Page:Sketch of the Non-cooperation Movement by Babu Rajendra Prasad.pdf/38

 Bombay on the 5th October and practically affirmed the manifesto issued on the previous evening and advised a voluntary hartal on the day of landing of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales and a boycott of all public welcome during his visit to the different cities of India.

The A. I. C. C. Meeting at Delhi.—On the 4th of November, the All-India Congress Committee met at Delhi and endorsed the resolution of the Working Committee regarding the duty of Government servants whether civilians or soldiers. It passed another resolution authorising every province on its own resaponsibility to undertake Civil Disobedience including non-payment of taxes subject to the conditions that, in case of individual Civil Disobedience, the individual must know hand-spinning, must have fulfilled the part of the programme applicable to him, must be a believer in the unity of communities and in Non-violence as absolutely essential and if a Hindu must show by personal conduct that he regards untouchability as a blot upon nationalism. In the case of mass Civil Disobedience, it required the vast majority of the population of the area embarking upon Civil Disobedience to have adopted full Swadeshi and to believe in and practice all other items of Non-co-operation. It further laid down that civil resisters and their families should not expect to be supported out of public funds and it authorised the Working Committee to relax the condition in suitable cases.

The Prince’s Visit and the Hartal.—On the 17th of November, 1921, H. R. H. the Prince of Wales landed in Bombay where he was received by Princes, officials, Europeans, Eurasians, Parsis and other rich persons. On the other hand, the middle and lower classes boycotted the welcome. Mobs got out of hand