Nationalism in India Class 10 | भारत में राष्ट्रवाद | NCERT Notes

This article follows the NCERT chapter, including movements, social groups, national symbols, figures, sources, model exercise answers and revision practice.

Use the numbered references to check the textbook. Write your answers before reading the models. English videos and related resources follow the written article.

Introduction: How nationalism developed in India

Nationalism involves a changing sense of identity: people begin to see themselves as members of a nation, connected through shared ideas, symbols and experiences. In India, as in many other colonies, this consciousness grew through the struggle against colonial rule. People recognised a common experience of oppression and discovered reasons to act together.

Yet colonialism affected different groups differently. Their grievances, experiences and expectations of freedom were not identical. Under Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress tried to bring these groups into a common national movement. Building unity also meant dealing with disagreements within it. The chapter examines this process through the Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience movements, the participation of different social groups, and the cultural ideas that helped people imagine the nation.

Reading Figure 1: The photograph dated 6 April 1919 shows a mass street procession. Its caption explains that such processions became common during the national movement. It illustrates the growing importance of public participation. ^[1]

1. The First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation

How the war changed everyday life

After 1919, the national movement reached new places, involved additional social groups and adopted new methods. The First World War helped create the conditions for this expansion:

• War expenditure increased: The government met rising defence costs through war loans and higher taxes. Customs duties increased and income tax was introduced.
• Prices rose sharply: Between 1913 and 1918, prices doubled, making ordinary people’s lives much harder.
• Forced recruitment caused anger: The colonial state compelled people in rural areas to join the army.
• Food shortages and disease deepened the crisis: Crop failures in 1918–19 and 1920–21 reduced food supplies, while an influenza epidemic spread. NCERT cites the 1921 census estimate that famine and the epidemic caused 12–13 million deaths.

People expected relief when the war ended, but their difficulties continued. Gandhi offered a new method of struggle in these circumstances. ^[2]

1.1 The Idea of Satyagraha

Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in January 1915. There, he had used satyagraha to organise resistance to a racist regime. Satyagraha placed truth and the search for truth at the centre of struggle. Gandhi believed that a just cause could succeed through non-violence by awakening the oppressor’s conscience. A satyagrahi sought to persuade people to recognise the truth, without revenge, aggression or a desire to destroy the opponent. Gandhi expected truth ultimately to prevail and believed that non-violence could unite Indians. ^[3]

Source A: Gandhi’s argument in our own words. Gandhi described satyagraha as the strength of the soul, grounded in truth and love. It required courage and energetic effort; ill will and the deliberate infliction of suffering had no place in it. He also argued that India could not match Britain or Europe through weapons, while millions of Indians had made non-violence their guiding principle.

Activity: Why is satyagraha active resistance? A possible answer is that satyagrahis organise, oppose injustice and work to change the opponent’s understanding. Their refusal to use violence does not remove their responsibility to act. This answer is derived from Source A. ^[4]

Reading Figure 2: On 6 November 1913, Indian workers marched through Volksrust in South Africa. Gandhi was leading them from Newcastle towards Transvaal. After the march was stopped and Gandhi arrested, thousands more workers joined the resistance to racist laws that denied rights to non-white people. ^[2]

Early satyagraha movements in India

These local struggles preceded the attempt to organise nationwide satyagraha. ^[4]

1.2 The Rowlatt Act

The Rowlatt Act of 1919 gave the government extensive powers to suppress political activity and imprison political detainees without trial for two years. It passed hurriedly through the Imperial Legislative Council despite the united opposition of Indian members. Gandhi proposed nationwide, non-violent civil disobedience, beginning with a hartal on 6 April.

Rallies took place in several cities, railway workshop workers struck work, and shops closed. The British feared a growing popular movement and disruption of railway and telegraph communications. They arrested local leaders in Amritsar and prevented Gandhi from entering Delhi. On 10 April, police fired on a peaceful procession in Amritsar. Attacks on banks, post offices and railway stations followed. Martial law was imposed, and General Dyer took command. ^[4]

Jallianwalla Bagh: violence and its consequences

On 13 April 1919, a crowd gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwalla Bagh. Some had come to protest against government repression; others were attending the annual Baisakhi fair. Many villagers from outside Amritsar did not know that martial law was in force. Dyer blocked the exits and ordered firing on the crowd, killing hundreds. His stated purpose was to create terror and awe among satyagrahis.

The news brought people onto the streets in many north Indian towns. Strikes, clashes with police and attacks on government buildings followed. The government used severe repression and public humiliation: people were forced to rub their noses on the ground, crawl along streets and salute British officials. They were flogged, and villages near Gujranwala in Punjab were bombed. As violence spread, Gandhi called off the movement.

Reading Figure 3: British soldiers enforcing Dyer’s crawling orders show how repression sought to humiliate people as well as punish them. This withdrawal followed the Rowlatt agitation; the withdrawal of Non-Cooperation belongs to a later stage. ^[5]

Why Gandhi took up the Khilafat issue

The Rowlatt movement had reached widely but remained concentrated in cities and towns. Gandhi wanted a broader movement and considered closer Hindu-Muslim cooperation essential. The Khilafat issue offered an opportunity to develop it.

After Ottoman Turkey’s defeat in the First World War, there were fears of a harsh peace settlement against the Ottoman emperor, the Khalifa, regarded as the spiritual head of the Islamic world. A Khilafat Committee formed in Bombay in March 1919 to defend his temporal, or political, powers. Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali discussed joint mass action with Gandhi. He hoped to connect Muslim support with a united national struggle.

At the Calcutta Congress session in September 1920, Gandhi persuaded other leaders to support Non-Cooperation for both Khilafat and swaraj. ^[5]

1.3 Why Non-cooperation?

In Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhi argued that British rule had been established and sustained through Indian cooperation. He believed that withdrawing this cooperation could bring its collapse and swaraj within a year. This was his assessment of what collective action could achieve.

His proposed programme developed in stages. People would surrender government titles and boycott the civil services, army, police, courts, legislative councils, schools and foreign goods. If repression followed, a full civil disobedience campaign would begin. A boycott means refusing associations, activities, purchases or the use of goods as a form of protest.

Gandhi and Shaukat Ali travelled widely during the summer of 1920 to gather support. Within the Congress, however, some leaders hesitated to boycott the council elections scheduled for November and feared that popular action might become violent. Debate continued from September to December. A compromise at the Nagpur Congress session in December 1920 secured acceptance of the Non-Cooperation programme.

Reading Figure 4: The foreign-cloth boycott shown in July 1922 concerned more than purchasing choices. Foreign cloth also represented Western economic and cultural domination. ^[6]

2. Differing Strands within the Movement

The Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement began in January 1921. Its participants answered a common call for swaraj, but understood that goal through their own problems and hopes. Their different interpretations shaped the movement’s course. ^[7]

2.1 The Movement in the Towns

Urban participation began prominently among the middle classes. Thousands of students left government-controlled schools and colleges, teachers and headmasters resigned, and lawyers stopped practising. Most provinces boycotted council elections. Madras was an exception: the Justice Party, representing non-Brahmans, saw entry into the council as a route to power usually available to Brahmans.

People boycotted foreign goods, burnt foreign cloth and picketed liquor shops. Picketing involves blocking the entrance to a shop, factory or office as a protest. Between 1921 and 1922, foreign-cloth imports halved; their value fell from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore. Many traders refused to handle foreign goods or finance foreign trade. Growing demand for Indian cloth increased production in Indian mills and handlooms.

Urban participation gradually weakened. Khadi often cost more than mass-produced mill cloth, making it difficult for poorer people to sustain the switch. Alternative Indian educational and other institutions developed slowly. Students and teachers returned to government schools, and lawyers resumed work in government courts. ^[7]

Activity: A student’s poster in 1921. The book asks you to imagine attending a government-controlled school and encourage others to join Non-Cooperation. An original model message is: “Students, join the call for swaraj. Withdraw from government-controlled schools and support the boycott of foreign goods. Organise peacefully and take part in Non-Cooperation.” This is a suggested activity response, not a historical poster quotation. ^[7]

2.2 Rebellion in the Countryside

As Non-Cooperation spread beyond towns, it drew in peasant and tribal struggles that had developed after the war. In Awadh, peasants followed Baba Ramchandra, a sanyasi who had earlier worked in Fiji as an indentured labourer. Their opponents were talukdars and landlords demanding excessive rents and other cesses. Peasants performed begar, compulsory work without payment. Regular eviction also prevented tenants from securing rights over the land they cultivated.

The peasant programme demanded reduced revenue, an end to begar and a social boycott of oppressive landlords. Panchayats organised nai-dhobi bandhs, withdrawing the services of barbers and washermen from landlords. From June 1920, Jawaharlal Nehru visited Awadh villages to hear peasants’ grievances. By October, he, Baba Ramchandra and others headed the Oudh Kisan Sabha. More than 300 village branches appeared within a month.

When Non-Cooperation began the following year, the Congress sought to connect this struggle to the wider movement. However, some actions troubled its leadership. During 1921, crowds attacked talukdars’ and merchants’ houses, looted bazaars and seized grain stocks. Local leaders sometimes claimed that Gandhi had ordered people to stop paying taxes and redistribute land to the poor. These are reported claims by local leaders, not a verified declaration by Gandhi. His name was being used to justify diverse actions and hopes. ^[8]

Source B, the peasant activity and Bardoli

Source B in our own words: Police fired on peasants near Rae Bareli in the United Provinces on 6 January 1921. Prevented from reaching the site, Nehru addressed peasants gathered nearby. He recalled his own anger and momentary loss of commitment to non-violence. Remembering Gandhi and observing the peasants’ greater calm helped him regain restraint. He spoke about non-violence, and they dispersed peacefully. NCERT reproduces this recollection through Sarvapalli Gopal’s Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography, Volume I. The account shows peasant courage and restraint alongside the violent incidents described elsewhere.

Activity: A peasant in Uttar Pradesh in 1920. A possible answer is: “I would support the call for swaraj because I hope it will reduce oppressive demands, end unpaid labour and protect me from eviction.” This imagined response draws its reasons from the grievances in the chapter.

The Bardoli box: In 1928, Vallabhbhai Patel led peasants in Bardoli, a Gujarat taluka, against an increase in land revenue. The successful Bardoli Satyagraha received wide publicity and sympathy across India. It was a separate struggle from the Awadh movement. ^[9]

Tribal resistance in the Gudem Hills

In the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh, a militant guerrilla movement emerged in the early 1920s. Colonial forest restrictions prevented people from grazing cattle or gathering fuelwood and fruit. These measures damaged livelihoods and threatened traditional rights. Compulsory labour for road building helped provoke revolt.

Alluri Sitaram Raju became the leader. He claimed that he could predict events astrologically, heal people and survive bullets; followers believed he was an incarnation of God. These were claims and beliefs, not demonstrated powers. Raju admired Gandhi and said Non-Cooperation inspired him. He encouraged khadi and giving up alcohol, yet believed liberation required force. Rebels attacked police stations, attempted to kill British officials and fought guerrilla campaigns for swaraj. The Congress could not approve this method of struggle. Raju was captured and executed in 1924 and became a folk hero. ^[10]

Activity: Other nationalists executed by the British. For another Indian example within this chapter, use Bhagat Singh in Box 1, p. 41: NCERT states that the colonial government tried and executed him at the age of 23. Further examples and the requested comparison with Indo-China require additional relevant NCERT reading. The Indo-China comparison cannot be completed from this chapter alone. ^[11]

2.3 Swaraj in the Plantations

For Assam’s plantation workers, freedom meant being able to enter and leave the plantations freely and maintain connections with their home villages. The Inland Emigration Act of 1859 prevented them from leaving tea gardens without permission, which was rarely granted.

Hearing of Non-Cooperation, thousands defied the authorities and set out for home. They expected Gandhi Raj to arrive and believed that everyone would receive land in their villages. This was the workers’ expectation. A railway and steamer strike stranded them on the journey; police caught and brutally beat them. ^[10]

These local visions were not set out in the Congress programme. People understood swaraj as an end to their suffering. For example, tribal protesters invoking Gandhi and demanding “Swatantra Bharat” connected their struggles emotionally with an all-India movement. Participants identified with a cause extending beyond their immediate locality. ^[12]

Figure 5: Chauri Chaura and the halt to Non-Cooperation

In 1922, a peaceful demonstration in a bazaar at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur became a violent clash with the police. According to Figure 5’s caption, Gandhi called a halt to Non-Cooperation when he heard what had happened. The episode leads into the next section’s discussion of withdrawal and the search for a new direction. ^[13]

3 Towards civil disobedience

Withdrawal, economic crisis and constitutional politics

Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement in February 1922 because violence was spreading and satyagrahis needed further training. Some Congress leaders, weary of mass struggles, wanted to contest elections to provincial councils established under the Government of India Act of 1919. They hoped to challenge British policies, seek reforms and expose the councils’ undemocratic character from within. C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party within the Congress to advocate council politics. Younger leaders, including Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, favoured stronger mass agitation and complete independence. ^[14]

Two developments reshaped this debate. The worldwide economic depression reduced agricultural prices from 1926, with a collapse after 1930. Falling demand and exports made selling crops and paying revenue increasingly difficult. Meanwhile, Britain’s Tory government appointed a commission under Sir John Simon to review India’s constitutional system and recommend changes. All its members were British. When it arrived in 1928, parties including the Congress and Muslim League demonstrated with the slogan “Go back Simon”. Lala Lajpat Rai died from injuries inflicted by British police during a peaceful demonstration against the commission. ^[14]

In October 1929, Viceroy Irwin offered dominion status at an unspecified future date and a Round Table Conference on a future constitution. Congress leaders remained dissatisfied. Radicals gained influence as advocates of a constitutional arrangement within the British dominion lost ground. The Lahore Congress, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru in December 1929, formally adopted Purna Swaraj, or complete independence. It designated 26 January 1930 as Independence Day, when people would pledge to struggle for freedom. The celebrations attracted little attention, prompting Gandhi to connect independence with everyday concerns. ^[15]

Figure 6 records a Congress leaders’ meeting at Allahabad in 1931. Its caption identifies Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. ^[14]

Source C: the Independence Day pledge

The pledge of 26 January 1930 treated freedom as an inalienable right, together with the fruits of labour, necessities of life and opportunities for development. It asserted people’s right to change or abolish a government that denied these rights and oppressed them. By accusing British rule of economic, political, cultural and spiritual damage, it justified ending the British connection and achieving Purna Swaraj. Its argument linked independence to the conditions of ordinary people’s lives. ^[16]

3.1 The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement

On 31 January 1930, Gandhi sent Irwin eleven demands combining general concerns with the interests of groups ranging from industrialists to peasants. This breadth was intended to support a united campaign. Abolition of the salt tax was the most powerful demand: salt was essential to rich and poor alike. Gandhi presented the tax and the government’s production monopoly as particularly oppressive features of British rule. The chapter does not enumerate all eleven demands. ^[16]

The letter warned of civil disobedience if the demands were not met by 11 March. Irwin was unwilling to negotiate. Gandhi set out with 78 trusted volunteers from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi on the Gujarat coast, a journey of over 240 miles. They walked for 24 days, covering about 10 miles daily. At stopping places, Gandhi explained swaraj and urged peaceful defiance to crowds of thousands. On 6 April 1930, he reached Dandi and broke the law by making salt from boiled seawater. This marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement. Figure 7 emphasises that thousands joined the original marchers along the route. ^[17]

Non-cooperation had involved refusing assistance to British rule; civil disobedience also called for breaking colonial laws. People manufactured salt and demonstrated outside government salt factories. They boycotted foreign cloth, picketed liquor shops and refused revenue and chaukidari taxes. Village officials resigned. In several areas, forest communities entered Reserved Forests to gather wood and graze cattle, violating forest regulations. ^[17]

Textual note: The brief chronology on page 42 places the breaking of the salt law under March 1930. The detailed narrative on page 39 specifies 6 April; that precise date is used here. ^[18]

Repression, the Gandhi–Irwin Pact and renewal

Arrests of Congress leaders triggered clashes. After Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s arrest in April 1930, demonstrators in Peshawar confronted armoured vehicles and police gunfire; many were killed. A month later, Gandhi’s arrest led industrial workers in Sholapur to attack police posts, municipal buildings, courts and railway stations, which symbolised British authority. Repression extended to peaceful satyagrahis, women and children, and approximately 100,000 people were arrested. Figure 8 depicts the police crackdown on satyagrahis in 1930. ^[19]

Gandhi suspended the movement and signed the Gandhi–Irwin Pact on 5 March 1931. He agreed to attend the second Round Table Conference in London, while the government agreed to release political prisoners. Congress had boycotted the first conference. The chapter places the unsuccessful London negotiations in December 1931. On returning, Gandhi found renewed repression: Ghaffar Khan and Nehru were imprisoned, Congress was declared illegal, and meetings, demonstrations and boycotts faced restrictions. The movement resumed in 1932, but its momentum had weakened by 1934. ^[20]

Box 1: revolutionary nationalism

Some nationalists believed that non-violence could not defeat British rule. In 1928, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) was founded at Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi. Its leaders included Bhagat Singh, Jatin Das and Ajoy Ghosh. It targeted symbols of British power: Bhagat Singh and Batukeswar Dutta threw a bomb in the Legislative Assembly in April 1929, and an attempt was made that year to blow up Irwin’s train. The chapter states that Bhagat Singh was 23 when tried and executed. ^[21]

The statement reproduced in the box explains his aim as social revolution, without glorifying bombs and pistols. He described freedom as everyone’s birthright and labourers as society’s sustainers. Youth and sacrifice were offered to the revolutionary cause, expressed in the slogan “Inquilab Zindabad”. ^[21]

3.2 How participants saw the movement

Rich peasants. Commercial cultivators such as Gujarat’s Patidars and Uttar Pradesh’s Jats suffered from falling prices and cash incomes. The refusal to reduce government revenue made them enthusiastic supporters. They organised their communities and sometimes pressed reluctant members to join boycotts. Swaraj meant relief from high revenue demands. When the movement ended in 1931 without revised rates, disappointment led many to avoid its renewal in 1932. ^[21]

Poor peasants. Small tenants cultivating rented land wanted remission of unpaid rent as well as relief from revenue demands. Many joined radical movements led by Socialists and Communists. Congress usually hesitated to support “no rent” campaigns because these could antagonise rich peasants and landlords. Its relationship with poorer peasants therefore remained uncertain. Government revenue and rent payable to landlords were distinct burdens. ^[21]

Business groups. Merchants and industrialists who had prospered during the First World War opposed restrictions on expansion. They wanted protection from foreign imports and a rupee–sterling exchange ratio that discouraged imports. Their organisations included the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress, founded in 1920, and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI), founded in 1927. Leaders such as Purshottamdas Thakurdas and G. D. Birla provided financial assistance and refused to trade in imported goods. Swaraj promised business growth without colonial restrictions. After the Round Table Conference failed, enthusiasm became uneven because of fears about militancy, prolonged disruption and socialism among younger Congress members. ^[22]

Industrial workers. Participation was limited outside the Nagpur region. As industrialists approached Congress, workers remained aloof. Nevertheless, some adapted Gandhian methods, including foreign-goods boycotts, to campaigns against low wages and poor conditions. Railway workers struck in 1930 and dockworkers in 1932. Thousands in Chotanagpur’s tin mines wore Gandhi caps and joined rallies and boycotts in 1930. Congress feared that adopting workers’ demands would alienate industrialists and divide the struggle against imperialism. ^[22]

Women. Thousands attended Gandhi’s meetings during the Salt March. Women joined processions, made salt, picketed foreign-cloth and liquor shops, and went to prison. Urban participants generally came from high-caste families, while rural participants came from prosperous peasant households. National service became a sacred duty for many. Yet public participation did not automatically transform ideas about their position. Gandhi continued to emphasise domestic responsibilities and their roles as mothers and wives. Congress remained reluctant to give women organisational authority, favouring their symbolic presence. Figure 9 shows elderly women and mothers carrying children in a nationalist procession, illustrating entry into public activity. ^[23]

Discussion: why did different groups participate? Sample response. Opposition to colonial rule brought groups together, but their aims differed: lower revenue, rent remission, business freedom, better working conditions or national service. A complete answer should connect each group’s aspirations to its actions and explain why support could weaken when those aspirations remained unmet. ^[24]

Chronology in the textbook’s date box

The chapter’s “Some important dates” box brings together the following events. The March 1930 entry is qualified by the detailed narrative’s date for breaking the salt law. ^[18]

3.3 The limits of civil disobedience

Dalit mobilisation and the Poona Pact

Around the 1930s, communities subjected to untouchability increasingly described themselves as dalit, meaning oppressed. Congress had long neglected their concerns for fear of offending conservative high-caste sanatanis. Gandhi insisted that swaraj required ending untouchability. He used the contemporary term “harijan”, or children of God, and organised satyagraha for access to temples, public wells, tanks, roads and schools. Cleaning toilets himself was intended to dignify sweepers’ work. He urged upper castes to reject untouchability through a change of heart. ^[25]

Many dalit leaders sought political empowerment through reservations in educational institutions and separate electorates for legislative representation. Their participation in civil disobedience remained limited, notably in Maharashtra and Nagpur, where dalit organisation was strong. B. R. Ambedkar formed the Depressed Classes Association in 1930 and demanded separate electorates at the second Round Table Conference. When Britain accepted this demand, Gandhi began a fast unto death, believing separate electorates would delay social integration. ^[26]

Ambedkar ultimately accepted a compromise. The Poona Pact of September 1932 provided reserved seats for the Depressed Classes, later known as Scheduled Castes, in provincial and central legislative councils. Representatives would be chosen by the general electorate. Reserved seats within a general electorate were therefore different from the separate-electorate demand. Dalit organisations nevertheless remained apprehensive about the Congress-led national movement. ^[26]

Muslim organisations and representation

Some Muslim political organisations also responded without enthusiasm. Following the decline of Non-Cooperation–Khilafat, a large section of Muslims felt distant from Congress. From the mid-1920s, Congress appeared increasingly associated with Hindu religious nationalist organisations such as the Hindu Mahasabha. Militant religious processions, communal clashes and riots deepened mistrust. ^[26]

Congress–Muslim League negotiations briefly suggested agreement in 1927. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was prepared to abandon separate electorates if Muslims received reserved Central Assembly seats and representation proportionate to their population in Bengal and Punjab, where Muslims were a majority. At the All Parties Conference in 1928, M. R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha strongly opposed compromise. Disagreement continued. Many Muslim leaders feared that majority domination would weaken minority culture and identity, limiting the response to a united struggle. Figure 10 shows Gandhi, Nehru and Maulana Azad at Sevagram Ashram, Wardha, in 1935. ^[27]

Source D: Iqbal’s argument

As Muslim League president in 1930, Sir Muhammad Iqbal defended separate electorates as protection for minority political interests. He linked a full commitment to India’s freedom with recognition of Muslims’ cultural development. He condemned hostility towards other communities and affirmed respect for their customs, religions and places of worship. His argument distinguished this from attachment to one’s own community, which he considered compatible with social harmony. ^[28]

Iqbal argued that European democracy could not simply be applied without recognising India’s communal groups. He opposed a conception of nationalism that erased their distinct identities and supported a “Muslim India within India”. He connected anxieties about representation to Muslims’ economic weakness, indebtedness, especially in Punjab, and numerical position in certain provinces. NCERT’s introduction associates this statement with the intellectual justification of the Pakistan demand that developed later. These are the source speaker’s arguments. ^[28]

Discussion: agreement and an alternative definition. Sample response. Cultural freedom and respect for other communities can be supported while questioning political separation by religion. Communalism could be defined as treating religious communities’ political interests as inherently opposed and encouraging hostility between them. This distinguishes the preservation of cultural identity from conflict with others. The activity invites a reasoned view supported by the source. ^[28]

4 The sense of collective belonging

People developed nationalism when they recognised themselves as members of a common nation despite differences of language, region and community. Shared struggles helped produce this connection. Cultural practices also made the nation familiar through history, fiction, folklore, songs, prints and symbols. Figure 11, an early twentieth-century print of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, surrounds him with sacred institutions of different faiths, including a temple, church and masjid. These are presented as symbols of unity. ^[29]

Bharat Mata and popular imagery

The nation’s identity became associated with Bharat Mata. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay first created this image and wrote “Vande Mataram” in the 1870s as a hymn to the motherland. He later included it in Anandamath. The song circulated widely during Bengal’s Swadeshi movement. Inspired by that movement, Abanindranath Tagore painted Bharat Mata in 1905. Later artists and popular prints developed different versions, and devotion to the mother figure came to express national attachment. ^[30]

Folklore and national identity

From the late nineteenth century, nationalists recorded bards’ tales and collected village songs and legends. They believed these preserved authentic traditional culture damaged by outside influences. Recovering folk traditions could strengthen national identity and pride in the past. Rabindranath Tagore collected ballads, nursery rhymes and myths in Bengal and led efforts at revival. In Madras, Natesa Sastri published the four-volume Tamil collection The Folklore of Southern India. He regarded folklore as national literature and a reliable expression of ordinary people’s thoughts and characteristics. ^[32]

Flags as symbols of unity and defiance

These historical flag designs connected national identification with public expressions of defiance. ^[31]

Reinterpreting history and Source E

British descriptions of Indians as backward and incapable of self-government prompted a search for past achievements. Nationalist histories celebrated ancient art, architecture, science, mathematics, religion, culture, law, philosophy, crafts and trade. They presented subsequent decline and colonisation against this account of achievement. Readers were encouraged to take pride in the past and struggle against the miserable conditions of colonial rule. ^[31]

Source E comes from Tarinicharan Chattopadhyay’s Bharatbarsher Itihas, volume 1, published in 1858. It contrasts foreign travellers’ earlier praise for the courage, truthfulness and modesty of the Arya vamsa with claims that these qualities had disappeared. Accounts of Hindu conquests in Tartar, China and elsewhere are contrasted with domination by a few soldiers from a distant island. This is evidence of how the writer contrasted a glorious past with a subordinated present; the historical claims remain attributed to the source. ^[31]

The limits of cultural unity

When the past being celebrated was Hindu and national images relied on Hindu iconography, other communities could feel excluded. Cultural symbols therefore did not produce an identical response from everyone. ^[31]

Image activity: Figures 12 and 14a. Sample response. The first image emphasises calmness, care and spiritual discipline; the second emphasises power through the trishul, lion and elephant. Both could encourage devotion to the nation, but their religious symbolism would not necessarily appeal equally to every caste or community. Shared belonging depended partly on whether people recognised themselves in these representations. The activity calls the second picture “Figure 14”; its caption in this edition is Figure 14a. ^[32]

Conclusion

Anger against colonial government brought different Indian groups into a common struggle. Under Gandhi, Congress organised their grievances into national movements and tried to reconcile competing demands so that one group’s aims would not alienate another. Yet differing expectations gave freedom different meanings. Periods of strong participation and unity alternated with internal conflict and disunity. The emerging nation contained many voices seeking release from colonial rule. ^[33]

Quit India Movement

The failure of the Cripps Mission and the effects of the Second World War generated widespread discontent. Gandhi called for complete British withdrawal. On 14 July 1942, the Congress Working Committee at Wardha adopted the Quit India resolution, demanding immediate transfer of power to Indians. On 8 August 1942, the All India Congress Committee at Bombay endorsed it and called for an extensive non-violent mass struggle. Gandhi delivered his “Do or Die” speech on this occasion. The two dates refer to adoption by the Working Committee and subsequent endorsement by the All India Congress Committee. ^[33]

Voluntary participation almost halted the state machinery across large parts of the country. Hartals, demonstrations and processions were accompanied by national songs and slogans. Thousands of students, workers and peasants made it a mass movement. Active leaders included Jayprakash Narayan, Aruna Asaf Ali and Ram Manohar Lohia. Women named in the box include Matangini Hazra in Bengal, Kanaklata Barua in Assam and Rama Devi in Odisha. Despite extensive use of force, the British took more than a year to suppress the movement. Figure 14b shows a women’s procession in Bombay during Quit India, illustrating their collective public participation. ^[33]

NCERT end-of-chapter exercises: model answers

The following original model answers cover every exercise on page 50. Unless another source is identified, citations refer to the printed pages of the English NCERT chapter, Reprint 2026–27. The questions retain the textbook's wording; the answers are study aids written in our own words.

Write in brief

1(a). Explain why growth of nationalism in the colonies is linked to an anti-colonial movement.

People discovered a shared identity while resisting colonial rule. Experiences of oppression brought different groups together, and participation in common struggles strengthened their sense of belonging to one nation. In India, the Congress under Gandhi tried to organise these grievances into a national movement. However, colonialism affected groups differently. Their expectations of freedom varied, so building unity also involved disagreements and compromise. ^[34]

1(b). Explain how the First World War helped in the growth of the National Movement in India.

War increased defence expenditure, financed through loans and higher taxes; customs duties rose and income tax was introduced. Prices doubled between 1913 and 1918, causing hardship. Forced recruitment angered villagers. Crop failures in 1918–19 and 1920–21, food shortages and influenza deepened the crisis. People expected relief after the war, but their difficulties continued. These economic and political conditions increased resentment and created a background for the national movement to expand. ^[2]

1(c). Explain why Indians were outraged by the Rowlatt Act.

The Rowlatt Act of 1919 empowered the government to suppress political activities and imprison political detainees without trial for two years. It passed hurriedly despite opposition from Indian members of the Imperial Legislative Council. Indians regarded these powers as unjust and repressive. Gandhi called for a nationwide satyagraha beginning with a hartal on 6 April. ^[4]

1(d). Explain why Gandhiji decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement.

At Chauri Chaura in 1922, a peaceful demonstration became a violent clash with the police. On hearing about it, Gandhi called a halt to the movement. He withdrew Non-Cooperation in February 1922 because he believed it was becoming violent in many places. Satyagrahis needed proper training before participating in mass struggles based on non-violence. ^[35]

2. What is meant by the idea of satyagraha?

Satyagraha rests on truth and the search for truth. It proposes that a just cause can be pursued through non-violence, without revenge or physical force. A satyagrahi appeals to the oppressor's conscience and persuades others to recognise truth. It requires courage, self-discipline and active resistance to injustice. Gandhi believed that this moral strength could unite Indians. ^[36]

3(a). Write a newspaper report on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Model newspaper report for this exercise; this is not an archival report or an eyewitness account.

Crowd fired upon at Jallianwala Bagh

Amritsar, April 1919: On 13 April, General Dyer's forces fired on a crowd gathered in the enclosed ground of Jallianwala Bagh. Some had come to protest against repressive measures; others were attending the annual Baisakhi fair. Many villagers were unaware that martial law had been imposed. Dyer blocked the exits before opening fire. Hundreds were killed. As news spread, strikes and protests broke out in north Indian towns, followed by clashes and attacks on government buildings. The government responded with brutal repression. ^[37]

3(b). Write a newspaper report on the Simon Commission.

Model newspaper report with an original headline and presentation.

Commission without Indian members faces widespread protest

India, 1928: The Simon Commission has encountered demonstrations and calls to “Go back Simon”. The Congress, Muslim League and other parties joined the protests. Britain's Tory government appointed the commission under Sir John Simon to examine India's constitutional system and recommend changes. Its membership is entirely British. The exclusion of Indians from an inquiry into their country's constitutional arrangements is the main reason for the opposition. ^[14]

4. Compare the images of Bharat Mata in this chapter with the image of Germania in Chapter 1.

Both represent the nation through a female figure. Compare their objects and meanings, while distinguishing the two Bharat Mata images.

Tagore's image stresses spiritual and nurturing qualities; Germania's symbols emphasise freedom and political strength. The second Bharat Mata image also expresses power, showing that national imagery could take different forms. ^[38]

Discuss

1. List all the different social groups which joined the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1921. Then choose any three and write about their hopes and struggles to show why they joined the movement.

The chapter identifies urban middle-class students, headmasters, teachers and lawyers; merchants and traders supporting the boycott; rural peasants; tribal peasants; and Assam's plantation workers. The Khilafat issue also helped bring Muslim supporters into the common movement. Religious identities overlapped with occupations and classes. ^[39]

1. Awadh peasants: High rents, additional cesses, unpaid begar and insecure tenancies caused resentment. Led by Baba Ramchandra, peasants demanded lower revenue, abolition of begar and social boycotts of oppressive landlords. The Oudh Kisan Sabha organised peasants, and Congress tried to connect their struggle with Non-Cooperation. Swaraj promised relief from exploitation. However, attacks on landlords' houses, looting and seizures of grain displeased Congress leaders. Local claims that Gandhi had ordered redistribution of land should be understood as claims made in his name. ^[9]
2. Gudem tribal peasants: Restrictions on grazing and collecting forest produce threatened livelihoods and traditional rights. Forced labour for road building intensified anger. Under Alluri Sitaram Raju, rebels attacked police stations and used guerrilla warfare. Raju admired Gandhi and encouraged khadi and abstinence from alcohol, but believed freedom required force. Their hopes centred on recovering rights and livelihoods; their methods differed from Congress's commitment to non-violence. ^[10]
3. Assam plantation workers: The Inland Emigration Act of 1859 restricted their departure from plantations without permission. Freedom meant moving freely and retaining links with home villages. Hearing about Non-Cooperation, thousands left the plantations, expecting Gandhi Raj and land in their villages. These were their hopes. Railway and steamer strikes stranded them; the police caught and beat them. ^[12]

2. Discuss the Salt March to make clear why it was an effective symbol of resistance against colonialism.

Salt connected freedom with everyday life because rich and poor alike needed it. Its tax and the government's production monopoly made colonial control immediately understandable. Gandhi demanded abolition of the tax and marched from Sabarmati to Dandi with 78 volunteers. Over 24 days, he explained swaraj and peaceful defiance at public meetings. On 6 April 1930, he broke the law by making salt. People elsewhere manufactured salt and demonstrated outside government salt factories. A shared necessity therefore became a practical means of challenging colonial authority and widening participation. ^[17]

3. Imagine you are a woman participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement. Explain what the experience meant to your life.

Imagined response: the activities and limitations come from NCERT; the personal voice is fictional.

Joining the movement brought me into public life. I marched, made salt and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Working with other women helped me see that I could contribute to the struggle. Service to the nation became an important responsibility. Many women also went to prison, revealing the courage participation required. Yet our increased public role did not remove every restriction. Domestic duties still defined expectations of women, and Congress hesitated to give us positions of authority. For me, participation opened new possibilities while exposing the limits that remained. ^[23]

4. Why did political leaders differ sharply over the question of separate electorates?

Leaders differed over how to combine secure representation with social and national unity. Many dalit leaders believed political empowerment could overcome social discrimination. Ambedkar demanded separate electorates for dalits. Gandhi feared these would delay their integration into society. They clashed at the second Round Table Conference. When the government accepted Ambedkar's demand, Gandhi began a fast unto death. The Poona Pact of September 1932 provided reserved seats for the Depressed Classes in provincial and central legislative councils, elected by the general electorate. ^[25]

Many Muslim leaders feared that majority domination could weaken minority culture, identity and political influence. Jinnah was willing to give up separate electorates if Muslims received reserved Central Assembly seats and population-based representation in Bengal and Punjab. M.R. Jayakar opposed compromise at the 1928 All Parties Conference. In Source D, Iqbal defends separate electorates as protection for minority political interests. These debates involved different priorities concerning representation, community security and integration. ^[40]

Project: India and Indo-China

Find out about the anti-colonial movement in Indo-China. Compare and contrast India's national movement with the ways in which Indo-China became independent.

This chapter supplies evidence for the Indian side. Completing the historical comparison, especially the Indo-China side, requires additional relevant NCERT material. Use the following research method; it is not a completed historical comparison. ^[41]

1. Define the period studied and record each source's title, edition and pages.
2. Compare the same features: colonial control, leadership, participating groups, methods of struggle, cultural nationalism and the process of achieving independence.
3. Use this chapter for India's varied aspirations, mass movements, symbols and limitations. Add evidence from an appropriate NCERT source for Indo-China. ^[42]
4. Support each similarity and difference with evidence from both sides. Explain how circumstances shaped participation and methods. Mark gaps for further research instead of filling them with assumptions.

Revision and answer-writing tools

Eighteen essential terms

These concise explanations use the terms in the chapter's context.

Ten common points of confusion

1. Satyagraha and passivity: Satyagraha demands active resistance and moral courage. ^[4]
2. Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience: Withdrawing cooperation was central to the first; breaking colonial laws became an explicit call in the second. ^[43]
3. Withdrawal of movements: The Rowlatt satyagraha was withdrawn amid violence in 1919; Non-Cooperation ended after Chauri Chaura in 1922. ^[44]
4. Revenue and rent: Revenue paid to government differed from rent owed to landlords. Rich peasants and poor tenants had different demands. ^[21]
5. Meanings of swaraj: Peasants sought economic relief, plantation workers free movement, and business groups freedom from colonial restrictions. ^[45]
6. Raju's inspiration and methods: He admired Gandhi but supported armed resistance. ^[10]
7. Women's participation and authority: Public participation expanded while organisational authority remained restricted. ^[23]
8. Reserved seats and separate electorates: Under the Poona Pact, reserved representatives were elected by the general electorate. ^[26]
9. Cultural contributions: Bankim wrote Vande Mataram; Abanindranath painted Bharat Mata; Rabindranath collected folk traditions. ^[32]
10. Symbols and inclusion: National symbols could unite people, yet Hindu imagery could leave other communities feeling excluded. ^[46]

A simple answer-writing method

Identify the instruction: explain causes for “why”, trace a process for “how”, and use common criteria for comparisons. State your answer directly, then connect each main point to evidence and its significance. For social groups, use grievance → hope for swaraj → action. Distinguish what an image shows from what its symbols mean. Finally, check names, dates, movements and sources. This is an original study method.

NCERT-based self-made practice

These original multiple-choice questions are separate from the textbook exercises above. Choose one answer to each, then check the key and its source basis.

1. What increased rural resentment during the First World War? A. Collecting folk songs; B. Forced recruitment; C. Designing the Swaraj flag; D. Painting Bharat Mata.
2. Which expresses satyagraha? A. Violent revenge; B. Accepting injustice passively; C. Appealing to conscience through truth and non-violence; D. Accepting every government decision.
3. What power did the Rowlatt Act provide? A. Two years' detention of political prisoners without trial; B. Abolition of salt tax; C. Cancellation of rent; D. Free departure from plantations.
4. Why did Gandhi take up Khilafat? A. To organise only traders; B. To change forest laws; C. To fix wages; D. To bring Hindus and Muslims into a common struggle.
5. Why did urban Non-Cooperation slow down? A. Foreign imports disappeared entirely; B. Khadi was costly and alternative institutions developed slowly; C. Indian textile production ended; D. Complete independence arrived.
6. What did Awadh peasants demand? A. More foreign imports; B. Government control of forest produce; C. Lower revenue and abolition of begar; D. Permission to leave plantations.
7. What did freedom particularly mean to Assam plantation workers? A. Free movement and links with home villages; B. Collecting rent; C. Council elections; D. Protection against imports.
8. Why was the Simon Commission opposed? A. It included only peasants; B. Gandhi chaired it; C. It accepted Purna Swaraj; D. It had no Indian member.
9. Why was salt an effective symbol? A. Only industrialists used it; B. Everyone needed it, but it faced tax and state monopoly; C. Only plantations produced it; D. It automatically cancelled rent.
10. What additional demand did poor tenants make? A. More foreign trade; B. Ending council boycotts; C. Remission of unpaid rent; D. Greater state control over salt.
11. Which describes women's participation? A. They remained active only at home; B. All immediately received leadership posts; C. Rural women were entirely outside the movement; D. Public participation grew while organisational authority remained limited.
12. What did the Poona Pact provide? A. Reserved seats for dalits elected by the general electorate; B. Separate electorates; C. Abolition of reserved seats; D. Abolition of legislative councils.
13. Who painted the 1905 Bharat Mata? A. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay; B. Abanindranath Tagore; C. Rabindranath Tagore; D. Natesa Sastri.
14. What did the spinning wheel on the Swaraj flag symbolise? A. Military power; B. Eight provinces; C. Self-help; D. Separate electorates.
15. When did Gandhi deliver “Do or Die”? A. Nagpur Congress, 1920; B. Lahore Congress, 1929; C. Poona Pact, 1932; D. At the endorsement of the Quit India resolution in Bombay on 8 August 1942.

Answers and source basis