Question

Explain the meaning of the Khilafat movement. Examine the role of Gandhiji in it.

Answer 1

Hint: This movement is also known as Indian Muslim Movement. Under the leadership of the Ali brothers, the Khilafat Movement took to South Asia. Swaraj was inculcated in the Khilafat movement.

Complete Answer:
The Khilafat movement, which took place from 1919 to 1924, was an upheaval by Indian Muslims allied with Indian nationalism in the years following World War I. Its aim was to press the British Government to retain the authority of the Ottoman Sultan as a caliph of Islam following the break-up of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the war.

The Khilafat Committee was established in Bombay in March 1919. It had leaders like the brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali. They also wanted Mahatma Gandhi to take up the cause of building a united mass action.

Mahatma Gandhi played a central role during the Khilafat Movement with the struggle for freedom of India, mainly through the Non-Cooperation Movement. Mahatma Gandhi had already materialised his 'Satyagraha,' a non-violent civil resistance nationalist movement, mostly on account of various inhuman acts of repression by the British Government, such as the Rowlatt Act of 1919, the imposition of the Marshall Law in Punjab in 1919 and, subsequently, the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of Aril in 1919, among others.

Mahatma Gandhi saw the Khilafat Movement as a great opportunity to put together Hindus and Muslims and their respective causes against a single collective authority of exploitation and conquest. Gandhiji therefore gave his wholehearted support to the Khilafat Movement and became a member of the Central Khilafat Committee. In 1920, during the Nagpur Session of the Indian National Congress, Mahatma Gandhi related the 'Swaraj' self-government proposal to the Khilafat issues and demands and adopted a non-cooperation strategy to achieve the twin objectives.

Note: The unfortunate disaster of Chauri Chaura on 5 February 1922, when a crowd of three thousand killed twenty-five policemen and one inspector changed the course of the movement.
- The movement went hand in hand with Mahatma Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement, and their joint efforts marked the first all-India agitation against British colonial rule; a landmark in India's fight for independence.
- Khilafat's supporters see it as a spark that led to a non-cooperation movement in India and a significant milestone in improving Hindu-Muslim relations, while Pakistan and Muslim separatism see it as a major step towards the establishment of a separate Muslim state.