INDIA'S FIRST

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

MOVEMENT

A re-enactment last year of when Mahatma Gandhi arrived in Motihari in 1917

NEW DELHI: To commemorate the anniversary of the Champaran Satyagraha movement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting East Champaran in Bihar on Tuesday where he will address over 20,000 swachhagrahis from across the country engaged in creating awareness among people to construct toilets and avoid defecation in open.“Mahatma Gandhi had visited Bihar for the first time and held a meeting on April 10, 1917 for farmers engaged in forced indigo farming. He later launched an agitation known as Champaran Satyagrah. The programme is being organized to commemorate the occasion,” Patna district public relation officer (DPRO) Anil Kumar Chaudhary said.READ ALSO: 100 years of SatyagrahaIndia’s first civil disobedience movement was launched by Mahatma Gandhi to protest against the injustice meted out to tenant farmers in Champaran district of Bihar. It is widely regarded as the place where Gandhi made his first experiments in satyagraha and then replicated them elsewhere .During British rule, many tenant farmers were forced to grow indigo on part of their land, often working under oppressive conditions. This indigo was used to make dye. But the demand for indigo dropped when the Germans invented a cheaper artificial dye. However, during the First World War the German dye ceased to be available and indigo once more became profitable for the British. Many tenants were forced again into indigo cultivation --required by their lease under British law.This led to anger and resentment among the tenants, with several alleging the landlords were using strong-arm tactics. A farmer named Raj Kumar Shukla appealed to Gandhiji to organize the struggle to save the plantation workers. Shukla’s persuasion paid off and Gandhi visited the district in April 1917.Gandhi’s arrival unsettled the British and he was ordered to leave the district. When Gandhi refused, he was arrested by the police on the charge of creating unrest, leading to massive non-violent protests and rallies, which eventually led to his release.READ ALSO: 100 years of Champaran Satyagraha: Gandhiji's arrival at Motihari re-enactedSubsequently, the civil disobedience movement continued and Gandhiji succeeded in shaping public frustration into a viable political tool. The protests and strikes against the landlords eventually came to an end with the abolition of indigo cultivation (known then as the Tinkathia system). Testimonies collected of over 8,000 peasants by Gandhi and his colleagues contributed in large measure to the end of the practice. The landlords signed an agreement, with the guidance of the British government, granting farmers more compensation and control over farming, along with other benefits.Describing the movement, Tridip Suhrud, director of the Sabarmati Ashram , said “During the Champaran Satyagraha, Bapu showed that for drawing people into a mass movement for freedom it was important to make a discernible and measurable change in their individual lives. Only then can the idea of freedom percolate into them."