Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement: Civil Disobedience and Beyond

Introduction

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi transformed Indian politics between 1915 and 1948. He brought mass participation, moral philosophy, and a new political vocabulary — Satyagraha, Swaraj, ahimsa — into the nationalist movement. This chapter examines Gandhi's methods and ideas, the major movements he led, and how historians interpret his legacy. It also explores how different groups — women, peasants, tribals, Dalits — participated in and shaped the nationalist struggle.

Gandhi's Return and Early Campaigns

Gandhi arrived in India in January 1915 after 21 years in South Africa, where he had developed Satyagraha (literally 'truth-force' or 'soul-force') as a technique of nonviolent resistance to unjust laws.

• His early Indian campaigns demonstrated the method:
• Champaran, 1917 (Bihar): Gandhi investigated the exploitation of indigo cultivators forced to grow indigo under the tinkathia system. His on-site investigation, mass mobilisation and negotiation with authorities led to the Champaran Agrarian Act, a landmark victory.
• Kheda, 1918 (Gujarat): When crops failed and peasants could not pay revenue, Gandhi led a campaign asking officials to suspend revenue collection. After months of resistance, authorities quietly allowed revenue to lapse for the poor.
• Ahmedabad Mill Strike, 1918: Gandhi mediated between mill workers and owners, undertaking his first fast to press the owners to accept arbitration — workers received a 35% wage increase.

These campaigns established Gandhi as a leader who connected with ordinary Indians across caste and class lines.

Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22)

The Rowlatt Act (1919), which allowed detention without trial, and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April 1919) — where General Dyer ordered troops to fire on an unarmed crowd in Amritsar, killing at least 379 people — radicalised Indian opinion and convinced Gandhi that the British government was fundamentally unjust.

• The Non-Cooperation Movement called on Indians to:
• Return British honours and titles
• Boycott government schools, colleges and law courts
• Boycott legislative councils
• Boycott foreign cloth and buy khadi (hand-spun cloth)
• Refuse to pay taxes (in later stages)

The movement merged with the Khilafat Movement (led by Ali brothers Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali) protesting against British treatment of the Ottoman Caliph. This Hindu-Muslim unity gave the movement extraordinary breadth.

The Chauri Chaura incident (February 1922): When a crowd burned a police station killing 22 policemen at Chauri Chaura (UP), Gandhi unilaterally called off the movement. This decision shocked many Congress leaders including Nehru but reflected Gandhi's insistence that mass movements must remain strictly nonviolent.

Civil Disobedience Movement (1930–34)

The Lahore Session of Congress (December 1929) under Jawaharlal Nehru's presidency passed the Purna Swaraj (Complete Independence) resolution. January 26, 1930 was declared Independence Day.

• Gandhi chose salt as the focus of civil disobedience — a brilliantly chosen symbol because:
• Salt was essential to every Indian regardless of region, religion or caste
• The British salt tax and monopoly was a vivid example of imperial exploitation
• Making salt was a simple act that any Indian could perform

The Dandi March (Salt March), 12 March – 6 April 1930: Gandhi walked 241 miles from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi on the Gujarat coast with 78 followers. At Dandi, he picked up salt from the seashore, symbolically breaking the salt law. The march attracted global attention and triggered a nationwide campaign of salt law defiance.

The movement was suspended after the Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March 1931) and later relaunched in 1932. The government's response included mass arrests; over 60,000 people were jailed.

Quit India Movement (1942)

By 1942, with World War II raging and the fall of Singapore shaking confidence in British power, Gandhi launched the most aggressive campaign: 'Do or Die'. The Quit India Movement (August 1942) demanded immediate British withdrawal.

The British response was swift — Gandhi and the entire Congress Working Committee were arrested before the movement could be organised. Spontaneous, leaderless revolts broke out across the country; underground radio stations operated; communications and infrastructure were sabotaged. The movement showed that Indians could act without central leadership, but it also revealed the limits of the Congress organisation.

Gandhian Ideas and Philosophy

• Satyagraha: Nonviolent resistance based on moral truth; suffering willingly undergone to convert the opponent
• Ahimsa: Non-violence as both strategy and moral principle
• Swaraj: Self-rule — political independence, but also inner self-discipline and social reform
• Swadeshi: Promotion of Indian-made goods, especially khadi; economic self-reliance
• Constructive Programme: Gandhi emphasised village industries, sanitation, Hindu-Muslim unity, and untouchability abolition as integral to Swaraj

Ambedkar, Dalits and Gandhi: A Complex Relationship

B.R. Ambedkar challenged Gandhi's approach to caste. While Gandhi opposed untouchability and called untouchables Harijans ('children of God'), Ambedkar rejected this term as patronising and insisted on political rights and reservations as the only route to real equality.

The Poona Pact (1932): When the British announced separate electorates for Dalits (the Communal Award), Gandhi fasted unto death in opposition. Ambedkar eventually agreed to give up separate electorates in exchange for reserved seats within a joint electorate — a compromise both men found unsatisfying.

How Historians Know: Sources for Studying Gandhi

Historians use police surveillance reports (the British closely monitored Gandhi and movements), newspaper accounts (Gandhi used newspapers like · Young India · and · Harijan · as political tools), Congress records, private correspondence, and Gandhi's own prolific writing and speeches.