The defeat of\nTurkey in the First World War and the dismemberment of the mighty Ottoman\nempire, which once stretched from the Arabian Sea to the Black Sea, as a result\nthereof, injured the sentiments of the Muslims all over the world. They had\nalways worshipped the Sultan of Turkey as Caliph\u2014the Vice-Regent of Prophet\nMohammed\u2014and their supreme religious head. He was now stripped of all his\npolitical powers as well as of his spiritual authority by being placed under\nthe control of a high commission appointed by the Allied powers. This was quite\ncontrary to an assurance of the British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George who\ndeclared publicly on January 5, 1918, that the Allies were \u201cnot fighting to\ndeprive Turkey of the rich and renowned lands of Asia Minor and Thrace which\nare predominantly Turkish in race.\u201d It had been further supported by the American\nPresident, Woodrow Wilson, in his address to the Congress on January 8,\n1918. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was thus really\nunfortunate that when the great war came to an end, these solemn words were not\nbeing implemented. The Indian Muslims looked upon this blatant humiliation of\nTurkey as an act of betrayal on the part of the British Government and an\naffront to their religious feelings. They started an agitation for restoration\nof the temporal and spiritual authority of the Sultan of Turkey. It came to be\nknown as the Khilafat Movement and was led by the famous Ali Brothers\u2014Mohammad\nAli and Shaukat Ali. The other prominent leaders of the movement were Maulana\nAbul Kalam Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Hasrat Mohani. The Congress leaders like\nLokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi looked upon the Khilafat as a\ngodsend for bringing about Hindu-Muslim unity and securing an active\nparticipation of the Muslim masses in the national movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To Gandhiji,\nHindu-Muslim unity was an unalterable article of faith, rooted in his ancestral\nbackground and his personal relationship with the Muslims. He also genuinely\nfelt that Koran <\/em>was divinely\ncomposed and enjoyed reading it to his soul\u2019s satisfaction and heart\u2019s\npleasure. He attended the conference of the Khilafat leaders held at Delhi in\nNovember 1919 and was elected its president. The conference advised the Muslims\nnot to join the public celebrations of the British Government and to adopt an\nattitude of non-cooperation towards the Government if their demands were not\ngranted. The decision was also supported by the Muslim League in its session\nheld at Calcutta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The release of Ali\nBrothers on the eve of the Amritsar session of the Congress held in December\n1919 gave a new vigour to the Khilafat Movement. The leaders of the Congress\nand Khilafat Committee met at Amritsar. They decided to revitalise the Khilafat\nagitation under the guidance of Gandhiji. It was marvellous that the Hindus and\nMuslims could unite under a common banner and offer passive resistance to the\nGovernment. That was bound to have an impact on the Britishers and help the\npeople to accelerate the tempo of the freedom struggle. They decided to send a\njoint deputation to the Viceroy. It met him on January 19, 1920 and presented a\nmemorandum which had been signed jointly by both the Hindu and Muslim leaders,\nincluding Gandhiji, Pandit Motilal Nehru, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and Swami\nShradhanand. The Viceroy expressed his inability to do anything in the matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another delegation\nled by Mohammad Ali waited upon the British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George,\non March 17, 1920, but without success. The Khilafat leaders were deeply\ndisappointed. They looked towards Gandhiji for advice as to what should be done\nfurther. It was at that time that he issued a manifesto on March 20, 1920,\nelucidating for the first time his doctrine of non-cooperation. He explained\nthat the power that a nation or an individual could generate by forswearing\nviolence was that power which was irresistible. It could, therefore, be the\nmost effective weapon whenever it was completely free from any shade of\nviolence. He elucidated that when cooperation meant humiliation or de\u00adgra\u00addation\nor an injury to one\u2019s cherished religious feelings, as the abolition of the\nCaliphate had been to the Muslims, the non-cooperation became an imperative\nduty. He asked how could they continue their meek submission to England over an\nissue which was a matter of life and death for the Mohammedans ? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many Hindus did not\nfeel so strongly about the Khilafat issue as he did. They even criticised him.\nHis answer was, \u201cThe test of friendship is true assistance in adversity and\nwhatever we are, Hindus, Parsees, Christians or Jews, if we wish to live as one\nnation, surely the interest of any of us must be the interest of all. We talk of\nthe Hindu-Mohammedan unity. It would be an empty phrase if the Hindus kept\naloof from the Mohammedans when their vital interests are at stake.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The peace terms\noffered to Turkey by the Treaty of Sevres by the Allied powers were announced\non May 15, 1920. They amounted to complete dismemberment of the Ottoman empire,\nleaving the Sultan only in control of Constantinople under the surveillance of\nthe British masters. Two days later, Gandhiji issued a statement asking the\nMuslims to adopt non-cooperation as their only weapon for fighting out against\nthe injustice done to them by the British Government. The Central Khilafat\nCommittee accepted his advice and adopted \u201cnon-cooperation\u201d as their only form\nof action against the Government at a public meeting held at Bombay on May 28,\n1920.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A joint meeting of\nHindu and Muslim leaders under the auspices of the Central Khilafat Committee\nwas held at Allahabad on June 1 and 2, 1920, to assess the situation. A galaxy\nof Hindu leaders participated in this meeting. They were Gandhiji, Lala Lajpat\nRai, Motilal Nehru, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bipin Chandra Pal,\nMadan Mohan Malaviya, C. Rajagopalachari, Satyamurti and Chintamani. This\nmeeting endorsed the decision of the Central Khilafat Committee and appointed\nan Action Committee consisting of Gandhiji and six Muslim leaders. It also\nresolved to undertake the swadeshi <\/em>movement\nin right earnest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In accordance with\nthe decision taken at Allahabad, a letter signed by about 90 prominent Muslim\nleaders from all over the country was sent to the Viceroy. It was an ultimatum,\n\u201cIf, unfortunately, Your Excellency will not adopt our humble suggestion, we\nshall be obliged, as from the first August next, to withdraw cooperation to the\nGovernment and to ask our co-religionists and Hindu brethren to do likewise.\u201d\nGandhiji also wrote to the Viceroy on identical lines. In July 1920, the Action\nCommittee announced its programme. There was to be a complete hartal <\/em>on August 1, 1920. Peaceful\ndemonstrations were also planned. Apart from these, Gandhiji gave a four-point\nline of action. First, all titles, honours and medals conferred by the Government\nwere to be surrendered. Second, all lawyers were asked to suspend their\npractice, Government officials to leave their offices and parents to withdraw\ntheir children from the Government-supported schools and colleges. Third, the\nsoldiers were asked to lay down their arms. Fourth, people were asked not to\npay taxes to the Government. He travelled all over the country accompanied by\nShaukat Ali and tried to explain his new programme to the people. Huge crowds\ngreeted him wherever he went. They raised loud slogans, Mahatma Gandhi ki\njai<\/em> and Hindu-Mussalman ki jai<\/em>. A majority of them were too eager to\nhave his darshan<\/em> (glimpse) as an\nact of faith or duty. He exhorted them as under :<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proclaim to the\nGovernment: \u2018You may hang us on the gallows, you may send us to prison, but you\nwill He also castigated\nthat the British empire represented Satanism and those who loved God, could\nafford to have no love for Satan. He also held the British Government guilty of\nterrible atrocities like the massacre at Amritsar and felt strongly that if it\ndid not apologise for these to God and the country, the British empire would\ncertainly perish. Whether the people at large understood and appreciated\nGandhiji\u2019s views or not, they had developed utmost reverence for him and were\nready to make any sacrifice at his command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hartal <\/em>on August 1, 1920, was a big success. On\nthe same day, Gandhiji returned all the war medals which (i) Surrender titles and\nhonours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (ii) Do not attend the Durbars <\/em>and other official and non-official\nfunctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (iii) Withdraw your children\nfrom schools and colleges owned, aided and controlled by the Government and\nsend them to national schools and colleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (iv) Boycott foreign goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (v) Boycott Government\ncourts and establish private arbitration courts for settlement of private\ndisputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (vi) Do not offer yourself\nfor service in the army and clerical or labour services in Mesopotamia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (vii) Do not contest for the\nprovincial and central legislative councils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (viii) Do not participate in\nthe elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (ix) Resign from the\nnominated seats in the local bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was the\nnegative side of the non-cooperation. On the positive side, the Congress\nadvised the people to adopt hand-spinning in every home and encourage\nhand-weaving by the millions of weavers. It also exhorted them to use the swadeshi <\/em>goods in place of the imported articles.\nFor Gandhiji, \u201cspin and weave\u201d became a sacred mantra. <\/em>He advised the people to adopt it with\nfull vigour and faith. As if a prophet was affirming the truth he obtained\nthrough divine revelation, he told them that swaraj <\/em>would come about when they learned to\nspin and weave.\n\nThe resolution passed by the Congress in its special session held at\nCalcutta in September 1920 required ratification by a regular session. It was\nheld in December 1920 at Nagpur under the presidentship of\nVijayaraghavachariar. There was tremendous enthusiasm and more than 14,000\ndelegates attended the session. Two members of the British Parliament belonging\nto the Labour Party, named Wedgwood and Ben Spoor, also participated. The\nsession endorsed the Calcutta resolution. It also made various changes in the\nconstitution of the Congress. The new goal of the Congress was defined as swaraj <\/em>to be achieved through peaceful and\nconstitutional means as hitherto. Gandhiji defined swaraj <\/em>to mean \u201cself-government within the\nempire and outside, if necessary.\u201d The Provincial Congress Committees were to\nbe reorganised on linguistic basis. They had to be strengthened at the\ngrassroots, i.e., village level and from there onwards to the tehsil, district,\nprovince and national level. This converted the Congress into a mass organisation\nhaving close rapport with the common people.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The defeat of Turkey in the First World War and the dismemberment of the mighty Ottoman empire, which once stretched from the Arabian Sea to the Black Sea, as a result thereof, injured the sentiments of the Muslims all over the world. They had always worshipped the Sultan of Turkey as Caliph\u2014the Vice-Regent of Prophet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nget no cooperation from us. You will get it in jail or on the gallows, but not\nin the regiments of the army. You will notget it in legislatures or in any\ndepartment of the Government service.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nhad been awarded to him by the British Government for his support to the war.\nHe wrote to the Viceroy, \u201cValuable as these honours have been to me, I cannot\nwear them with an easy conscience, so long as my Mussalman countrymen have to\nlabour under the wrong done to their religious sentiments.\u201d He charged the\nBritish Government with having acted \u201cin an unscrupulous, immoral and unjust\nmanner.\u201d He had also been unhappy about the Government\u2019s soft attitude on the\nHunter Report on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The Congress met in a special\nsession at Calcutta under the chairmanship of Lala Lajpat Rai in September\n1920. It endorsed Gandhiji\u2019s plan of Non-Cooperation Movement against the two\nwrongs\u2014an injury to the feelings of the Muslims on account of the abolition of\nthe Caliphate at Constantinople and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by General\nDyer, and added the third, the biggest wrong of all wrongs, the denial of swaraj. <\/em>The Congress asked the people to do the\nfollowing :<\/p>\n\n\n\n