Editing Mahatma Gandhi (section)

=== Non-co-operation ===
{{main|Non-co-operation movement}}
With his book ''[[Hind Swaraj]]'' (1909) Gandhi, aged 40, declared that British rule was established in India with the co-operation of Indians and had survived only because of this co-operation. If Indians refused to co-operate, British rule would collapse and ''[[swaraj]]'' (Indian independence) would come.<ref name="GangulyDocker20082" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baldwin |first1=Lewis V. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6xdNAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168%257CYEAR=2013%257CPUBLISHER=WIPF |title=In an Inescapable Network of Mutuality: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Globalization of an Ethical Ideal |last2=Dekar |first2=Paul R. |date=30 August 2013 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-61097-434-9 |access-date=6 August 2023 |archive-date=5 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005092125/https://books.google.com/books?id=6xdNAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168%7CYEAR=2013%7CPUBLISHER=WIPF |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Gandhi besant madras1921.jpg|thumb|right|Gandhi with [[Annie Besant]] en route to a meeting in [[Madras]] in September 1921. Earlier, in [[Madurai]], on 21 September 1921, Gandhi had adopted the [[loin-cloth]] for the first time as a symbol of his identification with India's poor.]]

In February 1919, Gandhi cautioned the Viceroy of India with a cable communication that if the British were to pass the [[Rowlatt Act]], he would appeal to Indians to start civil disobedience.{{sfnp|Wolpert|2002a|pp=99–103}} The British government ignored him and passed the law, stating it would not yield to threats. The ''satyagraha'' civil disobedience followed, with people assembling to protest the Rowlatt Act. On 30 March 1919, British law officers opened fire on an assembly of unarmed people, peacefully gathered, participating in ''satyagraha'' in Delhi.{{sfnp|Wolpert|2002a|pp=99–103}}

People rioted in retaliation. On 6 April 1919, a Hindu festival day, Gandhi asked a crowd to remember not to injure or kill British people, but to express their frustration with peace, to boycott British goods and burn any British clothing they owned. He emphasised the use of non-violence to the British and towards each other, even if the other side used violence. Communities across India announced plans to gather in greater numbers to protest. Government warned him not to enter Delhi, but Gandhi defied the order and was arrested on 9 April.{{sfnp|Wolpert|2002a|pp=99–103}}

On 13 April 1919, people including women with children gathered in an Amritsar park, and [[British Indian Army]] officer [[Reginald Edward Harry Dyer|Reginald Dyer]] surrounded them and ordered troops under his command to fire on them. The resulting [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]] (or Amritsar massacre) of hundreds of Sikh and Hindu civilians enraged the subcontinent but was supported by some Britons and parts of the British media as a necessary response. Gandhi in Ahmedabad, on the day after the massacre in Amritsar, did not criticise the British and instead criticised his fellow countrymen for not exclusively using 'love' to deal with the 'hate' of the British government.{{sfnp|Wolpert|2002a|pp=99–103}} Gandhi demanded that the Indian people stop all violence, stop all property destruction, and went on fast-to-death to pressure Indians to stop their rioting.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gandhi |first=Mohandas Karamchand |title=An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments With Truth |title-link=The Story of My Experiments with Truth |publisher=Navajivan Publishing House |year=1940 |isbn=0-8070-5909-9 |edition=2nd |location=Ahmedabad |page=[https://archive.org/details/autobiographyst00gand/page/82 82]}} Also available at [[s:An Autobiography or The Story of my Experiments with Truth|Wikisource]].</ref>

The massacre and Gandhi's non-violent response to it moved many, but also made some Sikhs and Hindus upset that Dyer was getting away with murder. Investigation committees were formed by the British, which Gandhi asked Indians to boycott.{{sfnp|Wolpert|2002a|pp=99–103}} The unfolding events, the massacre and the British response, led Gandhi to the belief that Indians will never get a fair equal treatment under British rulers, and he shifted his attention to ''swaraj'' and political independence for India.<ref name="Chakrabarty2008">{{Cite book |last=Chakrabarty |first=Bidyut |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QzQHZ178C24C&pg=PA154 |title=Indian Politics and Society since Independence: events, processes and ideology |publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-415-40868-4 |page=154 |access-date=4 April 2012 |archive-date=7 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007230049/https://books.google.com/books?id=QzQHZ178C24C&pg=PA154 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1921, Gandhi was the leader of the Indian National Congress.{{sfnp|Ghose|1991|p=161–164}} He reorganised the Congress. With Congress now behind Gandhi, and Muslim support triggered by his backing the Khilafat movement to restore the Caliph in Turkey,{{sfnp|Ghose|1991|p=161–164}} Gandhi had the political support and the attention of the [[British Raj]].<ref name="Roberts1923" />{{sfnp|Minault|1982|pp=68–72, 78–82, 96–102, 108–109}}<ref name="paine20" />

[[File:Gandhi spinning.jpg|left|thumb|Gandhi spinning yarn]]

Gandhi expanded his nonviolent non-co-operation platform to include the [[Swadeshi movement|''swadeshi'' policy]] – the boycott of foreign-made goods, especially British goods. Linked to this was his advocacy that ''[[khadi]]'' (homespun cloth) be worn by all Indians instead of British-made textiles. Gandhi exhorted Indian men and women, rich or poor, to spend time each day spinning ''khadi'' in support of the independence movement.{{sfnp|Gandhi|1990a|p=89}} In addition to boycotting British products, Gandhi urged the people to boycott British institutions and law courts, to resign from government employment, and to forsake [[British honours system|British titles and honours]]. Gandhi thus began his journey aimed at crippling the British India government economically, politically and administratively.{{sfnp|Shashi|1996|p=9}}

The appeal of "Non-cooperation" grew, its social popularity drew participation from all strata of Indian society. Gandhi was arrested on 10 March 1922, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years' imprisonment. He began his sentence on 18 March 1922. With Gandhi isolated in prison, the Indian National Congress split into two factions, one led by [[Chitta Ranjan Das]] and [[Motilal Nehru]] favouring party participation in the legislatures, and the other led by [[Chakravarti Rajagopalachari]] and [[Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel]], opposing this move.{{sfnp|Gandhi|1990a|p=131}} Furthermore, co-operation among Hindus and Muslims ended as Khilafat movement collapsed with the rise of Atatürk in Turkey. Muslim leaders left the Congress and began forming Muslim organisations. The political base behind Gandhi had broken into factions. He was released in February 1924 for an [[appendicitis]] operation, having served only two years.<ref>"Gandhi Freed on Government Order; Aged Indian Leader is Ill and Must Go to Coast to Convalesce", ''Montreal Gazette'', 5 February 1924, p. 1</ref><ref name="Datta2006">{{Cite book |last=Datta |first=Amaresh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC&pg=PA1345 |title=The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature (Volume Two) (Devraj To Jyoti) |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |year=2006 |isbn=978-81-260-1194-0 |page=1345 |access-date=4 April 2012 |archive-date=7 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007230102/https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC&pg=PA1345#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>