Indian National Movement› Gandhi's Early Satyagrahas, Rowlatt and Non-Cooperation
Consider the following statements in respect of the Non-Cooperation Movement:
- I. The Congress declared the attainment of ‘Swaraj’ by all legitimate and peaceful means to be its objective.
- II. It was to be implemented in stages with civil disobedience and non-payment of taxes for the next stage only if ‘Swaraj’ did not come within a year and the Government resorted to repression
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer c.
Option (c), both statements are correct. The Nagpur session of December 1920 changed the Congress creed to attaining swaraj by all legitimate and peaceful means, and Gandhi's programme was explicitly staged, holding civil disobedience and tax refusal in reserve. At Nagpur (December 1920, presided over by C. Vijayaraghavachariar) the Congress ratified the Non-Cooperation resolution passed at the Calcutta special session of September 1920 and amended Article I of its constitution: the goal became 'swaraj by all legitimate and peaceful means', dropping the earlier commitment to constitutional methods within the Empire. Gandhi promised 'swaraj within a year' and set out the movement in phases — surrender of titles and honorary offices, boycott of schools, courts, councils and foreign cloth first, with mass civil disobedience and non-payment of taxes only if swaraj did not arrive within the year or the government resorted to repression. Nagpur also restructured the Congress itself: the Working Committee, linguistic Provincial Congress Committees, and a four-anna membership fee that opened it to the masses.
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