(OSEA) Conflict and Change India Lesson

India Conflict and Change

The rise of nationalism in India spurred the need for independence from Great Britain. Through a series of events, many led by Mohandas Gandhi, the Indians were able to receive independent rule. This did not come without issues. The Muslim population pushed for a separate state and ultimately with British withdrawal both Indian and Pakistan as independent countries. These two countries often have increased tensions in the present day.

Nationalism

 A feeling of nationalism began to surface in India in the 1800s. People began to be upset that their country was a part of the British colonial empire. They were second-class citizens in their own country. The best jobs and best education were reserved for the British.

Indian craftsmen were not allowed to run their traditional businesses if that meant competition for the British. One example was the production of cloth. Indians grew fine cotton, and weaving was a traditional craft. Indians were forced to send all their cotton to Britain and then had to buy the finished cloth from the British factories.

The first two groups to form in order to work for the rights of Indians were the Indian National Congress, organized in 1885, and the Muslim League, begun in 1906. The Indian National Congress attracted mainly Indian Hindus, and the Muslim League attracted Indians who followed Islam. As they gathered more members and became better organized, they began to call for Indian independence from British colonial control.

Rowlatt Act

During World War I, millions of Indians joined forces with the British hoping that their service would be rewarded with more control of their government. The British parliament even promised that when the war ended, India would be able to work toward self-government. After the war, however, nothing changed. Indians were still treated as second class citizens, or as inferior. Those who began to protest were arrested under the new Rowlatt Act which gave the British the power to jail Indians for up to two years without a trial.

Amritsar

 

In 1919, British authorities opened fire on a large gathering of Indians in the town of Amritsar, claiming they were gathering illegally. Over 400 people were killed, and another 1200 were wounded. This massacre made Indians all over the country furious, and almost overnight they were united in a call for complete independence.

Following the slaughter at Amritsar, Mohandas (or Mahatma) Gandhi began to urge Indians to refuse to cooperate with British laws they felt were unjust. He also urged them to be sure they did nothing violent in their protests. His goal was to show the world the injustice, or the unfairness of British colonial rule in India.

 

Gandhi

 Gandhi urged the people of India to resist British control in many ways. They were to stop buying British goods and to refuse to pay taxes that did not benefit the Indian people. Gandhi also told Indians to resist paying a British tax on salt. He led a march across the country to the sea where people made their own salt by evaporating salt water.

Gandhi’s plan was one of what he called civil disobedience which is the non-violent refusal to obey an unfair law. Indians all
over the country began to follow Gandhi’s lead, refusing to buy British-made goods, refusing to attend second-class schools,
and refusing to pay unfair taxes.

In time, these efforts began to hurt the British economy which was dependent on colonial markets. Though the British authorities often responded with arrests and beatings, Gandhi and his followers refused to react with violence. The world watched as the British Empire found itself unable to stop the protests and the Indian refusal to obey British laws.

India Act

In 1935, the British government gave up. Britain passed the Government of India Act that gave India some self-government. This was a start, but not the independence most Indians wanted.

When World War II broke out, Great Britain offered India dominion which is the exercise of control, if Indians would help Britain in the war effort. This would mean more independence, but not the complete independence India wanted. Gandhi and the Indian National Congress refused their offer. Gandhi and the Indian National Congress announced they would not take sides in Britain’s war with Japan. The Muslim League, however, had begun to worry that Indian independence might mean rule by the more numerous Hindus, and they supported the British war effort.

When World War II ended, the British decided to grant India independence. However, by this time disputes have begun between Indian Hindus and Indian Muslims about how power in the new country should be organized. The British colonial leader, Lord Louis Mountbatten, decided that the only way to grant independence and avoid fighting was to divide the country into Hindu and Muslim sections.

Feelings of nationalism in each group were more strongly influenced by religion than by any of the other factors the people had in common. The country would be partitioned into three new countries. Hindu India would be in the center, the largest because there were many more Hindus than any other religion.

The Muslims would be moved to smaller countries created in both the east and the west along the borders of India. The areas were to be named East and West Pakistan. Muslims living here would have to move to the newly created India.

 

East and West Pakistan would be created for Muslims. India would be a Hindu country. Gandhi was very disappointed by the decision. He wanted all Indians to live together in one country. He was even more distressed when violence broke out as Muslims and Hindus began to move from one area to another.

Conflict and Change Challenge

Take Away

 

After India received its independence, it did not reach the hopes of Gandhi. He believed a unified India with all religious groups as a united front would be best for the society, but ultimately the Muslim population pushed for a separate country of Pakistan. Gandhi used nonviolent techniques to draw national attention to the cause of the Indian people to push for their independence after World War II. These techniques were embraced by Martin Luther King Jr shortly after as civil disobedience to draw worldwide attention.

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