How was the idea of swaraj different for a different community?
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here's how swaraj means different for different types of people...
a)rich peasants:
In the countryside, rich peasant communities – like the Patidars of Gujarat and the Jats of Uttar Pradesh – were active in the movement.
Being producers of commercial crops, they were very hard hit by the trade depression and falling prices.
As their cash income disappeared, they found it impossible to pay the government’s revenue demand.
And the refusal of the government to reduce the revenue demand led to widespread resentment.
These rich peasants became enthusiastic supporters of the Civil Disobedience Movement, organising their communities, and at times forcing reluctant members, to participate in the boycott programmes.
For them the fight for swaraj was a struggle against high revenues
b) poor peasants:
Many of them were small tenants cultivating land they had rented from landlords.
As the Depression continued and cash incomes dwindled, the small tenants found it difficult to pay their rent.
They wanted the unpaid rent to the landlord to be remitted.
They joined a variety of radical movements, often led by Socialists and Communists.
c)business men:
During the First World War, Indian merchants and industrialists had made huge profits and become powerful .
Keen on expanding their business, they now reacted against colonial policies that restricted business activities.
They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports
. To organise business interests, they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927.
Led by prominent industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla, the industrialists attacked colonial control over the Indian economy, and supported the Civil Disobedience Movement when it was first launched.
They gave financial assistance and refused to buy or sell imported goods.
Most businessmen came to see swaraj as a time when colonial restrictions on business would no longer exist and trade and industry would flourish without constraints
d) industrial workers:
The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement in large numbers, except in the Nagpur region.
As the industrialists came closer to the Congress, workers stayed aloof.
But some workers did participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement, selectively adopting some ideas of the Gandhian programme, like boycott of foreign goods, as part of their own movements against low wages and poor working conditions.
There were strikes by railway workers in 1930 and dockworkers in 1932.
In 1930 thousands of workers in Chotanagpur tin mines wore Gandhi caps and participated in protest rallies and boycott campaigns
e) women:
Another important feature of the Civil Disobedience Movement was the large-scale participation of women.
During Gandhiji’s salt march, thousands of women came out of their homes to listen to him.
They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops.
Many went to jail.
In urban areas these women were from high-caste families; in rural areas they came from rich peasant households.
Moved by Gandhiji’s call, they began to see service to the nation as a sacred duty of women.
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Answer:
Swaraj meant different things to different people.
1) Middle classes in cities- For the middle classes in cities, the call of Swaraj led to boycott of government institutions. In towns, the movement was relatively peaceful. Students, teachers and headmasters left schools and colleges while lawyers quit their legal practices. The council elections were boycotted in most provinces. Foreign goods and clothes were boycotted and burnt, while liquor shops were picketed. Swaraj, in this sense, meant economic independence. The businessmen also refused to sell foreign goods. However, the movement slowed down gradually due to lack of alternatives.
2) For the peasants and tribals, Swaraj meant not only freedom from British rule, but also from exploitation at the hands of landlords. Peasants were charged exorbitant rent and were forced into bonded labour. Hence they organised themselves and demanded the reduction of revenue and abolition of beggar or bonded labour. In the countryside, the movement often showed streaks of violence, with houses of merchants being attacked. The tribals began guerilla resistance movements as they had been deprived of access to forest and its resources. These movements did not entirely follow the path of Congress. However, they were an integral part of the national struggle, giving it much needed strength.
Hope it helps you.