Civil Disobedience Movement

The Civil Disobedience Movement was one of the most significant movements launched by Mahatma Gandhi in the course of India’s freedom struggle. After observing 26 January as Poorna Swarajya Day (Independence Day) in 1930, the Indian National Congress (INC) decided that civil disobedience was going to be the primary means by which Independence for India was going to be achieved. The Civil Disobedience Movement began with the famous Dandi March of Gandhi. The major difference between the Civil Disobedience Movement and Non cooperation movement was that during the non cooperation movement, Indians refused to cooperate with the British, but during the Civil Disobedience Movement, Indians refused to cooperate and also broke certain British laws.

Here’s how the Civil Disobedience Movement progressed.

• By 1930, the Congress Party had declared that Poorna Swarajya or complete independence was to be the sole aim of the freedom struggle. It started observing 26 January as Poorna Swarajya Day,and it was decided that civil disobedience was to be the means employed to achieve it.

• Mahatma Gandhi was asked to plan and organise the first such act. Gandhiji chose to break the salt tax in defiance of the government because ‘tax’ on salt, in his opinion, was the most oppressive form of tax which humankind could devise since salt was a basic necessity of human existence, just like air and water.

  The Dandi March commenced on 12th March 1930 from Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat towards the coastal village of Dandi which is about 390 km in distance. Gandhi along with 78 followers set out on foot towards Dandi. They covered the distance between Sabarmati Ashram and Dandi in 25 days and reached the coast of Dandi on 6th April 1930 whereby picking up a handful of salt, Gandhi broke the salt laws and launched the mass Civil Disobedience Movement. Sarojini Naidu was among the leaders who accompanied Mahatma Gandhi during the Dandi March.

  With Gandhi’s symbolic breaking of salt laws at Dandi, defiance of salt laws started all over the country. Making of salt spread throughout the country in the first phase of the civil disobedience movement, it became a symbol of the people’s defiance of the government.

  Apart from defiance of salt laws, the other forms of non-violent protests included the following:

  • Women, young mothers, widowed and unmarried girls, played an important role in the picketing of liquor shops and opium dens and stores selling foreign cloth. They used non-violent and persuasive means to convince the buyers and sellers to change their ways. They were ably supported by the students and youth in the boycott of foreign cloth and liquor.

  • In Bihar, anti-Chowkidara tax campaign was initiated where villages refused to pay protection money to the local guards (chowkidars) who supplemented the meager police forces in the rural areas. Rajendra Prasad took part in the anti-Chowkidara tax campaigns in Bihar.

  • In Gujarat, a no-tax movement took place against payment of land revenue. This was most visible in Kheda, Surat and Broach districts. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel led the no-tax campaign in the Kheda district.

  • Defiance of forest laws took place on a large scale in Maharashtra, Karnataka and the Central Provinces, especially in areas with large tribal populations.

  • In Assam, a powerful agitation led by students was launched against the ‘Cunningham circular‘ which forced students and their guardians to furnish assurances of good behaviour.

  • In U.P, a no-revenue, no-rent campaign was organized against the government which soon turned into a no-rent campaign against the zamindars.

  Reaction of British Government

  The success of the movement alarmed the British government and they started arresting Congress leaders, thereby, leading to violent clashes. After the arrest of Abdul Ghaffar Khan in 1930, angry people held demonstrations in the streets of Peshawar, even in presence of armed police. After the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi, people of Sholapur attacked on all structures having a symbol of British rule like police post, municipal buildings, etc. in response to this, the government adopted a harsh behaviour against the protestors and imprisoned many.

  Round Table Conference in London

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  In response to the inadequacy of the Simon Report, the Labour Government in the UK, which had come to power under Ramsay MacDonald in 1929, decided to hold a series of Round Table Conferences in London.

  The first Round Table Conference convened from 12 November 1930 to 19 January 1931. However, Gandhi had already initiated the Civil Disobedience Movement before the First Round Table Conference. Consequently, since many of the Congress’ leaders were in jail, Congress did not participate in the first conference, but representatives from all other Indian parties and a number of Princes did. The outcomes of the First Round Table Conference were minimal. The British Government realized that the Indian National Congress needed to be part of deciding the future of constitutional government in India.

  As the Civil Disobedience Movement continued, in a conciliatory gesture, the Viceroy Lord Irwin met Gandhi to reach a compromise. On 5 March 1931 they agreed the following, as part of the Gandhi Irwin Pact, to pave the way for the Congress’ participation in the Second Round Table Conference: Congress would discontinue the Civil Disobedience Movement and it would participate in the Second Round Table Conference, the British Government would withdraw all prosecutions relating to offenses not involving violence and would release all persons undergoing imprisonment for their activities in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

  At the second Round Table Conference, which was held in London, Gandhi claimed to represent all people of India. This view, however, was not shared by other delegates, and this division among the many attending groups was one of the reasons why the outcomes of the second Round Table Conference were not substantial.

  Meanwhile, civil unrest had spread throughout India again, and upon return to India, Gandhi was arrested along with other Congress leaders. The third Round Table Conference was not attended by the Indian National Congress and Gandhi, and many other Indian leaders were also absent. Like the two first conferences, little was achieved.

  The Congress decided to resume Civil Disobedience but the British government’s plan was to not allow Gandhi and Congress to build up the momentum of the Civil Disobedience Movement, so the movement was effectively crushed by strictly banning meetings and demonstrations. The movement continued to linger in a non-effective manner till early April 1934 when Mahatma Gandhi announced his decision to withdraw the Civil Disobedience Movement.

  Significance and Impact of the Civil Disobedience Movement

  The number of participants was much more in the Civil Disobedience Movement as compared to the Non-Cooperation Movement. More than three times the number of Satyagrahis went to jail. The movement popularised the new method of propaganda like the prabhat pheris, pamphlets etc.

  Foreign import of cloth and cigarettes fell by half. Government income from land revenue and liquor excise also took a hit.

  The movement saw the participation of poor and illiterate people on a large scale who also unhesitatingly went to jail for the just cause. Women and students participated in the movement on a large scale and it was a liberating experience for Indian women who entered the public space in such large numbers for the first time.

  Muslims participated actively in the North-West Frontier Province and Bengal. The Muslim weaving community in Bihar, Delhi, and Lucknow was also effectively mobilized.

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