In November, 1927 the British government appointed the Simon Commission. It consisted of Englishmen without a single Indian representative. In the Congress session it was decided to boycott the Simon commission.
The commission arrived in India in February 1928 and was met, with a country wide hartal (strike) wherever the commission went. Peaceful demonstrators were beaten up by the police. Lala Lajpat Rai was assaulted at Lahore and soon after died. Govind Ballabh Pant received a heavy blow which disabled him for life.
In March 1929, 31 labour leaders were arrested on the charge of conspiracy. The trial which lasted four years is known as the Meerut Conspiracy Case. The nationalist leaders provided legal defence to the accused. The British government in 1929 issued the public safety ordinance to remove from India persons it considered British and foreign communist agents. The government also enacted a law to curb trade union activities.
After the withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation movement, there had been a revival of revolutionary activities. Four revolutionaries, including Ram Prasad Bismal and Ashfaqualla, members of the Hindustan Republican Association had been hanged after their trial under the Kakori Conspiracy Case.
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In 1928, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and others had founded the Hindustan Republication Socialist Association. On 8 April 1929, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly. They raised slogans of ‘Long Live the Revolution.’ Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt Surrendered.
All the prominent members were arrested and charged with the murder of the Superintendent of Police of Lahore also. Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukh Dev were later, sentenced to death.