Need for Wider Movement

• Rowlatt Satyagraha was widespread but was limited to towns and cities.
• Villagers and Muslims did not participate in large numbers.
• Turkey was defeated by the British in the First World war. 
• Khalifa was not not only the emperor of Turkey but also the religious head of Muslims
• A romour spread that Khalifa’s religious powers would be taken away.
• There was widespread anger amongst Indian Muslims.
• Muhmed Ali and Shoukat Ali began discussing with Gandhi, the possibility of merging Khilafat Movement with that of proposed Non-Cooperation Movment.
• After intense debate and discussion, Gandhi was able to convince the other Congress leaders the need to merge the two movments.

 Non-Cooperation Movment – Why and How was it planned?

• Gandhiji had written in Hind Swaraj (1905), that the British could rule India only because of the cooperation extended by them.
• If Indians stopped cooperating with the British, Swaraj would come within a year.
• It should begin with the surrender of titles that the government awarded, and a boycott of civil services, army, police, courts and legislative councils, schools, and foreign goods. Then, in case the government used repression, a full civil disobedience campaign would be launched.

Different Strands of the Movment

What did ‘Swaraj’ mean to different Social Groups?

Middle Class People of Towns and Cities : For these people, Swaraj meant Political Freedom

Peasants of Awadh : For these people, Swaraj meant abolition of Begar, social respect and reduction of land revenue.

Tribals of Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh: For these people, Swaraj meant free access to forest and forest products and restoration of their traditonal ways of life.

Plantation workers of Assam: For these people, Swaraj meant free movement in and out of plantations and re-establishing connection with their native places.

How did these Social Groups participate in the Movement?

Middle Class People of Towns and Cities

• Thousands of teachers and students boycotted schools and colleges.
• Lawyers boycotted courts
• Foreign goods were boycotted and set on bonfire
• Council elections were boycotted by all parties except Justice Party.
• Traders and merchants refused to trade foreign goods or finance foreign trade
• Import of foreign cloth declined from 102 crores to 57 crores between 1921 and 1922
• People discarded foreign cloth and began to use Swadeshi goods. 
• Movement slowed down for three reasons.
• One – Alternative Indian educational instituttions were few and very slow to come up. Teachers and students went back to schools and colleges.
• Kahdi was costly. Poor people began to buy cheap machine made Manchester goods.
• Lawyers also went back to law courts.

Peasants of Awadh

• Baba Ramachandra led the Peasants movement in Awadh.
• The condition of farmers was pitiable.
• Most of them were tenents of big landlords.
• They had to pay very high rent and various other cesses
• They were forced to do begar (work without pay)
• They had no social respect were asked to vacate the land frequently so that they could not claim ownership of the land that they tilled.
• They had organised ‘Nayi-Dhobi Bandh’ – a movemnet depriving the landlords of the services of barbers and washermen.
• Nehru and Baba Ramachandra toured Awadh extensively mobilising the support of famers for the Non-Cooperation movement.
• The intension was to merge the Peasants’ movement with Non-Cooperation movement.
• They established Awadh Kisan Sabha. Soon it had more than 300 branches.
• When Non-Cooperation movement was launched, the farmers didn’t act in the way Gandhiji expected.
• They looted bazars, took control of grain hoardings, attacked Talukdars and Zamindars, local leaders in many areas told the farmers that Gandhiji had asked them not pay tax and the land would be redistributed.

Tribals of Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh

• Large tracks of forests were enclosed by the British in many places including the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh.
• The tribals couldn’t take their cattle to graze or collect fuel woood and fruits and other  forest products.
• They lost their traditional way of life.
• Alluri Sitaram Raju led the tribals movement.
• He was a very interesting person. He claimed that he could make accurate astrological predictions and withstand even bullet shots.
• He encouraged tribals to wear Khadi and give up drinking alcohol but he also encouraged them to take to guerilla war to kill British officers.
• The tribals tried to kill British officers.
• Alluri Sitaram Raju was arrested and executed in 1924.

Plantation workers of Assam

• Large number of migrant workers were there in large Tea plantation.
• They were not allowed to move out of plantations.
• Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not permitted to leave the tea gardens without permission, and in fact they were rarely given such permission.
• When they heard of Non-Cooperation Movement, thousands of them defied the authorities and headed for home.
• They were left stranded in the Railway stations and dockyards as the workers in these palces were on strike.
• They were rounded up, beaten up brutally and sent back to plantations.