Gandhian Era: Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience, Quit India Movement
Between 1917 and 1947, the Indian freedom struggle was led above all by one man – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He turned a movement of educated middle-class leaders into a mass movement of peasants, workers, women, students and traders. His weapons were not guns but satyagraha (insistence on truth) and ahimsa (non-violence). Through three great all-India movements – Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience and Quit India – he shook the foundations of British rule. This period is called the Gandhian Era of the national movement.
The Gandhian Era is one of the most frequently asked areas of Modern Indian History in WBCS, WBPSC Clerkship, SSC CGL, CHSL, MTS, RRB NTPC, Group D, UPSC Prelims, Police and Banking exams. Questions cover Gandhi's early movements, the Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh, Khilafat, Chauri Chaura, the Dandi March, the Gandhi–Irwin Pact, the Round Table Conferences, the Poona Pact, the Cripps Mission, the Quit India resolution and the parallel governments – including Tamluk in West Bengal. This guide explains everything in simple language with a timeline, diagrams, comparison tables, memory tricks and 20 MCQs with answers.
➤ Gandhi returned from South Africa: 9 January 1915 (celebrated as Pravasi Bharatiya Divas) · Political guru: Gopal Krishna Gokhale
➤ First satyagrahas in India: Champaran (1917) · Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918) · Kheda (1918)
➤ Non-Cooperation Movement: 1 August 1920 – February 1922 · Withdrawn after Chauri Chaura
➤ Civil Disobedience Movement: Began with the Dandi March (12 March – 6 April 1930) · Viceroy Lord Irwin
➤ Quit India Movement: Resolution on 8 August 1942 at Gowalia Tank, Bombay · Slogan "Do or Die" · Viceroy Lord Linlithgow
➤ West Bengal link: Matangini Hazra and the Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar at Tamluk (1942–44)
➤ Gandhi's newspapers: Indian Opinion (South Africa), Young India, Navajivan, Harijan
Gandhi Before the National Movement
Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 at Porbandar in Gujarat. He studied law in London and went to South Africa in 1893 to work on a legal case. There, after being thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg for sitting in a "whites only" compartment, he began fighting racial discrimination against Indians. In South Africa he first developed the method of satyagraha, founded the Natal Indian Congress (1894), started the newspaper Indian Opinion (1903), and set up the Phoenix Settlement and Tolstoy Farm. He wrote Hind Swaraj in 1909.
Gandhi returned to India on 9 January 1915. On the advice of his political guru Gopal Krishna Gokhale, he spent a year travelling across India to understand the country. He set up an ashram at Kochrab in 1915 and moved it to the banks of the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad in 1917 – the famous Sabarmati Ashram.
Timeline of the Gandhian Era
Figure 1: Timeline of the Gandhian Era from Gandhi's return in 1915 to his death in 1948
Gandhi's First Satyagrahas in India (1917–1918)
| Movement | Year | Issue | Key people and result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Champaran Satyagraha (Bihar) | 1917 | Indigo farmers forced by European planters to grow indigo on 3/20 of their land (tinkathia system) | Invited by Rajkumar Shukla; helped by Rajendra Prasad, J.B. Kripalani, Mazharul Haq, Mahadev Desai. Gandhi's first civil disobedience in India; the Champaran Agrarian Act (1918) abolished tinkathia |
| Ahmedabad Mill Strike (Gujarat) | 1918 | Dispute between mill owners and workers over a plague bonus and wages | Gandhi's first hunger strike in India; Anasuya Sarabhai supported the workers; workers got a 35% wage increase |
| Kheda Satyagraha (Gujarat) | 1918 | Peasants could not pay land revenue after crop failure | Gandhi's first non-cooperation; Vallabhbhai Patel joined Gandhi; the government relaxed collection from poor peasants |
Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh (1919)
In March 1919, the British passed the Rowlatt Act, based on the Sedition Committee headed by Justice Sidney Rowlatt. It allowed the government to arrest and jail people without trial for up to two years. People described it as "no vakil, no daleel, no appeal". Gandhi called for a nationwide Rowlatt Satyagraha with a hartal on 6 April 1919 – his first all-India protest.
On 13 April 1919 (Baisakhi day), a peaceful crowd gathered at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar to protest the arrest of local leaders Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr Satyapal. General Reginald Dyer blocked the only exit and ordered his troops to fire without warning, killing hundreds of men, women and children. Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest. The government appointed the Hunter Committee to inquire. Michael O'Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab at the time, was later shot dead in London in 1940 by Udham Singh.
The Khilafat Movement
After the First World War, Britain and its allies weakened the Ottoman Empire of Turkey, whose Sultan was the Khalifa (religious head) of Sunni Muslims. Indian Muslims started the Khilafat Movement to protect the Khalifa. It was led by the Ali brothers (Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali), Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Hasrat Mohani. Gandhi saw it as a golden chance for Hindu–Muslim unity and became president of the All India Khilafat Conference in Delhi in November 1919. The Khilafat issue merged with the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–1922)
Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation Movement on 1 August 1920 – the same day Bal Gangadhar Tilak died. The Congress approved the programme at a special session in Calcutta in September 1920 (presided over by Lala Lajpat Rai) and confirmed it at the regular Nagpur session in December 1920 (president C. Vijayaraghavachariar). Gandhi promised "Swaraj within one year" if the programme was followed fully.
Causes
The Rowlatt Act, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the weak Hunter Committee report, the Khilafat issue, dissatisfaction with the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms of 1919, and economic hardship after the First World War (rising prices and unemployment).
Programme
| Boycott (negative side) | Constructive work (positive side) |
|---|---|
| Surrender of titles and honours (Gandhi returned his Kaisar-i-Hind medal) | Use of swadeshi goods and khadi; spinning on the charkha |
| Boycott of government schools and colleges | National schools and colleges – Jamia Millia Islamia, Kashi Vidyapith, Gujarat Vidyapith, Bihar Vidyapith |
| Boycott of law courts (lawyers gave up practice) | Settling disputes through panchayats |
| Boycott of elections to the councils under the 1919 Act | Hindu–Muslim unity and removal of untouchability |
| Boycott and public burning of foreign cloth | Tilak Swaraj Fund to raise ₹1 crore |
Thousands of students left government colleges, and famous lawyers such as Chittaranjan Das, Motilal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Vallabhbhai Patel and C. Rajagopalachari gave up their practice. When the Prince of Wales visited India in November 1921, he was greeted with hartals and empty streets. The Nagpur session also changed the Congress constitution, organising Provincial Congress Committees on a linguistic basis.
Chauri Chaura and Withdrawal
In February 1922, at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district (Uttar Pradesh), an angry crowd of protesters set fire to a police station after the police fired on them, killing 22 policemen. Shocked by this violence, Gandhi withdrew the movement on 12 February 1922 at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee in Bardoli. Many leaders, including Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das and Subhas Chandra Bose, were unhappy with the sudden decision. Gandhi was arrested in March 1922 and sentenced to six years in prison, but was released in 1924 on health grounds.
Significance
For the first time, the national movement reached every corner of India and every class of people. The Congress became a mass party, the fear of the British government disappeared, and khadi became the uniform of the freedom struggle.
Between the Two Movements (1922–1929)
| Event | Year | Key facts |
|---|---|---|
| Swaraj Party | 1 January 1923 | Founded by C.R. Das (president) and Motilal Nehru (secretary) to enter the councils and oppose the government from inside. Those against council entry were called "No-changers" |
| Belgaum Congress | 1924 | The only Congress session presided over by Gandhi |
| Simon Commission | Appointed 1927, arrived 1928 | All seven members were British – boycotted with the slogan "Simon Go Back". Lala Lajpat Rai was injured in a lathi charge in Lahore and died in November 1928 |
| Bardoli Satyagraha | 1928 | No-tax campaign led by Vallabhbhai Patel; the women of Bardoli gave him the title "Sardar" |
| Nehru Report | 1928 | Prepared by a committee headed by Motilal Nehru; demanded dominion status |
| Lahore Session | December 1929 | President Jawaharlal Nehru; Purna Swaraj (complete independence) declared as the goal; tricolour hoisted on the banks of the Ravi on 31 December 1929; 26 January 1930 celebrated as the first Independence Day |
Civil Disobedience Movement (1930–1934)
Civil disobedience means deliberately and peacefully breaking unjust laws and accepting the punishment. The Lahore Congress authorised Gandhi to start it. Gandhi sent Viceroy Lord Irwin a list of Eleven Demands, including the abolition of the salt tax. When they were ignored, he chose salt – a simple thing that every Indian, rich or poor, needed – as the symbol of protest.
The Dandi March (Salt Satyagraha)
On 12 March 1930, Gandhi set out from Sabarmati Ashram with 78 followers and walked about 240 miles (around 385 km) over 24 days to the coastal village of Dandi (in today's Navsari district of Gujarat). On 6 April 1930, he picked up a handful of natural salt and broke the salt law. Figure 2 summarises the march.
Figure 2: The Dandi March from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi on the Gujarat coast (schematic sketch)
Spread of the Movement Across India
| Region | Leader / Event |
|---|---|
| Tamil Nadu | C. Rajagopalachari's salt march from Tiruchirappalli to Vedaranyam |
| Dharasana (Gujarat) | Sarojini Naidu led a non-violent raid on the salt works; brutal police beating reported worldwide by American journalist Webb Miller |
| North-West Frontier Province | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan ("Frontier Gandhi") and his Khudai Khidmatgars ("Red Shirts"); Garhwali soldiers under Chandra Singh Garhwali refused to fire on protesters in Peshawar |
| Nagaland / Manipur | Rani Gaidinliu, a young Naga leader, fought the British; Nehru called her "Rani" |
| Bengal | Salt satyagraha at Contai and other places in Midnapore; the Chittagong Armoury Raid (18 April 1930) by Surya Sen's revolutionaries took place in the same year |
| Maharashtra, Karnataka, Central Provinces | Forest law satyagraha |
Women joined in very large numbers, picketing liquor and foreign cloth shops. Gandhi was arrested in May 1930. The boycott of foreign goods sharply reduced imports of British cloth.
Round Table Conferences and Gandhi–Irwin Pact
| Event | Date | Key points |
|---|---|---|
| First Round Table Conference (London) | November 1930 – January 1931 | Congress did not attend; B.R. Ambedkar and Muslim League leaders attended. British PM: Ramsay MacDonald |
| Gandhi–Irwin Pact (Delhi Pact) | 5 March 1931 | Congress suspended CDM and agreed to attend the Second RTC; government released non-violent prisoners and allowed people near the coast to make salt. It did not save Bhagat Singh |
| Karachi Session | March 1931 | President Vallabhbhai Patel; approved the Pact; passed resolutions on Fundamental Rights and National Economic Programme. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru had been hanged on 23 March 1931 |
| Second Round Table Conference | September – December 1931 | Gandhi was the sole representative of the Congress; failed on the question of minority representation; Viceroy now Lord Willingdon |
| CDM resumed | January 1932 | Gandhi and leaders arrested; the Congress was banned |
| Communal Award | 16 August 1932 | Announced by Ramsay MacDonald; gave separate electorates to minorities including the "Depressed Classes" |
| Poona Pact | 24 September 1932 | After Gandhi's fast in Yerwada jail, Gandhi and Ambedkar agreed on joint electorates with 148 seats reserved for the Depressed Classes (instead of 71 under the Award) |
| Third Round Table Conference | November – December 1932 | Congress did not attend; led to the Government of India Act 1935 |
| CDM withdrawn | 1934 | Gandhi turned to Harijan welfare (Harijan Sevak Sangh, 1932) and constructive work |
Road to Quit India (1935–1942)
The Government of India Act 1935 led to elections in 1937, in which the Congress formed ministries in most provinces. When the Second World War began in 1939, the Viceroy Lord Linlithgow declared India at war without consulting Indian leaders, so the Congress ministries resigned. The British offered the August Offer (1940), which the Congress rejected. Gandhi then started the Individual Satyagraha in October 1940 – Vinoba Bhave was the first satyagrahi and Jawaharlal Nehru the second.
In March 1942, with Japan advancing towards India, the British sent the Cripps Mission led by Sir Stafford Cripps. It promised dominion status after the war and allowed provinces to stay out of the Indian Union, but gave no real power immediately. Gandhi called it "a post-dated cheque on a crashing bank". Its failure led directly to the Quit India Movement.
Quit India Movement (1942)
The Congress Working Committee passed the Quit India resolution at Wardha on 14 July 1942, and the All India Congress Committee approved it on 8 August 1942 at Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay (now called August Kranti Maidan). Gandhi gave the call "Do or Die" (Karo ya Maro). Early on 9 August, the government arrested Gandhi and all top Congress leaders in "Operation Zero Hour". Gandhi was kept in the Aga Khan Palace, Pune.
With the leaders in jail, the people led themselves. Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the national flag at Gowalia Tank on 9 August. Students, workers and peasants attacked symbols of British power – police stations, post offices, railway lines and telegraph wires. Leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Achyut Patwardhan organised underground activities, and Usha Mehta ran a secret Congress Radio from Bombay. In Assam, 17-year-old Kanaklata Barua was shot dead while leading a procession to hoist the flag at Gohpur police station.
Parallel Governments
| Place | Leader | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Ballia (Uttar Pradesh) | Chittu Pandey | August 1942, for about a week – the first |
| Tamluk, Midnapore (Bengal) | Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar (Satish Chandra Samanta and others) | December 1942 – September 1944 |
| Satara (Maharashtra) | Prati Sarkar – Nana Patil, Y.B. Chavan | From 1943 for more than two years – the longest-lasting |
Who stayed away? The Muslim League, the Hindu Mahasabha, the Communist Party of India (which supported the British war effort as a "People's War" after the USSR joined the Allies) and the Unionist Party of Punjab did not support the movement. The British crushed it with great force – over one lakh people were arrested. Gandhi undertook a 21-day fast in February 1943. His wife Kasturba Gandhi died in the Aga Khan Palace on 22 February 1944, and Gandhi was released in May 1944 on health grounds.
Significance: Though suppressed, the movement showed that the British could no longer rule India without the consent of its people. Independence became a question of "when", not "if". Lord Linlithgow called it "by far the most serious rebellion since 1857".
Comparison of the Three Mass Movements
| Point | Non-Cooperation | Civil Disobedience | Quit India |
|---|---|---|---|
| Period | 1920–1922 | 1930–1934 | 1942–1944 |
| Viceroy | Lord Chelmsford, then Lord Reading | Lord Irwin, then Lord Willingdon | Lord Linlithgow |
| Aim | Swaraj; justice on Punjab and Khilafat | Purna Swaraj | Immediate end of British rule |
| Method | Refuse to cooperate with the government | Break unjust laws (salt law) | Open mass revolt – "Do or Die" |
| Starting point | 1 August 1920 | Dandi March, 12 March 1930 | 8 August 1942, Bombay |
| Hindu–Muslim unity | Very high (Khilafat) | Lower | Muslim League stayed away |
| End | Withdrawn after Chauri Chaura | Suspended by Gandhi–Irwin Pact (1931); withdrawn 1934 | Crushed by the government |
| Nature | Strictly non-violent | Non-violent | Some violence; leaderless and spontaneous |
Gandhi's Strategy: Struggle – Truce – Struggle
Historians describe Gandhi's method as Struggle–Truce–Struggle. A phase of intense mass struggle was followed by a pause (truce), when people rested and constructive work like khadi, Hindu–Muslim unity and removal of untouchability continued. Then a new, bigger struggle began. Figure 3 shows this wave-like pattern.
Figure 3: The Struggle–Truce–Struggle pattern of the three Gandhian mass movements
Important Facts About Gandhi
| Fact | Answer |
|---|---|
| Title "Mahatma" | Popularly believed to have been given by Rabindranath Tagore |
| First called "Father of the Nation" | Subhas Chandra Bose, in a radio address from Singapore in July 1944 |
| Autobiography | The Story of My Experiments with Truth (written in Gujarati) |
| Books | Hind Swaraj (1909) |
| Newspapers / journals | Indian Opinion, Young India, Navajivan, Harijan |
| Only Congress session presided | Belgaum, 1924 |
| Influenced by | Leo Tolstoy, John Ruskin ("Unto This Last"), Henry David Thoreau (civil disobedience) |
| Tripuri crisis (1939) | Subhas Bose defeated Gandhi's candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya; Gandhi said, "Pattabhi's defeat is my defeat" |
| Assassinated | 30 January 1948, at Birla House, Delhi, by Nathuram Godse (observed as Martyrs' Day) |
West Bengal Connection
Bengal played a big role in every phase of the Gandhian Era, and these facts are very important for WBCS and WBPSC exams.
| Person / Event | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Calcutta Special Session (September 1920) | Congress first approved the Non-Cooperation programme here |
| Chittaranjan Das ("Deshbandhu") | Gave up a roaring legal practice during NCM; founded the Swaraj Party in 1923; first Mayor of the Calcutta Corporation (1924) |
| Subhas Chandra Bose | Left the Indian Civil Service in 1921 to join the NCM; worked under C.R. Das; Congress president at Haripura (1938) and Tripuri (1939) |
| Birendranath Sasmal ("Deshapran") | Led the movement against the Union Boards in Midnapore during NCM |
| Contai and Midnapore (1930) | Strong salt satyagraha and no-tax campaigns during CDM |
| Matangini Hazra ("Gandhi Buri") | A 73-year-old freedom fighter shot dead on 29 September 1942 while leading a procession to capture the Tamluk police station, holding the national flag high |
| Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar | Parallel government at Tamluk during the Quit India Movement, with its own army (Vidyut Vahini) |
| Gandhi in Noakhali and Calcutta | Walked through riot-hit Noakhali (1946–47); spent 15 August 1947 in Calcutta and fasted in September 1947 to stop communal riots – Lord Mountbatten called him a "one-man boundary force" |
Revise more topics through our WBCS notes and Static GK section. To understand economic issues that shaped the freedom struggle and modern India, read Economic Planning: From Five-Year Plans to NITI Aayog and Fiscal Policy, Budget and GST, and test yourself with the CSIR NAL MTS Mock Test.
Quick Revision Box – Easy Tricks to Memorise
Trick 1 – "C-A-K" (1917–18)
Champaran (1917, first civil disobedience), Ahmedabad (1918, first hunger strike), Kheda (1918, first non-cooperation).
Trick 2 – Gaps of the three movements "20 – 30 – 42"
NCM 1920, CDM 1930, Quit India 1942.
Trick 3 – Viceroys "C-I-L"
Chelmsford (NCM), Irwin (CDM/Dandi), Linlithgow (Quit India). "Can India Leave?"
Trick 4 – NCM sessions "Calcutta Approves, Nagpur Confirms"
Special session Calcutta (Sept 1920, Lajpat Rai), regular session Nagpur (Dec 1920).
Trick 5 – "Chauri Chaura 22, Bardoli 12"
22 policemen killed (Feb 1922); movement withdrawn at Bardoli on 12 February 1922.
Trick 6 – Dandi numbers "78 – 24 – 240"
78 followers, 24 days, about 240 miles. Started 12 March, salt broken 6 April 1930.
Trick 7 – Round Table Conferences "Absent – Present – Absent"
Congress absent in the 1st, Gandhi present in the 2nd, absent in the 3rd.
Trick 8 – Poona Pact "71 to 148"
Reserved seats for Depressed Classes increased from 71 (Communal Award) to 148, with joint electorates. Signed 24 September 1932 by Gandhi and Ambedkar.
Trick 9 – Individual Satyagraha "V then N"
Vinoba Bhave first, Nehru second (1940).
Trick 10 – Quit India "8-8-42, Do or Die"
8 August 1942, Gowalia Tank, Bombay. Flag hoisted by Aruna Asaf Ali; Congress Radio by Usha Mehta.
Trick 11 – Parallel governments "Ballia First, Tamluk in Bengal, Satara Longest"
Chittu Pandey – Ballia; Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar – Tamluk; Prati Sarkar – Satara.
Trick 12 – Gandhi's papers "In South Africa – Opinion; In India – Young, New (Navajivan) and Harijan"
Indian Opinion (1903), Young India, Navajivan, Harijan.
Trick 13 – Cripps "post-dated cheque"
Gandhi's description of the Cripps proposals (1942); its failure led to Quit India.
20 MCQs on the Gandhian Era
Q1. Gandhi returned to India from South Africa on:
(a) 9 January 1915
(b) 2 October 1915
(c) 13 April 1919
(d) 1 August 1920
Answer: (a) – 9 January is now celebrated as Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
Q2. Gandhi's first civil disobedience movement in India was at:
(a) Kheda
(b) Champaran
(c) Bardoli
(d) Ahmedabad
Answer: (b) – Champaran (1917) in Bihar was against the tinkathia system of indigo planters.
Q3. Who invited Gandhi to Champaran?
(a) Rajendra Prasad
(b) J.B. Kripalani
(c) Rajkumar Shukla
(d) Mazharul Haq
Answer: (c) – Rajkumar Shukla, a local farmer, persuaded Gandhi to visit Champaran.
Q4. Gandhi undertook his first hunger strike in India during the:
(a) Champaran Satyagraha
(b) Kheda Satyagraha
(c) Rowlatt Satyagraha
(d) Ahmedabad Mill Strike
Answer: (d) – In 1918, he fasted in support of the Ahmedabad mill workers, who got a 35% wage increase.
Q5. Who renounced his knighthood in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre?
(a) Rabindranath Tagore
(b) Mahatma Gandhi
(c) Jawaharlal Nehru
(d) Motilal Nehru
Answer: (a) – Tagore gave up his knighthood; Gandhi returned the Kaisar-i-Hind medal during NCM.
Q6. The Non-Cooperation programme was first approved at the special Congress session held in 1920 at:
(a) Nagpur
(b) Calcutta
(c) Lahore
(d) Bombay
Answer: (b) – The special session at Calcutta (September 1920) approved it; the Nagpur session (December 1920) confirmed it.
Q7. The Non-Cooperation Movement was withdrawn because of the incident at:
(a) Jallianwala Bagh
(b) Bardoli
(c) Chauri Chaura
(d) Peshawar
Answer: (c) – At Chauri Chaura (Gorakhpur) in February 1922, a mob burnt a police station, killing 22 policemen.
Q8. The Swaraj Party was founded in 1923 by:
(a) Gandhi and Nehru
(b) Tilak and Gokhale
(c) Patel and Rajendra Prasad
(d) C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru
Answer: (d) – They wanted to enter the councils and oppose the government from within.
Q9. The resolution of Purna Swaraj was passed at the Congress session of:
(a) Lahore, 1929
(b) Karachi, 1931
(c) Calcutta, 1928
(d) Haripura, 1938
Answer: (a) – Presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru; 26 January 1930 was celebrated as Independence Day.
Q10. How many followers accompanied Gandhi on the Dandi March?
(a) 24
(b) 78
(c) 100
(d) 240
Answer: (b) – 78 satyagrahis walked about 240 miles in 24 days.
Q11. Who led the salt satyagraha from Tiruchirappalli to Vedaranyam?
(a) K. Kamaraj
(b) Sarojini Naidu
(c) C. Rajagopalachari
(d) E.V. Ramasamy
Answer: (c) – C. Rajagopalachari led it in Tamil Nadu; Sarojini Naidu led the Dharasana raid.
Q12. The Khudai Khidmatgars ("Red Shirts") were organised by:
(a) Maulana Azad
(b) Hakim Ajmal Khan
(c) Shaukat Ali
(d) Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Answer: (d) – Known as "Frontier Gandhi", he led them in the North-West Frontier Province.
Q13. The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was signed on:
(a) 5 March 1931
(b) 23 March 1931
(c) 24 September 1932
(d) 12 March 1930
Answer: (a) – Under it, the CDM was suspended and the Congress agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference.
Q14. Which Round Table Conference did Gandhi attend?
(a) First
(b) Second
(c) Third
(d) All three
Answer: (b) – He attended the Second RTC (1931) as the sole representative of the Congress.
Q15. The Poona Pact (1932) was signed between Gandhi and:
(a) Jinnah
(b) Lord Irwin
(c) B.R. Ambedkar
(d) Ramsay MacDonald
Answer: (c) – It replaced separate electorates for the Depressed Classes with 148 reserved seats in joint electorates.
Q16. Who was the first satyagrahi of the Individual Satyagraha of 1940?
(a) Jawaharlal Nehru
(b) Vinoba Bhave
(c) Vallabhbhai Patel
(d) Rajendra Prasad
Answer: (b) – Vinoba Bhave was chosen first and Nehru second.
Q17. Gandhi described the Cripps proposals as:
(a) "A Himalayan blunder"
(b) "A divine gift"
(c) "An empty box"
(d) "A post-dated cheque on a crashing bank"
Answer: (d) – The failure of the Cripps Mission (1942) led to the Quit India Movement. "Himalayan blunder" was his comment on the Rowlatt Satyagraha.
Q18. The Quit India resolution was passed on 8 August 1942 at:
(a) Gowalia Tank, Bombay
(b) Wardha
(c) Sabarmati, Ahmedabad
(d) Tripuri
Answer: (a) – The AICC passed it at Gowalia Tank Maidan, now August Kranti Maidan.
Q19. Matangini Hazra was killed in 1942 while leading a procession at:
(a) Contai
(b) Tamluk
(c) Chittagong
(d) Ballia
Answer: (b) – Known as "Gandhi Buri", she was shot while marching to capture the Tamluk police station in Midnapore.
Q20. Who first called Gandhi the "Father of the Nation"?
(a) Jawaharlal Nehru
(b) Rabindranath Tagore
(c) Sardar Patel
(d) Subhas Chandra Bose
Answer: (d) – Bose used the title in a radio address from Singapore in July 1944.
Want more practice? Try our Daily GK Quiz and Mock Tests.
Conclusion
The Gandhian Era transformed India's freedom struggle into the largest non-violent mass movement in world history. The Non-Cooperation Movement brought the masses into politics, the Civil Disobedience Movement made the simple act of making salt a challenge to an empire, and the Quit India Movement made it clear that British rule could not last. For exams, remember the dates, places, leaders and viceroys of each movement, the key events between them – Swaraj Party, Simon Commission, Lahore session, Round Table Conferences, Poona Pact and Cripps Mission – and Bengal's contributions like C.R. Das, Subhas Bose, Matangini Hazra and the Tamluk Jatiya Sarkar. Revise with the timeline and tricks above, and practise the MCQs.
Reference: NCERT History Class VIII (Our Pasts III) and Class XII (Themes in Indian History Part III – "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"); Bipan Chandra, India's Struggle for Independence.
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