Why did the indigo cultivators revolt in bengal ? Was their movement successful.
Answers
Indigo planting started in Bengal as early as 1777. It was first planted by one British Louis Bonard. When the British Power expanded, the indigo planting was emphasized because of a high demand of the Blue Dye in Europe. The peasants were compelled to plant Indigo rather than the food Crops.
The peasants were provided loans called "dadon" for indigo planting which was at a very high interest rate.
The loan made the people indebted and resulted in a rebellion.
The leaders were Digambar and Bishnu Bishwas. The condition was depicted in the newspaper Nil Darpan.
The anger of the peasants exploded in 1859 when, led by Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas of Govindpur village in Nadia district, they decided not to grow indigo under duress and resisted the physical pressure of the planters and their lathiyals (retainers) backed by police and the courts. They also organised a counter force against the planters’ attacks. The planters also tried methods like evictions and enhanced rents. The ryots replied by going on a rent strike by refusing to pay the enhanced rents and by physically resisting the attempts to evict them. Gradually, they learned to use the legal machinery and initiated legal action supported by fund collection.
The Bengali intelligentsia played a significant role by supporting the peasants’ cause through newspaper campaigns, organisation of mass meetings, preparing memoranda on peasants’ grievances and supporting them in legal battles. Their role was to have an abiding impact on the emerging nationalist intellectuals. In their very political childhood they had given support to a popular peasant movement against the foreign planters. This was to establish a tradition with long term implications for the national movement.
Outstanding in this respect was the role of Harish Chandra Mukerji, editor of the Hindoo Patriot. He published regular reports from his correspondents in the rural areas on planters oppression, officials partisanship and peasant resistance.
Din Bandhu Mitra’s play, Neel Darpan, gained great fame for vividly portraying the oppression by the planters.
Missionaries were another group which extended active support to the indigo ryots in their struggle.
The Government’s response to the Revolt was rather restrained and not as harsh as in the case of civil rebellions and tribal uprisings. The Government appointed an indigo commission to inquire into the problem of indigo cultivation. Based on its recommendations, the Government issued a notification in November 1860 that the ryots could not be compelled to grow indigo and that it would ensure that all disputes were settled by legal means. But, the planters were already closing down factories and indigo cultivation was virtually wiped out from Bengal by the end of 1860.
A major reason for the success of the Indigo Revolt was the tremendous initiative, cooperation, organization and discipline of the ryots. Another was the complete unity among Hindu and Muslim peasants. Leadership for the movement was provided by the more well-off ryots and in some cases by petty zamindars, moneylenders and ex-employees of the planters.