Two grievances, one movement
Indian Muslims were angry about Turkey. Indians of every faith were angry about Punjab. Gandhi saw a chance that he said would not come again in a hundred years.
Between 1920 and 1922 India saw its first genuine mass movement. It was really two movements joined together: the Khilafat Movement, a Muslim protest over the treatment of the Turkish Sultan, and the Non-Cooperation Movement, Gandhi's programme of withdrawing all cooperation from British rule. Their alliance briefly gave the freedom struggle something it had never had — Hindus and Muslims marching under one banner.
The Khilafat question
The Sultan of Turkey was regarded by many Muslims as the Khalifa — the spiritual head of the Islamic world and guardian of its holy places. Turkey had fought against Britain in the First World War. After the defeat, the harsh peace terms threatened to strip the Sultan of his territories and his position. Indian Muslims demanded that Britain treat the Khalifa leniently and leave him control of the holy places.
- The All India Khilafat Committee was formed in 1919, led by the Ali brothers — Maulana Mohammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali
- Other leaders included Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Hasrat Mohani
- The Delhi Khilafat Conference of November 1919 decided to withdraw cooperation from the government if its demands were refused
- Gandhi saw the alliance as an opportunity for Hindu-Muslim unity that would not arise again in a hundred years, and became a leader of the Khilafat cause himself
Why non-cooperation, and why then
Three grievances converged in 1919 and 1920.
| Grievance | What it was |
|---|---|
| The Punjab wrong | The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of April 1919, and the Hunter Committee's refusal to punish anyone for it |
| The Khilafat wrong | Britain's treatment of the Turkish Sultan after the war, which Indian Muslims saw as a betrayal of wartime assurances |
| The Swaraj demand | The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919 offered dyarchy — far less than Indians had expected in return for their war service |
1 August 1920: Gandhi formally began the non-cooperation programme — the same day Lokmanya Tilak died, so the country observed hartal and mourning together. September 1920, Calcutta special session: the Congress approved the non-cooperation programme. December 1920, Nagpur session: the Congress formally adopted it, with C.R. Das moving the main resolution. A question may ask about any of the three, so keep them separate.
The programme
- Surrender titles and honorary offices given by the government
- Boycott government schools and colleges
- Boycott the law courts — lawyers to give up practice
- Boycott the councils created by the 1919 reforms
- Boycott foreign cloth and foreign goods
- Later, resign from government service and refuse to pay taxes
- National schools and colleges — Jamia Millia Islamia, Kashi Vidyapith, Gujarat Vidyapith
- Panchayats to settle disputes instead of British courts
- Spin and wear khadi, hand-spun Indian cloth
- Maintain Hindu-Muslim unity
- Give up untouchability
- Observe strict non-violence
Gandhi promised Swaraj within one year if the programme were followed fully. Motilal Nehru and C.R. Das gave up large legal practices; students left colleges; bonfires of foreign cloth burned in every major city. The Nagpur session of 1920 also restructured the Congress itself — provincial committees on a linguistic basis, a smaller Working Committee, and membership open at four annas, turning it from a debating body into a mass organisation.
Chauri Chaura and the withdrawal
At Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district of the United Provinces, a Congress-Khilafat procession was taunted and then fired upon by police. The enraged crowd surrounded the police station and set it alight; twenty-two policemen died in the fire.
Gandhi, who had made non-violence an absolute condition, withdrew the movement. The Congress Working Committee ratified the decision at Bardoli. Gandhi undertook a five-day fast as penance. In March 1922 he was tried for sedition and sentenced to six years' imprisonment.
C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose were dismayed — the movement was at its peak and one incident had ended it. Gandhi's defence was that a movement that had abandoned non-violence would be crushed by government repression and would demoralise the country, and that discipline mattered more than momentum. The disagreement had lasting effects: Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party in 1923 to contest the very councils the movement had boycotted, and a disappointed younger generation turned instead to revolutionary politics — the HRA was founded in 1924.
The Khilafat cause itself soon disappeared. Mustafa Kemal abolished the Ottoman Sultanate in 1922 and the office of the Khalifa in 1924 — the Turks themselves ended what Indian Muslims had campaigned to protect.
Why did Gandhi call off the Non-Cooperation Movement, and who objected?
After the Chauri Chaura incident of 5 February 1922, in which a crowd burned a police station and twenty-two policemen died, Gandhi withdrew the movement because non-violence had been an absolute condition of it. C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose objected that the movement was at its height and should not have been ended over a single incident.
August launch, September approval, December adoption. 1920 all three. Then Chauri Chaura 1922 ends it — and remember C.R. Das moved the Nagpur resolution and then opposed the withdrawal.
Everything on one look
Khilafat, the programme, the sessions and the end.
- The Khilafat Committee was formed in 1919
- The Ali brothers, Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, led it
- The Delhi Khilafat Conference met in November 1919
- Gandhi began non-cooperation on 1 August 1920
- Tilak died on 1 August 1920, the same day
- The Calcutta special session of September 1920 approved the programme
- The Nagpur session of December 1920 formally adopted it
- C.R. Das moved the main resolution at Nagpur
- Nagpur also restructured the Congress on linguistic provinces
- Chauri Chaura took place on 5 February 1922
- Twenty-two policemen died when the station was burned
- Gandhi withdrew the movement in February 1922
- The Khilafat Committee was formed in 1919, before non-cooperation began
- The Ali brothers were Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali
- Gandhi launched non-cooperation on 1 August 1920, the day Tilak died
- Calcutta September 1920 approved; Nagpur December 1920 adopted — two different sessions
- C.R. Das moved the main Nagpur resolution, and later opposed the withdrawal
- Chauri Chaura is in Gorakhpur district, United Provinces
- The movement was withdrawn in February 1922, not 1921
- Gandhi was sentenced to six years in March 1922, after the withdrawal
- The Swaraj Party was formed in 1923 by Das and Motilal Nehru
- Turkey itself abolished the Khalifa in 1924, ending the Khilafat cause
- The Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements ran from 1920 to 1922
- The Khalifa was the Sultan of Turkey, regarded as head of the Islamic world
- The All India Khilafat Committee was formed in 1919
- The Ali brothers were Maulana Mohammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali
- Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Hasrat Mohani were Khilafat leaders
- The Delhi Khilafat Conference of November 1919 threatened non-cooperation
- Gandhi called the alliance a chance for unity not arising in a hundred years
- Jallianwala Bagh and the Khilafat question were the main causes
- The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms disappointed Indian expectations
- Gandhi formally began non-cooperation on 1 August 1920
- Lokmanya Tilak died on 1 August 1920
- The Calcutta special session of September 1920 approved the programme
- The Nagpur session of December 1920 formally adopted non-cooperation
- C.R. Das moved the main resolution at the Nagpur session
- The programme urged surrender of titles and honorary offices
- It called for boycott of government schools, courts and councils
- It called for boycott of foreign cloth and the wearing of khadi
- Jamia Millia Islamia and Kashi Vidyapith were founded as national institutions
- Motilal Nehru and C.R. Das gave up their legal practices
- Gandhi promised Swaraj within one year
- The Nagpur session restructured the Congress on linguistic provinces
- Congress membership was opened at four annas, making it a mass body
- The Chauri Chaura incident took place on 5 February 1922
- Chauri Chaura lies in Gorakhpur district of the United Provinces
- Twenty-two policemen died when the crowd burned the police station
- Gandhi withdrew the movement in February 1922
- Gandhi undertook a five-day fast as penance after Chauri Chaura
- Gandhi was sentenced to six years imprisonment in March 1922
- C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru and Subhas Bose opposed the withdrawal
- The Swaraj Party was formed in 1923 to contest the councils
- Mustafa Kemal abolished the Ottoman Sultanate in 1922
- The office of the Khalifa was abolished in Turkey in 1924