द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

124 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
the revolutionary movement was raising its head again and
it was therefore necessary to resort to speedy suppression.
Though the arrests created considerable resentment at the
time, it was not followed by any further developments and the
excitement gradually subsided. After a year, the Government
decided to repeat those tactics again. They did not know
how to suppress the Swaraj Party otherwise. The activities
of the Party, except in the case of the Tarakeswar Satyagraha
and similar campaigns, were carried on within the bounds of
the law, but they caused considerable embarrassment to the
Government; nevertheless the Government could not take
any legal proceedings against the Swarajists. All attempts to
suppress the Tarakeswar Satyagraha campaign had not only
failed but had served to evoke greater enthusiasm on the part
of the people. In sheer desperation the Government therefore
decided to strike at the root of the organisation and since
that was not possible through a trial in a court of law, they
resolved to imprison some of the principal organisers of the
Swaraj Party without trial.
On October 25th, 1924, in the early hours of the morning,
they made a clean sweep of a large number of Congressmen
in Calcutta and other places in Bengal. These arrests were
made partly under Regulation III of 1818, and partly under
an emergency ordinance (called the Bengal Ordinance) pro-
mulgated by the Viceroy at midnight on October 24th.
This ordinance conferred on the Government of Bengal
powers of arrest and imprisonment similar to those conferred
on the Government of India by Regulation III of 1818, and
the ordinance was issued in order to help the Government of
Bengal to order arrest and imprisonment without trial of
persons in Bengal, without any reference to the Government
of India. Among those arrested were two prominent Swarajist
members of the Bengal Legislative Council, Mr. Anil Baran
Roy and Mr. S. C. Mitra,¹ and myself. Some of the warrants
as in the case of three of us, had been issued under the
Regulation, whereas in the case of the others, they had been
¹ Mr. Ail Baron Roy has since retired from politics and joined the
Ashrama of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh at Pondicherry. Mr. S. C. Mitra has
since joined the Assembly and been a prominent member of the Opposition
between 1928 and 1934.