The decade of the 1930s is marked by a plethora of events and turmoil in the history of the Indian freedom struggle. Amidst all the ups and down, one of the significant developments that were observed post the election of 1937 was the resignation of the Congress-led ministry in Bihar and the subsequent hunger strike of the prisoners in the jail in the present-day district of Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.
The Congress was in power in Bihar where the government was led by Srikrishna Sinha. However, prior to the election, one of the promises made in the party manifesto by the Congress ministry was the release of political prisoners. The prisoners who were repatriated from the Andamans were still in the jails of Bihar. Among them, eight political prisoners in the Hazaribagh Jail went on a hunger strike on the 17th of January 1938. They were followed by four more prisoners who went on strike on 26th January 1938. The hunger strike was finally brought to an end in February 1938 with the intervention of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Achyut Patwardhan who visited the Hazaribagh Jail and solved the crisis. However, this crisis was followed by a constitutional crisis in the state of Bihar regarding the question of the premises of the release of political prisoners. There was a tussle between the provincial governments of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar on one side and the British government on the other side. The leaders of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar claimed that they have the complete right to pass an order regarding the release of political prisoners whereas the governors of the state in consultation with the Governor General claimed that it was beyond their jurisdiction and therefore objected to it and demanded the resignation of the provincial governments.
The Congress ministry in Bihar tendered resignation in February 1938 regarding the issue surrounding the release of political prisoners. The events that ensued show how the demand for freedom had become imperative to the people of India and how imperial forces were no longer tolerated.
Source: Indian Culture Portal