Mahatma reached India via London in January 1915 midst some hoopla. Reception by the various organizations and lectures were order of the day during the year. In the same year He was awarded Kaiser-i-Hind Gold Medal for Ambulance services at a function in Poona (which he duly returned to the Government in1921).Meanwhile in March ,Gopal Krishna Gokhale died.Mahatma was always active in Servants of India Society. Towards the end of 1915 the Mahatma become involved with the Indian National Congress.
The upper echelons of Congress were not too impressed by his methods of achieving the goals. Mahatma’s non-cooperation and his idea of Swaraj did not stir the Congress. Most of the office bearers of Congress believed that India was too complex to undergo the experiment. It must have left Mahatma perplexed on working of the Congress.He was more of a silent observant of Indian Politics during 1916. The thirty-first session of the Indian National
Congress met at Lucknow in December, 1916. It was efforts of Mahatma that Lokamanya Tilak for the first time attended the Congress with his followers since the Surat split.Still he remained an outsider in the the ideologue of Congress. He realized that he to develop a local network of friends.His intelligence forbade him to get deeply involved with the Congress till he could present a couple of success stories. Champaran presented him the ideal grounds for testing his methods in India.
Champaran lies in North West of Bihar and was called a “Bowl of Rice by the colonists. The fertile land was being forced to grow Indigo. Indigo cultivation was done on Zerait i.e., departmental cultivation under their direct supervision and Asamiwar i.e., cultivation through cultivators or tenants. Out of this nearly one fourth was cultivated under the Zerait system and the remaining was cultivated under the Asamiwar, that is, the tinhathia system. The area under indigo cultivation fell to 47,800 acres and in 1914 to 8,100 acres. In 1914 war was declared between Germany and England and the import of German dyes ceased. Indigo began to look up once again, and the planters increased its cultivation.
Owners got the tenant to cultivate indigo in a portion of his holding for which a fixed price was paid. Portion so reserved for indigo used to be 5 kathas per bigha or one fourth of the tenant’s holding. Sometime later, about 1867, this area was reduced from 5 kathas to 3 kathas per bigha. Since then the system came to be known as tinkathia (or the system of three kathas) .Bapahi-Putahi,Marwach ,Sagaura were many taxes levied by the factories operating in the areas.
Suppressed by the ruthless militias of the landlords (mostly British), they were given measly compensation, leaving them in extreme poverty. Now in the throes of a devastating famine, the British levied an oppressive tax which they insisted on increasing in rate. Without food and without money, the situation was growing progressively unlivable and the peasants revolted against conditions in indigo plant cultivation in 1914 at Pipra. The farmers and indentured labors protested in a way unique in itself.The protests were non violent and based on non co operation. The protest of the poor fizzed out early due to economic plight and lack of subsistence.
The movement again rose it’s head at Turkaulia in 1916. It was again based on non violent protest by serfs based on non co operation.It continued little longer than the first failed attempt at Pipra.
At the thirty-first session of the Indian National Congress held at Lucknow in December, 1916,Raj Kumar Shukla ,an Indigo cultivator tried to persuade Mahatma to come to Champaran. The Mahatma seemed reluctant at first as he felt that the backwaters of Bihar were not prepared for Satyagraha.However when Ram Kumar Shukla narrated the means adopted by the farmers to protest,the Mahtma agreed wholeheartedly to visit Champaran.
He visited Calcutta between January 1917 and April 1917 but due to lack of communication with Ram Kumar Shukla resulting from postal delays could not make it Champaran.The former knew that it was the only chance left with the farmers and serfs. On next visit to Calcutta the Mahatma arrived in Champaran on 10th April 1917 accompanied with Dr.Rajendra Prasad,Brajkishore Prasad,Anugrah Narayan Singh,Acharya Kriplani(a professor at Muzzafarpur that time), Mahadeo Desai, Deen Bandhu C.F.Andrews, H. S. Pollock, Raj Kishore Prasad, Ram Nawami Prasad,Shambhu Sharan, Ramshri Dev Trivedi and Dharnidhar Prasad.
The rest they say is history in annals of Indian freedom
No comments:
Post a Comment