Khilafat Agitators
Unfortunately, however, Khilafat agitators, who had publicly announced in the press of the 18th November that Barabanki Tahsil was being prepared for civil disobedience by the end of November, considered this act a suitable one to infringe. They redoubled their efforts and collected considerable sums, mainly for the Angora Fund, both through members of the 46 Khilafat committees established in this district and by itinery volunteers, who were paid for their services, either by fixed monthly salaries or by a percentage on collections. Between the 19th and 24th December, four volunteers were arrested under Section 7 (1) and 17 (2) of the Act, and these arrests were reported to have had a temporary beneficial effect. By the 3rd January, when the District delegates returned from the Ahmedabad conference, the leaders decided to take action openly. On the 4th it was reported to me that large numbers of volunteers would march into the city under the command of their zemindar leaders. No precise information however, could be obtained as to their intentions. On the morning of the 7th January batches of volunteers began to issue chiefly from the Congress Office from which was hung a Khilafat flag and a large notice calling on people to enlist as volunteers. These volunteers were mostly from outside villages and were headed by petty zemindars. They were all Mahomedans and had been worked up to a high pitch of religious enthusiasm. Many of them had their Qurans slung round their necks. They had apparently been incited to a state bordering on religious frenzy by exhortations from their leaders, that their religion was being destroyed by the British Government. They were wild in their abuse of Government, officials and specially the Police. The whole religious street in front of the Congress office resounded with religious shouts and cries of "Victory to Islam". The cry of "Allah ho Akbar" was uttered as a war cry with fanatical zeal, specially when any arrests were made.