Nagpur session 1920

Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Nagpur session (December 1920) was the yearly session of the Indian National Congress, chaired by C. Vijayaraghavachariar. At this session the Congress formally adopted the non-cooperation programme as its own policy, after the Calcutta special session had first approved it in September 1920. [1] The session also rewrote the Congress constitution. Its new goal was swaraj (self-rule) by peaceful and legitimate means.

It matters because Nagpur turned the Congress from a party of petitions into a mass organisation able to lead an all-India movement. Its party structure stayed in place for the rest of the freedom struggle.

Explanation

Background: from Calcutta to Nagpur

Gandhi's idea: In Hind Swaraj (1909) Gandhi argued that British rule stood on Indian cooperation. If Indians withdrew that help, the rule would fall.
The Khilafat question: The Khilafat Committee was formed at Bombay in March 1919, led by Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali. Indian Muslims were angry at how the defeated Ottoman Sultan, who was also the Khalifa (religious head of Muslims), was being treated. Gandhi saw a chance to bring Hindus and Muslims into one movement.
Calcutta special session, September 1920: Gandhi proposed non-cooperation for both Khilafat and swaraj. He won the other leaders over. [1]
Not everyone agreed at Calcutta:
Some senior leaders, such as C. R. Das, had doubts, especially about boycotting the council elections.
So the programme still had to be confirmed at the regular annual session.
Nagpur, December 1920: The non-cooperation programme was formally adopted as Congress policy. [1] C. R. Das, who had doubted it before, moved the main resolution on non-cooperation at Nagpur.

What Nagpur decided: the programme

Gandhi's promise: if non-cooperation was carried out fully, swaraj would come within a year.
The programme, as Britannica records it [1]:
give up titles granted by the government
boycott government schools, courts and government service
boycott foreign goods and elections
finally, refuse to pay taxes
Planned in stages: first titles, then boycotts, and civil disobedience (openly breaking laws) only if the government turned to repression.
Constructive work went with the boycott:
spread khadi (hand-spun, hand-woven cloth)
build Hindu-Muslim unity
work to remove untouchability
open national schools to replace government ones
Satyagraha: the struggle had to stay non-violent. The protester's own suffering was the weapon.

What Nagpur changed: the Congress organisation

New goal:
The old goal was self-government within the British Empire by constitutional means.
The new goal was swaraj by peaceful and legitimate means.
"Legitimate" was wider than "constitutional", so mass action outside the councils was now allowed.
Provincial Congress Committees (PCCs) on linguistic lines: the party set up its provincial units by language area, not by British province boundaries. This helped leaders speak to people in their own language.
Working Committee: a small Congress Working Committee (CWC) was set up to run the party all year round, not just at the yearly session.
Wider membership: a low membership fee allowed ordinary people, including the rural poor, to join.
Some older leaders left: a few moderates and constitutionalists, notably M. A. Jinnah, disagreed with the new methods and moved away from the Congress around this time.

Results: what the Nagpur decision led to

From January 1921 the movement spread:
students left government schools
lawyers gave up their practice
council elections were boycotted
The one exception was Madras. There the Justice Party, a non-Brahman party, contested the elections.
Foreign cloth imports fell from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore in 1921–22.
Workers and peasants joined in:
1921 saw 396 strikes involving 6 lakh workers.
Awadh peasants refused taxes.
Kumaun hill people refused begar (carrying officials' loads for no pay).
Andhra hill tribes broke the forest laws.
Chauri Chaura, February 1922:
At Chauri Chaura, in Gorakhpur district, a crowd burnt the police station and policemen inside were killed.
Gandhi withdrew the movement.
Gandhi's arrest and trial:
Gandhi was arrested in March 1922.
He was tried for sedition under Section 124A IPC for his articles in Young India.
He was sentenced to six years. [3]

Time, place and evidence

When: December 1920, the annual session of the Indian National Congress. It came three months after the Calcutta special session (September 1920). [1]
Where: Nagpur, in the Central Provinces.
Key people:
C. Vijayaraghavachariar: president of the session
M. K. Gandhi: author of the programme
C. R. Das: moved the non-cooperation resolution
Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali: Khilafat leaders allied with the Congress
How we know:
the NCERT chapters: Class 10, "Nationalism in India"; Class 12, "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"
Britannica's accounts of the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat movements, which record the Nagpur adoption and the full programme [1][2]
the Congress resolutions and the amended Congress constitution of 1920, which are official party records

Don't confuse with

Calcutta special session (September 1920): non-cooperation was first proposed and approved here. Nagpur (December 1920) formally adopted it as policy and changed the constitution. [1] A common question asks "where was it adopted?" The answer is Nagpur.
Lahore session (1929): Nagpur set the goal of swaraj by peaceful and legitimate means. Lahore went further and declared Purna Swaraj (complete independence) as the goal.
Bardoli resolution (February 1922): Nagpur started the programme. After Chauri Chaura, the Working Committee meeting at Bardoli suspended it.
Khilafat Committee (Bombay, March 1919): this was a separate Muslim body led by the Ali brothers. It joined hands with the Congress, but it was not created at Nagpur.

Prelims Hooks

Nagpur session, December 1920: president C. Vijayaraghavachariar. Non-cooperation was formally adopted here. [1]
Correct order: Khilafat Committee (March 1919) → Calcutta special session (September 1920) → Nagpur session (December 1920) → Chauri Chaura (February 1922) → Gandhi's arrest (March 1922).
Constitutional changes at Nagpur:
goal of swaraj by peaceful and legitimate means
PCCs reorganised on linguistic lines
Congress Working Committee set up
C. R. Das doubted the programme at Calcutta but moved the non-cooperation resolution at Nagpur.
Programme adopted at Nagpur: give up titles, boycott government schools, courts, service, foreign goods and elections, and finally refuse to pay taxes. [1]
Trap: the Justice Party of Madras, a non-Brahman party, did not follow the council boycott.

Mains Points

Nagpur made the Congress a mass party.
The low membership fee and language-based provincial committees took the party to villages and gave it a voice in local languages.
The Working Committee gave it a full-time leadership.
This machinery let the Congress lead the later mass movements, including Civil Disobedience.
A change in method, not just in goal.
Moving from "constitutional" to "peaceful and legitimate" means let the Congress use boycott and civil disobedience outside the councils.
Moderates such as Jinnah moved away, while peasants, workers and students came in.
Over the years 1920–22, leadership passed from petitioning lawyers to Gandhian mass politics.
The limits built in at Nagpur.
Hindu-Muslim unity rested on the Khilafat, a pan-Islamic religious issue, not on a shared Indian political programme. When the Caliphate was abolished in Turkey (1924), the alliance lost its base.
The promise of "swaraj within a year" raised hopes the movement could not meet.
The withdrawal after Chauri Chaura split opinion. Some leaders turned to Swarajist council-entry, and some younger nationalists to revolutionary politics.

Related concepts

Non-Cooperation and Khilafat, 1920–22

Sources

1Noncooperation movementbritannica.com · tier 3
2Khilafat movementbritannica.com · tier 3
3Mahatma Gandhi — Emergence as nationalist leaderbritannica.com · tier 3