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How Participants Saw The Movement

The Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh actively supported the Civil Disobedience Movement but were disappointed when it was called off in 1931, so many refused to participate when it restarted in 1932. The poorer peasants joined radical movements led by Socialists and Communists. Industrialists supported the movement to organize business interests against colonial control of the economy. Some industrial workers participated in strikes in 1930 and 1932. Women's large-scale participation in the movement was significant, though Congress was initially reluctant to give women authority. Dalits were not moved by the concept of Swaraj and demanded separate electorates and reserved seats, which led to clashes with Gandhi and the Poona Pact of

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840 views2 pages

How Participants Saw The Movement

The Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh actively supported the Civil Disobedience Movement but were disappointed when it was called off in 1931, so many refused to participate when it restarted in 1932. The poorer peasants joined radical movements led by Socialists and Communists. Industrialists supported the movement to organize business interests against colonial control of the economy. Some industrial workers participated in strikes in 1930 and 1932. Women's large-scale participation in the movement was significant, though Congress was initially reluctant to give women authority. Dalits were not moved by the concept of Swaraj and demanded separate electorates and reserved seats, which led to clashes with Gandhi and the Poona Pact of

Uploaded by

Dinesh Kumar
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© © All Rights Reserved
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How Participants saw the Movement

The Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh were active in the movement. They became
enthusiastic supporters of the Civil Disobedience Movement. But they were deeply disappointed when
the movement was called off in 1931. So when the movement was restarted in 1932, many of them
refused to participate. The poorer peasants joined a variety of radical movements, often led by Socialists
and Communists.

To organise business interests, the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the
Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927 was formed. The
industrialists attacked colonial control over the Indian economy and supported the Civil Disobedience
Movement when it was first launched. Some of the industrial workers did participate in the Civil
Disobedience Movement. In 1930 and 1932 railway workers and dock workers were on strike.

Another important feature of the Civil Disobedience Movement was the large-scale participation of
women. But, for a long time, Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority
within the organisation.

The Limits of Civil Disobedience

Dalits, addressed as untouchables were not moved by the concept of Swaraj. Mahatma Gandhi used to
call them harijans or the children of God, without whom swaraj could not be achieved. He organised
satyagraha for the untouchables but they were keen on a different political solution to the problems of
the community. They demanded reserved seats in educational institutions and a separate electorate.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the Dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930, clashed with
Mahatma Gandhi at the second Round Table Conference by demanding separate electorates for Dalits.
The Poona Pact of September 1932, gave the Depressed Classes (later to be known as the Scheduled
Castes) reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils. After the decline of the Non-
Cooperation-Khilafat movement, Muslims felt alienated from the Congress due to which the relations
between Hindus and Muslims worsened.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was willing to give up the demand for separate electorates if Muslims were
assured reserved seats in the Central Assembly and representation in proportion to population in the
Muslim-dominated provinces. Nevertheless, the hope of resolving the issue at the All Parties Conference
in 1928 disappeared when M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha strongly opposed efforts at
compromise.

The Sense of Collective Belonging


Nationalism spreads when people begin to believe that they are all part of the same nation. History and
fiction, folklore and songs, popular prints and symbols, all played a part in the making of nationalism.
Finally, in the twentieth century, the identity of India came to be visually associated with the image of
Bharat Mata. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay created the image and in the 1870s he wrote ‘Vande
Mataram’ as a hymn to the motherland.

Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata portrayed as an ascetic figure; she is
calm, composed, divine and spiritual. In late-nineteenth-century India, nationalists began recording folk
tales sung by bards and they toured villages to gather folk songs and legends. During the Swadeshi
movement in Bengal, a tricolour flag (red, green and yellow) was designed which had eight lotuses
representing eight provinces of British India, and a crescent moon, representing Hindus and Muslims. By
1921, Gandhiji designed the Swaraj flag, a tricolour (red, green and white) and had a spinning wheel in
the centre, representing the Gandhian ideal of self-help.

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