Swaraj Party

C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru advocated a new policy for continuing the struggle against the colonial rule. They were of the view that nationalist should stop boycotting the legislation council and should participate in it. The mask of bureaucracy should be removed by obstructing all the work.

In December 1922, the President of Congress, C.R. Das and M.L. Nehru (Secretary) proposed this new program of joining legislative assembly at Gaya session and they argued that this would change the structure of council or would be finished (Pro Changers). But, the other group of Congress led by Vallabh Bhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and C. RajaGopalChari opposed it ( No Changers).

Then, C.R. Das and M.L. Nehru resigned from the congress and they founded ' Congress Khilafat Swaraj Party' which is popularly known as ' Swaraj Party' (1 Jan 1923 at Allahabad). Its first president was C.R. Das. Swaraj Party was supported by Vitthal Bhai Patel, Madan Mohan Malviya and M. Jaykar.

Gandhi opposed the concept of entering into legislative council and obstructing its work but he called Swarajist as Able, Experienced and Honest patriots.

Congress allowed its workers to vote. C.R. Das, M.L. Nehru and Gandhi signed a joint statement according to which Swarajist would continue to work in the council.(Gandhi- Das pact, 6 November 1924).

On 6 November 1924, Gandhi sorted out the difference between Pro Changers and No Changers. The Belgaon session of congress presided by Gandhi, approved Gandhi-Das pact. Gandhi gave substantial representation to the Swarajist in the congress.

The election for the Central and Provincial legislative was held in November 1923. Swarajist had very little time for convincing and only 62 lakh ie less than 3% were given the right to vote. Swarajist succeeded in 42 out of 101 in central legislative assembly and clear majority in provincial assembly, largest party in Bengal but was unsuccessful in Madras and Punjab.

Swarajist formed alliance with the followers of Jinnnah in central legislative assembly. It also included liberals and some independent like Madan Mohan Malviya.

In 1925, Swarajist succeeded in getting Vitthal Bhai Patel elected as the speaker of Central Legislative Assembly (First Speaker). The Swarajist raised the following issues:
(1). Change of constitution for the establishment of self rule.
(2). End of repressive law.
(3). Development of indigenous industries.

Civil Disobedience enquiry committee (1922) corporation elections were held in 1923, Mayors elected were: C.R. Das (Calcutta), Vitthal Bhai Patel (Ahmedabad), Rajendra Prasad (Patna), Jawahar Lal Nehru (Allahabad).

Swaraj Party caused the setting up of Alexander Mundiman Committee for inquiring into the act of 1919 (Montague Chelmsford reform).

C.R. Das died on 16 June 1925. Lala Lajpat Rai and Madan Mohan Malviya left the party over the issue of sharing of power and communalism.

Cause of downfall of Swarajist Party - Communalism. Swaraj party could not gain expected success in the elections of November 1926. 1926 is observed as 'year of silence'. The failure of government in 1928 over the issue of 'Public Safety Bill' is worth mentioning and all the nationalist leaders opposed it. Pushottam, Thakur Das and G.D. Birla also opposed this bill.

Reactionary Leaders- Lal Lajpat Rai, Madan Mohan Malviya and N.C Kelkar, advocated to support the government and in return asked for the protection of Hindus.

Gandhi sat on fast after the outbreak of communal riots in the house of Maulana Mohd. Ali for 21 days (September 1924).

Non Co-operation Movement (1920-22)

In 1920, Gandhi advised Khilafat committee to launch non violent non cooperation movement. On 9 June 1920 in Allahabad, the Khilafat committee accepted this proposal of Gandhi and handed over the leadership of this movement to Gandhi.

In May 1920, it was decided at All India Congress Committee meeting to boycott all foreign goods and schools and to organize a special session of Congress in September.
Gandhi started Non Cooperation movement from 1st August 1920. It was the first mass movement led by Gandhi. Bal Gangadhar Tilak died on the same day.

In September 1920, the special session of congress was organized in Calcutta under the presidentship of Lala Lajpat Rai. The session gave the approval of non cooperation movement despite the opposition from some senior leader like C. R. Das, he opposed to the boycott of Vidhan Parishad. Annie Besant, S.N. Bannerjee, Madan Mohan Malviya, M.A. Jinnah, B.C. Pal and Shankar Nayar also opposed. Ali Brother and M.L. Nehru supported non cooperation movement.

At the Nagpur session, Chittranjan Das and Lala Lajpat Rai withdrew their opposition that at Calcutta session. Gandhi declared, 'The British government must realize that if it does not want to do justice then destroying British empire shall be the duty of each and every Indian. Gandhi prepared a new constitution for congress and thereby changed the character of congress. The membership charge was reduced to 25 paise anually. Provincial congress committee was reorganised on linguistic basis. A 15 member executive was constituted to look after the routine work of congress (This proposal was also proposed by Tilak in 1916 but was not passed). Congress decided to use Hindi as far as possible , the language for communication.

The boycott of education was most successful in West Bengal. S.C. Bose was made the president of National College made during non cooperation movement.

After Nagpur session in 1920, four members quit congress:  M.A. Jinnah, Annie Besant, B.C. Pal and G.S. Khaparde.

Gandhi toured India during non cooperation movement, first with Ali Brothers and then Prabhu Das Gandhi.
Famous lawyers who left their practice during non cooperation movement were : C.R. Das (West Bengal), M.L. Nehru, Vallabh Bhai Patel and Vitthal Patel(Gujarat), C. Rajgopalchari, Saifuddin Kichlu, Arun Asaf  Ali, T. Prakasham and M. Jaykar.

Gandhi returned the title 'Kesar-i-Hind' before launching non cooperation movement. Jamunalal Bajaj returned the title 'Rai Bahadur'.

March 1921, in the Vijaywara session, Tilak Swaraj fund was organised for running the movement and more than 1 crore was collected.

May 1921, the Viceroy Lord Reading met Gandhi and asked him to convince Ali Brothers for not giving provocation speeches.

July 1921, Mohd Ali Jinnah declared that it will be against their religion if any Muslim serve the army.

On 5 February 1922, a procession of congress and Khilafat movement was organised at Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur. People killed 22 police officers.

In February 1922, the Congress executive met at Bardoli where Gandhi declared discontinuation of non cooperation movement. This proposal is known as Bardoli resolution.

On 10 March 1922, Gandhi was arrested and sentenced to 6 years imprisonment but was released on 5 February 1924 due to health reasons.  

Khilafat Movement (1919-22)

The movement against Rowlatt Act in the backdrop of Lucknow pact effected each and every Indian that brought Hindus and Muslims together in the movement.

The Sultan of Turkey was considered to be the Khalifa of the whole Islamic world. After the defeat of Turkey in the First World War, all the rights of Sultan of Turkey was taken away by the 'Treaty of Sevrey'.

The All India Khilafat Committee was formed in Delhi on 23rd November 1919 by Mohd Ali and Shaukat Ali (Ali Brothers), Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Hakim Azmal Khan and Hazrat Mohani.

Gandhi presided over All India Khilafat committee on 23rd November 1919. This committee decided that if their demands were not accepted then they would stop cooperating with the government.

The Khilafat movement was supported by Congress at Amritsar session in December 1919. A delegation led by Dr. Ansari was sent to England on the proposal of Gandhi. In March 1920, a delegation led by Mohd Ali and Shaukat Ali went to England.

On 17 October 1919, Khilafat day was observed as all India day. Gandhi considered Khilafat movement as an opportunity to unite Hindus and Muslims. The Muslims invited Swami Shraddhanand to preach from the mimbar of Jama Masjid to set an example of Hindu-Muslim unity. Similarly , Sikhs in Amritsar handed over the keys of Golden temple to Muslim leader Dr, Saifuddin Kichlu.   

Satyagrah against Rowlatt Act (1919)

The British government constituted Rowlatt Act under the chairmanship of Sydney Rowlatt to curb the revolutionary activities. On the recommendation of Rowlatt Committee, two bills were introduced on 6 February 1919, but one of them was withdrawn. The second bill, Revolutionary and Terrorism Act was passed in March 1919. These acts were called as Rowlatt Act. On 8 March 1919, Rowlatt Act was passed despite the protest by Indian people. Rowlatt Act is also known as 'Black Law'.

On 24 May 1919, Satyagrah sabha was constituted in Bombay by Gandhi and was himself its chairman. 6 April 1919 was fixed as the day for starting Rowlatt Satygrah and this day was observed as 'National Insult Day'.

Swami Shraddhanand was leading the movement against Rowlatt act in Delhi. The movement opposing Rowlatt act was very popular in Punjab. Gandhi tried to visit Punjab to check the violent people but the government did not allowed him to enter Punjab and sent him back to Bombay. In such a situation, the anger of the people further increased when Lt. Governor , Michael O Dyer arrested the two very popular leaders, Dr. Satpal and Saifuddin Kichlu, without any reason on 9 April 1919.

10 Aprl 1919, administration called military and handed over the administration of Punjab to General Dyer.

11 April 1919, Marshall law was declared in Amritsar under the command of General Dyer and he banned public meeting.

13 April 1919, on the day of Baisakhi, a public meeting was organised in Jalianwala Bagh to oppose the arrest of Dr. Satpal and Saifuddin Kichlu. General Dyer declared it unconstitutional and opened fire on public. According to government report, 379 people were killed.

C. F. Andrews termed this incident as 'Deliberate Merciless Killing'. Sankaran, Indian member of viceroys, executively resigned. Rabindra Nath Tagore returned the title of 'Sir' after this incident .

15 April 1919, Marhall law was imposed over the whole of Punjab.

19 April 1919, Gandhi called off Rowlatt Satyagrah.

The government constituted Hunter committee to inquire about this incident. The Hunter committee was constituted on 1 October 1919 under the chairmanship of Lord Hunter. There were 8 members in this committee including 3 Indians (Sir Chimmanlal SItalwad, Sahebjada Sultan Ahmed and Jagat Narayan). The Congress also constituted a committee under Madan Mohan Malviya. Motilal Nehru and Gandhi were other members. Hunter committe submitted its report in March 1920.

Khera Movement (1918)

The crops in Khera were effected due to bad climate and government was yet proclaiming revenue from the peasants, which forced them to call Gandhi for help and he agreed to help. 'Gujarat Sabha' played an important role in Khera movement, Gandhi was the chairman of 'Gujarat Sabha'.

Gandhi started Khera Satyagrah in 1918  from a place called Nadia. Vallabh Bhai Patel became his follower during this movement.

Ahmedabad Movement (1918)

A conflict emerged between Mill owners and workers over plague bonus. Gandhi was called on the request of British collector to settle this issue. The mill owners declared 20% bonus and warned that those who will not accept this decision will be removed from service. Gandhi asked workers to go on strike and demanded 35% bonus. Ansuiya Ben, sister of Ambalal Sarabhai was also in the movement. 

On 15th march 1918, during Ahmedabad Movement, Gandhi used hunger strike for the first time. The hunger strike had the effect in the mill owners and they agreed to pay 35% bonus.

Champaran Satyagrah (1917)

Gandhi reached Champaran on the request of Rajkumar Shukla to lead Champaran movement. As soon as he reached Champaran, the commission ordered him to return but Gandhi refused and accepted to take any punishment, this step was a surprising one for public.

The Tinkatiya system was prevelant in Champaran, according to which famers had to cultivate Indigo in 3/20 parts of their land.

When Gandhi started a peaceful protest, government allowed him to visit villages. The effort of Gandhi succeded when planters agreed to return 25% of illegal procurement. "Champaran Agriculture Act" was passed by his effort.

During Champaran movement following supported Gandhi and later became his follower: Rajendra Prasad, Mahadev Desai, Brij Kishore, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Narhari Parikh and JB Kriplani.

Third Phase of National Movement (1917-47) - Gandhian Era

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2nd October 1869 at Porbandar in Kathiawar in Gujarat.

Gandhi went to South Africa in 1893 as lawyer of Dada Abdullah & Co.. In 1893, he founded "Indian National Organization and started a magazine called "Indian Opinion". Gandhi planned to return after hearing of the case, in the evening before return he raised the issue of bill excluding Indians of the right to vote. The Indians settled in South Africa requested him to prolong his return by one month and provide leadership of the movement against the bill. Gandhi decided to stay and was there for 20 years.

In 1906, Gandhi started Disobedience movement  which was known as Satyagrah movement, thus he launched first Satyagrah movement in South Africa.

Gandhi established Tolstoy firm and Phoenix firm, Tolstoy latter became Gandhi Ashram. Ratan Tata, Muslim League, Congress and Nizam of Hyderabad provided economic support to Gandhi Ashram.

On 1st Jan 1915, he was awarded with Kesar-i- Hind gold medal for supporting England in First World war.

Gandhi returned to India in 1915. He made Gopal krishna Gokhale as his political mentor. He  met Rabindra Nath Tagore at the end of 1915 in Golpur, West Bengal,  here Tagore called Gandhi as Mahatma and Gandhi callled Tagore as Gurudev.

In 1916, Gandhi founded Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.
Gandhi did not take part in Home Rule Movement.
Between 1917 and 1918, Gandhi took part in three main events : Champaran Satyagrah, Ahmedabad Movement and Khera Satyagrah. Gandhi had  three other main objectives along with the struggle for freedom : Hindu Muslim unity, untouchability abolition and improving social conditions of women.

Lucknow Pact (1916)

The split of Congress at Surat session continued till 1916. Tilak and Besant made efforts to reunite Moderates and Extremists into the congress. Ambika Charan Majumdar presided over the congress session of Lucknow in 1916. This session was important for two reasons :

(1). The Extremists rejoined Congress.

(2). Congress and Muslim League formed a pact.

At the Lucknow session Congress and Muslim League signed a pact to cooperate each other  on the basis of common programme in political field, which is known as Congress-League Pact.

Tilak and Besant played leading role in Congress-League pact. This pact was opposed by Madan Mohan Malviya because Congress accepted the demand of 'separate electoral college' by Muslim League. It was a great achievement for Muslim League.

With the discontinuation of Non Cooperation movement in 1922, the Lucknow pact ended.

After the Surat split, Congress once again divided due to disagreement over the Montague declaration. The liberals under S. N. Bannerjee welcomed Montague declaration whereas Nationalist opposed it. At Surat session, liberals had expelled extremist from Congress but this time liberals left Congress to support government.

In 1918, the Liberals founded National Liberal League under the leadership of S N Bannerjee and it latter came to be known as National Liberal federation. Its other members were : Srinivas Sashtri, Tej Bahadur Sapru and Bipin Chandra Pal. Liberals referred Montague Chelmsford reform as Magna Carta of India.

Home Rule Movement (1914)

On 16th June 1914, Tilak was released from Mandaley prison after 6 years.

Annie Besant joined Congress in 1914. She came to India in 1893 to work for Theosophical society (was established in 1875, in India it was opened in 1886 at Adiyar (Madras)), it worked for the reform of Hinduism, Buddhism and Parsi).

In 1914, Besant decided to launch Home Rule Movement on the basis of Home Rule League of Ireland. She thought that the permission of Congress & Extremist support was necessary for Home Rule Movement, so she started convincing Moderate leaders to re-include Bal Gangadhar Tilak and his Extremist supporters in the Congress.

Firuz Shah Mehta opposed entry of extremist into Congress in the Congress session of 1914. After the Congress session of  1914, Tilak and Besant decided to launch Home Rule Movement on their own. The Home Rule Movement was inaugurated  on 2nd January 1915 with the publication of a weekly magazine 'Commonwill'. The objective of this movement was to obtain self rule under the British rule in constitutional way.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak founded Indian Home Rule League on 28th April 1916 in Belgaon province session. Annie Besant founded Home Rule Movement in September 1916, Madras. The region of Home Rule League of Tilak was Karnataka, Maharashtra (not Bombay), Central Provinces and Berar. Besant's Home Rule League operated in remaining part of India.
Largest number of offices of Home Rule League was in Madras. Tilak used "Maratha" and "Kesari" newspaper to propogate Home Rule League and Annie Besant used "Commonwill" and "New India". By March 1917, membership of Tilak's League reached 14000 whereas Besant's League had 7000 members. On 23rd July 1916, a team of advocate led by Jinnah fought the case of so called notice to Tilak. The leading people joining Besant's Home Rule League were Jawahar Lal Nehru, B. Chackravorty and J. Bannerjee.
In 1917, government fearing the growing popularity of Home Rule League, arrested Annie Besant. Subramaniyam rejected Knighthood in protest of arrest of Annie Besant.
As a result of Montague declaration, on 20th August 1917, Annie Besant declared abolition of Home Rule Luague. In September 1917, Besant was released from prison. In December 1917, Besant was elected as the President of Congress on the proposal of Tilak.

Delhi Darbar (1911)

In the beginning of December in 1911, British king George -V and queen Mary visited India, he was the first British ruler to visit India. On 12th December 1911, a grand coronation ceremony was organised in Delhi. The main declaration of Lord Harding on behalf of the Emperor at Delhi Darbar were:

1). Transfer of capital from Calcutta to Delhi.

2). Partition of Bengal was cancelled.

3). Orissa and Bihar became states.

4). A Province was formed by joining all Bengali speaking.

Immediately after the Delhi darbar, George V led the foundation stone of new capital. Transfer of  capital from Calcutta to Delhi took place in 1912. The real reason for shifting the capital was political, to reduce  the importance of Calcutta; the focal point of movement against partition of Bengal.

Carlyle Circular (22 October 1905)

Thomas Carlyle

When the Indian youth started opposing the western education against partition of Bengal, then the chief secretary of Bengal, Carlyle issued a declaration known as Carlyle circulation, on 22 october 1905.

According to the circular - "If any college violates the government order and the student quits the educational institution then no assistance will be provided by the government to the institute." It was termed the declaration of slavery.

The National College of Bengal was established  on the lines of Tagore's Shantinekatan and its first principal was Aurobindo Ghosh. At this time Bengal Technical College was established and National Education Council was constituted on 15th August 1906.

Indian Society of Oriental Arts was founded in 1906.
According to S.N. Bannerjee "The Swadeshi Movement was not only an economic or political movement but was an omnipresent movement closely associated with our entire national life".
According to Mahatma Gandhi "The real revival of India started with the partition of Bengal".
Acharya P.C. Rai founded "Bengal Chemical Store / Swadeshi Factory"

Swadeshi Movement

To oppose the partition of Bengal, it was decided to promote Swadeshi and boycott British goods. On 7th August, it was decided to boycott British goods at Townhall, Calcutta (now Kolkata). On 28th September 1905, this resolution of boycott was repeated at Kalighat temple.

Some prominent leaders who led Swadeshi movement at different places in India were :

Bal Gangadhar Tilak -- Poona and Bombay,

Ajit Singh and Lal Lajpat -- Punjab and Uttar Pradesh

Syed Haider Raja -- Delhi

Chitambaram Pillai -- Madras.

An important aspect of Swadeshi movement was self dependance. "What we could not achieve in last 50 years, I have achieved in last 6 months. The partition of Bengal has took us here. The shameful event like division of Bengal gave birth to Swadeshi and great national movement."--S. Adul Rasheed (chairman of Barisal conference in 1906).

The Benares session of congress under the chairmanship of Gokhale in 1905 supported the Swadeshi and boycott of partition of Bengal.

The Extremists like Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh wanted to distribute this movement in the whole country, they were not satisfied with only Swadeshi and Boycott movement, they wanted to give it a political form. Now the aim was Swaraj but Moderates were not ready for it.

The most important organization in mobilizing the public opinion in favor of Swadeshi movement was 'Swades Bandhav Samiti' under the leadership of Aswani Kumar Dutta.