Understand the reasons behind Gandhi’s decision to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement. Key factors include the lack of understanding of non-violence, signs of movement fatigue, and the dissipation of the Khilafat question. Learn about the impact of these issues and how the movement affected Indian politics and colonial rule, shaping future struggles for independence.
Gandhi felt that people had not fully understood the method of non-violence. Incidents like Chauri Chaura demonstrated that the movement could potentially turn violent.
He believed that such excitement and fervor could lead to widespread violence, which could be easily suppressed by the colonial regime. The regime would use these incidents as a pretext to employ armed force against the protestors.
The central theme of the agitation, the Khilafat question, lost its relevance soon after the people of Turkey, under Mustafa Kamal Pasha, deprived the Sultan of political power in November 1922.
Turkey was transformed into a secular state, and by 1924, the caliphate was abolished, thus nullifying the very basis of the Khilafat Movement.
Turkey adopted a European-style legal system, granted extensive rights to women, nationalized education, and developed modern agriculture and industries.
The movement successfully brought urban Muslims into the national movement, but it also communalized national politics to some extent.
Although Muslim sentiments reflected a broader anti-imperialist feeling, national leaders failed to elevate the religious political consciousness of Muslims to a secular political level.
The Non-Cooperation Movement spread nationalist sentiments across the country, politicizing every stratum of the population, including artisans, peasants, students, urban poor, women, and traders.
This mass politicization and activization imparted a revolutionary character to the national movement.
The movement debunked two myths that sustained colonial rule: that British rule was in India's interest, and that it was invincible. The economic critique by Moderate nationalists had already challenged the first myth, and the mass satyagraha movement effectively challenged the second.
The masses lost their pervasive fear of colonial rule and its repressive mechanisms, setting the stage for future struggles.
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