APPENDIX XSTATEMENT BY SIR L. PORTERWe have been vilified bitterly, every kind of abuse has been showered on us by non-co-operators, every form of insidious agitation has been tried, and we have stayed our hands.Violent AgitatorsI will mention the case of one of the men who has now been arrested and is undergoing imprisonment as a first-class misdemeanant. He made at least ten speeches up and down the country which our legal advisers informed us were clearly actionable. I allude to Mr. Jawahir Lal Nebru. His final effort was a speech, somewhere in the west of the Province, in which he quoted word by word the sedition section,i.e., the promotion, of disaffection against the Government as by law established and the section which deals with promoting hatred between classes of His Majesty's subjects, and he said that the object of his life was to carry out this promotion of sedition and disaffection. Still we did nothing. You may well ask why. We thought that the forces of reason and sobriety would re-establish their sway. We hoped that the great body of moderate opinion of the Provinces would be sufficiently powerful to assuage this movement and to stop the dissemination of poison. We were wrong. So far from losing any strength I do not hesitate to say that the movement has gone on gaining strength. Then came the time in November when we were confronted with reports from our trusted officers all over the provinces which left no doubt whatever in our minds that the situation had very greatly developed, and that there was imminent possibility (I would go further and say probability) of an outburst of violence in more than one district. I have here a big folio of reports. It is quite impossible for me in debate like this to quote them all. There are copies of reports from districts as wide apart and representative as Meerut, Cawnpur, Fyzabad, Etawah, Balia, Barabanki and the peaceful district of Aligarh, which, according to its member, Thakur Manak Singh, is now the scene of this campaign of repression.I should like, as a typical instance, to read out the description of the procedure which was adopted in the Barabanki district. The Barabanki district, as my friend on my right will bear me out, is a particularly difficult one. It is full of a class whom religious fanaticism particularly affects and when it once gets out of hand it is very difficult to deal with. I remember when I first came to India, there was tremendous outbreak of dacoity and violent crime in that and adjacent districts, which it took months to put down, at the cost of immense suffering to the population. This is one of the districts, which was selected as a focus in work on by these (what should I call them?) advocates of soul force.Soul ForceTheir main activities were directed to stirring up religious fanaticism. In mosques, in bazars mendacious stories were told regarding the bombardment and desecration of the Sacred Places of Islam. They were told that Hindu and Mahomedan women had been outraged and that medicines issued from dispensaries were mixed with wine and that the fat of cows and pigs was used in the manufacture of cloth. There was boycott and intimidation to prevent foreign cloth sellers from importing any more cloth, and to force them to sign a pledge not to do so. This went on until November and the beginning of December when the picketing of schools started. That is a typical report from a district which takes very little to set it ablaze. What has recently happened there you have already read in the papers. There are many other instances which strike me, but there is one typical instance from Etawah. There is a fair which has been held there for many years. It was picketed. People were prevented from coming in by open intimidation and finally attempts were made to blacken the face of a Maulvi on his way to the Islamia High School, of which he is manager. I can multiply these instances, and, if any member of the Council wishes to know the representations which were received from these districts, I am perfectly willing to let him see the reports in order that he may satisfy himself as to what the real condition was.Pandit Radha Kant Malviya: Will the Hon. Member read the report from Allahabad.Sir Ludovic Porter: We had a report from the Commissioner of Allahabad, on whose judgment I place great reliance, just before we enforced this Act. He expressed his reasoned opinion that if we allowed matters to drift any further, there would be a widespread disaster. He also stated that from information he had received, the whole camp of non-co-operators, in Allahabad were particularly cheerful with regard to the outlook, and they thought great developments in their favour were shortly going to take place. Well that was our position. As to the nature of this non-violent non-co-operation, we had no delusions.Criminal IntimidationWe know that criminal intimidation had been practised on the widest scale in many districts. I may say that the majority of districts where these associations existed, criminal intimidation of a subtle kind, namely to attack a man in his religious opinions or to attack him in his social relations, had been widely practised. We had an example here in Lucknow of ordinary intimidation. A member of the Council himself witnessed the unfortunate driver of an ekka being dragged off his ekka and beaten because he ventured to ply for hire on the 17th of November.I know myself the case of a shop which was kept open for two or three days. The shopkeeper was surrounded by a howling mob, and he was told what would happen to him, if he did not shut up his shop. In Fatehpur they kept a blackboard, which was exhibited publicly, to show up the people, who ventured to buy foreign cloth. This is also a form of subtle and most cruel intimidation involving social boycott. You all know perfectly well the difficulties that exist in India in getting victims of this kind of tyranny to come forward and seek their legal redress in the ordinary courts of law. The difficulty of proving criminal intimidation is accentuated by the fact that it is not cognizable by the police, and, consequently the complainant has to go to court, but, owing to the difficulty of getting witnesses to prove his case, he usuallycompromises. Well that is the position which confronted us. There was a system of widespread intimidation. So far from the movement being on the verge of collapse, as certain optimists stated to-day, it was increasing in vigour. There was the usual lip service of non-violence, a profession which in me produces a feeling of nausea. Practice and precept, as we said in a letter to the Government of India, which they quoted in the debate "were poles as under." There were also, as my friend Kunwar Jagdish Parshad in his eloquent speech this morning has stated, constant endeavours to seduce Government servants from their duty. A great deal of pity has been showered on the non-co-operators by certain speakers to-day, but they never spared a moment to think what the police have gone through. Here in Lucknow Chauk, sub-inspectors and the rank and file of your own fellow countrymen have been grossly insulted, abused and their family life rendered intolerable. Are we not going to support them when such facts are brought to our notice? We are bound to support our loyal servants, who, through all these troubles, have served us faithfully. I am only asking for some recognition of the difficulty to which they are exposed in performing their duties, and in their daily life. With these facts before us we came to the conclusion—the Government as a whole came to the conclusion—that the Criminal Law Amendment should be extended to these Provinces. I think there can be no doubt that the whole Council are unanimous that law and order must be enforced. They may differ from us as to the method which we took.The ArrestsI now come to the arrests which followed. The great majority of arrests were effected by the local authorities under the powers delegated to them. In one instance only so far as my memory serves, the Governor-in-Council issued orders for certain arrests, and that was for the leaders of Allahabad and Lucknow. What are the facts in regard to these particular arrests? These associations had been declared to be illegal. Immediately after their proclamation a manifesto was published on the 6th December with a pledge which was signed by 75 persons,I will read the terms of that manifesto. "Having read and thoroughly understood the Government notification, etc., and knowing full well the consequences of not obeying them, we, etc., hereby pledge ourselves civilly to disobey without any objection all such Government orders and laws as may be determined from time to time by the Provincial Congress Committee, or by a committee appointed by or in this behalf. We further pledge ourselves to obey, in utter disregard of the consequences, all orders of the volunteer corps relating to such disobedience." Now gentlemen, what does that mean? It means that at the bidding of an irresponsible autocrat in Bombay, the members of this association pledged themselves blindly to disobey any law of the land. If that is not the essence of anarchy I do not know what is. We were told this morning in the very moderate speech of my friend Mr. Zafar Husain, that he did not think that this Act was enacted with a view to the present juncture. Of course it was not. Nobody could forsee this madness which has come over India during the last two years. It was enacted to meet an outbreak of anarchy in Bengal. Could there be anything worse than the present position, that a body of men numbering thousands, totally irresponsible, very many of them now of a dangerous character, (not at first, but they are steadily deteriorating) pledge themselves to disobey any law when they were asked to do so by a gentlemen in Bombay, for this is what this pledge means? How could any Government carry on, that would not accept that challenge? In consequence of this, we issued orders for the arrest and production of a certain number, not all, of the leaders. In doing so we have now the support and authority of the Government of India. The Government has informed us that they agree with us in holding that the persons who deliberately organise associations, avowedly intended to break the law, or associations the members of which are pledged blindly to disobey any laws, are liable to criminal prosecution. Following on that came the meeting at Allahabad, at which the Superintendent of Police, who had been deputed to execute a search warrant, was present. This meeting deliberately reaffirmed this pledge in his presence. Now, I think if we analyse the objections that havebeen taken to the prosecutions they very largely centre round those persons, the leaders and members of this meeting, who have been prosecuted and convicted. In all they number, I, think, something like 100. I have stated the facts, and I accept the responsibility. I see no other way out. As long as any Government exists they have to deal with men who offer a challenge like that, in the method in which we did.
We have been vilified bitterly, every kind of abuse has been showered on us by non-co-operators, every form of insidious agitation has been tried, and we have stayed our hands.
I will mention the case of one of the men who has now been arrested and is undergoing imprisonment as a first-class misdemeanant. He made at least ten speeches up and down the country which our legal advisers informed us were clearly actionable. I allude to Mr. Jawahir Lal Nebru. His final effort was a speech, somewhere in the west of the Province, in which he quoted word by word the sedition section,i.e., the promotion, of disaffection against the Government as by law established and the section which deals with promoting hatred between classes of His Majesty's subjects, and he said that the object of his life was to carry out this promotion of sedition and disaffection. Still we did nothing. You may well ask why. We thought that the forces of reason and sobriety would re-establish their sway. We hoped that the great body of moderate opinion of the Provinces would be sufficiently powerful to assuage this movement and to stop the dissemination of poison. We were wrong. So far from losing any strength I do not hesitate to say that the movement has gone on gaining strength. Then came the time in November when we were confronted with reports from our trusted officers all over the provinces which left no doubt whatever in our minds that the situation had very greatly developed, and that there was imminent possibility (I would go further and say probability) of an outburst of violence in more than one district. I have here a big folio of reports. It is quite impossible for me in debate like this to quote them all. There are copies of reports from districts as wide apart and representative as Meerut, Cawnpur, Fyzabad, Etawah, Balia, Barabanki and the peaceful district of Aligarh, which, according to its member, Thakur Manak Singh, is now the scene of this campaign of repression.I should like, as a typical instance, to read out the description of the procedure which was adopted in the Barabanki district. The Barabanki district, as my friend on my right will bear me out, is a particularly difficult one. It is full of a class whom religious fanaticism particularly affects and when it once gets out of hand it is very difficult to deal with. I remember when I first came to India, there was tremendous outbreak of dacoity and violent crime in that and adjacent districts, which it took months to put down, at the cost of immense suffering to the population. This is one of the districts, which was selected as a focus in work on by these (what should I call them?) advocates of soul force.
Their main activities were directed to stirring up religious fanaticism. In mosques, in bazars mendacious stories were told regarding the bombardment and desecration of the Sacred Places of Islam. They were told that Hindu and Mahomedan women had been outraged and that medicines issued from dispensaries were mixed with wine and that the fat of cows and pigs was used in the manufacture of cloth. There was boycott and intimidation to prevent foreign cloth sellers from importing any more cloth, and to force them to sign a pledge not to do so. This went on until November and the beginning of December when the picketing of schools started. That is a typical report from a district which takes very little to set it ablaze. What has recently happened there you have already read in the papers. There are many other instances which strike me, but there is one typical instance from Etawah. There is a fair which has been held there for many years. It was picketed. People were prevented from coming in by open intimidation and finally attempts were made to blacken the face of a Maulvi on his way to the Islamia High School, of which he is manager. I can multiply these instances, and, if any member of the Council wishes to know the representations which were received from these districts, I am perfectly willing to let him see the reports in order that he may satisfy himself as to what the real condition was.
Pandit Radha Kant Malviya: Will the Hon. Member read the report from Allahabad.
Sir Ludovic Porter: We had a report from the Commissioner of Allahabad, on whose judgment I place great reliance, just before we enforced this Act. He expressed his reasoned opinion that if we allowed matters to drift any further, there would be a widespread disaster. He also stated that from information he had received, the whole camp of non-co-operators, in Allahabad were particularly cheerful with regard to the outlook, and they thought great developments in their favour were shortly going to take place. Well that was our position. As to the nature of this non-violent non-co-operation, we had no delusions.
We know that criminal intimidation had been practised on the widest scale in many districts. I may say that the majority of districts where these associations existed, criminal intimidation of a subtle kind, namely to attack a man in his religious opinions or to attack him in his social relations, had been widely practised. We had an example here in Lucknow of ordinary intimidation. A member of the Council himself witnessed the unfortunate driver of an ekka being dragged off his ekka and beaten because he ventured to ply for hire on the 17th of November.
I know myself the case of a shop which was kept open for two or three days. The shopkeeper was surrounded by a howling mob, and he was told what would happen to him, if he did not shut up his shop. In Fatehpur they kept a blackboard, which was exhibited publicly, to show up the people, who ventured to buy foreign cloth. This is also a form of subtle and most cruel intimidation involving social boycott. You all know perfectly well the difficulties that exist in India in getting victims of this kind of tyranny to come forward and seek their legal redress in the ordinary courts of law. The difficulty of proving criminal intimidation is accentuated by the fact that it is not cognizable by the police, and, consequently the complainant has to go to court, but, owing to the difficulty of getting witnesses to prove his case, he usuallycompromises. Well that is the position which confronted us. There was a system of widespread intimidation. So far from the movement being on the verge of collapse, as certain optimists stated to-day, it was increasing in vigour. There was the usual lip service of non-violence, a profession which in me produces a feeling of nausea. Practice and precept, as we said in a letter to the Government of India, which they quoted in the debate "were poles as under." There were also, as my friend Kunwar Jagdish Parshad in his eloquent speech this morning has stated, constant endeavours to seduce Government servants from their duty. A great deal of pity has been showered on the non-co-operators by certain speakers to-day, but they never spared a moment to think what the police have gone through. Here in Lucknow Chauk, sub-inspectors and the rank and file of your own fellow countrymen have been grossly insulted, abused and their family life rendered intolerable. Are we not going to support them when such facts are brought to our notice? We are bound to support our loyal servants, who, through all these troubles, have served us faithfully. I am only asking for some recognition of the difficulty to which they are exposed in performing their duties, and in their daily life. With these facts before us we came to the conclusion—the Government as a whole came to the conclusion—that the Criminal Law Amendment should be extended to these Provinces. I think there can be no doubt that the whole Council are unanimous that law and order must be enforced. They may differ from us as to the method which we took.
I now come to the arrests which followed. The great majority of arrests were effected by the local authorities under the powers delegated to them. In one instance only so far as my memory serves, the Governor-in-Council issued orders for certain arrests, and that was for the leaders of Allahabad and Lucknow. What are the facts in regard to these particular arrests? These associations had been declared to be illegal. Immediately after their proclamation a manifesto was published on the 6th December with a pledge which was signed by 75 persons,I will read the terms of that manifesto. "Having read and thoroughly understood the Government notification, etc., and knowing full well the consequences of not obeying them, we, etc., hereby pledge ourselves civilly to disobey without any objection all such Government orders and laws as may be determined from time to time by the Provincial Congress Committee, or by a committee appointed by or in this behalf. We further pledge ourselves to obey, in utter disregard of the consequences, all orders of the volunteer corps relating to such disobedience." Now gentlemen, what does that mean? It means that at the bidding of an irresponsible autocrat in Bombay, the members of this association pledged themselves blindly to disobey any law of the land. If that is not the essence of anarchy I do not know what is. We were told this morning in the very moderate speech of my friend Mr. Zafar Husain, that he did not think that this Act was enacted with a view to the present juncture. Of course it was not. Nobody could forsee this madness which has come over India during the last two years. It was enacted to meet an outbreak of anarchy in Bengal. Could there be anything worse than the present position, that a body of men numbering thousands, totally irresponsible, very many of them now of a dangerous character, (not at first, but they are steadily deteriorating) pledge themselves to disobey any law when they were asked to do so by a gentlemen in Bombay, for this is what this pledge means? How could any Government carry on, that would not accept that challenge? In consequence of this, we issued orders for the arrest and production of a certain number, not all, of the leaders. In doing so we have now the support and authority of the Government of India. The Government has informed us that they agree with us in holding that the persons who deliberately organise associations, avowedly intended to break the law, or associations the members of which are pledged blindly to disobey any laws, are liable to criminal prosecution. Following on that came the meeting at Allahabad, at which the Superintendent of Police, who had been deputed to execute a search warrant, was present. This meeting deliberately reaffirmed this pledge in his presence. Now, I think if we analyse the objections that havebeen taken to the prosecutions they very largely centre round those persons, the leaders and members of this meeting, who have been prosecuted and convicted. In all they number, I, think, something like 100. I have stated the facts, and I accept the responsibility. I see no other way out. As long as any Government exists they have to deal with men who offer a challenge like that, in the method in which we did.
APPENDIX XIBARABANKI DISORDERSLucknow, 18th JanuaryIn a view of the various rumours that were current regarding the situation at Barabanki....A lengthy official communique has just now been issued based on the report of the Deputy Commissioner....At the same time, with effect from the 23rd November 1921 the Criminal Law Amendment Act was applied to the Province. Its immediate effect was good, and several volunteers who had been parading in uniform doffed their sashes and were disbanded.Khilafat AgitatorsUnfortunately, however, Khilafat agitators, who had publicly announced in the press of the 18th November that Barabanki Tahsil was being prepared for civil disobedience by the end of November, considered this act a suitable one to infringe. They redoubled their efforts and collected considerable sums, mainly for the Angora Fund, both through members of the 46 Khilafat committees established in this district and by itinery volunteers, who were paid for their services, either by fixed monthly salaries or by a percentage on collections. Between the 19th and 24th December, four volunteers were arrested under Section 7 (1) and 17 (2) of the Act, and these arrests were reported to have had a temporary beneficial effect. By the 3rd January, when the District delegatesreturned from the Ahmedabad conference, the leaders decided to take action openly. On the 4th it was reported to me that large numbers of volunteers would march into the city under the command of their zemindar leaders. No precise information however, could be obtained as to their intentions. On the morning of the 7th January batches of volunteers began to issue chiefly from the Congress Office from which was hung a Khilafat flag and a large notice calling on people to enlist as volunteers. These volunteers were mostly from outside villages and were headed by petty zemindars. They were all Mahomedans and had been worked up to a high pitch of religious enthusiasm. Many of them had their Qurans slung round their necks. They had apparently been incited to a state bordering on religious frenzy by exhortations from their leaders, that their religion was being destroyed by the British Government. They were wild in their abuse of Government, officials and specially the Police. The whole religious street in front of the Congress office resounded with religious shouts and cries of "Victory to Islam". The cry of "Allah ho Akbar" was uttered as a war cry with fanatical zeal, specially when any arrests were made.The ArrestsI had deputed Mr. Colton, Superintendent of Police, and Babu Ambikanandan Singh, Sub-Divisional Officer to take up a position opposite the Congress office and to arrest the ring leaders and the most truculent of the volunteers as it did not appear to be safe to allow them to remain at large, specially as fresh volunteers continued to pour into the city. Those selected were marched down under an escort to the Jail....The procession was accompanied by noisy music and the usual shouts of non-co-operation were raised. He (Chaudhari Athar Ali) refused to go before the Deputy Magistrate as requested but mounting the steps of the Congress office delivered a speech. After reciting certain words from the Qoran he addressed the crowd, and in a loud voice, declared that this tyrannical Government or tyrannical race (both versions are given) should be destroyed. Thecrowd, which was in a state of fanatical frenzy, replied, "Amin, it will be destroyed immediately". He exhorted the crowd to "become volunteers, enrol volunteers and fill the jails—victory to Islam". The cry was taken up by the crowd. Seeing that the speech was causing great excitement, the Deputy Magistrate directed the police to produce him before him. He refused to go to the jail in theEkkaprovided by the Deputy Magistrate, but insisted on going on foot, taking a circuitous route at the head of the procession of 500 or 1,000 men. He stopped the procession at various places and at these halts the usualjaiswere raised. The police were abused and Government servants were called dogs and pigs. On this day ten volunteers were arrested. On this date also there was the same commotion in the city, but the number of volunteers decreased.Throughout the four days the volunteers created disturbances. It was obvious that the movement was entirely a Mahomedan one. Not a single Hindu volunteer appeared. The Mahomedan volunteers and the crowd which cheered them on were filled with religious enthusiasm and hatred of the British Government. The intention of their leaders apparently, was to provoke the Police to acts of violence against them, and also to prove that they could insult the Government official with impunity, and were not afraid to go to jail. The following remark made in jail by Nawab Ali, an ex-vakil, a few minutes after his sentence, in the presence of two magistrates and a large number of pleaders, is significant. "By imprisonment people would get accustomed to the horrors of jail. By shooting they would learn to bare their breasts to rifle shots and bayonets. Men ready to be shot should now be enlisted." The accused have been convicted.—The Pioneer January 20, 1922.
Lucknow, 18th January
In a view of the various rumours that were current regarding the situation at Barabanki....
A lengthy official communique has just now been issued based on the report of the Deputy Commissioner....
At the same time, with effect from the 23rd November 1921 the Criminal Law Amendment Act was applied to the Province. Its immediate effect was good, and several volunteers who had been parading in uniform doffed their sashes and were disbanded.
Unfortunately, however, Khilafat agitators, who had publicly announced in the press of the 18th November that Barabanki Tahsil was being prepared for civil disobedience by the end of November, considered this act a suitable one to infringe. They redoubled their efforts and collected considerable sums, mainly for the Angora Fund, both through members of the 46 Khilafat committees established in this district and by itinery volunteers, who were paid for their services, either by fixed monthly salaries or by a percentage on collections. Between the 19th and 24th December, four volunteers were arrested under Section 7 (1) and 17 (2) of the Act, and these arrests were reported to have had a temporary beneficial effect. By the 3rd January, when the District delegatesreturned from the Ahmedabad conference, the leaders decided to take action openly. On the 4th it was reported to me that large numbers of volunteers would march into the city under the command of their zemindar leaders. No precise information however, could be obtained as to their intentions. On the morning of the 7th January batches of volunteers began to issue chiefly from the Congress Office from which was hung a Khilafat flag and a large notice calling on people to enlist as volunteers. These volunteers were mostly from outside villages and were headed by petty zemindars. They were all Mahomedans and had been worked up to a high pitch of religious enthusiasm. Many of them had their Qurans slung round their necks. They had apparently been incited to a state bordering on religious frenzy by exhortations from their leaders, that their religion was being destroyed by the British Government. They were wild in their abuse of Government, officials and specially the Police. The whole religious street in front of the Congress office resounded with religious shouts and cries of "Victory to Islam". The cry of "Allah ho Akbar" was uttered as a war cry with fanatical zeal, specially when any arrests were made.
I had deputed Mr. Colton, Superintendent of Police, and Babu Ambikanandan Singh, Sub-Divisional Officer to take up a position opposite the Congress office and to arrest the ring leaders and the most truculent of the volunteers as it did not appear to be safe to allow them to remain at large, specially as fresh volunteers continued to pour into the city. Those selected were marched down under an escort to the Jail....
The procession was accompanied by noisy music and the usual shouts of non-co-operation were raised. He (Chaudhari Athar Ali) refused to go before the Deputy Magistrate as requested but mounting the steps of the Congress office delivered a speech. After reciting certain words from the Qoran he addressed the crowd, and in a loud voice, declared that this tyrannical Government or tyrannical race (both versions are given) should be destroyed. Thecrowd, which was in a state of fanatical frenzy, replied, "Amin, it will be destroyed immediately". He exhorted the crowd to "become volunteers, enrol volunteers and fill the jails—victory to Islam". The cry was taken up by the crowd. Seeing that the speech was causing great excitement, the Deputy Magistrate directed the police to produce him before him. He refused to go to the jail in theEkkaprovided by the Deputy Magistrate, but insisted on going on foot, taking a circuitous route at the head of the procession of 500 or 1,000 men. He stopped the procession at various places and at these halts the usualjaiswere raised. The police were abused and Government servants were called dogs and pigs. On this day ten volunteers were arrested. On this date also there was the same commotion in the city, but the number of volunteers decreased.
Throughout the four days the volunteers created disturbances. It was obvious that the movement was entirely a Mahomedan one. Not a single Hindu volunteer appeared. The Mahomedan volunteers and the crowd which cheered them on were filled with religious enthusiasm and hatred of the British Government. The intention of their leaders apparently, was to provoke the Police to acts of violence against them, and also to prove that they could insult the Government official with impunity, and were not afraid to go to jail. The following remark made in jail by Nawab Ali, an ex-vakil, a few minutes after his sentence, in the presence of two magistrates and a large number of pleaders, is significant. "By imprisonment people would get accustomed to the horrors of jail. By shooting they would learn to bare their breasts to rifle shots and bayonets. Men ready to be shot should now be enlisted." The accused have been convicted.—The Pioneer January 20, 1922.
APPENDIX XIITHE GORAKHPUR TRAGEDYGorakhpur, 7th FebruaryFrom early morning on Saturday a large number of volunteers were noticed arriving at Chauri Chaura and collecting on the Gorakhpur side of the railway station. They then proceeded towards the Bhapa Bazar, and formed a procession. They said that they were going to picket the bazar, and they proceeded towards the bazar through the police station grounds, although this was not their direct route. The procession consisted roughly of 3,000 people, and was headed by four or five volunteers in khaddar uniform. Some of them had swaraj flags in their hands. After the main body of the procession had gone on, there were a few stragglers with whom the police, it is alleged, had some interchange of remarks. It is also stated that one or two of the stragglers were hustled by some of the chowkidars.The Mob breaks LooseIt is impossible to say exactly what happened next but at any rate the stragglers shouted out and main procession came back and started throwing kanker at the Police. For some time the attack was confined to vicious kanker throwing, in which thousands of volunteers were engaged. The sub-inspector, finding that the affair was taking a more serious turn, asked the rioters to desist, but they would not take any heed, and attacked the police with lathies. The sub-inspector, in order to frighten the mob, fired a few shots in the air. This infuriated the mob, who made a rush towards the thana with lathies and spears. A few policemen were knocked down, and the remainder of the police went inside the thana buildings for protection. One or two policemen must have fired on the mob in earnest, as some of the rioters had received gunshot wounds, but whether the firing took place before the rush or after it is not known yet. By this time several of the policemen had been killed outside the police buildings, and one party fetchedoil and straw and set fire to the thana at various points. This drove the entire police force out of the buildings.They were immediately set upon by the mob and done to death in the most brutal manner. Their heads were battered with hinges torn from the doors of the thana, and then the bodies were soaked in oil and burnt. The charred remains were recovered, some in front of the thana, others in the thana compound and one at the back of the thana. Some of the armed policemen had obviously been battered to death by their own muskets. There was a certain amount of money in the thana and it is suspected that the rioters, having killed the policemen, looted the thana and then set fire to the buildings. The sub-Inspector's family quarters, it is believed, were also looted, and cash and jewellery were removed, but the inmates were not interfered with. The family quarters also bear marks of violence. The windows have been removed, and there are wide apertures in the roof. After having completely destroyed the police station the rioters dismantled the railway line in two places, and cut the telegraph wires. They threatened to kill the railway station master and the post master of Chauri Chaura if they sent any messages to the authorities at Gorakhpur. In all 22 policemen, including two Sub Inspectors, one head constable, 15 constables, four chowkidars and a servant of the Sub-Inspector were killed. Among the dead were found two of the rioters. A constable, and a chowkidar, who were at the police station during the attack escaped, and these men have been traced, and it is believed that their statement will throw considerable light on the whole affair. Complete quiet has now been restored. The Commissioner, the Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police visited the scene immediately on receipt of information, and restored confidence among the village people and the railway and telegraph lines were quickly repaired. Mr. Sands, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, attended the funeral of the dead policemen. The authorities immediately after the incident, invited three prominent gentlemen of Gorakhpur, one of whom is a non-co-operator, to visit the scene of the tragedy.—The Pioneer February 9, 1922.
Gorakhpur, 7th February
From early morning on Saturday a large number of volunteers were noticed arriving at Chauri Chaura and collecting on the Gorakhpur side of the railway station. They then proceeded towards the Bhapa Bazar, and formed a procession. They said that they were going to picket the bazar, and they proceeded towards the bazar through the police station grounds, although this was not their direct route. The procession consisted roughly of 3,000 people, and was headed by four or five volunteers in khaddar uniform. Some of them had swaraj flags in their hands. After the main body of the procession had gone on, there were a few stragglers with whom the police, it is alleged, had some interchange of remarks. It is also stated that one or two of the stragglers were hustled by some of the chowkidars.
It is impossible to say exactly what happened next but at any rate the stragglers shouted out and main procession came back and started throwing kanker at the Police. For some time the attack was confined to vicious kanker throwing, in which thousands of volunteers were engaged. The sub-inspector, finding that the affair was taking a more serious turn, asked the rioters to desist, but they would not take any heed, and attacked the police with lathies. The sub-inspector, in order to frighten the mob, fired a few shots in the air. This infuriated the mob, who made a rush towards the thana with lathies and spears. A few policemen were knocked down, and the remainder of the police went inside the thana buildings for protection. One or two policemen must have fired on the mob in earnest, as some of the rioters had received gunshot wounds, but whether the firing took place before the rush or after it is not known yet. By this time several of the policemen had been killed outside the police buildings, and one party fetchedoil and straw and set fire to the thana at various points. This drove the entire police force out of the buildings.
They were immediately set upon by the mob and done to death in the most brutal manner. Their heads were battered with hinges torn from the doors of the thana, and then the bodies were soaked in oil and burnt. The charred remains were recovered, some in front of the thana, others in the thana compound and one at the back of the thana. Some of the armed policemen had obviously been battered to death by their own muskets. There was a certain amount of money in the thana and it is suspected that the rioters, having killed the policemen, looted the thana and then set fire to the buildings. The sub-Inspector's family quarters, it is believed, were also looted, and cash and jewellery were removed, but the inmates were not interfered with. The family quarters also bear marks of violence. The windows have been removed, and there are wide apertures in the roof. After having completely destroyed the police station the rioters dismantled the railway line in two places, and cut the telegraph wires. They threatened to kill the railway station master and the post master of Chauri Chaura if they sent any messages to the authorities at Gorakhpur. In all 22 policemen, including two Sub Inspectors, one head constable, 15 constables, four chowkidars and a servant of the Sub-Inspector were killed. Among the dead were found two of the rioters. A constable, and a chowkidar, who were at the police station during the attack escaped, and these men have been traced, and it is believed that their statement will throw considerable light on the whole affair. Complete quiet has now been restored. The Commissioner, the Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police visited the scene immediately on receipt of information, and restored confidence among the village people and the railway and telegraph lines were quickly repaired. Mr. Sands, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, attended the funeral of the dead policemen. The authorities immediately after the incident, invited three prominent gentlemen of Gorakhpur, one of whom is a non-co-operator, to visit the scene of the tragedy.—The Pioneer February 9, 1922.
APPENDIX XIIIBENGALHis Excellency's Speech at the St. Andrew's Day Dinner, on 30th November 1920Gentlemen,Among other things non-co-operation is to achieve is swaraj in one year. Mr. Gandhi has said so himself. The question is—do the people of Bengal want this particular form of swaraj? Being a shrewd and intelligent people they will doubtless wish to satisfy themselves first of all as to what precisely this swaraj is. Fortunately we are able to answer that question with authority, because Mr. Gandhi had issued a very clear explanation of what he means by swaraj in a small manual entitled 'Indian Home Rule', a new edition of which was published by Messrs. Ganesh & Co., of Madras, last year. I earnestly commend a perusal of it to all who are interested in the future of the land we live in....Very well, if this is the sort of thing that people want by all means let them adopt non-co-operation. But I do not believe for a moment that this is what people want. And that, no doubt, is why we find so many other reasons advanced for adopting non-co-operation. It is claimed for it for example, that it is a saintly weapon in the hands of an oppressed people engaged in a righteous struggle against a tyrannous and unrighteous Government. Let us examine its credentials so that we may see to what extent the claim to righteousness can be sustained. In its earliest phase, when it was known asSatyagraha, its result were admittedly evil. The Hunter Committee was unanimous in its opinion that its effect was to engender "a familiarity and sympathy with disobedience to laws" and "to undermine the law abiding instincts which stand between society and outbreaks of violence at a time when their full strength was required." And, indeed, Mr. Gandhi himself confessed himself sorry that when he embarked upon a mass movement "he under-rated the forces of evil, and that he was obliged to pause and consider how best to meet the situation." Thenagain another object of the non-co-operators is to re-impose Turkish Administration upon the non-Turkish peoples who have so long suffered under it. The fact that under Turkish administration calculated attempts have been made to exterminate the Armenian people—one of the most horrible chapters in the whole history of crime—is ignored, a matter for surprise, surely, in view of the innate abhorrence of violence professed by the originator of the movement. Indeed, any one making a comprehensive survey of the non-co-operation movement could scarcely be blamed if he came to the conclusion that the only password required to give admission to the non-co-operation camp was "race-hatred." And is Bengal going to tolerate a movement based upon hatred, and, therefore, rooted in evil? Surely the world has had its fill of hatred. Cast your eyes over the past six years, and what do you see? A world in agony. The peoples of this earth trailing their spectral way across a blood-soaked scene of destruction and desolation—a ghastly phantasmagoria of human suffering; a hideous calvary. Humanity in torment, scourged with sorrow, losing its hold upon hope, drifting derelict in a terrifying ocean of despair. That is what hatred has done for mankind. And is mankind going to tolerate those who would deliberately and of malice aforethought perpetuate this grisly tradition of hatred among men? Let us have the answer of the people of this country to that question. For myself I have faith in the better mind of the people of Bengal. Not for nothing did Job Charnock lay the foundations of this great city. The finger of destiny was even then tracing the future of Great Britain and India upon the rock of doom. For better or for worse our paths lie side by side. The policy of Great Britain has been fairly and frankly stated. We are inviting the people of India to co-operate with us in making and travelling over that road which will lead to an India fashioned in so far as its internal affairs are concerned in ever-increasing accordance with the genius of its peoples, and filling a position of ever increasing pride and honour in the great confederation of the British Empire. Can any one who has faith in the existence of an eternal and immutable principle of justiceand right doubt what the final choice of the people of India will be? Surely not. And it is with an unshakeable faith in its future that I give you the toast of "The Land We Live in."His Excellency's Speech at the St. Andrew's Dinner, on 30th November 1921India to-day is honoured by another distinguished guest—the most distinguished, indeed save only one, whom the citizens of the British Empire could welcome, namely, the heir to the Empire's Throne—His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. He has come with words of sympathy upon his lips and with feelings of affection in his heart for the "Land we live in." Can it be doubted, then that from all communities and all creeds he will receive a royal welcome? I confess that it was with amazement that I learned that there was a small section of people, in this land of all lands, who had so far forgotten the dictates of courtesy as to urge the boycott of the Royal visitor. The promoters of this movement claim, I believe, to represent the fine flower of the ancient culture and civilisation of India. Well one lives and learns. I had always been brought up to believe that courtesy towards a guest was a deep-rooted tradition with the Indian people. And so I still believe it to be, though there may be some who have forgotten it. I do not believe that this attitude represents the real mind of India. Indeed, I know that it does not—for it was an Indian gentleman whose patriotism is beyond all possible question, who said to me when he read of the proposal "now must we bow our heads in shame for in showing rudeness to a guest we have touched the lowest depths of national humiliation and degradation." That, I believe, represents the best and, indeed, the real mind of India, for in India it has always been realised that discourtesy injures those who are guilty of it rather than those against whom it is practised, for it lowers them in the eyes of all right thinking men and indeed is sooner or later found by the man who is guilty of it to be a wound gnawing at his own self-respect...Already long strides have been taken along the path towards the ultimate goal. Indian and European have come closer together—mutualunderstanding and goodwill are springing up between them. How much more could be achieved in this direction were it not for the black cloud of anger and hatred which has been brought into being by the apostles of revolution. From my experience of the past 12 months I have no hesitation in saying that a wonderful new era would have dawned for India already, had it not been for the wild passions which have been let loose upon the land by those who have pinned their faith to revolution.They call the Government "Satanic". Have they then a monopoly of righteousness? The wild lawlessness and bloodshed at Giridih, Malegaon, Alighar, Malabar, Bombay and many other places—do these things not savour of the work of Satan? These are, indeed, but the heralds of red revolution. Let them look deep into their hearts and ask themselves in all seriousness if the salvation of India lies along such lines....His Excellency replying to the deputation of the representation of the people in the mufassal, held in Government House Calcutta on 2nd July 1921, said:—Let me, therefore, repeat what I said a year ago. The facts are these: The Turkish troops in the fort at Mecca, in their attempts to overcome the Arabs who had rallied round the Sheriff bombarded the mosque containing the Kaaba. One of the Turkish shells actually struck the Kaaba, burned a hole in the holy carpet and killed nine persons who were kneeling in prayer. These are the facts. The outrage was committed by the Turks, and I solemnly and categorically affirm that the British had nothing whatsoever to do with it. This being so, can you or any one suggest any other motive for the propagation of such falsehoods except the desire to create hatred against the British?...His Excellency's speech at the Legislative Council on 19th December 1921Gentlemen,I will not go further back than October last. At the beginning of that month a manifesto, signed by Mr. Gandhi and a large number of other prominent non-co-operators, laid it down that itwas the duty of every Indian soldier and Civilian to sever his connection with Government. There followed two important developments—an intensive campaign to undermine the loyalty of the police and a rapid development in the activities of "volunteer" corps. Alongside of these two significant developments was to be observed a rapid increase in open lawlessness and defiance of constituted authority. There were breaches of the peace in Howrah and Calcutta which are within the recollection of all. But such episodes were not confined to Calcutta. All over the Presidency persons were moving, stirring up dissatisfaction among the masses. This process was assisted by an intensive campaign of highly inflammatory speeches which had been in progress for some months past. Between the beginning of June and the middle of November, I received reports of no less than 4,265 meetings held in different parts of the province. I could quote passages from these speeches which are so inflammatory, so violent in their abuse that they would shock the Council. I refrain from doing so for the sole reason that I do not want to excite feeling unnecessarily. But I can assure the Council that, addressed, as in nine cases out of ten these speeches have been, to audiences made up of the illiterate and emotional masses, they could have but one result, namely that of spreading broadcast feelings of hatred and disaffection and of goading the people to violence. And that, indeed, has already been the actual result. Assaults on Settlement Officers have taken place. Government servants have been threatened and boycotted. Now let me return to Calcutta; and I take the events of November 17th to illustrate the state of affairs which had been reached. The life of city was paralysed. Were the police provocative? Certainly not. On the contrary the almost universal complaint made to me was that the police remained inactive and refrained from making arrests.I have now to inform the Council of the discovery on the night of December 8th of a number of sinister weapons concealed in an untenanted house in the heart of the town. The nature of these weapons left little doubt as to the sort of use to which they were intended to be put—swords ingeniously concealed in the handlesof umbrellas, daggers of a peculiarly vicious type, tulwars and jars of acid. Very well, then I would lay stress upon this—that with so many recent outbreaks of rioting in the streets of the city fresh in one's mind, and with these further evidences of the sort of activities which were in progress at the movement, it was not unreasonable as a precautionary measure to have recourse to a limited number of military patrols.Only three days ago an Urdu manuscript leaflet was found posted up in the city of which the following is a translation:—"What are you thinking about only? Just come face to face with your opponent. Let yourself be cut to pieces, even to death but do not let any loss come to the Khilafat. Do not look towards Bagdad, neither do you look towards the Army, but kill your enemy right and left. Do not let any of your enemy to be left unkilled if you see him, and do not think that you are alone, because you are being helped by Imam Mehdi, who is standing in front of you. Call him, just fly a flag in your hand and cry out Khoda, Khoda, beat a drum in the name of Din Muhammad throughout the lanes."
Gentlemen,
Among other things non-co-operation is to achieve is swaraj in one year. Mr. Gandhi has said so himself. The question is—do the people of Bengal want this particular form of swaraj? Being a shrewd and intelligent people they will doubtless wish to satisfy themselves first of all as to what precisely this swaraj is. Fortunately we are able to answer that question with authority, because Mr. Gandhi had issued a very clear explanation of what he means by swaraj in a small manual entitled 'Indian Home Rule', a new edition of which was published by Messrs. Ganesh & Co., of Madras, last year. I earnestly commend a perusal of it to all who are interested in the future of the land we live in....
Very well, if this is the sort of thing that people want by all means let them adopt non-co-operation. But I do not believe for a moment that this is what people want. And that, no doubt, is why we find so many other reasons advanced for adopting non-co-operation. It is claimed for it for example, that it is a saintly weapon in the hands of an oppressed people engaged in a righteous struggle against a tyrannous and unrighteous Government. Let us examine its credentials so that we may see to what extent the claim to righteousness can be sustained. In its earliest phase, when it was known asSatyagraha, its result were admittedly evil. The Hunter Committee was unanimous in its opinion that its effect was to engender "a familiarity and sympathy with disobedience to laws" and "to undermine the law abiding instincts which stand between society and outbreaks of violence at a time when their full strength was required." And, indeed, Mr. Gandhi himself confessed himself sorry that when he embarked upon a mass movement "he under-rated the forces of evil, and that he was obliged to pause and consider how best to meet the situation." Thenagain another object of the non-co-operators is to re-impose Turkish Administration upon the non-Turkish peoples who have so long suffered under it. The fact that under Turkish administration calculated attempts have been made to exterminate the Armenian people—one of the most horrible chapters in the whole history of crime—is ignored, a matter for surprise, surely, in view of the innate abhorrence of violence professed by the originator of the movement. Indeed, any one making a comprehensive survey of the non-co-operation movement could scarcely be blamed if he came to the conclusion that the only password required to give admission to the non-co-operation camp was "race-hatred." And is Bengal going to tolerate a movement based upon hatred, and, therefore, rooted in evil? Surely the world has had its fill of hatred. Cast your eyes over the past six years, and what do you see? A world in agony. The peoples of this earth trailing their spectral way across a blood-soaked scene of destruction and desolation—a ghastly phantasmagoria of human suffering; a hideous calvary. Humanity in torment, scourged with sorrow, losing its hold upon hope, drifting derelict in a terrifying ocean of despair. That is what hatred has done for mankind. And is mankind going to tolerate those who would deliberately and of malice aforethought perpetuate this grisly tradition of hatred among men? Let us have the answer of the people of this country to that question. For myself I have faith in the better mind of the people of Bengal. Not for nothing did Job Charnock lay the foundations of this great city. The finger of destiny was even then tracing the future of Great Britain and India upon the rock of doom. For better or for worse our paths lie side by side. The policy of Great Britain has been fairly and frankly stated. We are inviting the people of India to co-operate with us in making and travelling over that road which will lead to an India fashioned in so far as its internal affairs are concerned in ever-increasing accordance with the genius of its peoples, and filling a position of ever increasing pride and honour in the great confederation of the British Empire. Can any one who has faith in the existence of an eternal and immutable principle of justiceand right doubt what the final choice of the people of India will be? Surely not. And it is with an unshakeable faith in its future that I give you the toast of "The Land We Live in."
India to-day is honoured by another distinguished guest—the most distinguished, indeed save only one, whom the citizens of the British Empire could welcome, namely, the heir to the Empire's Throne—His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. He has come with words of sympathy upon his lips and with feelings of affection in his heart for the "Land we live in." Can it be doubted, then that from all communities and all creeds he will receive a royal welcome? I confess that it was with amazement that I learned that there was a small section of people, in this land of all lands, who had so far forgotten the dictates of courtesy as to urge the boycott of the Royal visitor. The promoters of this movement claim, I believe, to represent the fine flower of the ancient culture and civilisation of India. Well one lives and learns. I had always been brought up to believe that courtesy towards a guest was a deep-rooted tradition with the Indian people. And so I still believe it to be, though there may be some who have forgotten it. I do not believe that this attitude represents the real mind of India. Indeed, I know that it does not—for it was an Indian gentleman whose patriotism is beyond all possible question, who said to me when he read of the proposal "now must we bow our heads in shame for in showing rudeness to a guest we have touched the lowest depths of national humiliation and degradation." That, I believe, represents the best and, indeed, the real mind of India, for in India it has always been realised that discourtesy injures those who are guilty of it rather than those against whom it is practised, for it lowers them in the eyes of all right thinking men and indeed is sooner or later found by the man who is guilty of it to be a wound gnawing at his own self-respect...
Already long strides have been taken along the path towards the ultimate goal. Indian and European have come closer together—mutualunderstanding and goodwill are springing up between them. How much more could be achieved in this direction were it not for the black cloud of anger and hatred which has been brought into being by the apostles of revolution. From my experience of the past 12 months I have no hesitation in saying that a wonderful new era would have dawned for India already, had it not been for the wild passions which have been let loose upon the land by those who have pinned their faith to revolution.
They call the Government "Satanic". Have they then a monopoly of righteousness? The wild lawlessness and bloodshed at Giridih, Malegaon, Alighar, Malabar, Bombay and many other places—do these things not savour of the work of Satan? These are, indeed, but the heralds of red revolution. Let them look deep into their hearts and ask themselves in all seriousness if the salvation of India lies along such lines....
His Excellency replying to the deputation of the representation of the people in the mufassal, held in Government House Calcutta on 2nd July 1921, said:—
Let me, therefore, repeat what I said a year ago. The facts are these: The Turkish troops in the fort at Mecca, in their attempts to overcome the Arabs who had rallied round the Sheriff bombarded the mosque containing the Kaaba. One of the Turkish shells actually struck the Kaaba, burned a hole in the holy carpet and killed nine persons who were kneeling in prayer. These are the facts. The outrage was committed by the Turks, and I solemnly and categorically affirm that the British had nothing whatsoever to do with it. This being so, can you or any one suggest any other motive for the propagation of such falsehoods except the desire to create hatred against the British?...
Gentlemen,
I will not go further back than October last. At the beginning of that month a manifesto, signed by Mr. Gandhi and a large number of other prominent non-co-operators, laid it down that itwas the duty of every Indian soldier and Civilian to sever his connection with Government. There followed two important developments—an intensive campaign to undermine the loyalty of the police and a rapid development in the activities of "volunteer" corps. Alongside of these two significant developments was to be observed a rapid increase in open lawlessness and defiance of constituted authority. There were breaches of the peace in Howrah and Calcutta which are within the recollection of all. But such episodes were not confined to Calcutta. All over the Presidency persons were moving, stirring up dissatisfaction among the masses. This process was assisted by an intensive campaign of highly inflammatory speeches which had been in progress for some months past. Between the beginning of June and the middle of November, I received reports of no less than 4,265 meetings held in different parts of the province. I could quote passages from these speeches which are so inflammatory, so violent in their abuse that they would shock the Council. I refrain from doing so for the sole reason that I do not want to excite feeling unnecessarily. But I can assure the Council that, addressed, as in nine cases out of ten these speeches have been, to audiences made up of the illiterate and emotional masses, they could have but one result, namely that of spreading broadcast feelings of hatred and disaffection and of goading the people to violence. And that, indeed, has already been the actual result. Assaults on Settlement Officers have taken place. Government servants have been threatened and boycotted. Now let me return to Calcutta; and I take the events of November 17th to illustrate the state of affairs which had been reached. The life of city was paralysed. Were the police provocative? Certainly not. On the contrary the almost universal complaint made to me was that the police remained inactive and refrained from making arrests.
I have now to inform the Council of the discovery on the night of December 8th of a number of sinister weapons concealed in an untenanted house in the heart of the town. The nature of these weapons left little doubt as to the sort of use to which they were intended to be put—swords ingeniously concealed in the handlesof umbrellas, daggers of a peculiarly vicious type, tulwars and jars of acid. Very well, then I would lay stress upon this—that with so many recent outbreaks of rioting in the streets of the city fresh in one's mind, and with these further evidences of the sort of activities which were in progress at the movement, it was not unreasonable as a precautionary measure to have recourse to a limited number of military patrols.
Only three days ago an Urdu manuscript leaflet was found posted up in the city of which the following is a translation:—
"What are you thinking about only? Just come face to face with your opponent. Let yourself be cut to pieces, even to death but do not let any loss come to the Khilafat. Do not look towards Bagdad, neither do you look towards the Army, but kill your enemy right and left. Do not let any of your enemy to be left unkilled if you see him, and do not think that you are alone, because you are being helped by Imam Mehdi, who is standing in front of you. Call him, just fly a flag in your hand and cry out Khoda, Khoda, beat a drum in the name of Din Muhammad throughout the lanes."
APPENDIX XIVGovernor's WarningCalcutta, February 11Speaking at the Trades Association dinner in Calcutta, Lord Ronaldshay, the Governor of Bengal, made a lengthy reference to the political outlook.It would be the height of unwisdom, said His Excellency, to close one's eyes to the gravity of the situation with which not only the Government but society in the widest meaning of that term is now faced. It seems desirable to call attention to this because there still appear to be quite a number of people who in spite of all that has happened, in spite of the resort to violence which has characterised the Non-co-operation movement in Malabar, Malegaon, Giridih. Aligarh, Bombay and many other places have not yet grasped the seriousness or the nearness of the danger, with which the country is threatened.Take the case of the Non-co-operation volunteers. We are told by some that we ought to withdraw our notification under the Act of 1908 declaring these volunteer corps to be unlawful association. A recommendation to that effect has quite recently been made to the Government by the Legislative Council. It is true that under the existing constitution, we are still responsible to Parliament for the maintenance of law and order and though it would no doubt save us much trouble and anxiety if we were able to transfer the responsibility from our own shoulders to those of the Legislative Council, we cannot do so. Nevertheless I have always regarded it as my duty to consider with the utmost care any recommendations which the Council makes and in this case I am calling for special reports as to the nature and extent of the present activities of these volunteers in different parts of the province in order that I may have the fullest and most up-to-date information before me.On the DefensiveIn considering the matter in the meanwhile, I would point out to the public at large something which, judging by the criticism to which we are subjected, had been overlooked, namely, that from the very beginning of the Non-co-operation movement right up to the present time, the Government have been on the defensive. It is the Non-co-operators who have always attacked and by so doing have compelled the Government to take up weapons for its defence.For example I have heard it suggested that the Government have goaded the Non-co-operators into Civil Disobedience by the measures which they have recently taken. Nothing could be further from the truth. The policy of civil disobedience was accepted by the All-India Congress Committee at the beginning of November and it was not until towards the end of that month that action against the volunteers was taken. Mr. Gandhi himself, in moving the civil disobedience resolution on November 4th defined civil disobedience as a civil revolution, which, wherever practised would mean the end of the Government's authority and open defiance of the Government and its laws.Well, that seems to be explicit enough and it seems a little unreasonable, surely, that those who profess to be opposed to such a revolution, should seriously urge the Government to lay aside the weapons, which it has only taken up to protect itself against, to use Mr. Gandhi's words once more "the destruction of its authority and the open defiance of its laws". Do those who object to these volunteer-corps being declared to be unlawful associations realise what these corps have been brought into existence for? They have no excuse for not knowing, because Mr. Gandhi has himself explained quite frankly the object, for which they are being recruited. He declared at the conference held in Bombay on January 14th that, even if a round table conference was to be held he would not stop the enlistment of volunteers for a single moment. Why, because the enlistment was a preparation for civil disobedience.The Critics AnsweredThere can be no doubt on that point at all, for we have also the letter written by Pandit Kunzru to Mr. Jinnah, in which he states that Mr. Gandhi declared explicitly at the conference that the enrolment and training of volunteers for starting civil disobedience must be continued. Very well then, what we are asked to do is this: To declare that the volunteer corps enrolled and trained for civil disobedience are lawful associations. Do those who urge us to take this step regard civil disobedience as a lawful form of political activity? If they do not, by what process of reasoning, do they argue that the agency by which civil disobedience is to be carried out should be declared by Government to be a lawful agency?Now let us consider for a moment what the Non-co-operators mean by civil disobedience in its most developed form. It has been explained by Mr. Dip Narayan Singh a leading Non-co-operator of Behar. The procedure is to be as follows;—The chief civil officer in the area selected for its operation is to be given seven days to hand over the district to the Non-co-operators. The residents in the area are then to be ordered to disobey all the orders and laws of the Government and to refuse to pay taxes, register documents,and so on. At the same time the police station and courts are to be surrounded and the officials to be told to deposit their uniforms and other badges of office. The police stations and courts will then be treated as Swaraj property.You well see that this bears out to the full declaration made by Mr. Gandhi, in moving the civil disobedience resolution at the meeting of the All-India Congress Committee on November 4th, that his programme of civil disobedience constitutes a civil revolution, which, wherever practised, will mean the end of the Government's authority and the open defiance of Government and its laws. Again I would ask, to those who wish these volunteers to be declared to be lawful wish to see this programme put into operation without a resort to violence, which will drench the country in blood?The Lesson of Chauri ChauraEven the milder forms of Non-co-operation activity such as picketing,—which is often claimed by the Non-co-operators to be peaceful pastime though even this claim is no longer maintained by Mr. Gandhi as I shall show in a moment—result in wild orgies of violence as we have been painfully reminded again, within the last few days by the horrible crime at Chauri Chaura in the United Provinces. This outbreak, in which 21 police men and chaukidars were violently beaten to death was deliberately organised, we are told, in the report from the Commissioners, by the volunteers, and if picketing results in orgies of murder and destruction of this kind what are likely to be results of attempts to put into operation the full pledged programme of Civil Disobedience to which I have already referred?But it seems, as I have already remarked that Mr. Gandhi no longer maintains that all picketing is peaceful, for writing in his newspaper, "Young India" a short time ago, he says that in connection with the proposal for a round table conference his suggestion was that all picketing, except bona-fide peaceful picketing should be suspended pending the result of the conference. Clearly then, in Mr. Gandhi's opinion picketing is of two kinds, bona fide peacefulpicketing on the one hand, and picketing which is not bona fide and peaceful on the other. Very well then, Mr. Gandhi knows that picketing is not peaceful. He must know that the more drastic forms of civil disobedience, which he is now determined to embark upon, must lead to violence.The IssueIs it possible under these circumstances to come to any conclusion other than that reached by the Government of India, that the issue is no longer between this or that programme of political advance, but between lawlessness and all its dangerous consequences on the one hand, and on the other hand, the maintenance of those principles, which lie at the root of civilised Governments.In Bengal civil disobedience has already taken the form in a number of districts of a refusal to pay the "chaukidari" tax, and I have already received complaints from landholders that tenants are refusing to pay their rent throughout the province.A general spirit of contempt for authority and defiance of law and order is being fostered. Well, respect for lawful authority and a general willingness on the part of the people to observe the law are the pillars upon which the very existence of society rests. If these be cut away, society fall into the abyss of anarchy and is shattered. It is recorded of a famous figure in history that he fiddled while Rome was burning. The story is one which is not without its moral for the present day.
Calcutta, February 11
Speaking at the Trades Association dinner in Calcutta, Lord Ronaldshay, the Governor of Bengal, made a lengthy reference to the political outlook.
It would be the height of unwisdom, said His Excellency, to close one's eyes to the gravity of the situation with which not only the Government but society in the widest meaning of that term is now faced. It seems desirable to call attention to this because there still appear to be quite a number of people who in spite of all that has happened, in spite of the resort to violence which has characterised the Non-co-operation movement in Malabar, Malegaon, Giridih. Aligarh, Bombay and many other places have not yet grasped the seriousness or the nearness of the danger, with which the country is threatened.
Take the case of the Non-co-operation volunteers. We are told by some that we ought to withdraw our notification under the Act of 1908 declaring these volunteer corps to be unlawful association. A recommendation to that effect has quite recently been made to the Government by the Legislative Council. It is true that under the existing constitution, we are still responsible to Parliament for the maintenance of law and order and though it would no doubt save us much trouble and anxiety if we were able to transfer the responsibility from our own shoulders to those of the Legislative Council, we cannot do so. Nevertheless I have always regarded it as my duty to consider with the utmost care any recommendations which the Council makes and in this case I am calling for special reports as to the nature and extent of the present activities of these volunteers in different parts of the province in order that I may have the fullest and most up-to-date information before me.
In considering the matter in the meanwhile, I would point out to the public at large something which, judging by the criticism to which we are subjected, had been overlooked, namely, that from the very beginning of the Non-co-operation movement right up to the present time, the Government have been on the defensive. It is the Non-co-operators who have always attacked and by so doing have compelled the Government to take up weapons for its defence.
For example I have heard it suggested that the Government have goaded the Non-co-operators into Civil Disobedience by the measures which they have recently taken. Nothing could be further from the truth. The policy of civil disobedience was accepted by the All-India Congress Committee at the beginning of November and it was not until towards the end of that month that action against the volunteers was taken. Mr. Gandhi himself, in moving the civil disobedience resolution on November 4th defined civil disobedience as a civil revolution, which, wherever practised would mean the end of the Government's authority and open defiance of the Government and its laws.
Well, that seems to be explicit enough and it seems a little unreasonable, surely, that those who profess to be opposed to such a revolution, should seriously urge the Government to lay aside the weapons, which it has only taken up to protect itself against, to use Mr. Gandhi's words once more "the destruction of its authority and the open defiance of its laws". Do those who object to these volunteer-corps being declared to be unlawful associations realise what these corps have been brought into existence for? They have no excuse for not knowing, because Mr. Gandhi has himself explained quite frankly the object, for which they are being recruited. He declared at the conference held in Bombay on January 14th that, even if a round table conference was to be held he would not stop the enlistment of volunteers for a single moment. Why, because the enlistment was a preparation for civil disobedience.
There can be no doubt on that point at all, for we have also the letter written by Pandit Kunzru to Mr. Jinnah, in which he states that Mr. Gandhi declared explicitly at the conference that the enrolment and training of volunteers for starting civil disobedience must be continued. Very well then, what we are asked to do is this: To declare that the volunteer corps enrolled and trained for civil disobedience are lawful associations. Do those who urge us to take this step regard civil disobedience as a lawful form of political activity? If they do not, by what process of reasoning, do they argue that the agency by which civil disobedience is to be carried out should be declared by Government to be a lawful agency?
Now let us consider for a moment what the Non-co-operators mean by civil disobedience in its most developed form. It has been explained by Mr. Dip Narayan Singh a leading Non-co-operator of Behar. The procedure is to be as follows;—The chief civil officer in the area selected for its operation is to be given seven days to hand over the district to the Non-co-operators. The residents in the area are then to be ordered to disobey all the orders and laws of the Government and to refuse to pay taxes, register documents,and so on. At the same time the police station and courts are to be surrounded and the officials to be told to deposit their uniforms and other badges of office. The police stations and courts will then be treated as Swaraj property.
You well see that this bears out to the full declaration made by Mr. Gandhi, in moving the civil disobedience resolution at the meeting of the All-India Congress Committee on November 4th, that his programme of civil disobedience constitutes a civil revolution, which, wherever practised, will mean the end of the Government's authority and the open defiance of Government and its laws. Again I would ask, to those who wish these volunteers to be declared to be lawful wish to see this programme put into operation without a resort to violence, which will drench the country in blood?
Even the milder forms of Non-co-operation activity such as picketing,—which is often claimed by the Non-co-operators to be peaceful pastime though even this claim is no longer maintained by Mr. Gandhi as I shall show in a moment—result in wild orgies of violence as we have been painfully reminded again, within the last few days by the horrible crime at Chauri Chaura in the United Provinces. This outbreak, in which 21 police men and chaukidars were violently beaten to death was deliberately organised, we are told, in the report from the Commissioners, by the volunteers, and if picketing results in orgies of murder and destruction of this kind what are likely to be results of attempts to put into operation the full pledged programme of Civil Disobedience to which I have already referred?
But it seems, as I have already remarked that Mr. Gandhi no longer maintains that all picketing is peaceful, for writing in his newspaper, "Young India" a short time ago, he says that in connection with the proposal for a round table conference his suggestion was that all picketing, except bona-fide peaceful picketing should be suspended pending the result of the conference. Clearly then, in Mr. Gandhi's opinion picketing is of two kinds, bona fide peacefulpicketing on the one hand, and picketing which is not bona fide and peaceful on the other. Very well then, Mr. Gandhi knows that picketing is not peaceful. He must know that the more drastic forms of civil disobedience, which he is now determined to embark upon, must lead to violence.
Is it possible under these circumstances to come to any conclusion other than that reached by the Government of India, that the issue is no longer between this or that programme of political advance, but between lawlessness and all its dangerous consequences on the one hand, and on the other hand, the maintenance of those principles, which lie at the root of civilised Governments.
In Bengal civil disobedience has already taken the form in a number of districts of a refusal to pay the "chaukidari" tax, and I have already received complaints from landholders that tenants are refusing to pay their rent throughout the province.
A general spirit of contempt for authority and defiance of law and order is being fostered. Well, respect for lawful authority and a general willingness on the part of the people to observe the law are the pillars upon which the very existence of society rests. If these be cut away, society fall into the abyss of anarchy and is shattered. It is recorded of a famous figure in history that he fiddled while Rome was burning. The story is one which is not without its moral for the present day.
APPENDIX XVExtracts from the speech of the Hon'ble Sir Henry Wheeler, Member in charge of Political DepartmentWhat is the situation with which we are faced? It is the outcome of a movement which, in pursuit of certain political aims, has resulted in every province in India in bloodshed, disorder and confusion. A concise picture of the all India situation is contained in the report of the committee which recently inquired into theworking of certain laws at Simla, and from it I quote their conclusion:—Taking into consideration all the evidence we have received and the points to which we have adverted and bearing in mind the still prevailing economic discontent, we cannot dismiss as improbable the danger of sudden sectarian, agrarian or labour disorder on a large scale culminating in riots.They give instances of what they call 34 notable cases of disorder which have occurred in India during the current year. That is, most briefly, the position in India as a whole.Let me now give a few illustrations of the position in Bengal, with which we are more particularly concerned, for it is perhaps apt to be overlooked that the whole problem does not centre round Calcutta alone. There is outside this city this vast Presidency of 40 millions people, and the difficulties in themufussalare just as acute as here. To cite an example—in the district of Rangpur we have lately had reported an organisation of volunteers under a district captain and four vice-captains, definitely named, supported by two subordinate officers in each thana and a regular budget and funds, which, in addition to the better known objects of the non-co-operation movement, had set before itself the following five aims.—The organisation of volunteers to be ready for civil disobedience;the preparation of the people to abstain from payment of chaukidari and union board tax;the preparation of the tenants to refrain from paying rents;the preparation of the people to boycott the thana and the law courts;to boycott higher grade police and other officers especially with regard to foodstuffs, and if as a result of this the Government start their own store and make local arrangements it is felt that it will be possible to place difficulties in the way of transport.This last line has in fact been taken and the Collector had to improvise supplies of food to various thanas and registration office.The Council will have noticed the use of the term "civil disobedience," and in two other districts—namely, Noakhali and Faridpur—we have had the usual phenomena of a little knot of men forming themselves into a committee and saying: "We will have civil disobedience." What is civil disobedience understood to mean? Lest it be thought that it is merely an abstract subject for discussion, say, in a newspaper article, let me refer to an interesting definition of the term which we have recently had from a neighbouring province. The president of a meeting there lately outlined civil disobedience in the following terms:—A notice calling upon Government to grant Swaraj within seven days will first be served upon the chief civil officer present in the locality selected for civil disobedience. Subsequently the residents of the particular locality will be directed to disobey all orders and laws of Government and to refuse to pay taxes, register documents, etc. At the same time police stations and courts will be surrounded and the officials told to deposit their uniforms and other badges of office. Thereafter police-stations and courts will be treated as Swaraj property. That is a position which, I put in to the Council, can be summed up in one word, "anarchy." That is the civil disobedience which is being preached, and which, if we are to believe the three speeches which we have just heard, is a little excitement which, in the words of one speaker, can be disposed of by a "flick of a handkerchief."Now, Sir, I could carry on these examples from themufassalto Chittagon, which has been in a state of disturbance and agitation since April last, and to Howrah where disturbances have been intermittent throughout the year, culminating in firing in the streets and in the death of a policeman. But the chronicle is too long, and I pass to Calcutta, where the remarks of His Excellency have fortunately shortened my task. We are all aware that the incessant stream of inflammatory oratory and agitation in Calcutta culminated on the 17th November in a paralysis of the life of the city and I was even surprised, when refreshing my memory as to those events, to see how openly what was done was gloried in by the leaders of the non-co-operation movement ashaving been done by their orders and direction. They were good enough to define in their instructions who might go about the streets and who might not, I have seen the statement that by the kindness of the Congress and the Khilafat committees certain shops would be allowed to open at 12 noon. There has never been any attempt to conceal the fact that the town was at that time, in the view of the non-co-operators, subject to their orders—subject by the processes of intimidation with which we are well acquainted.Now if that was the position—and I submit that this is a correct statement of the position—Government was obviously confronted with the question of what they were to do. Was this state of affairs to continue or was it to be checked? We were approached on all sides, in this Council and by such responsible bodies as the British Indian Association, to intervene and to restore some measure of law and order in a condition of things which was fast drifting to chaos. In these circumstances we took the measures of which the Council is well aware, namely, to declare certain associations to be illegal, to introduce the Seditious Meetings Act in one district and prohibit by order of the Commissioner of Police, meetings and processions in Calcutta. I put it to the Council that short of these measures it would not have been possible to comply with the urgent requests so reasonably made to us from so many quarters to intervene in the interests of decent administration. That is the issue which is before the Council. Is it or is it not a fact that on the 17th of last month the people of this city were disgusted with the state of affairs and the prevailing terrorism? Is it or is it not a fact that constant pressure was brought to bear on Government by all sections of the people to bring about a better state of affairs? Can it in truth be said that the action of Government in attempting to curtail the activities of the gentlemen to whom the excitement is due has gone beyond the necessity of the case? If so, what is the alternative which the Council would place before Government? Of that, however we have heard singularly little, except from Babu Surendra Nath Mallik, who advises us to withdraw all our orders, release prisoners,reduce sentences and place on their trial the military and the police—a solution which, I trust, will not commend itself to the better sense of the Council....
What is the situation with which we are faced? It is the outcome of a movement which, in pursuit of certain political aims, has resulted in every province in India in bloodshed, disorder and confusion. A concise picture of the all India situation is contained in the report of the committee which recently inquired into theworking of certain laws at Simla, and from it I quote their conclusion:—
Taking into consideration all the evidence we have received and the points to which we have adverted and bearing in mind the still prevailing economic discontent, we cannot dismiss as improbable the danger of sudden sectarian, agrarian or labour disorder on a large scale culminating in riots.
They give instances of what they call 34 notable cases of disorder which have occurred in India during the current year. That is, most briefly, the position in India as a whole.
Let me now give a few illustrations of the position in Bengal, with which we are more particularly concerned, for it is perhaps apt to be overlooked that the whole problem does not centre round Calcutta alone. There is outside this city this vast Presidency of 40 millions people, and the difficulties in themufussalare just as acute as here. To cite an example—in the district of Rangpur we have lately had reported an organisation of volunteers under a district captain and four vice-captains, definitely named, supported by two subordinate officers in each thana and a regular budget and funds, which, in addition to the better known objects of the non-co-operation movement, had set before itself the following five aims.—
This last line has in fact been taken and the Collector had to improvise supplies of food to various thanas and registration office.The Council will have noticed the use of the term "civil disobedience," and in two other districts—namely, Noakhali and Faridpur—we have had the usual phenomena of a little knot of men forming themselves into a committee and saying: "We will have civil disobedience." What is civil disobedience understood to mean? Lest it be thought that it is merely an abstract subject for discussion, say, in a newspaper article, let me refer to an interesting definition of the term which we have recently had from a neighbouring province. The president of a meeting there lately outlined civil disobedience in the following terms:—
A notice calling upon Government to grant Swaraj within seven days will first be served upon the chief civil officer present in the locality selected for civil disobedience. Subsequently the residents of the particular locality will be directed to disobey all orders and laws of Government and to refuse to pay taxes, register documents, etc. At the same time police stations and courts will be surrounded and the officials told to deposit their uniforms and other badges of office. Thereafter police-stations and courts will be treated as Swaraj property. That is a position which, I put in to the Council, can be summed up in one word, "anarchy." That is the civil disobedience which is being preached, and which, if we are to believe the three speeches which we have just heard, is a little excitement which, in the words of one speaker, can be disposed of by a "flick of a handkerchief."
Now, Sir, I could carry on these examples from themufassalto Chittagon, which has been in a state of disturbance and agitation since April last, and to Howrah where disturbances have been intermittent throughout the year, culminating in firing in the streets and in the death of a policeman. But the chronicle is too long, and I pass to Calcutta, where the remarks of His Excellency have fortunately shortened my task. We are all aware that the incessant stream of inflammatory oratory and agitation in Calcutta culminated on the 17th November in a paralysis of the life of the city and I was even surprised, when refreshing my memory as to those events, to see how openly what was done was gloried in by the leaders of the non-co-operation movement ashaving been done by their orders and direction. They were good enough to define in their instructions who might go about the streets and who might not, I have seen the statement that by the kindness of the Congress and the Khilafat committees certain shops would be allowed to open at 12 noon. There has never been any attempt to conceal the fact that the town was at that time, in the view of the non-co-operators, subject to their orders—subject by the processes of intimidation with which we are well acquainted.
Now if that was the position—and I submit that this is a correct statement of the position—Government was obviously confronted with the question of what they were to do. Was this state of affairs to continue or was it to be checked? We were approached on all sides, in this Council and by such responsible bodies as the British Indian Association, to intervene and to restore some measure of law and order in a condition of things which was fast drifting to chaos. In these circumstances we took the measures of which the Council is well aware, namely, to declare certain associations to be illegal, to introduce the Seditious Meetings Act in one district and prohibit by order of the Commissioner of Police, meetings and processions in Calcutta. I put it to the Council that short of these measures it would not have been possible to comply with the urgent requests so reasonably made to us from so many quarters to intervene in the interests of decent administration. That is the issue which is before the Council. Is it or is it not a fact that on the 17th of last month the people of this city were disgusted with the state of affairs and the prevailing terrorism? Is it or is it not a fact that constant pressure was brought to bear on Government by all sections of the people to bring about a better state of affairs? Can it in truth be said that the action of Government in attempting to curtail the activities of the gentlemen to whom the excitement is due has gone beyond the necessity of the case? If so, what is the alternative which the Council would place before Government? Of that, however we have heard singularly little, except from Babu Surendra Nath Mallik, who advises us to withdraw all our orders, release prisoners,reduce sentences and place on their trial the military and the police—a solution which, I trust, will not commend itself to the better sense of the Council....