India’s long road to freedom: early resistance, Swadeshi, the Moderates and Nationalists, Gandhi’s movements, the Simon Commission, Quit India, the INA and 1947.
Key ideas
Moderates sought gradual reform through dialogue; Nationalists wanted Swaraj and used Swadeshi and boycott.
Swadeshi meant using goods made in India; boycott meant refusing foreign goods, schools and courts.
Satyagraha was Gandhi’s method of non-violent resistance based on truth.
His first satyagraha in India was at Champaran in 1917, for indigo farmers.
The Rowlatt Act of 1919 allowed detention without trial and was widely opposed.
The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920) was called off after Chauri Chaura; the Salt March to Dandi began the Civil Disobedience Movement.
The Simon Commission was opposed because it had no Indian member.
After Independence in 1947, over 560 princely states joined India, a task led by Sardar Patel.
Remember
Lal-Bal-Pal
Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal
Home Rule Movement
1916 (Tilak and Annie Besant)
Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar
13 April 1919
Non-Cooperation Movement
1920
Purna Swaraj resolution
Lahore, 1929
Quit India (“Do or Die”)
1942
INA and Azad Hind
led by Subhas Chandra Bose
Watch out
Mixing up the movements: the Salt March began Civil Disobedience, not Non-Cooperation.
Mixing up the order: Non-Cooperation (1920), then Purna Swaraj (1929), then Quit India (1942).
Mixing up Swadeshi (using Indian goods) and boycott (refusing foreign ones).
Worked example
The Non-Cooperation Movement was launched in 1920 and the Quit India Movement began in 1942. (a) How many years apart were these? (b) How many years before 2012 did Quit India begin?