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Pritilata Kalpana Cellular jail
Waddedar Datta in Andaman Procession of ‘Simon Go Back’ Govind Ballabh Pant
The government dealt with the revolutionaries Declaration for Swaraj
severely. The revolutionaries were often executed, The Nehru Committee was formed to give
sentenced to death penalties or given long terms
recommendations about the movement. It
of imprisonment. The Cellular Jail in Andaman recommended that it was useless to ask anything
was called the Kala Pani where most of the less than complete Swaraj (independence) from
revolutionaries were imprisoned.
the government. This committee also framed a
F ind Outind Out Constitution for India.
Why was the Andaman cellular jail built? The Congress asked the government to accept the
Constitution by 31 December, 1929, failing which
Any way, the revolutionaries too realised that it
it threatened to start the movement for Swaraj.
was not possible to remove the powerful British
by force, so they participated in the national Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy, only agreed to
movement for freedom, which was going to start release the political prisoners and have a round
once again. table conference. The Congress was not satisfied,
so it declared complete Swaraj as its goal at its
Simon Commission
annual session in Lahore in 1929. It also decided
In 1927, the British government appointed a that 26 January would be celebrated as the
commission to look into the working of the Independence Day each year. 26 January, 1930
reforms under the Government of India Act, 1919 was observed as the first Independence Day.
and suggest further measures for reforms. Its
chairman was John Simon, after whose name it FOURTH PHASE : 1929-39
was called the Simon Commission. The
After the declaration of complete Swaraj as the
Commission had no Indian member in it, so the
goal in 1929, the political atmosphere of India
Congress, at its session in Madras, decided to grew more intense. Gandhiji placed 11 demands
boycott it. The Muslim League also participated in
before the government and declared that if these
the boycott. All parties, people and groups joined
demands were not met by the government, the
hands to protest against the Commission. Civil Disobedience Movement would be started.
Wherever the Commission went, the people
The demands included the release of all political
welcomed it with black flags and slogans ‘Simon prisoners and abolition of Criminal Investigation
Go Back ’.
Department (CID), in addition to other demands
The British government dealt with the protesters of economic nature.
severely. Lathi-charges and firings were resorted to
The Viceroy paid no attention to the demands of
in which a large number of protesters were killed Gandhiji. The Congress, therefore, authorised
and injured. Lala Lajpat Rai received severe lathi Gandhiji to start the Civil Disobedience
blows and later succumbed to his injuries. Govind
Movement.
Ballabh Pant was crippled for life in a lathi-charge.
However, the people continued to agitate and Civil Disobedience Movement
brave the brutal batons of the police. On 12 March, 1930, Gandhiji set out from the
Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad with 78
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