The Khilafat Movement – Unity in Adversity: The Khilafat Movement’s Impact on India’s Freedom Struggle (1919-1924)
The Khilafat Movement (1919-1924) was a sensitive time in the history of British India, where generally Indians-Muslims were fighting to protect the Ottoman Caliphate and its religious-political power. The movement is even considered an important chapter in India’s freedom struggle.
Ottoman Empire:-
This was one of the largest and mightiest Muslim empires, and the Sultan, who was overlord of this empire, held a further title that is Caliph, considered to be the symbolic leader of the Muslim Ummah.
End War I:-
At the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire, that was allied with Germany, lost. It was defeated by the Allied powers, and the entire empire had almost begun to break down.
Treaty of Sèvres (1920):-
This peace treaty, after the war, envisaged liquidation of the Ottoman Empire, deprived it of its territories, and then imposed stern terms on Turkey. Such a development caused very sore feelings among Muslims, again specially in India, as the Caliphate was felt to be the defence guard of the Islamic faith.
Muslim Feeling in India
Religious and Emotional Bond:-
Indian Muslims, who had lived under the colonizing rule of the British for the first time, were highly reverential towards the Caliph. Though it was geographically situated very far away, it spoke to the only residual political structure that embodied one united Muslim authority that had been fractured elsewhere in the world.
Fears of Disintegration:-
Many Indians feared that the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and of the Caliphate was an attack on the unity of Islam itself. Added to this, a deep fear of British imperialism as part of a larger design where Muslim societies were being eroded and divided.
Emergence of the Khilafat Movement
Leadership:-
The Khilafat Movement was led by prominent Muslim leaders like brothers Ali brothers—Shaukat Ali and Mohammad Ali—and other prominent leaders of their time such as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan, and Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari.
Objective:-
The primary aim of the Khilafat Movement was to protect the caliphate office and rescue the Ottoman Empire from disintegration. It attempted to coerce the British administration to sweeten the provisions of the Treaty of Sèvres, which were adverse to Turkey, particularly.
Political Campaign:-
The leaders of the Khilafat movement were of the view that Indian Muslims could be brought together with other anti-colonial elements in India so that Britain would be compelled to change its policy regarding the Ottoman Empire.
Related to Indian National Congress
Non-Cooperation Movement (1920):-
Khilafat Movement related to the Non-Cooperation Movement started by Mahatma Gandhi of Indian National Congress, towards gaining self-rule, or Swaraj as it was coined in that period, through abstaining from British institutions, goods, and educational systems.
Hindu-Muslim Unity:-
The collaboration between the Congress and the Khilafat leaders created a singular moment of Hindu-Muslim unity in the Indian independence struggle. The two recognized their common enemy in British colonialism and the importance of unity.
Role of Gandhi:-
Mahatma Gandhi was one of the biggest members of the Khilafat cause. He felt that supporting the Khilafat Movement could help to bridge the communal divide and bring Muslims into the general independence fight.
Methods of Protest
Non-Violent Resistance:-
The Khilafat Movement, in association with the Non-Cooperation Movement, employed non-violent resistance. These included boycotts of British goods, services, and educational institutions, resignation from government employment, and return of titles.
Mass Mobilization:-
A sizeable section of Indian Muslims, including peasants, clerics and students, participated in the movement. Several leaders made a door-to-door journey across the length and breadth of the country to organize mass meetings and appeal to the Muslims to discontinue their role in British institutions.
Boycotts and Resignations:-
Many Muslim leaders resigned from official positions and the ordinary Muslims refused to cooperate with British authorities. The movement called for boycotts of British goods and services. This further erected an obstacle to the proceeding of the colonial administration.
State Response
Suppression and Suppression:-
For suppression, the British government detained leaders like the Ali brothers and suppressed protests. The violence carried out by the British officials sent more Indians packing
Detention of Leaders:-
Great majority of the leaders of the Khilafat Movement that comprised Ali brothers and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad were arrested and jailed for participating in demonstrations.
Conflicting British Policies:-
Britain, while attempting to control its colonial interests in India, simultaneously entered post-war negotiations in Europe and the Middle East. Thus, the Khilafat issue created diplomatic complexities for Britain.
Decline of the Movement
The abolition of the Caliphate (1924):-
Perhaps the greatest event that weakened the Khilafat Movement was the abolition of the Caliphate at the hands of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern-day Turkey, in 1924. This move made the Caliphate history and, thus, made the movement’s foremost agenda redundant.
Disillusionment with Turkey:-
Most Indian Muslims felt enlightened by the secular reforms enacted by Atatürk who wanted to modernize Turkey on Western lines and was not concerned with the religious authority of the Caliphate.
Gandhi Suspension of Non-Cooperation Movement:-
The final blow was when Gandhi suspended the Non-Cooperation Movement after the incident called Chauri Chaura where violent clashes between protesters and police resulted in the killing of 22 policemen. This suspended the very momentum the two movements had gained.
Consequences and Impact
Failure of Direct Objectives:-
Khilafat Movement failed in its direct objective of saving the Ottoman Caliphate. The Caliphate was dispensed with in 1924, and Turkey emerged as a secular republic.
It did not prove to be successful, but the Khilafat Movement did have a long-lasting impact on Muslim political consciousness in India. It sowed the seeds for further political organizations and movements through which Muslims’ interests would be represented afterward, such as the All India Muslim League.
This movement also helped to evolve a separate Muslim identity in India and thus, in the course of time, that led to demand for separate Muslim state-Pakistan.
Strain on Hindu-Muslim Unity: Even though the Khilafat Movement brought in initial success in Hindu-Muslim unity, failure of the movement and the subsequent developments related to politics strained the already volatile communal sentiments. This further would drift the Hindu and Muslim masses apart and result in the eventual partition of India in 1947.
Review and Analysis
Religious vs Political:-
Some historians believe it concentrated too much on a religious issue, the Caliphate, at a time when the Indian national movement was going in the direction of secular political goals such as self-rule. This could have put the Khilafat Movement outside the mainstream of the larger independence struggle.
Failure to Materialize Concretes:-
The movement was able to arouse mass support but could not materialize its goals. The abolition of Caliphate in 1924 that devaluated the movement and many of its followers became disillusioned with it.
Communal Overtones:-
Critics also believe that the religious appeal of the movement among Indian Muslims could also have communalized Indian politics further. The Islamist ‘self-assertion through grand symbols and themes’ strengthened this notion of a Muslim political nation existing distinct from India. This created a hassle in the pursuit of a single Indian nation-state.
Overdependency on Foreign Issue:-
It is further charged that there is too much focus on a foreign issue, that is, the lost cause of the Ottoman Empire, to the neglect of other issues within British imperialism and Indian self-governance.
Legacy of the Khilafat Movement
Legacy for Indian Nationalism:-
Though defeated, the Khilafat Movement formed a sort of legacy for Indian nationalism. It provided Indian Muslims with space in the national political arena, and its masses, in all their militant potential against colonial rule, presented a demonstration of major mobilization movements.
It was part of the uneasy alliance of the Indian National Congress and the Khilafat Movement, which has been considered to be one of the peaks of Hindu-Muslim political collaboration. That again may have started to fray at the edges; it remains an important episode in the history of India’s struggle for independence.
Nucleus for Future Muslim Political Movements in India:-
The Khilafat Movement served as a nucleus for future Muslim political movements in India. The knowledge and experiences that the Muslim leaders gained from this period also eventually came in handy when Muslim leaders and parties moved on to create support for Pakistan to be established.
Contributions to the Freedom Struggle:-
Though the immediate objectives of the movement could not come to pass, the Khilafat Movement became a part of the larger freedom struggle as the movement highlighted the anti-imperial sentiment that was prevalent among Indian Muslims.
Conclusion:-
The Khilafat Movement was a defining moment in the history of British India, both for its short-lived success in uniting Muslims and Hindus against British rule and its long-term impact on the political and social dynamics of the subcontinent. Though this was a failure in perpetuating the Ottoman Caliphate, the movement was of utmost importance while designing the future course of Muslim politics in India, contributing to the larger freedom struggle in general against colonialism. This movement’s legacy is a complex interweaving of religious fervour with nationalist ambition and a strong accent of political mobilization: an important chapter in India’s march towards independence.
Also Read:- Surat Session of the Indian National Congress 1907