Individual Satyagraha

Mahatma Gandhi launched the individual satyagraha movement in 1940 in response to Lord Linlithgow’s August Offer. Gandhi desired a peaceful protest against the August Offer. As a result, instead of mass Satyagraha, he launched individual satyagraha as a nonviolent movement. 

Background

• To secure the cooperation of the Indians during the Second World War, the British Government made an announcement on August 8, 1940, which became known as the “August Offer.”
• According to the August Offer, after the war, a representative body of Indians would be formed to draft the new Constitution.
• Both the Congress and the Muslims League declined the offer.
• Gandhi was dissatisfied with the offer and decided to initiate individual satyagraha.
• Individual Satyagrahas were limited in scope, symbolic in nature, and non-violent in nature, and Mahatma Gandhi chose the Satyagrahis.
• Individual Satyagraha lasted nearly a year.

Objectives

• To demonstrate that nationalist patience was not the result of weakness.
• To express people’s disinterest in the war and their lack of distinction between Nazism and the double autocracy that ruled India.
• To give the government another chance to accept Congress’ demands peacefully.

Features

• Following the August Offer of 1940, Gandhi declared the Individual Satyagraha.
• This movement began with only three satyagrahis, all of whom were arrested by British police.
• Acharya Vinoba Bhave was the first Individual Satyagrahi, followed by Jawahar Lal Nehru and Brahma Dutt.
• Hundreds of Satyagrahis joined the Individual Satyagraha, many of whom were imprisoned.
• Satyagrahi’s demand was to use the right to free expression to oppose the war by issuing an anti-war declaration.
• The Satyagrahis also launched the Delhi Chalo Movement in the later stages of the movement. This movement, however, failed and was abandoned by December 1940.
• Because the British needed India’s participation in the war, the August Offer proposals were reconsidered.
• Following that, in March 1942, the British government launched the Cripps Mission.

Leaders Involved

Vinoba Bhave:

• He was the first person chosen to present an individual satyagraha.
• On October 17, 1940, he launched his mission from Paunar, just five miles from Wardha.
• In a speech, he asked the people not to participate in the Government’s war effort for three reasons:
  • the Government’s refusal to establish a Provisional National Government;
  • dragging India into the war without her consent or consultation; and
  • denial of freedom to preach against the war.

Jawaharlal Nehru:

• He was selected as the second Satyagrahi after Vinoba Bhave.
• On October 31, 1940, the government detained Nehru at the Cheoki train station near Allahabad for violating the Defence of India Rules, preventing him from launching his campaign.
• He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for his seditious remarks.
• His arrest stunned the country. Protests were held all over the country.
• Even the British government was concerned, and Churchill sent an urgent cable requesting that Nehru be treated with special consideration and care.

Brahma Dutt:

• He was the third person chosen to offer an individual satyagraha.
• He was an inmate of Gandhiji’s ashram.

Impact

• It allowed the British government to accept Indian requests peacefully while also expressing the Indian people’s strong political feelings.
• Due to their anti-Nazi sentiments, Gandhiji and the Congress were hesitant to exploit Britain’s predicament and humiliate her war effort by inciting a widespread revolt in India.
• Before Gandhiji called a halt to the individual satyagraha campaign for the Christmas holiday, 29 ex-ministers, 11 members of the Working Committee, 176 members of the All-India Congress Committee, and 400 members of the Central and Provincial Assemblies had been arrested.
• Maulana Azad and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were prominent among them.
• On January 5, 1941, the campaign resumed. It quickly gained traction, and by the end of January, the total number of voluntary arrests had surpassed 2,250.
• The enthusiasm of the volunteers offering themselves up for arrest was incredible. Within a few months, over 20,000 people had been convicted.
• When the satyagrahis were released from prison, they offered themselves up for re-arrest.
• Thousands were thus constantly imprisoned, sacrificing all of their comforts.
• The government released all the satyagrahis in early December 1941.

Challenges

• Individual Satyagraha encountered challenges and limitations in achieving their objectives.
• Many of those chosen to offer Satyagraha were hesitant to resign from municipal positions, resulting in slow progress.
• Furthermore, the movement’s potential impact was hampered by the limited nature of participation and Mahatma Gandhi’s restrictions.

Outcome

• In December 1941, Mahatma Gandhi called off the Individual Satyagraha.
• While the movement did not produce immediate tangible results, it did play an important role in fostering Indian nationalism.
• By the time the Individual Satyagraha ended, the war had taken a new turn.
• The British were on the verge of defeat, and Japanese forces had taken control of Southeast Asia.
• The arrival of the Cripps Mission in India occurred as the British government sought a political solution to the growing demands for independence.