Question

Describe the spread of Non-Cooperation Movement in the countryside.

Answer 1

The Non-Cooperation Movement spread rapidly in the rural hinterland, assimilating within its fold the different peasant and tribal struggles which were brewing in India at that point of time. In Awadh, the movement was led by a sanyasi Baba Ramchandra. Under his leadership, the peasants launched a struggle against the exploitation by the talukdars and landlords. By October 1920, the Oudh Kisan Sabha was formed with Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra and a few others at its helm and the organisation continued the peasant struggle subsequently. In the Gudem hills of Andhra Pradesh, the tribals rebelled against the repressive forest laws blocking their access to forest produce and initiated a militant guerrilla movement against the government. The movement was led by a mystique, Alluri Sitaram Raju, who was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement. He encouraged people to wear khadi and give up drinking but also insisted that India could rid itself of colonial control only through the use of force and not non-violence. The plantation workers of Assam too rebelled against the unjust Inland Emigration Act of 1859 and left their plantations, returning to their villages to show their solidarity with the Non-Cooperation Movement.