Why did Raj Kumar Shukla invite Gandhi ji to Champaran? How did Gandhi ji
solve the problem of the Indigo farmers?
Answers
Answer:
Raj Kumar Shukla was an illiterate and oppressed indigo farmer from Champaran who came to invite Gandhiji to visit his district where injustice and oppression was rampant. He wished Gandhiji to accompany him to Champaran and sort out the problems of the miserable peasants.
Answer:
Rajkumar Shukla was a peasant from Champaran. In 1916, he went to the Indian National Congress annual convention in Lucknow and asked Gandhiji to come to Champaran.
In Champaran, English people owned most of the arable land, divided into large estates, and Indian tenants worked on them. The older sharecropping system required the tenants to grow indigo, a major commercial crop, on 15 percent of their landholdings, and give the indigo harvest as rent to the British.
However, on hearing about the German synthetic indigo, the British decided to draw a new agreement with peasants. According to this new agreement, the Indian tenants had to pay a certain amount as compensation for being freed from the older arrangement.
Whereas some tenants welcomed the new arrangement and signed the papers. Those who opposed were forced to sign the papers. On hearing about German synthetic indigo, the tenants felt cheated and wanted back their money.
In order to persuade Gandhiji to join their cause, Rajkumar Shukla followed Gandhiji to several parts of India and begged him to "fix a date", to come and help the people of Champaran. Finally, Gandhiji agreed and asked Rajkumar Shukla to take him to Champaran after a meeting in Calcutta.