Meerut Conspiracy

The Meerut Conspiracy Case was a controversial court case initiated in British period in March 1929 and decided in 1933. Several Trade Union leaders including three Britisher were arrested for organizing an Indian railway strike. The British Government convicted 33 leftist trade union leaders under a false lawsuit. The trial immediately caught attention in England.

Background

British Government was worried about the growing influence of socialist idea in India. They were also convinced that these ideas are propogated by Communist Party of India.

Dange along with 32 persons were arrested on or about 20 March 1929  and were put on trial under Section 121A of the IPC, which declares:

Whoever within British India conspires to commit any of the offenses punishable by Section 121 or to deprive the King of the sovereignty of British India or any part thereof, or conspires to overawe, by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force, the Government of India or any local Government, shall be punished with transportation for life, or any shorter term, or with imprisonment of either description which may extend to ten years.

Impact of Meerut Conspiracy

Though all the accused were not communists, the charges framed against them portrayed the British government's fear for growth of communist ideas in India. In the trial the accused were all labeled as Bolsheviks. During the trial of four and a half years, the defendants turned the courtroom into a public platform to espouse their cause. As a result, the trial saw strengthening of the communist movement in the country. Harkishan Singh Surjeet, a former General Secretary of the Communist Party of India wrote about the aftermath of the Meerut Conspiracy case thus:

a Party with a centralized apparatus, came into being only after the release of the Meerut prisoners, in 1933. The Meerut Conspiracy Case, though launched to suppress the communist movement, provided the opportunity for Communists to propagate their ideas. It came out with its own manifesto and was affiliated to the Communist International in 1934.