(A) "Gandhiji felt the Khilafat issue as an opportunity to bring Hindus and Muslims under the umbrella of a unified national movement." Explain the…

(i) The First World War had ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey. And there were rumours that a harsh peace treaty was going to be imposed on the Ottoman emperor – the spiritual head of the Islamic world (the Khalifa).

(ii) To defend the Khailfa’s temporal powers, a Khilafat Committee was formed in Bombay in March 1919.

(iii) A young generation of Muslim leaders like the brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, began discussing with Mahatma Gandhi about the possibility of a united mass action on the issue.

(iv) Gandhiji saw this as an opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified national movement.

(v) While the Rowlatt Satyagraha had been a widespread movement, it was still limited mostly to cities and towns.

(vi) Mahatma Gandhi now felt the need to launch a more broad-based movement in India.

(vii) But he was certain that no such movement could be organised without bringing the Hindus and Muslims closer together.

(viii) One way of doing this, he felt, was to take up the Khilafat issue.

(ix) At the Calcutta session of the Congress in September $\displaystyle 1920$, he convinced other leaders of the need to start a Non-Cooperation Movement in support of Khilafat as well as for Swaraj.

(B) Explain the participation of women in the ‘Civil Disobedience Movement.

(i) Women participated in large numbers in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

(ii) During Gandhi’s Salt March, thousands of women came out of their homes to listen to him.

(iii) They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops.

(iv) Many women went to jail.

(v) In urban areas these women were from high caste families; in rural areas they came from rich peasant households.

(vi) Moved by Gandhiji’s call, they began to see service to the nation as their sacred duty.

(vii) For a long time the Congress was reluctant to allow women to hold any position of authority within the organisation.