Explain how the coming of Gandhiji broadened the base of the Indian National Movement.

OR

Explain how the partition of India was a culmination of communal politics that started developing in the opening decades of the 20th century.

Mahatma Gandhi is the most widely recognized figure of the Indian Nationalist Movement for his role in leading non-violent civil uprising. He first employed the non-violent approach in South Africa where he was serving as an expatriate lawyer. He was hurt and angry when he witnessed the discrimination and exploitation of colored people under Whites rule. He organizes non-violent protests in the country which gained him fame and support from the people of South Africa. Unforgettable is his contributions which gave us freedom. Some Movements that were initiated by Gandhiji for bringing freedom are as follows-

I. The Satyagraha Movement: - One of his major achievements is in the year 1918 were the Champaran and Kheda agitations which are also called a movement against British landlords. The farmers and peasantry were forced to grow and cultivate indigo and were even to force to sell them at fixed prices. Finally, these farmers pledged to Gandhiji which resulted in non-violent protest. Gandhiji won the battle. Kheda, in the year of 1918 was hit by floods and farmers wanted relief from tax. Using non-cooperation as his main weapon He used it in pledging the farmers for nonpayment of taxes.

II. Khilafat Movement: - The khilafat movement was launched by Mahatma Gandhi and the Ali brothers. The khilfat movement was launched to restore the Ottoman Turkish emperor Khalifa and strengthen the relationship between Muslims and Hindus of India for a combined struggle for freedom.

III. The Non- Cooperation Movement: - The Non-Cooperation Movement was a significant phase of the Indian independence movement from British rule. It was led by Gandhiji after the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. It aimed to resist British rule in India through non-violent means or "satyagraha".

IV. The Dandi March, Civil Disobedience and Salt Satyagraha:- The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. On March 12, 1930, protesters took part in the Dandi March, a campaign designed to resist taxes and protest the British monopoly on salt. Gandhi began the 24 day, 240- mile march with 79 followers and ended with thousands. When the protesters reached the coastal town of Dandi, they produced salt from salt water without paying tax.

IV. The Quit India Movement: - The Quit India Movement began on August 8, 1942, during World War II. The India Congress Committee, under the urging of Gandhi, called for a mass British withdrawal and Gandhi made a “Do or Die” speech. British officials acted immediately and arrested nearly every member of the Indian National Congress party. England, with a new Prime Minister, offered some concessions to the Indian demands such as the right to make independent Provincial constitutions, to be granted after the war, they were not accepted.

OR

The Partition as a culmination of a communal politics that started developing in the opening decades of the 20^th century is explained below:-

I. They suggest that separate electorates for Muslims, created by the colonial government in 1909 and expanded in 1919, crucially shaped the nature of communal politics.

II. This created a temptation for politicians working within this system to use sectarian slogans and gather a following by distributing favors to their own religious groups.

III. Religious identities thus acquired a functional use within a modern political system; and the logic of electoral politics deepened and hardened these identities.

IV. Community identities no longer indicated simple difference in faith and belief; they came to mean active opposition and hostility between communities.

V. Communal identities were consolidated by a host of other developments in the early twentieth century.

VI. During the 1920s and early 1930s tension grew around a number of issues. Muslims were angered by “music-before-mosque”, by the cow protection movement, and by the efforts of the Arya Semaj to bring back to the Hindu fold (shuddhi) those who had recently converted to Islam.

VII. As middle-class publicists and communal activists sought to build greater solidarity within their communities, mobilizing people against the other community, riots spread in different parts of the country.

VIII. Every communal riot deepened differences between communities, creating disturbing memories of violence.

IX. Some historians, both Indian and Pakistani, suggest that Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s theory that the Hindus and Muslims in colonial India constituted two separate nations can be projected back into medieval history.