Modern History PYQ 313 of 636 · Gandhi and His Early Movements

At which place of Bihar, Gandhiji started Satyagraha movement for the first time in India:

  1. APatna
  2. BGaya
  3. CMadhubani
  4. DChamparan

48th to 52nd B.P.S.C. (Pre) 2008

Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: (d) Champaran

Explanation

After returning from South Africa in January 1915, Gandhiji carried out his first successful Satyagraha in Bihar’s Champaran district in 1917. In 1916, a Champaran farmer, Rajkumar Shukla, met Gandhiji in Lucknow and urged him to visit Champaran. The Champaran issue was quite old. By the end of the 19th century, German synthetic dyes replaced indigo in the market. As a result, the European plantation owners in Champaran were forced to stop indigo cultivation. The peasants too wanted to get rid of indigo cultivation as a cash crop. Taking advantage of the peasants helplessness, the white planters arbitrarily increased rent and other illegal taxes in the name of releasing them from their contracts. It was against this exploitation of the peasants that Gandhiji began the Champaran Satyagraha.

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