Indigo

Main points:
1. Excerpt from Louis Fischer’s biography on Gandhiji- The Life of the Mahatma
(rated as one of the best biographies on Gandhiji)
2. Describes in detail the Champaran agitation of 1917 to secure justice for the
indigo sharecroppers of Champaran
3. Champaran agitation – a watershed in India’s Independence movement since it
was for the first time Civil Disobedience Movement had succeeded in India
4. What does Civil Disobedience Movement mean?- to protest against government
policies in a nonviolent manner- to be willing to get arrested for peacefully
breaking the law
5. This major event marked the rise of Gandhiji as a leader of the masses and the
down trodden
6. Gandhiji went to Champaran at the insistence of a peasant- Rajkumar Shukla-
Gandhiji was impressed by his tenacity of purpose and his resoluteness- Shukla
refused to take no for an answer and succeeded in eliciting Gandhiji’s help in
putting an end to the British landlords’ highhandedness and exploitation of the
peasants

Gandhiji went about securing justice in a planned/ organized manner

1. First stop enroute to Champaran was at Muzzafarpur
2. Met the lawyers of Muzzafarpur who were representing the peasants in court
3. Reprimanded/ scolded the lawyers for charging big fees from the poverty stricken
peasants
4. Gandhiji understood that decades of exploitation by the British had instilled deep
fear in the peasants- He realized that along with securing justice for these peasants
he must make them fearless and self-reliant- they must be taught the courage to
stand up for their rights
5. He learnt about the ancient exploitative sharecropping arrangement
6. Being an impartial person, he wanted to hear both sides of the problem
7. So, he tried to gather facts and details from the British Landlords’ Association and
tried to meet the British official Commissioner of Tirhut ( Champaran was under
the Tirhut division of the state of Bihar)
8. The Commissioner refused to cooperate with Gandhiji and instead issued a court
order asking Gandhiji to leave Champaran
9. This is where Gandhiji’s Civil Disobedience starts- He refused to
leave Champaran even though he was given a court order to do so.
10. This amounted to breaking the law
11. Gandhiji was arrested and the case came to trial
12. Gandhiji pleaded guilty to breaking the law and asked for maximum punishment and
the judge was flummoxed... he granted Gandhiji bail since he needed time to decide..
Gandhiji refused bail and asked for the verdict to be pronounced.. The judge let him
leave without bail and later announced it would take him several days to announce the
judge ment during which Gandhiji could be free
13. Several days later he receives a written communication that the case against him has
been dropped. Gandhiji was free to go wherever he wanted to and to gather facts as he
wished .
14. Civil Disobedience had succeeded for the very FIRST time in India
Thorough Investigation/ Far- flung Inquiry conducted by Gandhiji and the lawyers to
secure justice for the sharecroppers

1. Gandhiji and the lawyers took down notes based on depositions by 10,000
peasants ( written evidence)
2. Collected documents as proof
3. Had 4 long- drawn out interviews with the Lieutenant – Governor, Sir Edward
Gait
4. An official commission of inquiry was appointed, with Gandhiji as the sole
representative of the peasants
5. The Commission collected a ' crushing mountain of evidence' against the
landlords
6. The landlords were asked to apologise and return the money they had extorted
illegally from the peasants
7. For the first time in India , British landlords had to surrender before the law and it
was a big blow to their prestige and pride.
8. The British realized they could not order about the Indians in their own country
and could not consider themselves to be above the law.
9. For the first time the peasants learned courage, became fearless enough to fight
for their rights. It was an important lesson in self- reliance. They understood they
had defenders like Gandhiji who would fight for them.