The Making of the National Movement 1870 to 1947 Test - 12

Mahatma Gandhi on the eve of launching Quit India Movement on 8^th August 1942 gave the call ‘Do or Die’. Gandhiji said we shall either free India or die in the attempt.

Annual festivals in memory of Shivaji and Lord Ganesha were started by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. These festivals were organized to build a national spirit among the common people in opposition to colonial rule. But the major drawback of these events was that although they were meant to be a way to oppose colonial rule, they also contributed to religious tensions.

On 12th March 1930, Gandhi inaugurated The Civil Disobedience Movement by conducting the historic Dandi Salt March, where he broke the Salt Laws imposed by the British Government. Followed by seventy nine ashramites, Gandhi embarked on his march from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi that is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea.

On 6th April 1930, Gandhi with the accompaniment of seventy nine satyagrahis, violated the Salt Law by picking up a fistful of salt lying on the sea shore. They manually made salt on the shores of Dandi. 

The Civil Disobedience Movement was relaunched in 1932 after Gandhiji returned to India after attending the Second Round Table Conference. Dissatisfied with the conference, Gandhiji re-launched the movement.

In 1928, the Commission stepped in Lahore where it was met by protesters waving dark flags. The challenge was driven by Indian patriot Lala Lajpat Rai, who had moved a determination against the Commission in the Legislative Assembly of Punjab in February 1928. The protestors were lathi-charged. In one such lathi-charge by the police at Lahore, Lala Lajpatrai was wounded.

'Swaraj is my birth right' was said by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer, lawyer and an independence activist. After the murder of Lt. Ayerst by Chapekar brothers, Tilak was charged with incitement to murder and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. When he emerged from the prison he adopted this slogan which was coined by Kaka Baptista.

The congress was divided into two camps-Extremist and Moderates at the Surat session of 1907. The Moderates believed in the constitutional methods of protests like petitions, prayers, meetings,etc. Extremists, on the other hand, believed in agitation, strikes and boycotts to force their demands. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was an extremist and was opposed to the moderates' method of petitions especially towards the fight for self-government.

The Swadeshi movement was not able to gain the support of the peasantry because government policy of divide and rule kept them separated. They did not actively join in the form of struggles such as boycott or passive resistance because their demand were not taken into the consideration, and Congress failed to gain the confidence of the peasants. Also, conditions of peasants were worst during that time, they felt that joining the movement would not improve their conditions because it was led by upper class and rich people.

The famous slogan Inquilab Zindabad was given by Hasrat Mohani. The slogan was also used by Bhagat Singh, who shouted it after bombing the Central Assembly in Delhi. It became one of the rallying cries of the Indian independence movement.