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

276 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
for non-co-operation and the leaders of the Jamiat soon found
themselves in prison. This decision of the Jamiat considerably
strengthened the position of the Nationalist Moslems, who
had all along been an integral part of the Congress, and of the
Moslems of the Frontier Province who were going through
the worst form of official repression. Nevertheless, the odds
were against the Congress. In Bombay, which had been the
storm centre in 1930, Hindu-Moslem riots broke out in May
and dragged on for nearly six weeks. Owing to this outbreak,
the Congress campaign in Bombay suffered a terrible set-back
from which it could not recover. In Gujerat, the harassed,
persecuted and impoverished peasantry could no longer
wage the brave fight of which they could boast in 1930. In
the United Provinces, after some months, the no-rent
campaign could not make further headway in the face of
official repression. In Bengal, more serious than the civil-
disobedience movement was the terrorist campaign of the
revolutionaries. But though terrorism was a thorn to the
Government, it brought untold hardship on the people, since
several districts like Chittagong, Midnapore and Dacca were
virtually handed over to martial law and the innocent
villagers were subjected to heavy collective fines for the
misdeeds committed by unknown people. During the year
a liberal use was made of fire-arms for dispersing Congress
demonstrations. Replying to a question in the Indian Legis-
lative Assembly, the Home member to the Government of
India, Mr. (now Sir) H. G. Haig stated that in dispersing
'assemblies, firing was resorted to seventeen times in Bengal,
seven times in the United Provinces, three times in Bihar
and Orissa, once in Madras Presidency, once in the Frontier
Province—while in Bombay Presidency the casualties from
shooting, were thirty-four killed and ninety-one wounded.
In this situation, when the Congress was engaged in a life
and death struggle, an unexpected development took place
which led to a complete side-tracking of the civil-disobedience
movement in the country. That was the fast of Mahatma
Gandhi on September 20th, 1932.
On March 11th, the Mahatma had written to Sir Samuel
Hoare informing him that in keeping with what he had