Class XII – Mahatma Gandhi and the National Movement – Important Questions

Ans. Following were the two changes observed by Gandhiji when he came back to India:

• India was far more active in a political sense. Branches of Indian National Congress had been established in major cities and towns.
• The base of the Indian National Congress had registered a growth particularly among the middle classes.

Ans. “The initiatives in Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda marked Gandhiji out as a nationalist with a deep sympathy for the poor.” This statement can be justified in the following ways:

• In 1917, Mahatma Gandhi was busy in seeking security of tenure for peasants as well as freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice.
• In 1918 he intervened in a labour dispute in Ahmedabad, demanding better working conditions for the textile mill workers.
• In the same year, he joined peasants in Kheda asking the state for the remission of taxes following the failure of their harvest, this movement was known as Kheda Satyagraha. All these movements made him as the most popular nationalist leader who had a deep sympathy for the poor of our country.

Ans. Gandhiji believed that any struggle can be successful only when masses will support it. For participating in any movement masses must know the aim of movement.

• In India through local languages or mother tongue, communication with public could be done easily. So, Gandhiji advised nationalist to use mother tongue.
• In addition, he believed that masses will felt more connected to movement when there will be communication in mother tongue. Gandhiji believed that mother tongue will play an adhesive role in dividing society and will help in brining masses at single platform.
• Englishmen during these years believed that their language is superior than other language. Use of Indian language for communication by every Indian will change this notion and along with this, it will boost confidence in Indian citizen that their language has its own importance.
• Therefore, considering all above factors Gandhiji stressed on use of mother tongue. Making the non-cooperation movement successful Gandhiji called for renunciation of all voluntary associations with the British and as responded very optimistically to it.

Ans. On 26^th January, 1930, ‘Republic Day’ was observed, with the National Flag being hosted in different venues, the patriotic songs being sung and after the observance of this day, Mahatma Gandhi announced that he would lead a march to break one of the most widely disliked laws in British India. The law which gave the state a monopoly in the manufacture and sale of salt. The conditions in the country had become very favourable to launch a widespread movement against the British, the movement was started with famous Dandi March on 12^th March, 1930. Gandhiji alongwith 78 of his followers began his foot march from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi village of seashore in Surat district, about 375 km away from Sabarmati Ashram. The violation of salt law by Gandhiji was a signal of the beginning of Civil Disobedience Movement. Soon, this movement spread like wildfire through the length and breadth of the country. Gandhiji’s Dandi March occupies a very significant place in the history of the freedom struggle of India because of several reasons:

• This march made Gandhiji a centre of attraction of the whole of the world. The European press and the American press published detailed accounts of the Salt March conducted by Gandhiji.
• Undoubtedly, it was the first National Movement in which women participated in large number. Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay, the renowned socialist worker advised Gandhiji not to keep the movements limited to men-folk only. A large number of women alongwith Kamala Devi violated the salt and liquor laws and courted arrest collectively.
• As a result of the salt movement, the colonial rulers understood it clearly that their authority was not going to remain permanent in India and now they will have to give some participation to the Indians in power.

Ans. The peasants regarded Gandhiji as their ‘Messiah’ and considered him to be having many beneficial and miraculous powers.

• Many rumours were in circulation at various places regarding his miraculous powers. At some places the common masses came to believe that he had been sent by the king to remove their miseries and resolve their problems and he had such power that he could even reject the orders of all the officials.
• At some other places it was affirmed that Gandhiji’s power was greater than even the English king and it was claimed that with his arrival the colonial rulers would run away out of fear.
• In many villages this rumour was in circulation that the persons criticizing Gandhiji got their houses mysteriously caved and their standing crops getting destroyed without any reason.
• Gandhiji was popular with many names such as ‘Gandhi Baba’, ‘Gandhi Maharaj’ or ‘Mahatma’ among the peasants.
• They considered him as their savior and believed that only he could save them from the exorbitant rate of land revenue and the oppressive activities of British officials.

Ans. The Non-cooperation movement was started in 1920 under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. It was a campaign of Non-cooperation with the British rule. It was a mass movement in which lakhs of people belonging to all sections of society, participated.

Causes and Conditions:

1. The Indians had extended full cooperation the British during the First Wrold War but after this war, the British fully exploited all the people of India.
2. The Plague had erupted and spread in many parts of India during the First World War but the British did not pay attention to control it.
3. During the First World war, Gandhiji had helped the British with the hope that they would set the country free after the End of War. But all the hopes of Gandhiji were dashed to the ground after the First World War.
4. In 1919, the British Government had passed the Rowlatt Act which imposed censorship on the press and permitted Detention without trial. The people rose against this law.
5. In the session of Indian National Congress held in September, 1920, a resolution for Non-cooperation with the British Government was passed.

Programme and Objectives

1. The Boycott of foreign goods and the use of goods and things manufactured in the country.
2. To return titles and honours conferred by the British Govt.
3. Resignations by Indian members nominated in local Institutions.
4. Not to send children to schools and colleges run by the British Govt.
5. Boycott of Lawyers from the Civil Courts.
6. The Soldiers, Clerks and Workers refused to render any service abroad.

Couple with Khilafat Movement

1. Gandhiji couple this movement with Khilafat movement to foster the feeling of unity between two dominant religions. Indian Muslims were angered with the removal of Khalifa and they wanted English to restore the Khalifa so they also participated in this.

Ans. Before the entry of Mahatma Gandhi into Indian politics the freedom struggle was just a nominal movement. Only resolutions were passed by the leaders and sent to the government. A few areas of India were under the influence of revolutionaries, but the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi the national movement did not remain confined to a few leaders and led the participation of all the people. It becomes a mass movement because of the following reasons –

1. When Mahatma Gandhi entered the Indian politics he adopted to principles of truth and non-violence. The truth meant the right path. Non-violence meant the government actions should be opposed peacefully. The people had seen that Mahatma Gandhi had sincerely helped the British during the First World War. He also exhorted the people to cooperate with the British government but when British showed their true colours after the war was over and passed the Rowlatt act to crush the Indians Gandhiji gave a call for his strike in the whole country.
2. Mahatma Gandhi had resorted to the path of Satyagraha for the first time against the white government in South Africa. He had compelled the white government to bow before him when he launched non-cooperation movement in India Gandhi adopted the policy of satyagraha.
3. He called upon the people not to cooperate with the British government. All the people of the country plunged into this national movement against the British rule. The students stayed away from their classes in the government educational institutions.
4. The lawyers boycotted the law courts the officials left their jobs and the common people boycotted foreign goods. The people of India belonging to all castes, classes, religions and professions filled all the jails.
5. Gandhiji led his world famous Dandi March on 12^th March 1930. A large number of people joined the March which started from Sabarmati Ashram and culminated at Dandi. On the seashore where Gandhiji broke one of the most widely disliked laws in British India (the salt law). Gandhiji also exhaunted all the people too broke this law in their own regions.
6. Gandhiji encouraged the people of Indian to adopt swadeshi things or goods in life. He himself worked on the charkha daily. Under his magnetic influence many people burnt their foreign goods. The whole heartedly participated in the national movement.

Ans. The first important public appearance of Gandhiji was at the opening of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in February 1916.

1. Among the invitees to this event were the princes and philanthropists whose donations had contributed to the founding of the BHU. Also present were important leaders of the Congress, such as Annie Besant.
2. Compared to these dignitaries, Gandhiji was relatively unknown. He had been invited on account of his work in South Africa, rather than his status within India.
3. When his turn came to speak, Gandhiji charged the Indian elite with a lack of concern for the laboring poor. The opening of the BHU, he said, was “certainly a most gorgeous show”.
4. But he worried about the contrast between the “richly bedecked noblemen” present and “millions of the poor” Indians who were absent. Gandhiji told the privileged invitees that “there is no salvation for India unless you strip yourself of this jewellery and hold it in trust for your countrymen in India”.
5. “There can be no spirit of self-government about us,” he went on, “if we take away or allow others to take away from the peasants almost the whole of the results of their labour. Our salvation can only come through the farmer. Neither the lawyers, nor the doctors, nor the rich landlords are going to secure it.”
6. The opening of the BHU was an occasion for celebration, marking as it did the opening of a nationalist university, sustained by Indian money and Indian initiative.
7. But rather than adopt a tone of self-congratulation, Gandhiji chose instead to remind those present of the peasants and workers who constituted a majority of the Indian population, yet were unrepresented in the audience.

Ans.  Different kinds of sources from which the political career of Gandhiji are as follows:

1. Autobiographies: They give us an account of the past i.e., rich in human detail. Autobiographies are retrospective accounts written very often from memory. They tell us what the author would be able to recollect, what he or she saw as important or was recounting or how a person wanted his or her life to be viewed by others.
2. Private Letters: They give us a glimpse of the private thoughts of an individual. In letters we see people expressing their anger and pain, they dismay and anxiety, their hopes and frustrations, in a way in which they may not express themselves in public statements. Gandhiji regularly published in his journal Harijan, letters called Bunch of Old Letters.
3. Government Records: The letters and reports written by policemen and other officials were secret at that time, but they can be accessed in archives. One such sources is the fortnightly report prepared by the home department from early 20^th century. These reports were based on information given to the police by the localities, but often expressed what the officials saw or wanted to believe, e.g. in fortnightly reports for the period of the salt march, it is noticed that the home department was unwilling to accept that Mahatma Gandhiji’s actions had evolved any enthusiastic response from the masses.
4. Newspaper Records: Both Indian and foreign newspapers played an important role while covering the news of Indian National Movement and the political career of Gandhiji. Every detail given in the state reports cannot be accepted as factual statements of the events that had been happening. Often these details acquaint us with the anxieties and the worries of the officials who had been finding themselves incapacitated in controlling the movement and who were much too worried about it getting momentum. They were unable to take the decision whether they should arrest Gandhiji or not. They were also not able to realise that what would be the result if Gandhiji was arrested. Thus, it can be concluded that the accounts furnished by private letters and autobiographies differ from the officials account in several ways.

Ans. After the failure of the Cripps Mission, Mahatma Gandhi decided to launch his third major movement against British rule.

1. This was the “Quit India” campaign, which began in August 1942. Although Gandhiji was jailed at once, younger activists organized strikes and acts of sabotage all over the country.
2. Particularly active in the underground resistance were socialist members of the Congress, such as Jayaprakash Narayan. In several districts, such as Satara in the west and Medinipur in the east, “independent” governments were proclaimed. The British responded with much force, yet it took more than a year to suppress the rebellion.
3. “Quit India” was genuinely a Mass Movement, bringing into its ambit hundreds of thousands of ordinary Indians. Itg especially energized the young who, in very large numbers, left their colleges to go to jail.
4. However, while the congress leaders languished in jail, Jinnah and his colleagues in the Muslim League worked patiently at expanding their influence.
5. It was in these years that the league began to make a mark in the Punjab and Sind provinces, where it had previously had scarcely any presence.
6. No doubt the British crushed the movement but it failed to crush the spirit of freedom inherent in the hearts of the common people. The impact of this movement was so intense.

Ans. i) Life in South Africa

1. Life in India
2. Non-cooperation Movement
3. Civil Disobedience Movement
4. Quit India Movement