Question

In order to defend the Khilafat’s temporal powers, the Khilafat Committee was formed in March 1919 in _____________.
A) Bombay
B) Gujarat
C) Madras
D) Punjab

Answer 1

Hint: While the Rowlatt Satyagraha had been a widespread movement, it was limited mostly to towns and cities. The need to launch a more broad-based movement in India was thus felt by Gandhiji. But without bringing the Hindus and Muslims closer together, he knew that no such movement could be organised.

Complete Answer:
Gandhi felt that by conjoining Khilafat with Non-Cooperation, Muslims and Hindus, India’s two major religious communities, could together bring an end to colonial rule. The First World War had ended, resulting in the defeat of the Ottoman Turkey. And it was believed as per rumours, that a cruel peace treaty was going to be imposed on the Ottoman emperor- the Khalifa (the spiritual head of the Islamic world).

In March 1919, a Khilafat Committee was thus formed in Bombay to defend the Khalifa’s temporal powers. The brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, a young generation of Muslim leaders, began discussing the possibility of united mass action on the issue with Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi sought to bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified national movement, and thus this was seen as a perfect opportunity by him for that. In September 1920, he subsequently convinced other leaders of the need to start a non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as for Swaraj at the Calcutta session of the Congress.

Thus, option (A) is correct.

Note:
The Khilafat Movement, led by Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, was a movement of Indian Muslims that demanded the following: the jazirat-ul-Arab (Palestine, Arabia, Iraq, Syria) must remain under Muslim sovereignty; the Turkish Sultan or Khalifa must retain control over the Muslim sacred places in the erstwhile Ottoman empire, and the Khalifa must be left with sufficient territory to enable him to defend the Islamic faith. Mahatma Gandhi sought to join it to the Non-Cooperation Movement and the Congress thus supported the movement.