5 – Mahatma Gandhi and the
National Movement
Early Life
• Born in 1869, at Porbandar in Kathiawad District, Gujrat.
• Father was Diwan of Rajkot state .(Finance Minister)
• Studied LAW in England.(1888)
• Came back and worked at Rajkot.
• Started practicing Law in South Afrtica . (1893-1914)
• Was thrown out of the train from Durban to Pretoria, racial
discrimination between the white and the black people.
• Involved in the fight struggle and then formed the NATAL
INDIAN Congress and was imprisoned.
• Returned India in January 1915
Champaran Satyagraha
• 1917 Champaran, Bihar.
• The Indigo cultivators were exploited
by the Europeans.
• They were bound to grow Indigo on
half of their fields and sell it to the
British planters at prices fixed by them.
• Thus , Gandhiji initiated the
satyagraha.
Ahmedabad Satyagraha
• 1918 Ahmedabad, Gujrat.
• Led a strike against the mill owners with
the labours / workers as they refused to
pay higher wages .
• He did a hunger strike for three days and
due to this on the fourth day they agreed
to increase the wages by 35%
Kheda Satyagraha
• 1918 Kheda, Gujrat.
• Crop cultivation failed.
• Farmers could not pay the Land
Revenue and Britishers torchered
them.
• Gandhiji started a strike in order
arrive to a settlement.
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel became a
follower of M.K.Gandhi after this.
Non – Cooperation Movement
• The non-cooperation movement was launched in
1920 with the aim of obtaining self-governance
and ultimately getting the British colonial
authorities to grant full independence to India.
• It was one of Gandhi's first organized acts of
large-scale civil disobedience satyagraha.
(Sanskrit word Satya – Truth & Agraha- Insist or
to hold fast).
• According to M.K.Gandhi it is “a way of
protesting in which one does not cooperate with
the evil doer.”
Rowlatt Act
• Passed on March, 1919 by the Rowlatt Committee
Judged by Sir Sydney Rowlatt.
• The Rowlatt Act was passed by the British
government to increase their grip on power over the
common folk.
• This law was passed in March 1919 by the Imperial
Legislative Council which gave them the power to
arrest any person without any trial for 2 years.
• To abolish this act, Gandhi and the other leaders
called for a Hartal (suspension of work) to show
Indians’ objection to this rule, called the Rowlatt
Satyagraha.
• Rowlatt act may have put the National Movement of
India to a halt but helped in making hindu-muslims
Inclusions of Rowlatt act
• Arrest of a person without warrant.
• In Camera trial . To exclude all spectators or those not legally
required from the court room.
• Restrictions on movements of individuals.
• Suspension of the Rights of Habeas Corpus. (Habeas corpus is
a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful
detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court
order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, to
bring the prisoner to court, to determine whether the detention
is lawful. )
Facts about Rowlatt Act for UPSC
Rowlatt Act Meaning The Act was passed by the Rowlatt Committee, presided by Sir Sydney Rowlatt. It authorized the arrest,
for 2 years without trial, of any person suspected of terrorism living in British India.
What were the black bills associated with Rowlatt Act? Central Legislature introduced two bills that authorized police to search a place without a search
warrant and to arrest anyone who they disapprove of.
These bills came to be known as ‘Black Bills.’
Who resigned from Imperial Legislative Council after the Rowlatt Act was passed? •Madan Mohan Malviya
•Muhammad Ali Jinnah
•Mazhar ul Haq
When was Rowlatt Satyagraha Initiated? 6th April 1919
Which Congress Leaders were arrested? Dr. Satyapal and Saifuddin Kitchlew
What is the Rowlatt Act?
The basic facts about the act and its significance are given below:
•Officially known as the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919.
•Passed in March 1919 by the Imperial Legislative Council.
•This act authorised the British government to arrest anybody suspected of terrorist activities.
•It also authorised the government to detain such people arrested for up to 2 years without trial.
•It empowered the police to search for a place without a warrant.
•It also placed severe restrictions on the freedom of the press.
•The act was passed as per recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee chaired by a judge, Sir Sidney Rowlatt, after whom the act is
named.
•The act was widely condemned by Indian leaders and the public. The bills came to be known as ‘black bills’.
•The act was passed despite unanimous opposition from the Indian members of the council, all of whom resigned in protest. These included
Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Madan Mohan Malviya and Mazhar Ul Haq.
•In response to this act, a nationwide hartal was called by Gandhiji on 6 th April. This was called the Rowlatt Satyagraha.
•The movement was cancelled by Gandhiji when it was marred by rioting in some provinces, particularly in Punjab where the situation was
grim.
•The British government’s primary intention was to repress the growing nationalist movement in the country.
•The British were also afraid of a Ghadarite revolution in Punjab and the rest of the country.
•Two popular Congress leaders Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew were arrested.
•The protest was very intense when the act came into effect and the army was called in Punjab to tackle the situation.
Jallianwala Bagh Tragedy
• April 13, 1919 Amritsar, Punjab.
• Was a Peaceful meeting and protest against
the Rowlatt Act and to plea for the freedom of
the arrested leaders Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlu and
Dr. Satya Pal also were celebrating the
occasion of Baisakhi.
• The then Acting Brigadier-General Reginald
Dyer ordered troops of the British Indian Army
to fire their rifles into a crowd of unarmed
Indian civilians.
Khilafat Movement
• The Ali brothers, Shoukat Ali and Mohammad Ali wit Maulana
Azad Hakim Ajmal Khan and Hasrat Mohani started the
Khilafat Movement against the British government.
• To restore the prestige and the power of the Caliphate.
• The Khilafat movement (1919-1924) was an agitation by Indian
Muslims allied with Indian Nationalists in the years following
World War I.
• Its purpose was to pressure the British government to preserve
the authority of the Ottoman Sultan as Caliph of Islam following
the breakup of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the war.
• M.K.Gandhi's support to the movement was a strategy to
counter the Divde-and-Rule policies of the colonial government
and ensure communal harmony. He wanted to bring Hindus and
Muslims together in the fight against the British.
• Gandhi was elected president of the First All-India Khilafat
Conference in 1919.
