Gandhian Era

Gandhi returned from South Africa in January 1915 and transformed the national movement into a mass struggle through three all-India campaigns - Non-Cooperation in 1920-22, Civil Disobedience in 1930-34 and Quit India in 1942. His method combined satyagraha with constructive work, and it drew peasants, workers, women and students into politics for the first time.

Early campaigns and the Rowlatt agitation

Non-Cooperation, 1920-1922

Launched at the Nagpur session of December 1920 in alliance with the Khilafat movement led by the Ali brothers, Non-Cooperation asked Indians to surrender titles, boycott schools, courts, councils and foreign cloth, and to build swadeshi institutions. Gandhi promised swaraj within a year. The movement was withdrawn in February 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident in Gorakhpur district, where a crowd burned a police station killing twenty-two policemen.

• National institutions founded: Jamia Millia Islamia, Kashi Vidyapith, Gujarat Vidyapith, Bihar Vidyapith
• Withdrawal caused deep disappointment; C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru founded the Swaraj Party in 1923 to enter councils
• The Simon Commission of 1927, with no Indian member, was boycotted with the slogan 'Simon go back'
• Nehru Report of 1928 proposed dominion status; the Jinnah Fourteen Points followed as a counterproposal
• Lahore session of December 1929 adopted Purna Swaraj and 26 January 1930 was observed as Independence Day

Civil Disobedience, 1930-1934

Gandhi began with the Dandi March from Sabarmati on 12 March 1930, reaching Dandi on 6 April and breaking the salt law. Salt was chosen because the tax fell on everyone, rich and poor alike. The movement spread through no-tax campaigns, boycott of foreign cloth and liquor, and defiance of forest laws.

Dandi 12 March 1930 → Gandhi-Irwin 1931 → Poona Pact 1932 → Act of 1935 → 1937 elections

Quit India, 1942

After the failure of the Cripps Mission in March 1942, which offered dominion status after the war with a right of provinces to opt out, the Congress passed the Quit India resolution at Bombay on 8 August 1942. Gandhi's call was 'Do or Die'. The entire leadership was arrested within hours, and the movement became a spontaneous mass upsurge with parallel governments at Ballia under Chittu Pandey, Tamluk in Midnapore and Satara under Nana Patil.

✗ Quit India was led step by step by Gandhi from Bombay  |  ✓ The leadership was jailed immediately; the movement was largely spontaneous and locally led

FAQ

Why was salt chosen for the Civil Disobedience movement?

Because the salt tax affected every Indian household regardless of class, region or religion, making it the most universally understood grievance. Breaking the salt law was also simple, non-violent, visually powerful and could be repeated anywhere along the coast.

What was the Poona Pact?

An agreement of September 1932 between Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar, reached after Gandhi's fast against the Communal Award. It replaced separate electorates for the Depressed Classes with reserved seats within a joint electorate, and increased the number of reserved seats substantially.

Why did Gandhi withdraw the Non-Cooperation movement?

Because of the Chauri Chaura incident of February 1922, in which a crowd burned a police station and killed twenty-two policemen. Gandhi held that a movement built on non-violence could not continue once its participants had turned violent, and he called off the campaign despite opposition from other leaders.