HISTORY

BRITISH PERIOD

The causes and motives for sedition are innovations in religion, taxes, alterations of laws and customs, breaking of privileges, general oppression, advancement of unworthy persons, strangers, dearths, disbanded soldiers, factions grown desperate and whatsoever in offending people joined them in a common cause." Most if not all these evils had grown and multiplied in India during the forty years between the collapse of Maratha power and the revolt of 1857. In the Nagpur territories a large number of chiefs and landlords had been dispossessed and nursed a genuine grievance against the Government. Similarly legislation such as the Hindu Widows Remarriage Act of 1856 and the Religious Disabilities Act of 1850 together with the aggressive proselytising activities of Christian missionaries created a feeling in the minds of the people that the government was out to destroy their social fabric. The social structure in the country was such that the initiative for leadership had to come from the feudal leaders and it was to them that people looked up for guidance.

Long before the explosion took place in 1857, the inequities and violence that had been committed throughout the country had laid up a store of highly inflammable feelings. The annexation of Nagpur and Satara States was followed by that of Jhanshi and the last Peshva Nana Saheb who was deprived of his pension by Lord Dalhousie, made common cause with the queen of Jhanshi to whom the Government had shown great injustice by refusing recognition of the adoption of a son by her late husband, Raja Gangadhar Rav. Now they found themselves comrades in arms and joined in a grand and desperate adventure to wrest the country from the foreigner's hold. In Nagpur itself there were all the elements favourable for an uprising as a result of recent annexation involving patent injustice. The newspapers which had grown considerably, strongly criticised the annexations by Dalhousie. Among the causes that led to the outbreak of 1857 the newly sprung Indian newspapers should be reckoned as a powerful factor. It may be noted that the discontent had not only increased among the feudal and landowning classes but had also spread among the troops. Nanasaheb, the Rani of Jhanshi and other potential leaders of resistance movement knew the state of the sepoys' feeling and felt that they would lead the movement to success with the aid of troops. It is significant that in 1857 movement both Hindus and Muslims fought side by side and the latter preferred to join the Hindu leaders in their fight against the British. The first sign of unrest occurred in the regiment at Barrackpur in March and was taken as the signal for a general outbreak.

The Nagpur territories were swept by the waves of the uprising only a month after it had flooded the Meerut-Delhi area. At each place the events were similar. The troops rose against the European Officers, either murdered them or held them at bay in their places of refuge. The disturbances in the Nagpur area did not, however, assume serious proportions due to the attitude adopted by the aged Rani Bakabai, who set her face against any such action. Naturally the incipient effort to raise the standard of revolt in the Nagpur territory was easily put down by the British, though the Sagara-Narmada territories were caught in the great upsurge. Towards the end of December 1857 Raipur district was in ferment and it was feared by the British that a properly organised revolt would envelop the whole wild tract from Bhandara and Chanda in the west to the borders of Orissa and Bengal. Luckily for the British an emergency of such nature did not arise and the rising in Raipur was put down. It is not necessary to go into details of the revolt as it spread in various parts of the country and the counter offensive launched by the British to quell it. Suffice it to say that the resistance in all parts of India practically died out and the first attempt by the people to shake off the foreign rule and assert the independence of the country failed. The revolt was however put down with a relentless repression. The officers in the districts were armed with summary powers to deal with the situation. The Act XVIII of 1857 gave the Deputy Commissioners summary powers and under. section II of the Act they could try any person for mutiny and desertion. It is almost impossible to know the total number of persons tried and executed under the draconian provisions of the Act during 1857-58. The common method adopted to strike terror in the hearts of the people was to set fire to whole villages in a. most indiscriminate way. This went to such an extent that the Commissioner of Nagpur found it necessary to issue a circular to all Deputy Commissioners in the province, discouraging this kind of vandalism. The year 1858 saw a change in the tone of administration with the transfer of power from the company's government to the British crown and the Parliament. It was during this period that the administration acquired those qualities of ruthless efficiency, wooden in-flexibility and haughtiness and the officers sent to the districts imbued with this spirit vigorously addressed themselves to the task of putting down every potential element of disturbance. This developed a racial antagonism between the Englishman and the Indian which poisoned every aspect of life in the country. There was a large influx of Englishmen in India which the government tacitly encouraged. A stage was thus set for a period of high-handed repressive rule in India. The Deputy Commissioners were asked to prepare a list of families in the district which had been thought to be guilty of revolt.' In this manner district after district was combed and the property of suspected persons was confiscated. The government also enacted another legislation known as the Act XXVIII of 1857 for disarming the people and curb their spirit and render them powerless. The provisions of the Disarming Act were enforced with great thoroughness. The Disarming Act was made a permanent feature of the British policy in India after its renewal for five years in 1860. The result was that for a time the free spirit of man was struck down in speechless awe.

As stated earlier, the convulsions of 1857 barely affected the Nagpur territories of which Bhandara district formed a part. This was not due to the administrative talents of Plowden, the Nagpur Commissioner, but in a large measure due to Rani Bakabai and her influence. The whole of Bundel Khand was, however, seething with a revolutionary ferment during 1857-58 and the Government, therefore, thought of resettling Bundel Khand. This led to the realignment of the Sagar-Narmada and the Nagpur territory and the formation of the Central Provinces.

The Resolution of 2nd November 1861 by which government of India formally established the Central Provinces says that—

"The Sagar-Narmada Territories, conjoined with the Province of Nagpur, form a compact area of about 90,000 square miles, with a population of more than six million souls, and revenues amounting" in the total to about three-quarters of a million sterling per annum. And although within the limits of this area some varieties of race, language and custom exist, yet many of the districts, tribes and classes which it comprises are either quite homogeneous, or have a strong resemblance and affinity to each other."

The Resolution laid down the districts that should comprise the Central Provinces. They were: Nagpur, Chanda, Bhandara, Chhindwara, Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Sironcha with dependencies of Bastar and Kuronda—all of which formed the Nagpur Territory; and Sagar, Damoh, Jabalpur, Mandla, Seoni, Betul, Narsimhapur and Hoshangabad—all of which were the Sagar-Narmada Territories.

One of the consequences of the transfer of power from the East India Company to the British crown was the influx of Europeans to man the administration. A number of new departments such as Public Works Department, Agriculture and Forest Department, Education Department, Public Health Department, etc., were created and Europeans were appointed to head these departments due to the reluctance of the government to appoint Indians to such key posts. Thus grew up the great bureaucracy in India.

The administration of the newly formed Central Provinces was carried on by the Chief Commissioners, the next in the hierarchy being the Commissioners in charge of five districts each. Bhandara district came under the jurisdiction of Nagpur division. However, the pivot of the administration was the Deputy Commissioner, who headed the district. In the time of Lord Ripon Local Self-Government was introduced in Urban and Rural areas. In February 1883, Sir John Morris, the Chief Commissioner of Nagpur called a meeting of the leading citizens and announced that Government was willing to hand over the Municipal administration to elected representatives of the people. The Central Provinces Municipalities Act was passed in 1883 and in 1885 there were 61 municipalities in Central Provinces. By the Local Self Government Act, 1883 District Councils and Local Bodies under their control were established at district and tahsil headquarters, respectively consisting of elected and non-elected representatives. There was very little progress in education till 1862. It was in this year that the Education department was constituted.

The whole system of education was so rudimentary that it was fit only for a semi-civilised, backward people; not for a land of ripe and ancient civilization which had long ago given light and learning to the West. The new education was meant to make the people soft, docile and unenterprising.

An incident reported in the Berar Samachar in its issue of 6th May 1877, reveals to what insane extent this attitude can go:

"A European was walking on the road in Nagpur and taking umbrage at a Kunbi caught hold of him and commanded Ramdayal, a municipal peon who was near at hand, to cut off his head. Ramdayal was aghast at the order of the Sahib and when the latter had left the spot, he let him off. Seeing this the Sahib returned and asked Ramdayal in anger why he had not carried out the order. Thereafter, the Sahib stabbed poor Ramdayal as a result of which he died. He was produced before a magistrate but was discharged on the plea of not being in his proper senses when he stabbed the peon."

This was not an isolated case of racial madness. The Berar Samachar in its issue of the 3rd September 1876, published the following account of the inconsiderate behaviour of the head of the province:

"The Chief Commissioner, Mr. Morris, one day saw an innocent unlettered Indian going to fetch water from the well situated in the compound of his bungalow. Mr. Morris challenged him upon which the poor Indian apologised and said that he would not have dared had he known that the bungalow was occupied by a Bara Sahib. Not being satisfied, Mr. Morris had him arrested and the man was produced before a magistrate who let him off. But Mr. Morris was not going to leave him at that; he ordered his retrial by another magistrate who fined him four rupees. The Judicial Commissioner, Colonel Mackenzie, before whom the case went up in appeal, acquitted the man and passed strictures upon the magistrate who had found him guilty."

Now the point of this incident is that a responsible officer like the Chief Commissioner was so callous in his treatment of an Indian whose only offence was that he wanted to draw water from the well in his compound. The Berar Samachar summed up its comments on this episode by saying that it was not safe to leave lakhs of people of the Nagpur province to the tender mercies of a Chief Commissioner like Morris.

Along with the repressive measures, the British Government astutely employed the policy of divide and rule in order to keep their hold firm over the populace. In the army as well as in the civil services, this policy was very carefully implemented which finally divided India vertically and horizontally.

The armies were organized in such a manner that tribal, sectarian, religious and caste groups could maintain their own peculiarities. They were stationed at such places where they had no contacts of any kind with the local population and, therefore were considered alien.

The newly invented theory of martial and non-martial races was applied and the people of U. P. and Bihar were classed under the second category. The communities of North-West India were declared as martial. The people of Oudh and Northwestern Provinces who had helped the British in the conquest of the Punjab and the North-West Frontier suddenly became non-martial. [HFM., p. 122.]

The Police force in the Central Provinces including Nagpur was placed under the supervision of the police officers of the Regular Police. The old local village police which had strong affinities with the population were done away with. The aim was to create an efficient administrative instrument isolated from the public. [Ibid, p. 124.]

The loyal support afforded by Sayyad Ahmad to the British soon bore fruit. After 1875 the Muslims became the chosen people of the Government to put down the patriotic Hindu activities. In the Central Provinces the Muslim population was negligible. Yet more than fifty per cent of the officers and nearly the same percentage of posts in the police were given to them.[ HFM., p. 125.] The policy of the British of setting the Muslims against the Hindus continued unabated. The evidence of the ' Berar Mitra ' of 8th July 1879, is significant in this respect. In one of the editorials it asked, " why is it that only Musalmans are appointed Tahsildars these days? "

As a part of the divide-and-rule policy in 1861 the entire Nagpur Irregular Force was incorporated in the police. The police were trained to be overbearing and contemptuous in their behaviour towards the people. The rank and file of the police force was drawn from that section of the population which had no character in the past. This naturally led to corruption and abuse of power in the police force. Sir Richard Temple, the Chief Commissioner of Central Provinces, 1864-65, referring to this state of affairs says, " Service in the police has always been unpopular with natives of superior stamp, and men of character avoided entering it. Men of ability rarely entered it except with the intention of making an unlawful fortune within a short time, risking the chance of such detection as would lead to personal punishment but quite prepared for dismissal.[ Ibid, p. 126.]"

The police purposely insulted men of status and the Government connived at their rudeness. A British police officer could easily whip a citizen of Nagpur on the street if he failed to stand up when the Saheb passed by.[ Ibid, p. 127.] The feeling of oneness between the police and the people was completely disrupted.

Dalhousie's policy towards the native States was topsyturvied in the aftermath of the revolt. Except for their sovereignty the States were restored to their former honour and rights. As a result the States came to be recognised as one of the pillars of the British Empire in India till their disappearance. Next to the States, it were the Zamindars who merited the attention of the British. In the Nagpur area a new class of Zamindars and Malguzars was created with full proprietary rights in their villages. This was quite against the Indian tradition which did not recognize private ownership in land. The landlords were revenue farmers or managers in the pre-British period. Endowed with proprietary rights in land, majority of them became stooges of the alien Government and at the same time took upon themselves the odium of revenue collection.[ HFM., p. 133.]

The Nagpur revenue assessment was enhanced by the Residents right from 1830. The revenue system under the Bhosles though crude and elementary left the farmers with a surplus that was enough for their maintenance and future agricultural operations.[Ibid, p. 137.]

To sum up in Bhandara as in other parts of India the alien rulers set the police against the people, the landlords against their cultivators, the Muslims against the Hindus, one caste against the other and even one sub-caste against another sub-caste. The socio-political repercussions of the dissensions nurtured by the British are felt by the people even today. In its trail, it has created problems which are difficult to solution.

The economic effects of the British rule were also disastrous. Within less than a hundred years of the British rule the indigenous economy was killed in the interest of Great Britain. No wonder that Bhandara should have fallen a prey to this general economic devastation.

1886.—Lord Lytton's unblessed regime (1876—80) left sad memories in the people's mind. The oppressive Vernacular Press Act, the huge expenditure incurred during the Second Afghan War, the lowering of age-limit for admission of Indians to the I. C. S. and the opening of the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligadh roused public feelings throughout India. Bhandara was not slow to react against these measures.

The people of Bhandara were moved when Vasudev Balavant Phadke of Shirdhon, the first revolutionary, tried to overthrow the British rule. He failed in his attempt and was deported to distant Aden. The people were also quick to receive new ideas from Pune which led to the formation of nationalism. Soon after the foundation of the Sarvajanik Sabha of Pune, the Loka Sabha was established in Nagpur with its branches in the principal towns of the Madhya Pradesh.[ Ibid, p. 171.] The educated well-to-do middle class formed the backbone of these public activities.

The birth of the Indian National Congress had a profound effect on the political situation in the Central Provinces as in other parts of the country. Though the policy of the British to divide and rule was paying them rich dividends, it was creating a turmoil in the minds of the people and the atmosphere was seething with discontent. The district of Bhandara had its own share in these happenings.

Another important organisation founded at this time was the Gorakshan Sabha which had considerable political influence though primarily its interest was to preserve the cattle wealth of the country. Forty-nine such Sabhas were established in the Central Provinces which gradually assumed the form of an All-India organisation. It may be noted that the younger generation of the Central Provinces had to a great extent been educated in Pune and Bombay and was greatly attracted towards the Congress. It was, therefore, but natural that the Indian National Congress elicited an official ill-will on the part of the British government.

The first session of the Congress held in Nagpur was in 1891 and was attended by 3,812 delegates. This session gave a great stimulus to the National movement in the Central Provinces. Most of the English-knowing persons—pleaders, land holders and men of various professions attended the Session. Every one seemed to be inspired with the idea that he had come to Nagpur for the sake of the nation and returned filled with the zeal to serve the nation's cause. It was at this time that Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak began to play an increasingly active part in the life of the country through his rousing articles in the Kesari.

The last decade of the nineteenth century was almost continuously haunted by famines. The settlement rates of revenue fixed in 1891 were so high that the cultivator could hardly pay them. The famine first struck in 1892, which was followed by one in 1894 and by another in 1894-95 and again in 1895-96. The Desh Sewak, Berar Samachar, Subodh Sindhu and Nyaya Sabha published stories of the sufferings of the people. While these series of famines devastated the Central Provinces the western and northern parts of the country were visited by the pestilence of bubonic plague which took a heavy toll of life. But the plague had another indirect and far reaching consequence on the politics of the country. The behaviour of the military which was called out to deal with the situation arising from the pestilence in the country aroused great indignation. It was at this time that Ryand and Lt. Ayerst were murdered by the Chafekar brothers. Lokamanya Tilak was tried and sentenced to 18 months rigorous imprisonment. It was under the shadow of this gloom that the thirteenth session of the Congress was held at Amravati. It condemned the reactionary policy of the Government. It thus appeared that a new note had begun to be heard in the country—the strident, impatient, challenging voice of a nation grown restive under years of bureaucratic rule.

The monsoon of 1898 having failed, famine again stalked the land, and the suffering was too fearful for words. The previous famines had already depleted the economic condition and reduced the physical stamina of the people. Things were not, however, so bad in Nagpur, Chanda, Nimar and Jabalpur districts. 6,91,714 persons were on relief, i.e., about 6.41 per cent of the total population were relieved by labour. How the remaining 93 per cent went through life in those days, it is not possible to describe. In 1896, the death rate was 49 per thousand, and in 1897 it was 70. Before famine, the death rate was 32 per thousand. Government spent about one crore and 70 lakhs of rupees in the famine of 1896. The famine of 1899-1900 was infinitely more terrible. In the month of August 23,22,000 people were in the labour camps, i.e., about 21 per cent of the population. The death rate rose up to 58 per thousand, and about four and a half crores of rupees were spent in helping the poor people. Excluding the States, the population fell from 10,784,294 to 9,876,646. The population of the States fell from 2,160,000 to 1,996,000.

The Government of India appeared to have been driven to a state of panic by the events of 1897-98. Their policy was thus somewhat similar to that of the concluding years of Lytton's regime, exactly twenty years before. A sedition law was passed which gave absolute powers to the magistracy, and the Criminal Code was drastically amended.

The whole administration during the period was obsessed by two main preoccupations—the famine and plague on the one hand and the political agitation on the other. It looked as if the bureaucracy, which had been triumphant during the long period from Lytton to Elgin, suddenly found the ground slipping from under its feet. This led to the increasing estrangement between the people and the Government, so that R. C. Dutt remarked, that he could hardly remember any time when the confidence of the people of India in the justice and fair-play of English rulers was so shaken as it has been within the last two years.

However, the average district officer generally pursued the even tenor of his life unworried by the deteriorating condition of the district under him, until something unexpected or violent occurred. His touring was invariably combined, with shikar. Those shikar parties were a source of great trouble to the people who had to provide rasad and begar (free rations and labour). This evil practice grew to such proportions that during the years of famine Government had to issue special instructions to the district officers not to demand from the people begar and free supply of rations. Even so, the burden was heavy enough. A Chief Commissioner on tour travelled with a small army of followers. Travelling was done by horses, some of them drawing carriages. A large number of bullock carts was pressed into service to carry a varied assortment of household effects and office requirements. They were usually accompanied by the lady members of the family and children, with their ayahs, nurses, peons, cooks, khalashis, mashaljis, syces, grass-cutters and the camp followers. Sometimes the Chief Commissioner was accompanied by the Chief Secretary and the entourage became proportionately larger. To these were added the Deputy Commissioner, Tahsildar, Naib-Tahsildar, with all their office and domestic attendants, and some minor revenue officials like the Revenue Inspectors and Patvaris. Besides, there was, of course, a full complement of police for messenger and guard duties. The medical attendant and all his staff had also to accompany this caravan. This considerable army would move from place to place, and preparations for its reception and accommodation had to be made at each camp weeks ahead. Stocks of food-grains, fuel, ghee, oil, grass for horses and all the multifarious articles needed for this large population had to be anticipated and provided by every officer who aspired for promotion. The young Tahsildar's attitude was, " Perish India but the Commissioner's camp must not be short of potatoes. " Cases were fixed for hearing at the camps, and naturally the litigants also followed. The tours of the Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and of the District Superintendents of Police were also similar, only slightly less spectacular and somewhat smaller in size. All these tours were combined with shikar, and the strain on the population can well be imagined.

It was on this background that Lord Curzon took the momentous decision of partitioning Bengal. This added to the tension and resentment in the country. There was a great political upsurge in India and the district of Bhandara had its own share in vehemently opposing the measure. In 1904 a meeting was held at the residence of Tilak in which the leaders of the Central Provinces decided to support Tilak in his fight against the Government and popularise their stand through public lectures and the press. People's minds were now in ferment and their mood was sullen, suspicious and resentful.

Out of the anti-partition agitation was born the cult of Swadeshi and boycott. No wonder the 1905 Session of the Congress met at Benaras in a grim and indignant mood. The leaders from the Central Provinces such as Dadasaheb Khaparde, Dr. Munje Mudholkar and Chitnavis made their mark in this session, the former two representing the extremist group of Tilak and the latter two representing the moderate school. The Viceroyalty of Lord Curzon ended in 1906 and this marked the beginning of India's aggressive political awakening. The 1906 Session of the Congress was held in Calcutta which declared Swaraj as its immediate goal. The Session was dominated by the extremists headed by Lai, Bal and Pal. It was at this time that the terrorist-movement began to assume serious proportions.

An extremist organisation called Rashtriya Mandal was established at Nagpur which utilised Shivaji and Ganesh celebrations for propagating the ideal of National Education and Swadeshi. The next Session of the Congress was to be held at Nagpur and the extremist group including Khaparde and Munje toured the province to marshall their forces in preparation for this Session. They visited Wardha in early May and on 12th they went to Seoni where they heard of the arrest of Lala Lajpatrai. At all the places they visited, they addressed largely attended public meetings and established branches of the Nationalist Wing of the Congress.

The meeting of the reception committee convened on the 22nd September 1907 at the Town Hall in Nagpur to elect Lokamanya Tilak as president of the session could not be held due to the tense and excited atmosphere and the venue of the session had to be changed to Surat. This precipitated a breach between the moderate and the extremist sections of the Congress. The spasmodic and hesitating attempts made by the British Government to grant political reforms to India were too late and too meagre. Agitation, repression and violence followed in their wake. Bureaucracy was in alarm. Even a minor episode caused ferocious reaction on the part of the Government. Not content with existing laws whose armoury contained all the weapons that any Government may need in times of repression, new laws were devised to inflict summary punishment on any who may be suspected to be against the British. The Explosives Act and the Seditious Meetings Act were passed, and the Criminal Law was amended drastically for the purpose. The Courts were given summary jurisdiction in regard to all cases of seditious violence. The term " sedition" itself was so incapable of precise definition that any one whom the Government wanted could be brought under its scope. Several well-known leaders, who could by no stretch of imagination be considered terrorists, were arrested. There was another old weapon in the armoury of the British Government which had been lying unused for many decades, it now came handy and was used against the Indian leaders. Regulation III of 1818 gave Government the power to deport without trial any one who might be obnoxious to them. Under this provision not only Indians but also some inconvenient Englishmen were detained and deported. It was under this Regulation that Lala Lajpatrai and Ajit Singh were arrested and deported from the Punjab. In the Central Provinces, the persecution of those who were in any way connected with the Nationalist movement reached its highwater mark during Carddock's regime. For instance, a most extra-ordinary notification appeared in the issue of the Gazette of the Central Provinces, dated the 22nd August 1908. It was signed by F.S.S. Slowcock, Chief Secretary to Government of Central Provinces and was to the following effect:

"For the information of all whom it may concern, it is notified that whereas Shivraj Singh, a pensioned Tahsildar now a resident of Rampailli in the Bhandara district has in spite of the warning given him, participated in political agitation directed against the Government of a kind inconsistent with loyalty and good behaviour, subject to which all suspensions are granted by Government, the Chief Commissioner hereby directs that with effect from the date of this order, the pension hitherto enjoyed by the said pensioner, Shivraj Singh, is forfeited and that a copy of this order shall be communicated to the Comptroller of the Central Provinces for cancellation of Pension Payment Order hitherto in force in favour of the said Shivraj Singh."

Regarding the specific character of the " political agitation" in which the ex-Tahsildar was alleged to have taken part, not a word was said, and it is clear that the offence could not have been of a heinous nature, for in that event a prosecution for sedition was ready at hand. As a matter of fact, it appeared that the gravamen of his crime consisted in his taking part in a procession held to express sympathy with Lokmanya Tilak. If this was really the case, it was monstrous that a man who was no longer in the service of Government and whose participation in political agitation could in no way be regarded as detrimental to the interests of discipline, should be arbitrarily deprived of his pension in such a fashion. In the midst of this fury of repression, many parts of the country including the Central Provinces and Berar were afflicted by famine in 1907-08. In the meanwhile the slow moving process of constitutional reforms was working itself out in the British Parliament. The Morley-Minto reforms were introduced in 1909. They did little however to assuage public opinion. There was keen and widespread disappointment as Lord Minto made it clear in his address to the Imperial Legislative Assembly in 1909 that the Provincial Councils and the Central Assembly were not intended to transfer any power to Indians. The consequent wave of discontent resulted in the imprisonment of many political leaders. Ironically enough the first fruit of the new reforms was the Press Act of 1910 which effectively suppressed a number of Nationalist papers.

The year 1911 was significant because determined efforts were made by some Hindu and Muslim leaders to bring about unity between the two communities. The communal spirit had taken deep roots in the minds of the people due to the subtle and calculated attempts of the British Government to divide the Muslims from the large body of the Indian public, and drive a wedge between them. The Muslims numbered 2 lakhs in the Provincial population of 88 lakhs in 1891 and even after Berar was joined to the province the population of Muslims did not exceed 4 per cent. The Muslims were neither appreciably influenced by the national movement nor did they join the Congress. As a matter of fact the Chief Commissioner of Nagpur Mr. Craddock exhorted the Muslims to keep away from the Congress. He followed a communal policy in every department of administration. The Muslim League was established under the protective wings of Lord Minto. Though the session of the Muslim League held in Delhi in 1909 decided to establish the league in the Central Provinces the unity conference which was held before the next session of the league in Nagpur in 1910 by a resolution defined its object as the attainment of self Government under the British Empire. Like other parts of the country the Central Provinces were also caught up in the maelstrom of communalism and public life was often punctuated by communal riots. The Congress subsequently adopted and endorsed its complete accord with the resolution of the Unity Conference and declared that the political future of the country depended on the harmonious working and co-operation of the various communities in the country. The year 1913 saw the beginning of a new era in the Central Provinces with the formation of the Central Provinces Legislative council on 8th November of that year. In August 1914 war broke out in Europe and the reaction in India was one of unanimous and enthusiastic support to the cause of the Allies. Little did the Indians expect at that time that the reward for so lively an effort would be so little. The first meeting of the Legislative Council was held on 17th August 1914. The Chief Commissioner, Sir Benjamin Robertson, exhorted the members to enter upon their responsibilities with seriousness and courage and expressed the hope of fullest co-operation from the province in the war efforts. But the passing of the Defence of India Act in 1915 shattered all these hopes. Under these circumstances the Home Rule League was established in 1916 aimed at the attainment of Svarajya by all constitutional measures. The leaders for the Central Provinces headed by Khaparde wholeheartedly supported the Home Rule League. A provincial association was formed in 1916 with members representing every district of the province. Meanwhile Muslim opinion in India was also becoming suspicious of Britain. An attempt at rapprochement between Hindus and Muslims was made. The 1916 Lucknow sessions of the Congress and the Muslim League forged unity between the congress and the league resulting in the conclusion of the famous Lucknow pact. The Congress and the Muslim League thus presented a united front to the British Government. In the meanwhile the provincial association was held in 1916 at Amravati which asked for (1) the establishment of Municipal Committees in all towns with a population of 5,000 and above with 3/4 of the members being elected (2) the administration of the district councils through the representatives of the people and (3) establishment of the Gram Panchayats all over the province. The Government was, however, in a belligerent mood and refused to listen to reason.

Soon after the Congress Session of 1916 the Home Rule agitation led by Tilak and Mrs. Besant gathered momentum. Almost all the prominent leaders of the Central Provinces joined the movement. The student population was also caught up by the wave of national movement. A number of students were expelled from their schools for joining in the demonstrations and public meetings. It was against this background that the new Secretary of State for India Mr. Montague took office in July 1917. He made a conciliatory statement in the House of Commons laying down the fundamental objective of the British policy as the increasing association of Indians in every branch of administration and the development of self-governing institutions. He expressed his desire to personally visit India and consult the Indian leader's in the scheme of reforms. However, the British Parliament was in no mood to respond to these sentiments, due to its preoccupation with the problems of war. The bureaucracy in India was far too unimaginative and wooden to understand the significance of the popular agitation. The situation would not have worsened if the Government had not appointed a committee under the Chairmanship of Justice Rowlatt to enquire into criminal conspiracies and the spread of revolutionary associations in India and to advise what legislation should be undertaken to deal with them. This provoked and exasperated the people. It was also a warning that more weapons were being acquired for the chastisement of the so called sedition-mongers.

The Calcutta Congress of 1917 condemned this new development. Tilak undertook an extensive tour of the Central Provinces and covered a number of places in Nagpur and Berar divisions, speaking about the objects of Home Rule. In the meanwhile tension between the Government and political leaders in India mounted. In 1918 it was proposed to send a deputation to England composed of Pal, Kelkar and Khaparde but under the orders of the War Council in England they were not permitted to sail. This caused resentment which found expression in the sixth provincial conference held in March 1918. At the same time in the mounting wave of discontent Montague was touring the provinces of India. He met Dadasaheb Khaparde, Mudholkar, Chitnavis, Moropant Joshi and other leaders from the Central Provinces. By now the district political conferences had become a regular feature and helped to spread political awakening in rural areas. They hastened the transformation of the political struggle from a middle class movement to a mass movement. Due to the worsening of the war situation, the viceroy called a war meeting in Delhi. In Nagpur an impressive Durbar was held attended by several loyalists. But the voice of the people was heard elsewhere at a number of tahsil meetings where resolutions demanding swarajya and National education were passed. The repressive policy of the Government, however, continued and many leaders were prosecuted and jailed under the Defence of India Act. In this atmosphere of repression and awakening the Montague-Chelmsford Report was presented to the British Parliament, The report evoked a sharp criticism from the leaders of the Central Provinces in the provincial conference though a few of them viewed it with favour. The Congress as also the Muslim League voiced their dissatisfaction. When these developments were taking place in regard to constitutional reforms, the report of the Rowlatt Committee was also published which found nothing new and recommended special trials without jury for political cases. The promises, half-hearted though they were, embodied in the Montague-Chelmsford Report were nullified by the unmistakable repressive measures suggested by the Rowlatt Committee. The war ended in 1918. It brought in its wake the epidemic of influenza followed by the failure of harvest resulting in heavy casualties. In the midst of this situation the Rowlatt Bill was brought before the Imperial Legislative Council. Protest meetings were held in every town of the Central Provinces as elsewhere in India. The bill was vehemently opposed by all the political leaders including those of the Central Provinces. In spite of such an unprecedented unanimity of disapproval, the Rowlatt Bill became an Act.

It is worth noting that the expeditious manner in which this legislation was rushed through was in striking contrast to the leisurely, almost deliberately obstructive manner in which the reform bill was handled. It was in December, 1919, about twenty months after Montague had submitted his report, that the recommendations contained in the report were embodied in the form of an Act. The interval between the passage of Rowlatt Act and the Montford reforms saw repression in almost all parts of India. It was at this time that a new figure arrived on the political horizon of India that was to guide the destiny of India till the dawn of Independence in 1947. The new figure was that of Gandhiji. Gandhiji had struck a new note by imploring the Viceroy not to give his assent to the Rowlatt Bill and had declared that if the bill became law he would start satyagraha. The proposal for satyagraha found widespread support in the Central Provinces and was observed with remarkable success as in other parts of the country. There was trouble in many parts of the country. Then came the horror of Jallianwala Bagh on 13th April 1919 where the notorious General Dyer by ordering indiscriminate firing brought about a massacre of a number of innocent men, women and children. The tragedy shocked the people of Central Provinces immensely and evoked strong criticism from political leaders. The Satyagraha was later suspended by Gandhiji. The Government of India at this inopportune time decided to celebrate the victory gained by the allies in the Great World War. This was grossly callous and the celebrations in the Central Provinces were far from popular.

The period under review had, however, a bright streak on the otherwise dark horizon of Indian politics. It saw for the first time an unprecedented unity among the Hindus and Muslims The national struggle was strengthened by the Khilafat movement. The Ali brothers who were in the forefront of the movement and Gandhiji became for the time being at least the country's most conspicuous leaders. Meanwhile the Montford reforms were put through. The Central Provinces were allotted 5 seats, in the Indian Legislative Assembly and two in the Council of State. Moropant Joshi and other moderates were among the few who pleaded for the acceptance of the Reforms. But their's was a lone voice. Everywhere strong opposition was seen to the acceptance of the Reforms. District conferences were held in the first half of 1920 and the message for struggle travelled from district to district. At this time India suffered a tragic loss in the death of Lokamanya Tilak. Meetings were held in every part of the country and a countrywide hartal was observed. However, the appointed task had to be performed and in the special session of the Congress held in Calcutta in September 1920, the Congress outlined the programme of non-co-operation and adoption of Swadeshi. Opposition to the resolution of the Congress from the Central Provinces came from Khaparde, who pointed out that the resolution sought to divert the energies of the Congress towards attaining soul force and moral excellence, thus losing sight of the immediate political objective. Opposition also came from members of the Imperial Legislative Council. In this atmosphere the Congress session was held at Nagpur. The session unanimously adopted the resolution on non-co-operation and established finally the unquestioned leadership of Gandhiji in the freedom struggle. The session was eventful as it displayed a rosy picture of Hindu-Muslim unity.

The Nagpur session also passed other resolutions which were destined to have far-reaching influence on the country in the years to come. It was at Nagpur that the Congress adopted the linguistic principle for the realignment of the provinces. Accordingly a provincial Congress Committee was formed and the Central Provinces were grouped under three committees—the Berar, the Hindi C. P. which later came to be called Mahakosal Provincial Committee and the Marathi C. P. which became later the Nagpur provincial committee and which included the Bhandara district. This resulted in diffusing the political activity which was till now centred in Nagpur only, in the whole of the Central Provinces. The two new centres, viz., Jabalpur and Amravati became the radiating nuclei from where the movement spread out into the districts. Soon after the session Mahatma Gandhi toured the province explaining to the people the decisions taken by the Congress. People were quick to respond. The District Councils insisted on hoisting the national flag on their buildings defying Government orders. In 1921 Lord Reading succeeded Chelmsford as viceroy. In the same year the Prince of Wales decided to visit India. His arrival was greeted with hartal and protest meetings in the Central Provinces as elsewhere in India. The year 1922 dawned and Gandhiji was ready with the programme of mass civil disobedience whose cause he had fervently propagated after the Ahmedabad session of 1921. But Gandhiji had to suspend the movement which war to start at Bardoli due to the tragic happenings at Chauri Chura where a few constables were killed by a mob. This led to the arrest of Gandhiji on 10th March 1922. In the meanwhile the Central Provinces Legislative Council decorously debated various topics under the indulgent eye of bureaucracy. Though none of the resolutions sponsored by the peoples' representatives could get through, they at least served the purpose of voicing public grievances. With political agitation outside being ruthlessly suppressed, the legislatures now provided as possible alternatives of action. Some even thought of using them in obstructing the machinery of Government. This mood was reflected in other parts of the country as well and with the beginning of 1923 an able and powerful group led by C. R. Das and Pandit Motilal Nehru set about forming the Svarajist Party to carry the fight into the legislatures. By this time the reforms had been in operation for well over two years. But a number of events besides the use of viceroy's special powers had lifted the veil of pretext and make-believe about the reforms. A further tightening of control by the bureaucracy seemed imminent. The memorandum presented by the C. P. and Berar association of the Services to the Lee Commission was an example of unabashed piece of effrontery in cursing the reforms, the Indian Press and politicians and in a minor key the Government of India and the India Office. In spite of these wranglings the All India Congress Committee which met at Bombay on 25th May 1923 decided to contest the forthcoming general elections. However, at this time staunch protagonists of non-co-operation were active in the Central Provinces especially at Nagpur and they made an issue of the hoisting of the national flag on Municipalities and District Councils. Volunteers poured from every district. Satyagraha and defiance of the Government ban prohibiting the hoisting of the national flag became a daily, deliberate ritual. There was no frivolity or bravado about it. The affair now no longer remained a provincial one but assumed country wide importance. 18th June 1923 was observed as a flag day in Nagpur. Volunteers from distant parts of the country joined in the procession taken out on that occasion. Such a determined movement could not be ignored by the Legislative Council which passed a resolution demanding the repeal of the order of the Deputy Commissioner of Nagpur which the Satyagrahis were defying. The Delhi session of the Congress held on 18th September 1923 recorded the success of the Nagpur struggle.

Meanwhile the life of the first legislature formed under the reforms came to an end with the monsoon sitting of 1923. The new elections were held in 1923 and the Svarajists secured a clear majority in the Central Provinces. In the Central Assembly they formed a compact group of 45 in a house of 140. Among them were Abhyankar, Dr. Gour and Mishra from the Central Provinces. The Svarajists under the leadership of Dr. Munje refused to accept office in the Central Provinces and brought a vote of no-confidence against the Government which had been formed by the nomination of ministers by the Governor. The motion was passed. The jubilant Svarajists then successfully voted out the money bills and blocked the working of the Government. Similar scenes were witnessed in the Central Legislature, and they brought out succinctly the opposition of the people's representatives to any half-hearted measures on the part of the Government.

In the Central Provinces the matters took a dramatic turn with the Budget having been thrown out. The Governor in this situation certified the expenditure on reserved subjects and restored that on transferred subjects to the amount required for meeting the committed expenditure. Thus there was a shortfall in the latter. Government used this as a stick to beat the Svara-jists within the public eye and to malign the party. A circular was issued by the Chief Secretary to all officers in the districts asking them to bring home to the electorate the effect of the destructive policy followed by the Svarajist party in the Legislative Council. Obviously the aim of the Government was to rally round itself the landholding and aristocratic classes to fight the nationalists. Amidst this constitutional crisis when the diarchic system of Government failed to work, communal riots flared up in many parts of the country including the Central Provinces. With the virtual extinction of the Khiiafat movement, with the repudiation of the Caliph by Turkey, the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity in India lost as if its very foundation. The British were not slow to take advantage of the situation. What they feared most as a danger to their rule was communal unity in India. It was a situation that irresistibly brought Gandhiji to action. On 18th September 1924 he started a 21 day fast in the house of Mohammad Ali at Delhi. This had a desired effect at least temporarily. Subsequently a conference of all party leaders at Delhi adopted a long resolution on communal toleration. On 21st November 1924 another All Parties conference was held in Bombay which appointed a committee to report on Svaraj including a communal settlement. The committee met on 1st March 1925 but adjourned sine die without coming to any conclusion. This was perhaps expected as a result of the challenging communal situation that had developed over a period of time. The Hindu Mahasabha, and the Muslim League presided over by Jinnah represented the extremist elements in the Hindu and Muslim communities, respectively. Jinnah considered Hindu-Muslim unity as essential before the question of Svaraj could ever be discussed. It was now that the term of the legislatures elected in 1923 was coming to an end. New elections were to take place in November, 1926. This gave a splendid opportunity to extremist elements in the country to fan the fire of commu-nalism. The period before the elections and after saw the orgy of communal terror let loose in various parts of the country. The degree of estrangement between the two communities can be gauged from the virulent anti-Hindu tirade coming from a moderate body like the Khiiafat Conference in May, 1926. In the atmosphere of this mounting tension came the news of the murder of Swami Shraddhanand, by one Abdul Rashid. The murder to some extent chastened the extremists in both the communities and attempts were made to bring them to a common basis of understanding. An appeal to this effect was issued by the Congress President Shrinivas Iyengar. The appeal did not achieve any substantial results. The announcement of the appointment of a Statutory Commission on reforms consisting wholly of Englishmen, however, brought forth nationwide protest. This gave a promise of a renewed effort by all parties to work unitedly for the cause of the nation.

When these events were taking place the Government of India was following a policy of repression. This was marked by the issue of the notorious Bengal Ordinance. But when total unity was necessary a schism was appearing in the rank of the Svarajists especially in the Marathi districts of Central Provinces and Bombay. On 8th October 1925 Shri Tambe decided to accept the membership of the Executive Council of the Central Provinces and this was followed by a resolution of the Executive Committee of the Berar Svaraja party which declared that the time had come to adopt a policy of responsive co-operation. It was in the meeting of the All-India Svarajist Executive held at Nagpur that the breach was complete. Motilal Nehru remarked that " Maharashtra was a diseased limb of the Svaraj party and he was quite prepared to amputate it." The Congress Session at Cawnpore in 1925 carried by a large majority the resolution proposing a course of action within the Legislature sponsored by Motilal Nehru. The responsivists of Berar declared their opposition to this resolution and when the Legislative Council of the Central Provinces met on 4th March 1926 they expressed it by remaining in the council when the entire Svarajist opposition walked out. In the face of this stiff opposition the Government suspended diarchy in the Central Provinces. The 1926 elections were now approaching. The Svarajists as also the responsivists started marshalling their forces for the ensuing elections. The next session of the Congress held at Gauhati saw a stiffening of the Congress attitude towards the acceptance of office and set the tone of policy of the Congress members in the Legislatures for the next three years. These years, therefore, saw the unusual spectacle of the stream of the national movement being fed and strengthened by the incidents inside the Legislature rather than the events in the wider public life.

In the Central Provinces Legislative Council the Congress found itself in a minority with independent Congress party members entering into coalition with responsivists, Non-Brahmins and independents. This coalition of 33 members thus formed the Nationalist party. Though the budget was passed in spite of a stiff opposition it was predicted that the Nationalists coalition would not survive long due to the loose bonds that held it together. It was in the midst of this situation occurred the appointment of an all-white Reforms Commission, as stated earlier, headed by Sir John Simon. This step displayed a great ignorance of the Indian sentiment by the Government. The result was a spontaneous denouncement of the commission from all parts of the country.

All parties joined hands in protesting against the Commission, the Congress spearheading the opposition. It was decided to boycott the Commission. The Congress went a step ahead and in its Madras Session declared that the goal of the Indian people was complete national Independence. The Simon Commission landed at Bombay on 3rd February 1928. The day was observed all over the Country as a day of mourning. In the Central Provinces legislative council a motion expressing no confidence in the Commission was carried by a majority. The positive response of India to the British Government was, however, contained in the Nehru Report which was the result of the All-Parties conference held in Delhi and Bombay. The report laid down Dominion Status as the basis of the constitution of India and recommended the abolition of separate electorates. Jinnah, who first supported the report, later became its staunchest opponent after his trip to England in 1928. Rabid communalism was thus raising its ugly head again. In the momentous Session of the Congress held at Lahore in 1929 with Jawaharlal Nehru as President, the entire political mood of the country seemed to have changed. Gandhiji declared that Svaraj would mean complete Independence. This was the call for the struggle to come. The promise of the Government given a few days before the Session to call a Round Table Conference of the leaders of all political parties after the Simon Commission had submitted its report came very late indeed. The tremendous effect of this call for the struggle which was to be launched against the Government in the form of civil disobedience could be visualised when in far away villages of the Central Provinces, not to speak of the more accessible parts of the Province, groups of men, women and children gathered in an open place in the early hours of the morning, hoisted the tri-colour flag, sang the national song and listened to the message of independence. From now on events began to move rapidly towards the predestined struggle. In obedience to the resolution of the Lahore Congress, members of the Central Assembly and Provincial Legislatures resigned their seats. The spread of the movement in the Central Provinces and Berar was preceded by a great awakening. It gave a fillip to the youth movement. Youths' and students' Conference played a conspicuous role in the freedom movement. The salt law was broken in all parts of the province. On 16th April the Nagpur Pradesh War Council was formed at Nagpur with Abhyankar as President. Among the members were Jamnalal Bajaj, Mahatma Bhagwandin, Dr. Khare, Punamchanda Ranka and Nil-kanthrao Deshmukh. Batches of Satyagrahis defied the salt law and a decision was taken to defy the forest law and sedition law as well. The Government became alarmed at this turn of events and decided to swoop down upon the leaders. Abhyankar and Wamanrav Joshi were arrested. With these leaders behind the bars it fell to Bapuji Aney to inaugurate the forest Satyagraha on 10th July 1930. He was arrested as also Brijlal Biyani, Gole, Patwardhan and Soman. The Satyagraha now spread in all parts of the State. The Adivasis too participated in thousands in the Satyagraha. The Government used all the repressive measures at its command to put down the popular upsurge. To deal with the youths and students who joined the struggle and also to intimidate the Adivasis who played a great part in Forest Satyagraha, the Central Provinces Government adopted the punishment of whipping. Since early August this brutal form of punishment became very popular with the authorities. Fines they found difficult to collect; imprisonment required them to provide accommodation, howsoever, filthy. But whipping did away with both these problems and, besides, gave them a sadistic pleasure. From August to December, 164 persons were tortured in this way. It also issued the Press Ordinance demanding securities from a number of nationalist papers.

Till now Government had refrained from arresting Mahatma Gandhi. He was now arrested at Dandi. This was followed by the arrests of Abbas Tyabji and Sarojini Naidu. Repression also continued unabated. Picketing was made an offence and all Congress Committees were declared unlawful. The Simon Report had been published. All eyes were now turned towards the Round Table Conference. The Central Provinces had only one representative on it, viz., S. B. Tambe. The Round Table Conference met on 12th November 1930 but in the absence of the Congress, the voice of India was nowhere to be heard. The proceedings of the Round Table Conference were affected by sectarianism. The Labour Government also lost interest in the Round Table Conference facing as it was an insecure position in the home politics. Ramsey Macdonald, the P. M., therefore, hurriedly concluded the Round Table Conference on 19th January 1931 promising that steps would be taken to enlist the cooperation of those sections of public opinion which had held aloof from the conference. This meant that the door was kept open for negotiations with the Congress. The statement of the Prime Minister was followed by the unconditional release of Gandhiji and other political leaders. Gandhiji agreed to hold talks with Lord Irwin, the Viceroy, of which the famous Gandhi-Irwin or the Delhi Pact was the result. The main outcome of the Pact was the participation of the Congress in the next Round Table Conference. Gandhiji reluctantly attended the Round Table Conference in London. Because of the high ideals and self-effacing patriotism of Gandhiji and the cynical self interests of many others from India, the conference was doomed to fail. The constitution it evolved was a sheer mockery. Gandhiji returned to India more frustrated than disappointed. Government had resolved to carry out a policy of suppression. Instructions were issued to the provincial Governments to supply evidence to prove that the Congress was not abiding by the terms of the pact. The Governor of the Central Provinces, Sir Bulter accused the Congress of fomenting a war mentality. The alleged attitude of the Congress was taken as a pretext for repressive measures. The situation was further aggravated by the bad harvest in Nagpur and Berar. There was great discontent among the agriculturists. In spite of the attitude of the Government the Congress decided to extend its hand of co-operation. If it was refused it was resolved to call upon the nation to resume civil disobedience. The Government took this as a threat. There was a wave of arrests. The Congress reacted sharply and established War Councils in place of District Congress Committees. However, the protest meetings held by people all over were dispersed by severe lathi charges. A notable factor in the popular and spontaneous upsurge that had taken place in the Central Provinces was the increasing number of Women volunteers participating in the Satyagraha, which continued unabated.

The newspapers were doing the great work of taking the message of the movement to the masses. The Government prompt by suspended such newspapers. The gagging of the newspapers led to the ingenious method of spreading the message of the movement through Congress bulletins. In this situation the Congress decided to hold its Session at Delhi which the Government forestalled by arresting Pandit Malaviya, the President elect, and subsequently all those who had assembled. This was followed by a joint conference of Mahakosal, Nagpur and Berar Congress at Nagpur on 29th May 1932. The same story of the arrest of the President-elect and other delegates as in Delhi was repeated here also. The movement received an accession of strength when the working classes decided to join it. The Government, however, was not satisfied with the mere arrest of political leaders. It meted out harsh treatment to them in jails. The Central Provinces Legislative Council debated an adjournment motion on this issue also. It was at this time that the Communal Award was made public by the British Prime Minister. It attempted to cut off the Harijan Community from its Hindu fold. On this, Mahatma Gandhi launched on 20th September 1932 his historic fast unto death. The leaders, however, made frantic efforts for a compromise. This resulted in the Poona Pact according to which separate electorates for the Harijans were done away with and the life of Gandhiji was saved. The fact stirred the nation into a social awakening and the emphasis at least for the time being shifted from political struggle and civil disobedience to social reform. During this period of civil disobedience, the central and the provincial councils had become mere tools in the hands of the bureaucracy. Certain measures such as the Ottawa Agreement, Criminal Law Amendment Bill of 1932, etc., passed by the central legislature had been harmful to the future of the country. When in this situation the Congress decided to hold its session in Calcutta, the political leaders began actively to think of new paths. The leaders who assembled at Calcutta including M. S. Aney were arrested. In the wake of these arrests came the White Paper containing the proposals for constitutional reforms. The White Paper contained obnoxious proposals such as safeguards, and reservations; they were roundly condemned by the Congress. Gandhiji was now released from prison. He decided to call off the civil disobedience movement which was now a spent force. He now shifted his headquarters from Sabarmati to Sewagram in Wardha and resolved to launch the constructive movement of Harijan uplift. From Sewagram he commenced his ten months long Harijan tour and went to Nagpur in November, 1933 and toured the whole of Central Provinces. In the meanwhile the leaders of the Congress were working out a plan for a positive course of action. The All-India Congress Committee which met at Patna decided to suspend the civil disobedience movement and adopted a resolution favouring re-entry into the Councils by fighting the approaching elections with an animated vigour. In the elections to the Central Assembly the Congress nominees were swept to the polls everywhere among those elected on Congress ticket being Seth Govind Das, Ghanshyam Singh Gupta and M. V. Abhyankar. But much to the sorrow of the country the Central Provinces lost one of its brave freedom-fighters in the death of M. V. Abhyankar, in January, 1935. The Government was now preparing the ground for the inauguration of the Government of India Act passed in July, 1935. Elections under the new Act were to take place in 1936. Though the act was regarded as unsatisfactory and, therefore, condemned by every shade of public opinion the Congress decided to fight elections. The election was a phenomenal success for the Congress. It captured 72 out of 112 seats in Central Provinces. Under the directive of the All India Congress an assurance was asked for from the Governor of the province by the leader of the party that the Council of Ministers would be consulted by the Governor, and the latter would not use his discretionary powers. The Governor refused to give such an assurance. In such an eventuality the Congress decided not to accept office. This led to an unconstitutional action by the Governor in setting up a Council of Ministers consisting of Dr. Raghavendra Rao and others who had no following. On 1st April 1937, the ministry took office. To save the ignominy of defeat for this puppet cabinet, the Governor did not summon the meeting of the Assembly. The elected members on the other hand met at Nagpur and elected a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker and condemned the previous ministry. This provoked an unprecedented constitutional crisis. Ultimately the Government of India gave in and declared that the Governor would at all time be concerned to carry his ministers with him. On this background the puppet ministry resigned and the Congress which had accepted the clarification by the Government formed its first ministry on 14th July 1937 headed by Dr. Khare. The ministry carried out many useful reforms in social, educational and economic fields. It was, however, forced with an immediate crisis regarding the question of responsibility of the ministers. Dr. Khare argued that the ministers could be responsible to the local members alone whereas the Congress insisted that the ministers were responsible to the Central Parliamentary Board of the party. Dr. Khare resigned on this issue and a new ministry was formed with Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla as the Chief Minister. The assumption of power by the representatives of the people changed the entire tone of public administration. In the midst of the working of the popular ministries the Congress held its successive ssssions in Haripura (1938), and Tripuri (1939) in the Central Provinces. Events followed in quick succession after Tripuri and soon after the Second World War began. The Congress whole-heartedly supported the cause of Allies in their fight against Nazi Germany. It, however, reiterated its stand that the issue of war and peace for India must be decided by the Indian people. When the Congress Working Committee met at Wardha on 8th September 1939 it demanded the right of self-determination for the Indian people by framing their own constitution through a Constituent Assembly. The Government derided this outlook of the Congress and called it as ill-timed and calculated to cause embarrassment to England in its life and death struggle. The Viceroy invited the leaders of various political parties including the Congress for interviews. He spoke of the progressive attainment of Dominion Status. There was, however, an ominous note in his statement which said, " Representatives of the minorities have urged most strongly on me the necessity of a clear assurance that full weight would be given to their views and interests in any modification that may be contemplated. " This could at best be described as an attempt by the Government to drive a wedge between the Congress which represented the national feeling and the minorities, especially the Muslims who were showing restive signs under the leadership of Jinnah. The statement also displayed complete lack of vision and statesmanship on the part of the Government of India. The Congress could not accept such a situation and directed the Congress ministries to resign. Jinnah was playing a waiting game. He refused to attend the Wardha meeting. The Congress ministers resigned. The League Working Committee congratulated the Government for repudiating the claim of Congress to represent India and extended its whole-hearted co-operation in the prosecution of War. Again infructuous interviews by the Viceroy with political leaders including Gandhiji and Jinnah followed. However, no common ground for co-operation was discerned. This, however, brought the Muslim League closer to the Government. The Viceroy wooed the League which responded with protestations of injured innocence. The solicitude and eagerness on the part of the Government to placate the Muslim sentiment was a counterpoise to the Congress. Before the ministry in the Central Provinces resigned, a debate on the resolution of war took place in which the Chief Minister compared the partisan attitude of the Government with Nazi techniques. The Muslim League, true to its form, repeated its familiar allegations against the Congress. With the resignation of the ministry, the parliamentary form of Government came to an end in the province. Jinnah, loath to lose any opportunity to belittle the Congress gave a call to the Muslims to observe 22nd December 1939 as a Day of Deliverance from the Congress rule. He did not want the Congress even to quit office in a blaze of approbation. The resignations by the ministries foreshadowed a storm ahead and the Working Committee which met at Wardha from 18th to 22nd December gave a call to the nation to prepare itself for the achievement of complete independence. It was at this critical time that Jinnah put forward his two-nation theory and demanded a separate state for the Muslims. Meanwhile the war situation was worsening for the Allies. The Congress again renewed its offer of whole-hearted co-operation in the war efforts if only Britain would declare the grant of complete independence to India as its object and as an immediate step consent to the formation of National Government at the centre. The Viceroy came out with what later became known as the August offer which meant nothing more than the enlargement or the Executive Council so as to include a few more Indians. The August offer was unequivocally rejected by the Congress. In this situation Satyagraha became inevitable. However, the mode of Satyagraha was to be such as would not embarrass the Government, in other words the Satyagraha was to be individual and not collective. The individual Satyagraha gradually gained momentum. From the Central Province the arrested leaders included Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla, D. P. Mishra, Gokhale, Seth Govinda Das, Brijlal Biyani and C. J. Bharucka. The stand of the Muslim league was not only not sympathetic but adamant and obstructive. In its meet at Madras in 1941 it reaffirmed in the strongest possible terms the demand for Pakistan. Not content with this Jinnah tried to disrupt Hindu society by suggesting the creation of Dravidistan. The British Government was still following its policy of placating the Muslims. This was amply revealed by the manner in which one of the Muslim League leaders, Siddique Ali Khan, of the Central Provinces charged, under the Defence of India Act for instigating riots in Amravati was released at the instance of the Government of India. The war situation in the meanwhile grew worse with the entry of Japan. With the dire peril of war on the very doors of the country the Government released all the political prisoners. The bombing on the eastern coast created a panic among the masses and there was a stream of refugees from Malaya and Burma into India. The Congress Working Committee met at Bardoli on 22nd December 1941 but did not evolve a clear-cut line of action. In the midst of this came the Cripps Offer in March 1942. The Offer was vague in its contents and unsound in principle. It was rejected by the Congress as a post-dated cheque on a tottering bank. Jinnah also rejected the offer. The whole episode brought in its train frustration and an enervating feeling of despair. It convinced the leaders of the country that the interest of the country lay in the immediate and orderly withdrawal of the British from India. From this conviction was born the slogan Quit India which was soon to plunge the country into a great movement. The Congress Working Committee which met at Wardha on 14th July reiterated this stand and resolved, in case of its non-acceptance, to use all non-violent means for the vindication of the political rights and liberty of the people of the country. Anticipating Satyagraha, the Government of the Central Provinces issued directives to all the Deputy Commissioners to mobilise resources to deal with the situation arising out of such an emergency. The Congress Working Committee was to meet in Bombay in August. The leaders from the Central Provinces left their headquarters for Bombay after exhorting people to carry on the struggle. The Quit India call came on the night of 8th August. All the top ranking leaders were arrested in the early hours of the morning. The masses were stunned at the news of the arrest of the leaders. An added provocation was the forces of repression used by the Government to crush the movement. The leaders of the Central Provinces decided to return to their own province but were arrested at Malkapur. The mass movement spread to the Central Provinces as in all other parts of the country. It took a violent turn as a result of indiscriminate police firing. The district of Bhandara had its own share in this great national uprising. The effect of the policy of repression followed by the Government was to drive the extremist leaders underground. The dawn of 1943 saw no abating of the nationwide unrest. In the meanwhile the tide of war was changing in favour of the Allies. But the leaders languished in jails. Months passed by. The place of Lord Linlithgow was taken by Lord Wavell in June, 1943. The years dragged on. The war came to a close and the Allies emerged victorious in both the Western and Eastern theatres of war. The days of frustration seemed to have ended. Efforts were afoot to solve the Indian tangle. In the midst of an expectant atmosphere Lord Wavell presented the famous Wavell Plan in June, 1945. The leaders of the Congress were released to facilitate their participation in the negotiations with the Viceroy. The Plan envisaged representation to the main parties in the Viceroy's Council. Jinnah, however, proved to be the main stumbling block because even with the grant of parity to the Muslims in the Council with the Hindus he could not deny majority to the Congress backed by Hindus and other minority communities. A deadlock was thus created. The Viceroy announced that the elections to the Central and Provincial Councils would take place soon. This was followed by the announcement of a Parliamentary Delegation to visit India in order to establish personal contacts between India and the British Parliament. The Delegation subsequently visited India. Meanwhile in the elections Congress won a resounding victory. In the Central Provinces it captured 94 out of 112 seats. It also gave a lie to the separatist propaganda of the Muslim League by claiming a majority in the N. W. F. P. and Assam claimed by the Muslims. In the Central Provinces Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla formed the ministry on 27th April 1946. On assumption of office it released all political prisoners. However, conditions in the provinces whose resources had all been drained by the six years of war were not very happy. In the midst of this came the Cabinet Mission composed of Lord Pethick Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A. V. Alexander for crucial talks with Indian leaders. There was goodwill on both the sides. What emerged from the talks was a general agreement regarding the setting up of a Constituent Assembly to draft a constitution of India and the formation of an interim Government having the support of the major political parties. But the Muslim League again proved a stumbling block with Jinnah claiming the right of the League to nominate Muslim candidates on the interim cabinet. The interim cabinet, therefore, could not come into being immediately and the League gave a call for direct action which was aimed at securing Pakistan by inflaming communal passions against the Hindus. The country witnessed an orgy of communal riots leading to senseless massacre of innocents. In the Central Provinces isolated cases of disturbances occurred. In the meanwhile Lord Wavell invited 12 leaders of his choice to form his cabinet including Nehru, Patel, Rajendra Prasad and Rajagopalchari. This was a spectacle galling to Jinnah who now sent the names of five of his nominees for inclusion in the cabinet declaring that it was with the ostensible purpose of getting a " foothold to fight for our cherished goal of Pakistan". The entry of the League which had not withdrawn its call for direct action was not to the liking of the Congress. The League joined the cabinet now, but it refused to join the Constituent Assembly which created a very anomalous position. The intention of the British Government to divide the country became clear. It was now that Lord Mountbatten was appointed to succeed Lord Wavell. At the same time the Labour Government declared its intention to transfer power to responsible Indian hands by a date not later than June, 1948. The arrival of the new Viceroy was greeted by a frenzy of communal riots in Punjab, N. W. F. P. and Assam sparked by the League mainly to discredit the Congress Governments there. The game of the League now became apparent and the nationalist leaders were forced to realise that freedom for the country could be gained by partitioning the country. Jawaharlal Nehru declared that if Muslim League wanted Pakistan they could have it. Northern India now witnessed an atmosphere of tense anxiety in the following period. Lord Mountbatten left for England for consultation on 18th May 1947 and on his return called a conference on 2nd June to which he invited J. Nehru, S. Patel, A. Kripalani, Jinnah, L. A. Khan, Abdur Rab Nishtar and Sardar Baldev Singh.

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