UPSC 2023 History · 15 marks · 250 words
The Non-Cooperation Movement marked the transformation of Indian nationalism from a movement of classes to a movement of masses. Critically evaluate.
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- Scale shift: Congress membership to ~50 lakh (1921), charkha/khadi as mass idiom, Khilafat fusion
- Regional depth: Awadh kisan sabhas (Baba Ramchandra), Akali morchas, plantation exodus (Chargola)
- Critique — limits of 'mass': Sumit Sarkar on controlled mobilisation; Chauri Chaura withdrawal as elite control
- Subaltern reading: Shahid Amin's 'Gandhi as Mahatma' — peasants' own meanings
- Historiographical balance: Cambridge school (patron-client) vs nationalist vs subaltern
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