Indians believed that after the end of the First World War the British Government, By accepting the demand of Home Rule being made by Indians for a long time, the Indians would be relieved, but the British Government rejected the demand for Home Rule and announced the formation of Rowlatt Committee in AD 1919. Due to this, the Congress was badly damaged and the hideous imperialist face of the British was exposed once again.
The Rowlatt Committee recommended the implementation of two Acts - the first act provided that Indians should not be given the right of appeal in certain special cases and those cases should be heard in private in special courts. There was also a provision in this Act that any person should be taken prisoner only on the basis of suspicion. In the second act suggested by the committee, there was a provision that if any person is found in possession of objectionable documents, then he should be given imprisonment for two years.
It also provided that if a person is suspected to have committed a criminal offence, then bail should be sought from him. It was clear that the Rowlatt Committee had recommended brazen violations of the civil rights of Indians. Due to this excitement spread all over India.
There was a strong reaction in Gujarat against the Rowlatt Act. In Ahmedabad, a furious mob set fire to the police station, wirehouse and other government buildings and protested against this black law by protesting from place to place. A general meeting was organized on the day of Baisakhi on 13 April 1919 in Amritsar, Punjab province. General Dyer opened indiscriminate fire on a gathering of unarmed and innocent people, killing 379 people and injuring 1137.
Congress demanded an inquiry into the misdeeds of General Dyer. The Congress expected that Gandhiji would do something against the Rowlatt Act, but Gandhiji was ill, so he could not take any decision and nothing could be done till December 1919. In the Calcutta session of December 1919, the Congress passed a resolution that a movement of Satyagraha and civil disobedience should be launched against the Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala massacre.
After the resolution was passed, nothing was done again for a year. In December 1920, the annual session of the Congress was held in Nagpur, which was presided over by Vijay Raghavacharya. In this session again the proposal of Satyagraha movement was repeated. Congress was passing the resolution at the behest of Gandhiji
But Gandhiji himself was not able to lead it. That's why Gandhiji decided to start the Satyagraha movement from Gujarat so that Vallabhbhai Patel could lead it.