ENG 515A Lecture 19: Week 10
PAMSA Lecture – Week 10
Monday, 23rd October, 2017
• Changing nature of Indian politics in postwar period
• Drain of money, materials and men for the war led to widespread inflation
• Districts like Gujranwala and central Punjab, etc, ratio was 1:4 – for every 4 persons of
employable age, one was sent for the army
• Inflationary pressures on Indian economy, shortages of food etc
• Economic crisis and peasant discontent
• Rise of indian nascent industries and economic nationalism
• Emergence of urban working classes and labour unrest
• Expectations of reform and Home Rule League Movement
• Post-war nationalist politics
• “be Indian, buy Indian”, political sentiments of that period
• Centrality of cotton to colonial authority
• MK Gandhi and mass politics
• All these developments set the stage for – many developments were in a diffused form,
a lot of ferment happening in invidual protests and instances of resentment – some kind
of leadership was needed to mobilize these protests.
• Gandhi’s ideas of swaraj? Sattyagara, non violence provided that
• Gandhi in south Africa – 1893-1915
• Trained in England as a lawyer
• Experiences of racial insult changed his outlook on the Empire and on his own sense of
identity
• As a community mobilizer and lawyer, he fought for the rights of Indians/Indian
diaspora in Africa – transformed into a sattyagara – a quest for truth through mass
political activity – a philosophy that gandhi promoted
• Fight for the rights of Indians
• Spiritual transformation and philosophy of Ahimsa
• Under colonial rule, the nationalist elite divided their space of action/maneuver into a
subaltern domain. 2 domains of activity – domain of high politics/elite politics involving
leaders such as Gandhi, Jinnah etc. formal domain. – comprised wealthy, educated elite
of political parties. Relied on constitutional domains such as petitions, appeals etc.
characterized with rational thinking/approach to nationalism, etc.
