Rowlatt Act and Satyagraha
Rowlatt Act and Satyagraha The Rowlatt Act (Anarchial & Revolutionary Crimes Act 1919) was a legislative act that allowed certain political cases to be tried without the presence of a jury and permitted internment of suspects without any trial. This is the time when Mahatma Gandhi came to light as a revolutionary and organised ‘Rowlatt Satyagraha’, starting with a general strike or Hartal on 6 April. The worst violent incident was the massacre of Jallianwalla bagh in Amritsar on 13 April, where General Dyer opened fire on a peaceful gathering of satyagrahis, killing 379 people, in a bid to break their morale. Mahatma Gandhi renounced his ‘Kaiser-i-Hind’. On April 18, 1919, Gandhi withdrew the movement and termed it as the ‘Himalayan Blunder’.