INDIGO

LOUIS FISCHER

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: The cultivation of

Indigo was not a profitable business in the 19th
century in India. The European Indigo planters
oppressed their workers which led to several
rebellions over the years. 1861 witnessed the
Blue Mutiny in Bengal when farmers rose
against forcible cultivation of the
unremunerative indigo crop in Champaran , a
district of Biharbound by the feudal system .
The hapless peasants were enforced and
coerced to cultivate indigo crop and other cash
crops instead of food crops which was
necessary for their survival. These crops were
brought by the British planters at a low price.
Suppressed by the British , they were given a
measly compensation which relegated them to
abject poverty. Adding to the woes of these
peasants were innumerable social evils like
untouchability and Purdah System. Now in the
throes of a devastating famine , the British
levied oppressive tax. The situation
aggravated without food or money and the
peasants in Champaran revolted against
Indigo Cultivation. The novel Nildarpan written
by D N Mitra graphically illustrated the
inhuman torture of the natives in the hands of
the British planters also called neel sahibs.

CHAMPARAN SATYAGRAHA: The Champaran Satyagraha

is a landmark struggle led by Mahatama Gandhi for a
deeply oppressed peasantry in the remote district of
Bihar. The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was the
first Satyagraha movement led by Gandhi in India and is
considered a historically important revolt in the Indian
Independence Movement. It was a farmer's uprising that
took place in Champaran district of Bihar, India, during
the British colonial period. The farmers were protesting
against having to grow indigo with barely any payment
for it.

FACTORS LEADING TO CHAMPARAN SATYAGRAHA: Under

Colonial-era laws, many tenant farmers were forced to
grow some indigo on a portion of their land as a condition
of their tenancy. This indigo was used to make dye. The
Germans had invented a cheaper artificial dye so the
demand for indigo fell. Some tenants paid more rent in
return for being let off having to grow indigo. However,
during the First World War the German dye ceased to be
available and so indigo became profitable again. Thus
many tenants were once again forced to grow it on a
portion of their land- as was required by their lease.
Naturally, this created much anger and resentment.

PRELUDE: “ It was Champaran that introduced me to

India” Mahatma Gandhi wrote in one of his letters to one
of his disciples Mirabehn in 1921. After making waves in
Africa, barrister turned civil right activist Mahatama
Gandhi had returned to India on Jan9, 1915 at the behest
of Gopal Krishna Gokhale and within two years of his
arrival in the country, of his arrival in the country, he was
in Bihar leading the movement against atrocities on
indigo farmers in the state. While Champaran
“introduced” India to Gandhi, he introduced his idea of
Satyagraha or civil disobedience to India in Champaran
where he first experimented with his novel method of
protest in support of Indigo farmers which later became
a part of history as Champaran Satyagraha. It was in
Champaran that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became
Mahatama. Champaran was not just Gandhi’s first
political experience in India; it was also absolutely
formative to Gandhi’s political career and hence to the
freedom struggle itself. Champaran was the crucial first
step in the road to Non-cooperation, the Salt March, Civil
Disobedience, Quit India, and the eventual liberation of
the country from foreign rule.

The famous American journalist Mr. Louis Fischer came

to India in May 1942. He was in India for two months.
The world war was in full swing. In the scorching heat of
June he spent one week with Gandhiji in this Ashram.
Gandhiji gave him one hour daily. He could also talk with
Gandhiji during other activities such as eating, walking,
etc. Fisher wrote a book "seven days with the Mahatma".
In this famous book he has described the Ashram life and
Gandhiji's likes and dislikes in a very touching way. He
wrote that he never felt afraid in Gandhiji's presence. His
association with Gandhiji was warm, healthy, full of joy
and cordial. Louis Fisher has described the wonders of
Gandhiji's personality in the book.

GLOSSARY:
Satyagraha, (Sanskrit and Hindi: “holding onto truth”)
concept introduced in the early 20th century by Mahatma
Gandhi to designate a determined but nonviolent resistance to
evil. Gandhi’s satyagraha became a major tool in the Indian
struggle against British imperialism and has since been adopted
by protest groups in other countries.(Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of

a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of
a government. By some definitions[specify], civil disobedience
has to be nonviolent to be called 'civil'. Hence, civil disobedience
is sometimes equated with peaceful protests or nonviolent
resistance.
Henry David Thoreau popularized the term in the US with his
essay Civil Disobedience, although the concept itself has been
practiced longer before. It has inspired leaders such as Susan B.
Anthony of the U.S. women's suffrage movement in the late
1800s, Saad Zaghloul in the 1910s culminating in Egyptian
Revolution of 1919 against British Occupation, and Mahatma
Gandhi in 1920s India in their protests for Indian
independence against the British Raj; and Martin Luther King Jr.'s
peaceful protests during the civil rights movement in the 1960s
US. Although civil disobedience is considered to be an expression
of contempt for law, King regarded civil disobedience to be a
display and practice of reverence for law: "Any man who breaks
a law that conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the
penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the
community on the injustice of the law is at that moment
expressing the very highest respect for the law."(Wikipedia)

MAJOR GANDHIAN IDEOLOGIES

 Truth and nonviolence: They are the twin cardinal

principles of Gandhian thoughts.
 For Gandhi ji, truth is the relative truth of truthfulness in
word and deed, and the absolute truth - the ultimate reality.
This ultimate truth is God (as God is also
Truth) and morality - the moral laws and code - its basis.

 Nonviolence, far from meaning mere peacefulness or the

absence of overt violence, is understood by Mahatma Gandhi
to denote active love - the pole opposite of violence, in
every sense. Nonviolence or love is regarded as the highest
law of humankind.

 Satyagraha: Gandhi ji called his overall method of

nonviolent action Satyagraha. It means the exercise of the
purest soul-force against all injustice, oppression and
exploitation.It is a method of securing rights by personal
suffering and not inflicting injury on others.
 The origin of Satyagraha can be found in the Upanishads,
and in the teachings of Buddha, Mahavira and a number of
other other greats including Tolstoy and Ruskin.

 Sarvodaya- Sarvodaya is a term meaning 'Universal

Uplift' or 'Progress of All'. The term was first coined by
Gandhi ji as the title of his translation of John
Ruskin's tract on political economy, "Unto This Last".
 Swaraj- Although the word swaraj means self-rule, Gandhi
ji gave it the content of an integral revolution that
encompasses all spheres of life.For Gandhi ji, swaraj of
people meant the sum total of the swaraj (self-rule) of
individuals and so he clarified that for him swaraj meant
freedom for the meanest of his countrymen. And in its fullest
sense, swaraj is much more than freedom from all restraints,
it is self-rule, self-restraint and could be equated with
moksha or salvation.
  Trusteeship- Trusteeship is a socio-economic
philosophy that was propounded by Gandhi ji.
It provides a means by which the wealthy people would be
the trustees of trusts that looked after the welfare of the
people in general.This principle reflects Gandhi ji’s spiritual
development, which he owed partly to his deep involvement
with and the study of theosophical literature and the
Bhagavad Gita.

 Swadeshi The word swadeshi derives from Sanskrit and is a

conjunction of two Sanskrit words. ‘Swa’ means self or own
and ‘desh’ means country. So swadesh means one's own
country. Swadeshi, the adjectival form, means of one’s own
country, but can be loosely translated in most contexts as
self-sufficiency. Swadeshi is the focus on acting within
and from one's own community, both politically and
economically. It is the interdependence of community and
self-sufficiency.Gandhi ji believed this would lead to
independence (swaraj), as British control of India was rooted
in control of her indigenous industries. Swadeshi was the key
to the independence of India, and was represented by the
charkha or the spinning wheel, the “center of the solar
system” of Mahatma Gandhi’s constructive program.

Universal Theme: Gandhiji had a vision of transforming the

socially and morally degenerated and separated individuals in a
manner where individuals can enjoy their freedom in a spirit of
altruism. Politics for him was for raising general conscience of the
people. Truth, nonviolence, trusteeship and Satyagraha and their
significance constitute Gandhian philosophy and are the four
pillars of Gandhian thought.

Subjective Theme: Our independence was hard fought. The

role of the unsung heroes and their significant contribution to
Indian Freedom Struggle cannot be negated and they deserve to
be equally lauded.

EXPOSITION OF THE TEXT

“a peasant came up to me looking like any other peasant

in India, poor and emaciated, and said, ‘I am Rajkumar
Shukla. I am from Champaran, and I want you to come to
my district’!’’: Rajkumar Shukla was a semi- literate indigo
farmer of Champaran. He and several other farmer leaders,
including Shital Rai, Lomraj Singh and Sheikh Gulabwere fighting
legal battles against British planters in Motihari Court. Some
eminent lawyers who were fighting the cases on their behalf had
advised them to contact Barrister Gandhi, who had returned from
South Africa after having successfully fought legal battles for the
rights of citizens of Indian origin.

Raj Kumar Shukla (23 August 1875 – 20 May 1929) was

the person who convinced Mr. M.K. Gandhi to
visit Champaran for the Champaran Satyagraha.

Under an ancient arrangement, the Champaran peasants

were sharecroppers: By 1867, the poor farmers were forced
to grow indigo in at three kathas out of each acre of their land
and part with the whole Indigo crop for rent. Instead of
traditional sugarcane cultivation, they were forced to cultivate
indigo. In no time, 70 indigo factories came up in Champaran
employing about 30,000 labourers most of them on no
remuneration and faced corporal punishments in case they failed
to pay their taxes.

Indigo: It is a tropical plant of pea family which was widely

cultivated as a source of dark blue dye.
Sharecropping System: It is a system of agriculture in which
the land owner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a
share of crop produced on their portion of the land.

He was illiterate but resolute: Rajkumar Shukla displayed

immense will power, razor sharp determination and was
unwavering in his pursuit of garnering Mahatama Gandhi’s
attention.

He had come to the Congress session to complain about

the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar: Gandhiji came
to know about the atrocities of sharecroppers at the 31st session
of Indian National Congress in Lucknow.

Mahatama Gandhi reached Patna on April 10, 1917. It

was his first visit to Bihar. Gandhi arrived in Patna with
only a small bundle of bedding, some papers and a box of
dry fruits.

Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was

an Indian independence activist, lawyer, scholar and
subsequently, the first President of India, in office from 1950 to
1962. He was an Indian political leader and lawyer by training.
Prasad joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian
Independence Movement and became a major leader from the
region of Bihar. A supporter of Mahatma Gandhi, Prasad was
imprisoned by British authorities during the Salt Satyagraha of
1931 and the Quit India movement of 1942. After the 1946
elections, Prasad served as Minister of Food and Agriculture in
the central government. Upon independence in 1947, Prasad was
elected as President of the Constituent Assembly of India, which
prepared the Constitution of India and served as its provisional
parliament.
Why do you think the servants thought Gandhi to be another
peasant?
1. The servants knew that Raj Kumar Shukla was a poor yeoman
who had been pestering Dr Rajendra Prasad for a resolution.
2. Gandhji’s unassuming attitude and simple demeanour .
3. His emaciated looks and simple attire confused the servants.

Untouchability: Untouchability is the practice of discriminating

various individuals and groups based on their cast and the jobs
done by them. Untouchability is practiced for a very long time. It
works on the Indian caste system hierarchy. The untouchables
usually bear inhuman treatment because they belong to the
lower caste. They have been going through various kinds of
discrimination in almost all places. Here, Gandhiji was acquainted
to the social evil whose evil claws had resulted in the handicap of
the society. These practices most of the times were traditionally
practiced and socially engineered and enforced by the higher
castes.It was an internal demon which India has been fighting for
years.

The news of Gandhi’s advent and of the nature of his

mission spread quickly through Muzzafarpur and to
Champaran. : Gandhiji received a humongous response from
the people of Muzzaffarpur. This highlights his potential as a
promising leader . The people of India were oppressed and
exploited by the British for centuries. They were desperately
looking out for a leader who would alleviate their distress. They
had heard about Gandhiji and his body of work in South Africa
and therefore his arrival was a ray of hope for them.

‘‘It was an extraordinary thing ‘in those days,’’ : Before

independence the Indian Government officers were afraid to
display sympathy for advocates of Home-Rule because of the
reprisals by the British Rule. Professor Malkani had displayed
exemplary courage by harbouring a person at his residence who
was fighting against Government oppression.

Gandhiji was received at the station by Professor J. B. Kripalani,

English and history at L.S. College (then known as Grier BB
College), Muzaffarpur, along with his students of Duke Hostel at
Muzaffarpur station on his arrival. He was brought home in a
carriage hauled by enthusiastic students.

Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani (11 November 1888 – 19

March 1982), popularly known as Acharya Kripalani, was
an Indian politician, noted particularly for holding the presidency
of the Indian National Congress during the transfer of power in
1947 and the husband of Sucheta Kripalani. Kripalani was
a Gandhian socialist, environmentalist, mystic and independence
activist.
He grew close to Gandhi and at one point, he was one of
Gandhi's most ardent disciples. He had served as the General
Secretary of the INC for almost a decade. He had experience
working in the field of education and was made the president to
rebuild the INC. Disputes between the party and the Government
over procedural matters affected his relationship with the
colleagues in the Government. Kripalani was a familiar figure to
generations of dissenters, from the Non-Cooperation
Movements of the 1920s to the Emergency of the 1970s.

Home Rule: Home Rule is the national demand for self

governance.

Gandhi chided the lawyers for collecting big fee from the
sharecroppers: The lawyers held the opinion that the
sharecropping issue would never be solved but they convinced
the sharecroppers that they would soon attain a resolution. It
was a ruse employed by the lawyers as the case of sharecroppers
was a source of long term income for them. The lawyers had no
sympathy for the sharecroppers. They were handling the case
with professional detachment Gandhiji being a barrister himself
could see through the clever designs of the lawyer and that is
why he reprimanded them.

“The real relief for them is to be free from fear.’’: The

sharecroppers led a life of misery, poverty and fear. Gandhiji
surmised that if they could ostracise their innermost fears which
had eclipsed their mind and their entity , they would defeat their
real enemy after confronting their fears . Then it would be
equivalent to a victory from the age old oppression and
exploitation. The necessity of confidence and razor sharp
determination to confront the inner demons has been aptly
illustrated in these lines. Gandhiji's style of politics stressed on
the self-reliance of the Indian populace so that they could stand
up against the injustices meted out to them without the need for
an advocate.

Attitude of the lawyers:

The lawyers harboured an opportunistic and exploitative mindset
and could be construed as ingrate. They were the representatives
of the elite strata or rather bureaucracy, who left no stone
unturned to exploit the poor Indian peasants, who believed in
them devoutly. They exemplified the idea that crime against
Indians was perpetrated by the Indians in a cold and incisive
manner. The pristine fellow feeling for their distressed
countrymen was amiss in their disposition.Lack of patriotism,
solidarity and integrity tainted their character and tarnished their
image.
The secretary told him that they could give no
information to an outsider. Gandhi answered that he was
no outsider.: At that point of time, India was not a Federal
Nation. When Gandhiji reached Champaran , India was scattered
into kingly and princely states. Gandhiji belonged to the west of
India while Champaran was situated in the extreme east.
Therefore , the Secretary dismissed him as an outsider.

Federal Nation: Union of states under the Governance of

Central Government.

Gandhi reached Motihari, then the district headquarters

of undivided Champaran, Motihari with Rajkumar Shukla
on April 15, 1917. “Mahatma Gandhi was received by
hundreds of Congress workers and local farmers at
Motihari station and taken to the residence of lawyer
Gorakh Prasad at Dharmsamaj locality of Motihari town
where he began his interactions to know the condition of
farmers.”

A report came in that a peasant had been maltreated in a

nearby village.: The police had ransacked the house and
granaries of farmer Lomraj Singh of Jasaulipatti Village. Farmer
Lomraj Singh was a close aide of sharecropper Raj Kumar Shukla.

Elephant: In those days, elephant was the common mode of

transport.

When Mahatama Gandhi reached Chandraharia, three

hours away from Jasaulipatti village, a messenger
handed him an official order by the District Magistrate,
W.B. Heycock, with orders to leave Champaran by the
next available train.
Why was Mahatama Gandhi asked to leave Motihari?

1. Maltreated peasant Lomraj Singh’s presence

2. Infuriated sharecroppers
3. Presence of Mahatama Gandhi would aggravate the situation
4. Mahatama Gandhi’s presence would cause public unrest and it
would be a danger to the tranquillity of the village.

Hapless poor peasants: The poor peasantry of India was

threatened by the structure of the monopolistic rights of the
planters. The colonisers had engineered an unsympathetic and
ruthless economic agenda for the poor peasantry. Perpetration of
lawless aggression and egregious crime was ubiquitous when the
poor peasants hankered for their rights. They were subject to
extreme brutalities, inclemencies and were mercilessly thwarted
by the Britishers. The magnitude of the oppression was that the
hegemonic system relegated Indians to a hell hole of
unfathomable darkness, ostracism and discrimination sans voice
of expression.

Gandhi signed a receipt for the notice and wrote on it

that he would disobey the order.: This act of Gandhiji is
symbolic of a denial – a denial to surrender to the British
Empire. It was an act of professed refusal of Gandhiji to obey
certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government
through non- violent resistance. The seed of Civil Disobedience
was first sown in the soil of Bihar.

Civil Disobedience: The refusal to comply with certain laws

considered unjust as a mark of a peaceful political protest.

Morning found the town of Motihari black with peasants:

FOS Metaphor. The news of the Mahatama Gandhi’s court
summon reached all and sundry. The peasants were infuriated
with this course of action. Multitudes of peasants thronged
around the court house to demonstrate their support to
Mahatama Gandhi whom they perceived as their potential leader
and Champion. It was a demonstration of passive opposition for
the first time in pre-independent India. Their spontaneous
demonstration was symbolic of their psychological emancipation.
Misfortunes had crushed their existence, so when they saw hope
, they invested tangible efforts to override their fears which had
plagued them through generations. They had seen their family
members dying of hunger and starvation and could do nothing.
However, with the advent of Mahatama Gandhi, they clung on to
new found hope and inspiration.

The officials felt powerless without Gandhi’s

cooperation: The limited police force felt helpless in front of
mob fury. When his arrest was imminent, Mahatama Gandhi
displayed yet another hallmark of political action, the practical
and organisational aspect. He was regulating the crowd which
was only following his orders. The Britishers now realized that
they wouldn’t remain unquestioned from now onwards. Their
terror and indomitable authority could be challenged by the
Indians. Largely unlettered and voiceless, the woes of the
peasantry had now found a voice of emancipation in Mahatama
Gandhi.

The prosecutor requested the judge to postpone the

trial.: Apparently, the authorities wished to consult their
superiors: The prosecutor sensed the grave danger of
pronouncing a verdict in front of the mob. He had realised that
the people of Motihari would turn violent if his verdict is against
Mahatama Gandhi. Therefore, he tried to manipulate the entire
situation by postponing the trial.

Attitude of the Britishers:

The Britishers in the pre independent India were megalomaniacal
and practised Machiavellianism. Their inflated egoistical rationale,
attitude of condescension and power dynamics established them
as autocratic despots. In their fanatic approach to rule over the
Indians, they behaved like jingoists. The staunch ethnocentric
disposition galvanised their bigoted patriotism and precipitated
their tempestuous actions. The magnitude of their racial and
linguistic superiority impelled them to perpetrate egregious
crimes and lawless aggression against the Indians.

He read a statement pleading guilty. He was involved, he

told the court, in a “conflict of duties”— on the one hand,
not to set a bad example as a lawbreaker; on the other
hand, to render the “humanitarian and national service”
for which he had come. He disregarded the order to
leave, “not for want of respect for lawful authority, but in
obedience to the higher law of our being, the voice of
conscience”.: Gandhiji was produced before the court on April
18, 1917.Mahatama Gandhi then presented eloquent law points
to the crafty judge who was engineering a procrastination. He
clearly stated that he was vacillating between a state of
opposition between ideas , he had stood for so long. He
pleaded that there was no lack of respect for the lawful
authorities of the country, but his allegiance to the higher law-
the ethical principles which are considered superior to any
legislation process of the world. On one hand , he did not want
to set a bad example as a lawbreaker and on the other hand , he
had pledged allegiance to his nation. He conveyed neatly that it
he would make Champaran his home, fulfil his responsibilities
as a dutiful citizen of India and help his fellow countrymen to be
freed from the vicious clutches of sharecropping system. Being
a barrister himself, Gandhiji played with words and perplexed the
judge. As the judge had not foreseen this, he was unable to
arrive at a conclusion. Mahatama Gandhi’s felicity of diction
perplexed the law enforcing body of Motihari.

The judge released him without bail: With the kind of

support Gandhi was already receiving from the people of
Mohihari, the Magistrate George Chander fearing unrest, released
him. Two days later on April 21, 1917 the case was withdrawn
and Gandhi was allowed to remain in the district.

they had come to advise and help him; if he went to jail

there would be nobody to advise and they would go
home.: The lawyers were unhappy with Mahatama Gandhi as he
had reprimanded them for their ill doings. The lawyers were
never sympathetic towards the sharecroppers. They had
approached the case with professional detachment . Their
incisive and lackadaisical approach had irked Gandhiji. Therefore,
their initial response to Mahatama Gandhi was that they would
go home when Mahatama Gandhi would go to jail.

What about the injustice to the sharecroppers, Gandhi

demanded. The lawyers withdrew to consult.: The lawyers
reconsidered their decision and their course of action in the fear
of social abandonment. For so long they had pretended to be the
guardians of the sharecroppers . Mahatama Gandhi had already
earned his credibility in Bihar when he did not think twice before
his imprisonment for the benefit of the sharecroppers. This made
the lawyers introspect and reconsider their decision. Eventually,
they were reverential towards him.

The battle of Champaran is won: When Gandhiji garnered

the support of the rich and the poor ; the lawyers and the
peasants both, he felt that the battle of Champaran was won.
The united efforts of the educated and uneducated was the
impetus behind this victory. Mahatama Gandhi’s clairvoyance,
strategic planning and leadership competence paved way to this
victory. Gandhiji sought to liberate the poor peasants from fear
and inspire faith and confidence in them. Here he felt that his
efforts for the uplift of the masses could concretise with the
collective efforts of the educated and uneducated. Gandhiji’s
statement was a salutary warning against vague idealism and
ineffectual sentimentality. Through this statement, Gandhiji
celebrated the true spirit of unity.

Civil disobedience had triumphed, the first time in

modern India.: A case against Gandhi was initiated for
disregarding government orders. He was summoned to court for
his act of denial. The spontaneous demonstration of thousands of
peasants to support Gandhiji baffled the officials . The crafty
judge wished to postpone the trial but Gandhiji refused to
furnish bail. The judge released him without bail. Several days
later Gandhi received an official letter. The case against him had
been dropped. Thus, civil disobedience had triumphed for the
first time in India.

Gandhi and the lawyers now proceeded to conduct a far -

flung inquiry into the grievances of the farmers.: Gandhiji
adopted a legal, moral and democratic path of negotiation sans
violence, vehemence and aggression. He knew how to mobilise
people for a cause. His formidable appetite for meticulous and
unflagging hardwork becomes conspicuous here. Gandhiji and his
band of his followers tirelessly continued their work of collecting
evidence from thousands of peasants. After a prolonged
exchange of letters between government officials and Gandhi and
a long meeting between Gandhi and Gait an enquiry committee
was appointed consisting of government officers, planters and
Gandhi.
Gandhi had four protracted interviews with the
Lieutenant Governor who, as a result, appointed an
official commission of inquiry into the indigo
sharecroppers situation: Mahatama Gandhi had already
started documenting the evidences and law suits were filed by
the lawyers. Gandhi ji's inquiry into the Champaran question
made a deeper thrust. He visited villages, heard the peasants,
their statements were recorded and planters were questioned. As
a result the British Government relented and Champaran Agrarian
Committee was formed with Mahatama Gandhi as the prominent
member. Sir Edward Gait: Sir Edward Albert Gait (1863–1950)
was an administrator in the Indian Civil Service who rose to serve
as Lieutenant-Governor of the Bihar and Orissa Province in
the Bengal Presidency of British India. He held that office for the
years 1915–1920, with a brief absence during April–July 1918
when Edward Vere Levinge officially acted in the position. After
various other roles in the administration, Gait was appointed as a
magistrate and District collector in November 1897. In April 1900
he became superintendent of census operations in Bengal, where
he worked with Herbert Hope Risley, the Census Commissioner,
to produce the official report of the 1901 Census of India. He was
himself Census Commissioner from 1902 until after the census of
1911.

“Thinking probably that he would not give way, the

representative of the planters offered to refund to the
extent of 25 per cent, and to his amazement Mr. Gandhi
took him at his word, thus breaking the deadlock.”
Mahatama Gandhi compromised on material terms but he made
the Britishers surrender their pride and prestige. Moreover, he
made the Britishers realize that they were not above law. It was
also an endeavour to break the deadlock.Gandhiji’s affirmation to
the verdict advanced a tangible validation to Gandhiji’s the
ideology of non violence , his evolved political consciousness and
his ability to adopt a pre-emptive approach to override
machinations and manipulations of the Britishers.

After considerable deliberations, the committee agreed

on a unanimous report. Gait played a crucial role in
finalising the report and passing the official order based
on it. The indigo planters were extremely unhappy with
the outcome. Eventually indigo plantation disappeared
from Champaran.

What lesson did the Britishers learn from this episode?

1. No one is above law.
2. Their wrong doing would lead to their trial.
3. They shall not remain unquestioned and dreaded.

What lesson did the Indians learn from this episode?

1. The peasants learnt courage.
2. The real freedom is freedom from fear.
3. They realised that they have realised.
4. They have defenders.

One of the most important result of this movement was

the enactment of Champaran Agrarian Act assented by
the Governor General of India on May 1, 1918. A century
ago when India was under British rule and Mahatma
Gandhi spearheaded his first satyagraha in Champaran in
1917 by breaking colonial law, it resulted in the framing
of a law, the Champaran Agrarian Act, which put an end
to the British policy of allowing colonial planters to force
farmers to plant indigo on part of their fertile lands. So,
Mahatma Gandhi’s first satyagraha had a parliamentary
dimension to it, and his precious suggestions for
modifying the bill were accepted by the colonial
government.
Gandhi never contented himself with large political or
economic solutions. He saw the cultural and social
backwardness in the Champaran villages and wanted to
do something about it immediately: Gandhiji was fully
conversant with the deplorable condition of education in the
Champaran. Gandhiji’s stay in Champaran was an eye opener for
him. Gandhiji realised that Champaran was eons away from
development. Education was a far fetched dream for the poor
peasants. Gandhiji firmly believed that education is a powerful
tool, capable of removing backwardness and poverty among the
dalits and the deprived. Therefore he appointed two teachers
Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh to impart education in the
village. Devadas, Gandhi’s youngest son, arrived from the ashram
and so did Mrs. Gandhi. Primary schools were opened in six
villages. He also generated health awareness and tried to
provide health amenities to them . Kasturbai edified women
about personal cleanliness , hygiene and community sanitation.
Gandhiji catered to dissemination of education and health
cognizance , the pre-requisites to eradication of poverty. As a
nationalist leader he fully realised that the British system of
education could not serve the socio-economic need of the
country. At Round Table Conference in London (1931) he pointed
out the ineffectiveness of the system of primary education in
India and the alarming low percentage of literacy among Indian
people. For improving this condition he advocated a scheme of
primary education based on Indian traditional culture through the
medium of mother tongue.

Narhari Dwarkadas Parikh:( 17 October 1891- 15 July 1957 )

He was a writer, independence activist and social reformer
from Gujarat, India. Influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, he was
associated with Gandhian institutes throughout his life. He wrote
biographies, edited works by associates and translated some
works. His writing also reflected Gandhian influence.
Mahadev Desai (1 January 1892 – 15 August 1942) was an
Indian independence activist and writer best remembered
as Mahatma Gandhi's personal secretary. He has variously been
described as "Gandhi's Boswell, a Plato to Gandhi's Socrates, as
well as an Ananda to Gandhi's Buddha".

Devdas Mohandas Gandhi (22 May 1900 – 3 August 1957)

was the fourth and youngest son of Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi. He was born in South Africa and returned to India with
his parents as a young man. He became active in his father's
movement, spending many terms in jail. He also became a
prominent journalist, serving as editor of Hindustan Times. He
was also the first pracharak of the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar
Sabha (DBHPS), established by Mohandas Gandhi in Tamil Nadu
in 1918. The purpose of the Sabha was to propagate Hindi in
southern India.

Kasturbai "Kasturba" Mohandas Gandhi born Kasturbai

Makhanji Kapadia on (11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was an
Indian political activist. She married Mohandas Gandhi in 1883.
Kasturba died in 1944. In association with her husband and son,
she was involved in the Indian independence
movement in British-ruled India. She was very influenced by her
husband Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi.

his politics were intertwined with the practical, day-to-

day problems of the millions. His was not a loyalty to
abstractions; it was a loyalty to living, human beings:
Mahatama Gandhi’s ideas, words, and actions catered to people
around the world and how they used them for guidance in
building their own future. Gandhiji’s ideology also permeates into
the realm of the individual human being, non-political and non-
social. He dismissed abstract principles and valued what could be
practised practically. Glorifying ideologies for the sake of political
gains was beyond the ambit of his political rationale. Gandhiji
believed in nobility of action and speech. A discord between
preaching and practice would not escape his attention and he
would lambast hypocrisy. He resolutely believed that politics
should cater to the welfare of human beings and more
categorically to the less fortunate brethren.

Charles Freer Andrews: Charles Freer Andrews (12 February

1871 – 5 April 1940) was a priest of the Church of England.
A Christian missionary, educator and social reformer in India, he
became a close friend of Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma
Gandhi and identified with the cause of India's independence. He
was instrumental in convincing Gandhi to return
to India from South Africa, where Gandhi had been a leading
light in the Indian civil rights struggle. C. F. Andrews was
affectionately dubbed Christ's Faithful Apostle by Gandhi, based
on his initials, C.F.A. For his contributions to the Indian
Independence Movement Gandhi and his students at St.
Stephen's College, Delhi, named him Deenabandhu, or "Friend of
the Poor".

Why did Mahatama Gandhi deny taking help from C.F.

Andrews?

Mahatama Gandhi had always stressed on self help and self

reliance. Accepting help from a British would be a sign of
weakness and cowardice. Although Mahatama Gandhi was very
fond of C. F. Andrews and would endearingly address him as
Child’s Faithful apostle, but in this battle he did not concede
to the participation of any British just to impart the lofty lesson of
self reliance to his countrymen .

Self reliance, Indian

independence and help sharecroppers were all bound
together.: Mahatama Gandhi firmly believed that self reliance is
one of the greatest virtues. It is the parent of many virtues.
Cicero observed,” who is entirely self –reliant and who centres all
his requirements in himself.” Gandhiji wanted the Champaran
peasants to be thrown upon their own resources, to accept the
challenges of their life valiantly , to develop new virtues , to be
full of devices , ever ready to take the initiative and negotiate
their ways through adversities. The dream of independent India
would only be possible if the Indians could shed off their fatalistic
attitude. The tendency of the Indians to put too much on fate
irked him a lot. That is the sole reason why he denied seeking
help from C. F. Andrews. Gandhiji was anchored to the belief that
one who faces misfortunes with quiet courage emerges a victor.
Failure cannot shake his well grounded faith in himself, it can
only spur him on to a renewed enterprise. The seed of Indian
Independence was sown in Champaran.

Champaran Satyagraha marked a change not only to the people

of that region but also gave birth of a new trajectory of that
freedom struggle of India. This historical juncture was the first
attempt to materialize Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha; the non-
violent civil resistance towards the draconian British Government
and their policies of exploitation. The farmers of the Champaran
district found themselves under the forceful compulsion to grow
the crop of indigo for the British colonizers. Indigo for the British
happened to be a very profitable cash crop that was used for
making dye. The demand of the dye further increased after the
recession of the synthetic dye invented by the Germans owing to
their massive defeat in the First World War. Hence, the lucrative
profits behind the indigo crop forced the formulation of new land
laws that was focused on maximizing the indigo production which
took no consideration of the well-being of the farmers. This led to
the cultivators to go through a lot of suffering and pain. The
immediate idea of Mahatma Gandhi was to relieve the farmers of
the Champaran district of Bihar from such plight.
Mahatma Gandhi met eight thousand cultivators of indigo where
he studied their plight and the reasons behind it. Amidst these
interactions, Mahatma Gandhi noticed that the illiteracy of the
indigo cultivators was one of the prime reasons for their
exploitation and subjugation. Mahatma Gandhi sought to mend
this by focusing on actions that would alleviate the economic and
the educational conditions of the peasants. He set up three
schools in Motihari, Bhitiharwa and Madhuban to impart
education. Mahatma Gandhi also established ‘buniyadi’ schools
that taught farming, carpentry spinning and other such activities
that further strengthened the self-sustenance of the people.
During the course of his stay, Mahatma Gandhi involved many
eminent personalities of the INC such as Brajkishore
Prasad, Rajendra Prasad, Anugrah Narayan Sinha Ramnavmi
Prasad and others including J. B. Kripalani for the cause.
Mahatma Gandhi after his continuous efforts very soon found
himself a chair in an enquiry committee that was examine the
exploitations of the peasants by the landlords. This was
significant as it was through this committee that a report was
passed to the government that gave momentum to the
Champaran Agrarian Bill that was pushed in the Bihar Legislative
Council. On the 4th of March, 1919, nearly after a year of
Mahatma Gandhi’s arrest by W.B. Heycock, the Champaran
Agrarian Bill transcended into a law which finally delivered the
abolition of the sharecropping arrangement.

Contribution of Champaran Satyagraha in the Indian

Independence Movement:
The significance of the Champaran Satyagraha transcends far
beyond the eradication of the exploitative practices of the indigo
planters and the betterment of the people of Champaran in terms
of their educational and economic stature. Champaran
Satyagraha marks the beginning of Mahatma Gandhi’s new
trajectory of India’s freedom struggle where passive non-violent
civil resistance was the prime mode of dissent against the British
colonizers. The success of this movement gave assurance to
Mahatma Gandhi and the freedom fighters of the importance of
the involvement of the masses along with the effectiveness of
the Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent mode of protest. This
movement showed the importance of being self-dependent and
self-sufficient in the parameters of economics and education for
the general masses which in turn helped them to be more aware
and sensitive to the exploitations of the British Raj along with
improvement of their own standards of living. More importantly,
the Champaran Satyagraha was a tremendous symbolic victory
for Mahatma Gandhi. This protest was India’s first civil
disobedience movement and made way to other of Mahatma
Gandhi’s significant struggles of emancipation which ultimately
ushered a new era of the nationalist movement that slowly
transformed Mohandas into Mahatma.

Modus Operandi of Mahatama Gandhi: It can be said that

Gandhi considered politics as an instrument for the uplift of
mankind in social, economic, moral and spiritual spheres. He
strongly felt hat without involving himself in politics it is not
possible to remove socio-economic exploitation and political
subjugation and thereby moral degradation of the people of
Indian unless he involved himself in politics. Gandhi had a vision
of transforming the socially and morally degenerated and
separated individuals in a manner where individuals can enjoy
their freedom in a spirit of altruism. Politics for him was for
raising general conscience of the people. Politics to him was far
removed from the corrupting influences and sectarianism. With
the veritable ideologies of non violence, Civil Disobedience,
Satyagraha, democratic , legal and moral path of negotiation, self
reliance , power of unity, his art of mobilising people and
understanding people at grass root level , formidable appetite for
meticulous and unflagging hard work, Gandhiji conquered many
battles in his life. The Gandhian technique of mobilising people
has been successfully employed by many oppressed societies
around the world under the leadership of people like Martin
Luther King in the United States, Nelson Mandela in
South Africa, and Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, which is
an eloquent testimony to the continuing relevance of Mahatma
Gandhi.

In my life, I have always looked to Mahatma Gandhi as an

inspiration, because he embodies the kind of transformational
change that can be made when ordinary people come together to
do extraordinary things." -Barack Obama

100 Years of Champaran Satyagraha: The Prime Minister

Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated an exhibition titled
“Swachhagraha – Bapu Ko Karyanjali – Ek Abhiyan, Ek
Pradarshani” in the national capital on 10-04-2017 to mark the
100 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s first experiment of Satyagraha in
Champaran. He also launched an ‘Online Interactive Quiz’ at the
event which is being organized by the National Archives of
India.Speaking about the event in a series of tweets, the PM said
that the Champaran Satyagraha was a historic mass movement
which had a phenomenal impact and he urged the countrymen to
become Swachhagrahis and create a Swachh Bharat.The
exhibition showcasing Champaran Satyagraha enabled the Indian
populace to connect essential principles of Satyagraha with
Swachhagraha.The exhibition also showcased the ground
covered by the Swachh Bharat Mission in creating a mass
movement towards a clean India.
( The notes have been prepared based on historical
documents and relevant newspaper articles.)

Answer the following questions in 150 words:

1. Champaran Satyagraha was a victory without vindictiveness.
Expatiate.
2. With adroitness and stringent cerebrations, Gandhiji was able
to influence the lawyers. Validate.
3. Gandhiji's subversion to the court summons of eviction
ascertained the genesis of Civil Disobedience whose consequence
was far reaching. Expatiate.
4. Loyalty to human beings transcended loyalty to abstractions
and thus began the saga of ascertaining the upward mobility of
the people of Champaran after Champaran Agrarian Act Bill came
into existence. Expatiate.
5. Self reliance , Indian Independence struggle and help to
sharecroppers were interwoven together. Validate.
6.Gandhiji's modus operandi was non - pareil. Consolidate with
reference to the text.