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Indian History

Introduction

  • Literatures
  • News Paper
  • Magazines
  • Biographies etc. 
  • Colonial Approach
  • Nationalist Approach
  • Marxist Approach
  1. Nationalist Approach: Propounded by Indian freedom fighters. 
  2. Marxist Approach: In this approach, the political economy is the vital factor and State is the most important vehicle of economic development. 

Europeans came to India for trade, but in due course of time they gained political and administrative dominance over the country. 

Portuguese were the first Europeans to come to India when in 1498, Vasco da Gama discovered a direct sea route to India.

Coastal Plain of India
  • The arrival of Vasco Da Gama at Calicut started a new chapter in the Indian history.
  • They were great naval power but could not invade deep in the Indian Territory.
  • Vasco Da Gama travelled with the swing of Monsoon wind and carried Pepper with him.
  • The trade was quite profitable.
  • The East India Company (English) was established in the year 1600. 
  • The company sent Hawkins to the court of Mughal emperor Jahangir and secured a permission to set up the first factory at Surat.
  • The East India Company acquired a charter from the ruler of England, Queen Elizabeth I.
  • This meant that no other trading group in England could compete with the East India Company.

Expansion of British Trade

  • Jahangir granted the Farman to British to establish factory in India.
  • A Farman by Farrunksiyar granted East India Company the permission to have duty free trade in India.
  • In 1616 AD, the Danish East India Company was formed. 
  • They established their settlements at Tranquebar in Tamil Nadu (1620) and Serampur in Bengal.

Religious and Social Reform Movements

Indian society in the nineteenth century was caught in a vicious web created by religious superstitions. It led to the emergence of various social reform movements. 

Prevailing Social Condition

  • Hinduism had become a compound of magic, animism and superstition. 
  • The priests exercised an overwhelming and, indeed, unhealthy influence on the minds of the people. 
  • Idolatry and polytheism helped to reinforce their position, and their monopoly of scriptural knowledge imparted a deceptive character to all religious systems. 
  • There was nothing that religious ideology could not persuade people to do.

Practice of Sati

  • Sati was a historical practice among Hindus in Indian society where widows had to choose death by burning themselves on the funeral pyre of their husbands. Women who willingly died were considered as ‘Sati’ meaning virtuous women.

Abolition of Sati

  • The movement to end Sati system was led by Raja Rammohan Roy. 
  • Government declared the practice of sati or the burning alive of widow illegal in 1829. 
  • The act was applicable in the first instance to Bengal Presidency alone, but was extended in slightly modified forms to Madras and Bombay Presidencies in 1830.

Female Infanticide

  • The practice of murdering female infants immediately after birth was common. 

Abolition of Female Infanticide

  • The Bengal regulations of 1795 and 1804 declared infanticide illegal and equivalent to murder. 
  • The Act passed in 1870 made, it compulsory for parents to register the birth of all babies.  
  • This act provided for verification of female children for some years after birth, particularly in areas where the custom was resorted to in utmost privacy.

Child Marriage

  • It was a common problem in the society. 
  • The relentless efforts of a B.M. Malabari, were rewarded, by the enactment of the Age of Consent Act (1891) which forbade the marriage of girls below the age of 12.

Rigid Caste System

  • There was rigid caste system in the society.
  • At the bottom of the ladder came the untouchables or scheduled castes. 
  • The untouchables suffered from numerous and severe disabilities and restrictions.

Satyashodhak Samaj

  • Jyotiba Phule organized a powerful movement against upper caste domination and brahminical supremacy.
  • Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth Seekers’ Society) in 1873. 
  • The main aims of the movement were (i) social service, and (ii) spread of education among women and lower caste people.
  • He accorded the highest priority to education of lower castes, especially girls for whom he opened several schools.

All India Scheduled Castes Federation

  • Babasaheb Ambedkar organized the All India Scheduled Castes Federation. 
  • Ambedkar condemned the hierarchical and insular caste system. 

Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha

  • It is a central institution formed by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar for removing difficulties of the untouchables and placing their grievances before government.

  • Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar established “Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabaha” on 20 July 1924 at Bombay.

All-India Depressed Classes League

  • Babu Jagjivan Ram played a role in the founding (1935) of the All-India Depressed Classes League in 1935. 
  • It was an organization dedicated to attaining equality for Dalits.

Harijan Sevak Sangh

  • Harijan Sevak Sangh is a non-profit organisation founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932. 
  • It aims to eradicate untouchability in India, working for Harijan or Dalit people and upliftment of scheduled castes of India.

Satnami movement

  • Ghasidas in Central India founded it.  
  • He worked among the leatherworkers and organized a movement to improve their social status.

Self- Respect Movement

  • During the 1920s in South India, the non-brahmins organized the Self- Respect Movement led by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker.

Widow Remarriage

  • Brahmo Samaj led the movement for the remarriage of women. 
  • Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar also led the movement for the remarriage through Arya Samaj.  

  • Vidyasagar cited Vedic texts to prove that the Hindu religion sanctioned widow remarriage.

Widow Remarriage Association

  • Vishnu Shastri Pandit founded the Widow Remarriage Association in the 1850s.

Servants of India Society

  • The Servants of India Society was founded by  Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
  • The aim of the society was to train national missionaries for the service of India. 
  • The target was to prepare a cadre of selfless workers who were to devote their lives to the cause of the country in a religious spirit.
  • It was founded in 1905. 

The Ramakrishna Mission

  • The society was founded by Vivekananda in 1897. 
  • The purpose was to spread the teachings of Vedanta as embodied in the life of the Hindu saint Ramakrishna  and to improve the social conditions of the Indian people.

Seva Sadan

  • M. Malabari, founded the Seva Sadan in 1885.
  • The organisation specialised in taking care of use women who were exploited and then discarded by society.
  • It catered to all castes and women with education, medical and welfare services.

Deva Samaj

  • Deva Samaj Founded in 1887 at Lahore by Shiv Narain Agnihotri, this sect emphasised of the soul, and the need for good action.

Revolt of 1857

The revolt of 1857 was an attempt to remove the foreign rule in India. The revolutionaries made Bahadur Sah Jafar their leader. The revolt started at Merrut and spread across north India and west India. South India remained unaffected by the revolt. hi

Political Causes of Revolt

# Subsidiary Alliance: Subsidiary Alliance was basically a treaty between the British East India Company and the Indian princely states.

  • The treaty forced the Indian kingdoms to surrender their authority to the English.
  • It made it mandatory for a ruler to maintain military force trained by company but paid by rulers and prohibition of establishing relation with other European nations.
  • The Indian kingdoms lost their sovereignty to the English.
  • It also was a major process that led to the building of the British Empire in India.
  • Lord Wellesely was the mastermind behind this treaty.
  • Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to fall under it.
  • The treaty led to the sense of insecurity among the princely states. 

# Refusal of Recognition as king: After demise of Bahadurshah Jafar, British refused to recognize his descendants as ‘Kings’ (but only as ‘Princes’). His name was also removed from coins.

#Doctrine of Lapse of Dalhousie:

  • The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy extensively applied by East India Company in India until 1859.
  • It was first perpetrated by Lord Dalhousie in the late 1840s. 
  • It involved the British prohibiting a Hindu ruler without a natural heir from adopting a successor.

#Ban on Pension:  Nana Saheb claimed pensions of on behalf of his father after his demise. However, company refused to entertain it.

#Annexation of Awadh: Awadh was annexed in 1856, it caused much resentment and also created panic among local rulers, humiliation of their ruler, forced people to join the mutiny.

Economic Causes of Revolt

#Peasant Dissatisfaction: Farmers were dissatisfied due to oppressive farm loans by planters and coercive farm practices like beggar, high land revenues.

Permanent Settlement:  Zamindari System led   to rise of Money Lenders Class and growth in indebtedness of farmers and atrocities of money lenders.

It led to ‘absentee landlordism’ and rise of ‘tenancy’ and ‘share cropping’.

Drain of Wealth: This was later highlighted by likes of Dadabhai Naroji and R C Dutt and it was felt that British rule is to the detriment of Indians and Indian wealth was gradually drained to Britain.

Ruin of traditional and handicraft industry:

It led to higher unemployment.

Indigo Revolt

  • The Indigo revolt was a peasant movement and subsequent uprising of indigo farmers against the indigo planters that arose in Nadia in Bengal in 1859.
  • The revolt began from Govindpur village in Nadia district of Bengal where Biswas brothers gave up indigo cultivation.
  • The indigo revolt gave birth to political movement and aroused national sentiment against the alien British rulers among Indian masses.
  • The Neel Darpan of Din Bandhu Mitra portrayed the oppressed peasants.
  • Hindu Muslim Unity and support from Bengal intelligentsia made the revolt more effective.
  • Finally, Indigo commission was appointed which held the planters guilty, and criticized them for the coercive methods they used with indigo cultivators.

Political Associations before the Indian National Congress

Zamindari Association

  • It was founded to safeguard the interests of the landlords.
  • The association started organized political activity and use of methods of constitutional agitation for the redressal of grievances.

Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha

  • It was formed in 1836 by associates of Raj Rammohan Roy.

Bengal British India Society

  • It was founded in 1843 with the object of the collection and dissemination of information relating to the actual condition of the people of British India
  • The aim was to extend the just rights to all classes. 

British Indian Association

In 1851, both the Landholders’ Society and the Bengal British India Society merged into the British Indian Association. It sent a petition to the British Parliament demanding inclusion of some of its suggestions in the renewed Charter of the Company, such as
(i) Establishment of a separate legislature of a popular Character
(iii) Separation of executive from judicial functions
(iv) Reduction in salaries of higher officers
(iv) Abolition of salt duty, abkari and stamp duties.

East India Association

  • It was organized by Dadabhai Naoroji in 1866 in London, Later, branches of the association were started in prominent Indian cities.

Indian League

  • It was started in 1875 by Sisir Kumar Ghosh with the object of “stimulating the sense of nationalism amongst the people” and of encouraging political education.

Indian Association of Calcutta

  • It was founded in 1876 by younger nationalists of Bengal led by Surendranath Banerjee and Ananda Mohan Bose, who were getting discontented with the conservative and pro-landlord policies of the British Indian Association.
  • The Indian Association of Calcutta was the most important of pre-Congress associations and aimed to
    (I) Create a strong public opinion on political questions, and
    (ii) Unify Indian people on a common political programme.

Branches of the association were opened in other towns and cities of Bengal and even outside Bengal. The membership fee was kept low in order to attract the poorer sections to the association.

Political Associations in Bombay
The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha was founded in 1867 by M. Mahadeo Govind Ranade and others, with the object of serving as a bridge between the government and the people.


The Bombay Presidency Association was started by Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozshah Mehta and K.T. Telang in 1885.

Political Associations in Madras: The Madras Mahajan Sabha was founded in 1884 by M. Viraraghavachari, B. Subramaniya Aiyer and P. Anandacharlu.

Beginning of Struggle

  • People in India started understanding Colonial Interests.
  • People came to realize that colonial rule was the major cause of India’s economic backwardness.

Factors responsible for the awareness of the masses: 

#Western Thought and Education: The introduction of a modern system of education afforded opportunities for assimilation of modern western ideas.

  • The English language helped nationalist leaders from different linguistic regions to communicate with each other.
  • Those among the educated who took up liberal professions (lawyers, doctors, etc.) often visited England for higher education. There they saw the working of modern political institutions in a free country and compared that system with the Indian situation where even basic rights were denied to the citizens.

Modern Means of Transportation: 

Phase of Revolutionary Terrorism

Revolutionary terrorism was a by-product of the process of the growth of militant nationalism in India. It acquired a more activist form as the fallout of the Swadeshi and Boycott Movement.

Anushilan Samiti

  • Anushilan Samiti was a Bengali Indian organisation that existed in the first quarter of the twentieth century, and propounded revolutionary violence as the means for ending British rule in India.
  • The organisation arose from a conglomeration of local youth groups and gyms (Akhra) in Bengal in 1902.
  • It was led by nationalists such as Aurobindo Ghosh and his brother Barindra Ghosh. 

Abhinav Bharat Society

  • It was a secret society founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his brother Ganesh Damodar Savarkar in 1903.
  • Initially founded at Nasik as Mitra Mela when Vinayak Savarkar was still a student.
  • It carried out a few assassinations of British officials, after which the Savarkar brothers were convicted and imprisoned.
  • The society was formally disbanded in 1952.

Gandhi and National Movement

Gandhiji converted the National Movement into a Mass Movement. He used Satyagraha and non violence as the weapon to fight the injustice of colonial rule.

Gandhi in Africa

  • When Gandhi landed in South Africa, he faced a lot of racial discrimination there.
  • He formed the Natal Indian Congress and drew international attention to the plight of Indians in South Africa. 
  • Natal Indian Congress became the first permanent political organisation to protect the rights of Indians in South Africa. 
  • By 1896 Gandhi had established himself as a political leader in South Africa.
  • In 1906, Gandhi organised the first Satyagraha in Africa.  

  • The newspaper Indian Opinion was published by Gandhi in South Africa.

Return of Gandhi from Africa

  • At the request of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, conveyed to him by C. F. Andrews, Gandhi returned to India in 1915.
  • Mahatma Gandhi Returned From South Africa on January 9, this date was chosen in 2003 to be observed as Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
  • He spent 21 years over there.  
  • After returning from Africa Gandhi toured the country and understood the situation of the country and problems of the people before entering in the active politics.

Return of Gandhi from Africa

  • At the request of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, conveyed to him by C. F. Andrews, Gandhi returned to India in 1915.
  • Mahatma Gandhi Returned From South Africa on January 9, this date was chosen in 2003 to be observed as Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
  • He spent 21 years over there.  
  • After returning from Africa Gandhi toured the country and understood the situation of the country and problems of the people before entering in the active politics.

Champaran Satyagraha

  • The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was the first Satyagraha movement led by Gandhi in India. 
  • It is considered a historically important revolt in the Indian Independence Movement.
  • It was a farmer’s uprising that took place in Champaran district of Bihar, India, during the British colonial period.

Tin Kathia System

  • Tinkathia was the system under which the native peasants of Champaran were forced to cultivate three kathaa Indigo out of every 20 kathaa of land.
  • Farmers were forced to grow indigo by the European planters instead of the food crops which were necessary for their survival. 
  • Farmers complained about having to plant indigo for very little money they were earning. 
  • The European planters were destroying the productivity of the land. This was also the reason for the protest.

Protest of Tin Kathia System

  • Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi and Peer Muneesh lost their employment after publishing the state of Champaran in their publications. 
  • Gandhi was convinced to go to Champaran by Raj Kumar Shukla and Sant Raut, a moneylender who owned some land, and thus the Champaran Satyagraha started.

Role of Gandhiji in Champaran Satyagraha

  • Gandhi met the peasants along with colleagues and assured the peasants for the remedial solution.
  • Meanwhile the Govt appointed a commission to enquire into the matter and made Gandhi one of its members. 
  • The commissioned ordered to abolish the Tinkahtia system.

Who opposed Champaran Satyagraha?

Mahatma Gandhi’s Champaran satyagraha was challenged by “N G Ranga.” 

Ahmadabad Mill Dispute

  • The workers in Ahmadabad mill was getting plague bonus and the employers decided to end the bonus stating that the epidemic is over but the workers insisted to continue the bonus as the cost of living was high.
  • Gandhi intervenes and asked the workers to go on strike in protest. 
  • The strike started and Gandhi used to address the gathering daily on the bank of Sabarmati River. 
  • The protest was peaceful.
  • The protest became weak after few days as the attendance in the gathering was decreasing. Hence, Gandhi started the hunger strike to pressurize the mill owners.
  • Finally, the mill workers agreed to increase the pay by 35 percent.

Kheda Satyagraha

  • While fighting for the right of Ahmadabad mill workers Gandhi came to know about the plight of peasants in Kheda.  
  • Peasants were in huge financial stress due to failure of the crop. 
  • They appealed for the remission of the taxes but the appeal was declined by the British.
  • The peasants were asked by Gandhi not to pay the rent. 
  • The government agreed to the demand of remission of the taxes under the pressure of Satyagrahis.

Montagu Declaration

  • The declaration was made in the year 1917.
  • The declaration said that the association of Indians will be made in every part of the administration
  • A responsive government will be placed in India under the British Empire.
  • The report became the basis of government of India act 1919. 
  • The report was made after due consultation with top leadership in India.
  • Based on Montagu Statement, Government of India Act, 1919 was enacted.

Government of India Act 1919

  • Government of India Act of 1919 was passed on the basis of recommendations of Montford Reforms.
  • It introduced, for the first time, bicameralism and direct elections in the country.
  • The diarchy (Double Rule) was introduced in India by the government of India act 1919. There were two subjects one was reserved and other was transferred. The Governor had the right to legislate on the reserved subject while on the transferred subjects, the minister were to legislate.
  • Reserved subjects like justice, police, and revenue was with the governor while the transferred subjects included health, education etc. This division of power was called the diarchy in India.
  • In case of failure of constitutional machinery in the province the governor could take over the administration of “transferred” subjects also.
  • The Indian members in the executive council were raised to 3 out of 8 by this act.
  • The act also provided the principle of communal electorate to the minority communities. 
  • The ministers were to be responsible to the legislature and had to resign if a no-confidence motion was passed against them by the legislature, while the executive councilors were not to be responsible to the legislature.
  • Provincial Legislative Councils were further expanded-70% of the members were to be elected.
  • Women were also given the right to vote.
  • The governor could veto bills and issue ordinances.
  • The Legislative Councils could reject the budget but the governor could restore it, if necessary.
  • The legislators enjoyed freedom of speech. The Council of State had tenure of 5 years and had only male members, while the Central Legislative Assembly had tenure of 3 years.

Drawbacks of Government of India Act 1919

  • Franchise was very limited.
  • At the centre, the legislature had no control over the governor-general and his executive council. 

Note: The act had a provision for the review of effectiveness of the act after 10 years of implementation. Hence the Simon commission was formed to review the working in 1927.

Non-Cooperation movement

  • Non cooperation movement was a mass movement which was launched by Gandhi in 1920.
  • It was a peaceful and a non-violent protest against the British government in India.

Aim of Non-cooperation Movement

  • To Oppose the Rowlatt act
  • To oppose the Jaliwala Bagh Massacre.
  • To Support the Khilafat movement.

Khilafat Movement

  • The combined Khilafat-noncooperation movement was the first all-India agitation against British rule. 
  • It saw an unprecedented degree of Hindu-Muslim cooperation and it established Gandhi and his technique of nonviolent protest (satyagraha) at the center of the Indian nationalist movement.

Chauri Chaura Incident

  • The Chauri Chaura incident occurred at Chauri Chaura in the Gorakhpur, UP on 4 February 1922.
  • A large group of protesters, participating in the Non-cooperation movement, clashed with police, who opened fire.
  • In retaliation the demonstrators attacked and set fire to a police station, killing all of its occupants. 
  • The incident led to the deaths of three civilians and 23 policemen. 
  • Mahatma Gandhi, who was strictly against violence, halted the Non-cooperation Movement on the national level on 12 February 1922, as a direct result of this incident.

Withdrawal of Non-Cooperation Movement

  • On 12 February 1922, the Congress leaders met at Bardoli and Gandhiji decided to withdraw the Non-cooperation movement. 
  • By Bardoli resolution Non-cooperation movement was withdrawn. 

Effects of Withdrawal of Non-Cooperation Movement 

  • As the non-cooperation came to sudden end, the younger generation of the country started questioning the basic strategy of leadership. 
  • They lost their belief in non-violent mode of protest and took the revolutionary path. 
  • This gave rise to revolutionary terrorism in the country.
  • Most of the nationalist leaders including C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru, Subhash Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru, however, expressed their bewilderment at Gandhi’s decision to withdraw the movement.

Gandhi Arrested

  • In March 1922 Gandhi was arrested and sentenced to six years in jail.

Why Gandhi Withdrew the Movement?

  • Gandhi felt that people had not learnt or fully understood the method of nonviolence. Incidents like Chauri-Chaura could lead to excitement and fervor, turning the movement generally violent.
  • A violent movement could be easily suppressed by the colonial regime that could use the incidents of violence as an excuse to use the armed might of the state against the protestors.

Rise of Swaraj Party

  • Leaders like C R Das and Motilal Nehru formed the swaraj Party. 
  • The Swarajists were against the decision of Gandhi to withdraw the Non Cooperation movement after Chaura Chauri incident.  
  • The Swararajists wanted to contest elections and fight against the government from within. 
  • Those advocating entry into legislative councils came to be known as the Swarajists or pro-changers, while the other school of thought led by Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, C. Rajagopalachari and M.A. Ansari came to be known as the ‘No-changers’.
  • Both Pro-Changers and No-Changers accepted the necessity of Gandhi’s leadership of a united nationalist front. 
  • The Swarajists were allowed to contest elections as a group within the Congress. The Swarajists accepted the Congress programme with only one difference—that they would join legislative councils. 

Gandhi's Attitude on Council Entry

Gandhi was initially opposed to the Swarajists proposal of council entry. But after his release from prison on health grounds in February 1924, he gradually moved towards reconciliation with the Swarajists because he felt public opposition to the programme of council entry would be counter-productive. 

Performance of Swaraj Party in Election

In the November 1923 elections, the Swarajists had managed to win 42 out of 141 elected seats and a clear majority in the provincial assembly of Central Provinces and, in legislatures. 

Hindustan Republican Association

  • The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) was a revolutionary party set up by Ram Prasad Bismil and his associates. 
  • The aim was to fight against British colonial rule in India and achieve independence for the country through an armed rebellion if necessary.

Kakori Robbery

  • The most important “action” of the HRA was the Kakori robbery in 1925. 
  • The men held up the 8-Down train at Kakori, an obscure village near Lucknow, and looted its official railway cash. 
  • Government crackdown after the Kakori robbery led to execution of Bismil, Ashfaqullah, Roshan Singh and Rajendra Lahiri. 

G V Pant: He was a great freedom fighter working with Gandhi and Nehru. He was a lawyer and fought the case of Kakori Train Robbery and defended Ramsprasad Bismill and others.

He actively participated in the Salt Satyagraha. He was an active member of Congress. He became the home minister in independent India in 1955. He also served as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna. 

Hindustan Republican Association Renamed

  • Hindustan Republic Association at a historic meeting in the ruins of Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi (September 1928). 
  • The participants included Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Bhagwaticharan Vohra from Punjab and Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Shiv Verma and Jaidev Kapur from UP. 
  • The HSRA decided to work under a collective leadership and adopted socialism as its official goal.

Saunders' Murder

  • Bhagat Singh, Azad and Rajguru shot dead Saunders, the police official responsible for the lathicharge in Lahore. 
  • The assassination was justified in these words: “The murder of a leader respected by millions of people at the unworthy hands of an ordinary police officer was an insult to the nation”.

Bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly

  • The HSRA leadership now decided to let the people know about its changed objectives and the need for a revolution by the masses.
  • Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt were asked to throw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 8, 1929 against the passage of the Public Safety Bill and Trade Disputes Bill aimed at curtailing civil liberties of citizens in general and workers in particular.
  • The bombs had been deliberately made harmless and were aimed at making ‘the deaf hear’. The objective was to get arrested and to use the trial court as a forum for propaganda so that people would become familiar with their movement and ideology.

Bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly

  • The HSRA leadership now decided to let the people know about its changed objectives and the need for a revolution by the masses.
  • Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt were asked to throw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 8, 1929 against the passage of the Public Safety Bill and Trade Disputes Bill aimed at curtailing civil liberties of citizens in general and workers in particular.
  • The bombs had been deliberately made harmless and were aimed at making ‘the deaf hear’. The objective was to get arrested and to use the trial court as a forum for propaganda so that people would become familiar with their movement and ideology.

Trials of Revolutionaries

  • Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were tried in the Lahore conspiracy case. 
  • In jail, revolutionaries protested against the horrible conditions through a fast, and demanded honorable and decent treatment as, political prisoners. 
  • Jatin Das became the first martyr on the 64th day of his fast. 
  • Defence of these young revolutionaries was organised by Congress leaders. 
  • Bhagat Singh became a household name.

Azad Killed

  • Azad was involved in a bid to blow up Viceroy Irwin’s train near Delhi in December 1929. 
  • Azad was killed in a police encounter in a park in Allahabad in February 1931.

Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev hanged

  • On 7 October 1930, Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were sentenced to death.  
  • National leaders appealed to the government to reduce the sentence to life imprisonment.
  • Revolutionary freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged to death by the British government for their activities on March 23, 1931, at the Lahore Jail. 

India Kisan Sabha

  • India Kisan Sabha was founded in Lucknow (During Congress Session) in April 1936 with Swami Sahjanand Saraswati as the president and N.G. Ranga as the general secretary.

Books and News Papers Started by Gandhi

  • Hind Swaraj: He wrote in 1909 aboard the steamer from London to South Africa in just 10 days. 
  • Young India: Young India was a weekly paper or journal in English started by Mahatma Gandhi. Through this work, he desired to popularise India’s demand of self-government or Swaraj. The publication of this journal started in 1919. 
  • Navjivan: This was another newspaper started by Gandhi in 1919. 
  • Harijan: This was another weekly started by Gandhi in 1933. 

Individual Satyagraha

It was started with the mass Civil Disobedience Movement but M.K Gandhi on Individual Satyagarh. This was movement for not only to seek independence but also to affirm the right of Speech. The demand of the Satyagrahi was using freedom of Speech against the war through an anti-war declaration.

August Offer, 1940

In order to get support from Indian people the British govt. announced that after the end of war the British Empire will set a representative body of Indians to prepare the constitution of the country, dominion status as the objective for India, expansion of viceroy’s executive council.

The Congress rejected the August Offer. Nehru said, “Dominion status concept is dead as a door nail.” Gandhi said that the declaration had widened the gulf between the nationalists and the British rulers. The Muslim League welcomed the veto assurance given to the League, and reiterated its position that partition was the only solution to the deadlock.

Evaluation: For the first time, the inherent right of Indians to frame their constitution was recognised and the Congress demand for a constituent assembly was, conceded. Dominion status was explicitly offered.

Cripp's Mission

In order to secure the confidence of Indian the British government sent the Cripp’s mission in India. 

Pandit Nehru and Maulana Azad were the official negotiator for the Cripps mission.

Main Provision of Cripps Mission:

  1. Dominion status of India
  2. Protection to minority
  3. Setting up the constituent assembly to form the constitution.
  4. There will be freedom to the provinces to adopt the constitution or to form the constitution of their own.

Key remarks: The proposals differed from those offered in the past in many respects.

  • The making of the constitution was to be solely in Indian hands now (and not “mainly” in Indian hands—as contained in the August Offer). 
  • Option was available to any province to have a separate constitution—a blueprint for India’s partition.
  • Free India could withdraw from the Commonwealth.
  • Indians were allowed a large share in the administration in the interim period.

Gandhi called the recommendation of Cripp’s mission as the postdated Cheque.  Muslim League also refused to accept the recommendation as there were no provisions to form Pakistan.

The Congress objected to

(i) The offer of dominion status instead of a provision for complete independence.

(Ii) Representation of the states by nominees and not by elected representatives.

(iii) Right to provinces to secede as this went against the principle of national unity.

Quit India Movement

  • After failure of the Cripps movement Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement.
  • Congress met at Bombay in 1942 and gave a call for quit India.
  • The famous slogan Do or Die was given by Gandhi during the movement. 
  • The government responded by arresting the top leadership of Congress.
  • Although the movement was initially non-violent but as the time progressed the movement became violent.
  • Students in large number joined the movement and the movement further spread to the villages.
  • The communists had opposed this movement.

Gandhi’s General Instructions to Different Sections: 

  1. Government servants: Do not resign but declare your allegiance to the Congress.
  2. Soldiers: Do not leave the Army but do not fire on compatriots.
  3. Students: If confident, leave studies.
  4. Peasants: If zamindars are anti-government, pay mutually agreed rent, and if zamindars are pro-government, do not pay rent.
  5. Princes: Support the masses and accept sovereignty of your people.

Parallel Governments

  • Parallel governments were established at many places. 
  • Ballia: under Chittu Pandey
  • Satara: under Y. V. Chavan

Famine of 1943

  • The worst-affected areas were south-west Bengal. 
  • About 3 million people perished in this basically man-made famine. 

The fundamental causes of the famine: 

  1. The need to feed a vast Army diverted foodstuffs.
  2. ice imports from Burma and South-East Asia had been stopped.
  3. The famine got aggravated by gross mismanagement.

Delhi Conspiracy Case

The Delhi Conspiracy case, also known as the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy, refers to a conspiracy in 1912 to assassinate the then Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge, on the occasion of transferring the capital of British India from Calcutta to New Delhi.

Hatched by the Indian revolutionary underground in Bengal and Punjab and headed by Rashbehari Bose, the conspiracy culminated on the attempted assassination on 23 December 1912 when a homemade bomb was thrown into the Viceroys’s Howdah when the ceremonial procession moved through the Chandni Chowk suburb of Delhi.

Although injured in the attempt, the Viceroy escaped with flesh wounds, but his Mahout was killed in the attack. Lady Hardinge was unscathed. Lord Hardinge himself was injured all over the back, legs, and head by fragments of the bomb, the flesh on his shoulders being torn in strips.

In the aftermath of the event, efforts were made to destroy the Bengali and Punjabi revolutionary underground, which came under intense pressure for some time. Rash Behari successfully evaded capture for nearly three years, becoming involved in the Ghadar conspiracy before it was uncovered, and fleeing to Japan in 1916.

The investigations in the aftermath of the assassination attempt led to the Delhi Conspiracy trial. Basant Kumar Biswas, Amir Chand and Avadh Behari were convicted and executed for their roles in the conspiracy. Rash Behari Bose was identified as the person who threw the bomb.

Forward Bloc

  • Subhash Chandra Bose had left the Congress after having developed differences with Gandhi and had formed the Forward Bloc in 1940. 
  • This formation was announced in a Public Rally at Calcutta.
  • Bose said that those who are joining would never return to the British and must fill the pledge form by cutting their finger and signing it with their blood.

Indian National Army

  • Founded by Captain Mohan Singh in Malaysia. 
  • The Japanese handed over the Indian prisoners of war (POWs) to Mohan Singh who tried to recruit them into an Indian National Army.
  • Later Subhash Chandra Bosh became its supreme commander. 
  • The Indian National Army had the support of Japan.
  • The outbreak of the Quit India Movement gave a fillip to the INA as well.

Congress won General Election, 1946

  • It captured 57 out of 102 seats in the Central Assembly.
  • In the provincial elections, it got a majority in most provinces except in Bengal, Sindh and Punjab.
  • Muslim League got 30 seats in the central legislature. 

Cabinet Mission Plan

  • The cabinet mission came to India with the solution of the constitutional problem.
  • The provision for the interim government was made to function till the new constitution was made. 
  • Both Congress and league accepted the proposal.
  • Accordingly the elections were held in the year 1946 and interim govt. was formed under the leadership of Nehru.
  • It rejected the demand of full-fledged Pakistan thus, rejected the demand of partition of the country. 

Rajgopalachari Formula

  • It was a plan for the mutual cooperation between Congress and League. 
  • As per the plan, after the end of the war, the entire population of Muslim majority areas in the North-West and North-East India to decide by a plebiscite, whether or not to form a separate sovereign state.
  • In return, Muslim League will support congress in government formation at the centre.  
  • Gandhi supported the formula.

Desai-Liaqat Pact

  • It was another attempt to end the deadlock between Congress and the League in the government formation. 
  • Bhulabhai Desai, leader of the Congress Party and Liaqat Ali Khan, a leader of the Muslim League proposed this plan. 
  • According to this plan, an equal number of persons nominated by the Congress and the League will be there in the central legislature.
  • No settlement could be reached between the Congress and the League on this pact.

Interim Government

  • Congress-dominated Interim Government headed by Nehru was sworn in on September 2, 1946.

Atlee’s Declaration

  • The Prime Minister of Britain Clement Atlee declared on February 20, 1947 in the House of Commons that the British would quit India after transferring power into the responsible hand not later than June 1948. 
  • He also announced the appointment of Lord Mountabatten as Viceroy in place of Lord Wavell.

Towards Partition

  • Amid communal riots and the unworkability of the Congress League coalition compelled many in early 1947 to think in terms of accepting the partition. 

Plan Balkan

  • This plan envisaged the transfer of power to separate provinces. 
  • The princely states would have the option of joining India or Pakistan or remaining separate. 
  • The plan was quickly abandoned after Nehru reacted violently to it. 

Mountbatten Plan

  • To transfer the power from British to India, Lord Mountbatten was made the Viceroy of India.
  • After wide consultation Mountbatten put forward the plan to divide the country.

  • Congress and League accepted the proposal.

Indian Independence Act, 1947

  • The British Parliament ratified the Mountbatten Plan as the “Independence of India Act-1947”.
  • The Act provided for the creation of two independent dominions of India and Pakistan. 
  • It provided for the partition of India and creation of two independent dominions of India and Pakistan with the right to secede from the British Commonwealth.
  • It abolished the office of viceroy and provided, for each dominion, a governor-general.
  • It empowered the Constituent Assemblies of the two dominions to frame and adopt any constitution for their respective nations. 
  • Boundary commission will decide upon the boundary in Punjab and Bengal.

August 15: The Lucky day

  • August 15 was chosen by Lord Mountbatten as he considered the date to be lucky. It was the day Japan Surrendered.
  • January 26 was chosen as the day of call for “Complete Freedom” at Lahore session of Congress.

Lord Mountbatten to Continue

  • India requested Lord Mountbatten to continue as the Governor General of India.