The First World War had ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey. And there were rumours that a harsh peace treaty was going to be imposed on the Ottoman emperor the spiritual head of the Islamic world (the Khalifa). To defend the Khalifas temporal powers, a Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919. A young generation of Muslim leaders like the brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, began discussing with Mahatma Gandhi about the possibility of a united mass action on the issue. Gandhiji saw this as an opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified national movement. At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, he convinced other leaders of the need to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as for swaraj.

The First World War had ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey. And there were rumours that a harsh peace treaty was going to be imposed on the Ottoman emperor the spiritual head of the Islamic world (the Khalifa). To defend the Khalifas temporal powers, a Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919. A young generation of Muslim leaders like the brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, began discussing with Mahatma Gandhi about the possibility of a united mass action on the issue. Gandhiji saw this as an opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified national movement. At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September 1920, he convinced other leaders of the need to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as for swaraj.

In the first world war, the Indians had helped the British. The Indians felt that after the world war is over there will be a system of governance for taking decisions for well being of the Indians. There was growing unrest among the Indians regarding the increasing prices, taxes etc. To suppress this discontent and to suggest measures about it, a Committee was appointed under Sir Sydney Rowlatt. According to recommendations of this committee a new law was passed without considering the opposition of Indian members in Central Legislative Assembly on 17 March 1919. This law came to beknown as Rowlatt Act. This Act gave the right to the government to arrest anybody without any warrant or imprison without any trial. Appeal was prohibited against the punishment given through this act. The Indians called this act as Black Act and a tide of anger arouse all over India against this act.

Various social groups participated in the Non Cooperation movement, each with its own specific aspiration. All of them responded to the call of Swaraj, but the term meant different things to different people.

The Non Cooperation movement started with middle-class participation in the cities. Thousands of students left government-controlled schools and colleges, headmasters and teachers resigned, and lawyers gave up their legal practices. The council elections were boycotted. Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and foreign cloth burnt in huge bonfires.

In December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Lahore Congress formalised the demand of ‘Purna Swaraj’ or full independence for India. It was declared that 26 January 1930, would be celebrated as the Independence Day when people were to take a pledge to struggle for complete independence.

The Lahore Congress formalised the demand of ‘Purna Swaraj’ or full independence for India. It was declared that 26 January 1930, would be celebrated as the Independence Day when people were to take a pledge to struggle for complete independence. But the celebrations attracted very little attention as people could not relate this abstract idea of freedom to more concrete issues of everyday life.

The Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress was formed in 1920.

The tribals chanted Gandhiji’s name and raised slogans demanding ‘Swatantra Bharat’.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar established the ‘Depressed Classes Association’ in March 1930 for demanding separate electorates for dalits.

The Non Cooperation Khilafat Movement began in January 1921. Various social groups participated in this movement, each with its own specific aspiration. All of them responded to the call of Swaraj, but the term meant different things to different people.

The movement started with middle-class participation in the cities. Thousands of students left government-controlled schools and colleges, headmasters and teachers resigned, and lawyers gave up their legal practices. 

In Awadh, Baba Ramchandra led a movement againsttalukdars and landlords who demanded from peasants exorbitantly high rents and a variety of other cesses.

The Second Round Table Conference took place in 1932 and Congress had participated under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. 

The effects of non-cooperation on the economic front were more dramatic. Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and foreign cloth burnt in huge bonfires. The import of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922, its value dropping from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore. 

During the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat Movement the council elections were boycotted in most provinces except Madras, where the Justice Party, the party of the non-Brahmans, felt that entering the council was one way of gaining some power something that usually only Brahmans had access to.

From the cities, the Non-Cooperation Movement spread to the countryside. It drew into its fold the struggles of peasants and tribals which were developing in different parts of India in the years after the war.

In June 1920, Jawaharlal Nehru began going around the villages in Awadh, talking to the villagers, and trying to understand their grievances.

Under the Inland Emigration Act of 1859, plantation workers were not permitted to leave the tea gardens without permission, and in fact they were rarely given such permission.

In other forest regions, the colonial government had closed large forest areas, preventing people from entering the forests to graze their cattle, or to collect fuelwood and fruits. This enraged the hill people.

Raju was captured and executed in 1924, and over time became a folk hero. Raju talked of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi, said he was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement, and persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking. But at the same time he asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of force, not non-violence.

For plantation workers in Assam, freedom meant the right to move freely in and out of the confined space in which they were enclosed, and it meant retaining a link with the village from which they had come.

Alluri Sitaram Raju talked of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi, said he was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement, and persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking.

The peasant movement demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, and social boycott of oppressive landlords. In many places nai dhobi bandhs were organised by panchayats to deprive landlords of the services of even barbers and washermen.  

In the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh, a militant guerrilla movement spread in the early 1920s not a form of struggle that the Congress could approve.

In February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement. He felt the movement was turning violent in many places and satyagrahis needed to be properly trained before they would be ready for mass struggles.

In February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Mahatma Gandhi found in salt a powerful symbol that could unite the nation. On 31 January 1930, he sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin stating eleven demands.