द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

216 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE Mr. Surjya Kumar Sen, raided the Chittagong Armoury. They shot dead the guards on duty, took possession of the premises, removed what weapons they could and destroyed the rest. Thereafter they retired to the hills and continued guerilla warfare for some days. Ultimately they were over- powered, the majority of them being killed and the rest being forced to fly for their safety. Members of this party who were at large, continued terroristic activities for a long time.¹ About this time the Afridi tribes on the North-West Frontier grew restless and began to give trouble to the British Govern- ment. Early in May, the Mahatma wrote his second letter to the Viceroy (part of which has been quoted above), in which he said: ‘Dear Friend, ‘God willing it is my intention to set out for Dharasana and reach there with my companions on . . . and demand possession of the Salt Works. . . . It is possible for you to prevent this “raid,” as it has been playfully and mis- chievously called, in three ways:

1. By removing the Salt Tax.
2. By arresting me and my party unless the country can, as I hope it will, replace everyone taken away.
3. By sheer goondaism (i.e., terrorism) unless every head broken is replaced, as I hope it will be. . . .’ (Young India, May 8th, 1930.) But before the Mahatma could carry out his intention he was seized by the custodians of law on May 5th, 1930 and cast in prison without trial under an old regulation, called Bombay Regulation XXV of 1827. The arrest of Mahatma Gandhi caused public excitement all over India, but there was no outbreak of violence except in one town, viz., Sholapur in Bombay Presidency. In that ¹ The first batch of young men arrested after the raid were sent up for trial in what is known as the Chittagong Armoury Raid Case and after a long trial, the majority of them were sentenced to transportation for life and sent over to the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. The leader of the group, Surjya Kumar Sen, evaded arrest for a long time but was subsequently arrested and hanged after trial. Chittagong has since 1930 been under a form of martial law.