Question

about civildisobedient movement

Answer 1

The movement began with Gandhiji's Dandi March on 12th March, 1930. The movement spread to all parts of the country. Students, workers, farmers and women all participated in it with great zeal and fervour. People refused to pay taxes, picketed shops who were selling foreign goods and liquor. It also called for the boycott of educational institutions, offices and courts. The British Government tried its best to crush the movement. Gandhiji, Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders were arrested. The Congress was declared unlawful. Restrictions were imposed on the press. Large number of volunteers were beaten and jailed.

Answer 2

The Civil Disobedience Movement led by Mahatama Gandhi, in the year 1930 was an important milestone in the history of Indian Nationalism. During the Non-Cooperation Movement, the Indians learnt how philosophical tenets like ‘non violence’ and ‘passive resistance’ could be used to wage political battles. The programs and policies adopted in the movements spearheaded by Gandhi reflected his political ideologies of ahimsa and satyagraha. While the Non-Cooperation Movement was built on the lines of ‘non violent-non-cooperation’, the essence of The Civil Disobedience Movement was ‘defying of the British laws’. Through his leadership to the National Movements, he not only buttressed his political stance but also played a crucial role in unification of the country, awakening of the masses, and bringing politics within the arena of the common man.

Important Cause of the Civil Disobedience Movement

Simon Commission: One of the main factors was the Simon Commission. This was formed by the British Government that included solely the members of the British Parliament, in November 1927, to draft and formalize a constitution for India. The chairmanship of the commission rested with Sir John Simon, who was a well known lawyer and an English statesman. Accused of being an 'All-White Commission', the Simon Commission was rejected by all political and social segments of the country. In Bengal, the opposition to the Simon Commission assumed a massive scale, with a hartal being observed in all corners of the province on February 3rd, 1928. On the occasion of Simon's arrival in the city, demonstrations were conducted in Calcutta.


The Launch of the Civil Disobedience Movement: First Stage

Dandi March:
On the historic day of 12th March, 1930, Gandhi inaugurated ‘The Civil Disobedience Movement’ by conducting the historic Dandi Salt March, where he broke the Salt Laws imposed by the British Government. Followed by an entourage of seventy nine ashramites, Gandhi embarked on his march from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi that is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea. On 6th April 1930, Gandhi with the accompaniment of seventy nine satyagrahis, violated the Salt Law by picking up a fistful of salt lying on the sea shore. They manually made salt on the shores of Dandi.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact:
In the meantime, the First Round Table Conference was held in 1930, with no Congress member as the participant of the Conference. This led to the meeting of Gandhi and Lord Irwin, the viceroy in March 1931. Here they signed a pact, which came to be known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. Accordingly, they agreed on the Discontinuation of the civil disobedience movement by the Indian National Congress participation by the Indian National Congress in the Round Table Conference withdrawal of all ordinances issued by the British Government imposing curbs on the activities of the Indian National Congress withdrawal of all prosecutions relating to several types of offenses except those involving violence release of prisoners arrested for participating in the civil disobedience movement removal of the tax on salt, which allowed the Indians to produce, trade, and sell salt legally and for their own private use.

Second Round Table Conference

Gandhi attended The Second Round Table Conference in London accompanied by Smt. Sarojini Naidu. At this Conference, it was claimed by Mahatma Gandhi that the Congress represented more than eighty five percent of the Indian population.
During this Conference, Gandhi could not reach agreement with the Muslims on Muslim representation and safeguards. Gandhi's claim of the Congress representing majority was not endorsed by the British and also the Muslim representative. The final blow to Gandhi came when at the end of the conference Ramsay MacDonald undertook to produce a Communal Award for minority representation, with the provision that any free agreement between the parties could be substituted for his award. Thus, the Second Round Table Conference proved to be futile for the Indians and Gandhi returned to the country without any positive result.
The political scene in India thereafter assumed an acute dimension. The Viceroy, Lord Willington, in the absence of Gandhi has adopted the policy of repression. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact was violated and the Viceroy took to the suppression of the Congress. The Conservative party, which was in power in England, complied with the decision to assume a repressive stance against the Congress and the Indians. The Congress was also held responsible by the government to have instigated the 'Red Shirts' to participate in The Civil Disobedience Movement, led byKhan Abdul Ghaffar and provoking the cultivators of U.P to refuse to pay land revenue. Adding to this was the serious economic crisis that took hold of the country. Under such circumstances, the resumption of The Civil Disobedience Movement was inevitable.