Question

Analyse the role of merchants and the industrialists in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Answer 1

Indian merchants and industrialistsmade huge profits during the First World War. The following pointsanalyse the role of merchants and the industrialists in the Civil Disobedience Movement. (i) They became powerful in the society and wanted to expand their business

Answer 2

The Indian merchants and the industrialist became

rich and powerful due to huge profits they made during

the First World War. Thus they started opposing the

colonial policies which restricted their business to

expand. They had two demands — protection against

the import of foreign goods and a favourable exchange

ratio of rupee and sterling. In the year 1920 and 1927,

Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress and the

Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and

Industries were formed respectively by the Indian

merchants and industrialist to organize their business

interest.Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G.D. Birla were

the prominent industrialist who supported the Civil

Disobedience Movement, given financial assistance,

refused to buy and sell the foreign goods and attacked

the colonial control. According to the merchants

and the industrialists, the meaning of Swaraj was

expansion of trade and business without restrictions by

the colonial government. But they were disheartened

due to the failure of the Round Table Conference.