1. Background and Genesis of the Alliance
The post-World War I period in India was marked by intense socio-economic distress and political disillusionment. The British colonial government, rather than rewarding India’s wartime cooperation with political concessions, enacted the repressive Rowlatt Act of 1919 and executed the brutal Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (April 13, 1919). The subsequent Hunter Committee inquiry into the massacre was widely perceived by Indians as a whitewash, which deeply alienated moderate nationalists and pushed Mahatma Gandhi to seek a broader platform for mass resistance.
Simultaneously, Indian Muslims were deeply agitated by the treatment of Turkey by the Allied Powers after the war. Under the Treaty of Sèvres (1920), the Ottoman Empire was dismembered, and the Sultan of Turkey, who was revered as the Khalifa (Caliph) or spiritual head of the global Islamic community, was stripped of his authority over Islamic sacred places. To defend the Caliphate, the Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in 1919 under the leadership of the Ali brothers—Shaukat Ali and Mohammad Ali—along with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan, and Hasrat Mohani.
Gandhi saw this convergence of Hindu and Muslim grievances as a historic opportunity. He convinced the Indian National Congress that the Khilafat issue was a powerful vehicle to forge national unity and launch a united struggle against the British Raj. In his own words, it was an opportunity to unite both communities:
“An opportunity of uniting Hindus and Muslims as would not arise in a hundred years.”
2. Launch of the Non-Cooperation Programme
The formal alliance between the Congress and the Khilafat Committee was cemented through a series of historic sessions in 1920. At the special Calcutta Session of the Congress (September 1920), Gandhi’s resolution for a Non-Cooperation Movement was approved despite initial skepticism from leaders like C.R. Das. The program was later formally ratified at the landmark Nagpur Session (December 1920), which marked a fundamental shift in the character of the Indian National Congress.
At Nagpur, the Congress altered its creed from achieving self-government through constitutional means to attaining Swaraj (Self-Rule) through peaceful and legitimate means. This transitioned the organization from a bourgeois debating club into a revolutionary mass struggle. Important structural reforms were introduced to facilitate this transition:
- A 15-member Congress Working Committee (CWC) was established to lead the party daily.
- Provincial Congress Committees were reorganized on a linguistic basis, democratizing local leadership.
- The annual membership fee was reduced to four annas, allowing peasants, workers, and the poor to join the nationalist fold in millions.
The program of Non-Cooperation was structured in phases, starting with the surrender of government-conferred titles and honors, followed by the boycott of government schools, colleges, law courts, and legislative councils. The final stage was designed to culminate in a civil disobedience campaign, including the non-payment of taxes.
3. The Mass Upsurge and Regional Variations (1920–1922)
The movement witnessed unprecedented mass participation across urban and rural India. Thousands of students left government-run schools and colleges to join newly established national institutions such as Jamia Millia Islamia, Bihar Vidyapeeth, Kashi Vidyapeeth, and Gujarat Vidyapeeth. Prominent lawyers like Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das, C. Rajagopalachari, Saifuddin Kitchlew, and Vallabhbhai Patel gave up their lucrative legal practices to dedicate themselves to the movement.
Economic boycott was highly successful; the import of foreign cloth fell by nearly half between 1920 and 1922. Public bonfires of foreign garments became a common sight, and the promotion of Khadi (handspun cloth) and the Charkha (spinning wheel) became symbols of self-reliance and national dignity. Women participated in large numbers, picketing shops selling foreign cloth and liquor.
The movement took on diverse, localized dimensions across different provinces, showing how local grievances merged with the national call for Swaraj:
