Dalit participation in the Civil Disobedience movement was limited in which region

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Why did dalit's participation limited in the CDM

Posted by Bhakti Panchal 4 years, 3 months ago

Dalit participation was limited in the Civil Disobedience Movement. There were several reasons behind it: (i) The congress had ignored the dalits for a long time because it suffered from a fear of offending the Sanatans, who were the conservative high caste Hindus. But Mahatma Gandhi declared that Swaraj would not come for a hundred years if untouchability was not eliminated. (ii) He organised statyagrahas to secure them entry into temples and access to public wells, roads, etc. He persuaded upper castes to change their heart and give up the ‘sin of untouchability’. (iii) But many dalit leaders were keen on a different political solution to the problems of the community. They began organising themselves, demanding reserved seats in educational institutions and a separate electorate that would choose dalit members for legislative councils. (iv) Dalit participation in Civil Disobedience Movement was therefore limited, particularly in the Maharashtra and Nagpur region where their organisation

was quite strong.

List all the different social groups which joined the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1921. Then choose any three and write about their hopes and struggles to show why they joined the movement.

The list of social groups are:

(i) The workers and members of Congress Party.

(ii) The members of Khilafat Committee and supporters of Khilafat cause (or the Ottoman Turkey empire).

(iii) Middle class of the cities.

(iv) Students and teachers from schools and colleges.

(v) Merchants and traders.

(vi) The weavers.

(vii) The lawyers.

(viii) The peasants and the tribals.

(ix) Plantation workers.

Three social groups, their hopes and struggles :

(i) Middle Classes in the Cities : These mainly comprised students, teachers and lawyers. They responded enthusiastically to the call for non-cooperation and boycott. They saw the movement as a way to freedom from foreign domination. For example, khadi cloth was often more expensive than mass-produced mill cloth and poor people could not afford to buy it.

For the movement to be sucessful, alternative Indian institutions had to be set up  so that they could be used in place of the British ones. Likewise, students and teachers had no choice but to go back to government schools. Likewise, lawyers had no choice but to go back to courts.

(ii) Peasants and Tribals : At many places, peasants joined the Non-Cooperation Movement. The movement was primarily against talukdars and landlords. By swaraj they understood that they would not be required to pay any taxes and that lands would be redistributed.The peasant movement often turned violent and the peasants had to face bullets and police brutality.

(iii) Plantation Workers : Plantation workers too joined the movement led by Gandhiji. They had their own understanding of the notion of swaraj. For them, freedom meant the right to move freely in and out of the confined space in which they were enclosed, and it meant retaining a link with the village from which they had come.