Question

Discuss the various forms that the Non-Cooperation Movement took in different parts of India. How did people understand Gandhiji?

Answer 1

• By 1921-22, the Non-cooperation movement started gaining momentum.
• Almost the entire country had risen in revolt.
• Students in thousands of numbers stopped going to government colleges and offices.
• Many prominent lawyers such as C. Rajagopalachari, C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru and Asaf Ali stopped practicing law.
• The legislatures were boycotted.
• People surrendered the titles received from the British.
• Foreign clothes were lit by the public to create bonfires.
• Between 1920 and 1922, the imports of foreign clothes reduced massively.
• In many parts of the country, people resisted non-violently.
• But there were also different groups and classes who interpreted Gandhi’s call for protest which was not in sync with the ideas of Gandhi, anyhow the non-cooperation movement was linked to their respective local grievances.
• The British were demanding high land revenues in Kheda, Gujarat. Hence non-violent campaigns were organised by the Patidar Peasants.
• There was picketing of liquor shops in interior places of Tamil Nadu and in Coastal areas of Andhra.
• Forest satyagrahas were observed by poor peasants and tribals in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. Without paying any fees for grazing they sent cattles into the forests for grazing. The British colonial government had imposed many restrictions on the use of forest resources. Tribals were of the opinion that Gandhi would help in abolishing forest regulations and help in reducing taxes.
• Swaraj was proclaimed by peasants and many people in forest villages believed that there would be the establishment of Gandhi raj.
• National movement received enormous communal strength and unity in Bengal due to Non-Cooperation and Khilafat alliance.
• There was the Akali agitation of the Sikhs in Punjab, which sought to remove the mahants from their Gurudwaras. These Mahants were corrupt and they were supported by the British.
• Tea garden labourers protested against their employers and demanded increase in wages. They stopped working and left the plantations.