Indigo
After reaching Champaran, first
of all, Gandhiji collected all the facts and information. He visited the
secretary of the British Landlords Association, but could not get any
information. He also called on the British Official Commissioner of Tirhut division,
but could not get any positive response. So, finally, he proceeded to Motihari,
the capital of Champaran.
Q2. How did Gandhiji react to the Commissioner’s advice and where did
he go?
When Gandhiji was served an
official notice with an advice from the Commissioner to leave Champaran
immediately, he refused to obey it. He was then served a summons to appear in
the court the following day. Then Gandhi sent a telegram to Rajendra Prasad to
come along with his influential friends.
Q3. Why is Rajkumar Shukla
described as being resolute?
Rajkumar Shukla was a poor,
illiterate peasant from Champaran. When he came to know that Gandhi was in
Lucknow, he decided to meet him and ask him to help the poor sharecroppers of
Champaran. He requested Gandhi to come to Champaran but Gandhi was not free. He
had appointments in Cawnpore and in other parts of India. Shukla followed him
everywhere and even to his Ashram at Ahmedabad and urged him to fix a date.
Finally Gandhi had to agree to visit Champaran. This clearly shows that Shukla
was resolute.
Q4. What made the Lieutenant Governor drop the case against Gandhiji?
The Lieutenant Governor had to
drop the case against Gandhiji after realising the support of the masses that
he had. When Gandhiji arrived in the court in response to the summous he was
served, the town of Motihari was filled with large crowds. The British
officials felt helpless and had to take Gandhiji’s help to control the mob.
Fearing the consequences, the case was postponed and later dropped.
Q5. Why did Gandhiji oppose
when his friend Andrews offered to stay in Champaran and help the
peasants?
Or
Why was Gandhiji opposed to
C.F. Andrews helping him in Champaran?
Gandhiji opposed when his friend
Andrews offered to stay in Champaran to help the peasants because he wanted the
people of Champaran to be self-reliant. He wanted them not to depend on others
to win their battle but build up their self-confidence. He did not want the
support of an Englishman as a prop for his cause.
Gandhiji told the court that he
was involved in a ‘conflict of duties’. On the one hand, he did not want to be
a lawbreaker but, on the other hand, couldn’t ignore his humanitarian and
national service as demanded by his conscience. He told the court that finally
he had decided to listen to the voice of his conscience and help the poor
peasants of Champaran.
Q7. Why did Gandhi feel that
taking the Champaran case to the court was useless?
Gandhi felt that taking the
Champaran case to the court was useless. He believed that where the peasants
were so crushed and fear-stricken, law courts were useless. The real relief for
them would be to be free from fear.
Q8. What were the terms of
the indigo contract between the British landlords and the Indianfarmers? The arable areas of Champaran
were divided into large estates owned by British landlords. The peasants worked
on this land as tenants. The peasants were forced to grow indigo on 15% of
their land and give the entire crop of indigo as rent. This was the indigo
contract between the British landlords and the Indian peasants.
Q9. What was the condition of
sharecroppers at the time that Gandhiji arrived at Champaran?
Sharecroppers were in a miserable
condition when Gandhi arrived at Champaran. They were supposed to grow indigo
on 15% of their land and give it as rent to the landlords. But with the
invention of the synthetic indigo, landlords had obtained agreements from the
sharecroppers to pay them compensation for being released from 15% agreement
and cheated them.
Q10.How did Gandhi manage the working of the ashram at Ahmedabad while
he was at Champaran?
Ans : Gandhiji kept a long
distance watch on his ashram at Ahmedabad. He sent regular instructions by wire
and asked for financial accounts. He was well informed about minute details of
the ashram.
Q11. What did Gandhiji do
for social and cultural upliftment of the people of Champaran?
Gandhiji was not content with the
large political or economic solution. He wanted to do something for the social
and cultural backwardness of Champaran. He appealed to teachers and his
disciples Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh came with their wives, primary
schools were opened in six villages. His son and wife Kasturba also joined him.
He arranged for a volunteer doctor and his wife took care of personal hygiene
and cleanliness.
Q12. Give an account of Gandhiji’s efforts to secure justice for the
poor indigo sharecroppers of Champaran.
In 1916, during the annual meet
of the Indian National Congress at Lucknow, Gandhiji met a poor farmer from
Champaran, who told him about the plight of the sharecroppers at Champaran and
requested him to visit his state. After persistent efforts of Rajkumar Shukla,
a peasant from Champaran, Gandhiji finally went to Champaran after many months.
Gandhiji came to know that the arable land in Champaran was divided into large
estates owned by British landlords. Earlier these landloards had compelled the
peasants to grow indigo on 15% of their land and give it as rent but later with
the invention of synthetic indigo in Germany, the landlords got the agreement
signed by these farmers for compensation.
Gandhiji tried to collect all facts but was asked
to go back. When he refused, he was summoned to appear before the court. But
due to the massive support of farmers, the case was dropped. It brought the
first triumph of civil disobedience. A committee was formed after Gandhiji met
the Lieutenant Governor four times. Gandhiji accepted 25% refund of the money
to break the deadlock. This instilled confidence in farmers and within a few
years, the landlords relinquished their claims over the estates.
Q13. Why did Rajkumar Shukla invite Gandhiji to Champaran? How did
Gandhiji solve the problem of the indigo farmers?
Ans :
Rajkumar Shukla was a poor,
illiterate peasant who requested Gandhiji to visit Champaran and told him about
the plight of the sharecroppers. Gandhiji, first of all, instilled fearlessness
and confidence in the farmers. He was served a summons to appear in the court
as he had refused to obey the civil order. The entire town of Motihari was
crowded with the peasants who had come to support him. This demonstration
around the courthouse was the showcase of the beginning of fearlessness in the
farmers. Finally, the case was dropped. It marked the first triumph of civil
disobedience. Gandhiji instilled courage in the farmers to speak for their
rights. Due to continuous efforts of Gandhiji, a committee was formed and 25%
money was refunded to the farmers. In this way, Gandhiji solved the problem of
the indigo farmers by making it a people’s struggle, involving everyone from
sharecroppers to the lawyers.
Q14. Gandhi was impressed by the sharecropper’s tenacity and this led to a
series of events which had a far-reaching impact on Indian freedom struggle.
Discuss with reference to the excerpt by Louis Fischer’s ‘Indigo’.
Ans :
Rajkumar Shukla was resolute; his
persistent efforts brought Gandhiji to Champaran to help the poor farmers. On
his arrival at Motihari, Gandhiji was summoned to appear before the court as he
had refused to obey the civil order to leave the place immediately. The case
was dropped as the British got scared of the multitudes of farmers who
demonstrated in support of Gandhiji outside the courthouse. This brought the
first triumph of civil disobedience.
In fact, this triumph launched
the civil disobedience movement in the Indian freedom struggle. Moreover, the
courage that the farmers had shown proved the fact that Indians were coming out
of their fears and were ready to fight for their rights. Thus, all the events
at Champaran strengthened the Indian freedom movement.
Q15. Gandhiji taught a lesson of self-reliance to the sharecroppers of
Champaran. His focus was more on making the peasants free from fear rather than
on the refund and he was successful in this endeavour. In this present
scenario, we are free but shackled by the chains of intolerance and bigotry.
As the head boy/head girl of your
school, you decide to speak in the morning assembly to stress the need to live
in peace, harmony, tolerance and respect for each other. Write the speech.
Respected principal, teachers and
dear students!
We are proud to be the citizens
of world’s largest democracy. We belong to the country of Buddha, Nanak, Rama
and Krishna. India is called a multicoloured mosaic as we have an amalgamation
of different cultures, religions, castes and creeds in our country. With so
much variety from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, we are united with the thread of love
for our motherland.
But what we hear nowadays about
increasing intolerance is shocking for all of us. We call ourselves a free
nation. But are we really free? Are we free from the narrow considerations of
caste, creed, religion and community? We have to understand the fact that being
a secular country, we have to respect each other. The increasing incidents of
intolerance and bigotry are a testimony to the fact that the youth of today
need to sit and think about the direction in which we are moving.
Finally, I would like to appeal
to you to recall the past glory of our country and the present development and
progress. Let’s break the shackles of ignorance and learn to live in harmony
and peace with each other.
Thank you.
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