Chauri Chaura

India's culture today has been influenced by several factors. India has a rich culture and diverse history. The Legacy of Indian history is celebrated even today by remembering how the Indian revolutionaries fought the first battle of independence in 1857. How we carried out the famous no obedience act and the go back Simon movement. However, not all the incidents that have occurred in our past are to be celebrated. Some incidents like the Chauri Chaura massacre boil the blood of several Indians even today. 

The Chauri Chaura incident is one such incident that has left a wound on the minds of the Indians and continues to haunt the families of the victims even today. This page in the book of history shall forever be remembered for a horrifying massacre that still gives goosebumps to every patriot. Today let us understand what exactly happened during the Chauri Chaura movement and learn all about the Chauri Chaura incident. 

The Chauri Chaura Massacre

The date, the 4th of February 1922, will be remembered as a horrific date for the years to come. It was on this date that the dreadful Chauri Chaura tragedy took place. During this period, the non-cooperation movement was in its full-fledged force. The followers of Gandhiji were all around the country supporting the non-violent movement, non-cooperation movement. The non-cooperation movement had started as a nonviolent campaign with an intention to oppose the oppressive policies of the British. However, on the 4th of February, the movement took a violent turn. The Chauri Chaura history is a tale of bloodshed. The infamous Chauri Chaura tragedy took place in the Gorakhpur province of the British governed India. The region lies in Uttar Pradesh today. The movement was not just a one-day thing and had a series of events that built it up. To understand how and why things unfolded and led to bloodshed, let us take a look at the timeline and understand about Chauri Chaura incident and what factors led to such an outburst. 

The Build-up to the Chauri Chaura Massacre

A volcano erupts only after years of pressure and heat accumulates. Similarly, violence and retributions happen only after years of oppression and build-up. The Chauri Chaura massacre was a volcano that erupted after years of heat and pressure.

1. Britishers impose oppressive policies and compel the citizens to buy only British-made goods and abandon all Indian products. High taxes are levied on British goods, and Indian goods are publicly shamed. 

2. Gandhiji believed that the policy of enforcing British goods onto Indians and compelling them to buy British goods was unjust. As a result, the non-cooperation movement is declared by the Indian Congress and was headed by Gandhi himself. 

3. Gandhiji speaks publicly about his views on the non-cooperation movement. He declares that the non-cooperation movement is meant to be non-violent, and he expresses his wish about the non-cooperation movement not resulting in any bloodshed. Gandhiji says that the means of protest must be greatly non-violent. The following was to be done in order to express non-cooperation with the Britishers.

• Give up all the governmental titles and honours. Widespread giving up of government jobs was to be done.

• Government schools, colleges, and other buildings were to be abolished

• Youth were to be discouraged from joining the British Indian army

• As an extreme measure, the paying of taxes was to be stopped

4. The non-cooperation movement aimed to bring in the sense of swaraj or self-dependency. The movement aimed at making India independent of needing the Britishers for the administration of the territory. It was the first attempt at making people believe that Indians are capable of administering their own territory and do not need a foreign body to govern them.

5. The citizens of the country looked up to this movement and believed that the movement had the potential within it. The movement was a grand success when considering the participation level. Citizens from all over India participated actively in this movement. Several honourable members of the British Indian society who had achieved respectable titles such as that of the noble gave their titles up, government buildings were abolished by the citizens and the Indians who worked in the British government or the army quit their jobs. 

6. The movement was headed smoothly. However, the tragic incident that took place on 4th  February 1922 changed the course of the movement. The Chauri Chaura massacre was responsible for shaking the movement by its roots. 

7. On 2nd February 1922, at Chauri Chaura in the Gorakhpur province, a group of peaceful protestors was peacefully protesting against the high prices of meat. It was a group of about 150 peaceful protestors headed by a few local leaders. They were protesting at the central marketplace of Chauri Chaura, and none of the protestors carried any arms. Although the nature of the protest was highly non-violent, a group of policemen beat up the protestors and also arrested and detained their leaders.

8. After this incident, the protestors were shell-shocked and wanted to seek revenge. As a result, they planned another protest against the police force. 

9. On the 4th of February, the planned protest was put into execution. Around 2500 protestors marched towards a liquor shop in the centre of the Chauri Chaura market. They marched with an intention to picket the liquor shop selling British-made liquor. This was to show resentment towards the high taxes levied by the Britishers on all the commodities. 

10. During the protest, a prominent local leader of the group was put behind bars and dragged into the police station. This enraged the protestors and added fuel to the fire. This event acted as a trigger point for the protestors. 

11. To counter this, the protestors decided to march towards the police station in order to show their resentment and demand for the respectful release of their prominent leaders who had been arrested.

12. To counter the protestors, the police officers fired bullets into the sky in order to scare away the protestors. The attempt to scare away the protestors, however, backfired. This agitated the protestors further and resulted in the protestors pelting stones onto the police station and the police officers. 

13. The pelting was damaging the police station and injuring the police officers. Things started to go out of hand, and to control things; the sub-inspector open fired on the crowd, which resulted in killing 3 people. This greatly triggered the crowd and led to the crowd getting rebellious. The mob then charged towards the sub-inspector in order to attack. This time the rebellion was far from peaceful. They carried flambeaus and machetes with them and lit the police station up in flames. This led to the killing of all the policemen inside the police station. Around 22 police officers were charred to death. The Chauri Chaura violence and Chauri Chaura history is a tale of bloodshed, agony, and ruthless killing. 

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14. In response to this, the British government imposed martial laws and put curbs over any move to prevent the further spread of violence. More than 100 people were arrested during this period of restricted activity. 

15. The government took this spread of violence seriously and conducted an investigation. About 228 people who were found to be connected with the Chauri Chaura massacre people were tried in the court of law. 6 of the arrested people died in police custody, and after an 8 month-long trial, 172 people were sentenced to death. 

16. After about a year of the Chauri Chaura tragedy, the British government constructed a memorial in respect of the dead policemen.

17. In 1973, post-independence, a shaheed smarak was built to pay respect to the 19 people who were executed to death by the Britishers. 

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