|
SATYAGRAHA
LABORATORIES OF
MAHATMA GANDHI
Till the advent of
Gandhiji into the political arena in India, the Indian nationalists
had visualized only two courses of action to lead India towards
self-government. One, adopted by the Liberals and more or less by
the extremists also, was to pass resolutions, petitioning, so
criticizing or condemning Government, as also to agitate and focus
public opinion. The other, adopted by the younger section styled
“Revolutionary” was a resort to the bomb and other methods of
violence. The former was ineffective and the latter was possible
only for a few on account of the immense potentiality of the
Government for counter-violence and repression, as was evidenced by
the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The young mind of the country was
surging with discontent accompanied by a feeling of disappointment
and frustration.
Gandhiji had tried quite
successfully his method of direct action first called “passive
resistence” and subsequently described as “Satyagraha” in South
Africa. It was, however, feared that what was possible in South
Africa on account of the smallness of the population there, might
not be possible in India with a vast population and diverse elements
consisting of different religions, provinces, creeds, languages,
interests, etc. Gandhiji, however, has abundant faith in the
righteousness and the adaptability of his method under Indian
conditions.
To Bihar, of all the
proviness in India, belongs the honour of having served as the first
laboratory for Mahatma Gandhi for his various experiments which were
latterly to find there application in different phases of his
campaign for national regeneration of the country.
Champaran
The 10th day of April of
the year 1917 will be marked as a red letter day in the annals of
Bihar for it was on that day that the architect of India’s freedom
set foot upon its soil in response to the call of submerged
humanity. The European planters, considered to be the powers behind
the British throne, from whose pooression Gandhiji came to release
the dumb driven millions of Champaran, rallied in a solid phalanx to
obstruct and oppose him, The Statesman, the Englishman and the
Pioneer, the powerful organs of the Anglo-Indian interests, opened
their broadsides upon him. The eyes of the whole of India were fixed
on Bihar, where the first round of the struggle for India’s freedom
had started, for it soon became manifest that the fight for
emancipation of the peasants of Champaran meant battling not only
against the European planters but also the white bureaucracy of the
land. Acting under the instructions of the Commissioner of the
Tirhut Division, the District Magistrate of Champaran ordered
Mahatmaji to leave the district at once. How could the saviour
respect this fiat by giving up his mission? He was hauled up in
court for defiance of orders. In the course of his statement to the
court he said, “As a law-abiding citizen my first instinct would be,
as it was, to obey the order served upon me. But I could not do so
without doing violence to my sense of duty to those for whom I came.
I feel that I could just now serve them by remaining in their midst.
I could not therefore voluntarily retire. Amidst this conflict of
duty I could only throw the responsibility of removing me from on
the administration.
It is remarkable that it
was in Champaran that the theory and practice of Satyagrah came to
be associated for the first time with the fight for freedom. It was
here again that the entire strategy of the struggle was evolved.
What was to be done if Gandhiji was arrested? That was the question
of questions. A number of suggestions were made. But again
Mahatmaji’s own method as he had practiced in South Africa was
considered to be the most suitable. It was decided that in case the
Mahatma went to jail, Maulana Mazhrul Haque and Babu Brajkishor
Prasad would take the lead. If they were removed, Babu Dharnidhar
and Babu Ram Navami Prasad would take charge of the work. If they
too were picked up, Babu Rajendra Prasad, Babu Shambhu Saran and
Babu Anugrah Narayan Singh were to fill the gap.
Mahatmaji went about
from village to village in Champaran preaching love and inspiring
faith and confidence among the people. Here he felt that his efforts
for the uplift of the masses could not have enduring results unless
an urge was created within them. For this, it was necessary to
educate them. On the 13th of November, 1917 Mahatma
Gandhi opened his first school at Barharwa Lakhansen, a village at a
distance of about 20 miles to the east of Motihari. Another school
was opened by Gandhiji on the 20th of November in a
village called Bhitiharwa. A third school was opened on the 17th
of January, 1918 at Madhuban, which had among its teachers, Mahadeva
Desai.
It is worth mentioning
that the Satyagrah of Champaran was responsible for initiation in
the service of the motherland of two volunteers Acharya Kripalani
and Deshratna Dr. Rajendra Prasad. While Bihar’s indebtedness to
Mahatma Gandhi is irretrievable not only for having succored her
million from the tentacles of white planters but also for having
breathed into her soul the new message.
Kaira
The Monsoon of 1917 was
poor, resulting in the failure of crops in the Kaira District of
Gujarat. At that time, there was in Ahmedabad an old organization
called the Gujarat Sabha, which represented and worked for the
political, social and economic welfare of Gujarat. Its work was
being carried on the orthodox lines of the Liberals. Namely,
petitions and representations so far as government was concerned.
Gandhiji was invited to accept the presidentship of the Sabha.
At this stage, Gandhiji
led the Sabha to strike a new path on the line of direct action. The
government were realizing the dues from the agriculturists during
the pendency of the Sabha’s appeal to government. Gandhiji induced
the Sabha to issue instructions to the peasants to hold over payment
till the Sabha’s appeal was decided by government. Characteristic of
his method of pursuing any public cause, he directed the Secretaries
of the Sabha to send a copy of the instructions to the peasants and
to the Divisional Commissioner. This was the first time that the
bureaucracy was met with a firm stand by a public body. The
Divisional Commissioner interpreted the instructions to the peasants
given by the Sabha, as a direct call to disobey the orders of the
subordinate officers, and threatened to take such action as he
deemed proper under the circumstances. This created a very serious
situation from the point of view of the Managing Committee of the
Sabha, which was naturally accustomed to the old methods of liberal
type. It was at this stage that Gandhiji took the matter under his
personal supervision and shifted the headquarters from Ahmedabad to
Nadiad, a central place in the Kaira district. All the workers also
shifted their headquarters, and Gandhiji carried on correspondence
with the government on the subject, after getting information,
personally by visits to several villages and from the reports of
workers specially deputed to visit the villages and make enquiries
about crops. Gandhiji would have been satisfied with an independent
Committee of Enquiry.
As anticipated, the
government refused to appoint a Committee of Enquiry, because the
Divisional commissioner threatened to resign. On refusal by
government Gandhiji advised the peasantry to refuse to pay the
assessment on the false basis of there being no failure of crops.
This was the first such experiment on a large scale undertaken in
India. The Motihari refusal to obey the Magistrate’s order was a
case of individual civil disobedience, though limited to small
district. The struggle went on for a few months. All pressure was
brought by giving agriculturists notices of forfeiture of lands, but
thanks to the presence of Gandhiji and his constant movement in the
district from place to place, the people were not only non-violent,
but were also very firm and prepared for any amount of sacrifices
for the common cause.
The matter ended with an
honourable compromise with notices of forfeitures being withdrawn
and the forfeited lands returned. The experiment inspired a new
confidence with a new outlook. The people saw that there was, after
all, a new course open by which they could assert themselves and get
what they wanted.
Bardoli
It is strange that the
significance of Bardoli is little realized by those who talk of a
Labour and Kisan Movement as distinct from the “bourgeois” movement
of the Congress. In their attempt to fit every situation into a
prefabricated mould, the leftists have often overlooked the fact
that the Gandhian Congress sought its inspiration and strength from
being a movement of the people or the kisans. The two terms were
synonymous in India. Bordoli was, if anything, the spearhead of a
military agrarian movement.
It will be seen, how
from the very beginning Gandhiji believed that the key to Swaraj lay
in the villages. His strategy was to choose a small target and focus
all national forces on what looked a moderate issue, but was really
a part of an explosive chain, the keystone of a whole edifice. We
have seen how he chose a direct attack on the British rule in
Champaran and in Kaira. In fact non-co-operation movement was only a
preparation for a revolution to be started at Bardoli, though it had
to be given up after one or two attempts following Chauri Chaura
incidents.
The story of Bardoli is
important not only as a landmark in the march to freedom, but as
giving, at a high level, the true pattern of the Gandhian technique.
To “BARDOLISE” the country became the ambition and plan of the
national movement.
This technique may,
perhaps, be analysed as: (1) the choice of a just, moderate and
direct issue; (2) preparing the mass of people for fearless and
disciplined defiance; (3) simultaneous work of education, moral
uplift and material betterment of the people; (4) readiness for
negotiation and compromise with the adversary; (5) skilful steering
of the movement to intenser and wider activity from stage to stage
in sacrifice and suffering on one hand and aggressive defiance of
authority on the other.
Bardoli was a typical
tehsil with less than a lakh of population, the bulk of whom were
agriculturists, with a sprinkling of money lenders, and other petty
traders and occupants of larger holdings. Quite a considerable
number of Gandhiji’s Saryagrahis in South Africa were from Bardoli,
including several Masalmans. Intense constructive work, organization
of national schools and khadi centres, social reform, prohibition,
had been carried on in Bardoli since Gandhiji’s arrest in 1922.
The choice to lead the
cherished campaign of Bardoli – which was to be a model and
inspiration to the rest of the country – fell on Vallabhbhai
deliberately. Vallabhbhai had come under Gandhi’s spell much earlier
and had already rediscovered himself in Kaira.
Gandhiji once, while
arguing with the revolutionaries, remarked that he would retire in
favour of, even a man of sword, if he found he was truly a man of
the people, who gave up the plough to take to the sword.
It was six years later,
in 1928 that an opportunity came to redeem the pledge of Bardoli.
Bardoli was to have one of the periodical resettlements of land
which occurred once in a stated period of 20 or 30 years, when Land
Revenue was raised by another 25 per cent or so. The people of
Bardoli would not pay this enhancement and first demanded an
impartial investigation into economic conditions, burden of
taxation, and such things as the state of roads in these villages.
All the constitutional methods were tried for Government acceptance
of the demand for a Committee of enquiry. Then an ultimatum was
issued and a no tax campaign was organized. Vallabhbhai was invited
to lead this battle by the Kisans in their Taluka conference.
Vallabhbhai came to live
in the midst of these villagers as one of them. For dealing with the
Muslim population, he was assisted by the veteran leaders Abhas
Tyabji and Iman Saheb. A host of other trained workers were at his
disposal and besides them the agriculturists spontaneously raised
volunteers from among themselves. These were to serve in their own
villages, to collect and carry information. Daily news-bulletins and
pamphlets with Vallabhbhai’s speeches were published and
distributed, not only in these villages but in towns and villages
outside Bardoli. The stirring, simple words of Vallabhbhai sent a
new thrill not only in Bardoli but in the whole of Gujarat at this
time.
I know that some of you
are afraid of your lands being confiscated. What is confiscation?
Will they take the lands away to England? The worst that can happen
is that the lands might be transferred to government in their books,
but if you are united you can defy anyone to come forward to
cultivate the lands. And rest assured when you are ready to allow
your lands to be confiscated the whole of Gujarat will be at your
back.
“Organise your village
and you will set an example to others. The campaign has begun. Every
village must now be an armed camp. The news from every village must
reach the Taluka head-quarters daily and punctually and every
instruction from the headquarters must promptly be obeyed.
Discipline and organization means half the battle Government have at
the most one patel and one talati to every village. For us every
adult in the village must be a volunteer.”
While preparations were
thus going on in the villages, Vallabhbhai was carrying a
correspondence with the Government. But the Government was not to
yield and the warning was given that if the people of Bardoli
defaulted in the payment of revenue, acting on their own or yielding
to the advice of persons from outside, they would have to suffer the
consequence. Vallabhbhai while thanking the Government for the
threat and the warning reminded the Revenue Secretary that he
evidently “missed the fact that the Government which you represent
is truly dominated by persons from outside.”
The government soon
began to act. Both threats and cajolery began to be used. In one
village some banias paid the new assessment. But the people were not
demoralized. Vallabhbhai had prepared them against such desertions.
A satyagraha pledge was now being signed by all the villages.
The soul stirring
eloquence of Vallabhbhai, in the peasants’ idiom, had raised them to
exalted heights, and fired them with a fearless resolve. “I see that
these 15 days have taught you to cast fear from your hearts. You are
however not yet completely free from it. Two annas in the rupee in
still there. Shake it off. “You seem to have lost the capacity of
righteous indignation against wrong. The absence of it is cowardice.
I go about in your village at deed of night sometimes, without ever
once being asked, ‘Halt. Who goes there? It is your quiescence that
has been your undoing. I want to inoculate you with fearlessness. I
want to galvanise you into life. I miss in your eyes the flash of
indignation against wrong.”
Notices of forfeiture
now began to be served by the Government on selected landlords who
were expected to show weakness. But this was having no effect. Every
day the strength and organization of the villages grew. Help in the
shape of men and women workers and funds now began to come from
outside. The world outside was becoming aware and was thrilled with
what was happening in Bardoli. In the village itself enthusiasm
reached a higher and higher level and the scenes of the mammoth
meetings, of men and women of those days cannot be forgotten by
those who participated in them.
The new life in the
villages began to manifest itself in many ways, in better
cleanliness, in temperance, in revival of Khadi, in awakening among
the women, in the setting up of schools and Ashramas.
The close contact with
the people and the burning zeal and rage that Vallabhbhai was
experiencing and transmitting had brought home to him the stark
reality, the central reality in India, the condition of the peasant.
It became clearer and clearer to him and he developed his apotheosis
of the peasant on a two-fold basis, his keen appreciation of very
high place of the peasant in a true social economy and his poignant
anguish at the very low state to which the peasant has been reduced,
by the Government, supported by the ‘educated’ classes. As Gandhiji
put it “Vallabhbhai found his Vallabh (God) in Bardoli.” Bardoli had
created its Sardar. The Government soon mobilized all its machinery
and lawlessness was soon let loose, in rising tide and ferocity.
Many of the workers were arrested and imprisoned, after mock trials
by special magistrates. Bardoli had by now become the cynosure of
all eyes in India. It has stood the fire beyond all expectations.
Attempts at breaches in its ranks had failed and the bania, the
parsi and the musalman had all stood fast. The heroism of the simple
women of Bardoli was an inspiration for the whole country.
The Ahmedabad, and a
Bombay, news about Bardoli were anxiously awaited and read. There
were meetings of protest and for relief and the Working Committee of
the Congress that met in Bombay passed a resolution on Bardoli that
rang through the country. Several MLCs had already resigned their
seats on the Bombay legislative Council. Many of the leaders visited
Bardoli at this time. As Jamanalal Bajaj put it they came to purify
themselves and warm themselves at the sacred flame that had been lit
in the villages there. Bardoli was now attracting even wider
attention. Houses were deserted. A “Scortched earth” policy was
followed and people lived as if in war trenches. The special
correspondent of the Bombay Times reported with flaming headlines;
‘Peasant Rebellion’, ‘Bolshevik Regime in Bardoli. Reuter warned
England of the Soviet Regime being established! There were questions
in the House of Commons. The Government frantically intensified its
repression and reinforced the garrison at Bardoli. Also negotiations
were opened with Vallabhbhai by the Government. The elephant was
feeling powerless against the gnat. But threats of crushing the
movement were reiterated. Vallabhbhai kept a complete balance of
mind, and combined firmness with fairness and moderation in his
demands. Bardoli had become an all-India question and arrest of
Vallabhbhai would not help the Government any longer. A settlement
was ultimately brought about. The disciplined but revolutionary
battle had ended in a triumph for the peasantry who fought with the
weapons of truth and patient suffering against an enemy who could
any day have crushed them to atoms.
It was the first great
victory of Satyagraha on a mass-scale in which the victors and the
vanquished both were winners.
There is no doubt, that
the example of Bardoli was an abiding source of inspiration all
through the subsequent struggle in our freedom movement. It also
helped the Imperial bureaucracy to a realization of the potential
development of even an unarmed revolution.
|
