Explain how the non-cooperation movement emerged in the towns.

The Non-cooperation-Khilafat Movement began in 1920. Many diverse regional groups joined this movement to meet their specific objectives. Many students, teachers and headmasters joined the movement. Lawyers also gave up their legal practice and joined in.

People picketed the liquor shops and boycotted foreign goods and cloth. Some Indian traders also rejected foreign goods and foreign trade. The demand for the Indian cloth increased and the vanishing textile industry of India got a new lease of life.

The Non-cooperation movement began with an active response from the people but it slowed after a while. The Non-cooperation movement spread to the rural areas as well and coincided with the protests of peasants and tribals.

In Awadh, Baba Ramchandra, led the peasant movement. This movement demanded revenue reduction, abolition of begar and social boycott of oppressive landlords. In October 1920, Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra.

The Peasant movement developed a violent streak, as the peasants attacked houses of the landlords and looted markets. Leaders misused Mahatma Gandhi’s name and ideals.

In the Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh, tribal peasants misinterpreted the meaning of Swaraj and had suffered a lot of oppression at the hands of the British. As a result they staged a rebellion under the leadership of a man called Alluri Sitaram Raju.

Under the new forest policy the British Government had imposed a lot of restrictions on tribal. They were not allowed to collect fuelwood and graze their cattle in the forests. British had also forced them to render their services as Begars.

Raju did not believe in the Gandhian ideals completely. He thought that freedom could be acquired by force and not non-violence. To achieve Swaraj, the rebels of Gudem hills attacked British officers and carried on Guerilla warfare. In 1924, Raju was captured and executed.