Describe the Significance of the Civil Disobedience Movement in the Freedom Struggle of India

On 31st March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin, Mahatma Gandhi had stated eleven demands in this letter out of which some were of general interest and some were specific demands of different classes. The demands were wide ranging in order to bring together everyone under a united campaign. The most important demand was to abolish the salt tax as it was the most important item in food that is consumed by both the rich and the poor.

Now Gandhiji wanted Indians to refuse all sort of cooperation with the British and also break the colonial rules. Thereafter, people broke salt law, manufactured salt, staged demonstrations, boycotted the foreign clothes, picketed up the liquor shops, peasants refused to pay the taxes and revenues and the forest people violated the forest laws.

When Mahatma Gandhi went for the Round Table Conference in December 1931, he returned disappointed as the negotiations were broke down. He discovered this new cycle of repression by the British. The important Congress leaders were in jail and meetings, demonstrations and boycotts were prevented. As a result Gandhiji relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1932 which lost its momentum by 1934.

These rich peasants were the main producers of the commercial crops. Due to the trade depression, falling prices and disappeared cash income they were not able to pay the revenue and also the government refused to reduce the revenue. Their notion for Swaraj struggle was basically a struggle against high revenue. For the poor peasantry groups, the meaning of Swaraj was lowering the revenue demand and also they wanted the unpaid rent to be remitted. But the Congress was reluctant to support to no rent and thus the relationship between the poor peasantry groups and Congress remained uncertain.

The Indian merchants and the industrialists became rich and powerful due to huge profits they made during the First World War. Thus they started opposing the colonial policies which restricted their business to expand. They had two demands – protection against the import of foreign goods and a favourable exchange ratio of rupee and sterling. Some of the industrial workers who participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement were the Nagpur industrial workers who selectively adopted some of the Gandhian ideas such as boycott of the foreign goods. Theyparticipated in the movement as part of their own movement against the low wages and the poor working conditions in the industries. Women also participated in large scale in the Civil Disobedience Movement during the Salt March by Gandhiji. They belonged to the high caste families from the urban areas and rich peasant households from the rural areas. For them it was a sacred duty to serve the nation.

The untouchables who called themselves Dalits or oppressed were not taking part in any such movements due to the ignorance of the Congress and the fear of offending the Sanatanis. But Gandhiji was of the view that Swaraj would not come for hundred years if the problem of untouchability is not removed from the country.

The Dalit organisations were quite strong in Maharashtra and Nagpur and therefore in these regions only they participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

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