Political Science · Political Institutions in India
UGC NET Dec 2014 Political Science
Khilafat Movement in India was started to show solidarity with the Sultan of
ASaudi Arabia
BTurkey ✓ Correct
CIran
DIraq
Correct answer: (B) Turkey — The Khilafat Movement (1919 to 1924) was launched to defend the Sultan of Turkey, who as the Ottoman Caliph (Khalifa) was regarded as the spiritual head of Sunni Muslims across…
Explanation
★The Khilafat Movement (1919 to 1924) was launched to defend the Sultan of Turkey, who as the Ottoman Caliph (Khalifa) was regarded as the spiritual head of Sunni Muslims across the world.
★The trigger was the First World War: the defeated Ottoman Empire was broken up by the victorious Allies, and Indian Muslims feared the Caliph would be stripped of his territories and authority.
★The harsh Treaty of Sevres (1920) confirmed those fears and made the protection of the Caliphate a rallying cause.
★In India the movement was led by the Ali brothers, Maulana Mohammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali, along with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Hasrat Mohani.
★A Central Khilafat Committee was formed and the first All India Khilafat Conference met at Delhi in November 1919.
★Mahatma Gandhi embraced the cause to forge Hindu Muslim unity and fused it with his Non Cooperation Movement, so the two ran together from 1920 to 1922.
★The joint programme called for boycott of British titles, schools, courts, councils and goods, and the return of official honours.
★The agitation gave the freedom struggle an unprecedented mass character and a pan Islamic dimension.
★It declined after 1922, when Gandhi suspended Non Cooperation following the violence at Chauri Chaura in February 1922.
★The final blow came in 1924, when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk abolished the Caliphate in Turkey itself, leaving the movement without a cause.
★The option Saudi Arabia is wrong, since it was not the seat of the Caliphate; the Hejaz was then under the Sharif of Mecca, and the Saudi kingdom was consolidated only in 1932.
★The option Iran is wrong, since it was a Shia majority monarchy under its own Shah, never the seat of the Sunni Caliphate the movement sought to protect.
★The option Iraq is wrong, since it was placed under a British mandate after the war and was not the home of the Caliph whose office was at stake.
★The episode is also remembered for its fallout, the Moplah uprising in Malabar (1921) and the Hijrat exodus of some Muslims toward Afghanistan.
★For NET, fix the linkage: Khilafat (1919 to 1924) ran with the Non Cooperation Movement (1920 to 1922), was checked by Chauri Chaura (February 1922), and lost its purpose when Ataturk abolished the Caliphate in 1924.
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