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

THE STORM BREAKS 77
brothers in September, following the Khilafat Conference
at Karachi. Two other incidents are worth mentioning—the
‘Akali’ movement in the Punjab and the Moplah rebellion in
Malabar in the south. The Akalis were a section among the
Sikhs analogous to the Puritans among the Christians. They
wanted primarily to reform the administration of the Sikh
shrines or Gurudwaras. These shrines were mostly very rich
and were administered by a set of ‘Mohants,’ who though
required to act merely as trustees living an ascetic and abste-
mious life, generally lived a thoroughly disreputable life at the
public expense. The Akalis wanted to dispossess these
Mohants and bring the shrines under the administration of
popular committees. As always happens in an enslaved
country, the Government rallied to the support of the vested
interests—the Mohants. Thus a movement directed against
the Mohants soon developed into a movement against the
Government. The tactics of the Akalis were in keeping with
the Congress policy of non-violent non-co-operation and
consisted in sending ‘Jathas’ or groups of men and women
to take possession of the shrines. They were arrested and
put into prison or mercilessly beaten and forcibly dispersed.
This movement went on for a year till in November 1922 the
Government came to its senses and introduced legislation in
the Punjab Legislative Council to concede what the Akalis
had demanded from the beginning. The Moplahs of Malabar
were a section of the Moslem community. Their rising was
directed against the local Hindus; nevertheless it was also an
attack on the Government and as such, caused them con-
siderable anxiety and embarrassment. It has significance
also because it was the first incident to loosen Hindu-Moslem
unity.
In spite of these isolated phenomena of revolt, till November
1921 there was no sign of a country-wide conflict, far less of
the Swaraj promised ‘within one year.’ Congress circles were
therefore getting uneasy and depressed, when the Govern-
ment came to the rescue. An announcement was made that
the Prince of Wales would visit India and that he would
land in Bombay on November 17th. The motive behind
the visit was, of course, to assuage public feeling and rally