Non-Cooperation Movement 1920–1922: Gandhi's First Mass Campaign
Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920–1922 was India's first true mass nationalist campaign — launched by Mahatma Gandhi in response to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the betrayal of the Khilafat cause...
Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920–1922 was India's first true mass nationalist campaign — launched by Mahatma Gandhi in response to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the betrayal of the Khilafat cause — which mobilised millions of Indians to withdraw from British institutions through boycott of councils, courts, schools, and foreign cloth, until its controversial suspension following the Chauri Chaura violence of February 1922.
What Were the Causes of the Non-Cooperation Movement?
Jallianwala Bagh and the Punjab Wrongs
- On April 13, 1919, Brigadier General Reginald Dyer ordered troops to fire on a peaceful unarmed gathering at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar — killing an estimated 379–1,000 people (official vs. Congress estimates) and wounding over 1,200
- The Rowlatt Act (1919) — allowing indefinite detention without trial — had already triggered a mass protest campaign
- Martial law in Punjab; the "Crawling Order" requiring Indians to crawl past the lane where a British woman was attacked; public floggings — collectively called the "Punjab Wrongs"
- The Hunter Committee report (1920) largely exonerated Dyer; the House of Lords applauded him; Morning Post raised £26,000 for him — a profound shock to moderates including Gandhi
Khilafat Issue
- After WWI, the victorious Allies dismembered the Ottoman Empire and threatened to abolish the Caliphate (Khilafat) — the Ottoman Sultan was the symbolic head of the global Sunni Muslim community
- Indian Muslims led by the Ali Brothers (Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali) launched the Khilafat movement (1919) demanding restoration of the Caliphate
- Gandhi saw the Khilafat cause as an opportunity for Hindu-Muslim unity and threw Congress behind the movement — "the only chance of uniting Hindus and Mussulmans"
What Did the Non-Cooperation Movement Call For?
Gandhi's Programme
The programme adopted at the Calcutta Special Session (September 1920) and confirmed at Nagpur (December 1920) included:
| Phase | Action |
|---|---|
| Surrender of titles/honours | Return colonial titles and honorary positions to the government |
| Boycott of legislatures | Refuse to participate in councils established under the 1919 Act |
| Boycott of law courts | Lawyers to stop practising in British courts; litigants to withdraw cases |
| Boycott of government schools | Parents to withdraw children; establishment of national schools |
| Boycott of foreign cloth | Promote khadi (hand-spun cloth); burn foreign cloth publicly |
| Soldiers/civil servants | Resign from government service |
| Constructive programme | Promotion of khadi, Hindu-Muslim unity, removal of untouchability |
Response and Spread
- Hundreds of lawyers gave up practice (C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad)
- Students left government schools and colleges; Kashi Vidyapith, Jamia Millia Islamia, and Bihar Vidyapith established as national alternatives
- Titles returned: Rabindranath Tagore returned his knighthood in protest at Jallianwala Bagh
- Khadi spinning became a political act; bonfires of foreign cloth were held across the country
- The movement reached peasants, workers, and urban middle classes simultaneously for the first time
Why Was the Movement Suspended After Chauri Chaura?
Chauri Chaura Incident (February 5, 1922)
At Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district (United Provinces), a nationalist procession was provoked by police; the crowd retaliated by burning the police station with 22 constables inside.
Gandhi's Response
- Gandhi immediately announced suspension of the Non-Cooperation Movement on February 12, 1922
- He argued that if the movement could not remain non-violent, it had to be suspended
- His decision was made unilaterally, without consulting the Congress Working Committee or other leaders
Controversy Over the Suspension
- C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru, and other Congress leaders were furious — they were in prison and felt the movement was at its peak
- Jawaharlal Nehru wrote that he "was dumfounded and angry" at the decision
- Subhas Chandra Bose called it "a national calamity"
- Gandhi was arrested (March 1922) and tried for sedition — accepted "guilt" famously; sentenced to 6 years (released 1924 due to appendicitis)
What Were the Results of the Non-Cooperation Movement?
- Demonstrated for the first time that mass civil disobedience on a national scale was possible in India
- Transformed Congress from an elite organisation into a mass party with branches at district and village levels
- Established Gandhi as the undisputed leader of Indian nationalism
- Khilafat movement eventually collapsed (1924) when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk himself abolished the Caliphate — proving the issue was settled without Indian input
- The "Swarajist" faction (C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru) entered the councils to obstruct from within — the constructive compromise that emerged from the movement's failure
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the Rowlatt Act and why did it provoke such outrage?
The Rowlatt Act (Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919) was based on the Sedition Committee report chaired by Justice S.A.T. Rowlatt. It allowed the government to detain political suspects without trial, try political cases without jury, and restrict the press. Indians called it the "Black Act." Gandhi launched a Satyagraha against it in March 1919 — his first major all-India political campaign. The outrage was intense because it was passed despite unanimous opposition from all elected Indian members of the Imperial Legislative Council — exemplifying that elected Indian opinion meant nothing to the colonial government.
What was the role of the Khilafat movement in the Non-Cooperation Movement?
The Khilafat movement (1919–1924) provided the crucial Muslim participation in the Non-Cooperation Movement. Gandhi saw it as an opportunity for Hindu-Muslim unity and threw Congress behind the Muslim demand to preserve the Caliphate. The joint Hindu-Muslim platform enabled a scale of national mobilisation previously impossible. The Ali Brothers (Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali) became major Congress allies. However, the Khilafat basis also created contradictions — when the Caliphate was abolished by Turkey itself (1924), the movement's religious premise collapsed, and Hindu-Muslim tensions returned.
What were the Swarajists and what did they propose after the movement's suspension?
The Swarajists were the faction led by C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru who disagreed with Gandhi's decision to suspend the Non-Cooperation Movement and his subsequent emphasis on constructive programme (khadi spinning, village uplift). The Swarajists argued that nationalists should "enter the councils to wreck them from within" — participate in legislative councils not to make them work but to obstruct the government's programme and demonstrate that Indians would not cooperate with the constitutional machinery unless given full self-governance. They formed the Swaraj Party in December 1922 and won significant seats in 1923 elections.
Why did Gandhi accept criminal guilt at his 1922 trial?
Gandhi was tried in March 1922 for three articles in Young India that the government declared seditious. At his trial, Gandhi did something unprecedented — he pleaded guilty to the charge of promoting disaffection toward the government, delivering a famous statement: "I am here to invite and submit to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime, and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen." This transformed his trial into a political platform, the courtroom into a forum for nationalist arguments, and his conviction into a moral victory. Judge Broomfield acknowledged Gandhi's extraordinary moral stature even while sentencing him to 6 years.
What was the significance of the Nagpur session of Congress (1920)?
The Nagpur session of December 1920 was a watershed in Congress history for several reasons: it formally adopted Gandhi's Non-Cooperation programme; it reorganised Congress's internal structure on linguistic lines (Provincial Congress Committees to correspond with linguistic regions, anticipating the later reorganisation of states); it reduced the Congress membership fee from Rs 5 to four annas (25 paise) making Congress membership accessible to the poor; and it adopted a new constitution making Swaraj (self-governance) within the British Empire (later changed to complete independence) the Congress's explicit goal. This reorganisation transformed Congress into a genuinely mass organisation.
Sources and Further Reading
According to IGNOU's BHIC-134 (Modern India) course material, the Non-Cooperation Movement is studied as the first mass nationalist campaign combining Hindu-Muslim unity, organised boycott of colonial institutions, and a constructive programme — establishing the Gandhian method of civil disobedience as the dominant strategy of the independence movement.
- IGNOU BHIC-134: Modern India — Unit on Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movements
- Bipan Chandra et al., India's Struggle for Independence
- Mahatma Gandhi, Young India — articles 1919–1922
- Judith Brown, Gandhi's Rise to Power: Indian Politics 1915–1922
- Gail Minault, The Khilafat Movement