Explain the following statement with reasons: Mahatma Gandhi ji started non-cooperation movement in 1920.

Answer: Because of the Rowlatt Act, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the Khilafat issue.

• The Rowlatt Act (1919) allowed the British government to arrest and imprison Indians without trial; Indians called it a ‘black act’.
• On 13 April 1919 General Dyer fired on a peaceful meeting at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, killing hundreds of people; the Hunter Commission did not punish him properly.
• After the First World War, Britain treated the Sultan of Turkey (the Khalifa) harshly, which hurt Indian Muslims and gave rise to the Khilafat movement.
• Gandhiji felt that co-operation with such an unjust government was not possible, so in 1920 he started the non-cooperation movement: boycott of government schools, courts, councils, titles and foreign goods.