Question

What was the reason for mahatma gandhi to organize a satyagraha on behalf of the peasants off kheda?

Answer 1

Answer:

The Kheda Satyagraha of 1918, in the Kheda district of Gujarat, India during the period of the British Raj, was a Satyagraha movement organised by Mohandas Gandhi. It was a major revolt in the Indian independence movement. It was the third Satyagraha movement after Champaran Satyagraha and Ahmedabad mill strike.[1] Gandhi organised this movement to support peasants of the Kheda district. People of Kheda were unable to pay the high taxes levied by the British due to crop failure and a plague epidemic. [2][3][4]

Answer 2

Answer:

The Kheda peasant struggle is also known as no-tax peasant struggle. It was a satyagraha launched in March 1919 under the leadership of Gandhiji, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Indulal Yajnik, N.M. Joshi, Shankerlal Pareekh and several others.

A few important causes are given below:

(1) The government reassessed the Kheda land and the cultivated crops. On the basis of land data, collected in this way, the revenue was increased. This was unacceptable to the peasants.

(2) The peasants had suffered a famine and this had resulted in a large-scale failure of crops. The government, however, did not accept the failure of crops and insisted on the full realisation of land tax. The peasantry, on the other hand, made its own inquires and emphasised persistently that the government was not justified in demanding the full land tax.

The Gujarat Sabha consisting of the peasants, submitted petitions and telegrams to the highest governing authorities of the province re­questing for the suspension of the revenue assessment for the year 1919. But the officials maintained and rejected the popular demand for non-payment of tax. When the government refused to consider the de­mands of the Kheda peasants for non-payment of land tax, Gandhiji exhorted the peasants to resort to satyagraha.

In some cases, the government removed the opium crop by alleg­ing that it was without permission. This was considered to be a mischievous technique adopted by the government. The Patidar peasants and the intelligentsia developed its faith in satyagraba.