Chauri Chaura is a town near Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, where, in February 1922, an occupied police chowki (small hut) was set fire by a nationalist mob, killing 22 of the police occupants.

Background

In early 1922, India was amidst a nationwide revolt now recognized as the Non-Cooperation Movement, which protested authoritarian laws like the Rowlatt Acts of 1919, and lack of human freedom and self-government for Indians in their own country.

Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of the nationwide revolts organized by the Indian National Congress based upon civil disobedience, or Satyagraha by peaceful means alone.

Cause

According to the 1982 film Gandhi, a bio-epic by Richard Attenborough on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, the incident was caused when a group of policemen attacked a few members of a passing nationalist demonstration.

Angered by the assault on their comrades, the demonstrators chased the policemen

Consequences

The British government imposed martial law and police fired upon other demonstrations in different parts of the country. British civilians were attacked, while scores of Indians were arrested or killed.

Mahatma Gandhi asked all Indians to end civil disobedience, and went on a fast-unto-death to absolve himself of what he perceived as his role in inciting the attacks. Gandhi felt that he had acted too hastily in encouraging a revolt against British Raj, while not emphasizing the importance of ahimsa (non-violence) and not training the resisters enough. Due to his fast and the exhortation of Congress leaders, Indians gave up civil resistance.

On 10 March 1922, he was arrested and sentenced to six years imprisonment.

Despite several heapings of criticism, from being called a confused man to being called a British lackey, he did not waver on the correctness of the decision. Writing in 1928, he said, " this date I have felt that I have served the country by calling off the non-co-operation movement. I am confident that history

Modern assessment

The Chauri Chaura incident is viewed by many modern historians as a minor episode of violence, which while regrettable, did not merit the cancellation of a nation's demand for political freedom.

Supporters of Gandhi's point of view agree with his decision, as it was feared by Gandhi that Chauri Chaura was not an isolated incident, but a shocking episode in a rising trend of violence between protestors and police, which could have de-generated into an orgy of mob violence, which would justify martial law and police suppression of even more civil liberties.

Thus the spiral of violence would wreck the wider agenda and organization, while maligning India's patriots as bloodthirsty murderers in the eyes of the world.

See also

• • Indian Independence Movement
  • Mahatma Gandhi, Satyagraha, Gandhism