Modi in Champaran: How Indigo protest birthed Civil Disobedience Movement

PM Narendra Modi today addressed centenary celebration of Chmparan Satyagraha in Motihari in Champaran district in Bihar. Addressing the ceremony named as 'Satyagraha Se Swachhagraha' programme, Modi congratulated the Bihar government and volunteers for constructing more than 8,50,000 toilets in a week across the state.

The Nitish Kumar government had launched Champaran Satyagraha centenary celebration in April last year. The Champaran Satyagraha was launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1917.

Had Rajkumar Shukla not been resolute about the plight of thousands of farmers like him, there won't have been the Satyagraha that boosted the Indian independence movement.


Shukla, a farmer from Bihar's Motihari, travelled all the way from Champaran district to Lucknow to meet Mahatma Gandhi and accompanied his caravan to Ahmedabad. He begged Gandhi to come to Champaran and see the plight of peasants who were forced by Englishmen to grow Indigo under an arrangement that left them with only 15% share.

The peasants used to pay Britishers Indigo as rent. When Germany developed synthetic Indigo, British landlords freed Indian peasants from the 15 per cent arrangement but wanted compensation in return.

Impressed by Shukla's tenacity, Gandhi finally asked him to meet him in Kolkata from where both went to Patna and then to Champaran. When Gandhi reached Champaran, he was deeply saddened by farmers' condition.

Gandhi's protest led to the farmers getting 25% compensation. He used peasants' discontentment as a tool and led various peaceful protests which evolved into the Civil Disobedience Movement.