Class 12 History – Chapter 13
✳️ Mahatma Gandhi and National Movements (महात्मा गांधी और राष्ट्रीय आंदोलनों)
✨ Mahatma Gandhi (महात्मा गांधी)
🔹 Born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat.
🔹 Father: Karamchandra Gandhi, Mother: Putli Bai.
🔹 Childhood name: Manu. Married Kasturba at age 13.
🔹 Shy and introverted in childhood.
❇️ Gandhi and South Africa (1893–1914)
🔹 Gandhi went to South Africa in 1893 on invitation of Seth Abdullah to fight a legal case.
🔹 Witnessing racial discrimination (भेदभाव) against Indians, he resolved to fight injustice.
🔹 Opposed apartheid (जातिवाद) for 20 years and worked to liberate black people.
🔹 First used Satyagraha (सत्याग्रह) – non-violent protest (अहिंसात्मक विरोध).
🔹 Promoted religious harmony (धार्मिक सद्भाव) and opposed discrimination by upper castes.
💡 Note: South Africa shaped Gandhi into a Mahatma (महात्मा) – as per Chandran Devnessan.
❇️ Indigenous Movement (1905–07)
🔹 Swadeshi Movement (स्वदेशी आंदोलन) from 1905–1907.
🔹 Major Leaders:
- Bal Gangadhar Tilak (Maharashtra)
- Bipin Chandra Pal (Bengal)
- Lala Lajpat Rai (Punjab)🔹 Known collectively as Lal, Bal, Pal.🔹 Advocated violent (हिंसात्मक) approach against British.
❇️ Gandhi’s Return to India (1915)
🔹 Returned 9 January 1915, after Satyagraha experiments in South Africa.
💡 Note: January 9 is celebrated as Aapravasi Day (आप्रवासी दिवस).
🔹 Met leaders of Indian National Congress and studied politics.
🔹 Spiritual and political guidance from Gopal Krishna Gokhale (Guru: Mahadev Govind Ranade).
🔹 Traveled across India (1915–16) in third class to understand people's sufferings.
🔹 Witnessed ignorance, illiteracy (अशिक्षा), poverty (गरीबी), unemployment, untouchability (अछूतता).
❇️ Banaras Hindu University (BHU)
🔹 First public appearance in Feb 1916, opening ceremony of BHU.
🔹 Criticized Indian elite for neglecting farmers (किसान) and workers.
🔹 Emphasized self-governance (स्वशासन) is meaningless without empowering farmers.
🔹 In Dec 1916, Champaran farmers highlighted harsh treatment by British indigo growers.
❇️ Early Movements: Champaran, Ahmedabad, Kheda
✨ Champaran Peasant Movement (1917)
🔹 Gandhi established Sabarmati Ashram (साबरमती आश्रम) on 25 May 1915.
🔹 At the request of Babu Rajendra Prasad, traveled to Champaran, Bihar.
🔹 Farmers were forced to grow indigo on 3/20 of land, sold at fixed prices → Tinkathia system (तीनकाठिया तरीका).
🔹 Gandhi, Rajendra Prasad, Mazharul Haq, J.B. Kripalani, Mahadev Desai investigated farmers' conditions.
🔹 Result: 25% illegal money recovered from landlords.
💡 Titles given to Gandhi:
- Mahatma → Rabindranath Tagore
- Malang Baba (मालंग बाबा) → Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
✨ Kheda Satyagraha (1918)
🔹 Supported farmers in Kheda, Gujarat during crop failure & plague epidemic.
🔹 Gandhi forced British to waive rent (किराया माफ़) on 22 March 1918.
💡 First successful Satyagraha movement as per Hardyman.
✨ Ahmedabad Mill Mazdoor Movement (1918)
🔹 Dispute over plague bonus between workers & mill owners.
🔹 Workers demanded 50%, owners offered 20%.
🔹 Gandhi intervened → fast unto death (अनशन) → 35% bonus granted.
💡 Significance: Symbol of Gandhi's first fast unto death.
💡 Mill owner Ambalal Sarabhai & sister Anusuiya supported Gandhi.
❇️ Rowlatt Act (1919) (रौलट एक्ट)
🔹 Growing discontent (असंतोष) among Indians due to poverty (गरीबी), disease (बीमारी), bureaucratic repression (अधिकारियों द्वारा दमन) and rigid tax & recruitment policies led to militant revolutionary activities (क्रांतिकारी गतिविधियाँ).
🔹 In 1917, Rowlatt Committee under Judge Cijni Rowlett was appointed to curb revolutionary activities.
🔹 Based on its recommendations, two bills were introduced in Feb 1919 → one passed despite Indian opposition.
🔹 17 March 1919 → Bill passed → known as Rowlatt Act.
🔹 Allowed imprisonment without trial (बिना मुकदमे के जेल) → “law without lawyer, without appeal, without argument”.
💡 Motilal Nehru: “Neither appeal, nor lawyer, nor plea – only arrest.”
🔹 Direct assault on freedom (स्वतंत्रता) and proof of barbaric & autocratic (साहसिक और तानाशाही) British policies.
❇️ Satyagraha against Rowlatt Act (1919) (रौलट एक्ट के खिलाफ़ सत्याग्रह)
🔹 Gandhi called Rowlatt Act black law (काला कानून) → founded Satyagraha Sabha (सत्याग्रह सभा).
🔹 First phase: Volunteers formally challenged the law & were arrested (गिरफ्तार).
🔹 6 April 1919 → Nationwide strikes (हड़ताल) organized.
🔹 Gandhi banned from Punjab & Delhi due to minor violence.
🔹 9 April 1919 → Gandhi arrested → public outrage increased → taken to Bombay & released.
🔹 Prominent leaders involved: Jamna Lal Das, Dwarkadas, Shankar Lal Banker, Umar Somani, B.G. Harniman
❇️ Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (13 April 1919) (जलियांवाला बाग हत्याकांड)
🔹 13 April 1919 → Protest against Rowlatt Act at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar.
🔹 Ground enclosed (बंद) → unaware of martial law (सैन्य कानून).
🔹 General Dyer arrived → exits blocked → soldiers fired indiscriminately.
💀 Casualties: Official → 379, Actual → over 1000.
❇️ Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22) (असहयोग आंदोलन)
🔹 First mass movement (जन आंदोलन) led by Gandhi.
🔹 Brought enthusiasm (उत्साह) among people.
✨ Programs of the Movement:
- ❌ Boycott (बहिष्कार) of honorary/non-paid government positions
- ❌ Boycott of government & cooperative schools
- ❌ Boycott of 1919 Reform Act elections
- ❌ Boycott of courts
- ❌ Boycott of foreign goods
- ❌ Boycott of official & semi-official functions
- ❌ Refusal to work in Sainik College, Mazdoor (labor) etc.
- ❌ Stopped paying taxes (कर)
- ❌ Prohibited honey betel & other colonial symbols
✨ Constructive Programs (सकारात्मक पहल):
- 🏫 Establishment of schools & colleges
- 🏘️ Formation of Panchayats (ग्राम पंचायत)
- 🧵 Promotion of Swadeshi (स्वदेशी) & handloom industry
- 🚫 Abolition of untouchability (अछूतता)
- ✝️ Promotion of Hindu-Muslim unity (साम्प्रदायिक एकता)
✨ Mass Participation:
🔹 Gandhi emphasized non-violence (अहिंसा).
🔹 Thousands of students boycotted schools & colleges.
🔹 Lawyers like C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru stopped practicing.
🔹 Foreign clothes burnt 🔥, Khadi & Charkha widely promoted 🧵
🔹 Picketing at liquor shops 🍶
🔹 Elections boycotted → no Congress candidate stood.
💡 Significance: First major mass movement involving all provinces, classes, & castes.
❇️ Chora Chora Incident & Non-Cooperation Movement Postponed (1922)
🔹 5 Feb 1922 → Congress procession in Chora-Chora, Gorakhpur (UP) stopped by police.
🔹 Mob attacked police station (पुलिस थाना जलाया) → 1 SHO + 21 policemen killed.
🔹 Similar incidents in Mumbai & Madras deeply hurt Gandhiji.
🔹 12 Feb 1922 → Congress Working Committee suspended Non-Cooperation Movement (असहयोग आंदोलन).
❇️ Salt Satyagraha (1930) 🧂
🔹 1928 → Anti-Simon Commission Movement → Lala Lajpat Rai beaten, later died.
🔹 1929 → Congress Lahore Session → Nehru elected President → Purna Swaraj declared → 26 Jan 1930 celebrated as Independence Day.
✨ Dandi March
🔹 Gandhi announced March to break salt law (सत्याग्रह) → Monopoly on salt hated by Indians.
🔹 12 March 1930 → Gandhiji reached sea → made salt → criminal in eyes of law.
🔹 Parallel salt marches across India.
🔹 Supported by farmers, workers, lawyers, officials.
🔹 Actions: Lawyers boycotted courts ⚖️, farmers refused taxes 🌾, tribals broke forest laws 🌳, strikes in factories 🏭.
🔹 Govt arrested 60,000+ Indians including Gandhiji.
💡 Time Magazine: Salt March made British rulers “desperately worried”.
❇️ Lahore Session & Complete Independence (1929) 🇮🇳
🔹 Nehrureport rejected → Congress adopted Purna Swaraj.
🔹 31 Dec 1929 → Resolution passed at Ravi river, Lahore → pledge for complete independence.
🔹 26 Jan 1930 → symbolically celebrated as Independence Day.
❇️ Round Table Conferences
1️⃣ First Round Table Conference (12 Nov 1930 – 19 Jan 1931)
🔹 London, chaired by PM Ramsay Macdonald
🔹 89 delegates → solve constitutional problem
🔹 Congress did not participate → no decision made
🔹 Dr Ambedkar & Jinnah participated
2️⃣ Gandhi-Irwin Pact (5 March 1931) 🤝
🔹 British agreed:
- Release political prisoners (except violence cases) ⛓️
- Indians can make salt 🧂
- Picket liquor/foreign goods shops 🚫
- Reinstatement of resigned posts
- Return of seized property
🔹 Gandhiji agreed:
- Suspend Civil Disobedience Movement ✋
- Congress participates in 2nd RTC
- No boycott of British goods
- Drop inquiry demand on police excesses
💡 Significance: First agreement on equal terms between British & Indians
3️⃣ Second Round Table Conference (7 Sep – 1 Dec 1931)
🔹 Gandhiji, Ambedkar, Sarojini Naidu, Madan Mohan Malaviya attended
🔹 Gandhi → demanded complete independence
🔹 Other communal parties → demanded separate representation
🔹 Gandhi → returned disappointed → restarted Civil Disobedience Movement (Jan 1932 – May 1933)
❇️ Poona Pact (Communal Award) (1932) ✍️
🔹 British announced separate electorates for Harijans & minorities → Gandhi opposed → fast unto death
🔹 Agreement reached 26 Sep 1932 → Harijans included in Hindu electorate → named Poona Pact
❇️ Quit India Movement (1942) 🕊️
🔹 After Cripps Mission failure, Gandhi launched Quit India Movement (Bombay, Aug 1942)
🔹 Leaders arrested → youth attacked government offices nationwide
🔹 Massive mass movement → students/jail → Congress leaders imprisoned
🔹 Muslim League under Jinnah expanded influence in Punjab & Sindh
❇️ Towards Independence (1945–1947) 🇮🇳
🔹 Labour government, UK (1945) → committed to Indian independence
🔹 1946 elections → Congress → general seats, Muslim League → Muslim seats
🔹 Cabinet Mission → failed → federal plan collapsed
🔹 16 Aug 1946 → Direct Action Day → riots in Bengal, Bihar, Punjab
🔹 Feb 1947 → Lord Mountbatten → final talks → Independence & Partition announced
🔹 15 Aug 1947 → Power transferred to India
❇️ Mahatma Gandhi’s Last Heroic Day (1947–48) 🕯️
🔹 Observed 24-hour fast on Independence Day
🔹 Worked to heal communal rift → visited hospitals & refugee camps
🔹 Congress assured minority rights → democratic, secular India
🔹 30 Jan 1948 → Gandhi assassinated by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse
🔹 Death mourned across India & world 🌍 → tributes by Einstein, Orwell, Time Magazine, compared to Abraham Lincoln
❇️ Knowing Mahatma Gandhi 📚
🔹 Sources:
- Writings & speeches → public & political
- Private letters → personal thoughts
- Biographies → memory-based → interpret carefully
- Government records → biased → careful reading needed
- Newspapers → tracked movements & public sentiment 📰
💡 Gandhi’s history can be reconstructed from multiple perspectives, balancing public, private, official, and media sources.
