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

THE STORM BREAKS 71
measures were taken to force the new Act on the district.
Forcible seizure of property, harassment and prosecution
of the villagers, intimidation by military police and by
soldiers—all were tried but without success. The orgy of
repression continued throughout the year 1921, but the Act
had ultimately to be withdrawn in 1922. The success of this
no-tax campaign gave considerable strength and self-con-
fidence to the people of Midnapore and popularity to their
leader, Mr. B. N. Sasmal.
It is necessary to interrupt our narrative here and to refer
to the attitude adopted by the authorities in 1921. At first,
the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, did not take Mahatma Gandhi
seriously. In January, the Duke of Connaught, uncle of the
present King, visited India with the object of inaugurating
the new legislatures. His visit was boycotted by the Indian
National Congress and there were boycott demonstrations
wherever the Duke went. These demonstrations annoyed
the Government of India and their attitude of indifferent
neutrality began to change slowly. In April, Lord Chelmsford
was succeeded by Lord Reading, the brilliant ex-Lord Chief
Justice of England. Soon after his arrival, in the month of
May, an interview was arranged between him and Mahatma
Gandhi. At this interview, Lord Reading gave an assurance
to the Mahatma that he would not interfere with the work of
the Congress as long as there was no resort to violence. He
further stated that in a speech of his, Moulana Mohammed
Ali, the right-hand man of the Mahatma, had made an appeal
for resorting to violence and that the Government were
thinking of prosecuting him. The Mahatma promised to see
to it that the Moulana gave a public assurance that he would
eschew violence in every way and this promise was duly
carried out. Though there was nothing wrong or humiliating
in the whole affair, to the public eye it appeared as if both
the Mahatma and the Moulana had been outmanœuvred by
the astute Viceroy. Though the contemplated prosecution
of Moulana Mohammed Ali was dropped after this interview,
he and other Moslem leaders were arrested in September
for their participation in the Khalifat Conference at Karachi
in August and were sentenced to two years' 'rigorous im-