Peasants
Revolts
The British rule in
India brought about many changes in the agrarian system in the country. The old
agrarian system collapsed and under the new system, the ownership of land was
conferred on the Zamindars.
They tried to extract as
much as they could from the cultivators of land. The life of the peasants was
extremely miserable. The various peasant movements and uprisings during the
19th and 20th centuries were in the nature of a protest against of the existing
conditions under which their exploitation knew no limits.
The
Santhal Rebellion (1855-56)
The first revolt which
can be regarded as peasants’ revolt was the Santhal Rebellion in 1855-56. The
land near the hills of Rajmahal in Bihar was cultivated by the Santhals. The
landlords and money-lenders from the cities took advantage of their ignorance
and began grabbing their lands.
This created bitter
resentment among them leading to their armed uprising in 1855. Consequently,
under the belief of a divine order, around 10,000 Santals gathered under two
Santhal brothers, Siddhu and Kanhu, to free their country of the foreign
oppressors and set up a government of their own.
The rebellion assumed a
formidable shape within a month. The houses of the European planters, British
officers, railway engineers, zamindars and money-lenders were attacked. The
rebellion continued till February 1856, when the rebel leaders were captured
and the movement was put down with a heavy hand.
The government declared
the Parganas inhabited by them as Santhal Parganas so that their lands and
identity could be safeguarded from external encroachments.
Indigo
Revolt (1859-60)
The Bengal indigo
cultivators strike was the most militant and widespread peasant uprisings. The
European indigo planters compelled the tenant farmers to grow indigo at terms
highly disadvantageous to the farmers.
The tenant farmer was
forced to sell it cheap to the planter and accepted advances from the planter
that benefitted the latter. There were also cases of kidnapping, looting,
flogging and burning. Led by Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Charan Biswas, the
ryots of Nadia district gave up indigo cultivation in September 1859.
Factories were burnt
down and the revolt spread. To take control of the situation, the Government
set up an indigo commission in 1860 whose recommendations formed part of the
Act VI of 1862. The indigo planters of Bengal, however, moved on to settle in
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The newspaper, Hindu
Patriot brought to light the misery of the cultivators several times.
Dinabandhu Mitra wrote a drama, Nil-Darpan, in Bengali with a view to draw the
attention of the people and the government towards the misery of the
indigo-cultivators.
Pabna
Revolt (1873-76)
Pabna Peasant Uprising
was a resistance movement by the peasants against the oppression of the
Zamindars. It originated in the Yusufshahi pargana of Pabna in Bengal. It was
led by Keshab Chandra Roy.
The zamindars routinely
collected money from the peasants by the illegal means of forced levy, abwabs,
enhanced rent and so on. Peasants were often evicted from land on the pretext
of non-payment of rent.
Large crowds of peasants
gathered and marched through villages frightening the zamindars and appealing
to other peasants to join with them. Funds were raised from the ryots to meet
the costs. The struggle gradually spread throughout Pabna and then to the other
districts of East Bengal. Everywhere agrarian leagues were organized.
The main form of
struggle was that of legal resistance. There was very little violence. It
occurred only when the zamindars tried to compel the riots to submit to their
terms by force. There were only a few cases of looting of the houses of the
zamindars.
A few attacks on police
stations took place and the peasants also resisted attempts to execute court
decrees. Hardly zamindars or zamindar’s agent were killed or seriously injured.
In the course of the
movement, the riots developed a strong awareness of the law and their legal
rights and the ability to combine and form associations for peaceful agitation.
Deccan
Riots (1875)
In 1875, the peasants
revolted in the district of Poona, that event has been called the ‘Deccan
Riots’. The peasants revolted primarily against the oppression of local
moneylenders who were grabbing their lands systematically.
The uprising started
from a village in Poona district when the village people forced out a local
moneylender from the village and captured his property. Gradually, the uprising
spread over 33 villages and the peasants looted the property of Marwari
Sahukars.
The uprising turned into
violent when the Sahukars took help of the police. It was suppressed only when
the army was called to control it. However, it resulted in passing of the Deccan
Agriculturists Relief Act’ which removed some of the most serious grievances of
the peasants.
Punjab
Peasant Movement (1890-1900)
The peasants of the
Punjab agitated to prevent the rapid alienation of their lands to the urban
moneylenders for failure to pay debts. The British India did not want any
revolt in that province which provided a large number of soldiers to the
British army in India.
In order to protect the
peasants of the Punjab, the Punjab Land Alienation Act was passed in 1900 “as
an experimental measure” to be extended to the rest of India if it worked
successfully in the Punjab.
The Act divided the
population of the Punjab into three categories viz., the agricultural classes,
the statutory agriculturist class and the rest of the population including the
moneylenders. Restrictions were imposed on the sale and mortgage of the land
from the first category to the other two categories.
Champaran
Satyagraha (1917-18)
The European planters of
Champaran in Bihar resorted to illegal and inhuman methods of indigo
cultivation at a cost which was wholly unjust. Under the Tinkathia system in
Champaran, the peasants were bound by law to grow indigo on 3/20 part of their
land and send the same to the British planters at prices fixed by them.
They were liable to
unlawful extortion and oppression by the planters. Mahatma Gandhi took up their
cause. The Government appointed an enquiry commission of which Mahatma Gandhi
was a member. The grievances of the peasants were enquired and ultimately the
Champaran Agrarian Act was passed in May 1918.
Kheda
(Kaira) Satyagraha (1918)
In the Kheda District of
Gujarat, due to constant famines, agriculture failed in 1918, but the officers
insisted on collection of full land revenue. The local peasants, therefore,
started a ‘no-tax’ movement in Kheda district in 1918. Gandhi accepted the
leadership of this movement.
Gandhiji organised the
peasants to offer Satyagraha and opposed official insistence on full collection
of oppressive land revenue despite the conditions of famine. He inspired the
peasants to be fearless and face all consequences.
The response to his call
was unprecedented and the government had to bow to a settlement with the peasants.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel emerged as an important leader of the Indian freedom
struggle during this period.
Moplah
Rebellion (1921)
The Muslim Moplah (or
Moplah) peasants of Malabar (Kerala) was suppressed and exploited by the Hindu
zamindars (Jenmis) and British government. This was the main cause of this
revolt.
The Moplah peasants got
momentum from the Malabar District Conference, held in April 1920. This
conference supported the tenants’ cause, and demanded legislations for
regulating landlord-tenant relations. In August 1921, the Moplah tenants
rebelled against the oppressive zamindars.
In the initial phase of
the rebellion, the Moplah peasants attacked the police stations, public
offices, communications and houses of oppressive landlords and moneylenders. By
December 1921, the government ruthlessly suppressed the Moplah rebellion.
According to an official
estimate, as a result of government intervention, 2337 Moplah rebels were
killed, 1650 wounded and more than 45,000 captured as prisoners.
Bardoli
Satyagraha (1929-30)
In 1928, the peasants of
Bardoli (Gujarat) started their agitation under the leadership of Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel, in protest against the government’s proposal to increase
land revenue by 30 percent.
The peasants refused to
pay tax at the enhanced rate and started no-tax campaign from 12 February 1928.
Many women also participated in this campaign.
In 1930, the peasants of
Bardoli rose to a man, refused to pay taxes, faced the auction sales and the
eventual loss of almost all of their lands but refused to submit to the
Government.
However, all their lands
were returned to them when the Congress came to power in 1937.
Farazi
Movement
Farazi Movement Farazi
movement was launched by Haji Shariatullah in 1818. After the death of
Shariatullah in 1839, the rebellion was led by his son Dudu Mian who called
upon the peasants not to pay tax.
It gained popularity on
a simple doctrine that land and all wealth should be equally enjoyed by the
common folk. Dudu Mian laid emphasis on the egalitarian nature of religion and
declared that “Land belongs to God”, and collecting rent or levying taxes on it
was therefore against divine law.
Large numbers of
peasants were mobilised through a network of village organisations. After the
death of Dudu Mian in 1862, the was revived in the 1870s by Noah Mian.
Wahhabi
Rebellion in Barasat
The Wahhabi rebellion
was an anti-imperial and anti-landlord movement. It originated in and around
1827, in the Barasat region of Bengal. It was led by an Islamic preacher Titu
Mir who deeply influenced by the Wahhabi teachings. He became an influential
figure among the predominately Muslim peasantry oppressed under the coercive
zamindari system.