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urden and march along with our men, even to the holy wars.” 17 Before the Khilafat Movement, the
Hindus and Muslims had kept themselves away from each other but the speeches of Bi‐Amman led a
distinct departure from this attitude and helped in bringing about Hindu Muslim unity to fight the
common foe – the British. The Zamindar of Maulana Zafar Ali Khan continuously reported and
published all the speeches of Bi‐Amman of the public meetings, which she delivered for the Hindu
Muslin unity.
During that time, the main leadership of the Khilafat Movement sent a deputation to the Viceroy
of India on January 1920. They impressed upon the Viceroy the necessity for the preservation of the
Turkish Empire and the sovereignty of the Sultan as the Khalifa. The Viceroy expressed his inability to
help them because the matter was concerned to the allies and the British. 18 Muslims were depressed
but again they sent another deputation to London to see the British prime Minister and the Secretary
of State for Indian Affairs but Lloyd George expressed that “the Turks had fought against the allies
and they must prepare to bear the consequences of the defeat.” 19
So much so, on 15 th May 1920, they published the Treaty of Sevres. According to it, the Sultan was
allowed to retain Constantinople, yet there was a complete disintegration of Turkey. 20 On the return
of the Khilafat deputation, under the guidance of Mohindas Karamchand Gandhi (1869‐1948 , a
prominent Hindu leader ) non‐cooperation program was adopted in four stages like the renunciation
of honorary posts, titles and membership of councils, giving up appointments in the police and
military forces, refused to pay taxes, giving up posts under the Government. 21 The female leadership,
which was greatly supported by their Christian and Hindu counterparts, followed the Noncooperation
Movement. Women decided to form their own political organization. Rashtriya Street
Sangha, it requested the women to be ready to leave their homes and to save the Turkish Khilafat. 22
The next step of the Khilafat Leadership was to intensify the movement. Gandhi started the
Swadeshi Movement which called for the boycott of foreign goods. In particular the import of cloth
was almost stopped, whereas, the already imported cloth was burnt. The Muslims sent their
imported cloth to Turkey. During a speech at Agra, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad said that:
“I say, don’t look towards me, look towards yourself. By the cloth that you are wearing and by the
delicate Muslim, that enwraps your bodies, you are rendering a great service to your enemies. Every
year, by virtue of these clothes, ninety crore rupees are transported by your country to those
treasures which are being used to eliminate Islam” 23 Thus, spinning wheels began producing yarn
everywhere. Both the masses and the leaders started wearing indigenous “Khaddar” (A coarse cloth)
which resulted in an economic crisis for the mills of Lancashire. The Indian women were also advised
not to use silk clothes of the British. So in Bengal, the women boycotted the foreign silk and the
Khilafat volunteer sold Khaddar on the streets of Calcutta. Daily newspaper Zamindar reported that
in marriage parties, the Hindu women, who were very fond of silk sarees, were seen in khaddar dress
side by side their male members. The editor of Zamindar requested the Muslim males and females to
follow this practice. 24 It was also reported by Zamindar, that male and female students of the
educational institutions started to wear khaddar dresses. 25 The female students marched out with
khaddar and were arrested by the police. C. R Das’s wife, Basanti Devi, her sister Urmila Devi and his
niece Suniti Devi were also arrested. 26
The arrest of respectable ladies was viewed as an appropriate tactics to shame the men to joining
the protest. Even when at the Karachi session of the Khilafat conference, Muhammad Ali Jauhar,
moved a resolution, urging the Muslim soldiers to give up their jobs. 27 He was arrested by the
Government. Bi‐Amman said that “she would be compelled to bring her daughter in‐law (Amjadi
Bano, the wife of Muhammad Ali Jauhar) in the field to carry out the campaign” 28 and actually she
did so. She replaced her illustrious sons in popularity and leadership.
The famous Urdu couplets (Translation):
Said the mother of Muhammad Ali
Son, laydown your life for the Khilafat
Shaukat Ali is by your side
Son, laydown your life for the Khilafat
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