Hi, Everyone! Gandhi’s famous year-long Noncooperation Movement was scheduled to begin from August 1, 1920. Contrary to popular misconception, the agenda for this movement was not Swaraj (self-rule). The main agenda was the Khilafat Movement and the Punjab Atrocities was tacked on as a subsidiary clause.
“On
August 18, 1920, he [Gandhi] made a daring speech in Calicut: ‘I am here to
declare for the tenth time that by shaping and by becoming a predominant
partner in the peace terms imposed on the helpless Turkey, the Imperial
Government have intentionally flouted the cherished sentiments of the Muslim
subjects of the Empire. What the Government did in the Punjab mercilessly was
its double wrong. The people of India must, therefore, have a remedy to redress
the double wrongs—the remedy of non-cooperation which I consider it perfectly
harmless, absolutely constitutional and yet perfectly efficacious.’”[1]
Absolutely no
mention of Swaraj. In fact, as yet, the Congress had not passed a resolution in
favor of the Noncooperation Movement.
August 1, 1920, India was in mourning; her beloved
national leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak had passed away that morning. Did Gandhi
give Tilak his due on this day of his passing? No.
“Then
came the first of August, 1920, and also the news of the sudden death of Tilak,
the Hercules of Indian Nationalism. The nation bowed in mourning. ‘Never before
in the history of India was such nation-wide grief witnessed.’ Gandhi felt a
great personal loss; however, he did not postpone the programme of
noncooperation. The movement was formally inaugurated on the 1st of
August, 1920, by Gandhi with the return of the Kaiser-e-Hind gold medal and the
Zulu war medal granted by the British Government to him for his humanitarian
works in South Africa,”[2]
(On an aside, I
wish to mention that the author Sinha is putting a misleading euphemism upon
Gandhi’s medals. These medal were actually bestowed upon “Sergeant” Gandhi and
are specially given to people who rendered
distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj.
It is more proof of Gandhi’s loyalty to the British Raj.)
To continue, there is something so shabby about inaugurating a national movement—especially one which
only purported to be for the cause of India’s freedom—on the very day of the death
of India’s great and beloved national leader, Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
On September 4, 1920, a special session of the
Congress met to pass a resolution on the Noncooperation Movement.
“The
session started hot with discussions. In Gandhi’s opinion non-cooperation was
postulated only with a view to obtaining redressal of the wrongs done to the
Turkish and Punjab. He did not like to include any more items in his programme
of agitation. It, however, did not appeal to Sjt. Vijaya Raghavachari,
supported by many others, who argued that if non-cooperation was to be
declared, why should it be with reference to particular wrongs? The absence of
Swaraj was the biggest wrong that the country was laboring under
non-cooperation. How could an unfree India help a wronged Turkey?”[3]
This was the Congress position. But when the
resolution for the Noncooperation Movement was passed it was unchanged in its
essence and the word Swaraj tacked on as a sop to the conscience.
“The
Congress is of the opinion that there can be no contentment in India without
redress of the two aforementioned [Khilafat cause and Punjab atrocities] wrongs
and that the only effectual means to vindicate national honor and to prevent
repetition of similar wrongs in future is the establishment of Swarjya. This
Congress is further of opinion that there is no course left open for the people
of India but to approve of and adopt the policy of progressive non-violent
Non-cooperation inaugurated by Mr. Gandhi until the said wrongs are righted and
Swarajya is established ;”[4]
It is utterly
shameful that Swaraj should be added in this dismal way as an adjunct to the
Khilafat cause in the Noncooperation Movement.
·
Were the Indians
aware what their Mahatma’s real agenda was?
·
Are they aware
even today?
·
No.
The Indians threw up their jobs, students gave up
their schools, heart and soul they participated in the Noncooperation Movement
with the one thought held close: their Mahatma will get them freedom in one
year.
·
How did the
Mahatma—who couldn’t bring himself to make an outright demand for Swaraj in his
agenda—make an outright demand for freedom to the Viceroy?
He didn’t!
One needs to look deeper into the nitty-gritty of
the Noncooperation Movement to learn the truth behind the myth.
More on it tomorrow . . .
More on it tomorrow . . .
Anurupa
Mahatma Gandhi Facts:
Gandhi Revealed
[1] The Turkish Question: Mustafa Kemal and
Mahatma Gandhi, by R. K. Sinha; Adam publishers & Distributors, Delhi,
1994. The speech is in the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol XVIII, pp
177-79.
[2] Ibid, page 91.
[3] Ibid, page 95
[4] History of Freedom movement in India, Volume
III, by R. C. Majumdar, Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1963; page 86.
The Gandhiji was the Leader of the Non Cooperation movement.and some of the other leader are not in favor with the Gandhiji.
ReplyDeleteyes, especially with the Khilafat Movement being the focus of it (Jinnah was one of them.) C. R. Das was the strongest opponent of it, but after one meeting with Gandhi he changed his mind. There is almost a year-long quite complicated history to the development of the Movement. However,in the end Congress passed the resolution to attach itself to it---after the Movement was launched.
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