Chauri Chaura incident

Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"

Meaning

The Chauri Chaura incident took place in February 1922 at Chauri Chaura, a small place in Gorakhpur district of the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). A crowd of peasants clashed with the police and set the police station on fire. The policemen inside were killed. The number is usually given as 22, though some accounts give a slightly different figure. Exams often ask about it because Gandhi called off the Non-Cooperation Movement as a direct result. It is the clearest case of Gandhi putting non-violent means above quick results.

Explanation

Background — a mass movement that went beyond its leaders

• The idea behind the movement: in Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhi said British rule did not rest on guns alone. It rested on Indian cooperation. If Indians withdrew that help, the rule would fall.
• The promise: if non-cooperation was carried out fully, swaraj (self-rule) would come within a year.
• How Congress adopted it:
• Gandhi proposed non-cooperation at the Calcutta special session (September 1920). [2]

• The programme was formally adopted at the Nagpur session (December 1920). [2]

• The rule of satyagraha: satyagraha (non-violent resistance) meant the struggle had to stay non-violent. The protester's own suffering was the weapon.

• The problem on the ground: from January 1921 the movement spread far beyond the towns.
• Awadh peasants refused to pay taxes and rents to talukdars (big landlords).
• Kumaun hill people refused begar (carrying officials' loads for no pay).

• Andhra hill tribes broke the forest laws.

• Many of these groups acted against the wishes of local Congress leaders. To them, "Gandhi's swaraj" meant an end to rent, begar or forest rules, not the careful programme Congress had drawn up.

The incident — what happened

• When and where: February 1922, at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district, United Provinces. Most textbooks give the date as 4 or 5 February.

• The sequence: 1. Peasants marched in a procession that was meant to be peaceful. 2. The procession clashed with the police. 3. The angry crowd set the police station on fire. 4. The policemen inside were killed.

• This happened just when Gandhi was getting ready to start mass civil disobedience (openly breaking laws) at Bardoli in Gujarat.

Gandhi's response — the withdrawal

• Gandhi called off the Non-Cooperation Movement. The Congress Working Committee approved this at a meeting at Bardoli in February 1922 (the Bardoli resolution).
• His reason:
• The satyagrahis (people taking part in satyagraha) were not yet trained in non-violence.

• In his view, a movement that turned violent was worse than no movement at all.

• What followed soon after:

• Gandhi was arrested in March 1922 and charged with sedition (stirring up hatred against the government) under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code. The charge was based on articles he wrote in Young India. [3]
• He was tried at Ahmedabad before Judge C. N. Broomfield. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years. [3][4]

Results

• Many leaders were angry, younger ones especially. They felt the movement was at its peak and the retreat threw away what had been won.
• The Raj had been badly shaken. It had not faced a challenge this big since 1857.
• New paths opened:
• Some leaders turned to contesting council elections. This led to the Swaraj Party (C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru).

• Some young people lost faith in non-violence and turned to revolutionary politics, such as the HSRA.

• The Khilafat partnership grew weaker. Once the joint movement stopped, the Hindu–Muslim alliance had less to hold it together. It lost its basis when Mustafa Kemal abolished the Caliphate (1924).

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the Gandhian era, during the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movement (1920–22).
• Place: Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur district, United Provinces (now in Uttar Pradesh).
• Date: February 1922. Accounts differ by a day (4 or 5 February). In an answer, "February 1922" is safe.
• Key people:
• Mahatma Gandhi, who withdrew the movement.
• The local peasants, who joined the procession.

• The police of the Chauri Chaura station.

• Related events and records:

• The Great Trial (March 1922) at Ahmedabad, before Judge C. N. Broomfield. Shankarlal Banker was tried alongside Gandhi. [3][4]
• Britannica gives Gandhi's arrest date as 10 March 1922. The Indian Culture portal gives 13 March 1922. NCERT says only March 1922. [2][3]

• The case rested on Gandhi's own writings in Young India. [3]

• NCERT coverage: Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement".

Don't confuse with

• Bardoli Satyagraha (1928): a peasant campaign against a revenue increase, led by Vallabhbhai Patel. The Bardoli resolution of February 1922 was a different thing. It was the Congress decision to call off non-cooperation after Chauri Chaura.
• Jallianwala Bagh (April 1919, Amritsar): there the government's troops fired on unarmed Indians. At Chauri Chaura it was the crowd that attacked the police.
• Moplah (Mappila) rebellion (1921, Malabar): a large peasant uprising in Kerala during the same movement. It did not make Gandhi withdraw the movement. Chauri Chaura (UP, 1922) did.
• Civil Disobedience Movement (1930–34): the later Gandhian campaign that began with the Salt March. The 1922 withdrawal ended the Non-Cooperation Movement, not this one.

Prelims Hooks

• Chauri Chaura is in Gorakhpur district, United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). The police station was burnt in February 1922.
• Order of events: Calcutta special session (Sept 1920) → Nagpur session (Dec 1920) → Chauri Chaura (Feb 1922) → Gandhi's arrest (March 1922). [2]
• Possible trap: Gandhi withdrew Non-Cooperation after Chauri Chaura, not the Khilafat movement or Civil Disobedience.
• After Chauri Chaura, Gandhi was tried for sedition under Section 124A IPC for articles in Young India. [3]
• The judge was C. N. Broomfield, at Ahmedabad. The sentence was six years, and Gandhi was released after about two years on medical grounds. [3][4]
• Judge Broomfield called Gandhi "a great patriot and a leader" while sentencing him.

Mains Points

• Ethics or tactics? There are two views on the withdrawal.
• For Gandhi: a violent mass movement would have been crushed by repression. It would also have destroyed Congress's moral claim to lead the country.
• Against Gandhi: calling it off at its peak disheartened the workers. It pushed young people towards revolutionary groups (HSRA) and led others to the Swarajists' council-entry plan.

• Either way, it made means over ends a lasting rule of Gandhian politics.

• The limits of mass mobilisation: Chauri Chaura showed that the call for "swaraj" meant different things to different groups. In Awadh it meant no rent. In Kumaun it meant no begar. In Andhra it meant free use of the forest. Gandhi's leadership could bring very different people into the movement. But the Congress leadership could not always control what it had started.

• A turning point in the national movement:
• The first all-India mass movement ended suddenly.
• The Hindu–Muslim unity of the Khilafat years weakened, and communal tension grew in the mid-1920s.
• Even so, the Raj had been shaken as it had not been since 1857. Useful for GS-I questions on the Gandhian phase and the roots of communal politics.

Related concepts

• Hind Swaraj
• Swaraj
• Khilafat movement
• Ali brothers
• Caliphate
• Jazirat-ul-Arab
• Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
• Calcutta special session 1920
• Nagpur session 1920
• Non-cooperation movement

Read more

• Non-Cooperation and Khilafat, 1920–22