The challenges faced by the Indian political parties in the time of First World War with special reference to Gandhi’s role in that situation

Abstract

The First World War (1914-1918) constituted a watershed moment for Indian political parties, presenting a unique constellation of challenges that fundamentally reshaped the nationalist movement. This article examines the multifaceted difficulties encountered by Indian political organizations during the war years, with particular emphasis on the paradoxical role of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Drawing exclusively on pre-2022 historical sources, the article argues that the war created an unprecedented dilemma for Indian nationalists: whether to support the British Empire in its hour of need in exchange for future political concessions, or to exploit Britain's vulnerability to press for immediate self-rule. Within this turbulent context, Gandhi adopted a distinctive position that isolated him from the mainstream political currents of the time. While leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant dominated the national scene through the Home Rule agitation, Gandhi remained committed to unconditional war support and abstention from political agitation. The article analyzes how the war's economic consequences—soaring inflation, high casualty rates, trade disruption, and oppressive taxation—fueled popular discontent and created the conditions for Gandhi's subsequent emergence as the preeminent nationalist leader. The war years also witnessed the critical Congress-Muslim League pact of 1916, which temporarily bridged communal divisions, and the passage of the Government of India Act of 1919, which ultimately proved inadequate to satisfy Indian aspirations. The article concludes that Gandhi's wartime strategy, though seemingly marginal at the time, laid the organizational and moral foundations for the mass movements of the post-war period.