INDIGO REVOLT

The Indigo revolt (Nil vidroha) was a peasant movement and subsequent uprising of indigo
farmers against the indigo planters that arose in Bengal in 1859. Historically, the Indigo
Rebellion can be termed the first form resistance of the countryside against the British in
economic and social terms. Unlike the spontaneous revolt of the soldiers in the Sepoy Mutiny,
this countryside revolt evolved over the years and, in the process, rallied different strata of
society against the British – a thread of dissent that lasted many decades thereafter.

HISTORY OF INDIGO CULTIVATION IN BENGAL

Historical records suggest that indigo was produced in Bengal for use as a dye even in ancient
times. But back then, it was cultivated more for catering to domestic and ritual needs than to
serve as a commercial commodity. Its cultivation for commercial purpose appears to have
begun in the late eighteenth century, introduced by a Frenchman by the name of Louis Bonnard
who was the first indigo planter in Bengal. He started the cultivation at Taldanga and Goalpara
near Chandannagar (Hooghly). Indigo was identified as a major cash crop for the East India
Company’s investments in the 18th Century. Indigo had worldwide demand similar to cotton
piece-goods, opium and salt. With the expansion of British power in Bengal, indigo planting
was emphasized because of the high demand of the Blue Dye in Europe. It was introduced in
large parts of Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, North 24 Parganas, and Jessore (present
Bangladesh). From the early nineteenth century indigo cultivation attracted raiyats because of
its immense cash value.
Indigo was almost entirely export oriented, and the European planters mainly developed this
export sector. But for political reasons they were not allowed to hold agricultural landed
property until 1837. Under the changed political and economic circumstances European
planters were permitted to purchase and hold landed estates under Act IV of 1837. Before the
enactment of this Act, indigo cultivation was carried on under raiyati system under which
raiyats owned the means of production including their tenancy rights in land. Raiyats were
required to pay land-rent in cash and hence a cash crop was a welcome addition to the existing
cropping pattern. A raiyat himself sowed and cultivated indigo and other crops in those lands
and had tenancy rights. There were some planters who allowed for rotation of crops,
alternating indigo with rice, tobacco and other crops.
In the new indigo estates of the planters, the raiyats turned into a kind of bonded labour. The
indigo planters provided loans, called dadon, at a very high interest. Once a raiyat took such
loans he remained in debt for his whole life before passing it to his successors. The price paid by
the planters was meagre, only 2.5% of the market price. The raiyats could make no profit
growing indigo. The raiyats were totally unprotected from the indigo planters, who resorted to
mortgages or destruction of their property if they were unwilling to obey them. Government
rules favoured the planters.
While the Europeans were encouraged to undertake indigo cultivation with help from local
agency houses and banks, simultaneously, side by side, the native planters continued their
operations but had to face stiff competition from the European planters.
The planters formed their own political association to establish their authority in the indigo
districts. Thus, they emerged as a new element in the agrarian economy which eroded the
powers and privileges enjoyed hitherto by the Zamindars. A growing confrontation became
acute between landlords and planters on the one hand, and the planters and peasants on the
other.
The golden period of the new economy, in terms of profit and harmony between the raiyats
and indigo manufactures, was the first three decades of the nineteenth century. Then came the
continued slump. The agency houses and the Union Bank of Calcutta, the major suppliers of
capital to the planters, went bankrupt in 1847. This coupled with worldwide inflation caused by
the discovery of new gold mines in the American continent and the outbreak of the Crimean
War in 1853, lowered profits for the planters. It led to the consequential decrease of profit at
peasant level. The matter came to a head in the late 1850s when the cultivation of cereals, oil-
seeds, and jute paid the raiyats better dividend than indigo. This was exacerbated by the
construction of railway lines through the indigo districts, which led to a sudden rise in regional
wages, a rise unmatched by the planters' wages to their indigo labourers. Though indigo
cultivation was non-remunerative to the raiyats, the planters coerced them to grow indigo.
Under the circumstances, the raiyats combined to free themselves from the clutches of the
indigo planters. Nadia and Jessore, the two major indigo producing districts, were in the
forefront of the movement.
Gradually the raiyats became reluctant to cultivate indigos due to heightened labour and
unfavourable return from indigo. When such reluctance became widespread, the planters’
association in Calcutta persuaded the government to enact an infamous law — Act XI of 1860,
which made breach of contract on the part of the raiyats a criminal offence. The planters took
full advantage of this law and their oppression became severe in Nadia and Jessore districts of
Bengal. The district officials also joined the planters in this oppression. Indigo planters forced
the raiyats to cultivate without remuneration, confined, beat and compelled the villagers as
well as corrupted their own servants. But the raiyats were determined. They frankly told the
officials that they are ready to obey the sahib but not to plough indigo.

REVOLT AND SUPPRESSION

The revolt started from the villages of Gobindapur and Chaugacha in Krishnanagar, Nadia
district, where Bishnucharan Biswas and Digambar Biswas first led the rebellion against the
planters. It spread rapidly in Murshidabad, Birbhum, Burdwan, Pabna, Khulna, and Narail.
The modus operandi of indigo resistance varied from district to district. The resistance ranged
from general reluctance and non-cooperation to armed uprising. Sometimes the raiyats
imposed a strict social ostracism against the European planters and their local agents by cutting
off the supply of daily necessities.
Towards the end of the 1850s and the beginning of the 1860s, the Indigo movement became
more violent and spread in almost all the indigo-growing districts. Some indigo planters were
given a public trial and executed. The indigo depots were burned down. Many planters fled to
avoid being caught. The zamindars were also targets of the rebellious peasants.
The revolt was ruthlessly suppressed. Large forces of police and military, backed by the British
Government and the zamindars, mercilessly slaughtered a number of peasants. British police
hanged great leader of indigo rebels Biswanath Sardar alias Bishe Dakat in Assannagar, Nadia
after a show trial. In spite of this, the revolt was fairly popular, involving almost the whole of
Bengal. The Biswas brothers of Nadia, Kader Molla of Pabna, and Rafique Mondal of Malda
were popular leaders. Even some of the zamindars supported the revolt, the most important of
whom was Ramratan Mullick of Narail.

IMPACT OF THE REVOLT

The Bengali intelligentsia played a significant role by supporting the peasants’ cause through
newspaper campaigns, organisation of mass meetings, preparing memoranda on peasants’
grievances and supporting them in legal battles. Their role was to have an abiding impact on
the emerging nationalist intellectuals. In their very political childhood, they had given support
to a popular peasant movement against the foreign planters. This was to establish a tradition
with long term implications for the national movement.
The resisting raiyats received sympathetic support from the Christian missionaries who, from
humanitarian and proselytizing motives, exposed the forms of oppressions and exploitations of
the indigo planters. Encouraged by the Missionaries, the native press also made detailed
reports on the oppressive indigo production system. Rev James long of the Church Missionary
Society was the most articulate critic of the planters. Nawab Abdul Latif, a Deputy Magistrate in
Jessore district, gave a number of legal verdicts against the planters. A drama called Neel
Darpan (1860, mirror of indigo) by Dinabandhu Mitra, and some newspaper reports of Kishori
Chand Mitra and Harishchandra Mukherjee had helped mold public opinion in favour of the
resisting raiyats. All these factors persuaded the government to set up a commission in 1860 to
look into the problem. With the publication of the indigo commission Report an Act was passed
prohibiting coercion of raiyats for indigo cultivation and the measure led to the end of the
movement.
The Government appointed an indigo commission to inquire into the problem of indigo
cultivation. Based on its recommendations, the Government issued a notification in November
1860 that the raiyats could not be compelled to grow indigo and that it would ensure that all
disputes were settled by legal means. But, the planters were already closing down factories and
indigo cultivation was virtually wiped out from Bengal by the end of 1860.
A major reason for the success of the Indigo Revolt was the tremendous initiative, cooperation,
organization and discipline of the raiyats. Another was the complete unity among Hindu and
Muslim peasants. Leadership for the movement was provided by the more well-off raiyats, and
in some cases by petty zamindars, moneylenders and ex-employees of the planters.