Batak Mian
Batak Mian Ansari, was a cook who saved the life of Mahatma Gandhi from a murder attempt by food poisoning[1] in 1917. Mahatma Gandhi travelled by train from Muzafarpur and at about 3 O’ clock in the evening, on 15th April, he reached the railway station in Motihar which was the district head quarters of Champaran in Bihar state. Indigo farmers from several villages accorded a grand welcome to him. Champaran was famous for its Indigo plantations and Indigo factories for a century. English people were the owners of the majority of Indigo plantations and factories. Indian farmers in Champaran were small and marginal. Most of the Indian farmers in Champaran were tenant farmers. The British Government was favouarable to the English owners.As the land and Indigo factories were under their ownership, the English owners started acting against the interests of the farmers to reap profits from Indigo crop and production of Indigo dye.They imposed TIN KATHIA agreement on them and started collecting forcibly various taxes such as TAVAN, JIRATH and ABWAB. They exploited the labour of the farmers as per the feudal method of BEGAR and subjected them to bonded labour. The farmers who opposed or resented the cruel methods of English owners had to face dire consequences. The farmers were helpless as the English owners’ word prevailed over the Government and bureaucracy. When their evil deeds became unbearable, the revolts, organized by farmers, sometimes were oppressed with an iron hand and the farmers were subjected to untold hardships with the support of the English officers. Mahatma Gandhi came to Motihar on the requests made by RajkumarShukla (1875-1929), Pir Muhammad Ansari Munis (1882-1949) of Champaran, to rescue the suffering farmers of Champaran region from the miserable situation. As Mahatma Gandhi got into action on the venext day of reaching Motihar, the farmers of Champaran region started meeting him in large numbers and started recounting the evil deeds of th eowners of Indigo plantations and Indigo factories
Incident
The English owners decided to remove Mahatma Gandhi from Champaran. The worst among them, Irwin, hatched out a plan to invite Mahatma Gandhi to his house for dinner and kill him by poisoning his food. He employed his cook Bataq Miya Ansari (1867-1957) for that purpose. He ordered Bataq Miya Ansari to give Gandhiji milk laced with poison. When Bataq Miya hesitates to obey the order, he promised him to give land, rich gifts and hike in his salary. He warned the poor man of dire consequences if he disobeyed the order. Bataq Miya Ansari, who knew well how cruel his master was, kept silent without giving any response.As per his plan Indigo planter Irwin invited Mahatma and his followers to his house for dinner. Mahatma, who did not doubt the invitation of the Englishman, attended the dinner along with his colleague and lawyer Babu Rajendra Prasad. During dinner, Bataq Miya Ansari went straight to Gandhiji and revealed that the milk served to them was laced with poison. The bold act of Bataq Miya Ansari saved Gandhiji’s life from the conspiracy hatched out by Irwin.After escaping from the attempt, Mahatma Gandhi continued his protest at Champaran. The estate manager tortured Batak Mian, lost his house and properties, and was driven out of his village.[2]
After Independence of India
Rajendra Prasad visited Motihari in 1950, as President of India.[citation needed] A crowd formed around him and he recognized Batak Mian from the crowd, and described to the public how the incident happened in 1917.[citation needed] He ordered to grant Batak Mian 24 acres of land as an appreciation from the nation. He died in 1957.[citation needed]
References
- ^ B Vijay Murty (22 January 2010). "Family of Mahatma's saviour in dire straits". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- ^ SANCHARI PAL (30 January 2018). "The Forgotten Cook Who Paid Heavily For Refusing To Poison Mahatma Gandhi". The better India. Retrieved 6 June 2020.