The Making of the National Movement Part II

After 1919 the struggle against British rule gradually became a mass movement, involving peasants, tribal, students and women in large numbers and occasionally factory workers as well. 

 The government in turn increased taxes to finance the increased was expenditure during WWI

Increased military expenditure and the demands for war supplies led to a sharp rise in prices which created great difficulties for the common people.

One section of business community reaped fabulous profit from the war. It  war created a demand for industrial goods (jute bags, cloth, rails) and caused a decline of imports from other countries into India. 

It is in these circumstances that Mahatma Gandhi emerged as a mass leader. As you may know, Gandhiji, aged 46, arrived in India in 1915 from South Africa

Having led Indians in that country in non-violent marches against racist restrictions, he was already a respected leader, known internationally. His South African campaigns had brought him in contact with various types of Indians: Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Christians; Gujaratis, Tamils and north Indians; and upper-class merchants, lawyers and workers

Mahatma Gandhi spent his first year in India travelling throughout the country, understanding the people, their needs and the overall situation.

His early interventions was in local movements in Champaran, Kheda