EMERGENCE OF GANDHI
The emergence of Gandhi was a watershed moment in the history of Indian nationalism. Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915. During his early years, he spent his time at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad , which was relatively unknown to the general public. In taking his political stance, he sought advice from Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Gokhale advised Gandhi to first thoroughly research the socio- political situation in the country and then act accordingly. However, Gandhi quickly rose to prominence in the political arena as a result of his capable leadership in a number of local conflicts.
Early Career
On October 2, 1869, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, Gujarat's princely state of Kathiawar. His father was a state diwan (minister).
After studying law in England, Gandhi traveled to South Africa in 1893 in connection with a case involving his client, Dada Abdullah.
In South Africa, he witnessed the ugly face of white racism, as well as the humiliation and contempt, showed to Asians who had come to South Africa as laborers.
He chose to remain in South Africa in order to organize the Indian workers and enable them to fight for their rights.
Gandhi spent 20 years of his life (1893 - 1914) in South Africa working as an attorney and a public worker. There he developed the idea of Satyagraha and used it against the Asiatic Registration Law. It also resulted in the first jail sentence in Mahatma Gandhi's life.
Although it couldn't stop him from evolving into one of the most impactful and respected leaders in South Africa.
He remained there until 1914 when he returned to India.
Gandhi’s Experiment with truth in South Africa
The Indians in South Africa were divided into three groups:
indentured Indian laborers, primarily from South India, who had migrated to South Africa after 1890 to work on sugar plantations;
merchants—mostly Meman Muslims who had followed the laborers; and
ex-indentured laborers who had settled down with their children in South Africa after their contracts expired.
These Indians were mostly illiterate and spoke little or no English. They accepted racial discrimination as a normal part of life.
These Indian immigrants had to deal with a slew of handicaps.
They were not allowed to vote.
They could only live in designated areas that were unsanitary and congested.
Asians and Africans in some colonies were unable to leave their homes after dark and nor were they allowed using public footpaths.
Phases of Struggle
Moderate Phase of Struggle (1894-1906)
During this period, Gandhi relied on petitions and memorials to South African and British authorities. He hoped that once the authorities were made aware of the plight of Indians, they would take genuine steps to address their grievances, as Indians were, after all, British subjects.
To unite various sections of Indians, he founded the Natal Indian Congress and launched the newspaper Indian Opinion.
Phase of Passive Resistance or Satyagraha (1906-1914)
The second phase, which began in 1906, was distinguished by Gandhi's use of the method of passive resistance or civil disobedience known as satyagraha.
After a series of negotiations involving Gandhi, Lord Hardinge, C.F. Andrews, and General Smuts, an agreement was reached.
The South African government conceded the major Indian demands relating to the poll tax, registration certificates, and marriages solemnized according to Indian rites, and promised to treat the issue of Indian immigration sympathetically.
Satyagraha | Description |
Satyagraha against Registration Certificates (1906) | - In South Africa, new legislation requires Indians to carry registration certificates with their fingerprints at all times.
- The Indians, led by Gandhi, decided not to submit to this discriminatory measure.
- Gandhi established the Passive Resistance Association to carry out a campaign of defying the law and suffering the consequences of such defiance.
- Thus, was born satyagraha, or devotion to truth, the technique of resisting opponents without resorting to violence.
- Gandhi and others who refused to register were imprisoned by the government.
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Campaign against restrictions on Indian migration | - The previous campaign was expanded to include opposition to new legislation restricting Indian migration.
- The Indians defied the law by crossing from one province to the next and refusing to produce licenses.
- Many of these Native Americans were imprisoned.
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Campaign against Poll Tax and Invalidation of Indian Marriages | - All ex-indentured Indians were subjected to a three-pound poll tax.
- The demand for the abolition of the poll tax broadened the campaign's base.
- Then, in response to a Supreme Court order that invalidated all marriages not conducted according to Christian rites and registered by the registrar of marriages, Indians and others who were not Christians were outraged.
- By extension, Hindu, Muslim, and Parsi marriages were illegal, and children born from such unions were illegitimate.
- The Indians saw this decision as an insult to women's honor, and many women were drawn into the movement as a result of this humiliation.
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Protest against Transvaal Immigration Act | - Indians illegally migrated from Natal to Transvaal in protest of the Transvaal Immigration Act.
- These Indians were imprisoned by the government.
- Miners and plantation workers were struck by lightning.
- Gokhale toured the entire country of India, rallying public support for Indians in South Africa.
- Even the viceroy, Lord Hardinge, condemned the repression and demanded an impartial investigation.
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GANDHI’S EXPERIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Gandhi discovered that the masses have an enormous capacity to participate in and sacrifice for a cause that moves them.
Under his leadership, he was able to bring together Indians of various religions and classes, as well as men and women.
He also realized that leaders must sometimes make decisions that are unpopular with their ardent supporters. He was able to develop his own leadership and political style, as well as new techniques of struggle on a small scale, unhindered by the opposition of competing political currents.
Gandhi’s Technique of Satyagraha
During his time in South Africa, Gandhi developed the Satyagraha technique. It was founded on the truth and nonviolence. He combined elements of Indian tradition with the Christian requirement of turning the other cheek and Tolstoy's philosophy, which stated that nonviolent resistance was the best way to combat evil. Its fundamental tenets were as follows:
A satyagrahi was not to submit to what he saw as wrong, but rather to be truthful, nonviolent, and fearless. A satyagrahi works on the principles of boycott and withdrawal of cooperation.
Satyagraha tactics include refusing to pay taxes and declining honors and positions of authority. In his fight against the wrongdoer, a satyagrahi must be willing to suffer. This suffering was to be a part of his love for truth.
Even while fighting the wrongdoer, a true satyagrahi would have no ill will toward the wrongdoer; hatred would be alien to his nature.
A true satyagrahi would never bow down to evil, no matter what the consequences.
Satyagraha was only for the brave and strong; it was not for the weak and cowardly. Cowardice was even preferred to violence.
Thought and practice were never to be separated. To put it another way, the ends could not justify the means.
GANDHI IN INDIA
In January 1915, Gandhi returned to India. In South Africa, his efforts were well known not only among the educated but also among the masses.
He resolved to spend the next year touring the country, observing the people's plight first hand. He also resolved not to take a stance on any political issue for at least a year.
In terms of the political currents that existed in India at the time, he was convinced of the limitations of moderate politics and was also opposed to the Home Rule agitation that was gaining popularity at the time. He believed that while Britain was at war, it was not the best time to campaign for Home Rule.
He was convinced that the only method capable of achieving nationalist goals was non-violent satyagraha. He also stated that he would not join any political organization unless it shared his commitment to nonviolent satyagraha.
Gandhi was involved in three struggles in 1917 and 1918, in Champaran, Ahmedabad, and Kheda, before launching the Rowlatt Satyagraha.
BEGINNING OF THE GANDHIAN MOVEMENTS
Gandhian era of national struggle began in 1919 and lasted until India gained independence from British rule in 1947. The early Gandhian movements' success, such as Champaran Satyagraha (1917),Ahmedabad Mill Satyagraha (1918), and Kheda Satyagraha (1918), paved the way for Gandhiji's meteoric rise. Gandhi emerged as a leader during the freedom struggle.
About Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who used nonviolent resistance to lead India's successful campaign for independence from British rule, and to later inspire movements for civil rights and freedom around the world.
The honorific Mahatma, which was first applied to him in South Africa in 1914, is now used all over the world.
When Gandhi became president of the Indian National Congress in 1921, he led nationwide campaigns to alleviate poverty, expand women's rights, foster religious and ethnic harmony, abolish untouchability, and, most importantly, achieve swaraj, or self-rule.
Gandhi adopted the short dhoti made of hand-spun yarn as a symbol of identification with India's rural poor. He began to live in a self-sufficient residential community and to fast for extended periods of time as a form of introspection and political protest.
Gandhi popularized anti-colonial nationalism among ordinary Indians by leading them in the 400-kilometer Dandi Salt March in 1930, which challenged the British-imposed salt tax, and by calling for the British to leave India in 1942.
He was imprisoned numerous times and for a long period of time in both South Africa and India.
Rise of Mahatma Gandhi
The emergence of Mahatma Gandhi as the supreme leader of the national movement between 1919 and 1920 marked the beginning of a new era in India's struggle against colonial and exploitative British rule. The Gandhian era of national struggle began in 1919 and lasted until India gained independence from British rule in 1947.
The early Gandhian movements' success, such as Champaran Satyagraha (1917), Ahmedabad Mill Satyagraha (1918), and Kheda Satyagraha (1918), persuaded the masses that only the Gandhi method could defeat British rule.
The situation in India in 1919-20 was extremely volatile due to a combination of factors such as a leadership vacuum, failure of moderate and extremist policies, and the Jalliawala Bagh massacre, which pushed Gandhiji to the forefront of the Indian national freedom struggle.
The typical character of the Gandhian movement, as well as the success of the South African experiment, had also played a significant role in his ascension to the position of a supreme national leader.
Gandhiji lived like most ordinary Indians and spoke commoners' language. Gandhiji fought for commoners' issues, and as a result, every section of Indian society developed a strong faith in Gandhian leadership. During the years 1919-20, he became a symbol of hope and inspiration for the common people, leading to his ascension to the position of an undisputed supreme national leader.
Nature of Gandhian Movements
The Gandhian movement was a true mass movement, similar to moderate and extremist movements. He was adamant that no struggle against British rule would succeed unless the masses joined in.
It was nonviolent in nature, egalitarian in outlook, secular and progressive in nature, strongly anti-colonial in appearance, and distinguished by the use of both constitutional and extra-constitutional methods.
Gandhi's movement was a pan-India movement because it reached millions of Indians and was easily embraced by all segments of Indian society.
Villagers had begun to participate in the national movement, which was no longer limited to towns and cities.
Under Gandhiji's leadership, peasants, workers, women, students, and the business class had joined the nationalist struggle.
Gandhiji defined the goal of Swaraj for the first time at the Nagpur session of Congress in December 1920.
In Gandhiji's leadership, the Congress adopted the goal of 'Purna Swaraj' in order to strengthen the freedom movement on a large scale.
The Gandhian movement was fundamentally a Satyagraha, or "search for truth." The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was Gandhiji's first Satyagraha movement.
Gandhiji was always a staunch supporter of the truth, regardless of the consequences.
He believed that it was humanity's responsibility to cooperate with good and avoid cooperation with evil. He saw British rule as a bad thing, which is why he opposed it.
Because Gandhiji always emphasized using the right methods to achieve the right goals, the Gandhian movement was fundamentally an ethical and moral struggle. He never took advantage of anyone's weakness. Furthermore, it was distinguished by a transition between active and passive phases. During the active phase, Mahatma Gandhi led a mass agitation, and during the passive phase, he oversaw a village reconstruction program.
It was centered on several themes, including the promotion of Hindu-Muslim unity, the abolition of untouchability, the promotion of cottage industry, the upliftment of women and lower castes, the prohibition of liquor alcohol, and the spread of vocational education.
The Gandhian movement also made extensive use of STS (Struggle-Truce-Struggle) and PCP (Pressure- Compromise-Pressure) strategies.
It was extremely successful because it was only due to the pressure exerted by the Gandhian movement that the British were forced to leave India in 1947.
Significance
The Gandhian movement made a significant contribution to the success of India's struggle against British rule, but it should be noted that the Gandhian movement was not without limitations. Subhash Chandra Bose called the sudden withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement in February 1922, following the Chauri-Chaura incident, a "national calamity."
The Non-Cooperation Movement was an important stage in India's struggle for independence from British rule.
From August 1920 to February 1922, this movement was active. It was launched from the Khilafat platform, led by Mahatma Gandhi, and was backed by the Indian National Congress.
The Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) was suspended as an example of this. It was the second great mass movement, launched on March 12, 1930, by Congress under Gandhiji's leadership.
Gandhiji suspended the CDM on March 5, 1931, through a pact signed with Lord Irwin.
It created a disillusioned atmosphere in the national struggle because Gandhiji completely failed to take all of the leaders into confidence when making decisions.
MAHATMA GANDHI’S EARLY MOVEMENTS
1. Champaran Satyagraha (1917)
Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was the first civil disobedience movement of India. Champaran district is a historic region in Bihar, India, that is now divided into the East Champaran district and the West Champaran district. Farmers in this region revolted against the British in 1914 and 1916 over the conditions imposed on indigo cultivation. Earlier, similar conditions existed in Bengal, but as a result of a major uprising in 1859-61, the peasants there won their freedom from the indigo planters.
Background
Champaran is a district in the state of Bihar where tens of thousands of landless serfs, indentured laborers, and poor farmers were forced to grow indigo and other cash crops instead of food crops. The European planters had forced the peasants to grow indigo on 3/20 of the total land area (called tinkathia system).
When German synthetic dyes replaced indigo at the end of the nineteenth century, European planters demanded high rents and illegal dues from the peasants in order to maximize their profits before the peasants could switch to other crops.
Furthermore, the peasants were forced to sell their produce at European-determined prices.
These items were purchased from farmers at a very low cost.
They were oppressed by the landlords' brutal militias and were given negligible compensation, leaving them in extreme poverty.
Even though they were in the grip of a devastating famine, the British government imposed a heavy tax on them and insisted on raising the rate.
Without food and money, the situation became increasingly unbearable, and peasants in Champaran revolted against the government in indigo plant cultivation in 1914 (at Pipra) and 1916 (Turkaulia).
Features
Gandhi was asked by Rajkumar Shukla, a local, to investigate the problems of farmers in the context of indigo planters in Champaran, Bihar.
When Gandhi arrived in Champaran, accompanied by Rajendra Prasad, Mazharul- Haq, Mahadev Desai, Narhari Parekh, and J.B. Kripalani, the authorities ordered him to leave immediately.
Gandhi defied the order and chose to face the consequences. This method of passive resistance or civil disobedience in the face of an unjust order was novel at the time.
Finally, the authorities relented and allowed Gandhi to conduct an investigation.
Gandhi was able to persuade the authorities to abolish the tinkathia system and compensate the peasants for the illegal dues extracted from them.
As a compromise with the planters, he agreed to compensate them for only 25% of the money taken. Within a decade, the planters had abandoned the area. Gandhi had won India's first battle of civil disobedience.
Brajkishore Prasad, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Ramnavmi Prasad, and Shambhusharan Varma were also prominent leaders associated with the Champaran Satyagraha.
2. Kheda Satyagraha (1918)
Kheda Satyagraha of 1918 is known to be the first non-cooperation movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. This satyagraha was centred on the peasant-Patidar community of Kheda, who refused to agree to a 23 percent tax hike imposed on them despite a disastrous crop failure and outbreak of plague and cholera. With the help of stalwarts such as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Gandhiji's team members such as Indulal Yagnik, Shankarlal Banker, and Mahadev Desai, among others, travelled across the countryside raising awareness about farmers' rights.
Background
Farmers in Gujarat's Kheda district were in distress due to crop failure.
The government refused to remit land revenue and insisted on collecting it in full.
Mahatma Gandhi advised the peasants to withhold payment of revenue until their demand for its remission was met as part of the experiment.
When it was discovered that the government had issued instructions that revenue be recovered only from those peasants who could afford to pay, the struggle was called off.
During the Kheda movement, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel became a follower of Gandhiji.
Features
Crops in Gujarat's Kheda district failed due to drought in 1918.
Farmers were entitled to remission under the Revenue Code if the yield was less than one-fourth of the normal produce.
The Gujarat Sabha, comprised of peasants, petitioned the province's highest governing authorities, requesting that the revenue assessment for 1919 be suspended.
The government, on the other hand, remained steadfast and stated that if the taxes were not paid, the farmers' property would be seized.
Gandhi requested that the farmers not pay the taxes. Gandhi, on the other hand, was primarily the spiritual leader of the struggle.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and a group of other devoted Gandhians, including Narahari Parikh, Mohanlal Pandya, and Ravi Shankar Vyas, went around the villages, organising the villagers and telling them what to do, and providing the necessary political leadership.
Patel and his colleagues organised the tax revolt, which was supported by Kheda's various ethnic and caste communities.
The revolt was notable for its adherence to discipline and unity.
Even when the government seized the farmers' personal property, land, and livelihood for non-payment of taxes, the vast majority of Kheda's farmers did not desert Sardar Patel.
Gujaratis in other parts of the state who sympathised with the cause of the revolt assisted by sheltering the protesting peasants' relatives and property.
Those Indians who attempted to purchase the confiscated lands were socially shunned.
Finally, the government attempted to reach an agreement with the farmers. It agreed to suspend the tax for the current year and the following year, to reduce the rate increase, and to return all confiscated property.
3. Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918)
Ahmedabad Mill Strike of 1918 is a strike by the workers in Ahmedabad's textile mills who fought for economic justice after the mill owners discontinued their plague bonuses. Ahmedabad Mill Strike is considered the first hunger strike led by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi intervened in this dispute between Ahmedabad workers and millowners. To force a compromise, he embarked on a death-defying fast. Additionally, he supported the Gujarati peasants of Khaira in their fight against the collection of land revenue following the failure of their crops. At this time, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel quit his lucrative legal profession to support Gandhi.
Background
In the dispute between Ahmedabad Mill owners and workers, the mill owners desired to take the bonus. Workers demanded a 50% wage increase in order to cope with wartime inflation (which doubled the prices of food grains, cloth, and other necessities) brought on by Britain's involvement in World War I. The mill owners were only willing to offer a 20% wage increase. The employees went on strike. The mill owners' relations with the workers deteriorated, with the striking workers being arbitrarily dismissed and the mill owners deciding to bring in weavers from Bombay.
The mill workers turned to Anusuya Sarabhai for assistance in their fight for justice.
In March 1918, Gandhi intervened in a dispute between Ahmedabad cotton mill owners and workers over the cessation of the plague bonus.
Features
Anusuya Sarabhai, a social worker and the sister of Ambalal Sarabhai, one of the mill owners andpresident of the Ahmedabad Mill Owners Association (founded in 1891 to develop the textile industry inAhmedabad), was asked for assistance in fighting for justice.
Anusuya Behn approached Gandhi, whom the mill owners and workers respected, and asked him tointervene and help resolve the impasse between the workers and the employers.
Despite the fact that Gandhi was Ambalal's friend, he took up the workers' cause.
Gandhi called on workers to go on strike and demand a 35% rise in wages rather than a 50% increase.While on strike, Gandhi advised the workers to remain nonviolent. When negotiations with mill ownersfailed, he embarked on his first fast unto death in order to strengthen the workers' resolve.
However, the fast had the effect of putting pressure on the mill owners, who eventually agreed to refer thematter to a tribunal.
The strike was called off. In the end, the tribunal awarded the workers a 35% wage increase.
These encounters brought Gandhi into close contact with the masses, whose interests he actively promotedthroughout his life. In fact, he was the first Indian nationalist leader to associate his life and way of life withthe lives of ordinary people. Over time, he came to represent poor India, nationalist India, and rebelliousIndia