailer, he was released on personal recognizance. The news of Gandhis civil disobedience spread like a wild fire and thousands of peasants came forward daily to give their statements on how they were exploited. In the meantime, Gandhis colleagues Mazharul Haque, Brajkishore Babu, Rajendra Prasad, Anugraha Narayan, Shambhu Saran, and Polak arrived at Motihari. They decided to go to jail with Gandhi. The case was however withdrawn on 21st April and the magistrate permitted Gandhi to go ahead with his enquiry, which Gandhi continued till the first week of May. Gandhi submitted a detailed report (about 2, 250 words) and sent a copy to all concerned. Nearly 4000 peasants were examined and their statements taken after careful crossexamination. Concluding the report, Gandhi said: I have no desire to hurt the planters feeling. I have received every courtesy from them. Believing as do that the ryots are labouring under a grievous wrong from which they ought to be freed immediately, I have

dealt as calmly as possible for me to do so, with the system, which the planters are working. I have entered upon my mission in the hope that they as Englishmen born to enjoy the fullest personal liberty and freedom, will not be grudging the ryots of Champaran the same measure of liberty and freedom. The Lt-Governor called Gandhi to Ranchi for talks. The result was the appointment of a committee of inquiry, with Gandhi as one of its members, to report within 3 months. The committee produced a unanimous report on 3 October. The Champaran Agrarian Bill was passed into an Act soon after. And thus was Gandhi reborn in India as a Satyagrahi.
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The work in Champaran was however not over for Gandhi. Why did the ryots not fight for their rights earlier? He asked. They were ignorant. So he decided to open schools and a large number of volunteers offered to help him. The purpose was to get hold of as many children as possible and to give them an all round education, a good knowledge of Hindi or Urdu, and through that medium, of arithmetic and rudiments of history and geography, a knowledge of simple scientific principles, and some industrial training. No cut and dried syllabus has yet been prepared because I am going on an unbeaten track. I look upon our present system (of education) with horror and distrust. Instead of developing the moral and mental faculties of the little children, it dwarfs them. Champaran was once the land of sages. It is very close to Kapilvastu where Lord Buddha was born. Gandhi realised the mission of his life and converted the passive resistance into a full-grown Satyagraha, a perfected weapon, which liberated India politically and had all the potentials to liberate the world from the menace of development. Gandhis success in Champaran secured him a place in the front row of the leading figures of the time but as far as the people of India were concerned he had made a place in their heart. Gandhi felt their pain; lived like them; communicated with them even without knowing their language; reposed confidence in them; he was on the way to becoming a Mahatma. On the political front along with Besant, and Tilak, Gandhi was in great prominence. Home rule was the new slogan and new life began to pulsate all over the country. HinduMuslim unity was secured under the Lucknow Pact. In the Calcutta Congress in December 1917, Tilak proposed the name of Besant as the next president of the party. Check Your Progress 1 Note: Write your answer in the space given below. 1) Trace the experiences of Gandhi during his journey across the country after his return from South Africa. ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................................................

2) Write a short note on the Lucknow Pact of 1916. ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................
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..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... 3) Explain the Champaran Satyagraha. ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................................................

3.5 THE CAUSE OF MILL WORKERS AND KHEDA CULTIVATORS

Gandhi then moved to Ahmedabad and took up the problem of low wages and poor working conditions of mill workers. This city helped Gandhi financially and thus, it was difficult for him to do anything against them. Yet he exhorted the workers to go on strike till their grievances were redressed. But Gandhi put certain conditions, which the workers had to observe during the strike: 1) never resort to violence; 2) never molest the blacklegs; 3) never depend on alms; 4) remain firm no matter how long the strike continued; and 5) earn livelihood during the strike by any other honest work. The workers continued the strike on for two weeks with cheer. Thereafter, they started questioning the wisdom of the strike. The mill owners gave a 25 percent rise in wages. But that was enough. Gandhi joined the workers and announced that he would not touch food so long as the workers problems remain unsolved. After three days, arbitration was agreed to and Gandhi broke his fast. The strike was over. The mill workers problem had just settled when he had to attend to the grievances of Kheda district cultivators. The failure of rains had put the peasants of Kheda in great distress. Gandhi wanted the land rent to be waived. He demanded an impartial enquiry committee to study the situation and recommend suitable measures but the government refused to oblige. Gandhi advised the farmers (pattidars) of Kheda not to pay any dues to the government and court arrest.
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The commissioner blamed Gandhi for the trouble and threatened to confiscate the lands of all those who failed to pay the dues. The movable property of the peasants was taken away and they were barred from harvesting the crops. Gandhi advised them to harvest their onion crop and court arrest. After a four month long struggle, the government agreed to waive the dues of the poor farmers provided the rich farmers paid the dues. Gandhi agreed to the decision. The satyagrahis were released. Gandhi was given all the credit for the successful Satyagraha he launched. He however said if you are really to do me honour, do not give me a shower-bath of addresses and honours. The best way to honour me is to do my behest and to carry my principles into practice. As the war proceeded, the need for recruits to the army increased. Both moderates and extremists were opposed to the idea of helping the British in its recruitment drive. Gandhi, however, had a different view. He wanted to win the hearts of the British in favour of Home rule for India. He also felt that non-violence was not an effective means in a conflict like the First World War. My opposition to and disbelief in war was as strong then as it is today. But we have to recognise that there are many things in the world, which we do although we may be against doing them. I am as much opposed to taking the life of the lowest creature alive as I am to war. But I continually take such life hoping some day to attain the ability to do without this fractricide. To entitle me, in the spirit of it, to be called a votary of non-violence, my attempt must be honest, strenuous and unceasing. The conception of moksha, absolution from the need to have an embodied existence, is based upon the necessity of perfected men and women being completely non-violent. Possession of body like every other possession necessitates some violence be it ever so little. The fact is that the path of duty is not always easy to discern amidst claims seeming to conflict one with the other.

3.6 TOWARDS THE NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT

The cessation of hostilities in Europe did not lead to peace. The Russian Revolution brought a new government of workers and peasants. There was revolt in Ireland and Egypt. In India and China the signs of stir had become visible. Muslims were unhappy with the treatment Britain meted out to the Caliph of Turkey. All sections of the society in India were fed up with the government and wanted Home Rule immediately. The government, with a view to gag the voice of the people, accepted the recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee and brought forward two new bills: Indian Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill No.1 of 1919 and Criminal law (Emergency Powers) Bill No. II of 1919, giving enormous

powers to the colonial rulers beyond law. Gandhi fell ill and Sardar Patel asked him as to what could be done. Gandhi replied If even a handful of men can be found to sign the pledge of resistance, and the proposed measure is passed into law in defiance of it, we ought to offer satyagraha at once. If I was not laid up like this, I should give battle against it all alone, and expect others to follow suit. A satyagraha pledge was drafted at Sabarmati Ashram on 24 February, 1919. Gandhi branded the bills as unjust, subversive of the principles of liberty and destructive of the elementary rights of the individuals on which the safety of the community as a whole is
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based and declared that in the event of these bills becoming law and until they are withdrawn, we shall refuse civilly to obey these laws and such other laws as a committee, to be herein after appointed, may think fit, and we further affirm that in this struggle, we will faithfully follow truth and refrain from violence to life, person, property. Gandhi described these bills as an mistakable symptom of deep seated disease in the governing body.

3.6.1 Rowlatt Committee Recommendations

The opposition to Rowlatt Committee recommendations gathered momentum. At the same time the resolve of the government to implement the same increased. Thus a situation of confrontation was set in. The bill was opposed vehemently in the legislative council but of no avail. At Marina beach, Madras, Gandhi addressed a huge gathering and declared that Satyagraha was the only means left at the disposal of the people of India to fight against the Rowlatt Act. He was still too weak to speak, but he warned the people thus: beware before you sign the pledge. But if you do, you shall see to it that you would never undo the pledge you have signed. May God help you and me in carrying out the pledge. On 23 March, Gandhi exhorted the people of India to mobilise in thousands and convince the Government of what they were to expect in the near future. Satyagraha, as I have endeavoured to explain at several meetings is a religious movement. It is a process of purification and penance. It seeks to secure reforms or redress of grievances by self- suffering. Gandhi advised the following steps:

1) the second Sunday after the publication of Bill no. II may be observed as a day of humiliation and prayer; 2) a 24-hour fast should be observed by all; 3) all work except the one that is in public interest should be suspended. Even public servants should observe it; and 4) public meetings should be held on that day in all parts of India in which resolutions praying for the withdrawal of the bills are passed. Gandhi went from place to place to address the meetings. He was arrested at Palwal on his way from Delhi to Amritsar on April 6. The news of Gandhis arrest incensed the people. He was taken to Bombay where people took him in a great procession. In a crowded street, the police dispersed the crowd and took Gandhi to the police commissioners office and released. The strike was observed all over the country on 6th April 1919. People from all walks of life joined the strike. In Punjab too the strike was observed all over the province and it was most pronounced in Amritsar and Lahore. On 10th April, Dr. Kitchlew and Dr. Satyapal, the two great leaders of Punjab were interned and taken to Dharmashala. People protested by taking out a procession, which was fired upon killing many. Enraged by these happenings people turned violent and killed some Englishmen and destroyed buildings and other properties. Fearing that the matter might go out of control, the government appointed General Dyer as the commander of the troops in Amritsar. The following day, a huge funeral procession was taken out and a meeting was called at 4.30 pm to condole the deaths and also protest the repressive measures adopted by the government.
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A government publication of India, 1919, gave a summary of Gandhis emergence in Indian politics: Mr. Gandhi is generally considered a Tolstoyan of high ideas and complete selflessness. Since his stand on behalf of Indians in South Africa, he has commanded among the countrymen all the traditional reverence with which East envelopes a religious leader of acknowledged asceticism.

In his case he possesses the added strength that his admirers are not confined to any religious sect. Since he took up his residence in Ahmedabad, he has been actively concerned in social work of varied kinds. His readiness to take up the cudgels on behalf of any individual or class whom he regards as oppressed has endeared him to the mass of his countrymen. In case of the urban and rural population of many parts of the Bombay Presidency, his influence is unquestioned, and he is regarded with reverence for which adoration is scarcely too strong a word.

3.6.2 Jallianwala Bagh Tragedy

By the noon of 11th April, more arrests were made and people were prohibited from assembling in public places. Undeterred by the orders, people came out to attend the meeting at Jallianwala Bagh. General Dyer ordered the troops to fire without any warning. 379 persons died and over 200 were injured. The country was shocked at the massacre of People. There was a widespread condemnation of the incident. Gandhi was doubly shocked; he saw violence on both sides government and the people. Rabindranath Tagore thus wrote to Gandhi. Power in all its forms is irrational it is like the horse that drags the carriage blindfold. The moral element in it is represented in the man who drives the horse. Passive resistance is a force which is not necessarily moral in itself; it can be used against truth as well as for it. The danger inherent in all force grows stronger when it is likely to gain success, for it then becomes temptation. I know your teaching is to fight against the evil by the help of the good. But such a fight is for heroes and not for men led by impulses of the moment. Evil on one side naturally begets evil on the other, injustice leading to violence and insult to vengefulness. Unfortunately, such a force has

already been started, and either through panic or through wrath, our authorities have shown us their claws whose sure effect is to drive some of us in the secret path of resentment and others into utter demoralisation. In this crisis you, as a great leader of men, have stood among us to proclaim your faith in the
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ideal which you know to be that of India- the ideal both against the cowardliness of hidden revenge and the cowed submissiveness of the terrorstricken. You have said, as Lord Buddha has done in his time and for all time to come: Conquer anger by power of non-anger and evil by the power of good. This power of good must prove its truth and strength by its fearlessness, by its refusal to accept any imposition which depends for its success on its power to produce frightfulness and is not ashamed to use its machine of destruction to terrorise a population completely disarmed. We must know that moral conquest does not consist in success, that failure does not deprive of its dignity and worth. Those who believe in spiritual life know that to stand against wrong which has overwhelming material power behind it, is a victory itself it is the victory of the active faith in the ideal in the teeth of evident defeat. This is why I pray most fervently that nothing that tends to weaken our spiritual freedom may intrude into our marching line, that martyrdom for its cause of truth may never degenerate into fanaticism for mere verbal form, descending into the self-deception that hides itself behind sacred aims. Gandhi too was thinking on similar lines. He noted the violence that was accompanied or followed in all of his movements including in Ahmedabad and Kheda, Gujarat. A satyagrahi obeys the laws of society intelligently and of his own free will, because he considers it to be his duty to do so. It is only when a person has thus obeyed the laws of the society scrupulously that he is in a

position to judge as to which particular deeds are good and just, and which unjust and iniquitous. Only then does the right accrue to him of the civil disobedience of certain laws in welldefined circumstances. My error lay in my failure to observe this necessary limitation. I had called upon the people to launch upon civil disobedience before they had thus qualified themselves for it, and this mistake of mine seemed to me to be of a Himalayan magnitude. Even though the Punjab tragedy was related to the civil disobedience movement, it was not totally unrelated either. His movement had emboldened the people to defy the government all over the country. Gandhi returned to Bombay and suspended temporarily the civil disobedience movement. To prepare the ground for the future, he launched a massive programme to teach people about civil disobedience and satyagraha. At the same time he warned: If my occasional resistance be a lighted match, the Rowlatt legislation and the persistence in retaining it on the statute book is a thousand matches scattered throughout India. The only way to avoid civil resistance altogether is to withdraw that legislation. The Government appointed an Enquiry Committee headed by Lord Hunter to enquire into
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Jallianwala Bagh tragedy. The composition of the committee was not to the satisfaction of the Indian leaders. Malaviya objected to it in the Viceroys Legislative Council. The Congress boycotted the Committee and appointed its own fact-finding committee. Gandhi took over the editorship of Young India (now a bi-weekly), which had almost 1200 subscribers. He was already the editor of Navjivan, which had 12000 subscribers. The first issue of Young India came out on 8th October 1919. The objective of Young India was stated to be as follows: apart from its duty of drawing attention to injustices to individuals, it will devote its attention to constructive Satyagraha as also sometimes cleansing satyagraha. In Navjivan he published a series of articles on the condition of Indian agriculturists and the means of its amelioration. In the first article he gave a vivid picture of the agriculturists as he had seen it in Kheda, Champaran and Madras. In the second, he considered the problem of village improvement.

Gandhi sought permission to visit Punjab for enquiry. It was granted and Gandhi got the opportunity to know the problems of Punjab peasants better. Wherever he went, people surrounded him.

3.6.3 The Khilafat Committee

When the war ended, the British punished Turkey for having joined Germany in the war. The allied forces occupied Turkey and the Caliph was humiliated. It hurt the feelings of Muslims all over the world. A joint meeting of the Hindu and Muslim leaders was called in Delhi. Gandhi had to leave the enquiry to Motilal Nehru and other members and left for Delhi to attend the meeting. A Khilafat Committee was appointed. The committee decided to boycott the British goods if the Khilafat question was not resolved satisfactorily. Gandhi later replaced the word boycott with non-cooperation. Thus he broadened the scope of the boycott of goods to noncooperation in all fields. The 1919 session of congress was held in December at Amritsar. Over 50 resolutions were passed in the Congress that dwelt with the constitution of the party. Gandhi, in collaboration with Tilak and Chittaranjan Das, was to accomplish this job. Muslim League, the Khilafat, and Jamait-ul-Ulema also held sessions in Amritsar at the same time. Gandhi was on the verge of being proclaimed by the people as Mahatma. People shouted Mahatama Gandhi ki Jai whenever he stood up
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to say anything. Gandhi was not yet a member of the congress. I do not consider my participation in Congress proceedings at Amritsar as my real entrance into the Congress politics. My attendance at the previous congress sessions was nothing more perhaps than an annual renewal of allegiance

to the Congress. I never felt on these occasions, that I had any other work cut out for me except that of mere private, nor did I desire more. The following year, on 14th May, the peace terms presented to Turkey were gazetted in India. The All India Khilafat Committee met in India and accepted Gandhis plan of noncooperation to force the British to change their attitude towards Turkey. Tilak was the acknowledged political leader of India. He was not in favour of Gandhis strategy and wanted the proposed Reforms to be accepted with riders. Gandhi worked ceaselessly to cement Hindu-Muslim unity. Communal harmony became an integral part of his constructive programme. He appealed to the Viceroy to heed to the demands of the Khilafat committee. But it had no effect and the non-cooperation movement was slated for inauguration on 1st August. Tilak, the most powerful leader of India, differed with Gandhi, but said that whatever the Muslims of India decide, the Hindus should and would support the same. Unfortunately at 12.40 in the night on 1st August 1920, Tilak passed away. There was a nationwide grief. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru rushed from Sind to Bombay and joined the mammoth demonstration in which the whole of Bombays population seemed to pour out to do reverence to the departed leader. Gandhi, Shoukat Ali and Dr. Kitchlew were among the men who carried the bier. Gandhi wrote in Young India: Lokmanya Gangadhar Tilak is no more. It is difficult to believe of him as dead. He was so much part of the people. No man of our times had the hold on the masses that Mr. Tilak had. The devotion that he commanded from thousands of his countrymen was extraordinary. He was unquestionably the idol of the people. His word was the law among the thousands. A giant among the men had fallen. The voice of the lion is hushed. For us he will go down to the generations yet unborn as a maker of modern India. They will

revere his memory as of a man who lived for them and died for them. It is blasphemy to talk of such a man as dead. The permanent essence of him abides with us forever. Let us erect for the Lokmanya of India, an imperishable monument by weaving into our own lives his bravery, his simplicity, his wonderful industry and his love of his country. May God grant his soul, peace. Gandhi did not change the date of launching the non-cooperation movement. He toured the whole country explaining to the people the reasons behind the movement and the way it should
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be conducted. Wherever he went, he was accorded warm welcome and Gandhi was now the only hope for the people of India. Check Your Progress 2 Note: Write your answer in the space given below. 1) What were the recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee (What were the Rowlatt Bills)? ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... 2) Explain the background of Khilafat Movement. ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................
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3.7 LET US SUM UP

In this unit, you have read how Gandhi emerged as the leader of the Indian Freedom Movement after he returned to India in 1915. He was welcomed in Bombay by over 800 elite of the city. Gokhale assured him all the help in setting up an ashram where passive resisters could be trained. Gandhi set up his Sarvodaya Ashram near Ahmedabad with a commitment to seek truth. The inmates of the Ashram took the vows of truth, ahimsa, celibacy, non-stealing, nonpossession, swadeshi, fearlessness and control of palate. Gandhi worked tirelessly for the Hindu-Muslim unity, and was encouraged by the Congress-

League Pact signed at Lucknow in 1916. Gandhi adopted a middle path between the moderates and the extremists. He tried to give a new meaning and new dimension to Indias politics. Later, Gandhi took up the cause of mill workers of Ahmedabad who were paid low wages and had poor working conditions. Three issues were responsible for Gandhis decision to launch his first agitation, the nonviolent, non-cooperation movement against the proposed anti-people Rowlatt Bill, the massacre of innocent people at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, and the Khilafat movement. Gandhi went around the country educating people about the virtues of non-violence. only led successful nationalist struggles but also became Heads of their respective states after independence. As assessment of his overall achievements and what he stood for one would tend to agree with Orwell that Gandhi enriched the world by being alive. regarded Soviet Russia as an effective power against British imperialism he had no ideological sympathies whatsoever for the communist viewpoint even at a time when he knew little about communism, or the Russian Revolution (Bandopadhyaya 1966: 145). Gandhis faith in non-violence and God, and his theory that nothing everlasting and good could be built on the basis of violence, made him sceptical about the Russian Revolution and its consequences. He was so much against the use of violence that he refused to analyse objectively the Russian Revolution and its leaders. Being a mass leader of the twentieth century and dealing not only with the ways of attaining freedom but also concentrating on developmental aspects, Gandhis brushing aside of socialist thought and practice could be regarded as a serious omission.