jail, joined the Congress at Amritsar; their ability to command support
from ordinary Muslims seemed to address the Congress’s long-standing
concern with limited Muslim participation in the Congress’s activities.
The momentum gained in Punjab was carried forward into the Non-
Cooperation-Khilafat Movement.THE NON-COOPERATION-KHILAFAT MOVEMENT:
JAWAHARLAL AS GANDHIAN
Among Indian Muslims, the danger to the khalifaremained an emotive
issue with immense mobilisational potential, especially after the defeat of
Turkey in the war and the harsh terms of the Treaty of Sevres, signed on
May 14, 1920. In June 1920, Gandhi proposed an alliance: if the Khilafat
movement accepted non-violence as its guiding principle, he, Gandhi, was
theirs to command. The Ali brothers reacted positively; some Muslim
League members and many Maulviswere unhappy with this. Gandhi, at a
meeting of Muslim leaders in Allahabad, set out the problems before such
a movement. ‘He spoke well in his best dictatorial vein,’ Jawaharlal, who
was present, later wrote.^10 They were, Gandhi said, fighting a powerful
enemy. They should therefore subject themselves to Gandhi’s dictatorship
and discipline – always subject to their goodwill and acceptance. They
could throw him out, but as long as he was the leader he was the dictator- Gandhi used the analogy of martial law. The meeting accepted Gandhi’s
proposals, with the Khilafat Committee of 1920, and not the Muslim
League, taking the lead (most Leaguers stayed out of the ensuing struggle).
At this time, Congress had not yet accepted Gandhi’s proposals. Later,
in September, at a special session of the Indian National Congress in
Calcutta, the Congress endorsed Gandhi’s position by a narrow majority
of 144 to 132 in the Subjects Committee (and a wider 1,855 to 873
margin at the open session);^11 the details were worked out at the regular
Nagpur session over the Christmas period.
Motilal was one of the few established leaders of Congress who voted
for Non-Cooperation at Calcutta. The movement that followed saw a
complete transformation of Motilal, politically as well as sartorially. His
house, Anand Bhavan, became the virtual headquarters of the Non-
Cooperation Movement in the United Provinces. He swapped his suits
tailored in London for hand-spun khadiclothes. The politics of dress was
central to Gandhian politics and for new entrants, a renunciation of
40 THE YOUNG GANDHIAN