Long Answers Questions (LAQs) for Chapter 2 Nationalism in India Class 10 History
Important Questions1
How did the ‘First World War’ create a new economic and political situations in India? Explain with examples.
Answer
• The war created a new economic and political situation.
• It led to huge increase in defence expenditure which was financed by war loans and increasing taxes, custom duties were raised and income tax was introduced.
• Through the war years prices increased doubling between 1913 and 1918 that created extreme hardship for the common people.
• Villagers were asked to supply soldiers and through force recruitment in rural areas.
• During 1918-19, crops failed in many parts of India which created shortage of food and spread of influenza epidemic. Both resulted in the death of 12 to 13 million people.
2
\Why did Gandhiji decide to launch a nationwide Satyagraha against the proposed Rowlatt Act of 1919? How was it organized? Explain.
Answer
Gandhiji decided to launch nationwide Satyagraha against the proposed Rowlatt Act, 1919 because:
• The Rowlatt Act was hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite the united opposition of the Indian members.
• It gave government enormous powers to repress political activities.
• It allowed detention of political prisoners without trials for two years.
It was organized:
• Mahatma Gandhi wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws.
• It was started with a ‘Hartal’ on 6th April.
• Rallies were organized in various cities.
• Workers went on strike in railway workshops.
• Shops were closed down.
3
Describe the incident and impact of the Jallianwala Bagh.
Answer
Incident of the Jallianwala Bagh:
• On 13th April large crowd gathered in Jallianwala Bagh.
• Some came to protest against the government’s new repressive measures.
• Others had come to attend the annual Baisakhi fair.
• General Dyer entered the area, blocked the exit points and opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds to create a feeling of terror.
Impact:
• As the news spread, crowd took to the streets in North Indian towns.
• There were strikes, clashes with police.
• Attacks on Government buildings.
• The government responded with brutal repression to terrorize people.
4
Explain the response of the plantation workers to the Non-Cooperation Movement started by Gandhiji. What did freedom mean for them?
Answer
• Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not permitted to leave the tea gardens without permission.
• When they heard of the Non–Cooperation Movement, thousands of workers defied the authorities, left the plantations and headed home.
• They believed that Gandhi Raj was coming and everyone would be given land in their own village.
• They, however, never reached their destination. Stranded on the way by a railway and steamer strike, they were caught by the police and brutally beaten up. For them, freedom meant the right to move freely in and out of the confined space in which they were enclosed.
5
Explain the term ‘Satyagraha’. Describe three movements of Satyagraha successfully organsied by Mahatma Gandhi soon after his arrival in India.
Answer
Satyagraha was a method of mass struggle introduced by Mahatma Gandhi. The idea of satyagraha emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for truth. It suggested that if the cause was true, if the struggle was against injustice, then physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor.
The three movements of Satyagraha successfully organised by Mahatma Gandhi were:
• In 1916 he travelled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system.
• In 1917, he organised a satyagraha to support the peasants of the Kheda district of Gujarat. Affected by crop failure and a plague epidemic, the peasants of Kheda could not pay the revenue, and were demanding that revenue collection be relaxed.
• In 1918, Mahatma Gandhi went to Ahmedabad to organise a satyagraha movement amongst cotton mill workers.
6
Why did the different social groups join the Civil Disobedience Movement? Explain.
Answer
• Rich Peasantry Group: The Patidar and Jats demanded reduction in revenue and participated in the boycott program.
• Poor peasantry Group: They wanted unpaid rent to be remitted, joined radical movement led by the socialist and communist.
• Business Class Group: Prominent industrialist like Purshottamdas, G D Birla formed FICCI. They wanted protection against imports of foreign goods and rupee sterling exchange ratio and refused to sell imported goods.
• Working Class Group: Nagpur Workers adopted boycott of foreign goods, against low wages and poor working conditions.
• Women: Participated in the protest marches, manufacturing of salt and boycotted foreign goods.
7
When and why was the Poona Pact signed?
Answer
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who organised the dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930, clashed with Mahatma Gandhi at the Second Round Table Conference by demanding separate electorate for dalits.
• When the British government conceded Ambedkar’s demand, Gandhiji began a fast unto death because he became apprehensive regarding the grant of separate electorates to the dalits.
• Gandhiji believed that grant of separate electorates would weaken the national movement and slow down the process of integration of dalits into the mainstream of society.
• Poona Pact was signed in 1932 between the two leaders B.R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhiji to resolve the question of separate electorates for dalits.
• It gave depressed classes reserved seats in provincial and central legislative councils but they were to be voted in by the general electorate.
8
Critically examine the main aspects of Indian National Movement during the period between 1920 and 1935.
Answer
• Beginning of mass movements such as Non-cooperation and Civil Disobedience movement after Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
• Application of Satyagraha to mass movements.
• Emergence of new methods to protest such as boycotting picketing, renunciation of titles and non-payment of taxes.
• People of different sections and parts shared a common bond of resistance, united in their hatred against the British rule.
• Industrialists led by Purushottamdas Thakurdas and G.D. Birla criticized colonialism.
9
“Dalit participation was limited in the Civil Disobedience Movement.” Examine the statement.
Answer
• For a long time, the Congress had ignored the dalits, for fear of offending the sanatanis, the conservative high-caste Hindus.
• But Mahatma Gandhi declared that Swaraj would not come for a hundred years if untouchability was not eliminated.
• He organised statyagrahas to secure them entry into temples and access to public wells, roads, etc. He persuaded upper castes to change their heart and give up the ‘sin of untouchability’.
• But many dalit leaders were keen on a different political solution to the problems of the community.
• They began organising themselves, demanding reserved seats in educational institutions and a separate electorate that would choose dalit members for legislative councils.
• Dalit participation in Civil Disobedience Movement was therefore limited, particularly in the Maharashtra and Nagpur region where their organisation was quite strong.
10
Why did the poor peasants join the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-34)? Why could not the Congress give full support to their demands?
Answer
• The peasants joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-34) because poor peasantry were not just interested in the lowering of the revenue demand. Many had rented land.
• They could not pay rent because of the depression and dwindling cash incomes.
• They wanted the unpaid rent to landlord remitted.
• Congress could not give full support because thought rich peasants and landlords would be upset.
• Also, Congress was unwilling to support ‘no rent’ campaign in most places.
11
Under what circumstances the Civil Disobedience or the Salt Movement was launched? Explain.
Answer
• All parties, including the Congress and the Muslim League protested against the Simon Commission greeted with the slogan ‘Go back Simon’.
• In an effort to win them over, the viceroy, Lord Irwin, announced in October 1929, a vague offer of ‘dominion status’ for India which did not satisfy the Congress leaders.
• In December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress formalised the demand of full independence for India and declared that 26 January 1930, would be celebrated as the Independence Day but the celebrations attracted very little attention.
• So Mahatma Gandhi had to find a way to relate this abstract idea of freedom to more concrete issues of everyday life.
• On 31st January, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin stating eleven demands which had an ultimatum till 11th March which got no acceptance. So Mahatma Gandhi started his famous salt march.
12
How did the peasants of Awadh use different methods to achieve their goal? Explain with examples.
Answer
• The movement of peasants of Awadh were led by Baba Ram Chandra, a Sanyasi which was against Talukdars and Landlords.
• The landlords and talukdars demanded excessively high rents and other cess also peasants had to do begar and work at landlord’s farms without any payment.
• As tenants, the farmers had no security of tenure. The peasant movement demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of begar and social boycott of oppressive landlords.
• In many places, nai-dhobi bandhs were organized by panchayats to deprive landlords of the services of barbers and washermen.
• Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru; Baba Ram Chandra and few others.
• In 1921, the houses of Talukdars and Merchants were attacked. Bazaars were looted. Grain hoards were taken over.
13
How did a variety of cultural processes play an important role in the making of nationalism in India? Explain with examples.
Answer
The sense of collective belonging came partly through the experience of united struggles and growing anger among people against the colonial government.
But there were also a variety of cultural processes through which nationalism captured people‘s imagination:
• The identity of the nation symbolised in a figure or image of Bharat Mata created through literature, songs, paintings etc.
• Movement to revive Indian folklore to enhance nationalist sentiments.
• Role of icons and symbols in unifying people and inspiring in them a feeling of nationalism.
• Creating a feeling of nationalism was through reinterpretation of history.
14
Explain the role of women in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Answer
• During the Salt March thousands of women came out of their homes to participate in protest marches, boycott of foreign clothes and liquor shops and the manufacture of salt.
• Many women even went to jail.
• In urban areas women came from high caste families
• In rural areas women who participated belonged to rich peasant households.
• Women were moved by Gandhi’s call to see the service to the nation as a sacred duty of women and thus participated in the movement largely.
15
“Some of the Muslim political organisations in India, were lukewarm in their response to the ‘Civil Disobedient Movement’.” Examine the statement.
Answer
• After the decline of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat movement, a large section of Muslims felt alienated from the Congress.
• From the mid-1920s the Congress came to be more visibly associated with openly Hindu religious nationalist groups like the Hindu Mahasabha.
• As relations between Hindus and Muslims worsened, Hindu-Muslim communal clashes and riots in started happening in various cities.
• Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah demanded reservation of seats for the Muslims in the Central Assembly which was not acceptable to the Congress leaders thus, they did not respond to the call for a united struggle.
16
Explain the attitude of the Indian merchants and the industrialists towards the ‘Civil Disobedience‘ Movement’.
Answer
• Indian merchants and industrialists wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports.
• To organize business interest they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries—FICCI in 1927.
• They gave financial assistance and refused to buy or sell imported gods.
• Most businessmen came to see ‘Swaraj’ at a time when colonial restrictions on business would no longer exist and trade and industry would flourish without constraints.
• After the failure of the Round Table Conference, they were apprehensive of the spread of militant activities and worried about prolonged disruption of business.
17
Critically examine the reasons of conflict between the Congress and the Muslim League. Why did the Muslim League fail to respond to the call of United Struggle during the Civil Disobedience Movement?
Answer
The main reason of conflict between the Congress and the Muslim League were over the question of representation of Muslims in the future assemblies that were to be elected. Suspicion and distrust between the two communities was also a major reason.
• The Civil Disobedience Movement started under this atmosphere of distrust.
• Negotiation over the question of representation continued but all hopes of resolving the issue in All Parties Conference in 1928, disappeared when Mr. R. Jayakar of Hindu Maha Sabha strongly opposed efforts of compromise.
• Alienated from Congress, large sections of the Muslim failed to respond to the call of a united struggle.
• The Muslim feared that the culture and identity of the minorities would be submerged under the domination of a Hindu majority.
18
Under what circumstances did Gandhiji re-launch the Civil Disobedience Movement?
Answer
• In December, Gandhiji went to London for the Second Round Table Conference, but the negotiations broke down and he returned disappointed.
• Back in India, he found that the government had begun a new cycle of repression. Ghaffar Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru were in jail.
• The Congress had been declared illegal, and a series of measures had been imposed to prevent meetings, demonstrations and boycotts.
• Thus, with great apprehension, Mahatma Gandhi relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement.
19
State the three cultural presses through which nationalism captured people’s imagination during the British rule in India.
Answer
• Image of Bharat Mata: The identity of India came to be visually associated with the image of Bharat Mata. Abanindranath Tagore painted the famous image of Bharat-Mata. Devotion to this mother figure came to be seen as an evidence of one’s nationalism.
• Folklore: Nationalists toured villages to gather folk tales. These tales gave a true picture of one’s national identity and helped in restoring a sense of pride in one’s past.
• Icon and Symbols: Nationalist leaders used icons and symbols such as tri colour flag to unite the people and create in them a feeling of nationalism.
20
Method of reinterpretation of history was followed to encourage nationalism. Discuss.
Answer
• Reinterpretation of history was an important means to create a feeling of nationalism.
• The British saw Indians as backward and primitive but in response, Indians began looking into the past to discover India’s great achievements.
• They wrote about the glorious developments in ancient times when art and architecture, science and mathematics, religion and culture, law and philosophy, crafts and trade flourished.
• This glorious time, in their view, was followed by a history of decline when India was colonised.
• These nationalist histories advocated the readers to be proud of India’s great achievements in the past and struggle to change the miserable conditions of life under British rule.
• A growing anger against the colonial government and hope of reviving the glorious past infused a strong sense of patriotism in Indians.
• They fought back for their rights and finally, in 1947 achieved it in form of independence and freedom from British Raj.
21
How was the Civil Disobedience Movement different from the Non-Cooperation Movement?
Answer
Non-Cooperation Movement
• This movement started in 1921 when India got disgusted due to Rowlatt Act and Jallianwalla Bagh massacre.
• Muslim participated in this movement in great numbers.
• In this movement people were asked not to cooperate with the British.
• Women did not participate in this movement on a large scale.
Civil Disobedience Movement
• This movement started in 1930 when Gandhi’s eleven demands were rejected by the colonial government.
• In this movement the participation of Muslims were limited.
• In this movement people not only refused to cooperate with the British but also broke colonial laws.
• Women participated in this movement in a large scale and played active role in picketing foreign cloth and liquor shops.