Non-Brahman movement
Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"
Meaning
The Non-Brahman movement was a protest by castes below the Brahmans against Brahman control over jobs, education and religion. It was strongest in western and southern India. In Maharashtra it grew from the late nineteenth century out of Jyotiba Phule's Satyashodhak Samaj, which attacked caste and the power of landlords. In Madras it took a political form in the Justice Party. Its leaders did not always trust the Congress. They feared it would bring Brahman rule.
Example
In 1920–21 the Congress asked Indians to boycott the new legislative councils as part of Non-Cooperation. The Justice Party of Madras, a non-Brahman party, refused and contested the elections anyway. Later, in the Quit India movement, the parallel government (prati sarkar) at Satara got its support from kunbi peasants and dalits.
Don't confuse with
- Self-Respect Movement: E.V. Ramasamy "Periyar" started this social campaign in Tamil Nadu in 1925. It focused on reason and caste equality, not on winning elections.
Related concepts
- All India Kisan Sabha
- Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
- FICCI
- G.D. Birla
- Jamnalal Bajaj
- All India Trade Union Congress
- Communist Party of India
- Meerut conspiracy case
- Women in the civil disobedience movement
- Women's Indian Association