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Indian Freedom Struggle (1707–1947 A.D.)

Notes Legislative Assembly had been effectively boycotted. A vast variety of social groups had been
politicized on the side of Indian nationalism — if urban elements like merchants and shopkeepers
and students were more active in Tamil Nadu and Punjab, and in cities in general, peasants had
come to the forefront in Gujarat, U.P., Bengal, Andhra, and Bihar, and tribals in the Central
Provinces, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bengal. Workers had not been missing from the battle
either — they joined numerous mass demonstrations in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras and were
in the forefront in Sholapur.
The participation of Muslims in the Civil Disobedience Movement was certainly nowhere near
that in 1920-22. The appeals of communal leaders to stay away, combined with active Government
encouragement of communal dissension to counter the forces of nationalism, had their effect. Still,
the participation of Muslims was not insignificant, either. Their participation in the North-West
Frontier Province was, as is well known, overwhelming. In Bengal, middle class Muslim
participation was quite important in Senhatta, Tripura, Gaibandha, Bagura and Noakhali, and, in
Dacca, Muslim students and shopkeepers as well as people belonging to the lower classes extended
support to the movement. Middle and upper class Muslim women were also active. The Muslim
weaving community in Bihar, and in Delhi and Lucknow the lower classes of Muslims were
effectively mobilized as were many others in different parts of the country.
The support that the movement had garnered from the poor and the illiterate, both in the town
and in the country, was remarkable indeed. Their participation was reflected even in the government
statistics of jail-goers — and jail-going was only one of the many forms of participation. The
Inspector-General of Police in Bengal, E.J. Lowman, expressed the general official bewilderment
when he noted: ‘I had no idea that the Congress organization could enlist the sympathy and
support of such ignorant and uncultivated people.’
For Indian women, the movement was the most liberating experience to date and can truly be said
to have marked their entry into the public space.
Self-Assessment
2. Choose the correct options:
(i) Who of the following was the first President of the Indian Trade Union Congress in 1920?
(a) Bipin Chandra Pal (b) Chittaranjan Das
(c) Lala Lajpat Rai (d) Dr. Rajendra Prasad
(ii) By virtue of which Act, diarchy was introduced in India?
(a) Government of India Act, 1909 (b) Government of India Act, 1919
(c) Government of India Act, 1935 (d) Government of India Act, 1947
(iii) Who among the following organised the defence in the trial of the I.N.A offices Capt. P.K.
Sehgal, capt. Shahnawaj Khan and Capt. G. S. Dhillon?
(a) Bhulabhai Desai (b) Madan Mohan Malaviya
(c) Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew (d) Ganesh Vaudev Mavalankar
(iv) Consider the following statements relating to the Civil Disobedience Movements:
(a) By the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, the congress agreed to suspend the civil Disobedience
movement.
(b) By the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, the Government promised to release all political prisoners
not convicted for violence.
Which of the statements given above is /are correct?
(a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2
(v) Who among the following drafted the resolution on fundamental rights for the Karachi
Session of Congress in 1931?
(a) Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (b) Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
(c) Dr. Rajendra Prasad (d) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

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