Chauri Chaura Anniversary: How Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement Changed in 1922

The centenary: a stamp, a year-long programme and a re-reading of the story Memory

On 4 February 2021 Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the centenary celebrations by video conference and released a commemorative postage stamp (ETV Bharat). The state programme ran from that date until 4 February 2022 across all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh (The Tribune; Deccan Herald).

The occasion shifted attention from Gandhi’s decision to the local participants and the men who were hanged. AiTimeline found no verified coverage of how the anniversary on 4 February 2026 was marked, so none is described here.

India becomes independent Afterwards

India became independent more than 25 years after the Chauri Chaura incident. The route there ran through non-cooperation, the civil disobedience of 1930 and 1932, the Quit India movement of 1942, revolutionary activity, labour and peasant mobilisation, negotiation and the Second World War. No single event decided it.

Gandhi returns to mass civil disobedience with the Salt March Afterwards

Eight years after the suspension, Gandhi led the Salt March from Sabarmati to Dandi against the British salt tax (Wikipedia). The 1922 pause had not ended mass resistance; the movement came back with new tactics and a different organisation, while Gandhi kept non-violence as the guiding principle.

Nineteen men are hanged Trial

The 19 men whose death sentences the High Court confirmed were hanged between 2 and 11 July 1923 (Wikipedia; Law and Business News). Today a memorial at Chauri Chaura lists their names.

The British Parliament is told the appeal figures Trial

The source brief cites a Commons answer of 4 June 1923 (Hansard) that the High Court dealt with 170 men sentenced to death: 19 sentences confirmed, 110 commuted, 38 acquitted and 3 convicted of rioting only, which adds up to 170. AiTimeline could not open the Hansard page (HTTP 403), so these figures are quoted as given in the brief. They match the High Court breakdown in secondary sources.

Allahabad High Court decides the appeals Trial

Madan Mohan Malaviya argued for the condemned men for four days (Law and Business News). The High Court confirmed 19 death sentences and acquitted 38. Secondary sources break down the 110 commuted cases as 14 life terms, 19 of eight years, 57 of five years and 20 of three years, and the 3 convicted of rioting only received two years (Wikipedia). Sources give 20 or 30 April as the judgment date; AiTimeline uses 30 April, the date in both of them.

Gorakhpur Sessions Court sentences 170 to death Trial

Of about 225 people tried, six died in custody, two received two years, 170 were sentenced to death and 47 were acquitted (Wikipedia). Some accounts say 172 and some say 228 were tried; the sources are inconsistent and AiTimeline uses the figures that agree in two places. The communist leader M. N. Roy called the verdicts “legalised murder” (Roy, 1923).

Gandhi is arrested and sentenced to six years Gandhi

Gandhi was arrested at 10 p.m. on 10 March 1922 and charged with promoting disaffection through his Young India writings. On 18 March the Sessions Court sentenced him to six years (GandhiServe chronology). He was released in February 1924 on health grounds after an operation.

“The Crime of Chauri Chaura” in Young India Gandhi

Gandhi wrote that the killing of the policemen could not be defended by the cause (GandhiServe chronology). Critics, including Congress colleagues in jail, thought a single local outbreak should not halt a national campaign. Jawaharlal Nehru and others described the suspension as hasty; the dispute is still argued by historians.

The Working Committee suspends civil disobedience; Gandhi fasts Gandhi

The Working Committee met at Bardoli on 11 February and on 12 February resolved to suspend civil disobedience in view of Chauri Chaura (GandhiServe chronology; INFLIBNET). The emphasis moved to constructive work: spinning, communal unity and the removal of untouchability (Publications Division). Gandhi began a five-day fast the same day as penance. The AICC adopted the resolutions, with modifications, on 25 February.

Gandhi tells workers at Bardoli he will stop the movement Gandhi

On 8 February Gandhi had sent a confidential circular to Working Committee members asking whether civil disobedience should be suspended. On 10 February, at Bardoli, he told Congress workers he would stop it at once (GandhiServe chronology). The brief dates the announcement to 10 February; the formal resolution followed on 12 February.

Bardoli waits as the news arrives Gandhi

The brief says news reached the leadership between 5 and 7 February. The chronology shows Gandhi still in Bardoli, giving interviews about the district’s fitness for civil disobedience on 5 February; the Government replied to his 1 February letter on 6 February and he issued a rejoinder on 7 February (GandhiServe chronology). The turn came on 8 February with the circular.

The crowd burns the Chauri Chaura police station Incident

A procession of roughly 2,000–2,500 people marched towards the bazaar to picket a liquor shop and protest the treatment of volunteers two days earlier. Warning shots angered the crowd, which threw stones. Sub-Inspector Prithvi Pal ordered fire, which killed three civilians. The police fell back into the station and the crowd set it alight; the men inside died (Wikipedia).

The toll for policemen is disputed: 22 named in Wikipedia, 23 in the brief (attributed to the Gorakhpur district administration, whose page AiTimeline could not reach) and 21 “policemen and watchmen” in GandhiServe. One reason given for 23 is Constable Raghuvir Singh, recorded dead in the FIR but later found alive and the sole witness at trial.

Volunteers are beaten back at Gauri Bazaar Incident

Volunteers led by Bhagwan Ahir, a retired army soldier, protested high food prices and the sale of liquor. Police under Daroga Gupteshwar Singh beat them back and arrested several leaders, who were held at the Chauri Chaura station (Wikipedia). The brief says only that “tensions had been building”; this is the concrete grievance.

Gandhi warns the Viceroy: Bardoli will begin Gandhi

Gandhi wrote that mass civil disobedience would begin at Bardoli unless the Viceroy clearly declared non-interference with non-violent activities (GandhiServe chronology). The Publications Division describes this as a decision taken under pressure from colleagues (Publications Division).

Non-cooperation: boycotts, titles, khadi Background

Born of anger at the Rowlatt Acts, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the Khilafat issue, the movement asked Indians to withdraw from colonial institutions through boycotts of selected schools, courts and councils, the return of titles, and the promotion of khadi (Wikipedia). Students, lawyers, merchants, peasants and workers joined, and local grievances shaped how it unfolded.