Explain the incident which took place at Champaran.
Answers
Answer:
The Champaran incident of 1917 was India's first civil disobedience movement against the British colonial rule. Champaran in Bihar was in extreme poverty due to increased land rents and low wages of landless laborers.
The causes leading upto the incident were:
1) increase in land rents by British officials
2) Mandating peasants to grow indigo in the best part of their lands.
3) Growing poverty in Champaran with peasants having meagre sources of income and deteriorating quality of life.
The zamindars and European planters(British) combined their forces to oppress the peasant class.
Rajkumar Shukla distressed by the sight of the farmers in Champaran, asked Mahatma Gandhi to help. He invited Mahatma Gandhi to visit Champaran and listen to the plight of the peasants and come up with a solution. Gandhi's visit was welcomed by a huge crowd which included prominent personalities like Rajendra Prasad, N parekh, JD Kriplani and M Desai. This alarmed the authorities of the region which issued an order to arrest Gandhi and his supporters. This agitated the crowd. But Mahatma Gandhi took the path of non violence and accepted the order of arrest. This behavior by Gandhi made the British look bad and so they allowed Gandhi to interfere. Gandhi advocated the plight of the farmers and was successful in his quest. The European planters left the lands and the life of farmers became better.