Anushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti (Ōnūshīlōn sōmītī, "lit": body-building society) was a Bengali Indian organisation that existed in the first quarter of the twentieth century, and propounded revolutionary violence as the means for ending British rule in India. The organisation arose from a conglomeration of local youth groups and gyms ("Akhara") in Bengal in 1902. It had two prominent, if somewhat independent, arms in East and West Bengal identified as Dhaka Anushilan Samiti centred in Dhaka (modern day Bangladesh), and the Jugantar group (centred at Calcutta) respectively.
Anushilan Samiti
James Popplewell, writing in 1995, noted that the Raj perceived the "Samiti" in its early days as a serious threat to its rule. Its activities and ideologies found tacit support from within Bengali populace, even if not overt support. However historian Sumit Sarkar noted that the "Samiti" never mustered enough support to offer an urban rebellion or a guerrilla campaign. Both Peter Heehs and Sumit Sarkar noted that the "Samiti" called for complete independence a good twenty years before the Congress adopted this as its aim. A number of landmark events early in the Indian independence movement, including the revolutionary conspiracies of World War I, involved the "Samiti" intricately as noted in the Rowlatt report. In later years, the ascendant left-wing of the Congress, particularly Subhas Chandra Bose was suspected of having links with the "Samiti". Heehs argued the actions of the revolutionary nationalists exemplified by the "Samiti", forced the government to parley more seriously with the leaders of the legitimate movement. Gandhi was always aware of this. "At the Round Table Conference of 1931, the apostle of non-violence declared that he held 'no brief for the terrorists', but added that if the government refused to work with him, it would have the terrorists to deal with. The only way to 'say good-bye to terrorism' was 'to work the Congress for all it is worth'".