Between 1920 and 1922 there was a non-cooperation movement that was organized by the Indians against the British rule. These were the Indians trying to struggle for their freedom; Mahatma Gandhi was led this movement that was supported by the Indian National Congress.
The movement was focused on resisting the British from occupying India (Partha 34). It was based on non-violent means to achieve its goal.
This movement meant that Indians would refuse trading with the British. The Indians would adopt local cultures and ignore the British cultures imposed on them and more importantly uphold the Indian values of honor and integrity (Partha 35).
The movement became more powerful in the 1920s and there was fear that the movement would bring popular violence. There were some significant values that led to the movement which were colonial oppression, economic hardships to the citizens of India (Partha 45).
This was due to large amounts of Indian wealth that was being exported. Another issue was undermining the Indian industries that manufactured basic goods such as clothing. This was brought about by the British factories that made goods replacing the handmade goods.
The movement also had an issue with the Indian soldiers that died during the World War 1 while fighting for the British Army and the Indians were not involved in the war (Partha 50).
The British never took the movement seriously since there were some political leaders namely Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Bal Gangadhar who carried out public meetings and filed petitions but never ended up in obstruction or disorder of any government services hence the British did not see any dangers in that and made them to take the movement lightly (Chandavarkar 61).
The non-cooperation movement sought to finish the British power structure and economic strength. They wanted to push for peoples demands and ensure changes were seen.
Some revolutionaries like Bhagat for example supported the movement but they were dissatisfied by the dismissal of the movement by Gandhi and this negatively affected the movement into failing to be taken seriously (Chandavarkar 65).
Rajendra Prasad and Jawaharlal Nehru were the revolutionaries who assisted India during the revolution. At a meeting of unarmed Indian civilians held by Jallianwala Bagh the soldiers under the British command fired upon them hence over powering them making it impossible to go against the British rule.
To make matters worse the only exit had been blocked making it impossible to escape. The attack resulted to 370 protestors being killed and more than a 1000 left injured (Chandavarkar 102). The movement was also faced with a challenge when they encouraged other Indians to stop attending the Raj-sponsored schools.
They mobilized people and urged them to quit the military, the civil service and the police service. Lawyers were to boycott Raj’s court. People were encouraged to boycott goods manufactured in Britain and imported to India and the Public transport, especially clothing was boycotted.
These made many of the veterans like Mohammed Ali Jinnah to oppose the movement hence giving it a challenge to win against the British (Chandavarkar 110).
Gandhi had started the movement as non-violent but in 1922 there was violence between the protesters and the police in which 3 protesters were killed by the police firing at them (Amin 21). This resulted in a mob killing 22 police by setting their station on fire.
This incident led to a public appeal by Gandhiji for people to end the protests. He was arrested March 18, 1922 and accused of publishing seditious materials.
Between 1930 and 1934 the civil disobedience movement was introduced that was aiming at violating the law. Indians had this time made up their minds to get full independence (Amin 23).
Millions of Indians joined the salt Satyagraha which made Indians be known worldwide for its movement without violence. The movement succeeded against the British and the Indian demands were met (Amin 30).
Works Cited
Amin, Shahid. Gandhi as Mahatma: Gorakhpur District, Eastern UP, 1921-2. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1921. Print.
Chandavarkar, Raju. Indian Nationalism and Popular Protests. London: McGraw Hill, 1946. Print
Partha, Chatterjee. The Nation and its Fragments. New Delhi: Raja Publishers ,1993. Print.