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The fire that broke Gandhi
Event, Metaphor,
Memory–Chauri
Chaura
1922-1992 Chauri Chaura in Indian nationalist history has appropriated many
enclosures. It is a transgression in the great moral fight of non-violence led
by Mahatma Gandhi, a valorous act against the unjust colonial rule, a violent
letup of suppressed anger of the peasants. For Indians, it is an event to
remember, but not to dwell on in detail. Amin, a scholar of the Subaltern school, uses
multiplicity of methods to write a microcosm of Chauri Chaura. Using judicial
archival records along with oral history, he weaves a story of peasants,
Congress volunteers, approvers, the guilty, and the common people. What follows
is a story of anonymous characters from a self-defining event of Gandhian
nationalism. The event and its aftermath are built with precision. The village
of Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, eastern UP, has a beginning and a continuum. The
economy and social history also form part of the story. The event unfolds with
the Dumri sabha been called to confront publicly the station officer who had
beaten the volunteers a few days earlier. Its leaders first parlayed with
emissaries and argued with the daroga (police station officer), forcing him to
apologise and give way. The procession jeered the police functioning and
marched towards Mundera to accomplish the unfinished task of picketing liquor,
meat, and fish shops. It was the subsequent tussle between some policemen and a
section of the crowd and the firing in the air that started the riot. Nearly
6,000 persons were involved, 1,000 suspects listed, and 225 put on trial. The
judicial construction is riveting, though never transgressing the historical
facts. Sessions court delivered the judgment on January 9, 1923, in which 172
were sentenced to death. The politics of trial is insightful. Shahid Amin uses
a massive judicial archive and has paid a lot of attention to the voice of the
approver—Shikari—and to the difference it made both to the judgment and to
the lives of those on trial. The final judgment was 19 sent to the gallows, 110
imprisoned, 38 acquitted, and a few died during trial. This microstudy is a
benchmark in history writing. It raises questions on nationalist
historiography. A condemnation of the riot by Mahatma Gandhi paradoxically
entitles the event to national importance. It perceives Chauri Chaura
differently, that precludes a fuller understanding of tensions between the
leaders, the organisation and the movement. A closer study of such an
occurrence also discloses the tensions which were inherent in the act: hours
before the clash, it is Gandhian; hours after, it is criminal. Such tensions
characterise all mass movements and is relevant for all times. It also typifies
violent police-peasant confrontations under the Raj. It highlights peasant
nationalism also, which has not received full justice. The multi-layered text
does not get embroiled; it is enmeshed dexterously in the story. It looks at
the internal face of the popular nationalism, the demiurgic presence of Gandhi,
the local elaborations on his teachings, and the self-empowerment of
volunteers. It also delves into the politics and religiosity of vegetarianism
and picketing in order to analyse what the judgment itself reveals and
obfuscates. The use of oral evidence to give a new dimension to the event’s
memory after 70 years of its happening shows that the true significance of
Chauri Chaura in Indian history lies outside the time and place of its
occurrence. The author is aware of the pitfalls of oral evidence—interviews,
conversations, recollections can feebly attempt to unify extant and emerging
accounts. It can also lead to recent nationalisation of the event. Though
pitfalls of a pragmatic reliance on contemporary evidence is kept in mind, it
is sought to reproduce specific personalised and often eccentric accounts, and
these have been ranged, arranged and rearranged against the authorised texts of
historiography like court records, contemporary tracts, ethnological notices,
even the dictionary. In an ironic that Gandhian nationalism is studied through
a violent act—crime of Chauri Chaura, this being the name of Gandhi’s
authoritative essay. The riot became Gandhi’s Mea Culpa, his public
confession—"Thank God for having humbled him". The book studies the
impact of Gandhi and also the lessons that he learned from this event for his
future movement. The author is familiar with the area, the language, the
culture; he uses the nuances of the interviewed to great effect. The importance
of Chauri Chaura lies in its ephemeral and metaphoric positioning within the
colonial and national archive. A good scholarly read for everyone.
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Shahid Amin, in his book, breaks new
grounds on the subject. From the time it was first published in 1995, it has
been well received even by non-historians. Not only is the narrative fast
paced, with lucid prose, it also carries the stamp of a long-standing scholarly
work. What sets it apart is its historiography, which breaks the standard
tradition of history writing.