Thursday, December 29, 2011

Simultaneous Growth of Extremism and repression by the Government

The split that occurred in the Surat Congress (1907) gave green signal to the rulers to unleash a fresh wave of repression.The victims of these repressions were the Congressmen of both the factions, organisations, individuals and news papers.Before the Surat session the Viceroy issued in May, 1907, an ordinance empowering local authorities to prohibit public meetings, without prior permission.The ordinance was designed to place obstacles before all forms of legitimate political activities.
Many including the Secretary of State for India, Lord Morley, questioned desirability of such measures.
1.In 1908, the Press Act; to empower authorities to close down the publication of any newspaper and confiscate any printing press at the discretion of the District magistrate.
2.The explosives Act; enables deportation for 14 years of any person in possession of a bomb or the materials of a bomb or any person assisting any person in the making of bomb.
3. A third Act empowered the authorities to ban any organisation which they found to be functioning in a manner prejudicial to the law and order of the country and to imprison any person participating  in the activities of a banned organisation, and to confiscate any building, property, or material found to be used for the activities of such an organization.
In other words , the acts passed during this period was simply to curb the activities of political parties and organizations.
Even the moderates were victims of these acts.
A short table, published in the Statesman, showing how the sale and purchase of British clothes stored in the mofussil towns in September, 1905, compared with the previous year, is given below;
District.................Value goods purchased in.....Value of goods being purchased
..............................Sept., 1904. ........................in Sept. 1905
Jessore.................Rs. 30,000.............................Rs. 2,000
Bogra....................,,     1,700............................. ,,       200
Dacca....................,,     5,000..............................,,   2,000
Arrah......................,,    1,500..............................,,      200
Hazaribagh...............,, 10,000..............................,,       500
Nadia........................,,15,000...............................,, 2,500
Malda ........................,,8,000................................,,1,300
Burdwan.....................,, 6,000...............................,, 1,000
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