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Chauri Chaura Incident country. It created employment for a large number
of people, and they were drawn into the national
Chauri Chaura is a small village in Gorakhpur, a movement for freedom.
district in Uttar Pradesh. On 5 February, 1922,
about 3,000 peasants took out a procession. The Swaraj Party
police fired at the procession without any The question before the Congress was whether to
provocation. The people got angry at this and participate in the Government of India Act , 1919 or
retaliated. They set the police station on fire in not. The majority of the leaders were opposed to it,
which 22 policemen were burnt alive. while Pt. Motilal Nehru and C.R. Das were in favour

Following this incident, Gandhiji called off the of it. They said that the Congress should enter the
movement; he emphasised that the movement had councils, not to cooperate, but to non-cooperate.
to be non-violent and peaceful. He did not agree The Congress did not agree to their view, so these
with many leaders who wanted to continue with two leaders formed a separate party called the
the movement. Swaraj Party .
Gandhiji was charged with The Swaraj Party fought in the elections with good
fomenting disaffection success. The Congress leaders too cooperated with
against the government it later, as the party proved the futility of the
and was sentenced to six reforms under the Government of India Act, 1919.
years imprisonment, but Important Leaders of the Time
he was released two years
later due to illness. Chauri Chaura Incident In addition to Gandhiji, Motilal Nehru and C.R. Das,
a number of other leaders worked on the national
Impact of Non-cooperation Movement : The Non- scene. The important ones were Dr. Rajendra
cooperation Movement had far-reaching impact, as Prasad, Dr. Ansari and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
the people shed their fear and became bold and Some young leaders too emerged, such as
patriotic. They were no more afraid of prison. The Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose.
Indian National Congress became a revolutionary
organisation because the national movement for
freedom had not become a mass movement before
this.
Constructive Programme

After the Non-cooperation Movement was called
off, the Congress concentrated on the constructive Pt. Motilal Nehru C.R. Das Dr. Rajendra Prasad
programme. This programme was further
strengthened after the release of Gandhiji from jail
in 1924. This programme aimed at cultivating
Hindu-Muslim unity and eradicating the evil of
untouchability. All leaders stressed on the
promotion of khadi. It was made mandatory for all
Congress leaders and Dr. Ansari Sardar Vallabhbhai Subhash Chandra
Patel Bose
workers to wear
khadi. Khadi and The base of the Congress widened with the
charkha became the participation of peasants, workers and other
symbols of national people. The young leaders of the Congress wanted
movement. Yarn was to reconstruct the society on the basis of equality
spun publicly. The and justice. They were influenced by the Russian
khadi stores were Revolution of 1917 and favoured socialism in order
opened all over the Charkha to get rid of poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.
Contemporary Social Science-8
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