Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday targeted the country’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru over his alleged failure to defend the revolutionaries sentenced to death by the British in the Chauri Chaura case, claiming that Madan Mohan Malaviya’s legal intervention saved 151 of them from the gallows.
Invoking the sacrifices of the Chauri Chaura revolutionaries, Yogi said their contribution to India’s freedom struggle should never be forgotten and questioned the response of the Congress leadership to the death sentences handed down to them.
“Who came forward to save them? He said following the February 4, 1922, Chauri Chaura incident, the British government had sentenced 172 people, including farmers, labourers and traders, to death. It was not advocate Jawaharlal Nehru, but Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, who, through his strong legal arguments, got 151 people cleared of the charges,” the CM said.
Quoting verses by Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, he said the contributions of revolutionaries who sacrificed everything for the country’s freedom should always be remembered. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the Bhopa Bazar railway overbridge, Yogi said the Chauri Chaura uprising had shaken even the Congress leadership of that time, prompting it to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement. He said the government’s commitment was to preserve the legacy of the revolutionaries and ensure that future generations remained aware of their sacrifices.
