Indian Nationalist Movement

• Indian National Congress (INC) — founded 1885; early moderate phase.
• Role of Bal Gangadhar Tilak — radical nationalism, "Swaraj is my birthright."
• Mahatma Gandhi returns to India (1915); mass movement strategies.
• Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22) — first mass civil disobedience.
• Civil Disobedience Movement / Salt March (1930).
• Quit India Movement (1942) — final push for independence.

Before Gandhi — Early Nationalism

Partition of Bengal (1905): Viceroy Curzon divided Bengal to weaken nationalism → triggered Swadeshi movement (buy Indian goods).

Gandhi's methods

• Satyagraha — "truth-force"; non-violent resistance; refuse to cooperate with unjust laws.
• Ahimsa — complete non-violence.
• Mass participation: involve peasants, women, all castes.
• Combine political freedom with social reform (untouchability, Hindu–Muslim unity).

Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22)

• Triggered by: Rowlatt Act (1919) — detention without trial; Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April 13, 1919) — British troops fired on unarmed crowd; 379+ killed.
• Demands: Swaraj (self-rule); repeal of Rowlatt Act.
• Methods: return titles and honours; boycott courts, schools, foreign cloth; hartals (strikes).
• Suspended (Feb 1922) after Chauri Chaura — mob burnt a police station, killing 22 policemen. Gandhi suspended movement to maintain non-violence.

Civil Disobedience Movement & Salt March (1930)

• Gandhi demanded abolition of salt tax (essential commodity; poor most affected).
• Dandi March (March–April 1930): Gandhi walked 240 miles from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi coast; made salt illegally → broke British law.
• Sparked nationwide civil disobedience: making salt, boycotting foreign cloth, picketing liquor shops.
• Gandhi–Irwin Pact (1931): Government released political prisoners; Gandhi attended Round Table Conference in London.

Quit India Movement (1942)

• During WWII; Gandhi demanded immediate British withdrawal.
• "Do or Die" slogan — August 9, 1942, Bombay.
• Congress leaders arrested immediately; mass uprising without leadership.
• Brutally suppressed; independence still came in 1947.

Road to Independence

• Cabinet Mission (1946): proposed united India plan — rejected.
• Mountbatten Plan (June 1947): partition into India and Pakistan.
• Independence: August 15, 1947; Partition and communal violence killed ~1 million.

• What was the Swadeshi movement? What triggered it?
• Explain Satyagraha and Ahimsa in Gandhi's movement.
• Why was the Non-Cooperation Movement suspended in 1922?
• What was the significance of the Dandi March?
• What were the causes and results of the Quit India Movement?

Open the Practice tab for graded questions on the Nationalist Movement.