Nationalism In India Class 10 Notes

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Introduction: Nationalism In India

The Intro part is not that important for exams

How Was Indian Nationalism Different From European Nationalism?

➢ In India, modern nationalism due to anti-colonial movement.
➢ Unity founded while fighting against colonialism.
➢ Shared experience of oppression united diverse groups.

But — it was not simple:
➢ Each class and group felt colonialism differently.
➢ Their ideas of freedom were not always the same.

Cause → Event → Effect
Colonial Oppression

Cause:
Different groups were oppressed under British rule

Event:
People united through the anti-colonial struggle

Effect:
Birth of modern Indian nationalism

Colonialism → oppression → unity → struggle → movements → nationalism

The First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation

Key People

How Did WWI Change India?

The war created a new economic and political situation.

➢ Defence costs rose ➜ paid through war loans and higher taxes
➢ Customs duties raised, income tax introduced
➢ Prices doubled between 1913 and 1918
➢ Villages were forced to supply soldiers ➜ caused widespread anger
➢ 1918–1921: Crop failures in many parts of India
➢ An influenza epidemic followed
➢ 12 to 13 million people died due to famines and the epidemic

The Idea of Satyagraha

What is Satyagraha?

“The idea of satyagraha emphasized the power of truth and the need to search for truth. It suggested that if the cause was true, if the struggle was against injustice, then physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor.”

In simple words:
➢ Fight injustice with truth and non-violence — not physical force
➢ Win by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor
➢ No vengeance, no aggression
➢ Gandhi believed non-violence (dharma) could unite all Indians

Where Did Gandhi First Use Satyagraha in India?

➢ 1917 — Champaran, Bihar ➜ Supported peasants against oppressive plantation system
➢ 1917 — Kheda, Gujarat ➜ Peasants hit by crop failure + plague could not pay revenue → demanded relaxation
➢ 1918 — Ahmedabad ➜ Satyagraha among cotton mill workers

Cause → Event → Effect:
The Rowlatt Act (1919)

Cause:
➢ 1919– Introduction of the Rowlatt Act
➢ India opposed, yet the Imperial Legislative Council passed it
➢ Rowlatt Act = Power to the govt to repress political activities
➢ Detention without trial for two years

Event:
➢ Hartal by Gandhi on 6 April 1919
➢ Rallies, strikes in railway workshops, shops shut down
➢ British panicked ➜ arrested local leaders in Amritsar
➢ Gandhi was barred from entering Delhi
➢ 10 April ➜ Police fired on a peaceful procession in Amritsar
➢ Martial law imposed ➜ General Dyer took command

Effect:
➢ 13 April 1919 — Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre
➢ Crowd gathered for a protest + Baisakhi fair
➢ Many villagers were unaware of martial law
➢ Dyer blocked exit points and opened fire ➜ hundreds killed
➢ His wanted: to “produce a moral effect” — create terror and awe
➢ Protests spread ➜ government responded with brutal repression
➢ Satyagrahis forced to crawl, rub noses on ground, salute sahibs
➢ Villages near Gujranwala (Punjab) were bombed
➢ Gandhi called off the movement when violence spread

What Was the Khilafat Issue?

➢ Ottoman Turkey was defeated in World War I
➢ A harsh peace treaty would be imposed on the Ottoman Emperor (the Khalifa), spiritual head of the Islamic world
➢ To defend the Khalifa’s powers ➜ Khilafat Committee formed in Bombay, March 1919
➢ Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali (the Ali Brothers) – united mass action with Gandhi
➢ Gandhi – a chance to bring Muslims and Hindus together under one national movement

Why Did Gandhi Support Non-Cooperation?

From Hind Swaraj (1909) — Gandhi’s Argument:
“British rule was established with Indian cooperation and survived only because of it. If Indians refused to cooperate, British rule would collapse within a year, and swaraj would come.”

How Was Non-Cooperation Planned?

Stage 1 — Surrender and Boycott:
➢ Return titles given by the government
➢ Boycott ➜ civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils, schools, and foreign goods

Stage 2 — If the Government Used Repression:
➢ Launch full Civil Disobedience

Cause → Event → Effect:
Non-Cooperation Movement

Cause:
➢ Rowlatt Act + Jallianwalla Bagh + Khilafat issue
➢ Gandhi’s belief that cooperation sustains British rule

Event:
➢ Gandhi and Shaukat Ali toured India to build support
➢ Debate within Congress — some feared popular violence, some opposed boycotting council elections
➢ December 1920 — Nagpur Congress Session ➜ compromise reached

Effect:
➢ Non-Cooperation Programme officially adopted
➢ Movement now supported by Hindus and Muslims

Differing Strands within the Movement
(Non-Cooperation Movement)

Key People

The Movement in the Towns

How Did the Movement Begin in Towns?

Who participated first?
The middle class in cities started the movement

What did they do?
➢ Students left government schools and colleges
➢ Headmasters and teachers resigned
➢ Lawyers gave up their legal practices
➢ Council elections were boycotted in most provinces

Exception:
➢ Madras — the Justice Party (party of non-Brahmans) chose to enter the councils
Reason: It was their only way to gain political power, usually controlled by Brahmans

What Happened on the Economic Front?
➢ Foreign goods were boycotted
➢ Liquor shops were picketed
➢ Foreign cloth was burnt in bonfires

Result:
➢ Import of foreign cloth halved
➢ Merchants boycotted foreign goods
➢ Indian textile production increased

Why Did the Movement in Cities Slow Down?

➢ Khadi was more expensive than mass-produced mill cloth ➜ poor people could not afford it
➢ Alternative Indian institutions were slow to be set up ➜ students and lawyers slowly returned to government schools and courts
➢ Without alternatives, the boycott could not last

Cause → Event → Effect:
Peasant Movement in Awadh

Cause:
➢ Talukdars and landlords demanded very high rents and extra charges (cesses)
➢ Peasants were forced to do begar (unpaid labour on landlord’s farm)
➢ Peasants had no security of tenure — regularly evicted, could not claim rights over the land

Event:
➢ Baba Ramchandra led the peasant movement
➢ Jawaharlal Nehru visited Awadh villages from June 1920
➢ October 1920 — Oudh Kisan Sabha set up by Nehru, Ramchandra and others
➢ Within a month ➜ over 300 branches opened in villages
➢ Congress tried to merge this struggle into the Non-Cooperation Movement

Effect:
➢ By 1921, the movement turned violent
➢ Houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked
➢ Bazaars looted, grain hoards taken over

Here’s a very short version:
False rumours spread that Gandhi ordered no taxes and land redistribution.
Gandhi’s name was used to justify all actions ➜ Congress leadership was unhappy

Cause → Event → Effect:
Tribal Movement in Gudem Hills

Cause:
The colonial government closed large forest areas
➢ Their livelihoods were affected, and their traditional rights denied
➢ The government forced them to do begar for road building

Event:
➢ A militant guerrilla movement broke out in the Gudem Hills, Andhra Pradesh

Leader:
➢ Alluri Sitaram Raju — believed to have special powers, seen as God incarnate
➢ He spoke of Gandhi’s greatness, promoted khadi, opposed drinking
➢ He believed freedom required force, not non-violence.

➢ Rebels attacked police stations, attempted to kill British officials

Effect:
➢ Raju was captured and executed in 1924
➢ Became a folk hero

What Did “Swaraj” Mean to Plantation Workers in Assam?

➢ Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859 ➜ plantation workers could not leave tea gardens without permission
➢ Hearing Non-Cooperation Movement ➜ thousands defied the Act and left plantations
➢ Believed “Gandhi Raj” was coming — everyone would get land in their own villages
➢ They never reached home — caught in a railway and steamer strike
➢ Police caught them and beat them up brutally

Towards Civil Disobedience

Key People

Why Was the Non-Cooperation Movement Called Off?

February 1922 — Gandhi withdrew the movement
➢ Reason: Movement was turning violent in many places
➢ Satyagrahis needed proper training before mass struggle

Split within Congress after withdrawal:

What Pushed India Towards Civil Disobedience?

Two major factors in the late 1920s:

1. Worldwide Economic Depression
➢ Agricultural prices fell and collapsed
➢ Demand for goods fell, exports declined
➢ Peasants could not sell harvests or pay revenue

2. The Simon Commission (1928)
➢ New Tory government in Britain formed a Statutory Commission under Sir John Simon
➢ Purpose: Review the constitutional system in India
➢ Problem: Not a single Indian member — all British
➢ When it arrived in 1928 ➜ greeted with “Go Back Simon” slogan
➢ All parties — Congress and the Muslim League — protested together

Cause → Event → Effect:
Road to Purna Swaraj

Cause:The
➢ Simon Commission rejected
➢ Lord Irwin’s vague offer of “dominion status” in an unspecified future — not accepted by Congress
➢ Radicals (Nehru, Bose) grew more assertive
➢ Moderates lost influence

Event:
➢ December 1929 — Lahore Congress (under Nehru’s presidency)

➢ Formal demand for “Purna Swaraj” = full independence
➢ 26 January 1930 was declared as Independence Day

Effect:
➢ Gandhi thought to connect abstract freedom to everyday issues
∴ He chooses – Salt

The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement

Cause → Event → Effect

Cause:
➢ Tax on salt and government monopoly over production = the most oppressive face of British rule
➢ Gandhi sent a letter of 11 demands to Viceroy Irwin on 31 January 1930
➢ Irwin refused to negotiate

Event — The March:
➢ 12 March 1930 — Salt March begins
➢ Gandhi + 78 trusted volunteers
➢ Route: Sabarmati Ashram ➜ Dandi (coastal town, Gujarat)
➢ Distance: 240 miles | Duration: 24 days | Pace: ~10 miles/day

Effect:
➢ 6 April 1930 — Gandhi reached Dandi
➢ Ceremonially broke the law by boiling seawater to make salt
➢ This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement

What people did during Civil Disobedience:

➢ Broke salt laws, manufactured salt
➢ Demonstrations near salt factories
➢ Foreign cloth Boycotted, liquor shops picketed
➢ Paying revenue and chaukidari taxes stopped
➢ Village officials resigned
➢ Forest people violated forest laws — collected wood, grazed cattle in Reserved Forests

What Happened When the Government Reacted?

➢ Congress leaders arrested
➢ Abdul Ghaffar Khan arrested (April 1930) ➜ crowds demonstrated in Peshawar ➜ police firing ➜ many killed
➢ Gandhi arrested ➜ workers in Sholapur attacked police posts, municipal buildings, courts, and railway stations

Government responded with brutal repression:

➢ Peaceful satyagrahis attacked
➢ Women and children were beaten

What Was the Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931)?

➢ Gandhi called off the Civil Disobedience Movement
➢ Signed pact with Irwin on 5 March 1931
➢ Gandhi agreed to: Participate in the Round Table Conference in London
➢ Government agreed to: Release political prisoners

What happened next:

➢ Dec 1931 ➜ Gandhi went to London ➜ negotiations broke down ➜ returned disappointed
➢ Back in India: Ghaffar Khan and Nehru in jail, Congress declared illegal
➢ Gandhi relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement
➢ Movement continued for over a year, but lost momentum by 1934

How Participants Saw the Movement

Who Participated in Civil Disobedience — and Why?

Rich Peasants (Patidars of Gujarat, Jats of UP)

➢ For them, swaraj = end of high revenues
➢ 1931 – movement called off – without revenue revision ➜ deeply disappointed
➢ Many refused to rejoin in 1932

Poor Peasants

➢ Wanted the unpaid rent to landlords to be cancelled
➢ Joined radical movements
➢ Congress did not support “no rent” campaigns — feared upsetting landlords

Business Classes (Industrialists)

➢ Wanted protection against foreign imports
➢ Wanted better rupee-sterling exchange rate
➢ Formed Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress (1920) and FICCI (1927)
➢ Supported Civil Disobedience financially; boycotted foreign goods
➢ For them, swaraj = freedom from colonial trade restrictions
➢ After Round Table Conference failed ➜ became less enthusiastic
➢ Worried about socialism growing in Congress

Industrial Workers

➢ Did not participate in large numbers (except Nagpur region)
➢ Selectively adopted boycott of foreign goods
➢ Railway workers strike (1930), dockworkers strike (1932)
➢ 1930 ➜ Chotanagpur tin mine workers wore Gandhi caps and joined boycotts
➢ Congress did not include workers’ demands — feared alienating industrialists

Women

➢ Participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, picketed shops
➢ Saw service to the nation as a sacred duty

➢ But: Congress wanted only their symbolic presence — not real authority in the organisation
➢ Gandhi saw women’s primary role as in the home and family

The Limits of Civil Disobedience

Dalits (“Untouchables”)

➢ Ignored by Congress for fear of offending conservative high-caste Hindus (Sanatanis)
➢ Gandhi called them “Harijan” (children of God)
➢ Gandhi organised satyagraha for their entry into temples, public wells, tanks, roads, schools
➢ Gandhi cleaned toilets to dignify sweepers’ work (bhangi)

➢ Dalit leaders wanted a different solution = reserved seats and a separate electorate
➢ Dr B. R. Ambedkar organised dalits into the Depressed Classes Association (1930)
➢ At Second Round Table Conference ➜ Ambedkar demanded separate electorates
➢ British agreed ➜ Gandhi began fast unto death
➢ Gandhi’s reason: Separate electorates would slow integration of dalits into society
➢ Result: Poona Pact (September 1932)

Poona Pact:
Depressed Classes got reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils — but voted in by the general electorate, not a separate one

Dalit participation in Civil Disobedience was limited, especially in Maharashtra and Nagpur

Muslims

➢ After the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement ended, many Muslims felt alienated from Congress.
➢ Congress aligned with Hindu groups(Hindu Maha Sabha)
➢ Hindu-Muslim communal riots increased

Jinnah was willing to drop the demand for separate electorates if Muslims got:

1. Reserved seats in the Central Assembly.
2. Proportional representation in Bengal and Punjab.

➢ 1928 All Parties Conference — compromise blocked by M. R. Jayakar
(Hindu Mahasabha)
➢ Muslims feared their identity would be lost under Hindu majority rule.

The Sense of Collective Belonging

Key People

How Did a Sense of Collective Belonging Develop?

Two main ways:
➢ Through united struggles against colonialism
➢ Through cultural processes — history, fiction, folklore, songs, prints, and symbols

All of these helped nationalism capture people’s imagination.

What Was the Role of Bharat Mata?

➢ Nations are often symbolized in a figure or image — so people can identify with the nation
➢ India came to be associated with the image of Bharat Mata

How the image of Bharat Mata was created:

➢ Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay first created this image
➢ In the 1870s, he wrote “Vande Mataram” as a hymn to the motherland
➢ Later included it in his novel Anandamath
➢ Widely sung during the Swadeshi movement in Bengal

The painting:

➢ Abanindranath Tagore painted the famous image of Bharat Mata
In his painting, Bharat Mata is shown as an ascetic figure — calm, composed, divine, and spiritual
➢ Devotion to this mother figure came to be seen as evidence of nationalism

Folk Revival Movement

Cause → Event → Effect

Cause:
➢ Nationalists believed folk traditions gave a true picture of traditional culture
➢ This culture – corrupted and damaged by outside (colonial) forces
➢ Preserving folk traditions = discovering national identity + restoring pride in the past

Event:
➢ Nationalists began recording folk tales sung by bards
➢ Toured villages to gather folk songs and legends
➢ Rabindranath Tagore collected ballads, nursery rhymes and myths — led the folk revival in Bengal
➢ Natesa Sastri published The Folklore of Southern India, a 4-volume collection of Tamil folk tales
➢ He believed folklore was “the most trustworthy manifestation of people’s real thoughts and characteristics”

Effect:
➢ Folk tradition became linked to national identity
➢ People across regions felt connected through shared cultural roots

What Role Did Flags and Symbols Play?

Swadeshi Movement Flag (Bengal):

➢ A tricolour — red, green and yellow
➢ Had 8 lotuses ➜ represented 8 provinces of British India
➢ Had a crescent moon ➜ represented Hindus and Muslims

Swaraj Flag (1921) — designed by Gandhi:

➢ A tricolour — red, green and white
➢ Had a spinning wheel in the centre
➢ Spinning wheel = Gandhian ideal of self-help
➢ Carrying the flag during marches became a symbol of defiance

How Was History Used to Build Nationalism?

The Problem:
➢ British portrayed Indians as backward and primitive — incapable of governing themselves

The Response:
➢ Indians looked into the past to find India’s great achievements
➢ They wrote about the glorious ancient period — when the following flourished:

Art and architecture
Science and mathematics
Religion and culture
Law and philosophy
Crafts and trade

These nationalist histories urged readers to take pride in India’s past and fight British rule

What Were the Problems with This Approach?

When the glorified past was Hindu and the images were from Hindu iconography ➜ people of other communities felt left out.

⁘⁘⁘⁘⁘⁘⁘End of Notes on Nationalism in India ⁘⁘⁘⁘⁘⁘⁘

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