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A People Reject Their Rulers

A People Reject Their Rulers

Following the defeat of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the First World War there was concern among Muslims everywhere for the safety of the holy places of Islam and the future of the Sultan who was also a religious head (Caliph or khalifa). The British at first gave assurances that the caliphate would be protected but later reneged on their promise. Muslims in India, led by the Ali brothers, Mohammad and Shaukat, launched an agitation to arouse world opinion against the harsh treatment of the Caliph and when they asked Gandhiji for support Gandhiji espoused their cause.
Gandhiji had always maintained that Hindus and Muslims should live in friendship and help each other. He took the view that if the Muslims were agitated about the plight of the caliphate, Hindus should not remain mute spectators. They and the whole country should take up the question of the future of the caliphate and express solidarity with their Muslim brethren. To this end he launched the non-co-operation movement. The Congress endorsed the call for non-co-operation with the government, at its Nagpur session in 1920 and declared 'Swaraj' as its goal.
What did 'Swaraj' mean?
"Self rule within the empire if possible," explained Gandhi," or outside it, if necessary."
Thus Gandhi united the whole country in the demand for Swaraj. Hindus and Muslims jointly and wholeheartedly participated in the non-violent movement.
Non-co-operation meant boycotting everything that was British — goods, educational institutions, legislatures, law-courts, jobs and honours. It meant using home-spun khadi, attending national schools, settling disputes out of court, generating jobs outside the government and, ultimately, refraining from paying taxes. Simply put, it meant that Indians would cease to recognize the British as their rulers and would behave like free people.
The positive outcome of the non-co-operation movement was self-reliance.
Responding to Gandhi's call, students walked out of schools and colleges run by the government and enrolled in educational institutions run by patriotic non-governmental bodies. 800 such institutions had been started in various parts of the country. In Bengal, the managements of hundreds of schools and some colleges were pressurised by their students to disassociate the school or college from government institutions.
Subhas Chandra Bose became principal of the National College in Calcutta.


Thousands of lawyers joined in the boycott of British courts. Among them were eminent lawyers like Chittaranjan Das, Motilal Nehru, his son, Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Vallabhbhai Patel, Saiffuddin Kitchlew, Asaf Ali and T. Prakasam — all of whom gave up lucrative practices.
Volunteers went from house to house to collect clothes made from foreign cloth. The clothes were burnt in the presence of the people of the locality in huge bonfires.
As freedom in the true sense meant breaking "shackles of social bondage of every kind," a campaign was launched to persuade people to give up the practice of untouchability.
A temperance movement was formed to free people from the "demon of drink". Volunteers stood at the entrances of liquor shops especially those selling foreign liquor to discourage patronage.
In Bengal when the government banned Congress volunteers from selling khadi, Chittaranjan Das sent his son to sell khadi and court arrest. On the following day, his wife, Basanti Devi, accompanied by two other women went out to sell khadi. When the police took her into custody, thousands of people poured into the streets and courted arrest. Imprisonment became a badge of honour and the jails in the country could not accomodate the great number of prisoners.
"We must widen the prison gates," Gandhi had said, "and we must enter them as a bridegroom enters the bride's chamber. Freedom is to be wooed only inside prison walls and sometimes on the gallows, never in the council chambers, courts or school rooms."

Towards Swaraj

Lokmanya Tilak died in the early hours of 1st August 1920 and it was on that very day that Gandhi launched the Non-co-operation Movement. Tilak had declared "Swaraj is my birthright..." The mass participation in the non-co-operation movement showed that a great many of his countrymen shared his views and were prepared to make any sacrifice to claim their birthright.

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