CBSE Class 10 Hstory Notes Chapter 2- Nationalism in

India
lntroduction
ln the chapter Nationalísm in lndia class 10,it is desoribed as the feeling when people of a
country develop a senseof common belonging and are united in a common thread. Their
struggles unite thewm, and they tend to form a commOn identity. tt covers nationalism in

mawy parts ofthe word lilee Germany, France, Britain, vietnan, tndia, and many
others.

The First World war, Khilafat and No-Cooperatiow

Effeots of First World war:
1. The Frst World war led to a huge inorease in defenoe expenditure.
2. This was finanoed by war loans and by inoreasing taxes.
3. Custom duties were lnoreased and income tax was introduced to raise extra
revenue.

4. Prioes of goods inereased during thewar years.

5. Forced reoruitment of rural people in the army was anothercause of widespread
anger amongstpeople.
The tdea of satyagraha
1. Mahatwma Gandhi returned to tndia in january1915.
2. His historio flght for the tndians in SouthAfrica was welL-known.
3. His noble method of mass agitatiow known as satyagraha has given good
results.

4. The ideaof satyagraha emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for
truth.

Satyagraha movement
1. ln1917,Gandhi travelled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the peasants to
against the oppressive plantatiow system.
struggle
2. The method of satyagraha was based on the idea that if someone is fighting for
a true oaust, there is no need to MSe
any physical force to fightthe oppressor.
3. Gandhijt believed that a satyagrani could win a battle through nonviolence, i..
without being aggressive or revengeful.

tmportantsatyagraha movements organised by Gandhijt:

1. Peasants Movementin champaran (Binar) in 1917.
2. Peasants' Movementin Kheda district (Gujarat) in 191g.
3. Mill workers' Movement in Ahmedabad in 1918.
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 TheRowatt Act (1919):
1. The ROWLatt Act was passed by the lmperial Legislative Council in 1919.

2. The lndian members did not support the Act, but it was passed
3. The Act gave enormous powers to the Britísh Governnment to repress polítícal
activities.

4. tt allowed detentiow of political prisoners without trial for two years.

Gandhi's satyagraha against ROwLatt Act:

1. On Gth April, 1919, Gandnijí Launched a natiowwide satyagraha against the

2.
pr pc
e call
RowlattAct
of a strike on6 April got a huge response.
3. People oame out in support in various cities, shops were shut doww and workers in
railway workshops went on strike.
4. The British administration declded toclamp down ow the nationalists.
5.Stveral Local leaders were arrested. Mahatma Gandhi was barred from entering
Delhi.

Jalliawwala Bagh lncident:

1. Ow 10th April 1919, in Awritsar, the Police fired upon a peaceful procession.
2. This provolked widespread attacks on goverment establishments.
3. Martial Law was imposed in Amritsar and the oomand of the area was given tO

General Dyer.
4. The infamous (shockking) Jallianwala Bagh Massaore took place on 13th April; the
day ow which Baisakhi is oelebrated in Punjab.
5.A orowd of villagers came to participate in a fair in jalliawwala Bagh. It was
enolosed sides with naow entry polnts.
from all

6. General Dyer blocked the exit points and opened fire on the orowd.
Hundreds of peoplewere killed in that incident.
8. Publio reaction tothe incident tookk a violent turn in many north lndian towns.
9. The government was quite brutal in its response.

10.Things turmed highly violent.

11.Mahatma candht oalled off the movement as he dld not want to continue the
violence.

Khilafat Movement:
1. The Khilafat issue gave Mahatma Gandhi an opportunity to bring the Hindus and
Muslims ow a commOnplatform.
2. The ottoman Turkey was badly defeated in the First World war.
3. There were umours about a harsh peace treaty likely to be imposed on the ottoman
Emperor, who was the spiritual head of the islamio wort
world (the Khalifa).
o

4. A KhiLafat comittee was formed in Bombay in March 1919 to defend the

Khalifa.
5.This comnittee had leaders Like the brothers Muhammad AlL
and shaukat AlL,
6. They alsowanted Manatma Gandhi to takt up the cause to build a united mass
action,
 . At the caloutta
passed
Swaraj.
Now-Cooperation
to
sessiow of the Congress ln September 1920, the resolution was
Launch a NOW-Cooperation Movement in spport of Khilafat and also for

MOVement:
1. ln his famous book Hind swaraj (1909), Mahatma Gandhi declared that British
nule was establíshed in tndia with the cooperatío of tndians and had survived only
because of this cooperation. If tndians refused to cooperate, Britiísh rule in tndia
would oollapsewithin a year, and Swarajwould be established.
2. Gandht(i believed that if tndians begin to refuseto co-operate, the British rulers wil
have no other way than to Leave tndia.

Some of the proposals of Now cooperation Movement:

1. Surrender the titles which were awarded by the Britísh Goverwment.
2. Boyoott of Civil Stvioes, Army, Police, Courts, Legislative Counoils and schools.
3. Boycott offoreign goods.
4. Launch full Civil Disobedience campaign, if the government persistedwith
repressive measures.

Differing Strands within the Movement

The Movement in the Towns
1. The middle-olass started the movement and thousands of students, teachers,
headmasters left goverwment-controlled sohools and colleges, Lawyers gave up
their legal practices.
2. ln the eoonomio front, the effeots of non-oooperation were more dramatio. The
production of indian textile mills and handlooms went up when people started

boyotting foreign goods.

3. However,this movement slowed doww due to a variety of reasons suoh as Khadi
clothes are expensive, less lndian institutions forstudents and teachers to choose
from, so they went back to government schools and lawyers joined back
government courts
Rebelllon in the Countryside
1. The Now-Cooperatiow Movement spread to the countryside where peasants and
in different parts of lndia. The peasant wmovement started
tribals were developing
against talukdars and Landlords who demanded high rents and a variety of
other oesses.tt demanded reductiow of revenue, abolition of begar and social
boyoott of oppressive Landlords.
Jawaharlal Nehru inJune 1920, started golng around the villages in Awadh to
2.
understand their grievances. ln October, he along with few others set up the Oudh
Kisan sabha and withina month 300 branches had been set up. tn 1921, the
peasant movemet spread and the houses of talukdars Qnd merohants were
attacked, bazaars were Looted and grain boards were taken ove
3. ln the early 1920os, a militant guerrila movement started spreading in the
Gudem tills of Andlhra Pradesh. The goverwment started closing down forest
areas due to which their livelinood was affected.Finally, the hl people vevoltedl,
 which was led by Allurt sitaram Raju who claimed that he had a variety of
special powers.

Swaraj in the Platations

1. For plantation worikers in Assam,freedom meant right to wmove freely in and out
and retaining a link with the villagefrom which they had oowe.

2. nderthe tnand Emigratíow Act of1859, plantation worleerswere not permitted to

leave the tea gardens without permission.

3, After they heard ofthe Non-cooperatiow MoVement, thousands of worlkers left the
plantations and headed home.

4. But, unfortunately, they never reached their destinatiow and were oaught by the
police and brutally beaten up.

Towards Civl Disobedience

SiMOn Commissíon
1. The British Goverwment constituted a statutory Commissiow under the sirjohw
Simon.
2. The Commission was made to lookk into the functioning of the oonstitutional
system in tndia and suggest changes.But sinoe all the wennbers in the
commissiow were British,the tndian leadersopposed the commissiow.
3. The Simon Commission arrived tndia in 1928.
4. It was greeted with the slogan Go Back simon.
5. All party joned the protest. In october 1929, Lord Irwbw announoed a vague offer of
"Dominion Status' for tndia but its timing was not specified.

6. He also offered to hold a Round Table Cowferenoe to discuss the future

Constltutíow.
The salt March and the Civl DÍsobedience MOVement
1. Mahatma Gandhi believed that saltcould be a powertul symbol to unite the whole
natiow.,

2. MOst of thepeoplelncludlng the British sooffed atthe ldea, Abolitiow of the salttax
was among many demandswhich raised by Gandhiji through a letter to viceroy
Irwiw.
3. The Salt Maroh or Dandl Maroh was started by GandhjL ow 12 Maroh, 1930.
4. He was accompanied by e
Volunteers. They walleed for 24 days to oover a
distanoe of 240miles from sabarmati to
5.Manyjouned them ow the way.On Gth April,1930, Gandhijl ceremonially violated
the Law by manufacturing a fistfulof salt.

6. The Salt March marked thebeginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

7. Thousands of people broke salt law in differentparts of theoountry, People
demonstrated in frout of government salt factories.
8. Foreign clothes were boycotted.Peasants vefused to pay revenue.
9. village officials resigned. Tribal people violated forestLaws
ROund Table conference:
1. When things began totake a violentturn, Mahatma qandhi called-offthe
movement.
2. He signed a pact with Irwin on 5th March, 1931.
3. Thís was oalled theGandhi-lrwin Pact.
4. Asper the Pact, Gandhi agreed to participate in the ROund Table Conferenoe in
London, tn lieu of that,thegovernment agreed to release the politícal prísoners.

5.Gandhti went to London in December 1931.

6. The negotiations broke down and qandijee had to return with disappointment.
When Gandnijt oame back to tndia,he found that wmost of the Leaders wereput in
jail.

7. Congress had been deolared Legal. Marny measures were taken to preVent
meetings, demonstratíons and boycotts.
8. Mahatma candhi relaunohed the Civl Disobedience MOvement.
By 1934, the movement had Lost its momentum.
How Participants saw the Movement
1. The Patidars of Gujarat and the jats of uttar Pradesh were active in the
movement.They became enthusiastio supporters of the Civil oisobedience Movement.
But they were deeply dísappointed when the movement was calLed off in 1931. S0
when the movement was restarted in 1932, many of them refused to participate.
The poorer peasants joined a variety off radioal movements, often by Socialists
n
led

and Communists.
2. To organise business interests, the tndian tndustrial and Commeroial Congress in

1920Qnd the Federatiow of the tndian Chamber of Cowmerce and tndustries

(FICC) i 1927 was formed.The industrialistsattacked colonialcontrolover the
lndian economy and supported the Civl DÍsobediene MOVement when it was flrst
Launohed. Someof the industrial workers did participate in the civl Disobedienoe
Movement. In 193o and 1932 railway workers and dook workers were on strike.
3, Another important feature of thecivl Disobedienoe MoVement was the Large-soale
participatipnof women. But,fora long time, Congress was reluctant to alow
woen to hold any positionof authority within the organisation.

The Limits of civl Dsobedienoe

1. Dalits,addressed as untouchables were not moved by the concept of Swaraj.
Mahatma Gandhi used to oalL them harijans or the children of God, without whow
swaraj could not be achieved.

2. He organised satyagraha for the wntouchables but they were keen on a different
political solution to theproblemS of theoommunity. They demanded reserved seats

in educational institutionsand a separate electorate.

3. Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the Dalits into the Depressed Classes Association
in 1930, clashed with Mahatma Gandhi at the second ROund Table conferenee by
demanding separate electorates for Dalits.
 4. The PoDna PactofSeptember 1932, gave the Depressed classes (later to be knoww as
thescheduled castes) reserved seats inprovncialand central legislative counoils.
5.Afterthe decline ofthe NowCooperatiowKhilafat movement, Muslims felt
alienated from the Congress due to which the relations between Hindus and
Muslims Worsened.

6. Muhammad ALL Jinnah was willing to give ucp thederand forseparate electorates
if Muslims were assured reserved seats in the Central Assembly and representation
in proportion to populatiow in the Muslin-dominated provinces.
NeVertheless, the hope of vesolving the issue at the A Parties Conferenoe in 1928
disappeared when M.R Jayakar ofthe tindu Mahasabha strongly opposed efforts
at oompromise.

The Sense of Collective Belonging

1. Nationalist Movenment spreads when people belonging to different regions and
cOmmunities begin to develop à stnseof collective belongingness.
2. The identity ofa natiow is most often symbolized in a figure or an image. The
image ofBharat Mata was first oreated by Bankim Chandra Chattopadnyay in
1870when he wrote "vande Mataram forour motherland.
3. lndian folk songs and folk tales sung by people played an importantrole in
promoting the idea of nationalism. InBengal, Rabindranath Tagore and in
Madras, Natesa sastri made collectio offolk tales and songs which led the
Movement forfolke revival
4. During the Swadeshi Movement, a tri-color (red,green and yellow) flag was
designedin Bengal. thad eight Lotuses representing eight provinces and a oresoent
moon representing Hindus and Muslins.
5. Means oforeatingafeeling of nationalismwas through veinterpretatiow of history.
The nationalist writers urged the readers to takepríde in tndia's great achievements
in the past and struggle tochange the miserable cowditions of Life under British
rule.
Conclusion
tnthefirst halfof thetwentieth century,various groups and classes of lndianscame

together for the struggle of independence. The Congress under the Leadership of Mahata
Gandhi attempted to resolve differenoes and ensurethat the demands ofone group did
not alienate another. tn other words,what was emerging was a nationw with many voices
wanting freedom from colonial nale.