Why was the khilafat movement supported by mahatma gandhi?
Answers
Mahatma Gandhi supported the khilafat movement because he wanted the hindu and muslims to reunite and he knew that if he supported khilafat movement then the Muslims would surely supoort his quit india movement in return
(i) The Rowlatt Satyagraha had been a wide spread movement, no doubt, but it was still limited mostly to cities and towns.
(ii) Mahatma Gandhi now felt the need to launch a more broad-based movement in India.
(iii) But he was certain that no such movement could be organised without bringing the Hindus and Muslims closer together. One way of doing this, he felt, was to take up the Khilafat issue. Therefore, he decided to support this issue.
(iv) In the First World War, Ottoman Turkey was defeated and a harsh peace treaty was imposed on the Ottoman emperor, the spiritual head of the Islamic world (the Khalifa).
(v) To defend the Khalifa’s temporal powers, a Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March, 1919.