Chauri Chaura a sleepy tehsil town of Gorakhpur,UP. is remembered for the killing of 23 ill fated policemen
On February 4th,1922 on hearing that the sub inspector of Chauri Chaura police-station had assaulted some of the Congress volunteers at Mundera Bazar, an infuriated mob assembled before the police-station demanding explanation from the guilty official. It ultimately resulted in police firing killing 3 persons from crowd and several injured.The outraged mob set fire to the thana in which 23 policemen including the station officer were burnt alive.
Mahatma Gandhi was shaken by the violence of Chauri Chaura and abruptly called off the non-co-operation movement in 1922 when the movement was at its peak. Chauri Chaura, he said, was a 'divine warning' that the masses were not yet prepared for launching a non-violent struggle to gain freedom for the country.
For the Mahatma's critics, the suspension of the movement was a 'Himalayan mistake' at a crucial juncture of the freedom struggle when they felt Swaraj was only 'one inch away'.
Its said that Ghandi was somewhat confused about the eventual impact of Chauri Chaura. In March 1922, he wrote to Mahadev Desai, 'take it from me that Chauri Chaura has saved us from a conflagration and has brought Swaraj miles nearer.' He interpreted the event differently in 1930: 'if the march of nonviolence had not been interrupted by the events in Chauri Chaura, I make bold to say that we would have been today in full possession of Swaraj. The confusion remains unresolved to this day.
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