In 1917, Mahatma Gandhi led a movement that marked his first major involvement in the Indian independence movement. It took up the grievances of the indigo cultivators, who suffered under oppressive policies.
Assertion (A): The Champaran Satyagraha was Gandhi's first major mass movement in India.
Reason (R): The movement aimed at solving the problems faced by the indigo cultivators.
Choose the correct option:
- A(A) is true, but (R) is false
- BBoth (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
- C(A) is false, but (R) is true
- DBoth (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: (d) Both (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
Explanation
Both are true, and (R) explains (A).
The Champaran Satyagraha (1917) in Bihar was Gandhi's first satyagraha in India. It took up the grievances of the peasants who were forced to grow indigo for the European planters under the tinkathia system. Gandhi's inquiry and his refusal to leave the district made the government appoint an inquiry committee, and the system was abolished in 1918. (The paper called the cultivators "indigo planters"; the planters were the European estate owners.)