CHAPTER

2 INDIGO
Louis Fischer

Introduction
Scan to know
and wrote his biography,
was a n admirer of Gandhiji. He met Gandhiji several times more about

Louis Fischer lesson Indigo' is taken from that book. this topic
of Mahatma Gandhi'. This point in
The Life in his life. Probably, it w a s
the turning
Champaran a turning point in
Gandhiji considered British government was well-trenched
visited Champaran in 1917. The
the history
of India. Gandhiji British.
time. Indian m a s s e s
had a deep-rooted fear of the
fndia at that meted out to Indian peasants Indigo
m a n Rajkumar, w a s greatly perturbed
by the injustice
An illiterate of the landlords.
landlords. The c a u s e of the problem
w a s indigo and the greed The
w a s very profitable.
by the British In those days, harvesting indigo
landlords owned large estates in Champaran. with indigo and
The British tenants to plant 15% of their holdings
forced Indian
a long-term agreement,
British landlords, through a n unpleasant job.
entire product to the
landlord as rent. Harvesting indigo was
surrender the
However, the things changed.
Germany developed synthetic indigo. w a s no longer profitable.
Therefore, the
Harvesting indigo for it.
of indigo w e r e s u r e to plummet. demanded compensation
Naturally, the prices irksome job of harvesting indigo. They there
release the peasants of the to this while were

landlords offered to motive of the British landlords, gladly agreed

literate peasants, who did not know the real
others who resisted. demanded their
those who had paid compensation
Then,
learnt about the synthetic indigo. At this point, Gandhiji
Soon, the peasants calm them down. The peasants engaged lawyers. British.
The landlords hired thugs to from the fear of the
money back. courts. He wanted to free the peasants
it was no u s e going to
visited Champaran. He felt succeeded. He remained firm,
fearless, and dedicated.
their c a u s e and finally
Gandhiji campaigned

Summary the Indian National Congress w a s held in

Lucknow in December 1916. A poor
illiterate

The annual convention of meted out to the peasants

in Champaran. He met Gandhiji.
against the injustice but
peasant came there to complain he did not give any a s s u r a n c e to Shukla,
He had many engagements. So,
Gandhiji had n e v e r heard of Champaran. wherever he went. At last, Gandhiji
fixed a date. He told Shukla to meet
Shukla was resolute. He followed Gandhiji
him in Calcutta on that particular date. Both of them went to Patna by train.
Shukla led Gandhiji to
found Shukla waiting for him. of town, but
In Calcutta, Gandhiji first President of India. The lawyer w a s out
Prasad, who later became the
the house of a lawyer, Rajendra the lawyer to help the indigo sharecroppers. They
had been there several times to request
the servants knew Shukla. He
mistook Gandhiji for another peasant and untouchable. They
did not allow them
let them stay on the grounds, as they
the well should become polluted.
O draw from the well lest the entire water in
water because he wanted to gather m o r e information
break his journey to camp at Muzaffarpur,
Gandhiji decided to B. Kripalani whom he had met at Shanti
provide. He sent a telegram to Professor J.
that Shukla had been unable to
with his students to receive Gandhiji.
At Muzaffarpur, Gandhiji stayed in the
Vketan. Kripalani came to the stationschool teacher. In those days, Indians were afraid to harbour men like Gandhiji
house of Mr. Malkani, a government
wno were advocates of home rule, but
Malkani had the courage.
and his mission spread quickly. Sharecroppers came to Muzaffarpur
The news of Gandhiji's arrival in Muzaffarpur
briefed him about their cases. Gandhiji chided the lawyers for collecting
to see him. The lawyers also called o n him. Theythe most important thing was to free the peasants from the fear of their
heavy fees from poor peasants. He thought
British landlords.
96
Oswaal CBSE
Chapterwise Question Ban Terrn 1,NGLISH CORBClass
British landlords held large estates in
Champaran. Indians
agreement, thesharecroppers were compelled to plant 15% of worked
their
as sharecroppers on their lana.
by 1ong e
a

indigo produced to the landlords as rent. holdin

Jings with indigo and surrender the
entine
Harvesting indigo was an irksome business for the peasa
Recently, the landlords had heard that
the prices of indigo would fall and Germany had developed synthetic indigo. British landlords
knew tha
planting indigo was no longer
profitable. They offered croppery
indigo. But the Britishers demanded compensation. Many relea
to
from their obligation to harvest
Pea hile afew
of them resisted. Soon, the atic dernanded
peasants learnt about the synthetic indigo. Those who had paid compensation
their money back.
A dispute arose between the landlords and the sharecroppers. The landlords hired thugs. The shar

engaged lawyers.
harecroppe
Hov
Gandhiji wanted to get the facts. He visited the Secretary of the British Landlords Associato, Towever, th
secretary refused to give any information saying that Gandhiji was an outsider. Canu
outsider.

nen, Gandhiji called on the commissioner of Tirhut Division. He was rude

to Gandhiji.
He
tolait Gandniji to leav
nut mmediately, but Gandhiji did not leave. Motihari was the capital of Gandhiji decidedmade
Tirhut. Gandhiji hs neadquaren
investigations. A maltreated in nearby village.
to
80 ana nnd the fact,
sidrtca
but the nis
police stopped him. He peasant
was
was
served with a notice to leave
a
Champaran. Gandhiji wrote back tnatne would no;
to the viceroy.
sent a report
COncede the notice. Consequently, Gandhiji was summoned by the court. Gandhiji the authorities. Thousands
in trouble with
peasants learnt that the Mahatma who wanted to help them
was
ne
baffled the British authorites
gathered around the court building, This spontaneous
show their courage
of
OTpeasants
They felt powerless. Gandhiji helped them to regulate the trial.
statement. He said he was faced with
He read out a
In the court, Gandhiji pleaded guilty. He asked for penalty. law-breaker. However, he could not disregard the
not a
confict of duties, he respected the lawful authority. He was
national service.
voice of his conscience to do the humanitarian and free.
but he let Gandhiji go
The judge said he would take severaldays to deliver the judgement, they would go home
would do if he went to jail. They replied
Gandhiji asked his lawyer friends what they the lawyers felt ashamed. Gandhiji, who was a
what would happen to the poor peasants. Then,
Gandhiji asked again have been serving the peasants. Going home
was willing to go to jail for
their sake. The lawyers claimed to
was pleased. He
stranger, would follow him to jail. Gandhiji
told Gandhiji that they too
would mean the shameful betrayal. They
was won.
declared that the battle of Champaran arrest.
order in which each pair would court
He, then, divided the group
into two pairs and put down the the victory
the case against Gandhiji. This was
the Lieutenant Governor of the province decided to drop
However,
of civil disobedience.
recorded the statements of thousands of
and lawyers now proceeded to conduct an enquiry. They
Gandhiji interviews, the Lt. Govenor
the Lieutenant Governor summoned Gandhiji. After long
peasants. In the meantime, the indigo peasants' complaints. The commission comprised
constituted an official commission of enquiry go through
to
and Gandhiji as the sole representative of the sharecroppers.
of British officials, landlords
evidence against the British landlords. The landlords were nervous. They
The commission collected the crushing
refund the peasants' money that they had extorted illegally.
agreed in principle to moral
landlords offered only 25%. Gandhiji agreed to it. He had won a
Gandhiji demanded 50% of it, but the
victory money, tne
Gandhiji explained that the amount of money was not important. By agreeing peasants'
to refund the

landlords had lost their prestige. They were no longer dreaded. The peasants learnt that they had rights and there were
people to defend their rights.
The landlords abandoned their estates which went back to the peasants. This was the end of indigo sharecroppns
in Champaran. Gandhiji was not satisfied by just winning the indigo batle. During his stay in Champaran, hesaw
the people of Champaran were socially and culturally backward. He decided to remove their backwardness. Gand
decided to open primary schools. He appealed to teachers, two of his young disciples, their wives and several ou
volunteers. Gandhij's wife Kasturba taught about personal hygiene and community cleanlines.
few
Gandhiji had come to Champaran casually at the entreaty of Shukla. He expected that his visit would lastat
alled
days. However, he had to stay there for seven months continuously. He kept a distant watch on the Ashram. He cal
tor
regular financial one
accounts. He even wrote to them that it was time to fill in the old latrine trenches and dig new
Charles Freer Andrews was a devoted follower of Gandhiji. He came to Champaran. Gandhiji's lawyer frien nds

wanted Charles to stay on to

help them. But Gandhiji opposed the idea. He said they should not seek an Englishma
help in their fight. They must fight their battle themselves. For Gandhiji, self-reliance, India's independence and heipue
the sharecroppers were all bound
together.