History of India
1
HISTORY
Subject
:
History
Paper No.
:
Paper - IV
History of Modern India
Topic No. & Title
:
Topic - 7
Nationalism
Unit No. & Title
:
Unit- 9
Gandhian Ideology & Movements
Lecture No. & Title
:
Lecture - 3
The Rowlatt Satyagraha
(For under graduate student)
Script
The Rowlatt Satyagraha
In spite of being a relatively newcomer in Indian politics,
Gandhi achieved national prominence by organizing the first
nation-wide satyagraha against a draconian measure of the
colonial
state
to
curb
political
activity.
The
Rowlatt
satyagraha, became a catalyst to the coalescence of a
series of local grievances into a massive agitation. The
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2
Rowlatt Satyagraha as studies of the local dimensions of the
eventful movement demonstrate acquired a dynamic of its
own, releasing political forces which Gandhi had perhaps
never anticipated. Apart from the points of convergence
between local or regional grievances and a national political
issue, the Rowlatt satyagraha marked an important turn
around in Indian politics. In the first place it tuned the
political leadership in the country to an entirely novel
agitational side of politics. The participation of the ordinary
people in this agitation, although unevenly in different
regions, was also a portent for the future trajectory of the
national movement. Despite the fact that the Rowlatt
satyagraha was organized outside the orbit of the Congress,
the event succeeded in re-orienting a substantial section of
the Congress leadership towards a new style of politics. In
view of the resistance of the well-entrenched moderates in
the Congress to the idea of mass agitation, Gandhi’s
decision to create an alternative leadership for leading this
movement had its own logic. Yet sections of the Congress
leadership along with a new generation of leaders in the
Muslim League were drawn into this movement. The
Rowlatt Satyagraha launched Gandhi as a new leader whom
History of India
3
the Congress could no longer ignore. The impact of this
movement was seen in the annual session of the Congress
in
December
1919
in
which
Gandhi’s
was
a
fairly
dominating presence.
The Rowlatt Act
The Rowlatt satyagraha derives its name from the infamous
Rowlatt Act, which the government had enacted in the
Imperial
Legislative
Council
with
an
indecent
haste
regardless of the unanimous opposition of the non-official
Indian members of the Council to this enactment. It was
not unusual for Gandhi, an astute politician, who had the
ability to sense the mood of the people, to choose the
passing of the Rowlatt Act in the Imperial Legislature as the
occasion for organizing an agitation that was to initiate the
process of establishing him as an undisputed leader in the
national movement. The Act had already produced an
adverse reaction since the official majority in the Imperial
Legislative
Council
hurried
through
its
enactment
by
overriding the dissenting opinions of the Indian members.
For the colonial government there was an urgency to
introduce a new repressive law to curb political activity as
History of India
4
the war-time Defence of India rule, which had armed the
government to detain people without trial was going to
lapse. Containing revolutionary movements demanded a
new law. With that objective a committee, headed by
Justice S. T. Rowlatt was appointed to examine the political
situation
expectedly
and
suggest
identified
appropriate
three
troubled
measures.
spots,
-
Rowlatt
Bengal,
Maharashtra and the Punjab, as the regions affected by the
revolutionary
movement.
Rowlatt’s
recommendations
included emergency powers for the government, trial in
camera of the revolutionaries without jury, and the right to
detain people without trial for the period of two years.
Despite the liberal Secretary of State Montague’s views that
they were repugnant, the Secretary of State had to yield to
the Viceroy Chelmsford’s insistence that these laws were
absolutely necessary for containing revolutionary activity.
Even though this legislation ran the risk of destroying the
credibility of Montague’s declaration of reforms, the law was
passed with undue haste between February and March
1919. In February the bill was proposed and towards the
close of March it received the assent of the Viceroy. In
protest one Indian member of the Council resigned while
History of India
5
other members started talking about the need for renewing
passive resistance against this law. Popular indignation
about
this
Act
was
articulated
through
the
nearly
unanimous condemnation of the law by the Indian press.
The Rowlatt Act seemed to have convinced the political
leadership in India that it was useless to repose faith in the
intentions of
the government. Agitations, under
such
circumstances, seemed to be the only option.
Gandhi and the Rowlatt Act
Gandhi felt that this was the opportune moment for him to
undertake a movement against the Imperial state. He
looked upon the Rowlatt Act as a devilish law, but more
than this he saw in it the expression of the devilish
character of imperialism, - a sentiment that had already
been expressed in the Hind Swaraj. The Rowlatt Act for
Gandhi was not anything unusual under conditions of
imperialism; it reflected the basic character of imperialism
as an oppressive state. Disobedience against this law was
expected to clear the road to Swaraj. When some moderate
leaders cautioned him that an agitation was likely to
destroy the reforms, he retorted that the angry mood of the
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people against what he had labelled as ‘an affront on the
nation’, warranted a different kind of movement.
Organizing the Rowlatt Satyagraha
The question as to how Gandhi managed to organize this
movement, has bothered historians and the answers that
they have provided touch upon the organizational skill of
Gandhi,
who
managed
to
federate
grievances
and
resentments of different kinds to create the basis for the
struggle that he started immediately after the passing of
the law. In organizing the Rowlatt Satyagraha, Gandhi used
three types of political networks. In the first place, he had
his followers in Bombay and Gujarat. Already in 1918,
thanks to his initiatives at Kheda and Ahmedabad, he had
created a community of followers and friends including even
mill-owners like Ambalal Sarabhai who came forward with
financial
support
for
his
Sabarmati
ashrama.
More
important were the connections that he had forged with a
group of younger politicians in the Home Rule League, who
were unhappy about
the limited reforms that Edwin
Montague had proposed. In the annual Congress session in
Delhi in December 1918 their resentment about the limited
History of India
7
reforms was
forcefully articulated. The
other
political
network that Gandhi came to rely on were the panIslamists. At the turn of the nineteenth century a number of
young politicians among the followers of Syed Ahmed Khan
had broken away from the loyalist political strategy of their
leaders. Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Ali were two such men
who
later
became
important
in
the
Non-Cooperation
Khilafat agitation. The political networks of the Ali brothers
who came to represent the young party in the Muslim
League included Islamic scholars like Abdul Bari from
institutions like Deoband and Firangimahal at Lucknow.
They were influenced by the idea of revitalizing Islam at a
time when one of the important symbols of Islamic polity
and culture was threatened after the war. The Sultan of
Turkey who was treated with great reverence as the Caliph
faced a hostile European combination of the allied powers,
for his alliance with Germany. As the Khilafat of the Turkish
Sultan faced extinction, the pan-Islamists in India became
charged with anti-British sentiments. In that environment
the Ali brothers were successful in drawing in a number of
new leaders like Dr. M. K. Ansari and Hakim Azmal Khan at
Delhi. Their anti-British sentiments found powerful voices in
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8
the annual session of the Muslim League which was
concurrently held with the Congress at Delhi in December
1918. Historians have found a skilful use by Gandhi of
different kinds of grievances to crate the nucleus of an
organization. The objectives of the Home Rule leaders and
that of the pan-Islamists had little in common but they
decided to rally behind this relative new comer in Indian
politics.
Satyagraha Sabha
On the strength of these networks Gandhi launched the
Rowlatt Satyagraha. Since he was not optimistic about the
participation of the moderate Congress men, the movement
was to be led by the Satyagraha Sabha established by
Gandhi towards the end of March 1919 at Bombay. Initially
the
Satyagraha Sabha
was entrusted
with
publishing
political pamphlets for circulation in different parts of India.
Gandhi undertook a quick tour of Delhi, Lucknow, Allahabad
and Ahmedabad. A hartal was slated for 30th March,
although it was then postponed to 6th of April. The
satyagrahis who wished to participate in the satyagraha
were required to sign a satyagraha pledge professing non-
History of India
9
violence. From the list of satyagrahis it appears that they
came mainly from the western Indian provinces like
Bombay, Gujarat and Sind. Of the 982 satyagrahis who
signed this pledge, only eighty-four came from outside
these three provinces. In regions like Bengal, which were
well-known for political militancy, several leaders responded
to this call without however the required organizational
initiative. Eventually when the hartal was held, it remained
confined mainly to the cities, leaving the rural regions
untouched. In Bombay, largely due to the presence of
Gandhi,
the
satyagraha
conformed
to
the
Gandhian
prescriptions and its impact was also the greatest. In
comparison southern India and Bengal had little activity. In
Calcutta the main participants were Marwari trading groups,
while it evoked little response from the Bengali student
population who were already well-known for their militant
spirit. In early April Gandhi wanted to broaden the scope of
this movement by including disobedience against the laws
which prohibited nationalist literature as a part of the
agenda. As he was about to leave for Delhi and the Punjab,
obviously with the intention of strengthening the agitation
History of India
10
there by his presence, he was arrested on the 10th April
1919.
A Mass Upsurge
The news of Gandhi’s arrest acted as a trigger for a massive
mass-upsurge in the Punjab and north India where the
satyagraha in the initial stage had not had much of an
impact. Several local studies of the Rowlatt satyagraha in
Ravinder
Kumar’s
Essays
in
Gandhian
Politics
have
demonstrated how the agitation became a catalyst to the
galvanization of popular resentment arising from a variety
of factors. In the Punjab, in towns like Amritsar and Lahore
the artisans had been deeply affected by the rising prices.
In Lahore, in addition, price rise was responsible for
fomenting strikes among the railway men. In Delhi, on the
other hand, the artisans employed in lace and embroidery
industry were losing employment during relatively difficult
economic conditions. If these factors laid the basis for
popular upsurge in these regions, often making it difficult
for the leaders to keep control over the movement, the
racism of the Punjab government under Michael O’ Dwyer
provided the larger political context in which the Rowlatt
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11
Satyagraha exceeded the limits that Gandhi had defined for
the satyagrahis.
Much of the violence that took place in the Punjab towns,
especially Amritsar, was a reaction to the intensity of state
repression
Commission
Enquiry
in
of
the
province.
enquiry
Committee
Both
and the
that
the
official
Hunter
non-official Congress
enquired
into
the
Punjab
disturbances of 1919 contained in their reports enough
evidence of how popular grievances, generated by post-war
economic difficulties, found expression in this movement.
State violence, especially the racist attitude, however,
provided a common point for the Hindu nationalists and the
Muslim pan-Islamists to speak in one voice. In addition,
there were instances of local leadership who were more
willing in certain regions to take up this cause than in other
regions. In the Punjab for example, pan-Islamic leaders like
Jafar Ali Khan whipped up anti-British sentiments among
the artisans of Lahore, a large majority of who were
Muslims. The grievances of the artisans certainly had
nothing
to
do
with
the
Rowlatt
legislation;
yet
the
Satyagraha was the occasion which enabled a violent
History of India
12
ventilation of their grievances. In contrast, regions like the
Central Provinces where similar popular grievances against
price rise existed, the absence of a local leadership willing
to channel these grievances into a satyagraha kept the
province relatively quiet.
Punjab Disturbances
In the Punjab cities like Lahore or Amritsar where mass
action exceeded the Gandhian limits, violence was provoked
to a large extent by state action. O’Dwyers’ regime had
already alienated the local intelligentsia from whose ranks
emerged leaders like Gokul Chand Naranag or Rambhuj
Datta Chowdhury whose leadership made possible a very
quick mobilization of the people against the Rowlat Act. But
from around 10th April, O’Dwyers’ administration became
particularly repressive. Police firing at Amritsar on the 10th
April, killed a fairly large number of men. This was followed
by the destruction of the institutional symbols of imperial
power like post offices and railway stations. The most
gruesome act of state violence came on the 13th April when
General Dyer fired upon the unarmed assembly of Sikhs at
Jalianwallabagh, killing nearly four hundred persons. This
History of India
13
evoked a wide-spread condemnation and was also the
occasion
for
Rabindranath
Tagore
to
renounce
his
Knighthood a month later. Dyer did not stop short at that.
In order to bring about a moral effect on Indians, he
resorted to mass arrests and public flogging of whoever was
suspected of being a satyagrahi. Indians regardless of their
social status were asked to offer salams to white men and
were also on occasions forced to crawl before them. It was
British racism at its worst.
Popular Upsurge and the Political Leadership
The intensity of feelings against this kind of a rabidly racist
regime contributed to a massive popular upsurge in cities
like Lahore or Amritsar which the leaders of the satyagraha
found it difficult to control. At Lahore in the wake of the
railway strike on 11th April the control of Rambhuj Datta
Chowdhury even over the middle class Peoples’ committee
weakened. The Peoples’ committee in turn failed in its effort
to control the volatile sections of the Lahore under class.
The latter came to form the Danda Fauj which could be
suppressed
only
through
extremely
brutal
measures.
Similar things were happening in Delhi as well, where M. A.
History of India
14
Ansari had to withdraw the satyagraha towards the end of
May considering it to be impractical in view of the violence.
Ansari abolished the Sabha and virtually cried a halt to the
movement. The outbreak of violence in Lahore in the same
manner, unnerved the middle class leadership. Gandhi
himself came to share in this perception, when he remarked
that the Rowlatt Satyagraha, for him, was a Himalayan
blunder. Such comments by Gandhi were certainly provoked
by the violence that accompanied the satyagraha in
different parts of the country including Ahmedabad, - a
Gandhian
stronghold,
where
martial
law
had
to
be
proclaimed. Gandhi reasoned that the nation was not ready
for a non-violent agitation and dissolved the Satyagraha
Sabha which had continued to work till the end of May,
despite the ebbing of the popular upsurge by the middle of
April.
The Rowlatt Agitation: An Assessment
Considering the objectives of the satyagraha, the Rowlatt
agitation was a failure. It failed to achieve its objective of
the repeal of the Rowlatt Act. After a brief intense phase
the movement petered out failing to generate a constructive
History of India
15
programme that Gandhi had visualized. Yet at the same
time Gandhi’s first encounter with a mass movement
revealed before him the alignments in Indian politics with
which he had to come to terms during the subsequent
decades. He could realize that the Indian liberals under the
leadership of Surendranath Banerjee and Tej Bahadur
Sapru from Allahabad were not likely to endorse the
principle of satyagraha. To the ardent followers of Tilak he
was not acceptable. He had his followers among nationalists
in western India, but in order to play a more assertive role
in the national movement he needed to function from within
the Congress.
Secondly Gandhi was convinced that a more careful
planning was necessary before embarking on an agitation
like the Rowlatt Satyagraha. The fact that it was only in
Bombay that the satyagraha pledge was strictly maintained,
or the experience that it was only in some limited areas that
the satyagraha evoked an enthusiastic response, convinced
him about the need for developing wider networks among
the Congress leaders.
History of India
16
Gandhi and the Congress
Consequently with the objective of emerging as a whole
time campaigner of the Congress, he came to the annual
session at Amritsar in 1919 in order to sort out the political
alignments in the Congress. The immediate question was
the
Indian
acceptance
of
the
Montague-Chelmsford
Reforms. Apparently he moved away from the position that
he had taken half a year earlier, when he tried to disarm
the radical Congress men by asking them to participate in
the reformed council. He proposed that Congress should
respond to the proposals positively much to the annoyance
of leaders like C. R. Das, Tilak and many others, who
wished
to
condemn
the
reforms
and
demanded
full
responsible government. In this debate Gandhi intervened
in favour of the acceptance of the Reformed Councils with
the obvious objective of achieving a degree of prominence
within the Congress. He was to change his ground very
soon, - less than a year late, when he would ask the same
Congressmen to discard the reformed council in order to
undo the Khilafat and Punjab wrongs. This was the time for
Gandhi to prepare for the Non-Cooperation movement
which was launched with the intention of compelling the
History of India
17
British imperial state to rectify Muslim grievances on the
Khilafat issue and to correct the misdeeds that the Punjab
government had done during the Rowlatt agitation. Based
on his experience of organizing the Rowlatt movement,
Gandhi was entering into a new phase of his political career.