In the country at that time new political development were taking place fast. The militant activities of the revolutionary groups was spreading fastly. On the political scene a new leader named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was emerging. British government was trying to control the situation with harsh policies and repressive measures. The government was planning to make more draconian laws to deal with the militants and crush the spirit of the people. It formed a committee under justice Rawlett to gather information on the revolutionary activities of militants and to suggest a law to curb them. The people were told that the committee was meant to suggest administrative reforms. The committee submitted a 226 page report after investigations. The report was based on the thinking of the police authorities. It propose severe curtailment of the fundamental rights of Indians. The police was to get sweeping powers. It could house arrest, or search any one without a warrant. The suspected people could be tried and punished without any solid evidence. The British government accepted the report and prepared to make it into a law named Rawlett Act.
When the Rawlett report was made public a wave of discontent swept through the country. The Congress party called it murder of the human right of Indians. It opposed it with tooth and nail. Gandhiji warned to the British government of ‘Satyagraha’ movement against it.
On 30th March, 1919 Gandhiji called for a nationwide strike in protest. The strike was complete in Delhi. A big protest march was organised. The procession was being led by Swami Shradhananda, a prominent leader of Arya Samaj. He continued the march inspite of the repeated warnings and threats of the police authorities.
When the procession reached infront of Delhi railway station a British police officer ordered the police to lathi charge. As the situation worsened the policemen opened fire. Five people died and many were hurt. The protest march was taken out jointly by Hindu and Muslims. Earlier Swamiji spoke at the famous Jama Masjid and he recited some Vedic mantras as well. It was a unique example of the Hindu-Muslim unity which had greatly annoyed the British. Spreading communal hatred between Hindus and Muslims was the favourite game of the British. But against Rawlett Act they were standing side by side, a cause for worry for the government.
The Rawlett Act was being opposed all over the country. Dr. Kichlew and Satyapal were busy making preparations for the Congress session that was to be held in Amritsar city of Punjab. The authorities arrested both the party functionaries and took them to some unknown destination. Their arrest angered the people and violence broke out in Amritsar. Five whites lost their lives. The angry mob burnt down several houses. Dr. Satyapal sent a letter to Gandhiji to reach the troubled city to calm down the people. Gandhiji at once set out for Punjab. But he was detained at Palwal and forced to go back. It further angered the people. They came out on the roads with black flags. The towns and the cities observed strikes. Processions were taken out. Anti-Rawlet Act slogans rant the air. It was a time of great unrest.
The police was acting in a very inhuman way. It lathi charged the crowds. The people were being beaten up mercilessly in bazaars. Large scale arrests were taking place and the jail were becoming overcrowded. Punjab was in turmoil. British government wanted people to stop demonstrations and desist from going on strikes. But the people ignored all pleas and warnings. And the agitation continued as it was building up into the full fledged freedom struggle.
Jalianwala Bagh massacre
A protest meeting against Rawlett Act was organised in the Jalianwala Bagh of Amritsar as thousands of people men, woman and children gathered there to celebrate Baisakhi festival like any other year. The protest meeting was just a side show but it attracted a sizable gathering because of the prevailing atmosphere of anger against the British. The bagh (garden) infact was a enclosed space surrounded by high walls. The entry was narrow passage through which only barefoot could enter or exit. It was too narrow for vehicles.
The speeches began at the protest meeting. A leader named Hansraj came to the mike to begin his address. Just then General O’Dyer arrived there with 150 armed soldiers. A hundred of them were Indians and the rest fifty were British whites. The meeting was going on peacefully. But the blood thirsty General O’Dyer ordered the soldiers to fire at the crowd. The guns boomed and the bullets from 150 barrels rained on the hapless crowd. A barbaric massacre of innocents began. The frightened people ran helter skelter. The people fell over one another. The painful cries of men, women and children filled the air. The butcher O’Dyer had turned Jalianwala Bagh in to a slaughter house. There was a well inside the bagh. Scores of people jumped into it to escape from bullets but few survived as they fell hitting one another. Many tried to scale the walls and several of them slipped down or were shot down. There were dead, injured and maimed bodies all around. General O’Dyer surveyed the scene with a satanic smile with great satisfaction.
It was later reported that in all 1600 rounds were fired. The authorities gave the figures of 400 dead and a few hundred injured. But the independent sources put the figures at much higher levels. Till today the correct figures are not available.
The Congress appointed its own committee to probe ‘Jalianwala Bagh Massacre’. In its report the committee claimed that the real casualty figures were twice than what official reports gave.
Later, General O’Dyer stated that the people taking part in the meeting were asked to disperse. The police had to open fire when they refused to do so. These were all white lies. Whatever happened on that black Baisakhi day, was planned long ago. British wanted to teach a lesson to the people of Punjab because the province was in mutiny against them. It was becoming an inspiration for the other states besides Bengal.
The British government was not satisfied with the ‘Jalianwala Bagh Massacre.’ General O’Dyer was honoured and rewarded as the most faithful and prized soldier of the British Empire. The British became more barbaric with people. The police beat up innocent people who just happened to be going their way. They were made to crawl on the ground and roads. The city was denied water and power supply. The police took over the shops and made the shopkeepers sell goods at prices whatever the policeman fancied. At places it was mandatory for Indians to salute the whiteman they came across. This rule applied on schools too. The student were forced to salute the Union Jack of Britain three times during the school time. They had to take a pledge no to do anything against the British crown.
The agitators were being arrested en-masse and being herded to jails like cattle and sheep. The British made fun of Hindu-Muslim unity. A Hindu and a Muslim was tied with ropes back to back and taken out in a procession through the streets as a living cartoon figure and laughed at. A jail cell used to be packed with around 50 agitators. This kind of tyranny filled every Indian with anger against the rulers.
These news disturbed Chandra Shekhar who was studying at Benaras. The picture was becoming clear to young Chandra Shekhar. His motherland India was a prisoner of British colonial rulers who were seethlessly trying to crush her. The barbaric acts of British authorities made his blood boil. He took a silent pledge to take revenge on the British for their cruelties and torments. He waited for his chance.
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