At a glance
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Book DigestModern HistoryGandhiChamparanJallianwala BaghRowlatt ActSatyagrahaSpectrum
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi developed his philosophy and method of Satyagraha (truth-force, non-violent resistance) in South Africa, fighting racial discrimination against Indians: the registration certificates and the poll tax, culminating in successful Satyagraha campaigns. He returned to India in 1915 and, on Gokhale's advice, spent a year travelling and observing before entering politics. He set up the Sabarmati (Satyagraha) Ashram at Ahmedabad.
- Home Rule Movement (1916): two leagues, Bal Gangadhar Tilak's (April 1916, Maharashtra) and Annie Besant's (September 1916), demanded self-government within the empire, broadening political activity beyond the elite.
- Lucknow Pact (1916): the Congress and the Muslim League came together; the Congress accepted separate electorates in return for joint demands for self-government. The Moderates and Extremists also reunited at Lucknow.
- The August Declaration (1917) by Secretary of State Edwin Montagu promised the gradual development of responsible government in India, leading to the Government of India Act 1919.
These three campaigns established Gandhi's method and reputation:
| Campaign |
Year |
Issue |
| Champaran (Bihar) |
1917 |
The tinkathia system forced indigo planters' tenants to grow indigo on a fixed share of land; Gandhi's first Satyagraha in India secured relief. |
| Ahmedabad mill strike |
1918 |
A dispute over a plague bonus for mill workers; Gandhi used a fast to win a wage rise (an arbitration award). |
| Kheda (Gujarat) |
1918 |
Crop failure; Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel led a no-revenue campaign for remission of land revenue. |
- The Rowlatt Act (1919) (the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act) allowed detention without trial and the suppression of political activity; Indians condemned it as "no appeal, no argument, no lawyer". Gandhi called a nationwide Rowlatt Satyagraha (hartal) in April 1919.
- The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, 1919-04-13 (Baisakhi day), at Amritsar: General Reginald Dyer ordered troops to fire without warning on a peaceful, penned-in crowd, killing hundreds (the official figure was 379; Indian estimates are far higher) and wounding many more. The Hunter Commission later censured Dyer, but the British public reaction (and the praise he received in some quarters) deepened Indian anger.
- Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest; Gandhi returned the Kaiser-i-Hind medal. The massacre destroyed faith in British justice and prepared the ground for the Non-Cooperation Movement.
The Rowlatt Act is a defining example of emergency security law used to crush civil liberties (preventive detention, the suspension of due process), an issue that runs straight to modern debates on preventive-detention law and constitutional safeguards under Article 22. Jallianwala Bagh is the starkest colonial atrocity in the syllabus, a permanent reference point for any human-rights essay on the misuse of force against unarmed civilians and the duty of proportionality.
- Champaran (1917) was Gandhi's first Satyagraha in India; the issue was the tinkathia indigo system.
- Jallianwala Bagh was 1919-04-13 at Amritsar; the officer was General Dyer; the inquiry was the Hunter Commission.
- The Lucknow Pact (1916) is when the Congress accepted separate electorates to win League cooperation.
- Gandhi returned to India in 1915.
- Gandhi's first Satyagraha in India was at: (a) Kheda (b) Champaran (c) Ahmedabad (d) Bardoli. Answer: (b) Champaran, 1917. Authored practice, not a verbatim PYQ.
- Who ordered firing at Jallianwala Bagh, and which commission inquired into it? (Answer: General Dyer; the Hunter Commission.) Authored practice, not a verbatim PYQ.