The Moplahs are a band of fanatic Muslims, poor and ignorant, about a million in number. They are descended from the Arabs who settled on the Malabar coast, as described above", about the eighth or ninth century A.D. and married mostly Indian wives. They lived in Malabar along with about two million Hindus and had acquired an unenviable notoriety for crimes perpetrated under the impulse of religious frenzy. They were responsible for no fewer than thirty-five outbreaks, of a minor nature, during the British rule. But their most terrible uprising took place in August 1921, and is described in the official report as follows:
"During the early months of 1921, excitement spread speedily from mosque to mosque, from village to village. The violent speeches of the Ali Brothers, the early approach of Swaraj as foretold in the non-co-operating press, and the July resolutions of the Khila fat Conference-all these combined to fire the train. Throughout July and August, innumerable Khilafat meetings were held, in which the resolutions of the Karachi Conference were fervently endorsed. Knives, swords, and spears were secretly manufactured, bands of desperadoes collected, and preparations were made to proclaim the coming of the kingdom of Islam. On August 20, when the District Magistrate of Calicut, with the help of troops and police, attempted to arrest certain leaders who were in possession of arms at Tirurangadi, a severe encounter took place, which was the signal for immediate rebellion throughout the whole locality. Roads were blocked, telegraph lines cut, and the railway destroyed in a number of places. The District Magistrate returned to Calicut to prevent the spread of trouble northwards, and the machinery of Government was temporarily reduced to a number of isolated offices and police stations which were attacked by the rebels in detail. Such Europeans did not succeed in escaping-and they were fortunately few were murdered with bestial savagery. As soon as the administration had been paralyzed, the Moplahs declared that Swaraj was established. A certain Ali Musaliar was proclaimed Raja, Khilafat flags were flown, and Ernad and Walluvanad were declared Khilafat kingdoms. The main brunt of Moplah's ferocity was borne, not by Government, but by the luckless Hindus who constituted the majority of the population...Massacres, forcible conversions, desecration of temples, foul outrages upon women, pillage, arson, and destruction, in short, all the accompaniments of brutal and unrestrained barbarism -were perpetrated freely until such time as troops could be hurried to the task of restoring order throughout a difficult and extensive tract of country.
"As the rebellion had spread over a wide area, the troops available in the Madras District were unable to cope with the situation. and strong reinforcements had to be sent; and by the middle of October, these amounted to four battalions, one pack battery, a section of armored cars, and other necessary ancillary services. As the rebels took to the hills, it was some time before they could be caught in appreciable numbers. By the end of the year 1921, the situation was well in hand, and the back of the rebellion was broken. An idea of the fierceness of some of the fighting may be gained from the night attack at Pandikad, on which occasion a company of Gur khas was rushed at dawn by a horde of fanatics who inflicted some 60 casualties on the Gurkhas and were only beaten off after losing some 250 killed. Throughout the campaign casualties among the Government, troops totaled 43 killed and 126 wounded; while the Moplahs lost over 3,000 killed alone. A great tragedy marked the end of the rebellion. On November 19, 1921, a batch of seventy Moplah prisoners was being conveyed by train, but through the neglect of the guards there was no arrangement for ventilation in the closed coach in which they were put, and all of them died by asphyxiation"
The Muslim leaders put the number of Moplah 'martyrs' as 10,000, and they also referred to the desecration of mosques and other outrages perpetrated by British troops while suppressing the revolt. The main incidents of the Moplah rebellion, particularly the terrible outrages upon a large number of Hindus, such as has been described above in the Government version, have been corroborated by independent testimony. It will suffice to refer to a few documents out of a mass of materials collected on the subject.
1. A statement signed by the Secretary and the Treasurer of the Kerala Provincial Congress Committee, Secretary, Calicut District Congress Committee, and Secretary, Ernad Khilafat Committee, and K. V. Gopala Menon, refer to the following misdeeds of the Moplahs: "Their wanton and unprovoked attack on the Hindus, the all but wholesale looting of their houses in Ernad, and parts of Valluvanad, Ponnani, and Calicut taluqs; the forcible conversion of Hindus in a few places at the beginning of the rebellion, and the wholesale conversion of those who stuck to their homes in later stages, the brutal murder of inoffensive Hindus, men, women, and children, in cold blood, without the slightest reason except that they are 'Kafirs' or belong to the same race as the policemen, who insulted their Tangals or entered their mosques, desecration, and burning of Hindu temples, the outrage on Hindu women and their forcible conversion and marriage by Moplahs."
The signatories add: "These and similar atrocities (were) proved beyond the shadow of a doubt by the statements recorded by us from the actual sufferers who have survived."41
2. The memorial of the women of Malabar to Lady Reading contains the following: "It is possible that your Ladyship is not fully apprised of all the horrors and atrocities perpetrated by the fiendish rebels; of the many wells and tanks filled up with the mutilated, but often only half dead, bodies, of our nearest and dearest ones who refused to abandon the faith of our fathers; of pregnant women cut to pieces and left on the roadsides and in the jungles, with the unborn babe protruding from the mangled corpse; of our innocent and helpless children torn from our arms and done to death before our eyes and of our husbands and fathers tortured, flayed and burnt alive; of our helpless sisters forcibly carried away from the midst of kith and kin and subjected to every shame and outrage which the vile and brutal imagination of these inhuman hell-hounds could conceive of; of thousands of our homesteads re duced to cinder-mounds out of sheer savagery and a wanton spirit of destruction; of our places of worship desecrated and destroyed and of the images of deity shamefully insulted by putting the en trails of slaughtered cows where flower garlands used to lie, or else smashed to pieces.... We remember how driven out of our native hamlets we wandered, starving and naked, in the jungles and forests......"42
(This is only a short extract from a long harrowing tale of misery).
3. Proceedings of the Conference at Calicut presided over by the Zamorin: "Resolution VI. That the Conference views with indignation and sorrow the attempts made in various quarters by interested parties to ignore or minimize the crimes committed by the rebels such as:
(a) Brutally dishonoring women;
(b) Flaying people alive;
(c) Wholesale slaughter of men, women, and children;
(d) Burning alive entire families;
(e) Forcibly converting people in thousands and slaying those who refused to get converted;
(f) Throwing half-dead people into wells and leaving the victims for hours to struggle for escape till finally released from their sufferings by death."
(Two other items refer to looting and desecration of temples as described in the above memorial of the ladies)."
4. A report, dated Calicut, 7 September 1921, published in the Times of India, and another, dated 6 December 1921, published in the New India, give detailed accounts of the most horrible outrages on women which cannot be reproduced for the sake of decency.
5. Sankaran Nair refers to cases of men who were skinned alive or made to dig their graves before being slaughtered.44
The Congress leaders at first disbelieved the stories, but when hundreds of Hindu refugees arriving at Calicut confirmed the most terrible stories of barbarous and fanatical cruelty, a wave of horror spread among those Hindus who were not blinded by the new-fangled ideas of Hindu-Muslim unity at any cost. Gandhi himself spoke of the "brave God-fearing Moplahs" who were "fighting for what they consider as religion, and in a manner which they consider as religious". Little wonder that Khilafat leaders passed resolutions of congratulations to the Moplahs on the brave fight they were conducting for the sake of religion. Local members of the Congress and Khilafat asked for, and obtained, permission to enter the disturbed area to pacify the Moplahs, but they speedily returned with the admission that they could effect nothing. When truth could not be suppressed any longer and came out with all its naked hideousness, Gandhi tried to conciliate Hindu opinion by various explanations, denials, and censure of the authorities which were crystallized in the following resolution passed by the Congress at Ahmedabad:
"The Congress expresses its firm conviction that the Moplah disturbance was not due to the Non-co-operation or the Khilafat Movement, especially as the Non-co-operation and the Khilafat preachers were denied access to the affected parts by the District authorities for six months before the disturbance, but is due to causes wholly unconnected with the two movements, and that the outbreak would not have occurred had the message of non-violence been allowed to reach them. Nevertheless, this Congress deplores the acts done by certain Moplahs by way of forcible conversions and destruction of life and property, and is of opinion that the prolongation of the disturbance in Malabar could have been prevented by the Government of Madras accepting the proffered assistance of Maulana Yakub Hassan and other non-co-operators and allowing Mahatma Gandhi to proceed to Malabar, and is further of opinion that the treatment of Moplah prisoners as evidenced by the asphy xiation incident was an act of inhumanity unheard of in modern times and unworthy of a Government that calls itself civilised."
This resolution is unworthy of a great political organization which claims to represent India and not any particular community. Its deliberate attempts to minimize the enormity of crimes perpetrated by a band of fanatic Muslims upon thousands of helpless Hindus betrays a mentality which generally characterized Government communiques whitewashing the crimes perpetrated by officials upon the Indians, and both should be strongly denounced by any impartial critic. It is ridiculous to maintain that the Moplah disturbance was not due to the Non-co-operation or Khilafat move ment in the face of well authenticated facts, such as the holding of Khilafat meetings which endorsed the resolutions of the Karachi Conference, the proclamation of Khilafat Kingdoms, and the fly ing of Khilafat flags.45 It is interesting to compare the words of the resolution, almost apologetic in tone, condemning the Moplahs with those which are used against the Government for the faults severe though they were-of some officials.
Mrs. Besant has definitely connected the Moplah rebellion with the Non-co-operation and Khilafat movements, and many other eminent men have expressed similar views. Even Muslim leaders indirectly supported this view. Thus Hazrat Mohani, in his Presi dential speech at the session of the Muslim League held at Ahma dabad on 30 December, made the following observations about the atrocities of the Moplahs:
"The Moplahs justify their action on the ground that at such a critical juncture, when they are engaged in a war against the English, their neighbours (Hindus) not only do not help them or observe neutrality, but aid and assist the English in every way. They can, no doubt, contend that, while they are fighting a defensive war for the sake of their religion and have left their houses, property and belongings and taken refuge in hills and jungles, it is unfair to characterise as plunder their commandeering of money, provisions and other necessaries for their troops from the English or their supporters."
In characterising the Moplah action as a religious war against the British, Hazrat Mohani definitely regards it as a political move ment which cannot be dissociated from the Khilafat agitation. His justification of the atrocities of the Moplahs is not only puerile in the extreme but is directly contrary to facts. He ignores the patent fact that in the majority of cases, the almost wholesale looting of Hindu houses in portions of Ernad, Valluvanad and Ponani taluqs was perpetrated on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of August, before the military had arrived in the affected area, i.e. long before the Moplahs had taken themselves to hills and jungles.
By its attitude towards the Moplah outrages the Congress for feited its moral right to criticize the action of the British authorities in respect of the outrages in the Punjab. Gandhi's ejaculations about the "God-fearing Moplahs" and the congratulations showered on them by the Congress and Muslim leaders, like O'Dwyer's tele graphic approval of Dyer's action, might have been due to igno rance of all the facts, but even when these were fully known, they did not repudiate their original views.
At the annual session of the Khilafat Conference at Cocanada held in 1923, when all the woeful tales of barbarous outrages com mitted by the Moplahs were widely known all over the country, the great national leader, Shaukat Ali, President of the session, moved a resolution for the provision of Moplah orphans and fami lies. "Thousands of Moplahs", he said, "had been martyred but they owed a duty, both on religious and humanitarian grounds, to these brave Moplahs". While conceding that some Hindus had suffered at the hands of the Moplahs, he said the whole chapter was a closed book to them; but they had a duty to the brave Mop lahs. He announced that he and his brother Muhammad Ali would each provide for the maintenance of one Moplah orphan.
Member after member rose to narrate the sufferings that the Moplahs had suffered in the hands of the Government, but there was no reference to the inhuman barbarities committed by them. The Khilafat Conference adopted the Resolution moved by Shau, kat Ali and funds were collected for the maintenance of the Mop lah orphans. One looks in vain for a similar action on the part of the Congress or Hindu leaders to help the victims of the Moplah outrage.
VIII. GENERAL REVIEW
The question has often been discussed whether the Non-co operation movement launched by Gandhi in 1920-1 was a success or failure. Perhaps the correct view would be that it was neither a complete success nor a complete failure, and the truth, as often happens, lies between the two. People have argued that it must be regarded as a failure because it failed to achieve any of the three objects for which it was undertaken. The wrongs done to the Khilafat or the Punjab were not remedied, and the 'Swaraj within a year', promised by Gandhi, was as far off as ever. Nor did any conspicuous success attend the efforts to achieve the speci fic objects immediately in view. The boycott of Councils, law courts, and educational institutions proved ineffective, and that of liquor and foreign goods had only a limited and temporary success, due to active picketing. As regards the constructive programme the only visible effect was the revival of the spinning wheel, though its popularity did not last very long, and it survives today primarily as a ritual to be observed on the anniversary of the birth and death of Mahatma Gandhi,
But even admitting all this, it is difficult to concede that the Non-co-operation movement was a failure. The Civil Disobedience Enquiry Committee, set up by the All-India Congress Committee and consisting of such eminent men as Motilal Nehru, C. Raja gopalachari, M. A. Ansari, V. J. Patel and Kasturiranga Aiyangar, with Hakim Ajmal Khan as Chairman, made an extensive tour al most all over India and received written replies to their question naire from 459 witnesses, of whom 366 were also orally examined. They made a general review of the success and failure of the Non co-operation movement, item by item, and much of what has been written above on this subject is based on their report. Even mak ing due allowance for the fact that the members were' all Congress leaders responsible for the movement and, as such, would be natu rally inclined to exaggerate its good and minimize its evil, there seems to be a great deal of truth in the following passage in their Report:
"Witnesses from all parts of the country speaking from direct local knowledge have testified to the outstanding features of the crisis through which the country is passing. These are: (1) the general awakening of the masses to their political rights and pri vileges, (2) the total loss of faith in the present system of Govern ment, (3) the belief that it is only through its own efforts that India can hope to be free, (4) the faith in the Congress as the only orga nisation which can properly direct national effort to gain freedom, and (5) the utter failure of repression to cow down the people. Our own personal observation in the course of our tour round the whole country fully corroborates the evidence on these points. We have found the general population permeated with the indomitable spirit of a great national awakening unprecedented in the history of the human race for its wide sweep and rapid growth. The great bulk of the people showed complete lack of confidence in the Govern ment and were found to be firm believers in Non-co-operation and all that it stands for. Repression, where it had done its worst, had no doubt left behind it a trail of sorrow and suffering, but failed to crush the spirit of the people."
Although stated with some amount of pardonable exaggera tion, the claims made by the Congressmen, as expressed in the above passages, cannot be lightly brushed aside. Even the Govern ment was forced to admit that in spite of its impracticable nature, the Non-co-operation movement was engineered and sustained by nationalist aspirations. In the statement submitted to the Parlia ment, the Government of India made the following observations regarding the general results of the Non-co-operation movement:
"But when we turn to consider the campaign as a whole, it would be idle to assert that it was infructuous. Whether the re sults obtained are desirable or undesirable will be demonstrated beyond all possibility of doubt by the passage of time. But that these results are real is no longer open to question. Mr. Gandhi's intensive movement during the years 1921 and 1922 has diffused far and wide, among classes previously oblivious to political con siderations, a strong negative patriotism born of race hatred of the foreigner. The less prosperous classes both in the town and the countryside have become aroused to certain aspects-even though these be mischievous, exaggerated and false of the existing poli tical situation. On the whole, this must be pronounced, up to the present, the most formidable achievement of the non-co-operation movement. That it has certain potentialities for good will be main tained by many; that it will immensely increase the dangers and difficulties of the next few years can be denied by few."46
Making necessary allowance for a foreign Government's view about what constitutes true patriotism, and what is mischievous, on the part of the Indians, the above lines may justly be regarded as an indirect admission of the great success of the Non-co-operation movement.
An eminent leader of the Moderate party, who characterizes the Report of the Enquiry Committee as a one-sided document, has presented his "non-partisan conclusions" on the subject.47 Though his claims to be a 'non-partisan' may justly be challenged, it is inte resting to note that his conclusions do not materially differ from what has been stated above regarding the success or failure of the different items on the basis of the Committee's Report. It is also deserving of notice that the Committee itself admitted the failure of the movement in a manner which a 'partisan' committee has seldom done or is likely to do in future.
The most outstanding feature of the Non-co-operation move ment was the willingness and ability of the people in general to endure, to a remarkable degree, hardships and punishments inflicted by the Government. This is the reason why though the Non-co-operation movement collapsed, the memory of its greatness survived, and was destined to inspire the nation to launch it again at no distant date. For, the movement proved to be a bap tism of fire which initiated the people into a new faith and new hope, and inspired them with a new confidence in their power to fight for freedom. Anyone who reviews the whole course of events during the movement must be struck with two undeniable facts. First, that the Congress had, for the first time, become a really mass movement in the sense that national awakening had not only penetrated to the people at large but also made them active parti. cipants in the struggle for freedom. The second, which is no less important, but was generally ignored at the time, is that the Indian National Congress was, almost overnight, turned into a genuine revolutionary organization. It was no longer a deliberative assemb ly but an organized fighting force, pledged to revolution. Its wea pons were different, but its aims, objects, and temperament close ly resembled those of militant nationalism. But there were two significant differences. Unlike the latter the Congress did not work in secret, and its non-violent creed and method had the full sympathy and active support of the people at large. These two features were the greatest contributions of Mahatma Gandhi to India's struggle for freedom.
Cf. the Official Report, quoted above on pp. 360-61. According to a Confidential Report of the Intelligence Bureau, prepared by P.C. Bamford, Deputy-Director, Intelligence Bureau, Home Department, Government of India, "The Moplah re- bellion broke out in August after Khilafat agitators, including Abul Kalam Azad and Hakim Ajmal Khan, had been making violent speeches in that area. Ever since the Majlis-ul-Ulema Conference at Erode in April, the feelings of the Moplahs had been steadily growing with respect to Khilafat, while the non- violent Non-co-operation movement was receding more and more into the back- ground." For further extracts from this Report containing anti-Hindu senti- ments of the Moplahs, cf. Freedom-India, III. pp. 831-2, footnote, 85 a.
