The revolt of 1857.

On 10th Mat 1857, there arose in Meerut the first war of independence of the
Indians which was given the name of a revolt or a mutiny by the britishers. The
Indians all over the country were dissatisfied by the following policies of the british
namely the Doctrine of Lapse and the Subsidiary alliance. According to the first
policy any ruler who died without a male heir could not retain his territory and it
would be passed on to the british. The Rani of Jhansi lost a four month old male
child and as a result the kingdom was taken over by the british after her husbands
death.
Under the subsidiary alliance, the weak rulers had to maintain an army and horses
for the british in return for the protection given by the british. All this infuriated the
rulers of northern India.
The actual revolt was planned for 31st March 1857 but somehow it could not get
underway because of the roti incident. In many barracks of the britishers rotis were
circulated among the soldiers which contained small slips of papers that accused
the british of hurting the sentiments of the hindus and the muslims.
In all this confusion on 10th May 1857, at Barrackpur, near Meerut an incident took
place. Word went around that the cartridges that were to be used were covered with
the paper, semared with cows and pigs fat and had to be bitten off before using
the cartridge. This went totally against the religious sentiments of the hindus and
the muslims and under the leadership of Mangal Pandey, they refused to bite off
that paper and a revolt started.
The revolt soon spread all over northern India . Rani Lakshmi Bai fought the british
forces at Jhansi, she was joined by Nana sahib and his general Tantia Tope from
Kanpur. Bakht Khan led the forces at Delhi and Bahadurshah II was made the
Mughal ruler at Delhi. Kanwar singh led the movement in Bihar. In Bundelkhand and
Rohilkhand many uprising took place. For some time the revolt was successful.
FAILURE OF THE REVOLT.
Before the end of 1858, the revolt had been crushed. Most of the revolutionary
leaders were either killed, captured or had to go into exile. Since it failed it is called
a revolt and the reasons for failure are as under:
1,
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Lack of proper communication and transportation.

Absence of the support of the middle class.
No support from the kingdoms of the south.
Lack of organization.
No unified leadership.
The british were well trained and superior in army tactics.

The power passed from the East India company to the British crown and Queen
Victoria became the empress of India.
The following are the main causes which led to the revolt.
1. Dalhousies doctrine of lapse.: According to this Doctrine if a ruler of a kingdom
died without leaving a male heir, his kingdom would be annexed by the British. Rani
Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi was a victim of this doctrine.
2.Subsidiary Alliance : The British heads asked the rulers of the small kingdoms to
maintain an army for them and to pay the British for protection from their enemies.
3. Destruction of peasats and the artisans.
The British changed agriculture for the growing of crops of subsistence to the
growing of cash crops. As a result most of the farmers were ruined. They were paid
very little for the cash crops. Due to the heavy taxation, the farmers took loans from
money lenders when they were unable to repay these loans, their land was taken
away.
The artisans produced hand made things. The same things were produced in
England on machines at a very cheap rate. There was no taxation on imported
goods. As a result, the artisans were destroyed.
4. Loss of Religion. The natives feared that the British wee going to convert them to
Christianity . The british did not care for the sentiments of either the hindus or the
muslims.
5. Puppet rulers: The weak rulers of the small kingdoms had to accept the
interference of the british. They were like puppets in their hands and could easily be
removed by the british.
6. The immediate cause of the revolt : The incident of the greased cartridge sparked
off the revolt. The enfield rifle had been introduced in the army and it was expected
that the greased wrapping on the cartridge had to be torn away with one hand and
mouth while the other hand held the rifle. The sepoys suspected that the cartridges
had been smeared with the fat of the pigs and cows and that hurt the sentiments of
both the hindus and muslims and they requested the british government to
withdraw the rifle which was duly rejected. Mangal Pandey was the first sepoy who
sparked off the revolt though he was caught and hanged, his martyrs death
sparked off the nation wide revolt which is termed as first war of Indias
independence.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE REVOLT OF 1857.

1. The power passed from the east India company to the british crown. Queen
Victoria became the empress of India.
2. The british government promised not to annex any more states in India.
3. The Indian states accepted the paramountcy of the british and promised their
loyal support.
4. An awakening arose amongst the people and they realized the importance of
independence.
5. Social reform movement spread as they were the doors to independence.
6. The old rulers like the princes of the kingdoms did not matter any more. The
people realized they had to look for a new leadership.
7. The hindus and the muslims came very close as they had fought shoulder to
shoulder in the revolt.

RISE OF INDIAN NATIONALISM ( EARLY PHASE 1858 1905)

The factors that led to the birth of nationalism are as follows:Nationalism is a term which inculcates the feeling of pride and patriotism towards
ones country. Any country that had suffered under imperialism wanted to seek self
rule or independence and India was no exception.
There are a number of factors which are responsible for the rise of nationalism in
the 19th century.
1. End of feudalism in the world. Feudalism in most parts of world had been ended
by the imperialist powers, thus changing the socio-economic order. As a result, a
need was felt by the people to come together as a nation. Fuedalism had separated
man from man and the exploitation was so much that the people could not raise
their voice.
2. Formation of nation states. Nationalism can only prosper if the countries have
fixed boundaries and the permanent indentity. Once the nation states were born,
they defined what they wanted in the name of freedom. People of a nation fought
for certain principles which became the basis of their nationalism.

3. Uniformity of administration: Each nation had a political system, an economic

system and unified laws. This means all the people living in a country had a same

opportunity and were governed by the same rule. This equality brought in
nationalism.
4. Birth of a middle class : With industrial revolution, the middle class was born in
England which included doctors, lawyers, teachers etc. Slowly this concept spread
to the colonies since they were the most educated class they were sure to load the
nationalist movement.
5. The French and the American revolution. These two great revolutions changed
the entire history of the world. They were two great examples of what nationalism
could achieve. Both these revolutions were conducted by ordinary people against
the rich and the powerful.
These are the general factors that were responsible for sowing the seeds of
nationalism throughout the world.
FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BIRTH OF NATIONALISM IN INDIA.

In the 19th century in India, social reforms were at their peak. As a result, an
awakening developed which encouraged the people to start the nationalist
movement. Certain factors played a major role in this. They are as follows:
1. Political unification of India : The British united India into one nation. Before they
came to India, India was a land to 500 odd kingdoms. Nationalism could not have
prospered in this situation since they had nothing in common. The political unity of
India was responsible for sowing the first seeds of nationalism.
2. Destruction of the old socio-economic system.
The british showed a disregard for the sentiments of the natives and wanted to
convert them to Christianity. In the economic field, the farmers and the artisans had
been completely destroyed. Cash crops were being grown and manufactured goods
were been sent from England. The import duties on cotton were removed in 1883
thus destroying the Indian textile industry.
3. Social reform movements : With Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Dayanand
Saraswati, the Deoband movement, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan a lot of changes had
come in the society. People were now aware of their rights and these movements
exposed the social evils in the society and also how the british were exploiting the
natives. This awakening developed the nationalist movement.
4. The dual policies of british: The british pretended to be concerned about the
natives and to develop their lot. In reality they encouraged only that class of people
who would serve their interests and run their administration. The farmers, the
artisans, the common people, the educated people and even the industrialists were
fed up by the policies of the british. All the people realized that they could only

progress if they attain independence.

5. Racial discrimination: The british were very conscious of their skin colour. After
the revolt of 1857, they showed this openly. They had special clubs and coaches for
the Europeans where the entry for Indians was barred. Anything Indian was looked
down upon. In 1883, the Ilbert bill was passed which tried to bring the European and
the Indians at the same level in the eyes of justice. This was opposed by the
Europeans in India and the bill was scrapped.
6. Famines : During the british rule, there were many famines in the country in
which millions of people died. This happened because of the growing of cash crops,
heavy taxation, poor facilities for the farmers and no emergency provisions when
the monsoons failed.
7. The viceroy and his council : They were all british and no Indians were included.
The viceroy could do as he felt like in India because communications with the kind
or the queen of England took a very long time. The viceroy tried to be more
powerful than the king and nobody could stop him. Since there were no Indians
around, the problems of the natives could not be understood.
8. The Indian civil service : It had mainly English men and if an Indian wanted to
compete he had a slim chance because for competing was 17 years and very few
Indians at this age were well versed with English and the customs of the british.
Besides the examinations were only held in England and very few people had the
money to go there.
9. Policies of repression after 1857: The vernacular press act of 1878 put severe
restrictions on the press that wrote in the local languages. The editors and the
reporters were frequently jailed and were not allwed to express themselves freely.
The arms act of 1879 forbade the possession of arms by the Indians especially the
Indian sepoys in the british army.
All these factors contributed to the development of nationalist movements in India
which finally was able to achieve independence in 1947.

EARLY POLITICAL MOVEMENTS, RISE OF INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND THE

ROLE OF THE MODERATES.
In the second half of the 19th century, many association were formed in Bengal to
represent the problems of the Indians to the british. In 1851 was formed the british
Indian association and in 1875 Surendranath Banerjee founded the Indian
association in Bengal. At the same time Dadabhai Naoroji started the Bombay
association at Bombay. In 1883 a need was felt for a national organization and
Surendranath Banerjee founded an All India National Conference.

All these associations were the first step towards nationalism and they inspired the
formation of Indian National Congress(INC) . Allen Octavian Hume was a retired civil
servant who played a very important part in founding the INC. He came to know
that a revolt was in the offing and to prevent such a revolt, he started the INC in
December 1885. He called the congress a safety valvue for the escape of great and
growing forces. At this point the british felt that the INC was going to be a link
between them and the Indian masses and they were convinced that through INC
they could govern the masses easily. In this situation Lord Diffoin blessed the
congress.
The first session of the congress was held at Bombqay under the president ship of
W C Banerjee. At this session members from all religions, castes , creeds etc
participated. A secular movement had started that represented the country rather
than a particular community. The great leaders that attended this session were
Dadabhai Naroaji, Badruddin Tyabji, WC Banerjee, Subramanyam Iyer,
Vijayaraghavachar, Behramji Malbari and Chandavarkar.
THE MODERATE PHASE (1885 1905)
The INC had two phases the first being the moderate phase and the second being
the extremist phase . By the moderate phase we mean following certain policies
which are based on requests within the purview of the british administration. The
moderate program wanted to bring people together and pass resolutions requesting
the british government to increase the seats for Indians in the executive council and
the legislature. They did not demand independence but more representation. They
felt that as soon as the british government understood their request they would be
granted. They wanted to be a part of the british empire. The following demands
were made by the moderates.
1. Elected representatives in the provincial and central legislature council.
2. Holding of the ICS in India.
3. Raising the minimum age of entry into the ICS Exam.
4. Reduction of military expenditure.
5. Spread of education.
6. Industrial development of India.
7. Relief in agriculture indebtedness.
8. Amendment of the arms act.
The main leaders who promoted these demands were Surendranath Banerjee, M J
Ranaday, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Feroz Shah Mehta. The moderates promoted

the demands of the middle classes and these demands were very just. The british
government ignored these demands and as a result the moderate phase grew into
the extremist phase.
THE EXTREMIST PHASE (1905 1919)
The word extremism means putting a lot of pressure to get ones demand met. In
the congress it meant using the public opinion, the media, the festivals and
organizing the masses to put so much pressure on the government which they could
not refuse. In case of a disagreement the extremists were ready to go to jail. The
following factors gave birth of extremism.
1. Failure of the moderates:- The appeals of the moderates fell on the deaf ears and
the british did nothing about it. The moderates demands were not sufficient many
new demands had to be added that were more serious.
2. Viceroy Curzon:- He came to India in December 1898 and introduced very harsh
measures. He wanted the peaceful demise of the congress. In 1905 he divided
Bengal into 2 parts, east Bengal and west Bengal. East Bengal was supposed to be a
muslim majority area and west Bengal a hindu majority area. His motive was to
create disharmony between the hindus and muslims and to weaken the nationalist
movement. The public outcry was so much that he had to cancel the partition.
3. International events:- In 1905 Japan an asian country defeated Russia and this
sent a strong message to the world that it was possible for a backward country to
defeat a mighty power. Japan was also fighting wars with China and trying to
become a imperialist power. In 1905 again there was the first revolution in Russia. In
this revolution the common people fought against the czarist regime. This gave lots
of confidence to the people struggling in Asia and Africa.
MAIN FEATURES OF EXTREMISTS:
1. Policy :- The extremists felt that serious measures had to be taken to shake the
foundations of the british empire. A political fight had to be started which included
demonstration, strikes, organization of meetings aimed against the british
government, expression of strong public opinion in the newspapers and using the
festivals to collect mass support. They did not believe in sending appeal to the
british government.
2. Leaders :- The most prominent leaders were Lal, Bal and Pal. They were Lala
Lajpath Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal, Bal Gangadhar Tilak. They used the glorious past of
the country to inspire the extremist movement.
Tilak went to prison many times for seditious writing and speeches. He started
Kesari a marathi paper in which he wrote without fear against the british
government. He referred to the Gita and told people that inaction against injustice
was the biggest crime. In Bengal goddess kali was adopted as a symbol for inspiring

this movement.
Lala Lajpath Rai was beaten to death by the Lathis of the british when he was
protesting against the Simon commission.
3. Effectiveness of extremisim:- It was a great change from the views of the
moderates. For the first time the true nature of the british was exposed and an open
fight had stated. They were much more successful than the moderates because
they really shook the foundations of the british empire and even managed to get
the support of the british citizens. This was a stepping stone for the birth of the
revolutionary movement.

SWADESHI AND BOYCOTT MOVEMENT:

The word boycott means refusal to co-operate or comply with someones demands
or requests. It is a weapon on a non violent protest which is very effective. The word
swadeshi translates to of ones own country. This means all that is foreign would
be rejected by the people. These two weapons together were so strong that the
british were woken up from their sleep the first time.
In 1905, Bengal had been partitioned on communal lines. The protest of the people
was so strong that the partition had to be cancelled. In this fervent atmosphere the
boycott and swadeshi movements were launched. Under the boycott movements
the students left the government run school ad colleges, people resigned from their
jobs, government jobs were discarded, meetings were held against the british.
Associations were formed and everything promoted by the british was boycotted.
Under the swadeshi movement huge bonfires of british cloth were lit up, foreign
liquor shops were picketed, people started wearing khadi, small scale industries
started producing small things, foreign books were discarded, british etiquettes
were discarded and people stopped buying anything and everything that was
british.
The british reaction was violent. Meetings were banned, the chanting of BandeMataram was banned or prohibited, schools were derecognized, grants were
stopped to the schools, protestionists were lathi charged and many other terrorizing
measures were taken. Nationalist newspapers were banned, their editors were
prosecuted and many leaders were imprisoned. In 1907, the seditious meetings act
was passed which prevented the holding of meetings. In 1910 the Indian press act
was passed according to which any editor could be punished without any reason.
Many people were deported without trail, Tilak was sentenced to 6 years
imprisonment and deported to Mandalay for two articles that he wrote in Kesari.
Lala Lajpath Rai felt that that these two movements would make us financially and
socially independent. In 1906 Dadabhai Naoroji declared that the attainment of
swaraj as the aim of the congress. In 1907 at the Surat session of the congress, the

moderates and extremists fought bitterly because the moderates wanted to modify
the resolution on the swadeshi and boycott and wanted self government to be
achieved through constitional means. After ugly scenes the two groups parted .
Tilak led the extremists while the moderates controlled the congress and they finally
patched up in 1916.
THE MUSLIM LEAGUE
After the revolt of 1857, the power passed to the british crown and very strict
policies were adopted to prevent the outbreak of another revolt. One of these
policies was the policy of divide and rule. According to this policy a rift had to be
developed between the hindus and the muslims. First the british discriminated
against the muslims keeping them out of the army and other services. Later when
the unity was seen in the congress between the hindu and the muslim leaders, their
policy underwent a change and they started favouring the muslims. They promoted
the upper class muslims and encouraged them to form organizations against the
congress.
In the beginning the hindus and muslims together opposed the partition of Bengal.
Both the communities realized that the british were trying to divide them. In east
Bengal the muslims were in majority where as in west Bengal it was the hindus but
none of them wanted to partition Bengal. At the Calcutta session of congress that is
1906, Mohammad Ali Jinnah alongwith many muslim leaders participated and
opposed the reservation of seats in the legislatures that were based on religion. As
time passed many muslim leaders felt that they needed concessions from the
british government to promote their economic interest. They felt if they opposed the
british their interests would suffer. Besides this the extremist movement in the
congress was reviving Hinduism and this alienated the muslims.
The british desperately needed an organization to counter the acitivites of the
congress. They gave full encouragement to the muslim community to form a
separate organisationa. On 1st October 1906, a muslim delegation led by Aga Khan
the religious leader the muslim sect met Governor General Minto at Shimla. He was
accompanied by Nawab Salimullah of Dacca with the Governor General Support on
30th December 1906, the Muslim League was formed.
The main objectives of the Muslim League were:1. To promote amongst the Musalmaans of India feelings of loyalty to the british
government and to remove any misconceptions that may arise as to the intentions
of the government with regard to any of its measures.
2. To protect and advance, the political rights and interests of the musalmaans of
India and respectfully represent their needs and aspirations to the government.
3. To prevent the rise of the muslmaans of India if any feelings of hostility towards
other communities without prejudice to the other objects of the league.

Though the muslim league represented the muslim community, many muslim
leaders joined the general stream of the nationalist movements. In 1912, Abul
Kalam Azad founded the Al-Hilal and Moulana Mohammad Ali started the Comrade
in English and Hamdard in Urdu. In 1913, the muslim league adopted the resolution
of self government for India and Jinnah joined the muslim league. He was asked by
the nationalists to do so, so that the league could work side by side with the
congress. Jinnah was able lawyer who went to England in 1914to represent the
views of the Indian nationalist movement over a bill regarding political reforms in
India.

THE MASSACARE AT JALLIANWALA BAGH.

In march 1919, the Rowlatt Act was enforced. As a result there were protests all
over the country. On 6th april they took a serious form when strikes, hartals,
demonstrations were seen everywhere. The state of Pujab reacted very strongly to
these acts. As a reaction, the British gave orders of lathicharges and firing. On 10th
april 1919, during these protests two great leaders of the congress were arrested.
They were taken to an unknown destination. Their names were Satya Pal and
Saifuddin Kitchlew.
The public was outraged in Punjab and on 13th april a meeting was called at Jallian
Wala Bagh in Amritsar to protest against the high handedness of british. This was a
small park surrounded by the buildings and had one small lane which was the point
of entry leading to the park. Out of nowhere General Dyer came and with his british
troops closed the only exit, surrounded the people and in less than 10 minutes fired
1600 rounds. About a 1000 people died and 2000 were injured. Those who tried to
escape were shot dead. Men, women, children and old people were killed and many
jumped into the well that was located there. The meeting had been no provocation
therefore the General fired without a warning and sealed the only exit.
This outrageous act shook the entire nation and most of the English men in England
condemned with their heart and soul. The british government let loose a reign of
terror and government law was clamped over the state. General Dyer had hoped to
kill the nationalist movement but this incident added fuel to the fire and gave birth
to the Khilafat and the non cooperation movement.
THE KHILAFAT AND THE NON COOPERATION MOVEMENT.
The Khilafat and the non-cooperation movement wer two movements combined into
one. The Khilafat movement was launched by the muslims of India to pressurize the
british government to relax the terms imposed on the Sultan of Turkey after the
world war I. The alies had defeated Turkey in the World war I and as a punishment,
they put these severe restrictions on the Sultan who was the religious head of the
muslim community. The famous Ali brothers Mohammad Ali and Showkat Ali started
this movement in India. Gandhiji established contact with the Ali brothers and found

that their demands were just and so he along with the congress supported this
movement. It was the time to show Hindu Muslim Unity.
Gandhiji launched the non cooperation movement in 1920. Moti lal Nehru also led
this movement. The aim of this movement was to redress the wrongs done to
Punjab and Turkey and the attainment of Swaraj. Titles were rejected, legislatures
were boycotted, law courts and educational institutions were boycotted and a
campaign was started for the non payment of taxes. A group of 1,50,000 people
was launched to make this movement a success.
The following points indicate the success of these movements:1. 2/3rd of the voters did not vote in the elections to the legislature.
2. schools and colleges run by the british remained empty.
3. a new program of national education was started.
4. Jamia Millia and Kashi Vidya Peeth were established which were run by Indians.
5. many people resigned from the government jobs.
6. foreign cloth as burnt in huge bon-fires.
7. there were strikes all over the country.
Besides all this in Malabar, the Moplah Rebellion broke out in which the hindus and
the muslims participated. In the sikh community a movement was launched to
dislodge the corrupt and arrogant mahants from their position of authority.
Thousands of volunteers came forward to participate in these movements.
On 17th November 1921 the Prince of wales came to India and he was met with
strikes and demonstrations. The police resorted to firing at the demonstrators and
leaders like the Ali brothers, Moti lal Nehru, C R Das and Jawaharlal Nehru were
arrested. By the beginning of 1922, 30,000 people were in jail.
The congress under the presidentship of Hakim Ajmal Khan decided to continue the
movement until the Punjab and Khilafat grievances were redressed and Swaraj
attained. Moulana Masrat Mohani an eminent leader and an urdu poet proposed that
swaraj should be defined as complete independence free from all foreign control.
Though this was not accepted but the winds of change could be seen. In February
1922, Gandhiji launched a no tax campaign in the Bardoli District of Gujarat. At the
same time in U P at Chauri Chaura a mob of people turned violent setting fire to a
police station killing 22 policemen. When Gandhiji came to know about it, he was
shocked as he was a follower of non violence. Immediately, the movement was
called off. The leaders who were in jail were disappointed as they knew that the
suspension of the movement would kill its momentum. Gandhiji was arrested for 6

years but realeased after 2 years. Certain leaders like Moti lal Nehru and C R Das
decided to participate in the various legislature elections to disrupt the working of
the british government from inside. The working committee of the congress met on
12th February 1922 and decided to concentrate on the popularization of the
Charkha. The promotion of hindu muslim unity and the combating of untouchability.
FROM SWARAJ TO INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT.

After the non cooperation movement was called off, for some time there was no
activity in the congress. At its Lahore session the congress adopted the policy of
complete independence and in view of this, the civil disobedience movement was
launched in 1930.
Next to Gandhiji was Jawaharlal Nehru who came to India in 1910 after completing
his education in England. He came into contact with the peasants of U P in 1912 and
their sad plight opened his eyes. In December 1921 he was arrested alongwith with
his father and other nationalist leaders, and released within a week and rearrested
again and finally releasedin 1923. at Nablia in Punjab he saw how the Akali Sikhs
were demonstrating against the corrupt Mahants. He was arrested and sentenced
after the pretence of a trail. The next prominent leader was Subhash Chandra Bose.
He was educated in Calcutta and Cambridge and was selected for the ICS or the
Indian Civil Service. He organized the youths to strengthen the nationalist
movement and was arrested in 1924. Later he escapted and formed the Azad Hind
Fauj at Japan.

LAHORE CONGRESS AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT.

In view of the turmoil at the 1929 session of the congress under the presidentship of
Jawaharlal Nehru, the congress launched the Civil Disobedience movement as they
had declared at this session the complete independence was their final aim.
Gandhiji was made the leader of civil disobedience movement and it was decided to
celebrate 26th January as the independence day for the whole country. At the 1930
meeting of the working committee of the congress a resolution was passed which
stated that the british had completely ruined India socially, economically and
politically. It was a crime against man and god and through the civil disobedience
movement, non violence means would be adopted and congress would protest.
The first thing that happened under the civil disobedience movement was the
celebration of the independence day on 26th January. After independence this day is
celebrated as the republic day in India. The next step was the Dandi march in which
Gandhiji along with his supporters marched 300 kms in Gujarath from his sabarmati
ashram to Dandi ( a coastal town). Indians could not produce their own salt as per
the rules of the british. Gandhiji and his followers produced the salt themselves
under the civil disobedience movement. He asked every village to produce salt,
picket liquor shops, opium dens, and shops selling foreign cloth. Gandhiji said that

foreign cloth should be burnt, hindus should give up untouchability, students must
leave schools and colleges and the government servants must resign from their
services. Gandhiji felt that by doing so purna swaraj or complete independence
would knock at our doors.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE CIVIL DISOBEDIECE MOVEMENT.

1. Gandhiji, Jawaharlal Nehru and many other important leaders were arrested by
the beginning of 1931, 90,000 people were in jail and 67 papers had been baned. At
Peshawar, the Indian soldiers refused to fire at the demonstrators.
2. With the public outcry, Gandhiji was released in 1931 and in March he and
Viceroy Irwin signed the Gandhi Irwin pact under which the movement was called
off. Under this pact the government promised to release all the political prisoners
except the ones who were involved in violence. Another clause of the pact was that
the congress will participate in the II round table conference in England which had
been called to consider a scheme for a new constitution of India.
3. At the Karachi Session of the congress in 1931 the Gandhi-Irwin pact was
accepted. A resolution was passed on the fundamental rights and economic policy.
According to these two plans, a reconstruction of the Indian society after
independence was to be discussed, aims of the constitution of India to be framed
and a socio economic policy of the Indian Republic had to be made.
4. Lord Wellington the new viceroy refused to give an appointment to Gandhiji when
he returned from the round table conference. Gandhiji was arrested. The movement
was again started for 2 years and in May 1934 it was finally called off. By April
1933, 1,20,000 persons were imprisoned.

QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT.

After the withdrawal of the Cripps Mission, Mahatma Gandhi decided to start a mass
movement against the british. He felt that the british were responsible for the hindu
muslim tensions. The congress was impressed by the views and its working
committee passed a resolution on 14th July 1942 at Wardha where Gandhiji gave
the slogan of Quit India. It was the final struggle against the british and the
nationalist leaders could feel the foundations of the british raj shaking.
Once this movement was launched, Mahatma Gandhi and the top leaders were
arrested. The congress was banned, a period of oppression started, strikes,
processions and meetings were seen everywhere. The government resorted to
frequent lathi charges and firing on peaceful demonstrators. The violent mobs
damaged railway stations, cut off telegraph wires and set a number of government
buildings on fire. As a result 940 people were killed by the britishers, 1630 persons
were injured, 60,000 people were arrested. Even the women and children were not

spared.
The government suppressed this movement within 2 months. This movement had
become the biggest mass movement. When all the leaders were in jail, the people
themselves organized this movement and resisted the british. It was the basis of the
revolutionary movements that followed.
INDEPENDENCE AND THE PARTITION OF INDIA.
In 1940, at the Lahore session of the Muslim League, the demand for a separate
state of Pakistan was made. This was based on the two nation theory where it was
felt that the eastern and the western areas in the north should become one state
where the muslims were in majority. The rest of the country would become another
state where the hindus were in majority. Many muslim leaders, congress men and
other leaders opposed this two nation theory. The british encouraged the muslim
league to press their demand for a separate state.
In February 1946, the british sent the cabinet mission to India for the purpose for
holding discussions with the Indian leaders. These discussions were going to focus
around the granting of independence by the british to the Indians. Under the plan of
the cabinet mission, India would be called a Union of India. It would be divided into
4 zones, each zone being independent with respect to its foreign policy, defence
and communication. In these matters the british would intervene.
Another proposal was to make a constitution making body that would not be elected
by the people but only by the provincial legislatures that would be based on the
communal electorates i.e. separate votes cast by the hindus and the muslims. In
this constitution making body, the names would be proposed not by the people or
their representatives but by the petty rulers of the states. In May 1946, for the
transition of power, an interim government would be formed that would have 40%
seats for the hindus nominated by the congress, 40% for the muslims nominated by
the muslim league and 20% for the other religious groups. Out of all these
proposals, the congress accepted the constitution body making the proposal. The
congress wanted the election of the constituent body on the basis of adult franchise
but they agreed to the proposal of the cabinet mission to get independence at the
earliest. The muslim league refused to participate in the constituent assembly.
In June 1946, as per the proposal of the cabinet mission, the elections to the
constituent assembly were completed. The congress won 192 seats, the muslim
league 70, the communist party 1 and the others 11. t this point the muslim league
as per their policy did not join the constituent assembly. They demanded a separate
state of Pakistan. The princes also boycotted the assembly and the states started a
peoples movement to form India into a single nation.
In 1947, Lord Mountbatten was sent to India as a viceroy and the british promised to
transfer power to the Indians definitely or before June 1948. In June 1947 he
presented a plan whereby India would become two separate states the Indian

union and Pakistan. The states that was not a part of british. Indians were given the
right to choose their future. Under the british, work started on fixing the boundaries
of the two countries. On 14th August 1947, Pakistan gained her independence and
on 15th August 1947, India became free. Pakistan comprised of west Punjab and
east Bengal, Sindh and north western frontier province(NWFP).
When India was partitioned the people in Pakistan as well as in India were given the
choice to join either India or Pakistan. At this time mass migration took place on
both sides but unfortunately it was marked by riots and bloodshed. Hundreds of
people lost their lives that left bitter memories in both countries at the time of their
independence.
SIMON COMMISSION.
According to the government of India act of 1919, further constitutional changes
were to be reviewed in the next 10 years. In November 1927, the british sent the
Simon commission for this purpose. The commission had only Englishmen and no
Indians and whatever they were trying to propose did not remotely relate to swaraj.
In February 1928, the commission came to India and there was country wide hartal.
All the legislated members boycotted the commission. Anti-simon committee were
formed, peaceful demonstrators were lathi charged, one such lathi blow killed Lala
Lajpath Rai and Govind Vallabh Panth was disabled for life. Two conspiracy cases
came to the light. The first was known as the Meerut conspiracy that involved a
number of labour leaders and 3 english men. The people protested against these
arrests. Some of them were acquitted while some were convicted. In the Lahore
conspiracy on 8th April 1929, Bhagath Singh and Butakeshwar Dutt went to the
central legislature assembly and threw a bomb at the government benches,
followed by shouts of long live the revolution. No casualties were intended, it was
done to scare the british. For this Bhagath Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were
hanged.