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NCERT Class 12 History Chapter 13 Mahatma Gandhi and The Nationalist Movement
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Mahatma Gandhi and The Nationalist Movement
Chapter: 13
| THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY (PART – III) |
TEXTUAL QUESTIONS ANSWER
1. How did Mahatma Gandhi seek to Identify with the common people?
Ans: Mahatma Gandhi believed in simple living and high thinking.
He did the following to identify himself with the common people of India:
(i) He did not behave like a professional or an intellectual. Rather he mixed with thousands of peasants, workers and artisans.
(ii) He dressed himself like the common men. He also lived like them and spoke their language. He wore simple dhoti or loin-cloth. He did not like to stand apart from the common people. He liked to mix with them, sit and talk with them.
(iii) He worked on the Charkha (spinning wheel) everyday. He also encouraged other nationalists to do the same. In fact he favoured synthesis between mental and manual labour.
(iv) He did not believe in the traditional caste system.
(v) He often spoke in the mother-tongue.
2. How was Mahatma Gandhi perceived by the peasants?
Ans: (a) The peasants venerated Gandhiji referring to him as their “Mahatma”. They believed that he had miraculous powers.
(b) Stories abounded that those who opposed him suffered dire consequences. Rumours spread off how villagers who criticised Gandhiji found their houses falling apart and their crops failing.
(c) In some places peasants believed he had been sent by the king to redress the grievances of the farmers and has the power to overrule the local officials.
(d) In other places peasants believed that Gandhi’s power was superior to that of the English monarch and that with his arrival the British rulers would flee the district.
(e) Thus the popular perception of Gandhi was that of a saviour who would rescue them from high taxes, oppressive officials and restore dignity to and autonomy to their lives.
3. Why did the salt laws become an important issue of struggle?
Ans: (a) The salt laws gave the state a monopoly on the manufacture and sale of salt. This was thus one of most the most disliked British laws in British India.
(b) Salt was indispensable in any Indian household yet people could not make salt even for domestic use and had to buy it from shop at a higher price.
(c) The salt laws deprived the people of the benefits of valuable village industry. Moreover to prevent people from having access to natural salt, tons of salt were destroyed.
(d) Destroying the extra natural salt involved national expenditure and the salt tax itself was a heavy burden on the people.
(e) Thus the salt laws were deeply unpopular and making these laws his target, Gandhi sought to mobilise a wider discontent against British rule.
4. Why are newspapers an important source for the study of the national movement?
Ans: Contemporary newspapers are an important source for the study of national movement. If we want to know more about our freedom struggle, we must consult both English newspapers as well as newspapers in different Indian languages.
(i) The contemporary newspapers wrote about all the movements launched by Mahatma Gandhi.
(ii) They reported all the important activities, speeches and statements of Mahatma Gandhi.
(iii) They also presented views about what ordinary Indians thought of him.
However the newspapers must be read with care as the views expressed in them can be prejudiced.
5. Why was the charkha chosen as a symbol of nationalism?
Ans: Gandhiji used to work on the charkha every day. He made it a symbol of nationalism because of the following reasons:
(i) Charkha symbolised manual labour. Mahatma Gandhi always believed in the dignity of labour. He liked to work with his own hands. However he considered charkha as an exquisite piece of machinery.
(ii) Gandhiji opposed machines as they enslaved human-beings. He adopted charkha as he wanted to glorify the dignity of manual labour and not of the machines and technology.
(iii) Gandhiji believed that charkha could make a man self-reliant as it added to his income.
(iv) The act of spinning at charkha (spinning wheel) enabled Gandhiji to break the boundaries of traditional caste system.
In fact Gandhiji wanted to make charkha as ea symbol of nationalism. So he encouraged other nationalist leaders to spin at charkha for some time daily.
6. How was non-cooperation a form of protest?
Or
Explain the significance of Non- Cooperation Movement of 1920.
Ans: Non-cooperation as a form of protest:
(i) Gandhiji decided to start non- cooperation as a unique form of protest in freedom struggle against the imperial British rule. He hoped that by coupling non-cooperation with Khilafat, two major communities, Hindu and Muslim could collectively bring an end to colonial rule. This form was definitely unleased a serge of popular action that was altogether unprecedented in colonial India.
(ii) During Non- Cooperation Movement students stoped going to schools and colleges run by the British – Government. Lawyers refuse to attend court.
(iii) The working class went on strike in many towns and cities. According to official figure, there were 396 strikes in 1921 involving six lacks workers and loss of seven million work days.
(iv) The countryside was seething with discontent two. Hill tribes in northern Andhra violated by the forest laws. Farmers in Awadh did not pay taxes. Peasants in Kumaun refused to carry loads of colonial officials. These protest movements were sometimes carried out in defence of the local nationalist leadership.
Peasants, workers and others interpreted and acted upon the call to, “non-cooperate” with colonial rule in ways that best suited their interest, rather than conform to the dictates laid down from above.
Political importance: Popularity of the Congress and the movement increased among the masses. The non-cooperation movement certainly demonstrated that the Indian National Congress commanded the support and sympathy of vast sections of the Indian people. The spread of the movement was also nation-wide. It may be true that some areas were more active than others, but there were few that showed no sign of activity at all.
Participation of Muslims: Participation of the Muslims in the movement and the maintenance of communal harmony was also a great achievement. Muslim participation gave the movement a mass character. Success in several cases: According to R.C. Majumdar, the non-cooperation movement was an acid test for the people. The movement was a
success in several cases: (i) People became conscious of their political right.
(ii) People lost their trust in British administration.
(iii) They became confident of self-reliance.
(iv) The government failed to create fear in their mind.
(v) It was a training for self-rule.
The British Raj was shaken to its foundations for the first time ‘Non-Cooperation wrote Gandhi’s American biographer Louis Fischer, ‘became the name of an epoch in the life of India and of Gandhiji’. The violent incident of Chauri Chaura in February 1922 prompted Gandhi to call off the movement.
7. Why were the dialogues at the Round Table Conference inconclusive?
Ans: (i) The First Round Table Conference was held in November 1930. It did not yield any concrete result as no important Indian leader participated in it. So Mahatma Gandhi was released in January, 1931 and the Round Table Conference was held in February, 1931.
It was attended by Mahatma Gandhi. So it culminated in the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. Under this Pact, Mahatma Gandhi agreed to call off his Civil Disobedience Movement. The British agreed to release all the prisoners. They also agreed to allow the manufacture of salt along the sea-coast. Many leaders criticised this pact as it did not say anything about the complete independence of India.
(ii) The Second Round Table Conference was held in the later part of 1931 at London. Gandhiji attended it on behalf of the Congress. However his claim that Congress represented the whole of India was unacceptable to the Muslim League which claimed to represent the cause of all Muslims. The Princes also did not agree with Gandhi as they believed that the Congress had no stake in their territories. Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, a lawyer and thinker, also did not agree with Gandhiji. He states that congress did not represent the people belonging to lowest castes. So this conference remained inconclusive.
Unsuccessfulness or inconclusiveness of the Round Table Conferences: The Conferences in London were inconclusive, so Gandhiji returned to India and resumed civil disobedience. The new Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, was deeply unsympathetic to the Indian leaders. Due to unfairly attitude of the British Government, stubbornness of Muslim League and wrong attitude of princely states, rulers as well as of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Gandhiji could not success in his mission and he reached Bombay with empty hands.
8. How did Mahatma Gandhi turn the national movement into a mass movement?
Or
Explain how Gandhiji transformed Indian Nationalism by 1922.
Or
In what way did Mahatama Gandhi transform the nature of the national movement?
Ans: Before the entry of Mahatma Gandhi into Indian politics, the freedom struggle was just a nominal movement. Only resolutions were passed by the leaders and sent to the government. Besides the national movement remained confined to only limited areas. It did not engulf the whole country. A few areas of India were under the influence of revolutionaries. A few other areas were under the influence of the assertive nationalist. But after the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi, the national movement did not remain confined to a few leaders and led the participation of all the people. It became a mass movement because of the following reasons:
(i) Principles of Truth and Non-Violence: When Mahatma Gandhi entered the Indian politics, he adopted two cardinal principles of truth and non-violence. The truth meant an insistence on the righteous conduct and right path. Non-violence meant the government actions should be opposed peacefully. The people had seen that Mahatma Gandhi had sincerely helped the British during the First World War. He also exhorted the people to cooperate with the British Government but when British showed their true colours after the war was over and passed the Rowlatt Act to crush the Indians, Gandhiji gave a call for strike in the whole country. It was a non-violent step taken to vindicate the cause of truth. All the Indians whole-heartedly participated in this strike.
(ii) Satyagraha and Non-Cooperation Movement: Mahatma Gandhi had resorted to the path of Satyagraha for the first time against the white government in South Africa. He had compelled the white government to bow before him. When he launched Non-Cooperation Movement in India, Gandhiji adopted the policy of Satyagraha. He called upon the people not to cooperate with the British Government. All the people of the country plunged into this national movement against the British rule. The students stayed away from their classes in the government educational institutions. The lawyers boycotted the law-courts. The officials left their jobs and the common people boycotted foreign goods. The people of India belonging to all castes, classes, religions and professions, filled all the jails by courting their arrests. The British rule was shaken to its foundations by the e mammoth participation of the people in the Non- Cooperation Movement.
(iii) Breaking Salt Laws and Civil Disobedience Movement: Gandhi led his world-famous Dandi March on 12 March, 1930. A large number of people joined the March which started from Sabarmati Ashram, and culminated e at Dandi on the sea-shore where Gandhiji broke one of the most widely disliked laws in British jo India, i.e., the Salt Law. Gandhi also exhorted all the people to break this drastic law in their own regions. He also advised them not to pay any tax to the British Government. This method of protesting against the British Government pi deeply impressed the local and foreign press. As a result, there was a mass upsurge against the colonial rule.
(iv) Opposition to Injustice: Mahatma Gandhi always opposed injustice. He kept fasts to favour and protect the untouchables. He forced the British Government to bow before the might of the common people. All the great leaders bowed before the miraculous charm of Gandhiji. In fact, Gandhiji was such a leader whom everybody in the country liked to follow.
(v) Encouragement to Swadeshi: Gandhiji encouraged the people of India to adopt swadeshi things or goods in life. He himself worked on the Charkha daily. Under his magnetic influence, many people burnt the foreign goods which inculcated national spirit – among the people. They whole-heartedly – participated in the national movement to attain complete independence from the colonial rule.
9. Examine the different kinds of sources from which political career of Gandhiji and the history of the National Movement could be reconstructed?
Or
What do private letters and autopiographies tell us about an individual? How are these sources different from official accounts?
Ans: The private letters and autobiographies are always an important source of information about the political leaders. The letters written to relatives or intimate friends give us a glimpse of the private thoughts of the writer. These letters express an individual’s anger and pain, dismay and anxiety, hopes and frustrations. They bring out what is otherwise not openly expressed.
For example: the letters written by Nehru and Gandhiji throw a lot of light on their ideas.
In the same way, autobiographies also give an account about the views and perceptions of a leader or any other person. However an autobiography is a retrospective account of one’s journey oh this earth. It is often based on memory. So it must be read with care and caution. However, an autobiography is still an important source to know a person. If anybody writes an autobiography, he, infact, frames a picture of himself for the outside world. The autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi ‘My Experiment With Truth’ became quite popular due to its straight forwardness and veracity.
10. Find out about the route of the Dandi March. On a map of Gujarat plot the line of the march and mark the major towns and villages that it passed along the route.
Ans: Dandi March was started from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad (Gujarat). The route was from Ahmedabad to Baroda and Baroda to Surat. We have use with in Box 1, 2, 3, to indicate the Dandi expedition route.
