The Speech of the Hon. Mr. Macpherson, Member of Government, at the
meeting of the Legislative Council Patna,
_24th January 1922_
Sir, I desire to intervene at this stage of the debate, because I think
it is proper that the House should know what the facts of the situation
are before they make speeches and commit themselves to views which I
hope they will be prepared to change after they know what the facts of
the situation really are. I must ask your indulgence, if I find that
what I have to say on this important occasion will take me beyond the
usual time limits.
This is not the first occasion on which the Government of Behar and
Orissa have explained to the public their attitude towards the
non-co-operation movement and their reasons for the action taken on the
10th December last, which forms the subject of this Resolution. As the
council is well aware, His Excellency the Governor received, a few days
after that date, an influential deputation of Council Members and
explained to them under what circumstances Government had been forced in
defence of the public safety to take action under the criminal Law
Amendment Act. An account of that deputation was published in all the
newspapers which are commonly read in this Province and I trust it has
been carefully perused by all the members of Council. I shall be
pardoned if, when I come to discuss the expediency of action taken by
Government, I go over again the ground covered by the communique which
was issued on that occasion.
What was the position with which the Local Government were faced in the
beginning of that month? During the past twelve months they have seen
these associations growing in number and boldness, spreading unrest
throughout the public life of the Province, poisoning and confusing the
minds of simple people, interfering with liberty of action, and not
infrequently having to resort to force in order to compel obedience to
their mandates. I have here a long list of cases in which persuasion was
supplemented by force, sometimes force of a very disgraceful kind but I
will not worry the Council by citing instances. This Province was not
alone in these experiences, the organization of a volunteer
revolutionary army was proceeding apace in neighbouring provinces also.
The danger was being gradually realized by the Government of India and
by other Local Governments, and before the end of November action under
the Criminal Law Amendment Act had been taken by the Governments of the
Punjab, the United Provinces Delhi, Bengal, and Assam. The Government of
Bihar and Orissa stayed their hand till further inaction would have been
criminal folly. The two circumstances which brought matters to a head in
this province were
1 the immediate imminence of the introduction of the civil disobedience
movement, particularly in the Tirhut Division, and,
2 the intensive preparations which were being made to organize a
hostile _hartal_ in Patna City against the visit of His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales on the 22nd and 23rd December. I know that certain
local non-co-operation leaders have denied that there was any intention
to start the civil disobedience movement within the Province during the
month of December or even up to the present date, and we have been told
that the Patna _Hartal_ was a spontaneous movement on the part of the
citizens. I think the Council will not be deceived by either of these
assurances. After all Government had to follow the evidence at their
disposal. There is one well-known leader of the local non-co-operation
camp, called Mr. Dip Narayan Singh. At a meeting held at Bhagalpur on
the 16th November this gentleman outlined the programme which the
leaders intended to follow. According to him a notice calling upon
Government to grant _Swaraj_ within seven days would first be served
upon the chief civil officer present in the locality selected for civil
disobedience, subsequently the residents of the particular locality
would be directed to disobey all orders and laws of Government and to
refuse to pay taxes, register documents, etc. At the same time police
stations and courts would be surrounded and the officials told to
deposit their uniforms and other badges of offices. Thereafter police
stations and courts would be treated as _Swaraj_ property. On the top
of this declaration of policy, the Local Government had information
that the first experiment would be made with the Basantpur police
station in the Chapra District. Now this has been denied by the
Congress party but the intention was an open secret. I was told about
it after our last session by a member of this Council, who shall be
nameless, and apart from our police reports, we had it on the authority
of the _Motherland_ dated the 26th November, that Chapra had been
selected as the first object of attack. This is what the _Motherland_
of November 29th, 1921, says. The heading is--
"+Civil Disobedience in Behar.+"
And the message runs:
"A meeting of the Provincial Congress Committee was held at Patna on
Sunday last. 33 delegates were elected for the coming session of the
Indian National Congress at Ahmadabad. It was also resolved upon to form
a volunteer corps in pursuance of the resolution of the All India
Working Committee. The matter of selecting a suitable area for preparing
it for Civil Disobedience was referred to the Provincial Working
Committee which met on Monday last and decided in favour of Chapra in
preference to the claims of Katra Thana in the district of Muzaffarpur,
which were backed up by Muhammad Shafi."
The _Motherland_ is a local organ of the revolutionary party and the
property of Mr. Mazharul Haqq, who is the one of the shining lights in
that camp, and presumably is in the confidance of the party. We know
also from the public press that the previous volunteer associations, our
old friends, the 'Khilafat' the 'Congress' and the 'Swaraj' volunteers
were to be replaced by a new organization to be called the "National
Volunteers" and we knew from our own reports that the particular name to
be affected by the new organization of non-violent volunteers in Behar
was the _Qaumi Sebak Dal_. Perhaps members of this Council would like to
know something about the organization of this Behar _Sebak Dal_. This is
what we heard about its organization.
Each squad was to consist of 20 volunteers. 20 squads would make a
company _Maha Dal_, in this there would be 400 volunteers. Each squad
would be under an officer.
Over 20 assistants there would be a higher officer. What he would
dictate all the four hundred volunteers would have to observe.
The Bihar _Sebak Dal's_ duty would be "Revolution" even if they had to
sacrifice their lives.
And this is what we were told about their plans of campaign:
It was first to attack all the police-stations of the district and to
take them into their possession, after removing the Inspectors, Jamadars
and the Police.
When the thana had been taken possession of, then the _Kachahri_ would
have to be taken possession of and the _Hakims_ would be removed.
Civil disobedience would commence in Chapra District from village
Basantpur, in Muzaffarpur from thana Katra, and then Sitamarhi.
Such then was the information on which the Local Government had to act.
Does the Council still wonder that action of the nature taken was taken?
To those who protest that the information held by Government was
unreliable I can only reply that it has been fully corroborated not only
by what has happened in other Provinces and by published documents of
the non-co-operation movement but also by what has happened under our
very noses in this Province. The non-co-operators say that it was never
in contemplation to make an attack on Basantpur police-station on the
10th December. We believe that this particular experiment was nipped to
the bud by the Notification of the same date, which found the leaders
assembled at Chapra and threw them into consternation. But how do they
explain the raids which were actually made at a somewhat later date on
the police-station of Sonbarsa, Raghupur and Mahua in the District of
Muzaffarpur, or the attempt to picket the Gaya Civil Courts on the
opening day after the X'mas holidays, which was only frustrated by the
despatch of troops from Patna to Gaya on the previous evening? Were all
these fortuitous and accidental? Do all these evidences of intention
exist only in the heated imagination of the police? I shall have
occasion later to tell the Council what effect these raids have had on
the internal condition of the Muzaffarpur District. My present object is
only to prove that when the Local Government took action under the
Criminal Law Amendment Act on the 10th December, they were fully
justified in believing that the civil disobedience movement would be
started at a very early date in the Tirhut Division.
I do not wish to weary the Council by going into details regarding the
Patna _hartal_. It seemed to Government, and with good reason, that
efforts were being made to impose an intolerable tyranny on the citizens
of Patna at a time when the representatives of the people, who sit in
this Council, had extended to his Royal Highness a most cordial welcome
and had voted a special grant to make that welcome worthy of the
occasion. The object of the non-co-operators was to substitute for the
welcome the same kind of deliberate insult that had been attempted to be
offered to the Royal visitor at Benares and Allahabad. Government, I
say, would have been open to the gravest reproach if it had made no
effort to counteract that mean and wicked project, which was so foreign
to the innate hospitality and reverence of the Indian people, and
particularly repugnant, one would imagine, to the sturdy loyalty of
Bihar. Under this double compulsion then Government decided that the
time had come to follow the example of its neighbours. Members of
Council know as well as I do what followed. There was, as Government
expected there would be, much excitement in the city--the stirring of a
hornet nest always has this sort of reaction.
Sir, let not this Council be deceived by any cry of repression, by any
false appeal for the freedom of association and the freedom of speech.
This Government is not out for repression. It has no desire to interfere
with political activity or freedom of speech. When Mr. Gandhi and his
friends use these phrases, what they mean is license to preach sedition,
and liberty to foment rebellion and revolution. Let us see how the
system works in practice. I will read to the Council a recent report on
condition of the Muzaffarpur District. It is dated the 5th January:--
"The Muzaffarpur District still continues to be in very disturbed state
particularly the Sitamarhi Subdivision, where it is reported that law
and order are decreasing daily and Magistrates are even insulted in
their own Courts. The Sitamarhi Sub-jail is said to be practically in a
state of mutiny, the prisoners shouting and singing all day until about
10 P.M., while on one occasion a warder was rushed and knocked down.
Additional police have been asked for this subdivision and are badly
required. The Masses in this district are said to have no longer any
dread of going to jail owing to the inducements held out to them that
they will be treated as political prisoners and fare better than in
their own homes. The police have come in for more than their fair share
of attention from the non-co-operators during the week and the
Superintendent of Police is of opinion that his force has become
exasperated almost beyond endurance by the gross insults and abuse that
has been heaped upon them.
"On the 26th December 1921, about 200 volunteers escorted by a large and
noisy mob forced their way into the Sonbarsa Thana compound in the
Sitamarhi Subdivision, carrying swaraj flag and repeating the Delhi
fatwa. The thana police were told that to remain in Government service
was for a Hindu equivalent to eating cow's flesh and for a Muhammadan to
eating pig. Later the crowd became more insulting and abusive and though
seven of the ringleaders were arrested, the crowd did not disperse until
nearly midnight. Following this incident the whole of the thana staff
were boycotted, the services of the barber, washermen and even supplies
of food were stopped, until the divisional inspector succeeded in
intervening.
"At Raghupur Police-station in the same district, 300 volunteers
appeared and told the sub-inspector that on the 1st January they would
plant the swaraj flag in the compound and take possession of the
police-station. At Mahua Police-station, the Police were also grossly
abused and insulted and similar reports have been received by the
Superintendent of Police from other police stations in the district.
"Mention was made in last week's report of a fracas in the Court
compound at Hajipur where alms were being distributed to the poor. This
was followed on the same day by a parade of 100 Sevak Dal volunteers in
front of the Hajipur police-station who shouted _Sarkar ki nokri karna
haram hai_ and grossly abused the Police.
"Reports received from factories also indicate a serious state of unrest
in the Mufassal. Mr. G. P. Danby writing from Bowarrah factory mentions
that noisy shouting bands of volunteers are moving about the country
making themselves a general nuisance and that to all appearance mob law
prevails. The Belsand Factory in this district is reported to have been
surrounded on the 4th January by a large mob shouting _Gandhi ki jai_.
Europeans and loyal Indians are expressing their disappointment that
Government did not continue strong measures against the non-co-operation
movement."
That is a police report, and lest the Council may think it is highly
coloured I will read a shorter note of the Divisional Commissioner, Mr.
Scroope, who is a man of sober judgment.
Mr. Mansfield, Subdivisional Officer Sitamarhi, came to see me yesterday
before I left for Bankipur. He is a level-headed officer and in no sense
an alarmist. He informed me that the police are no longer able to deal
with non-co-operators in Sitamarhi town. The latter are practically in
possession of the liquor shops which they now picket with impunity. They
also haunt the neighbourhood of the Court and create much noise and
disorder during the trial to political cases. They ask to be arrested
and some of them who have been placed under trial under section 290,
Indian Penal Code have been grossly insulting to the Magistrate. The
journeys to and from Court of persons under trial for a political
offence are made regular occasions for noisy demonstrations and abuse of
Government. Mr. Mansfield's considered opinion is that non-co-operators
are now entirely out of hand, that the existing police force is quite
unequal to the task of keeping them in check and that law and order have
practically ceased to exist in Sitamarhi town.
The sub-jail can only be described as in a state of mutiny. It is much
overcrowded containing about 90 inmates (I am not certain of the exact
number; almost all are under trials) and certain influential
non-co-operators under trials have been preaching defiance and
insubordination to their companions. The result is a total absence of
discipline; the undertrials sing and shout at the top of their voices
throughout the day and most of the night and any attempts on the part of
the warders to enforce order and obedience are wholly ignored.
Here is a latter report of the doings of one of these roving bands of
whom mention is made in the police report. The Superintendent of Police
writes on the 21st January.
At the same time I received a telegram from Mr. Gray, Meanchupra.
"All roads here stopped by volunteers. No carts or servants allowed
works. Come if possible, position critical".