Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement — Civil Disobedience and Beyond — Class 12 History

This chapter analyses Mahatma Gandhi's role in the Indian national movement between 1915 and 1948, using sources such as newspapers, letters, autobiographies and government records. Returning from South Africa in 1915, where he had developed satyagraha, Gandhi first led local struggles at Champaran, Ahmedabad and Kheda, then transformed the Congress into a mass movement. The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22), launched against the Rowlatt Act, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the Khilafat issue, drew millions into boycotts of schools, courts and foreign goods, but Gandhi suspended it after the violence at Chauri Chaura. In 1930 the Salt March to Dandi launched the Civil Disobedience Movement, defying the salt law and spreading mass protest across the country; the Round Table Conferences and the Gandhi-Irwin Pact followed. Gandhi worked to make nationalism inclusive — addressing untouchability and calling untouchables Harijans, promoting khadi and the charkha, and reaching out to peasants, workers and women, who participated in large numbers. The Quit India Movement of 1942 became the most widespread challenge to British rule. Throughout, Gandhi appeared in ordinary dress, lived simply, and built an extraordinary bond with the masses, who saw him as a saintly leader. The chapter also shows how historians reconstruct his career — distinguishing the man from the myths around him — and reflects on the events leading to independence, Partition and his assassination in 1948.