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wat was rowlatt satyagraha ?

  • Rowlatt Act of 1919 named after British judge Sir Sidney Rowlatt effectively authorized the government to imprison for a maximum period of two years, without trial, any person suspected of terrorism living in the Raj. The Rowlatt Act gave British imperial authorities power to deal with revolutionary activities. But in this course of action even the innocent people were targeted and had no scope of " vakil, appeal or dalil". By this act, the British severely clamped the rights of Indians. Hence, they opposed this Act.
  • Gandhiji in 1919 decided to launch a nationwide satyagraha against the proposed Rowlatt Act (1919).Mahatma Gandhi wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws, which would start with a hartal on 6 April.Rallies were organised in various cities, workers went on strike in railway workshops, and shops closed down.

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The 'Anarchical and Revolutionary Act, of 1919 was popularly known as the Rowlatt Act.

As the said Act was framed on the basis of a report submitted by a committee headed by Justice Rowlatt, the Act came to be called the 'Rowlatt Act'.

Tumult of protest was raised all over the country immediately after the promulgation of the 'Black Act', as the Rowlatt Act came to be called.

Opposition to the Rowlatt Act took the form of strikes and protest meetings all over the country. It was in the wake of the anti-Rowlatt agitation that Gandhiji, who had so long been sitting on the periphery of politics, took an active part in it.

Gandhiji had successfully applied the weapon of Satyagraha among the Indians in the Champaran district in Bihar as also in the city of Ahmedabad and the district of Kaira in Gujarat.

In their struggle against the Rowlatt Act the same weapons of non-violence and Satyagraha were applied. In organising the ensuing political move­ment Gandhiji constituted a 'Satyagraha Sabha' in Bombay of which he himself was the President.

Meetings were held all over the coun­try in protest, and people were invited to sign a Satyagraha pledge. In the pledge people, took the vow that they would not deviate from the path of nom-violence under any circumstances.

People all over the country responded magnificently to Gandhiji's call, and the hartal of 6 April (1919) was widely observed.

It must, however, be remem­bered that in face of the police oppression the 'volunteers or the Satyagrahis did not or rather could not remain non-violent every­where.

Anyway, the famous Jallianwalabag incident opened a new horizon in the national movement of the Indian people.

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The Rowlatt Act was a law passed by the British in colonial India in March 1919, indefinitely extending "emergency measures" (of theDefence of India Regulations Act) enacted during the First World War in order to control public unrest and root out conspiracy. Passed on the recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee, named for its president, British judge Sir Sidney Rowlatt, this act effectively authorized the government to imprison for a maximum period of two years, without trial, any person suspected of terrorism living in the Raj. The Rowlatt Act gave British imperial authorities power to deal with revolutionary activities.

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