Question

why did gandhiji launch civil disobedience movement?why did he with draw in 1931?

Answer 1

When and why was civil disobedience movement launched and called off?

The Civil Disobedience Movement led by M K 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.

Causes 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 Nehru Report: The British justified that ‘disharmony among the various groups in the country’ was the reason why Indians were not included in the Simon Commission. In 1925 and 1927, Lord Birkenhead, the Secretary of State, had challenged the Indian leaders to draft a constitution to which all parties would agree (keeping the communal disunity in mind). Representative of the congress, the league, the liberals, the Hindu Mahasabha, the central Sikh league, and a number of smaller groups representing labour, business and other interests, met in an all-parties` conference between February and May 1928. A select committee was appointed for the actual drafting of the constitutional scheme. Pandit Motilal Nehru with Tej Bahadur Sapru, sir Ali Imam, Sardar Mangal Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose as its members. The Nehru committee`s report as it was called was submitted on 10 August, 1928.

The Nehru report stated that the 'next immediate step for India must be ‘dominion status’. The Nehru report was approved by the congress at Calcutta in December 1928. Gandhiji sponsored a resolution agreeing to ‘dominion status’ so long as the British accepted the Nehru constitution in its entirety, which should happen in one year. If they did not, congress would `organize a campaign of non-violent non-co-operation` which would include refusal to pay taxes. The failure of the Government to comply with the Nehru report finally made the Congress to launch Civil Disobedience Movement under Gandhiji.