In March 1919, Indian politics were extremely tense over the draconian “anti-terrorist” law known as the Rowlatt Act. On March 23, MK Gandhi called for the general strike or hartal on April 6 that came to be known as the Rowlatt Satyagraha (and was soon to be followed by the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre in Amritsar on April 13). On March 28, MA Jinnah resigned his membership of the Viceroy’s Imperial Council in protest that the Rowlatt Act had not been amended as demanded by the Indian members of the Council. In midst of such tumultuous events, my great grandfather Surendranath Roy, on March 27 1919, seems to have quietly managed to get his “Bengal Primary Education Bill” passed in the Bengal Legislative Council.
From India in 1918: A Chronological Record of the Phases of Developments in Indian Polity During 1918, HN Mitra (ed), Annual Register Office, Sibpur, 1921.
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