Non-cooperation Movement

M.K. Gandhi issued a manifesto in March 1920, announcing

his doctrine of non-violent Non-Cooperation Movement. He was the main force behind the movement and urged the people to adopt swadeshi principles and habits including hand spinning, weaving and work for removal of untouchability. He addressed lakhs of people during his nation-wide tour in 1921. He suspended the movement after an outburst of violence at Chauri Chaura in UP in February 1922.

C.R. Das moved the main resolution on non-cooperation in the annual session of the Congress in Nagpur in 1920 and played a major role in promoting the movement. A successful lawyer, he boycotted the law courts and gave up a lucrative practice. His three subordinates and supporters, Birendranath Samsal in Midnapore,

J.M. Sengupta in Chittagong and Subhash Bose in Calcutta played a major role in uniting the Hindus and Muslims.

Jawaharlal Nehru carried on the non-cooperation propaganda and encouraged the formation of kisan sabhas to take up the cause of the peasants exploited by government policies. He was against Gandhi’s decision to withdraw the movement.

J.M. Sengupta, a Bengali nationalist leader, supported the labourers on tea plantations in Assam in their protests and strike.

Basanti Debi, wife of C.R. Das, was one of the first women volunteers to court arrest in 1921.

Birendranath Samsal organised the anti-union board agitation in the Contai and Tamluk sub-divisions of Midnapore. In November- December 1921, Samsal initiated a no-tax movement among the Mahishya substantial tenantry of Midnapore.

Jitendralal Banerji organised the peasants in 1921-22 to resist settlement operations in Bogra, Pabna and Birbhum.

Subhash Chandra Bose supported the movement and resigned from the civil service. He was appointed the principal of the National College in Calcutta.

Ali brothers (Shaukat Ali and Muhammed Ali) who were the foremost Khilafat leaders vehemently supported Gandhi in his nation-wide tour to spread the movement. At the All India Khilafat Conference, Muhammed Ali declared that ‘it was religiously unlawful for the Muslims to continue in the British Army’. The Ali brothers were arrested later.

Motilal Nehru renounced his legal practice in response to the non-cooperation call by Gandhi. He was arrested in 1921. Other notable lawyers who gave up their practice included M.R. Jayakar, Saifuddin Kitchlew, Vallabhbhai Patel, C. Rajagopalachari, T. Prakasam and Asaf Ali. Their sacrifice inspired many others, who boycotted government jobs and entered the mainstream of freedom struggle.

Lala Lajpat Rai was initially not in favour of the policy of non-cooperation (he was against the boycott of schools) but later he supported the movement. In fact he protested against its withdrawal in 1922.

Rajendra Prasad actively supported the Gandhian movement in Bihar.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel spread the movement in Gujarat and regarded non-cooperation as a feasible alternative to revolutionary terrorism to fight against a colonial government.

Motilal Tejawat organised the Bhils and the Bhil movement strengthened the non-cooperation activities.

Alluri Sitaram Raju led the tribals in Andhra and combined their demands with those of the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Hasrat Mohani, a Khilafat leader, condemned the arrest of the Ali brothers and demanded complete independence.

Purushottamdas Thakurdas, Jamnadas Dwarkadas, Cowasji Jehangir, Phroze Sethna and Setalvad, all of whom belonged to the industrialist section, launched an Anti-Non-Cooperation Association in 1920.

Kunhammad Haji, Kalathingal Mammad, Ali Musaliar, Sithi Koya Thangal and Imbechi Koya Thangal acted as presidents of the Khilafat Republics set up at a number of places.

K. Madhavan Nair, U. Gopala Menon, Yakub Hasan and

P. Moideen Koya were the Khilafat leaders and supporters of the Non-Cooperation Movement. They were arrested in February 1921.

Muhammad Osman, another Khilafat agitator, organised volunteer groups and trade unions in Calcutta.

Swami Vishwanand (supported by Ramjas Agarwala, a Marwari mine owner) and Swami Darsananand organised the coal miners of the Raniganj-Jharia belt for the Non-Cooperation Movement. Kishan Singh and Mota Singh called for no-revenue movements and headed the ‘Babbar Akali’ group, which emerged as a dissident of Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee, in

1921 in Jullundur and Hoshiarpur.

Jairamadas Daulatram was a close associate of Gandhi and promoted the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Swami Govindanand, a supporter of Gandhi, was jailed for five years on charges of sedition in May 1921. He later became a critic of the Congress.

S.A. Dange, R.S. Nimbkar, V.D. Sathaye, R.V. Nadkarni,

S.V. Deshpande and K.N. Joglekar were members of a radical student group and promoted the movement although they were not in line with Gandhi’s views. They were influenced by R.B. Lotwalla, a millionaire with a socialist leaning. Dange, in April 1921, wrote Gandhi versus Lenin and was in favour of swaraj which would nationalise factories and distribute zamindari land among farmers.

Thiru Vika supported the labour uprising and strike at the Buckingham and Carnatic textile mills from July to October 1921. Singaravelu Chettiar was a lawyer and labour organiser in Madras and played a significant role in merging the labour and freedom movements. He was the first communist in south India and was in favour of using non-violent non-cooperation against ‘capitalistic

autocracy’.

Konda Venkatappaya, A. Kaleswara Rao, T. Prakasam and Pattabhi Sitaramaya led the Non-Cooperation Movement in the Andhra delta region.

Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya inspired the inhabitants of the small town of Chirala-Parala in Guntur district to resist the Government’s plan to make the town a municipality and the hike in local taxes.

N.C. Bardaloi, an Assam Congress leader, favoured non- cooperation but was against strikes in plantations, as he himself was a planter.

‘Assam Kesari’ Ambikagiri Roy Chaudhuri’s poetry had a profound impact on the Assamese and helped in arousing nationalist spirit in them.

Muzaffar Ahmad formed the pioneer communist group in Calcutta. He was influenced by M.N. Roy and Nalini Gupta.

Someshwarprasad Chaudhuri, a student in Calcutta, organised the peasants protesting against indigo cultivation on the Rajshaski-Nadia and Pabna-Murshidabad border.

Purushottamdas Tandon, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, Govind Ballabh Pant and Lal Bahadur Shastri began their political careers in 1920-21, with the onset of the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Premchand, a well-known novelist, resigned his post in a Gorakhpur government school in February 1921 and started contributing to the journal Aaj. His novels Premasharam, Rangbhumi etc., reflect Gandhian principles and values and endorse non- cooperation as an effective weapon to gain freedom.

Baba Ramchandra organised peasants’ revolt in south and south-east Awadh and helped merge the peasants’ revolt with the Non-Cooperation Movement. He was arrested in February 1921.

A. Shah Naim Ata announced himself ‘King of Salon’ and initiated no-taxes movement.

M.N. Roy, a communist leader, was the editor of the communist journal Vanguard. He condemned the sessions court’s sentence to death to 172 of the 225 accused in the Chauri Chaura incident (later, 19 were hanged and the rest transported) as against 22 policemen killed.

Bhagwan Ahir, an army pensioner in Gorakhpur village, was beaten up by the British police. The incident flared up nationalist sentiments in the village, which then led to the killing of 22 policemen in Chauri-Chaura, by the peasants.