why did the industrialists and business classes participate in civil disobedience movement?
Answers
The business and the industrialist class support the Civil Disobedience Movement because of the following reasons:
# During the First World War, the Indian merchants and industrialists had made huge profits and had become economically powerful.
# Since they were keen on expanding their business, they now reacted against colonial policies that restricted business activities. The Indian industrialists 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.
When Gandhiji launched the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930, the Indian industrialists and business classes also came to realise the importance of standing by one’s own nation and supporting it causes and interests. Hence most of them participated in the movement whole-heartedly.
The movement had an appeal among all classes, since it was based on non-violence and passive resistance. All programmes and policies of the movement were based on Gandhiji’s ideologies of ‘ahimsa’ and ‘satyagraha’.