- Irwin’s Declaration of October 1929 backed the 1917 declaration that aimed for the attainment of Dominion Status. However, no timeline was given. It also mentioned about Round Table Conference.
Delhi Manifesto
- In November 1929, prominent national leaders brought out a manifesto that included conditions that should be accepted by Government for Congress to attend the Round table conference.
- Demands: Formulate a constitution for implementation of Dominion status which should be accepted immediately, congress should have majority representation in the conference. The manifesto was rejected and now the ground was set for the confrontation.
- Independence Pledge: On January 26, 1930, the Independence pledge drafted by Gandhi was read out and stated the inalienable right of Indians to freedom.
- Gandhi put forward his 11 demands to the government in January 1930 which included the abolition of salt tax, reduction in army expenditure, civil services and land revenue among others. With no response from the government, he launched Civil Disobedience Movement in February 1930.
- Gandhi began his Dandi March on March 12th, 1930, with a band of 78 members from Sabarmati Ashram and reached the coast of Dandi to make salt and break the law. He was later arrested. Other leaders who broke the salt law in various parts include C. Rajagopalachari (Tamil Nadu), K, Kelappan (Malabar), and Sarojini Naidu (Dharsana).
- Non-payment of revenue in Ryotwari areas particularly in Kheda, Bardoli taluqa of Surat and Jambusar in Broach in Gujarat.
- Non-payment of chowkidari taxes in zamindari areas: Chowkidars were village guards who supplemented small rural police. They were paid out of the tax levied specially on the villages. Chowkidars were paid out of the tax levied on villages. Chowkidars were seen as spies who acted in favour of Government and retainers of local landlords. The movement against this tax, resignation of chowkidars and influential members of chowkidar panchayats first started in Bihar in 1930 in lieu of salt agitation in Bihar (Salt production was not possible in Bihar). The movement for non-payment of chowkidari tax later became powerful in Bengal and Orissa as well.
- Violation of forest laws in Central Provinces: Forest laws were defied in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Central Provinces in especially in tribal areas.
- National Flag as symbol of resistance: Nehru’s call for not lowering the national flag at Lahore in December 1929 led to heroic attempts to defend the national flag. Tota Narasaiah Naidu got beaten badly at Bundur in Coastal Andhra Pradesh but did not lower it. Similarly, in Calicut P. Krishna Pillai carried the national flag against police force. A group of children stitched khadi dresses in the three colours of national flag and thus, these ‘living flags’ paraded on streets.
- Student participation: ‘Cunningham Circular’ led to powerful agitation among students in Assam. The circular forced students and their guardians to give assurances of good behaviour to British government.
- Labour participation: Textile mill workers in Sholapur in Maharashtra engaged in a strike, assaulted on police outposts, law courts, municipal building and railway station and burning of liquor shops. A parallel government was established at Sholapur by Congress Volunteers. Dock labourers in Karachi and Choolai Mill in Madras went on strike.
- Business groups: Overwhelming support by business and capitalist class led to a sharp fall in imports of British cloth. G D Birla donated large sums of money to Congress and convinced Marwari traders in Calcutta to get cloth items from Indian mills in Ahmedabad and Bombay, instead of importing. FICCI decided to support the Congress and boycott the Round Table Conference till Gandhi agreed to join it.
- In Peshawar, Ghaffar Khan (also called Badshah Khan and Frontier Gandhi) started a volunteer brigade Khudai Khidmatgars or Red Shirts who were pledged to freedom struggle and nonviolence. He published a monthly magazine known as Pakhtun.
Women’s Participation in CDM
- Initially, Gandhi and INC were reluctant to let women participate in the movement. However, wide opposition by women organisations like Women’s Indian Conference and women leaders like Sarojini Naidu, Margaret Cousins etc forced Gandhi to allow women to participate in the movement.
- Gandhi made a direct appeal to women to take up spinning yarn on charkha, come out of their homes and take part in picketing of shops selling foreign goods or liquor.
- Important women leaders during CDM: Sarojini Naidu, Lado Rani Zutshi, Hansa Mehta.
- Women’s organisations like Mahila Rashtriya Sangha, Desh Sevika Sangha, Nari Satyagraha Samiti, Ladies Picketing Board, Stree Swarajya Sangha, Swyam Sevika Sangha etc. were established by women to mobilze women for political participation.
- Ladies Picketing Board in Bengal was organized in 5 sections:
- Boycott & Picketing Section: Struggle against use of foreign goods,
- Constructive Worker’s Section: Popularise home industries, especially of spinning and weaving Khadi.
- Swadeshi Prachar Section
- Prabhat Pheri Section.
- General Section
- First Round Table Conference (Nov 1930-Jan 1931) was attended by Muslim League, Hindu Mahasabha, Liberals and princes, however, the boycott by Congress yielded no definite results it.
- To facilitate communication Irwin offered the Gandhi-Irwin pact which placed the Congress on an equal footing with the government. Under it, Irvin agreed to release the nonviolent political prisoners and withdrew the salt tax among other provisions. Gandhi then agreed to suspend the movement and participate in the next round table conference.
