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What tied many different groups together?

The sense of being oppressed under colonialism provided a shared bond that tied many different groups together.

When was the Rowlatt act introduced and what did it do?

Rowlatt Act (1919).

This Act had been hurriedly passed through the Imperial Legislative Council despite the united opposition of the Indian members. It gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities, and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years

When did Mahatma Ghandi return to India?

Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in January 1915. As you know, he had come from South Africa where he had successfully fought the racist regime with a novel method of mass agitation, which he called satyagraha.

What did the first world war do?

• The war created a new economic and political situation.
• It led to a huge increase in defence expenditure which was financed by war loans and increasing taxes
• customs duties were raised
• income tax introduced
• Through the war years prices increased – doubling between 1913 and 1918
• the forced recruitment in rural areas caused widespread anger.
• Then in 1918-19 and 1920-21, crops failed in many parts of India, resulting in acute shortages of food
• This was accompanied by an influenza epidemic
• Census of 1921: 12 to 13 million people perished as a result of famines and the epidemic

When would the movement against the Rowlatt act start?

Mahatma Gandhi wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws, which would start with a hartal on 6 April, 1919.

Where did Mahatma Ghandi organise satyagraha movements and when?

• In 1917 he travelled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system
• Then in 1917, he organised a satyagraha to support the peasants of the Kheda district of Gujarat. Affected by crop failure and a plague epidemic, the peasants of Kheda could not pay the revenue, and were demanding that revenue collection be relaxed.
• In 1918, Mahatma Gandhi went to Ahmedabad to organise a satyagraha movement amongst cotton mill workers. 

What did Mahatma Ghandhi believe?

Mahatma Gandhi believed that the dharma of non-violence could unite all Indians. He said nonviolence is the supreme dharma. Truth is the very substance of the soul.