NCERT 8 HISTORY CHAPTER 9

9.The Making of the National Movement: 1870s - 1947

• Important Associations such as the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha(Sarva - all+ janik - of the people), the Indian Association, the Madras Mahajan Sabha, the Bombay Presidency Association, the Indian National Congress sparked the National Movement
• In 1878, the Arms Act (disallowing Indians from possesing arms), the Vernacular Press Act (silenced the critics of government) and the amendment of Illbert bill in 1884 (a jury of 50% Europeans required for the trial of Europeans by Indians) enraged the Indians
• The Indian National Congress was established in 1885
• Important leaders were Dadabhai Naroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Baddrudin Tyabji, W.C. Bonnerji, Surendranath Banerji, Romesh Chandra Dutt and S.Subramania Iyer
• In the beginning, the Congress was "moderate" in its objectives and methods (Prayer, Petition and Protest)
• It demanded the legislative council to be made more Indian representative, Indianisation of higher administrative posts, the separation of the judiciary from the executive, the repeal of the Arms Act and the Vernacular Press Act
• It also raised the reduction of revenue, cut in military expenditure and more funds for irrigation
• Then Bepin Chandra Pal, Bal Gangdhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai criticised the Moderates for their "Politics of Prayers"
• Tilak raised the slogan, "Freedom is my birthright and I shall have it"
• In 1905, Viceroy Curzon divided Bengal into Western Bengal (Bihar, Orissa with capital Calcutta) and Eastern Bengal (Assam with capital Dacca)
• They gave the reason for the split as the administrative convenience
• But their main motives were to split the Bengali people on the basis of language and religion
• Both the Moderates and the Radicals opposed it, public meetings and demonstrations were organised to be known as Swadeshi Movement in Bengal, also echoed in deltaic Andhra as Vandemantaram Movement
• All India Muslim League at Dacca in 1906, supported the Bengal Partition and demanded separate electorates for Muslims
• The congress split in 1907, when Moderate- Extremist differences came to the fore
• Then in 1915, the Congress and the Muslim League reunited to sign the historic Lucknow Pact and decided to work together
• World War I altered the economic and the political situation in India
• Russian revolution in 1917, inspired the Indian nationalists
• Mahatma Gandhi, arrived in India in 1915, led the country in non violent marches in Champaran, Kheda and in Ahmedabad mill strike
• Gandhiji gave a call against the Rowlatt Act ( the Act curbed the freedom of expression)
• The Rowlatt Satyagraha, the first all-India struggle united all the people, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by General Dyer in Amristar was part of this repression
• The British imposed a harsh treaty on the Turkish Sultan which led to Khilafat agitation and the Non cooperation movement
• Students left govt institutions, lawyers gave up their practices, the British titles surrendered and legislatures boycotted
• People resisted the British rule non violently
• Patidar peasants organised non-violent campaigns, liquor shops picketed and the peasants organised  Forest Satyagrahas 
• The Akali agitations to remove corrupt mahants, labourers raised in plantations for increased wages and peasants managed to stop illegal eviction of tenants in Uttar Pradesh
• Non-Co-operation Movement was called off with a violent movement (peasants set fire to a police station, 22 policemen killed in Chauri Chaura)
• Two developments in 1920s were the formation of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu organisation and the Communist Party of India
• In 1927, Simon Commission (no Indian representation to decide India's political future) met with demonstrations "Simon Go Back"
• Revolutionary nationalists founded the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) in 1928 
• They assassinated a police officer and threw a bomb in Central Legislative Assembly, not to kill but "to make the deaf hear"
• Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were executed in 1931  
• The Congress demanded the complete independence (Purna Swaraj) then on 26 January 1930 was observed as "Independence day" all over the country
• The Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930 was launched with a march to break the salt law
• Gandhiji and his followers marched for 240 miles from Sabarmati to Dandi in Gujarat
• As a result of all these struggles, the Government of India Act of 1935 gave provincial autonomy and announced elections to the provincial legislatures in 1937
• Quit India Movement initiated in 1942 (the British must quit India immediately), but the British followed severe repression
• The history of tension between some Hindu and Muslim groups in the 1920s and 1930s led to the demand of Independent states for Muslims in 1940
• In 1946, the British sent a three member Cabinet Mission to examine the demand and to suggest a political framework for free India
• When the mission failed, the League decided for mass agitation "Direct Action Day" riots broke out and violence spread across the country
• Partition became inevitable and the joy of India's independence came mixed with the pain and violence of partition