The Non-Cooperation Movement was a significant phase of the Indian struggle for freedom from British rule. It was led by Mahatma Gandhi and was supported by the Indian National Congress. It aimed to resist British occupation in India through non-violent means. Protestors and followers followed the swadeshi and boycott movement. The ideals of Ahimsa or non-violence had mass movement on a very large scale was seen for the first time.
Among the significant causes of this movement were colonial oppression, exemplified by the Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh massacre, economic hardships to the common man due to a large chunk of Indian wealth being exported to Britain, ruin of Indian artisans due to British factory-made goods replacing handmade goods, and popular resentment with the British over Indian soldiers dying in World War I while fighting as part of the British Army, in battles that otherwise had nothing to do with India.
The calls of early political leaders like Mohammad Ali Jinnah (who later became communal and hardened his stand), Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak (Congress Extremists) for home rule were accompanied only by petitions and major public meetings. They never resulted in disorder or obstruction of government services. Partly due to that, the British did not take them very seriously. The non-cooperation movement aimed to ensure that the colonial economic and power structure would be seriously challenged, and British authorities would be forced to take notice of the people's demands.Here we should know that many revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad were supporters of this very movement but were really dissatisfied by the dismissing of movement by Gandhi.
Mahatma Gandhi had shown a similar movement in South Africa and in 1917-18 in Champaran, Bihar and Kheda, Gujarat that the only way to earn the respect and attention of British officials was to actively resist government activities through civil