question_answer 7)

 Discuss the various forms that the Non-cooperation Movement took in different parts of India. How did the people understand Gandhiji?  

Answer:

 Gandhiji supported the cause of the Indian Muslim and met to leaders of the Khilafat agitation. At this time, Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali wished to initiate a full fledged Non-cooperation Movement. Gandhiji supported their call and urged the Congress to compaign against "Punjab wrongs" (Jallianwala-massacre), the Khilafat wrong and demand swaraj. The Non-cooperation Movement gained momentum through 1921-22. Thousands of students left government controlled schools and colleges. Many lawyers such as C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru Asaf Ah and C. Rajagopalachari gave up their practices. British titles were surrendered and legislatures boycotted. In Kheda, Gujarat, Patidar peasants organised non-violent campaigns against the high land revenue demand of the British. In coastal Africa and interior Tamil Nadu, liquor shops were picketed. In the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, tribals and poor peasants staged a number of forest satyagrahas, sometimes sending their cattle into ferests without paying grazing fee. They were protesting because the colonial state had restricted their use of forest resources in various ways. They believed that Gandhiji would get their taxes reduced and have the forest regulations abolished. In many forest villages, peasants proclaimed Swaraj and believed that Gandhi Raj was about to be established. In Sindh (now in Pakistan), Muslim traders and peasants were very enthusiastic about the Khilafat call. In Bengal too, the Khailafat-Non-cooperation alliance gave enormous communal unity and strength to the national movement. In Punjab, the Akali agitation of the Sikhs sought to remove corrupt Mahants supported by the British from their gurdwaras. This movement got closely'identified with the Non-cooperation Movement. In Assam, tea garden labourers, showing Gandhi Maharja Ki Jai, demanded a big increase in their wages. They left the British-owned plantations amidst declarations that they were following Gandhiji's wish. Interestingly, in the Assamese Vaishnava songs of the period the reference to Krishna was substituted by Gandhi Raj. People understood Gandhiji's as a kind of messiah, as someone who could help them overcome their misery and poverty.