Solution
The period 1915-48 saw the emergence of Gandhi and his activities as a nationalist leader. Gandhi transformed the national movement by making it into a mass struggle. Under his leadership the freedom struggle acquired a multi-class umbrella character.
By taking up the cause of peasants at Champaran and Kheda, textile workers at Ahmedabad and later launching of the Khilafat Non-Cooperation Movement (1920), Civil Disobedience Movement (1930) and Quit India Movement (1942) Gandhi transformed the national movement. The national movement was no longer a movement limited to professionals and intellectuals but a movement representative of Indian people as a whole. Peasants, workers, artisans, tribals, women and students played an active role. The Non-Cooperation Movement was the hallmark of Hindu-Muslim unity.
Gandhian ideology played a key role in transformation. Satyagraha based on the concepts of truth, non-violence and passive resistance formed the basis of mass mobilization and mass participation. The non-violent national struggle was based on the courage, strength, self-confidence and self-sacrificing spirit of the masses. It enabled participation of mass people who could not have participated in a violent struggle, for example women. It was based on moral force and posed the best challenge to the mighty British rule, while defining Gandhian principle of means and ends.
The national struggle had a clear pragmatic dimension. It involved politics of press and compromise based on the strategy of struggle, truce, struggle. It had two facets. The was based on the strength of the masses. The 2nd facet was withdrawal marked by extensive constructive work, at the grass-root level.
Examples : Non-Cooperation Movement and ‘ Civil Disobedience Movement. Satyagraha involved peaceful violation of laws, courting arrest, marches, combined with readiness for negotiation and compromise. It represented a breakthrough for a, freedom struggle which had previously oscillated between moderate techniques of prayer and petition and individual, terrorism of the revolutionary terrorists. The national movement under Gandhi not only drew masses but also kept masses under strict control.
A significant parallel development of the national movement under Gandhi was Gandhian constructive programme which focused on community unity, removal of untouchability, peasant uplift, economic and social uplift, promotion of self-reliance through use of charkha to spin khadi and village industries. Moreover, the personal charisma and peasant appeal of Gandhi, played a significant role in transforming the national movement into a mass movement. The simple attire, (dhoti, speaking Hindi, spinning charkha, all ensured Gandhi did not stand apart from ordinary folk. For the poor, Gandhi was Mahatma, a savior who would restore dignity, honor autonomy to their lives. Thus Gandhi’s arrival transformed the national movement into a non-violent struggle. However, it is important to understand that India’s freedom movement was a historical process not an event led by a single individual.
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