Historical Figures

37. The country accepted the decision to stop the Satyagraha movement only after Patel's support

Satyagraha movement was going on in full swing across the country. Due to this the condition of the British government became weak. People were eating sticks and there were agitations, dharnas, processions and demonstrations. The people of the country, having full faith in the principle of non-violence, did not raise their hands on the police anywhere. On 5 February 1922, at a place called Chauri Chaura in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), people took out a peaceful procession in protest against the policies of the government.

The police opened fire on innocent people to teach a lesson to the agitators. People were brutally beaten up by running in the streets. On this the public also became furious and hundreds of people got furious and surrounded the police station. The policemen entered the police station to save their lives. On this the public set the police station on fire. In this fire, 21 policemen were burnt to death. When this news came to Gandhiji, he called off the Satyagraha movement saying that he would not carry out a movement in which violence took place.

Due to this decision of Gandhiji, the people of the country were furious against the Congress. In the eyes of the public, the incident of Chauri Chaura was not so big, due to which the question of national independence should also be left out. Even within the Congress, voices started rising against Gandhiji. Leaders like Motilal Nehru, Lala Lajpat Rai, Subhash Chandra Bose, Chittaranjan Das and Jawaharlal Nehru etc. openly criticized Gandhiji and called Gandhiji's decision a big mistake. Gandhiji fell alone. Neither within the Congress nor outside the Congress, Gandhiji did not get support from anywhere. Gandhiji also included the Khilafat movement started by Muslims in his non-cooperation movement in 1920.

Therefore, with the closure of the non-cooperation movement, the Khilafat movement also stopped. That is why Muslims also raised their voice against Gandhiji. In such difficult times, Vallabhbhai, defending Gandhiji, said that a true soldier is one who obeys his commander, when the commander asks to move forward, the soldier proceeds without caring for his life and when the commander asks to retreat So the soldier retreated without hesitation. After supporting Vallabhbhai, the Congress leaders became silent.

When the Satyagraha movement was suspended, Sardar Patel engaged in constructive work. He started the work of collecting funds for Gujarat Vidyapeeth. He accumulated ten lakh rupees by running very hard, which was a huge amount in that era.