A hundred years ago, on a day very much like this, Mohandas Gandhi travelled in a train with no AC to reach Champaran, to hold India’s first civil disobedience movement.Under the British rule, many farmers in the Champaran district of Bihar were forced to grow indigo in their lands, much to their dismay. To fight this, a money lender named Raj Kumar Shukla reached out to Gandhiji and requested him to come and help them.As Gandhi wrote in his autobiography , he did not even know of Champaran before this. Nonetheless, he came down to this district on April 10 of 1917 with a band of lawyers, including Dr. Rajendra Prasad, to fight it out with the British.
There had been the Indigo Riots in 1859-60, but this was a new struggle altogether.Preparations began. Gandhi and his lawyers travelled across the district to different villages, meeting farmers and taking note of their sufferings and complaints against the forced indigo cultivation.Ever since Gandhi arrived in Champaran, the British rulers started keeping a close eye on his moves. Finally, on April 15, he was given an ultimatum at Motihari by the commissioner to leave Champaran.To that, Gandhi responded that he wouldn’t leave, but was ready to bear “the penalty of civil disobedience”.It was apparent now that Gandhi would be taken to jail for this resistance. As a response, scores of Champaran tenants turned up in protest outside the jail, police stations and courts.
The landlords under the British government were made to sign an agreement that granted the farmers more control over what they wanted to grow on their own lands, among other benefits.It was during this movement when Gandhi was first referred to as Bapu and Mahatma, or so goes the legend. And that was the story of India’s first civil disobedience movement, Champaran Satyagraha, which completes 100 years this month.
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup - International men's field hockey tournament The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup… Read More
David Thompson, the greatest practical land geographer that the world has produced ,(30 April 1770… Read More
Bessie Coleman - The First African American woman pilot Coleman, or Queen Bess as she… Read More
Jeanne Baret - The first woman to circumnavigate the globe Jeanne Baret was a talented… Read More
2nd Asian games 1954 Manila in Philippines The second edition of the Asian Games was… Read More
Melli Beese - The first female German pilot Melli Beese with her full name Amelie… Read More