NCERT Class 8 History Chapter 11: The Making of the National Movement 1870՚s-1947 YouTube Lecture Handouts

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NCERT Class 8 History Chapter 11: Making of National Movement 1870՚s-1947

Nationalism Emerges

  • Britishers were exercising control on lives of Indian and India՚s resources – so need was to end this control
  • Political associations after 1850 depicted this clearly – especially those in 1870՚s and 1880՚s
  • Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (of or for all people) – goal of all people of India irrespective of region, community or class – with idea of Sovereign (act without interference)
  • Reasons for intensification of dissatisfaction from British rule
  • Arms Act, 1878 – Indians couldn՚t possess arms
  • Vernacular Press Act – silence those who were critical of government, confiscate newspaper asset if the content was objectionable
  • Ilbert Bill, 1883 – trial of British persons by Indian and equality b/w Indian and British judges (but was withdrawn as whites opposed) – racial attitude of Britishers

Indian National Congress

  • Established in 1885 with 72 delegates
  • Dadabhai Naoroji (businessman and publicist settled in London) , Pherozeshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji, W. C. Bonnerji, Surendranath Banerji, Romesh Chandra Dutt, S. Subramania Iyer
  • Mainly in Bombay and Calcutta
  • A. O. Hume – brought Indians from various regions
  • Naoroji wrote Poverty and Un-British Rule in India – criticism of economic impact of British rule

Nation in Making

  • 1st 20 years was moderate – wanted Indian voice in government
  • Legislative council to be more representative, more powers
  • Indians to be placed in high position in government – civil service exams in India and London
  • Indianisation of administration – as major jobs monopolized by whites – with aim to reduce drain of wealth
  • Separation of judiciary from executive
  • Repeal of Arms Act
  • Freedom of speech and expression
  • Declared British rule led to poverty and famines: increase in the land revenue had impoverished peasants and zamindars, and exports of grains to Europe had created food shortages
  • Reduction of revenue
  • Cut in military expenditure
  • More funds for irrigation
  • Resolution on salt tax, treatment of Indians abroad & sufferings of forest dwellers
  • Develop public awareness about unjustice of British rule
  • Published newspapers, articles and speeches

Freedom is Our Birth Right

  • By 1890՚s – question about political style of Congress
  • Lal Bal Pal (Bipin Chandra Pal, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai)
  • Radical objectives
  • Criticized moderates
  • Emphasized self-reliance and constructive work
  • Rely on one՚s own strength
  • Fight for swaraj
  • Tilak - Freedom is my birthright and I shall have it!
  • Kesari - Marathi newspaper edited by Tilak, became one of the strongest critics of British rule.

Partition of Bengal

  • In 1905 by Lord Curzon
  • Bengal was biggest province of British India and included Bihar and Odisha
  • Tied to British interests
  • Rather than removing the non-Bengali areas from the province, government separated East Bengal and merged it with Assam
  • British wanted to curtail influence of Bengali politicians and split Bengali people
  • Both moderates and extremists opposed it
  • Public meetings and demonstrations were made

Swadeshi Movement

  • Strongest in Bengal (also called as Vandemataram movement in Andhra Pradesh)
  • Opposed British rule
  • Encouraged self-help, swadeshi enterprise, national education and Indian languages
  • Boycott of British institutes and goods
  • Revolutionary violence started

All India Muslim League

  • Formed in Dacca in 1906
  • Supported partition of Bengal
  • Wanted separate electorates for Muslims in 1909
  • Seats in councils were reserved for Muslims

Congress Split in 1907

  • Moderates were opposed to boycott
  • They felt it involved force
  • Dominated by Moderates
  • Later two reunited in 1915
  • Lucknow Pact – b/w Congress and Muslim League was signed to work together for representative government

Growth of Mass Nationalism

  • Involved peasants, tribals, students, factory workers and women
  • WW-I: huge rise in defence expenditure which was imparted on individual income as taxes – led to price rise for common people but businessmen earned huge profits (demand for industrial goods like cloth, jute, iron rails) ; industries in India expanded, expansion of army (villages pressurized to supply soldiers to be sent abroad)
  • 1917 – Revolution in Russia inspired the local workers

Advent of Mahatma Gandhi

  • 1895 – Established Natal Congress to fight racial discrimination
  • Arrived in India from South Africa in 1915
  • Emerged as mass leader
  • Had contact with various types of Indians: Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Christians; Gujaratis, Tamils and north Indians; and upper-class merchants, lawyers and workers
  • 1st year he travelled throughout India to understand needs
  • Interventions in Champaran, Kheda and Ahmedabad
  • Came in contact with Rajendra Prasad & Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
  • 1918 – successful mill worker strike in Ahmedabad

Rowlatt Act

  • 1919 – satyagraha against Rowlatt Act (it curbed freedom of expression and strengthened police powers)
  • Criticized by Gandhi and Jinnah as devilish and 6th April as “day of humiliation and prayer” with hartals (strikes)
  • Satyagraha sabhas were set up – against British government but was restricted to cities
  • Jallianwala Bagh atrocities, inflicted by General Dyer in Amritsar on Baisakhi day (13 April) , were a part of this repression
  • Tagore renounced the knighthood (honor granted by British Crown for exceptional achievement)
  • Hindus and Muslims were united against the fight

Khilafat Agitation

  • 1920 – British imposed treaty on Turkish Sultan or Khalifa
  • Indian Muslims were keen that the Khalifa be allowed to retain control over Muslim sacred places in the erstwhile Ottoman Empire
  • Led by Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali - wished to initiate a full-fledged Non-Cooperation Movement
  • Was supported by Gandhiji
  • Congress to campaign against Jallianwala massacre, Khilafat wrongs and demand swaraj

Non-Cooperation Movement

  • Gained momentum in 1921 - 22
  • Motilal Nehru, C. R. Das, C. Rajagopalachari and Asaf Ali gave up their law practices
  • British titles were surrendered
  • Legislatures were boycotted
  • Public bonfire of foreign cloth (import reduced drastically)
  • In Kheda, Gujarat, Patidar peasants organised nonviolent campaigns against the high land revenue demand of the British.
  • In coastal Andhra and interior Tamil Nadu, liquor shops were picketed
  • In Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, tribals and poor peasants staged a number of “forest satyagrahas” , sometimes sending their cattle into forests without paying grazing fee.
  • Sindh, Muslim traders enthusiastic about Khilafat & same was in Bengal
  • Punjab - Akali agitation of the Sikhs sought to remove corrupt mahants (functionaries of Sikh Gurudwaras - supported by British)
  • Assam - tea garden labourers asked for “Gandhi Maharaj ki Jai” , demanded a big increase in their wages. Vaishnava song was substituted by “Gandhi Raja”

People՚s Mahatma

  • Considered messiah by some
  • Build class unity and not class conflict
  • Help in fight against zamindars
  • Peasants in Pratapgarh in United Provinces (UP) managed to stop illegal eviction of tenants

Happenings of 1922 - 29

  • Gandhiji called of Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922 when set of people put fire to police station in Chauri Chaura – 22 policemen died
  • Called for constructive works in rural areas
  • Chittaranjan Das (lawyer in East Bengal) and Motilal Nehru – party should fight elections to enter councils and influence govt. policies
  • Formation of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) & Communist Party of India
  • Bhagat Singh was also active during this period - It takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear. Inquilab Zindabad!
    • Founded Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) in 1928 at Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi. HSRA members assassinated Saunders, a police officer who had led a lathicharge that caused the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.
    • Along with his fellow nationalist B. K. Dutt, he threw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on 8 April 1929.
    • He was tried and executed at age of 23
  • 1927 – Simon Commission by Lord Simon to decide India՚s political future with no Indian representative – created outrage in India – “Simon Go back”
  • 1929 – Purna Swaraj (Complete Independence) under Jawaharlal Nehru and 26 Jan 1930 was observed as Independence Day

Dandi March

1930 – March to break salt law (state has monopoly over manufacture and sale of salt) as it was sinful to tax salt

240 miles from Sabarmati to the coastal town of Dandi

Sarojini Naidu (1st women president of INC) persuaded him to allow women to join the movement

Participation of rich and poor, peasants and tribals

Govt. tried to crus action against peaceful satyagrahis

GoI Act 1935 – brought provincial autonomy

1937 – Govt. announced elections to provincial legislatures (Congress govt. was formed in 7 of 11 provinces)

In 1939, WW-II broke out – Congress leaders were ready to support British against Hitler but wanted independence which was refused by British

Veer Lakhan Nayak (a legendary tribal leader who defied the British) was hanged.

Baji Mohammed, President of the Nabrangpur Congress in Orissa mobilized 20,000 people – participated in WW-II and Quit India Movement

Women in Freedom Struggle - Ambabai of Karnataka had been married at age 12. Widowed at 16, she picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops in Udipi. She was arrested, served a sentence and was rearrested. Between prison terms she made speeches, taught spinning, and organized prabhat pheris. Ambabai regarded these as the happiest days of her life because they gave it a new purpose and commitment.

In 1941 – Subhash Chnadra Bose founded INA (Indian National Army) – he left secretly from Calcutta to Singapore via Germany to raise fund for Azad Hind Fauj. In 1944, it entered India through Imphal and Kohima but campaign failed

Quit India Movement & Onwards

In August 1942

New movement in middle of WW-II

People moved with “Do or Die” but non-violently

Many leaders were jailed

By end of 1943, around 90,000 were arrested and 1,000 killed in firing

Muslim league was demanding separate state in NW and East India

Brought some tension b/w Hindus and Muslims

Provincial elections of 1937 – Muslims as minority

Talk b/w Muslims and League failed as League saw itself as spokesperson of India Muslims but Congress had a huge support from Muslims

Elections to provinces held again in 1946 – Congress performed in general Constituencies but League succeeded in Muslim seats

In March 1946 the British cabinet sent 3-member mission to Delhi to examine this demand and to suggest a suitable political framework for a free India – India must be united and must be a confederation with autonomy of Muslim majority areas (but could not get Muslim League to agree on specific details of proposal) – partition became inevitable now

After failure of Cabinet Misison – Muslim League decided for mass agitation to win Pakistan demand

16 August 1946 – announced as “Direct Action Day” – riots in Calcutta and by March 1947 to major parts of India

Joy of independence came with mixed pain and violence of Partition

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Badshah Khan) – Pashtun leader from NWFP & founder of Khudai Khidmatgars (non-violent movement amongst Pathans) – opposed partition & criticized Congress for agreeing for 1947 division

Maulana Azad (born in Mecca) – Bengali father and Arab mother – scholar of Islam -exponent of the notion of wahadat-i-deen, the essential oneness of all religions – Hindu Muslim unity and opposed Jinnah՚s two-nation theory

C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) – member of Interim Govt. in 1946 & as free India՚s first Indian Governor General – Salt Satyagarha in south

Sardar Patel – Born in Karamsad, Gujarat – from peasant-proprietor family – freedom movement and president of INC in 1931

Mohammad Ali Jinnah – Promoter of Hindu-Muslim unity till 1920 – main role in Lucknow Pact but recognized Muslim league after 1934 & major spokesperson for demand for Pakistan

Jawaharlal Nehru - leading architect of the national movement and of free India՚s economy and polity.

Nationalism in Africa

Colonial rule in Africa was dictatorial

Only “Chiefs” were allowed to rule on behalf of the foreign powers

Laws affecting Africans were created in all-white legislatures

Africans had no decision-making powers or representation, not until after WW-II at least.

1957 – Ghana (Gold Coast) was 1st Sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence – movement led by Kwame Nkrumah՚s Convention People՚s Party

Manishika

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