Students and Lawyers in Non-Cooperation Movement

The boycott of government-controlled educational institutions formed a central pillar of the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–1922). Mahatma Gandhi appealed to students aged sixteen and above to leave government-aided schools and colleges to disrupt the colonial state’s administrative and ideological machinery.

Mass Exit from Colonial Institutions

• Bengal: The movement saw large-scale student participation in Bengal. Thousands of students walked out of government institutions in Calcutta and regional districts under the leadership of Chittaranjan Das and Subhas Chandra Bose.
• Punjab: Students across Lahore and Amritsar boycotted classes, joining anti-imperial rallies organized by Lala Lajpat Rai and Saifuddin Kitchlew.
• Bombay and Madras Presidencies: Educational boycotts spread through urban centers, with students picketing examination halls and organizing street processions.
• Statistics: Over 90,000 students left government-controlled schools and colleges nationwide during the peak of the campaign.

Establishment of National Educational Institutions

To provide alternative education free from imperial control, nationalist leaders founded national schools and universities (Vidyapiths) across the country.

Legal Boycott and Lawyer Mobilisation

The boycott of imperial law courts served to challenge the legitimacy of the British legal apparatus. Prominent legal practitioners surrendered lucrative practices to devote themselves full-time to political organizing, fundraising, and mass mobilization.

Key Legal Figures Who Renounced Practice

• Chittaranjan Das: Gave up a legal practice in the Calcutta High Court worth tens of thousands of rupees per month to direct the movement in Bengal.
• Motilal Nehru: Abandoned a prominent legal career at the Allahabad High Court and donated his residence, Anand Bhavan, to the Congress Working Committee.
• Rajendra Prasad: Suspended his legal practice at the Patna High Court to coordinate national education and peasant campaigns in Bihar.
• Vallabhbhai Patel: Gave up a successful practice in Ahmedabad to manage no-tax campaigns and fundraising across Gujarat.
• Other Prominent Lawyers: C. Rajagopalachari (Madras), Saifuddin Kitchlew (Punjab), M.R. Jayakar (Bombay), Asaf Ali (Delhi), and Tanguturi Prakasam (Andhra) ceased legal work to join the agitation.

Alternative Dispute Resolution: The Panchayat System

To prevent citizens from utilizing imperial courts, the Congress established national arbitration courts (Panchayats) at town and village levels.

• Functions: These tribunals resolved civil, agrarian, and minor criminal disputes through community consensus.
• Impact: Imperial litigation rates dropped sharply across several provinces, particularly in Bengal, Bihar, and the United Provinces, during 1921.

Regional Impact and Volunteer Recruitment

Students and former legal professionals formed the core cadre of the Congress Volunteer Corps, leading daily organizational work across urban and rural sectors.

Roles of the Cadre

• Picketing: Volunteers picketed shops selling foreign cloth and vendors trading in liquor and toddy.
• Swadeshi Promotion: Student cadres distributed spinning wheels (Charkhas) and promoted hand-spun Khadi cloth in rural markets.
• Fund Collection: Students and lawyers organized house-to-house collection drives for the Tilak Swaraj Fund, which surpassed its target of one crore rupees in mid-1921.
• Peasant and Labor Mobilisation: Educated youth established links with agrarian movements, including Baba Ramchandra’s Kisan Sabha movement in Oudh and tea garden labor strikes in Assam.

Historical Facts

Subhas Chandra Bose resigned from the Indian Civil Service (ICS) in 1921 after securing fourth rank in the examination, returning to India to take charge of the National College in Calcutta. The British administration declared the Congress Volunteer Corps illegal under the Criminal Law Amendment Act in November 1921, leading to the arrest of over 30,000 activists, including C.R. Das, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Motilal Nehru, before the end of that year. Dr. Zakir Husain, who later became the President of India, was among the student leaders who walked out of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College in Aligarh to help establish Jamia Millia Islamia in 1920. Tanguturi Prakasam, known as Andhra Kesari, gave up a high-earning legal practice in Madras, edited the nationalist journal Swarajya, and organized student cadres across the Telugu-speaking districts of Madras Presidency. The legal and educational boycotts waned after the suspension of the movement in February 1922 via the Bardoli Resolution. Many lawyers who left their practices later founded the Swaraj Party in December 1922 to enter the Legislative Councils and disrupt colonial legislation from within.