NCERT Solutions for Class 12 History Themes in Indian History III Chapter 3: Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement: Civil Disobedience and Beyond

Chapter at a glance

Exercises – Answer in 100–150 words

Answer

1. Simple dress – in South Africa he wore Western clothes, but in India he adopted a simple lifestyle. In 1921, during a tour of south India, he shaved his head and began wearing a loincloth (dhoti) in order to identify with the poor; he dressed like the common peasant.
2. Language – he spoke the language of the common people (Hindustani and regional languages) rather than English, and emphasised the use of Indian languages.
3. Charkha and khadi – he spent part of each day working on the charkha (spinning wheel) and encouraged other nationalists to do the same; the act of spinning allowed him to break the boundaries of the traditional caste system, between mental and manual labour. Khadi became a symbol of self-reliance and identification with the poor.
4. Simple living – he lived in ashrams, ate simple food, travelled in third-class railway compartments, and shared the lives of the poor.
5. Concern for the poor and lowly – he took up causes of peasants (Champaran, Kheda), workers (Ahmedabad), and “Harijans” (untouchables), whom he called “children of God”; worked for removal of untouchability.
6. BHU speech (1916) – he criticised the Indian elite for their lack of concern for the labouring poor: “Our salvation can only come through the farmers. Neither the lawyers, nor the doctors, nor the rich landlords are going to secure it.”
7. Thus he was seen as one of the people — though he was a lawyer educated in London.

Gandhi identified with common people by adopting a simple loincloth (from 1921), speaking their languages, spinning on the charkha and promoting khadi, living simply in ashrams and travelling third class, taking up the causes of peasants, workers and “Harijans”, and declaring (at BHU in 1916) that India’s salvation would come through its farmers.

Answer

1. “Mahatma” – peasants saw Gandhi as a saviour; they called him “Gandhi baba”, “Gandhi Maharaj” or simply “Mahatma”. He was seen as a saviour who would rescue them from high taxes and oppressive officials and restore dignity and autonomy to their lives.
2. Saintly qualities – his ascetic lifestyle, simple dress and use of the charkha made him appear as a saint or a religious figure.
3. Rumours about miraculous powers – the historian Shahid Amin traced the image of Gandhi among peasants of eastern Uttar Pradesh (Gorakhpur) through local press reports. Rumours spread of his miraculous powers:
   • He had been sent by the King to redress the grievances of the farmers, and he had the power to overrule all local officials;
   • His power was superior to that of the English monarch, and with his arrival the colonial rulers would flee the district;
   • Those who opposed him suffered dire consequences — e.g. people who criticised him found their houses mysteriously falling apart or their crops failing.
4. Champaran and Kheda – he had fought for peasants’ rights against indigo planters and for relief from revenue, which made peasants trust him.
5. Peasants interpreted his message in their own way – e.g. some refused to pay taxes or attacked landlords in his name, going beyond what he intended.

His appeal among the poor, peasants in particular, was enhanced by his ascetic lifestyle and his shrewd use of symbols.

Peasants saw Gandhi as a saviour — “Gandhi baba”, “Mahatma” — who would rescue them from high taxes and oppressive officials. His ascetic life and use of symbols made him seem a saint, and rumours (studied by Shahid Amin in Gorakhpur) credited him with miraculous powers — sent by the King to overrule officials, punishing those who opposed him. They also interpreted his message in their own ways.

Answer

1. Universal necessity – salt was consumed by every Indian household, rich or poor; it was an essential item of food.
2. State monopoly – under the colonial salt laws, the state had a monopoly over the manufacture and sale of salt. Indians were forbidden from making salt even for domestic use, and compelled to buy it from shops at a high price.
3. Heavy tax – a tax was levied on salt, which burdened the poor the most.
4. Destruction of natural salt – the state destroyed salt that it could not sell profitably, even though it was naturally available (e.g. on seashores), to protect its revenue.
5. Symbol of unjust rule – the salt monopoly was deeply unpopular; by making it his target, Gandhi hoped to mobilise wider discontent against British rule. He called it the “most iniquitous” of all taxes.
6. Unifying issue – unlike other demands, salt united all sections — rich and poor, Hindus and Muslims, men and women, towns and villages.
7. Simple and non-violent protest – breaking the salt law by making salt from seawater was a simple, peaceful act that anyone could do, and it drew attention worldwide.

Hence Gandhi chose salt for the Civil Disobedience Movement; on 12 March 1930, he began the Dandi March from Sabarmati Ashram, and on 6 April 1930 he broke the salt law at Dandi by making a fistful of salt.

Salt was used by every household, but the colonial state held a monopoly over its manufacture and sale, forbade Indians to make it even for home use, taxed it heavily and destroyed naturally available salt. This made the salt law a hated symbol of unjust rule affecting rich and poor alike, and breaking it was simple and non-violent — so Gandhi made it the focus of the Civil Disobedience Movement with the Dandi March (12 March – 6 April 1930).

Answer

1. Contemporary record – contemporary newspapers, published in English as well as in different Indian languages, tracked Mahatma Gandhi’s movements and reported on his activities, as well as on the national movement in general.
2. Public opinion – they also represented what ordinary Indians thought of Gandhi and the movement, through reports, letters and editorials.
3. Different perspectives – newspapers published in London, Indian nationalist papers and pro-British papers reported the same events differently, allowing historians to compare viewpoints (e.g. the Bombay paper Kesari vs the moderate Vividh Vritt on the Salt March).
4. Regional coverage – Indian-language newspapers covered local events and leaders that official sources ignored.
5. Spreading the message – newspapers were themselves part of the movement, spreading nationalist ideas and mobilising people.

Caution: newspaper accounts should not be seen as unprejudiced. They were published by people who had their own political opinions and world views, which shaped what was published and how events were reported. A London newspaper’s account would differ from that in an Indian nationalist paper. So historians must read them carefully and cross-check them with other sources.

Newspapers in English and Indian languages tracked Gandhi’s movements and the national movement day by day, recorded public opinion and different viewpoints (e.g. London, nationalist and moderate papers), covered regional events, and helped spread nationalist ideas. But they reflected their publishers’ political views, so historians must read them critically and compare them with other sources.

Answer

1. Symbol of self-reliance (swadeshi) – the charkha (spinning wheel) symbolised economic self-reliance; spinning and weaving khadi at home would make India independent of British machine-made cloth, which had ruined Indian handloom weavers.
2. Critique of modern industrial civilisation – Gandhi was critical of the modern age in which machines enslaved humans and displaced labour. He saw the charkha as a symbol of a human society that would not glorify machines and technology. In Young India (1921), he wrote that he wanted to see the charkha in every home, as it would provide supplementary income to millions of poor people, especially during agricultural off-seasons.
3. Employment and economic relief – it would generate work for the unemployed and underemployed in villages, and reduce poverty.
4. Breaking caste barriers – the act of spinning, done by everyone including the elite, broke the boundaries between mental and manual labour and the caste-based division of work; it gave dignity to labour.
5. Mass participation – spinning was simple and could be done by everyone — men, women, children, rich and poor — so it became a means of involving people in the national movement.
6. Identification with the poor – Gandhi himself spun daily; khadi became the “livery of freedom”, a uniform of nationalists.
7. Boycott of foreign cloth – it supported the boycott of British goods.

The charkha was chosen because it symbolised swadeshi and economic self-reliance against British machine-made cloth, Gandhi’s critique of machines that displaced human labour, supplementary income for the rural poor, the dignity of labour breaking barriers between mental and manual work and caste, and a simple activity in which everyone could join; khadi became the uniform of nationalists.

Exercises – Short essay (about 250–300 words)

Answer

Background: after the Rowlatt Act (1919) and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (13 April 1919), and the dissatisfaction with the treatment of the Khalifa (Ottoman Sultan) after the First World War, Gandhi called for a campaign of non-cooperation with British rule (1920). The Khilafat Movement (led by Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali) joined it, bringing Hindus and Muslims together. Gandhi hoped that by coupling non-cooperation with Khilafat, India’s two major religious communities could collectively bring an end to colonial rule.

How it was a form of protest: 1. Withdrawal of cooperation – the movement was based on the idea that British rule in India survived because of Indian cooperation; if Indians refused to cooperate, British rule would collapse — Gandhi claimed swaraj would come within a year. 2. Boycott – students stopped going to schools and colleges run by the government; lawyers refused to attend courts (e.g. Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das); people boycotted foreign cloth (bonfires of foreign cloth), British goods, elections to councils, and government titles and honours. 3. Constructive programme – national schools and colleges were set up (e.g. Jamia Millia Islamia, Kashi Vidyapith), panchayats for settling disputes, khadi and spinning promoted. 4. Mass participation – the working class went on strike in many towns and cities; there were hundreds of strikes in 1921; the countryside was seething with discontent — hill tribes in northern Andhra violated the forest laws; farmers in Awadh did not pay taxes; peasants in Kumaun refused to carry loads for colonial officials. Some of these protests went beyond the control of the leadership but were carried out in Gandhi’s name. 5. Non-violence – the protest was meant to be peaceful; when violence broke out at Chauri Chaura (February 1922), where a crowd of peasants set fire to a police station, killing 22 policemen, Gandhi called off the movement.

Significance: for the first time since 1857, British rule was shaken to its foundations; non-cooperation became a mass movement involving peasants, workers, artisans, students and women; it showed the power of non-violent mass protest — it was a “negative” form of protest (withholding cooperation) combined with positive self-reliance. As a historian noted, Gandhi’s movement transformed Indian nationalism.

Non-cooperation (1920–22), launched after the Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh and the Khilafat issue, was a protest based on the idea that British rule depended on Indian cooperation: students left government schools, lawyers boycotted courts, people boycotted foreign cloth, councils and titles, set up national schools and panchayats, workers struck, peasants refused taxes and tribals defied forest laws — all non-violently, until Gandhi withdrew it after Chauri Chaura. It shook British rule and made nationalism a mass movement.

Answer

The British government organised a series of Round Table Conferences in London to discuss constitutional reforms for India.

1. First Round Table Conference (November 1930) – the Congress boycotted it since Gandhi and other leaders were in jail during the Civil Disobedience Movement; without the Congress, the most important political force, the discussions were meaningless.
2. Gandhi–Irwin Pact (March 1931) – Gandhi was released in January 1931; after long meetings with Lord Irwin, a pact was signed: civil disobedience would be called off, all prisoners released, and salt manufacture allowed along the coast. Gandhi agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference. (Radical nationalists criticised the pact as Gandhi failed to obtain a commitment to political independence.)
3. Second Round Table Conference (late 1931) – Gandhi represented the Congress, but the conference was inconclusive because:
   • Gandhi claimed that the Congress represented all of India. This claim was challenged by three parties:
     • the Muslim League, which claimed to stand for the interests of the Muslim minority;
     • the Princes, who claimed that the Congress had no stake in their territories;
     • Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who argued that Gandhi and the Congress did not really represent the lowest castes, and demanded separate electorates for the “Depressed Classes”.
   • The British used these divisions to argue that Indians could not agree among themselves.
   • The British were not willing to grant real self-government.
4. Result: Gandhi returned empty-handed; civil disobedience was resumed. The Third Round Table Conference (1932) was also boycotted by the Congress. The British announced the Communal Award (1932) granting separate electorates to Depressed Classes; Gandhi’s fast led to the Poona Pact (1932). The discussions ultimately led to the Government of India Act of 1935.

The Round Table Conferences were inconclusive because the Congress boycotted the first (its leaders were in jail) and the third, and at the second (1931) Gandhi’s claim that the Congress represented all India was challenged by the Muslim League (Muslim interests), the Princes (their territories) and Dr Ambedkar (separate electorates for the Depressed Classes); the British exploited these divisions and were unwilling to grant real self-government, so Gandhi returned empty-handed.

Answer

1. From an elite to a mass movement – before Gandhi, Indian nationalism was largely confined to a small group of educated professionals — lawyers, doctors, landlords — in the cities. Under Gandhi, it became a genuine mass movement involving peasants, workers, artisans, women, students and people in towns and villages across India. As the historian Judith Brown noted, nationalism ceased to be a movement of professionals and intellectuals; hundreds of thousands of ordinary people participated.
2. New methods – satyagraha and non-violence – he introduced satyagraha (truth-force) and ahimsa (non-violence) as methods of struggle, through mass movements like Non-Cooperation (1920–22), Civil Disobedience (1930–34) and Quit India (1942) — peaceful protest, boycott, breaking unjust laws, courting arrest.
3. Local struggles – he took up local issues of peasants and workers — Champaran (indigo planters), Kheda (revenue), Ahmedabad (mill workers) — linking them to the national struggle.
4. Organisation – he reorganised the Congress: new branches in various parts of India; Praja Mandals in princely states to promote the nationalist creed; Congress committees based on linguistic regions (rather than British provinces); encouraged the use of Indian languages instead of English; Congress membership was opened to all, with a small fee.
5. Social reform as part of nationalism – he made the national movement include the removal of untouchability, Hindu–Muslim unity, women’s participation, khadi and village industries (constructive programme).
6. Symbols – the use of symbols like the charkha, khadi, salt, and his simple lifestyle helped mobilise ordinary people.
7. Support of business – businessmen like G.D. Birla supported the movement financially.
8. New leaders – he attracted a new generation of leaders from different regions (Nehru, Patel, Rajendra Prasad, J.B. Kripalani, Maulana Azad, C. Rajagopalachari, Sarojini Naidu).

Gandhi turned nationalism from an elite movement of educated professionals into a mass movement of peasants, workers, women and students; introduced satyagraha and non-violence through Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience and Quit India; linked local struggles (Champaran, Kheda, Ahmedabad) to the national cause; reorganised the Congress on linguistic lines with Indian languages and Praja Mandals; made removal of untouchability, Hindu–Muslim unity and khadi part of the movement; and used powerful symbols like the charkha and salt.

Answer

What private letters and autobiographies tell us: 1. Personal thoughts and feelings – private letters give us a glimpse of an individual’s private thoughts, anger and pain, dissatisfaction and anxiety, hopes and frustrations — which may not be expressed in public statements. In letters, people could express their feelings freely (e.g. letters between Gandhi and Nehru; the Nehru Papers, Gandhi’s letters). 2. Relationships and debates – letters show the relationship between leaders, their disagreements and debates within the movement (e.g. Nehru’s letters to Gandhi disagreeing with him), and how decisions were taken. 3. Context and motives – they help understand the reasons behind decisions and the pressures leaders faced. 4. Autobiographies – give a retrospective account of an individual’s life and times — e.g. Gandhi’s The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Nehru’s An Autobiography; they tell us how individuals saw themselves and their role in history.

Limitations: 1. Letters were written to individuals; they are personal, but often written with the knowledge that they might be published someday — so the writer may censor or shape them (Gandhi published many letters in Harijan). 2. Autobiographies are often written from memory, years later; they reflect what the author chose to remember or highlight, and may be shaped by the desire to present oneself in a certain light (self-justification); they are a retrospective reconstruction. 3. Hence, they must be read carefully, considering the context and the author’s intention.

How they differ from official accounts

Private letters reveal an individual’s private thoughts, feelings, anxieties, relationships and debates, and autobiographies show how a person saw their life and times (e.g. Gandhi’s and Nehru’s) — though letters may be written with publication in mind and autobiographies are retrospective and selective. Official accounts like police and Fortnightly Reports were written by colonial officials, reflect the state’s concerns and hostility, and often downplayed popular support, unlike these personal, insider sources.

Exercises – Map work and Projects

Answer

The Dandi March (12 March – 6 April 1930): Gandhi and 78 satyagrahis walked about 241 miles (390 km) in 24 days from Sabarmati Ashram (Ahmedabad) to the coastal village of Dandi (Navsari district), where he broke the salt law on 6 April 1930.

Major places along the route (to be plotted, north to south): Sabarmati Ashram (Ahmedabad) → Chandola → Aslali → Bareja → Navagam → Vasna → Matar → Dabhan → Nadiad → Boriavi → Anand → Borsad → Kareli/Ras → Kankapura → (crossing the Mahi river) → Jambusar → Amod → Buva → Samni → Ankleshwar (crossing the Narmada near Bharuch) → Mangrol → Umrachi → Ervad → Delad → Surat → Dindoli → Wanz → Dhaman → Navsari → Vijalpur → Matwad → Karadi → Dandi.

(The route passed through the districts of Ahmedabad, Kheda, Anand, Bharuch, Surat and Navsari, mostly near the coast.)

The Dandi March (12 March – 6 April 1930) covered about 390 km in 24 days from Sabarmati Ashram (Ahmedabad) to Dandi, passing through places such as Aslali, Matar, Nadiad, Anand, Borsad, Jambusar, Ankleshwar (near Bharuch), Surat and Navsari, crossing the Mahi and Narmada rivers, before reaching Dandi.

Answer

(Sample comparison: Gandhi’s The Story of My Experiments with Truth* and Jawaharlal Nehru’s An Autobiography.)*

1. M.K. Gandhi – The Story of My Experiments with Truth (written in Gujarati, serialised 1925–29): - Representation of life: presented as a series of moral and spiritual experiments in truth and non-violence; deeply introspective; frankly admits weaknesses and mistakes (e.g. childhood misdeeds, treatment of his wife). - Times: covers his life till about 1921 — childhood, London, South Africa (racial discrimination, satyagraha), return to India, Champaran. - Interpretation of the national movement: swaraj as self-rule in a moral sense, not just political independence; emphasis on truth, ahimsa, simplicity, village self-reliance, removal of untouchability; critique of modern civilisation (Hind Swaraj).

2. Jawaharlal Nehru – An Autobiography (written in prison, 1934–35): - Representation of life: a rational, secular, modern intellectual; reflective about his privileged upbringing (Allahabad, Harrow, Cambridge); describes his growing involvement in nationalism under Gandhi’s influence. - Times: the national movement of the 1920s and early 1930s — non-cooperation, peasants of Awadh (1920), civil disobedience, jail life. - Interpretation of the national movement: saw it as part of a global struggle against imperialism; emphasised socialism, economic equality, science, industrialisation and secularism; admired Gandhi but disagreed with some of his ideas (e.g. religious language, opposition to industrialisation, calling off Non-Cooperation).

How their views differ: Gandhi gives a spiritual and moral reading, rooted in tradition and village life; Nehru gives a political and economic reading, rooted in modern, socialist and international thought. Both represent themselves and the movement through their own ideals; reading them together shows the diversity of the national movement.

Sample: Gandhi’s The Story of My Experiments with Truth presents his life as moral and spiritual experiments in truth and non-violence and sees swaraj as moral self-rule based on village self-reliance and ahimsa; Nehru’s An Autobiography presents a rational, secular intellectual who saw the movement as part of a global anti-imperialist and socialist struggle, admiring Gandhi but disagreeing with some of his ideas — showing the diversity of the national movement.

Answer

(Sample: the Quit India Movement, 1942.)

Event: On 8 August 1942, the All India Congress Committee in Bombay passed the Quit India resolution; Gandhi gave the call “Do or Die”. The next day, Gandhi and the entire Congress leadership were arrested.

Speeches and letters of national leaders: - Gandhi’s “Quit India” speech (8 August 1942): “Here is a mantra, a short one, that I give you … ‘Do or Die’. We shall either free India or die in the attempt”; he urged non-violence but declared every Indian free to act on his own. - Nehru’s speeches explained the resolution as necessary because Britain refused to grant freedom during the war.

Local leaders and their views: - With the top leaders in jail, local leaders and younger activists led the movement — e.g. Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Aruna Asaf Ali (underground activity), Usha Mehta (secret Congress Radio), and parallel governments set up in Satara (Maharashtra) under Nana Patil (Prati Sarkar), Midnapore (Tamluk, Bengal) — Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar, and Ballia (UP) under Chittu Pandey. - Their letters and accounts show that local leaders often went beyond Gandhi’s strict non-violence — sabotaging railways, telegraph lines and police stations — interpreting “Do or Die” in their own way, seeing it as a final struggle; some believed violence against property was justified. - They felt both inspired by and independent of the national leadership.

Conclusion: Quit India showed the depth of nationalist feeling at the grassroots; though suppressed by 1943 (over 90,000 arrested), it showed that the British could no longer rule India for long.

Sample — Quit India (1942): Gandhi’s “Do or Die” speech of 8 August called for freedom while urging non-violence; with national leaders arrested the next day, local and younger leaders (Jayaprakash Narayan, Aruna Asaf Ali, Usha Mehta) and parallel governments in Satara, Tamluk and Ballia led the movement, often interpreting “Do or Die” more radically through sabotage. This shows grassroots leaders were inspired by, yet independent of, the national leadership.

Topic checklist

• ☒ Gandhi and the common people; peasants’ perceptions (Q 1, 2)
• ☒ Non-cooperation; Civil Disobedience, salt and charkha (Q 3, 5, 6)
• ☒ Round Table Conferences (Q 7)
• ☒ Transformation of the national movement (Q 8)
• ☒ Sources: newspapers, letters, autobiographies (Q 4, 9, 11, 12)
• ☒ Dandi March route (Q 10)

Total questions answered: 12 of 12