UP in the national movement

Anand Bhawan in Prayagraj, the Nehru family home, was for decades a nerve centre of the freedom struggle — hosting meetings, sheltering leaders and later donated to the nation. It is a fitting symbol of Uttar Pradesh's role in the national movement: a region that produced a remarkable number of national leaders, hosted historic Congress sessions, and saw some of the movement's most important turning points.

Early nationalism

• Educated elites in Allahabad, Lucknow, Kanpur and Varanasi formed associations and newspapers.
• Madan Mohan Malaviya — journalist, lawyer, elected Congress president four times (1909, 1918, 1932, 1933, though arrests kept him from presiding in 1932 and 1933), and founder of Banaras Hindu University (1916).

Congress sessions in UP (selected)

Home Rule and the Lucknow Pact

• The Home Rule Leagues of Tilak and Annie Besant had strong branches in UP.
• The Lucknow Pact (1916) agreed on separate electorates and a joint scheme of reforms — a high point of Hindu–Muslim cooperation.

Non-Cooperation and Chauri Chaura

• UP responded strongly to Non-Cooperation (1920–22) — boycott of councils, courts, schools and foreign goods; national schools such as Kashi Vidyapith (Varanasi, 1921).
• Awadh Kisan Sabha mobilised peasants (see our guide on peasant movements).
• On 4 February 1922, at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district, a crowd set fire to a police station after police firing; 22 policemen died.
• Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement, insisting on non-violence — a decision debated ever since.

The Swarajists

• Motilal Nehru and C. R. Das formed the Swaraj Party (1923) to contest council elections and oppose the government from within.
• Motilal Nehru also chaired the committee that produced the Nehru Report (1928).

Simon Commission

• The all-white Simon Commission (1928) was met with black flags and "Simon Go Back".
• In Lucknow, police lathi-charged protesters, including Jawaharlal Nehru and Govind Ballabh Pant, who was injured.

Civil Disobedience and no-rent campaigns

• UP participated widely in the salt satyagraha and boycotts (1930–34).
• A distinctive feature was the no-tax / no-rent campaign in the UP countryside, where peasants refused to pay rent during the agricultural depression.

The 1937 ministry

• In the 1937 elections, the Congress won a majority in the United Provinces.
• Govind Ballabh Pant became the Premier; the ministry worked on tenancy reform and other measures before resigning in 1939.

Quit India

See our guide on Quit India in UP and the Ballia uprising.

Leaders from UP (selected)

Practice

Prelims-style:

1. What was agreed at the Lucknow session of 1916?
2. Who presided over the Kanpur session of 1925?
3. Where and when did the Chauri Chaura incident occur?
4. Who was UP's Premier in 1937?
5. Which university did Madan Mohan Malaviya found?

Mains-style:

• "Uttar Pradesh was the political heartland of the national movement." Discuss.
• Examine the significance of the Chauri Chaura incident.