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All 24 themes of modern India Now open: Khilafat and Non Cooperation

Part A The British conquest 1707 to 1857

  1. 01Mughal decline and the regional powers
  2. 02The European trading companies
  3. 03The Carnatic Wars
  4. 04The conquest of Bengal
  5. 05The wars of expansion
  6. 06Instruments of expansion and the frontiers
  7. 07Resistance before 1857
  8. 08The Revolt of 1857

Part B Awakening and early nationalism 1857 to 1915

  1. 09Socio religious reform movements
  2. 10Rise of organised nationalism
  3. 11Partition of Bengal and Swadeshi
  4. 12Revolutionary nationalism, first phase

Part C The Gandhian era 1893 to 1947

  1. 13Gandhi in South Africa
  2. 14The First World War years
  3. 15Khilafat and Non Cooperation
  4. 16Civil Disobedience
  5. 17The Left in the national movement
  6. 18Caste movements and the depressed classes
  7. 19Peasant, worker, tribal and princely state movements
  8. 20Quit India and the INA
  9. 21Communal politics and the Muslim League
  10. 22Partition and independence
  11. 23Women, capitalists, foreigners and others

Part D After 1947 1947 to 1975

  1. 24Integration and reorganisation

Theme 15Part C · The Gandhian era

Khilafat and Non Cooperation

1919 to 1931 · the first mass movement and the decade after it

This theme follows the first all India mass movement from its two roots, Khilafat and Punjab, to its sudden end at Chauri Chaura, then the quieter but crucial years of the Swarajists, the Simon boycott, the Nehru Report, and the second wave of revolutionaries.

19201922192419261928193019321934Khilafat and NCMNCM beginsMalabarChauri ChauraSwarajists to LahoreSwaraj PartySimonNehru ReportPurna SwarajRevolutionariesKakoriAssembly bombChittagonghanged

Event 11919 to 1922

Khilafat and Non Cooperation

Two grievances met in 1919 and 1920: Muslim anger at Britain's treatment of the Ottoman Sultan, the Khalifa, after the war, and the national anger over Punjab. Gandhi joined them into one movement, the first truly mass movement in Indian history.

The Khilafat question

  • Britain and its allies dismember the Ottoman empire; the Treaty of Sevres (1920) strips the Sultan of most of his lands.
  • The Ali brothers (Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali), Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Hasrat Mohani form the Khilafat Committee (1919).
  • Gandhi, president of the All India Khilafat Conference (November 1919), sees a chance to unite Hindus and Muslims against the government.

The programme

  1. Calcutta, Sept 1920special session adopts non cooperation
  2. Nagpur, Dec 1920confirms it; Congress reorganised by language provinces
  3. Boycotttitles, councils, courts, schools, foreign cloth
  4. Buildnational schools, panchayats, khadi, Tilak Swaraj Fund
₹1 croreTilak Swaraj Fund, raised by June 1921
about 20 lakhcharkhas in use
about 30,000in jail by end 1921
1 August 1920the day Tilak died and the movement began
Calcuttaspecial session NagpurDec 1920 AligarhJamia 1920 BenaresKashi Vidyapith AhmedabadGujarat Vidyapith PatnaBihar Vidyapith BombayPrince of Wales riots PratapgarhBaba Ramchandra Chirala Perala Midnapore Assam tea gardensChargola exodus Nankana SahibAkali, Feb 1921 MalabarMoplah rising Chauri Chaura5 Feb 1922 Bardoli

Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.

Students leave government colleges for new national ones: Jamia Millia Islamia (Aligarh 1920, later Delhi), Kashi Vidyapith, Gujarat Vidyapith, Bihar Vidyapith. Lawyers such as C. R. Das, Motilal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad and Vallabhbhai Patel give up practice. Foreign cloth is burnt; the visit of the Prince of Wales (November 1921) is met with hartals.

Event or centreCentre of revoltIndian National CongressPeasant movementsRevolutionaries

Event 21922 to 1928

Swarajists, no changers and the Simon Commission

With Gandhi in jail, the Congress split on what to do next. Then the British gave all Indians a common grievance by appointing a commission without a single Indian member.

Swarajists

C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party (January 1923) to enter the councils and wreck them from within. They did well in the 1923 elections; Vithalbhai Patel became President of the Central Legislative Assembly (1925).

after Gaya, 1922

No changers

Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, C. Rajagopalachari and M. A. Ansari held to Gandhi's constructive programme: khadi, national schools, Hindu Muslim unity, removal of untouchability.

  1. Nov 1927 The Simon Commission is appointed to review the 1919 Act: seven British members, no Indian.
  2. Feb 1928 It lands at Bombay to hartals and black flags: "Simon, go back".
  3. Oct 1928 Lala Lajpat Rai is beaten in a police lathi charge at Lahore and dies in November.
  4. Aug 1928 The Nehru Report, by an all parties committee under Motilal Nehru, answers Birkenhead's challenge to draft a constitution: dominion status, joint electorates with reserved seats, fundamental rights.
  5. Mar 1929 Jinnah's Fourteen Points reject it.
  6. Dec 1929 At Lahore, under Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress adopts Purna Swaraj; 26 January 1930 is celebrated as Independence Day.

Event 31924 to 1934

Revolutionary nationalism, second phase

Disappointed by the end of non cooperation, young revolutionaries regrouped. They were now influenced by socialism and the Russian revolution, and wanted not just freedom but a new society.

KanpurHRA 1924 Kakori9 Aug 1925 ShahjahanpurBismil, Ashfaqullah DelhiHSRA 1928; Assembly bomb 1929 LahoreSaunders 1928; hanged 1931 AllahabadAzad killed 1931 Chittagong18 April 1930 CalcuttaWriters' Building 1930

Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.

The Hindustan Republican Association is founded at Kanpur (1924) by Sachindranath Sanyal and others. On 9 August 1925 its members rob a train carrying government cash at Kakori near Lucknow. Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and Roshan Singh are hanged in 1927.

Centre of revoltRevolutionaries

Who's who16 people

People

Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali

Ali brothers

Khilafat leaders.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Khilafat

Al Hilal (1912); later Congress president.

Hakim Ajmal Khan

Delhi

Khilafat leader; a founder of Jamia Millia.

Baba Ramchandra

Awadh

Kisan Sabha leader.

C. R. Das

Swaraj Party

Deshbandhu; Bengal leader.

Motilal Nehru

Swaraj Party

Nehru Report (1928).

Vithalbhai Patel

Central Assembly

Its first Indian President (1925).

John Simon

Commission

Chairman of the all white commission.

Lala Lajpat Rai

Punjab

Died after the Lahore lathi charge (1928).

Ram Prasad Bismil

HRA

Kakori; hanged 1927.

Ashfaqullah Khan

HRA

Kakori; hanged 1927.

Bhagat Singh

HSRA

Hanged 23 March 1931.

Chandrashekhar Azad

HSRA

Commander in chief; killed 1931.

Jatin Das

HSRA

Died on hunger strike, 1929.

Surya Sen

Chittagong

Masterda; hanged 1934.

Pritilata Waddedar

Chittagong

Died in the Pahartali raid, 1932.

Key terms9

Terms

Khilafat
The caliphate; the movement to defend the Ottoman Sultan's position.
Non Cooperation
Withdrawal of cooperation from the government, 1920 to 1922.
Tilak Swaraj Fund
The ₹1 crore fund for the movement.
Swaraj Party
Council entry party of Das and Motilal Nehru (1923).
No changers
Those who opposed council entry.
Constructive programme
Khadi, unity, untouchability work and national schools.
Nehru Report
1928 draft constitution by an all parties committee.
Purna Swaraj
Complete independence, Lahore 1929.
HSRA
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (1928).

Maps are drawn on the Survey of India outline used across VidBodh; maps that leave the subcontinent use a world base with India shown as the Survey of India depicts it. Coloured glows show where a power held sway, a movement spread or tribute was collected; they are not borders.