Gandhi called off the Non-cooperation movement in February 1922 because:

A crowd of peasants set fire to a police station at Chauri Chaura, killing several policemen

The British had agreed to grant dominion status

The Khilafat leaders had withdrawn their support

A crowd of peasants set fire to a police station at Chauri Chaura, killing several policemen

He had been sentenced to six years in prison

Read the source (paraphrased): "The opening was certainly a most gorgeous show, but I am pained to see the richly bedecked noblemen when so many millions of my countrymen are poor." Where and when did Gandhi speak in this vein?

At the opening of Banaras Hindu University, February 1916

At the Lahore Congress, December 1929

At the opening of Banaras Hindu University, February 1916

At his trial before Justice Broomfield, March 1922

At the second Round Table Conference, London, 1931

Assertion (A): Gandhi chose salt as the focus of a mass campaign in 1930. Reason (R): Salt was used by every household, yet Indians were forbidden from making it and had to buy it at a high price under a state monopoly.

Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

The annual session of the Congress at Lahore in December 1929 is remembered because it:

Committed the Congress to Purna Swaraj, under Jawaharlal Nehru's presidency

Launched the Quit India movement with the call "Do or Die"

Accepted the Government of India Act of 1935 and agreed to form ministries in the provinces

Merged the Non-cooperation and Khilafat movements

Committed the Congress to Purna Swaraj, under Jawaharlal Nehru's presidency

Historians use the fortnightly reports of the Home Department as a source on the national movement. What caution do they apply to them?

They were written by officials who often wanted to believe the movement was weakening

They were written by Congress volunteers and exaggerate its support

They were written by officials who often wanted to believe the movement was weakening

They were written decades after the events, from memory, by retired officials composing their autobiographies

They survive only in translation from Indian languages

Which of the following statements about the Quit India movement is correct?

It was launched in August 1942 after the failure of the Cripps Mission, and Gandhi was jailed at once

It was launched in 1930 and ended with the Gandhi–Irwin Pact

It was called off by Gandhi after the violence at Chauri Chaura

It was led in person by Gandhi from start to finish

Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement — Civil Disobedience and Beyond

Between his return from South Africa in 1915 and his death in 1948, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi transformed Indian nationalism from a movement of professionals and intellectuals into one that drew in peasants, workers and artisans across the country. This chapter follows that transformation through its great campaigns — Non-cooperation, the Salt March and Civil Disobedience, and Quit India — and through the negotiations that ran alongside them. It closes with the sources historians use to know Gandhi and the movement: public speeches, private letters, autobiographies, government reports and newspapers, each telling a different part of the story.

A Leader Announces Himself, 1915–1918

Gandhi returned to India in January 1915 after two decades in South Africa, where he had first forged the distinctive technique of non-violent protest known as satyagraha. On the advice of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, he spent a year travelling around British India. His first major public appearance was at the opening of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in February 1916: among the invitees were princes and philanthropists whose donations had helped found it, and Gandhi charged the Indian elite with a lack of concern for the labouring poor — the opening was "certainly a most gorgeous show", he said, but the wealthy were dressed in finery while millions of Indians were poor. He also urged speaking in Indian languages rather than English.

Champaran (1917): in his first major intervention, Gandhi went to Champaran to secure for peasants security of tenure and the freedom to cultivate crops of their choice, against the system that compelled them to grow indigo.
Ahmedabad (1918): he intervened in a labour dispute, demanding better working conditions for textile mill workers.
Kheda (1918): he asked the state to remit the taxes of peasants following the failure of their harvest.

⚠️ Champaran — indigo; Ahmedabad — mill workers; Kheda — revenue

All three happened in 1917–18 and are asked as a matching set. Champaran was about compulsory indigo cultivation; Ahmedabad was a mill labour dispute; Kheda was about remission of taxes after crop failure. Ahmedabad and Kheda are both in Gujarat, which is what makes them easy to swap.

The Making and Unmaking of Non-cooperation

During the First World War the British had instituted censorship of the press and permitted detention without trial. On the recommendation of a committee chaired by Sir Sidney Rowlatt, these tough measures were continued, and in response Gandhi called for a countrywide campaign against the Rowlatt Act in 1919. In the Punjab especially there was opposition, and on 13 April 1919 a British brigadier ordered his troops to open fire on a nationalist meeting at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, killing hundreds. The Rowlatt satyagraha made Gandhi a truly national leader. He then called for a campaign of Non-cooperation, joined to the Khilafat movement, which sought to defend the Caliphate, a symbol of pan-Islamism, threatened by the victorious Allies' treatment of Ottoman Turkey after the First World War. Gandhi hoped that by coupling the two, India's two major religious communities could bring an end to colonial rule.

Students stopped going to schools and colleges run by the government; lawyers refused to attend court; the working class went on strike in many towns and cities; peasants in hill tracts violated forest laws, and in Awadh refused to pay taxes. For the first time since the revolt of 1857, the foundations of British rule were shaken. But in February 1922 a crowd of peasants set fire to a police station at Chauri Chaura in the United Provinces, killing several policemen, and Gandhi called off the movement. In March 1922 he was arrested and charged with sedition; the judge, Justice C. N. Broomfield, sentenced him to six years in jail, while describing him as a man in a different category from anyone he had ever tried.

🎯 Why Gandhi drew in the peasants

He dressed simply, in a loincloth from 1921, and spoke in Indian languages; he spent part of each day spinning the charkha and encouraged others to do so, making khadi a badge of nationalism and a statement against the machine age. He was often called "Mahatma", and stories — rumours, really — spread among peasants of his miraculous powers. Historians such as Shahid Amin have studied how peasants in Gorakhpur turned Gandhi into a figure who would end their oppression; the movement grew partly through such local readings of him.

The Salt Satyagraha and the Round Table Conferences

Released in 1924, Gandhi devoted himself to promoting home-spun cloth and the abolition of untouchability. At its annual session at Lahore in December 1929, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress committed itself to Purna Swaraj (complete independence), and 26 January 1930 was celebrated as Independence Day, with the national flag hoisted at venues across the country. Gandhi then announced a march to break one of the most widely disliked laws in British India — the state monopoly on the manufacture and sale of salt. On 12 March 1930 he began walking from his ashram at Sabarmati towards the ocean, and on 6 April 1930 he reached Dandi and made a fistful of salt, breaking the law. Parallel salt marches were conducted elsewhere, and peasants breached forest laws and refused to pay taxes.

Why salt? Every household, rich and poor, needed salt, yet Indians were forbidden from making it even for domestic use and compelled to buy it at a high price. Choosing salt made the protest instantly intelligible across the country.
Notice of the world: the march was covered by the European and American press, and was the first nationalist activity in which women participated in large numbers.
Round Table Conferences: the first, in London in November 1930, was held without the Congress. Gandhi was released in January 1931, and after long meetings with the Viceroy the Gandhi–Irwin Pact was agreed: civil disobedience would be called off, prisoners released, and salt manufacture allowed along the coast. Gandhi represented the Congress at the second Round Table Conference in London in late 1931, which proved inconclusive — the Muslim League, the princes and Dr B. R. Ambedkar, speaking for the depressed classes, each disputed the Congress's claim to speak for all India.

Quit India, and the Last Heroic Days

The Government of India Act of 1935 promised some form of representative government, and in the elections of 1937 the Congress won and formed ministries in eight of the eleven provinces. Two years later, when the Second World War broke out, the Congress ministries resigned in protest at the Viceroy's declaration of war without consulting Indians. After the failure of the Cripps Mission in 1942, Gandhi launched his third major movement, Quit India, in August 1942, with the call "Do or Die". He was jailed at once, but younger activists organised strikes and acts of sabotage across the country, and in several districts "independent" governments were proclaimed. Gandhi was released in 1944.

As independence approached, communal violence spread. Gandhi spent the months before and after independence in the riot-torn areas — in Noakhali in east Bengal, and in Bihar, Calcutta and Delhi — trying to restore peace and persuade each community to protect the other. On 15 August 1947, while the capital celebrated, he was in Calcutta, where he observed a 24-hour fast. On 30 January 1948, he was shot dead at his daily prayer meeting in Delhi by Nathuram Godse.

Knowing Gandhi — kinds of source, and their limits
Source	What it offers and what it may hide
Public voice — speeches and writings, e.g. in Harijan	What a leader wanted the public to hear; meant to persuade
Private letters	Anger, doubt and frustration a leader could not express publicly — though many letters were written with publication in mind
Autobiographies	A retrospective account, written from memory, that shows what the author wished to record
Government records — e.g. the Home Department's fortnightly reports	Detailed, but written by officials who often wanted to believe the movement was weakening
Newspapers, in English and Indian languages	Tracked the movement day by day, but coloured by the paper's political sympathies

Key takeaways

Gandhi returned from South Africa in January 1915; his BHU speech of February 1916 challenged the Indian elite.
Champaran (1917) was about indigo, Ahmedabad (1918) a mill labour dispute, Kheda (1918) remission of taxes after crop failure.
The Rowlatt satyagraha of 1919 and Jallianwala Bagh (13 April 1919) preceded Non-cooperation, joined with Khilafat.
Chauri Chaura (February 1922) led Gandhi to call off Non-cooperation; he was sentenced to six years by Justice Broomfield.
The Lahore Congress (December 1929, under Nehru) adopted Purna Swaraj; 26 January 1930 was celebrated as Independence Day.
The Salt March ran from Sabarmati (12 March 1930) to Dandi (6 April 1930); the Gandhi–Irwin Pact led to the second Round Table Conference in 1931.
Quit India began in August 1942 with "Do or Die"; Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948.

Practice questions (8)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

Match the early campaign with its main issue. A. Champaran (1917) B. Ahmedabad (1918) C. Kheda (1918) — 1. Remission of taxes after crop failure 2. Security of tenure for peasants forced to grow indigo 3. Better working conditions for textile mill workers
1. A-2, B-3, C-1
2. A-2, B-1, C-3
3. A-3, B-2, C-1
4. A-1, B-3, C-2
Show answer
Answer: A — A-2, B-3, C-1
Champaran concerned indigo cultivators' tenure and freedom to choose their crops; Ahmedabad was a dispute over mill workers' conditions; Kheda was a demand for remission of taxes after the harvest failed. Ahmedabad and Kheda are both in Gujarat and both fell in 1918, which is why the pairing that swaps them is the common error.
Gandhi called off the Non-cooperation movement in February 1922 because:
1. The British had agreed to grant dominion status
2. The Khilafat leaders had withdrawn their support
3. A crowd of peasants set fire to a police station at Chauri Chaura, killing several policemen
4. He had been sentenced to six years in prison
Show answer
Answer: C — A crowd of peasants set fire to a police station at Chauri Chaura, killing several policemen
The violence at Chauri Chaura convinced Gandhi that the movement had lost its non-violent discipline, so he called it off. His arrest and six-year sentence came afterwards, in March 1922, which is why that option reverses the order of events; no grant of dominion status was offered at the time.
Arrange in chronological order: (A) The Lahore Congress adopts Purna Swaraj (B) The Gandhi–Irwin Pact (C) Gandhi reaches Dandi (D) The first Round Table Conference opens in London
1. A, C, B, D
2. C, A, D, B
3. A, D, C, B
4. A, C, D, B
Show answer
Answer: D — A, C, D, B
The Lahore Congress met in December 1929; Gandhi reached Dandi on 6 April 1930; the first Round Table Conference opened in November 1930, without the Congress; the Gandhi–Irwin Pact followed in early 1931, after Gandhi's release, and led to the second conference. Putting the Pact before the first conference forgets that the Pact is what brought the Congress to London at all.
Read the source (paraphrased): "The opening was certainly a most gorgeous show, but I am pained to see the richly bedecked noblemen when so many millions of my countrymen are poor." Where and when did Gandhi speak in this vein?
1. At the Lahore Congress, December 1929
2. At the opening of Banaras Hindu University, February 1916
3. At his trial before Justice Broomfield, March 1922
4. At the second Round Table Conference, London, 1931
Show answer
Answer: B — At the opening of Banaras Hindu University, February 1916
The paraphrase echoes Gandhi's speech at the opening of BHU in February 1916, his first major public appearance after returning, where princes and philanthropists sat in the audience. The reference to an "opening" fits only this occasion; at his 1922 trial he spoke about sedition and his own responsibility, not about the dress of the rich.
Assertion (A): Gandhi chose salt as the focus of a mass campaign in 1930. Reason (R): Salt was used by every household, yet Indians were forbidden from making it and had to buy it at a high price under a state monopoly.
1. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
2. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
3. A is true, but R is false
4. A is false, but R is true
Show answer
Answer: A — Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
The universality of salt and the injustice of the monopoly made the salt law the ideal target: every Indian could understand the grievance and join in breaking the law. R is exactly why Gandhi chose it. Picking "R is not the correct explanation" treats the choice of salt as arbitrary, when its whole power lay in that universality.
The annual session of the Congress at Lahore in December 1929 is remembered because it:
1. Launched the Quit India movement with the call "Do or Die"
2. Accepted the Government of India Act of 1935 and agreed to form ministries in the provinces
3. Merged the Non-cooperation and Khilafat movements
4. Committed the Congress to Purna Swaraj, under Jawaharlal Nehru's presidency
Show answer
Answer: D — Committed the Congress to Purna Swaraj, under Jawaharlal Nehru's presidency
At Lahore, with Nehru presiding, the Congress resolved on Purna Swaraj, complete independence, and 26 January 1930 was then celebrated as Independence Day. Quit India came in August 1942 and the coupling of Non-cooperation with Khilafat in 1920, so those options borrow real resolutions from other years.
Historians use the fortnightly reports of the Home Department as a source on the national movement. What caution do they apply to them?
1. They were written by Congress volunteers and exaggerate its support
2. They were written by officials who often wanted to believe the movement was weakening
3. They were written decades after the events, from memory, by retired officials composing their autobiographies
4. They survive only in translation from Indian languages
Show answer
Answer: B — They were written by officials who often wanted to believe the movement was weakening
The reports were detailed and contemporary, but they were written by police and officials who often reported what they hoped — that support for the movement was declining — so historians read them against other sources. Writing from memory long afterwards is the limitation of an autobiography, a different kind of source, and confusing the two is the trap.
Which of the following statements about the Quit India movement is correct?
1. It was launched in August 1942 after the failure of the Cripps Mission, and Gandhi was jailed at once
2. It was launched in 1930 and ended with the Gandhi–Irwin Pact
3. It was called off by Gandhi after the violence at Chauri Chaura
4. It was led in person by Gandhi from start to finish
Show answer
Answer: A — It was launched in August 1942 after the failure of the Cripps Mission, and Gandhi was jailed at once
Quit India was launched in August 1942, after the Cripps Mission failed, with the call "Do or Die"; Gandhi was jailed at once and younger activists led strikes and sabotage, so he could not have led it in person throughout. Chauri Chaura ended Non-cooperation in 1922, and the Gandhi–Irwin Pact ended the first phase of Civil Disobedience.