Unfortunately, however, Khilafat agitators, who had publicly announced
in the press of the 18th November that Barabanki Tahsil was being
prepared for civil disobedience by the end of November, considered this
act a suitable one to infringe. They redoubled their efforts and
collected considerable sums, mainly for the Angora Fund, both through
members of the 46 Khilafat committees established in this district and
by itinery volunteers, who were paid for their services, either by fixed
monthly salaries or by a percentage on collections. Between the 19th and
24th December, four volunteers were arrested under Section 7 (1) and 17
(2) of the Act, and these arrests were reported to have had a temporary
beneficial effect. By the 3rd January, when the District delegates
returned from the Ahmedabad conference, the leaders decided to take
action openly. On the 4th it was reported to me that large numbers of
volunteers would march into the city under the command of their zemindar
leaders. No precise information however, could be obtained as to their
intentions. On the morning of the 7th January batches of volunteers
began to issue chiefly from the Congress Office from which was hung a
Khilafat flag and a large notice calling on people to enlist as
volunteers. These volunteers were mostly from outside villages and were
headed by petty zemindars. They were all Mahomedans and had been worked
up to a high pitch of religious enthusiasm. Many of them had their
Qurans slung round their necks. They had apparently been incited to a
state bordering on religious frenzy by exhortations from their leaders,
that their religion was being destroyed by the British Government. They
were wild in their abuse of Government, officials and specially the
Police. The whole religious street in front of the Congress office
resounded with religious shouts and cries of "Victory to Islam". The cry
of "Allah ho Akbar" was uttered as a war cry with fanatical zeal,
specially when any arrests were made.