Chapter – 2

Nationalism in India

In this post we have given the detailed notes of class 10 Social Science (History) Chapter 2 (Nationalism in India) in English. These notes are useful for the students who are going to appear in class 10 board exams.

Chapter 2: Nationalism in India

The First World War and Indian Nationalism

Modern nationalism in Europe is closely tied to the emergence of the nation-state. In colonies like India, the growth of a sense of collective belonging came partly through the anti-colonial movement, which united different social groups — peasants, artisans, workers — under a common struggle, though the meaning of freedom differed for each group.

The First World War (1914-1918) created a new economic and political situation in India:

• Massive increase in defence expenditure, financed by war loans and increased taxes; custom duties were raised and income tax introduced.
• Villages were pressured to supply soldiers for the war, causing widespread anger in many areas.
• Prices of goods doubled between 1913 and 1918, causing extreme hardship for the common people, while creating windfall profits for business groups.
• Crop failures in 1918-19 and 1920-21 led to acute shortages of food. This coincided with an influenza epidemic that killed millions.
• People hoped their hardships would end after the war, but this did not happen, leading to widespread discontent.

The Idea of Satyagraha

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in January 1915, where he had successfully pioneered a novel method of mass agitation.

Satyagraha: This idea emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for truth. It suggested that if the cause was true, if the struggle was against injustice, then physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor — a satyagrahi could win the battle through non-violence (ahimsa), without seeking vengeance or being aggressive. Gandhiji believed this could unite all Indians.

After his return, Gandhiji successfully organised satyagraha movements in various places:

1. Champaran (Bihar), 1917

Gandhiji travelled to Champaran to inspire peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system under which indigo (nil) cultivators were forced to grow indigo.

2. Kheda (Gujarat), 1917

In Kheda district, peasants were unable to pay revenue because of crop failure and a plague epidemic. Gandhiji organised a satyagraha to support the peasants demanding revenue relaxation.

3. Ahmedabad, 1918

Gandhiji organised a satyagraha movement amongst cotton mill workers, supporting their demand for better working conditions.

The Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919)

In 1919, Gandhiji decided to launch a nationwide campaign against the repressive Rowlatt Act (1919), which had been hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite the unanimous opposition of the Indian members.

Rowlatt Act: This Act gave the British government enormous powers to repress political activities and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.

Gandhiji called for a countrywide hartal (strike). Rallies were organised, railway workshops went on strike and shops closed down. The government took repressive measures to suppress nationalist activity.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (13 April 1919): In protest against the arrest of local leaders and the imposition of martial law in Amritsar, a large crowd gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwala Bagh. General Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points, and ordered troops to open fire on the unarmed crowd without warning, killing hundreds of people. News of the massacre spread rapidly, sparking violent clashes and strikes across the country. Gandhiji called off the movement, sensing that popular energy was turning into violence and that people still needed to be properly trained in satyagraha.

The Khilafat Movement and Why Non-Cooperation?

Gandhiji felt that a much broader mass movement was needed rather than isolated, local agitations, and that this was possible only if Hindus and Muslims could be brought together. He saw an opportunity for this in the Khilafat issue.

Khilafat Movement: Rumours that Turkey (defeated in the First World War) would face a harsh peace treaty, alarmed Muslims worldwide, who feared that a harsh treaty would be imposed on the Ottoman emperor — the spiritual head of the Islamic world, the Khalifa. To defend the Khalifa’s temporal powers, a Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919, led by brothers Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali. Gandhiji saw the Khilafat cause as an opportunity to bring Muslims under a united national movement.

At the Congress session in Calcutta in September 1920, Congress passed a resolution to launch a Non-Cooperation Movement in support of Khilafat as well as for Swaraj.

Why Non-Cooperation?

In his book Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhiji declared that British rule in India was established with the cooperation of Indians, and had survived only because of this cooperation. If Indians refused to cooperate, British rule in India would collapse within a year, and swaraj would come. The proposal was:

• Surrender of titles awarded by the government, boycott of civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils and schools; boycott of foreign goods.
• If this was not enough, non-cooperation would develop into a full civil disobedience movement.
• Non-payment of taxes was reserved for the second, more radical stage of the movement.

Gandhiji and the Congress leaders announced a phased programme — first, surrender of titles, boycott of civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils and schools, and boycott of foreign goods; only after this was accomplished would civil disobedience be launched.

The Movement in the Towns

The movement started in January 1921 with middle-class participation in the cities:

• Thousands of students left government-controlled schools and colleges, and teachers and headmasters resigned.
• Lawyers gave up their legal practices.
• The council elections were boycotted in most provinces except Madras.
• Foreign goods were boycotted, foreign cloth was burnt in huge bonfires, and shops selling liquor were picketed.
• The import of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922, its value dropping from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore. In many places merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods or finance foreign trade.

The movement gradually slowed down in the cities for a variety of reasons:

• Khadi cloth was more expensive than mass-produced mill cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it, so many went back to wearing old clothes.
• The boycott of British institutions posed a problem — for the movement to be successful, alternative Indian institutions had to be set up, but these were slow to come up, so students and teachers began trickling back to government schools and lawyers resumed work in government courts.

The Chauri Chaura Incident and Withdrawal

By 1922, Gandhiji felt the movement was ready to enter a more radical, civil disobedience phase. However, in February 1922, an angry mob set fire to a police station in Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), killing several policemen.

On hearing of this violent incident, Gandhiji called off the Non-Cooperation Movement, believing that the movement was turning violent and satyagrahis needed to be properly trained before they were ready for mass struggles.

Towards Civil Disobedience — Different Strands within the Movement

The Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement began in the cities, but soon spread to the countryside, drawing peasants and tribal communities into it. Different social groups participated for very different reasons, and each interpreted the idea of ‘Swaraj’ in its own way.

1. Peasants in Awadh — Baba Ramchandra

In Awadh (Uttar Pradesh), the peasants’ movement was directed against talukdars and landlords who demanded exorbitantly high rents and a variety of other cesses, and forced peasants to do begar (forced labour) on their farms. The demands included reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, and social boycott of oppressive landlords. The movement was led by Baba Ramchandra — a sanyasi who had earlier worked as an indentured labourer in Fiji. In June 1920, he, along with Jawaharlal Nehru and others, toured villages to understand peasant grievances and helped establish the Oudh Kisan Sabha, which had over 300 branches by June 1920. This peasant movement, while linked to the Congress-led national movement, also developed its own local trajectory — attacking bazaars and looting grain hoards.

2. Tribal Peasants in the Gudem Hills — Alluri Sitarama Raju

In the hilly tracts of Andhra Pradesh, the Gudem Hills, a militant guerrilla movement spread in the early 1920s. Here the colonial government had closed large forest areas, preventing local tribal people from practising their traditional shifting (jhum) cultivation, and forced them to do begar on road-building projects — this generated widespread anger.

The hill people believed that they needed to fight for ‘swaraj’ and free themselves from British rule and restore their traditional autonomy. This movement was led by Alluri Sitarama Raju, who claimed to have a variety of special powers, was inspired by Gandhiji and the Non-Cooperation Movement, and persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking, but also believed that India could be liberated only by the use of force, not non-violence. Raju and his followers attacked police stations, attempted to kill British officials, and carried out guerrilla warfare in 1924. Raju was eventually captured and executed, but he became a folk hero, remembered through many songs sung in the region.

3. Plantation Workers

For the plantation workers of Assam, freedom meant the right to move freely in and out of the enclosed space they were confined in, and the right to retain a link with the village from which they had come. Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not permitted to leave the tea gardens without permission. When they heard of the Non-Cooperation Movement, thousands of workers defied the authorities, left the plantations and headed home, believing that Gandhi Raj was coming and everyone would be given land in their own villages. They, however, never reached their destination — stranded on the way by a railway and steamer strike, they were caught by the police and brutally beaten up.

These examples show how different social groups — peasants, tribals, plantation workers — interpreted the idea of ‘Swaraj’ and the message of Mahatma Gandhi in ways that suited their own particular grievances and aspirations — the national movement was thus not a single, unified idea but a shared platform for many different local struggles.

The Simon Commission (1928)

A new Conservative government in Britain set up a Statutory Commission under Sir John Simon in 1927, to look into the functioning of the constitutional system in India and recommend changes. The problem was that the commission had no Indian members at all — all seven members were British. When the Simon Commission arrived in India in 1928, it was greeted with the slogan “Simon Go Back.” Every political party — the Congress, the Muslim League and others — opposed the Commission. During a protest march in Lahore, Lala Lajpat Rai led the march and was severely injured in a police lathi charge; he later succumbed to his injuries.

The Salt March and Civil Disobedience Movement (1930)

In December 1929, under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress formalised the demand of ‘Purna Swaraj’ (Complete Independence) for India. It was declared that 26 January 1930 would be celebrated as Independence Day, when people were to take a pledge to struggle for complete independence.

Gandhiji found in salt a powerful symbol that could unite the nation. Salt was something consumed by rich and poor alike, and was one of the most essential items of food, but its production and sale was under a government monopoly, heavily taxed. Gandhiji sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin on 31 January 1930 stating eleven demands, the most important being the abolition of the salt tax. When the ultimatum went unanswered, Gandhiji started the famous Salt March (Dandi March) accompanied by 78 trusted volunteers, from his ashram in Sabarmati to the Gujarati coastal town of Dandi, a distance of 240 miles, starting on 12 March 1930. They walked for 24 days, about 10 miles a day. On 6 April 1930, Gandhiji reached Dandi and ceremonially violated the law by making salt from sea water, marking the start of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Civil Disobedience Movement: This differed from the Non-Cooperation Movement in a crucial way — people were now urged not only to refuse cooperation with the British, but also to break colonial laws. Thousands broke the salt law across the country, manufacturing salt and holding demonstrations in front of government salt factories. Foreign cloth was boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and peasants refused to pay revenue and chaukidari taxes; forest laws were also violated.

The colonial government responded with brutal repression, arresting Gandhiji and thousands of other leaders and Congress supporters.

In 1931, Gandhiji signed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, agreeing to suspend the movement and participate in a Round Table Conference in London. As the conference proved unsuccessful, Gandhiji returned to India and relaunched Civil Disobedience, but with fierce government repression the movement gradually weakened and finally ended by 1934.

How Participants Saw the Movement

Rich Peasant Communities

Prosperous peasant communities such as Patidars of Gujarat and Jats of Uttar Pradesh, who grew commercial crops and were hard hit by the trade depression and falling prices, became enthusiastic organisers of the movement. Their main demand was a reduction of revenue. They dragged in the more prosperous farmers, but as their main demand was not conceded when the movement was called off in 1931, most refused to participate in the movement when it resumed in 1932.

Poor Peasants

Poor peasants were not just interested in the lowering of revenue — many were small tenants cultivating land they had rented, and they wanted their unpaid rent to the landlord remitted. They joined a variety of radical movements, often led by socialists and communists, though Congress was reluctant to support such radical demands fully, fearing this would alienate rich peasants and landlords.

Business Classes

Indian merchants and industrialists made huge profits during the First World War and wanted to expand their business, opposing colonial policies that restricted business activities. They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports. To organise business interests, they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in 1927. Led by industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla, the business groups attacked colonial control over the Indian economy, and supported the Civil Disobedience Movement when it was first launched, giving financial assistance and refusing to buy or sell imported goods.

Industrial Working Class

The industrial working class did not participate in large numbers in the Civil Disobedience Movement, except in the Nagpur region, where cotton mill workers participated in the boycott of foreign cloth. Congress was reluctant to include the demands of workers as part of its programme of struggle, fearing this would upset business groups and divide the anti-imperial forces. Nevertheless, some workers selectively adopted some of the ideas of Gandhian programme, like boycott of foreign goods, as part of their own movements against low wages and poor working conditions.

Participation of Women

During the Civil Disobedience Movement, women in large numbers participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops, and many went to jail. In urban areas, these women were from high-caste families; in rural areas, they came from rich peasant households. Moved by Gandhiji’s call, they began to see service to the nation as a sacred duty of women. Yet this participation did not necessarily translate into a transformation of women’s role in society — Gandhiji himself thought it was the duty of women to look after home and hearth, and the Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority within the organisation.

Limits of Civil Disobedience

Untouchables (Dalits) and the Ambedkar-Gandhi Disagreement

Not all social groups were moved by the abstract concept of ‘Swaraj’. Untouchables, whom Gandhiji called ‘harijans’, or the children of God, hoped that this mass movement would resolve their issues of caste discrimination and social equality. Congress tried to bring them into its fold, and Gandhiji declared that swaraj would not be attained for a hundred years if untouchability was not eliminated. He organised satyagraha to secure them entry into temples, and access to public wells, tanks, roads and schools.

However, many Dalit leaders, most notably Dr B. R. Ambedkar, wanted a different political solution to the problem of the Depressed Classes. He organised the Depressed Classes Association in 1930 and demanded separate electorates for Dalits. When the British government conceded Ambedkar’s demand in the Communal Award of 1932, Gandhiji began a fast unto death in Poona (Yerwada Jail), believing that separate electorates for Dalits would slow down the process of their integration into society.

Poona Pact (September 1932): Under pressure of Gandhiji’s fast, Ambedkar had to accept the withdrawal of his demand for separate electorates. Instead, Dalits were given reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils, but they were to be voted in by the general electorate. This agreement is known as the Poona Pact. Despite this, the Dalit movement continued to demand political representation and remained apprehensive of the Congress-dominated movement.

Muslim Political Organisations and Separate Electorates

Relations between the Congress and Muslim political organisations grew worse through the 1920s. After the decline of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat movement, a large section of Muslims felt alienated from the Congress, aggravated by Hindu revivalist movements such as the Shuddhi movement.

When the Nehru Report (1928) — drafted by a committee headed by Motilal Nehru — proposed joint electorates rather than separate electorates for Muslims, a section of the Muslim League led by figures who wanted reserved seats in the Central Assembly and representation in proportion to population in provinces where Muslims were in a minority, found this unacceptable. As a result, when the Civil Disobedience Movement was launched in 1930, relations between the Congress and the Muslim League had turned sour, limiting Muslim participation in the movement, particularly in provinces like the United Provinces where the Muslim middle class feared political marginalisation by the Hindu majority.

The Sense of Collective Belonging

Nationalism spreads when people belonging to different regions and communities develop a sense of collective belonging. This identity came, partially, through the experience of united struggles, but there were also a variety of cultural processes through which nationalism captured people’s imagination.

The Image of Bharat Mata

The identity of the nation is most often symbolised in a figure or image. This helped create an image with which people could identify the nation. The image of Bharat Mata was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in his novel, and later, Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata, portrayed as an ascetic, calm, composed, divine and spiritual figure. This iconic image inspired devotion and unity towards the motherland.

Folklore and Songs

Nationalists began recording folk tales and songs to construct a true picture of traditional culture that had been corrupted and destroyed by outsiders, and to preserve national identity, restoring a sense of pride in one’s past. In Bengal, folk songs and legends were collected extensively. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ in the 1870s as a hymn to the motherland, and it was later widely sung during the Swadeshi Movement, becoming a powerful expression of nationalist sentiment.

Icons and Symbols

During the Swadeshi Movement (1905) in Bengal, a tricolour flag (red, green and yellow) was designed, carrying eight lotuses representing eight provinces of British India, and a crescent moon, representing Hindu-Muslim unity. By 1921, Gandhiji had designed the Swaraj flag, with a spinning wheel (charkha) at its centre, symbolising the self-help ideal and the growing strength of Indian nationalism. Carrying the flag during marches and hoisting it came to signify defiance as well as unity.

Reinterpretation of History

By the early twentieth century, Indians began looking to the past to discover India’s great achievements. Reacting to the British claim that Indians were backward and incapable of governing themselves, nationalists began to construct a vision of India’s ancient history that emphasised great achievements in art, architecture, science and mathematics, religion and culture, law and philosophy, crafts and trade. This glorious history was seen as a contrast to the miserable conditions under colonial rule, and reinforced a sense of national pride and cultural unity.

Together, these cultural processes — the image of Bharat Mata, the revival of folklore and songs, the adoption of icons and symbols, and the reinterpretation of history — helped build a shared sense of collective identity. But this collective belonging was never uniform — it meant different things to different groups, and these very differences would continue to shape the complex political landscape of independent India.

Key Points to Remember

• The First World War caused heavy taxation, inflation and an influenza epidemic, generating widespread discontent in India.
• Gandhiji led successful satyagraha movements in Champaran (1917), Kheda (1917) and Ahmedabad (1918).
• The Rowlatt Act (1919) triggered nationwide protest, leading to the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (13 April 1919).
• The Non-Cooperation Movement, linked with the Khilafat cause, was launched in 1920 and gathered momentum from January 1921.
• Gandhiji called off the Non-Cooperation Movement in February 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident.
• Different social groups — Awadh peasants (Baba Ramchandra), Gudem Hills tribals (Alluri Sitarama Raju), and Assam’s plantation workers — interpreted ‘Swaraj’ in their own way.
• The all-British Simon Commission (1928) was met with “Simon Go Back” protests; Lala Lajpat Rai died from injuries sustained in a police lathi charge.
• The Salt March (Dandi March, 12 March-6 April 1930) launched the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• Rich peasants, poor peasants, business classes, the industrial working class and women participated in and interpreted the movement in distinctly different ways.
• Dr B. R. Ambedkar demanded separate electorates for Dalits; Gandhiji’s fast led to the Poona Pact (1932), providing reserved seats instead.
• Relations between Congress and Muslim political organisations soured after the 1928 Nehru Report rejected separate electorates.
• The image of Bharat Mata, folklore and songs (Vande Mataram), the tricolour flag, and the reinterpretation of history built a shared sense of collective national identity.

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