Khilafat And Non-Cooperation Movement - General Knowledge of Modern India
Growing anger towards British rule gave rise to Khilafat Movement and Non-Cooperation Movement. Turkey participated in the First World War against Britain. Britain did injustice to Turkey, which was one of the defeated countries. Khilafat movement was launched in protest against the injustice meted out. The Sultan of Turkey was also considered to be the Khalifa, that is, the religious leader of the Muslims. Therefore, the movement that started on the issue of injustice done to Turkey was called Khilafat Movement. It called for non-cooperation.
The movement which started on the issue of Khilafat soon merged with the movement being run against Swaraj and repression in Punjab. Under Gandhiji's leadership, for the first time in the special session of the Congress in Calcutta in 1920 AD and later in the annual session of the Congress in Nagpur, a new program was approved for the struggle against the government. In the Nagpur session, which was attended by 15000 delegates, the constitution of the Congress was amended and "Achieving Swaraj by Indians by legal and peaceful means" was made the first provision of the Congress constitution.
This movement was started to protest against the injustice done in Turkey and Punjab and to achieve Swarajya. Due to the methods adopted in it, it was called the non-cooperation movement, it started with the return of the title of 'Sir' given to Indians by the British. Subramaniam Iyer and Rabindranath Tagore had already done so. In August 1920, Gandhi returned his title of Kaiser-e-Hind. Other people did the same. Receiving these titles from the British government was no longer a matter of honor for the Indians, so there was non-cooperation with the government. Later legislatures were also boycotted.
Many people refused to cast their vote in the elections to the legislatures. Thousands of students and teachers left schools and colleges. New educational institutions like Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh (later established in Delhi) and Kashi Vidyapeeth, Banaras were established by the nationalists. Government employees quit their jobs, lawyers boycotted the courts, Holi of foreign goods was burnt and bandhs and strikes were organized across the country. The movement was a great success and firing and arrests could not stop it.
By the end of the year 1921, about 30,000 people were imprisoned. Many prominent leaders were also involved in this. Gandhiji could not be arrested in any way yet. Revolt broke out in some parts of Kerala in which most of the rebels were Moplah farmers, hence it was called Moplah rebellion. The rebellion was suppressed by brutal means. More than 2000 Moplah rebels were killed and 45,000 were arrested. The death of 67 prisoners due to suffocation in a railway wagon while being transported from one place to another was a living example of this cruelty.
The Congress session of 1921 was held in Ahmedabad which was presided over by Hakim Ajmal Khan. In this session, it was decided to continue the movement and it was also decided to start the last phase of the non-cooperation movement. It was started by Gandhiji from Bardoli in Gujarat. This phase was very important because when people refuse to pay taxes to the government, the legitimacy of the government itself will be questioned.
Gandhiji always emphasized that the whole movement should be peaceful. But people could not restrain themselves. On February 5, 1922, in Chauri-Chaura, Uttar Pradesh, the police opened fire on the protesting crowd without any prior information. People in anger stormed the police station and set it on fire. 22 policemen imprisoned inside the police station were killed in this fire. Since Gandhiji had put a condition that the entire movement would be peaceful, he withdrew the movement only after hearing the news of this incident.
On March 10, 1922, he was arrested and sentenced to six years' imprisonment. With the withdrawal of this movement, another phase of the nationalist movement ended. People from all over the country participated in large numbers in this movement. It had spread to the villages. People openly opposed the government and demanded Swaraj. The movement strengthened the unity between Hindus and Muslims. The famous slogan of this movement was 'Hindu Muslim Ki Jai'.
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