Long Answer- Class 10 – Social Science – History -Chapter 2 : Nationalism in India

Class 10 – Social Science – History -Short Answer- Chapter 2 : Nationalism in India

Q1. Evaluate the contribution of folklore, songs, popular prints etc. in shaping the nationalism during freedom struggle.

Ans : a. Folklores, folk songs, prints, icons and symbols etc. helped in unifying the Indians and inspired a feeling of nationalism in them. The image of India was first visualized as Bharat Mata by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and also a hymn “Vande Mataram’ was written by him in 1870s. This hymn was later included in his novel Anandamath and sung during the swadeshi movement in Bengal.

b. The image of Bharat Mata was portrayed as calm, composed, divine and spiritual which acquired different forms in different years by different artists. This image of India developed the ideas of nationalism in India.

c. The Indian folklores were revived and the folk tales were recorded and sung by bards which gave a true picture of the traditional Indian culture and tells how it was ruined by the Britishers.

d. Rabindranath Tagore led the movement for the revival of the folks and thus collected ballads, nursery rhymes and myths .Tamil folk tales were published by Natesa Shashtri in his book The folklore of southern India which was a massive four volume collection.

e. A tricolor swadeshi flag, using red, green and yellow was designed during the swadeshi movement in Bengal which had 8 lotuses for the representation of the 8 provinces and a crescent moon for symbolizing the Hindus and the Muslims. A tricolor Swaraj flag was designed by Gandhiji in the year 1921 using the colours red, green and white. A spinning wheel was in the centre of the flag which represented the Gandhian ideal of self¬help.

Q2. Explain any three reasons for the lukewarm response of some Muslim Organisations to the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Ans : The three reasons for the lukewarm response of some Muslim Organisations to the Civil Disobedience Movement were:

a. Due to the decline of the non-cooperation Khilafat movement.

b. They felt alienated from Congress. They felt that Congress is linked with a Hindu Mahasabha and their propagandas are Hindu oriented. This thinking resulted to Hindu-Muslim communal clashes and riots in different parts of the country. Thus the distance between these two communities widened. Their main issue was over the representation in the future assemblies.

c. In the All Parties Conference in 1928, the demands of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, for reserved seats in the central assembly and representation in proportion to population in the Muslim dominated provinces like Bengal and Punjab, was strongly opposed by M.R.Jayakar of Hindu Mahasabha. The Muslims were very much concerned about their status, culture and identity as a minority in India.

Q3. Describe the actions taken by the British administration against the nationalists who opposed the Rowlatt Act.

 Ans : In the year 1919, Gandhiji organized a Satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act which was passed hurriedly by the Imperial Legislative Council despite the opposition by the Indian members.

He planned a non-violent Civil Disobedience against this Act which would start with a hartals on 6th April 1919.

The Rowlatt Act gave enormous power to the government for repressing the political activities. According to this Act the government can detain the political ‘ prisoners without trial for a period of two years. Against the Rowlatt Act, rallies were organized, the railway workshop workers went on strike and the shops were closed down.

The British administration got alarmed and were scared about the disruption of the communication lines such as the railways and the telegraph. To suppress the nationalist the British administration picked up the local leaders and barred Gandhiji from entering Delhi.

On 10th April 1919, the police opened fire in Amritsar on a peaceful procession and Martial law was imposed. On 13th April 1919, huge was gathered in the Jallianwalla Bagh.

This infamous incident resulted in strikes, clashes with the police and the government buildings were attacked. This reaction of Indians was brutally suppressed by the government as the Satyagrahis were forced to rub their nose on the ground, crawl on streets and do salute to all the Sahibs, people were beaten up and villages were bombed.

Q4. Who was Alluri Sitaram Raju? Explain his role in inspiring the rebels with Gandhiji’s ideas.

Ans : In the early 1920s a militant guerrilla movement spread in the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh. The Congress never approved such type of movements.

This took place because the colonial government closed large forest areas and prevented the people from entering the forest for the purposes like grazing the cattle, collection of fuelwood and fruits. The livelihood and the traditional rights of the local people were denied.

The revolt began when the government forced the hill people to contribute Begar for the road building.

Alluri Sitaram Raju who was the leader of this revolt claimed that he had special powers like making correct astrological predictions, healing the people and could survive even bullet shots.

Therefore the rebels proclaimed him the incarnation of God. Though Raju favoured the Gandhian styles and greatness and urged people to wear khadi and give up drinking but at the same time he asserted the use of force and violence to get India liberated.

The police stations were attacked, British officials were killed and guerrilla warfare continued for Swaraj. As a result in the year 1924, Raju was arrested and executed and hence became a folk hero.

Q5. How did peasants of Awadh use different methods to achieve their goal? Explain.

Ans : The Non-Cooperation Movement spread to the countryside where the peasants and the tribals were taking part in this. Baba Ramachandra was a sanyasi who worked as an indentured labourer in Fiji.

A movement was led by him leading the peasants against the talukdars and landlords because they demanded very high rents and other cesses from the peasants. The peasants were bound to work at the landlord’s farm without any payment.

Peasants had to do Begar, no security of tenure and also they were evicted regularly so that they could not acquire right over the leased land.

The various demands of the peasants in Awadh were – reduction of revenue, abolition of Begar and social boycott of oppressive landlords which was strengthened by the nai-dhobi bandhs organized by the Awadh panchayats to deprive the landlords from the services of the barbers and washermen.

In October 1920, Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up by Jawahar Lal Nehru, Baba Ramachandra and a few others.

This is how the Awadh peasants were integrated in the process of upcoming wider Non- Cooperation Movement by the Congress. But the Awadh peasants invoked the name of Mahatma Gandhi to sanction all action and aspirations because during the movement they attacked the houses of the talukdars and merchants, looted the bazaars and took over the grain hoards.

Some of the local leaders told the peasants that Gandhiji had declared not to pay taxes and also the land will be redistributed among the poor.