Concept:
- The forms of protest can be sorted by what each one was meant to achieve, which makes the answer easier to write and easier to remember.
- Some methods were meant to stop work, some to spread the message, and some to paralyse the government.
Step 1: Methods meant to stop everyday work.
Hartals were observed, so shops and businesses closed. Stopping normal activity was itself the protest, and it showed the strength of feeling without any violence.
Step 2: Methods meant to spread the message.
Demonstrations and processions were held, and these were accompanied by national songs and slogans. Songs and slogans carried the demand to people who could not read newspapers, so the movement grew quickly.
Step 3: Methods that drew in every section of society.
Students, workers and peasants came out in thousands. Leaders such as Jayprakash Narayan, Aruna Asaf Ali and Ram Manohar Lohia took an active part, and women such as Matangini Hazra in Bengal, Kanaklata Barua in Assam and Rama Devi in Odisha led from the front.
Step 4: The combined effect on the government.
Taken together these forms of protest almost brought the state machinery to a standstill in large parts of the country. The British answered with much force and still needed more than a year to put the movement down.
Final Answer: People protested by observing hartals, by marching in demonstrations and processions with national songs and slogans, and by joining in huge numbers across every section of society, which together stopped the working of the government in many regions.