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SAVIOUR OF GANDHIJI: BATAK MIYA ANSARI

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SAVIOUR OF GANDHIJI: BATAK MIYA ANSARI

It was in 1917... Mahatma Gandhi traveled by train from Muzaffarpur and at about 3 O’ o'clock in the evening, on 15th April, he reached the railway station in Motihar which was the district headquarters 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 favorable 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 the Indigo crop and production of Indigo dye. They imposed a TIN KATHIA agreement on them and started collecting forcibly various taxes such as TAVAN, JIRATH and ABWAB. They exploited the labor of the farmers as per the feudal method of BEGAR and subjected them to bonded labor.

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 the Champaran region from the miserable situation. As Mahatma Gandhi got into action on the very next day of reaching Motihar, the farmers of the Champaran region started meeting him in large numbers and started recounting the evil deeds of the owners of Indigo plantations and Indigo factories.

In a way not expected by the English owners, the suffering farmers started revealing the cruel deeds of their English owners without any fear or inhibition. On noticing the adverse situation, the English Indigo factories owners wanted to put an end to the activities of Mahatma Gandhi and deployed the British Government Officers and British courts for the purpose. Neither the police nor the courts could curb Mahatma's peaceful and non-violent agitation. The English Indigo planters became nervous as the farmers went on revealing the cruelty and exploitation of their owners with evidence undaunted by the dire consequences like severe punishments they would have to face from the British officers.

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 killed him by poisoning his food. He employed his cook Batak Miya Ansari (1867-1957) for that purpose. He ordered Batak Miya Ansari to give Gandhiji milk laced with poison. When Batak Miya hesitates to obey the order, he promises to give land, rich gifts, and a hike in his salary. He warned the poor man of dire consequences if he disobeyed the order. Batak 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, Batak Miya Ansari went straight to Gandhiji revealed that the milk served to them was laced with poison. The bold act of Batak Miya Ansari saved Gandhiji’s life from the conspiracy hatched by Irwin.

Irwin went into a rage as his plan to end Mahatma Gandhi’s life had failed that too because of his cook who disobeyed his orders. Irwin’s rage led to horrible consequences. Batak Miya Ansari lost his job, his properties were confiscated and his house was auctioned. The British police arrested him and subjected him to horrible physical torture. Irwin had Ansari’s family driven out of his native village Siswa Ajgari. But, Ansari bore all the hardships happily for having been able to prevent Mahatma Gandhi from being a victim of the murderous conspiracy of Englishmen and leaving his native village along with his family to an unknown place.

Thus, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who played a key role in putting an end to British rule in India, survived the attempt on his life made by the Englishmen in 1917 because of the bold act of Batak Miya Ansari. But, Batak Miya Ansari, the bold man who saved the great leader’s life faded into oblivion.

After the Plessey War in 1757, the Englishmen continued their exploitation at will. They intensified the production and export of Indigo Dye, was instrumental in the textile dyeing industry of those days. The production and export of Indigo dye which they started initially in Bengal region was gradually extended to Bihar. The Englishmen who intensified Indigo crop and Indigo dye production in the Champaran region of Bihar gained ownership of the lands with the support of British Government and its officers to maximize profits. The Englishmen forced the farmers to grow Indigo crops in as much area as they wanted and sell the crop to them at the price they decided. They imposed a TIN KATHIA agreement on the farmers according to which the farmers had to grow indigo crops in 3 of 20 parts of the lands. In the process of enforcing the agreement, they started collecting 40 types of Taxes and penalties for violating the agreement.

They started levying various types of taxes and fines on farmers to compensate any losses they suffered due to changes that took place in the international market and metrological and geographical conditions. Though there was widespread resentment against the economic and psychological expatriation, the farmers could not do anything about it as the English owners enjoyed the support of British government officials and British police officers. Taking advantage of the helplessness of farmers, the English Indigo factory owners and their staff fleeced the farmers at will and weakened them economically. In the absence of a person or a system that can question the evil deeds of the English owners, the farmers of Champaran were forced to be submissive to the English Indigo Planters.

With the advent of the freedom movement on Indian soil that encouraged people to question the hegemony of the British on their motherland, the farmers of Champran who had hitherto been victims of exploitation started revolting gradually against the English Indigo planters. Notwithstanding the cruel repressive measures taken by the English factory owners to curb the rebellion, there arose leadership among farmers that drew its spirit from the freedom struggle and kept the flame of rebellion burning among the farmers.

REFERENCE BOKKS:

01. Hindustani Musalmano ka Jang-e-Azadi Mein Hissa (Hindi), Syed Ibrahim Fikri, New Delhi, 1999.

02. Muslim Freedom fighters (English), Syed Ubaidur Rahaman, New Delhi, 2017.

03. The Immortals (Album in English and Telugu), Syed Naseer Ahamed, Azad House of Publications, Undavalli, Andhra Pradesh, 2014.

04. Chirasmaraneeyulu (Telugu), Syed Naseer Ahamed, Azad House of Publications, Vinukonda, Andhrapradesh, 2008.

05. Shek Gulab (Hindi), Afroz Alam Shahil, New Delhi, 2017.

06. Dalith Freedom Fighters, (English), Mohan Dass Namisharay, Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi, 2010

07. Mazharul Haque (English), Dr Aeyamuddin Ahmad and Dr Jata Sankar Jha, Publication Division, Govt of India, 1976.

08. The Muslim Elite (English), Ali Ashraf, Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi, 1982.

09. Muslims and Freedom Movement In India (English), Kamta Chaubey, Ghugh Publications, Allahabad, 1990.

10. Peer Muhammad Moonis Kalam Sathyagrahi (Hindi), Sreekanth, Prabhat Prakashan, New Delhi, 2017.

11. Sathyasodhana leka Athma Katha (Telugu), Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Telugu Tranlation by Vemuri Radhakrishnamurthy, Navajeval Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1993.

12. Remembering Muslim Makers of Modern Bihar, Compiled & Edited by Dr. Mohammad Sajjad, Brown Book Publications, New Delhi, 2019.

13. ^[1] Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 2004.

SHEIK GULAB

Sheik Gulab was one of the leaders who emerged from among the farmers of the Champaran region. He was a resident of a village named CHAND BARWAH which was in the jurisdiction of Sathi or Sati police station in Bihar. His father Sheik Raktun, was a rich landlord. Though Sheik Gulab did not have much formal education, he was intelligent and courageous and never tolerated injustice. Having hailed from a family that opposed the hegemony and evil deeds of the foreign rulers and their henchmen, it was but natural that Sheik Gulab sounded the bugle of revolt against British rule.

Sheik Gulab could not bear to see the farmers of Champaran being exploited by the English owners of the Indigo plantations and Indigo dye factories and he came to the arena of confrontation in 1905 to fight for justice for the farmers. Initially, he worked with Sheik Munvar of his native village to mobilize the farmers against the English owners. In the beginning leaders from the neighboring villages such as Jagan Lal, Hafizuddin Mohammed Ansari (1831-1961) Babu Seethal Ray, Harbans Sahay, and Hafiz Mohammed Saani (1888-1951) joined them. Later Pir Muhammad Munis Ansari (1882-1949), a writer with revolutionary ideas joined hands with them. With the intellectual cooperation from Pir Munis, the revolt led by the farmer leaders gained new vigor. In those days houses of Sheik Gulab, Babu Seetal Ray, Hafiz Deen Mohammad, Radhemal and Pir Muhammad Munis became secret places for discussions on the agitation of farmers and for planning strategies.

Sheik Gulab raised his voice of dissent against the cruel deeds of the English owners. He met farmers directly and asked them to defy TIN KATHIA and not pay unjust taxes and penalties and organized them to do so. At that time inspired farmers belonging to various villages, Babulal Misra, Ganapathi Ray, Kenhar Ray, and others stood firmly in support of Sheik Gulab. The farmers who had swallowed the cruel deeds of the English owners silently all those years saw the honesty and fearlessness of Sheik Gulab and followed him. The farmers of Champaran united above caste and religions and considered the word of Sheik Gulab as inviolable.

For the first time in 1907, the farmers of Sathi defied TIN KATHIA and boycotted the cultivation of the Indigo crop. They challenged, in an organized manner, the clerks and goons of English owners who forced them to pay penalties for their defiance. The English owners could not tolerate the defiance of the farmers who had been submissive to them for decades. They got the water supply to their farms stopped. Angered at the unfair act, the farmers expressed their resentment by organizing a demonstration under the leadership of Sheik Gulab.

The English owners decided not to spare Sheik Gulab any longer as he was organizing farmers against them. They schemed to subdue Sheik Gulab and his followers by luring them with financial benefits and jobs. They got the orders issued appointing Sheik Gulab and his followers as special constables in the Police Department. Shaik Gulab and his followers did not give in to the lures and refused to honor the orders. They were detained, several criminal charges were framed, cases were foisted and sentences were imposed on them. But all the sentences were quashed by a Higher Court in 1908.

In that process, Sheik Gulab approached the magistrate of Motihar along with a large number of farmers for the first time and submitted a memorandum to him narrating the problems of farmers and the cruel deeds of English owners. Angered at this, the English owners intensified their acts of vengeance against the farmers with the support of British officers. In that situation, Sheik Gulab visited Champaran Collector and submitted a memorandum to him to do justice to the farmers. The Collector responded immediately and ordered an inquiry. As the inquiry officer did not do his job fairly, Sheik Gulab complained about the unfair inquiry to higher officials. Unable to stomach the audacity of Sheik Gulab’s acts, the English officers decided to suppress the farmer's agitation. Consequently, F C Coffin, an English owner in the Sathi area got false cases foisted on Sheik Gulab and his followers. As a result, Sheikv Gulab and his followers were arrested on 12 September 1907. Sentences were imposed on Sheik Gulab and 162 farmers and they were sent to jails. Later on, the sentences were quashed by a Higher Court.

Inspired by the undaunted way in which Sheik Gulab was going ahead and noticing the sacrifices he was making, the farmers of neighboring areas also united in large numbers under his leadership and started defying the power of the British and their orders. As Sheik Gulab could not be subdued by lures, F C Coffin, an English owner plotted several conspiracies to weaken Sheik Gulab financially. As a result, Sheik Gulab’s family not only suffered financial losses but also faced physical attacks and lost land and other properties.

Taking into account all these developments Sheik Gulab and his coactivists met in the house of Radhemal belonging to Betiah and decided to intensify the agitation further. Addressing a meeting attended by a large number of farmers on the occasion of the Dusserah festival in 1908, Sheik Gulab, Seethal Ray, and Raj Kumar Shukla gave a call to the farmers to stop cultivating the Indigo crop. According to the call, the farmers stopped cultivating the Indigo crop. As a reaction to this, the English manager of Parasu Indigo factory and his servant resorted to violence on farmers and the farmers retaliated and attacked the manager and his servant. Emboldened by this attack, formers of other areas also started retaliating, when the English men resorted to violence against them.

Shocked by these developments, the English owners of Indigo factories started taking vindictive actions against the farmers. With the connivance of British officers, they resorted to unlawful detentions of farmer leaders and other activists. Claiming that there was a law and order problem because of the farmers’ agitation, the British officers put up police outposts in the villages and started collecting forcibly the expenditure incurred from the farmers of the respective villages. Even then, the farmer's agitation continued unabated. The police and military forces, dispatched to villages started resorting to violence and looted the farmers.

None of the English owner’s vindictive actions could deter the revolutionary activities of Sheik Gulab. When a warrant was issued for his arrest, Gulab continued his activities clandestinely without being noticed by the British Police and its spies. The farmers of the villages protected their dearest leader by maintaining silence about his whereabouts. Having failed to arrest Gulab, the British Government announced a reward of five hundred rupees, confiscated land, and the job of Police Constable to those who caught him alive and handed over to the police. The British police and military forces put pressure on the people for the whereabouts of Gulab and resorted to violence against the farmers and people. Under these adverse circumstances, Gulab traveled clandestinely in a bullock cart to Bettiah Court and surrendered himself to the officer present there.

Sheik Gulab and his co-activists were arrested on charges of criminal activities. A large number of farmers were arrested. The British Government had to make special arrangements as the number of arrests was large. At least about two hundred farmers and their leaders were imprisoned. Two years jail terms and a penalty of a thousand rupees were imposed on Sheik Gulab.

Against the backdrop of these developments, the British government appointed a W R Gourlay committee to inquire about the problems of farmers in the Bettiah and Sathi areas in the Champaran region. Gourlay committee submitted its report to the Government on 7 April 1909. Under the recommendations of the committee, the farmers undergoing jail terms were released on certain conditions. But, Sheik Gulab was released only after he served a full term in Jail. Sheik Gulab fell ill as a result of the cruel treatment meted out to him by the police. His eyesight became dim.

After his release from jail, Sheik Gulab started working for the farmers as far as his health permitted. In that process, Gulab, Rajkumar Shukla, Pir Muhammad Munis and others discussed the idea of bringing Mahatma Gandhi to Champaran. Accordingly, Sheik Gulab played a key role in bringing Mahatma to Champaran in 1917. When Gandhi agreed to come to Champaran and revealed his travel details, Sheik Gulab and his collectivists campaigned extensively about the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi to Champaran. As a result of their campaign a large number of farmers turned up at Mothihar Railway Station on 15 April 1917 when Mahatma Gandhi arrived there and accorded him a grand welcome.

Farmers in large numbers participated in the inquiry conducted by Mahatma Gandhi as a result of their awareness and fearlessness created among farmers by the agitation organized by Sheik Gulab and his comrades and submitted representations to him, revealing the evil deeds of the English owners of Indigo plantations and Indigo dye factories. Sheik Gulab was with Gandhiji as long as he stayed in Champaran actively participating not only in activities related to farmers' problems but also in social activities aimed at Hindu – Muslim unity. After the Champaran Sathyagraha led by Mahatma Gandhi put an end lawfully to the cruel deeds of the English owners of Indigo plantations and Indigo factories, the farmers’ leader Sheik Gulab passed away in 1920.