Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 to a Hindu Modh Baniya family at Porbandar in Saurashtra in Gujarat. His father, Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi served as the Diwan (chief minister) of Porbandar state. The name of his was Putlibai

• In May 1883, the 13-year-old Mohandas was married to 14-year-old Kasturbai Makhanji Kapadia popularly k/a Kasturba.

• He proceeded to England in 1888 and returned to India as a Barrister-at law in 1891.

• He failed as a practicing lawyer both at Rajkot and in Bombay.• In 1893, he accepted a yearlong contract from Dada Abdulla & Co., an

Indian firm, to work as a legal representative for the Muslim Indian Traders based in the city of Pretoria years in South Africa, a part of the British Empire.

• Gandhi was 24 when he arrived in South Africa. He spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics and political leadership skills. He became the first highly educated Indian to have some to South Africa.

• They gave enormous powers to the police to search a place and arrest any person they disapproved of without warrant. A well known description of the bills at that time was:No Dalil,No Vakil,No Appeali.e.,no pleas,no lawyer,no Appeal.

• Despite much opposition, the Rowlatt act was passed in March 1919.

• Gandhi and others were extremely critical of the Act and argued that not everyone should get punishment in response to isolated political crimes. The Act annoyed many Indian leaders and the public, which caused the government to implement repressive measures.

Gandhi and others found that constitutional opposition to the measure was fruitless, so Gandhiji suggested that a Satyagraha be launched. so on April 6, a " hartal " was organized where Indians would suspend all business and fast as a sign of their opposition and civil disobedience would be offered against specific law. This event is known as the Rowlatt satyagraha . Gandhiji named the Rowlatt Act as "black act". However Delhi observed the hartal on 30 March because of some confusion about dates, and there was considerable violence in the streets.

• On 10 April 1919, there was a protest at the residence of the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, a city in Punjab, a large province in the northwestern part of India. The demonstration was to demand the release of two popular leaders of the Indian Independence Movement, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew, who had been earlier arrested by the government and moved to a secret location. Both were proponents of the Satyagraha movement led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. A military picket shot at the crowd, killing several protesters and setting off a series of violent events. Later the same day, several banks and other government buildings, including the Town Hall and the railway station, were attacked and set afire. The violence continued to escalate, culminating in the deaths of at least five Europeans, including government employees and civilians.

• The army was called in and the city handed over to General Reginald Dyer who issued an order prohibiting public meetings and assemblies however this notice was not widely disseminated.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919 when a crowd of nonviolent protesters, along with Baishakhi pilgrims, who had gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh garden in Amritsar, Punjab to protest against the arrest of two nationalist leaders, Dr. Satyapal, Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew, although a curfew had been recently declared. On hearing that a meeting had assembled at Jallianwala Bagh, Dyer went with group of sixty-five Gurkha and twenty-five Balochi and Pathan soldiers to a raised bank and ordered them to shoot at the crowd. Dyer continued the firing for about ten minutes, until the ammunition supply was almost exhausted; Dyer stated that 1,650 rounds had been fired, a number which seems to have been derived by counting empty cartridge cases picked up by the troops. Official British Indian sources gave a figure of 379 identified dead, with approximately 1,100 wounded. The casualty number estimated by the Indian National Congress was more than 1,500, with approximately 1,000 dead.

• This "brutality stunned the entire nation", resulting in a "wrenching loss of faith" of the general public in the intentions of Britain. Rabindra Nath Tagore surrendered his knighthood. Sir Shankarn Nair resigned his membership of the Viceroys’ executive Council. It led to a great divide between Indian and Britishers which could not be bridged. The Government appointed William Hunter Commission to investigate the incident. The commission gave his report that it was an error of judgment and recommended dismissal of O’ Dyre. When he went home, House of Common presented him with Sword of British Emperors. Gandhi ji lost his faith in Britishers and he was determined to stamp out British emperor from Indian forever

• Gandhi Ji, overwhelmed by the total atmosphere of violence, withdrew the movement on 18 April..

• Accepting the report of the Repressive Laws Committee, the Government of India repealed the Rowlatt Act, the Press Act, and twenty-two other laws in March 1922.

Khilafat Agitation and Non-Cooperation Movement

• The Immediate factor that led Gandhi Ji to launch Non- Cooperation Movement was Khilafat Agitation.

• The Indian Muslims were incensed when they discovered that their loyalty had been purchased during the War by assurances of generous treatment of Turkey after the War — a promise British statesman had no intention of fulfilling. The Muslims regarded the Caliph of Turkey as their spiritual head and were naturally upset when they found that he would retain no control over the holy places it was his duty as Caliph to protect. Treaty of Sevres signed with Turkey in May 1920 made it amply clear that the dismemberment of the Turkish Empire was complete.

• Gandhi Ji, who had been in close touch with the Khilafat leaders (Ali Brothers i.e. Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali) for quite some time, and was a special invitee to the Khilafat Conference in November 1919. In February 1920, he suggested to the Khilafat Committee that it adopt a programme of non-violent non-cooperation to protest the Government’s behavior. On 9 June 1920, the Khilafat Committee at Allahabad unanimously accepted the suggestion of non-cooperation and asked Gandhi Ji to lead the movement.

• Under the present circumstances, Congress agreed to consider noncooperation. The AICC met in May 1920 and decided to convene a special session in September to enable the Congress to decide on its course of action. The movement was launched formally on 1 August 1920, after the expiry of the notice that Gandhi ji had given to the Viceroy in his letter of 22 June. Lokmanya Tilak passed away in the early hours of 1 August, and the day of mourning and of launching of the movement merged as people all over the country observed hartal and took out processions. The Congress met in September at Calcutta and accepted non-cooperation as its own. The main opposition, led by C.R. Das, was to the boycott of legislative councils. By December, when the Congress met for its annual session at Nagpur, the opposition had melted away; the elections were over and, therefore, the boycott of councils was a non-issue, and it was CR. Das, who moved the main resolution on noncooperation.

• The programme of non-cooperation included within its ambit the surrender of titles and honours, boycott of government-affiliated schools and colleges, law courts, foreign cloth, and could be extended to include resignation from government service and mass civil disobedience including the non-payment of taxes. National schools and colleges were to be set up, panchayats were to be established for settling disputes, hand spinning and weaving was to be encouraged and people were asked to maintain Hindu- Muslim unity, give up untouchability and observe strict non-violence.

• Gandhi ji promised that if the programme was fully implemented, Swaraj would be ushered in within a year.

• To enable the Congress to fulfill its new commitment, significant changes were introduced in its creed as well as in its organizational structure. The goal of the Congress was changed from the attainment of self-government to the attainment of Swaraj by peaceful and legitimate means.

• The Congress was now to have a Working Committee of fifteen members to look after its day-to-day affairs. This proposal, when first made by Tilak in 1916, had been shot down by the Moderate opposition.

• The adoption of the Non-Cooperation Movement (initiated earlier by the Khilafat Conference) by the Congress gave it a new energy and, from January 1921, it began to register considerable success all over the country. Gandhiji, along with the Ali brothers (who were the foremost Khilafat leaders), undertook a nationwide tour/during which he addressed hundreds of meetings, thousands of students left schools and colleges and joined, more than 800 national schools and colleges that had sprung up all over the country. The educational boycott was particularly successful in Bengal, C.R. Das played a major role in promoting the movement and Subhas Bose became the principal of the National Congress in Calcutta.

• Many leading lawyers of the country, like C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru, M.R. Jayakar, Saifuddin Kitchlew, Vallabhbhai Patel, C. Rajagopalachari, T. Prakasam and Asaf Ali gave up lucrative practices, and their sacrifice became a source of inspiration for many. The most successful item of the programme was the boycott of foreign clothes. Charkhas were popularized on a wide scale and khadi became the uniform of the national movement.

• Gandhiji had been under considerable pressure from the Congress rank and file as well as the leadership to start the phase of mass civil disobedience. The Ahmadabad session of the Congress in December 1921 had appointed him the sole authority on the issue. The Government showed no signs of relenting and had ignored both the appeal of the All- Parties Conference held in mid-January 1922 as well as Gandhiji’s letter to the Viceroy announcing that, unless the Government lifted the ban on civil liberties and released political prisoners, he would be forced to go ahead with mass civil disobedience. The Viceroy was unmoved and, left with no choice, Gandhiji announced that mass civil disobedience would begin in Bardoli of Surat district from 7 April, 1922

• But Bardoli was destined to Wait for another six years before it could launch a no-tax movement. Its fate was decided by the action of members of a Congress and Khilafat procession in Chauri-Chaura in Gorakhpur district of U.P. on 5 February 1922. Irritated by the behavior of some policemen, a section of the crowd attacked them. The police opened fire. At this, the entire procession attacked the police and when the latter hid inside the police station, set fire to the building. Policemen who tried to escape were hacked to pieces and thrown into the fire. In all twenty-two policemen were done to dead. On hearing of the incident, Gandhiji decided to withdraw the movement. He also persuaded the Congress Working Committee to ratify his decision and thus, on 12 February 1922, the Non-Cooperation Movement came to an end.

• Gandhiji’s, decision to withdraw the movement in response to the violence at Chauri Chaura raised a Controversy whose heat can still be felt in staid academic seminars and sober volumes of history. Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Bose, and many others have recorded their utter bewilderment on hearing the news. They could not understand why the whole country had to pay the price for the crazy behavior of some people in a remote village. Many in the country thought that the Mahatma had failed miserably as a leader and that his days of glory were over.

• The Britishers took advantage of the division among the nationalists forces and Gandhiji was arrested on 10 March, 1922 and was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment.

• In 1894 he founded Natal Indian Congress to help Indians for fighting their rights. and through this organisation, he moulded the Indian community of South Africa into a unified political force

• In 1899, he organized Indian Ambulance corp for British Army in Boer was, for which he was given Kaisar-e-Hind medal. During the Boer War, Gandhi volunteered in 1900 to form a group of ambulance drivers. He wanted to disprove the British idea that Hindus were not fit for "manly" activities involving danger and exertion. Gandhi raised eleven hundred Indian volunteers. They were trained and medically certified to serve on the front lines.

• In 1904, he started newspaper : Indian Opinion

His first Satyagrah was in 1906 against compulsory certificates of registration to be carried which held their finger prints. It was essential to carry these on person at all times. At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg on 11 September that year, Gandhi adopted his still evolving methodology of Satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or nonviolent protest, for the first time.

He urged Indians to defy the new law and to suffer the punishments for doing so. The community adopted this plan, and during the struggle, thousands of Indians were jailed, flogged, or shot for striking, refusing to register, for burning their registration cards or engaging in other forms of nonviolent resistance.

The government successfully repressed the Indian protesters, but the public outcry over the harsh treatment of peaceful Indian protesters by the South African government forced South African leader Jan Christiaan Smuts, himself a philosopher, to negotiate a compromise with Gandhi. Gandhi's ideas took shape, and the concept of Satyagraha matured during this struggle.

• In 1908 he compaigned against anti-Indian immigration laws and as jailed.

• In 1910 he established Tolstoy Farms, helped by German friend Kallenbach near Johannesburg, where he nurtured his policy of peaceful resistance. After blacks gained the right to vote in South Africa, Gandhi was proclaimed a national hero with numerous monuments

• His last Satyagrah in South Africa as against a Marriage Law which declared marriages by Indian rites ill-legal.

• Gandhi Ji came back to India on 9 January as a Pravasi Bhartiya. He spent one year travelling all over India. His political guru was Gopal Krishan Gokhle. In 1916 he established Satyagrha Ashram at Sabarmati near Ahmadabad.

• During the course of 1917 and early 1918, he was involved in three significant struggles — in Champaran in Bihar, in Ahmedabad and in Kheda in Gujarat. The common feature of these struggles was that they related to specific local issues and that they were fought for the economic demands of the masses. Two of these struggles, Champaran and Kheda, involved the peasants and the one in Ahmedabad involved industrial workers.

Champaran Satyagraha in Bihar in 1917• Gandhi ji’s first Satyagraha in India against the exploitation

of cultivators by European planters on the basis of tinkathia system. Tinkathia system was an agreement under which forced peasants to cultivate indigo on 3/20 of their holding. This was signed between European planters and the cultivators in the beginning of nineteenth centenary. now there was no demand of Indigo. Planters taking benefit of their necessity enhanced the rent and other legal dues as a price for release. Gandhi ji went Champaran on invitation of Raj Kumar Shukla As a result, Govt. appointed inquiry committee and nominated Gandhi Ji as one of its members. The committee awarded 25% refund of the money the planter had taken illegally from the peasants.

• Ahmadabad Mill Strike- 1918 first hunger strike on issue of wage increase against mill owners over the question of a ‘plague bonus’. Ambalal Sarabhai, one of the leading mill owners of the town, was a friend of Gandhiji, and had just saved the Sabarmati Ashram from extinction by a generous donation. Ambalal Sarabhai’s sister, Anasuya Behn, was one of the main lieutenants of Gandhiji in this struggle. The fast had the effect of putting pressure on the mill owners and they agreed to submit the whole issue to a tribunal. The strike was withdrawn and the tribunal later awarded the thirty-five per cent increase the workers had demanded.

Kheda 1918 first non co-operative movement. peasants of Kheda district were in extreme distress due to a failure of crops, and that their appeals for the remission of land revenue were being ignored by the Government. Sardar Patel and Indulal Yagnik joined Gandhi Ji during this Satyagrah. The agitation was taken by people with spirit. When Gandhiji came to know that the Government had issued secret instructions directing that revenue should be recovered only from those peasants who could pay. A public declaration of this decision would have meant a blow to Government prestige, since this was exactly what Gandhiji had been demanding. In these circumstances, the movement was withdrawn.

Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh massacre

• The Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919 popularly known as the Rowlatt Act was a legislative act passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi on March 18, 1919,.Passed on the recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee and named after its president, British judge Sir Sidney Rowlatt, this act effectively authorized the government to imprison any person suspected of terrorism living in the Raj for up to two years without a trial, and gave the imperial authorities power to deal with all revolutionary activities. It provided for stricter control of the press, arrests without warrant, indefinite detention without trial, and juryless in camera trials for proscribed political acts. The accused were denied the right to know the accusers and the evidence used in the trial. On the report of a sedition committee, headed by justice Rowlatt, two bills were introduced in the central legislature in February 1919. These bills came to be known as "black bills".