Independence movement of Bihar

Bihar played a major role in the Indian independence struggle. The role of Rash Behari Lal Mandal in establishing Congress Party in Bihar and for his contribution to Social Justice Movement is
indeed considerable. The editorial of 27 April 1908 Amrita Bazar Patrika, the renowned daily of India then, published from Calcutta was all praise for Rash Bihari Lal Mandal, the Zamindar of
Murho Estate, Madhepura for having taken headlong Mr FF Lyall, the haughty District Magistrate of Bhagalpur, and Mandal's petition at Calcutta High Court for transfer of his cases from
Bhagalpur to Darbhanga on the ground of prejudiced attitude of Lyall had been accepted. Lyall raked the issue again by making defamatory comments against the Justices of Calcutta High
Court on the order, and was again hauled for it. Before that Amrita Bazar Patrika had reported the issue on 22 February 1908, according to which Mr Jackson, the lawyer of Rashbihari Lal
Mandal had argued before Justice Geidt that since 1902, when Mandal had refused to part with a certain piece of Land at heart of Madhepura (where now Rashbihari Vidyalay stands) on the
orders of the Mr Shirres, the then District Magistrate, had incurred the wrath of the administration and police. Since then series of criminal cases were brought against Mr Mandal and he had to
move to High Court more than a dozen of times to save himself. It was not a mere coincidence that the first person to be granted bail before arrest (so common these days as Anticipatory Bail),
on the orders of Calcutta High Court was Late Rashbihari Lal Mandal. The Gazetteer of Bhagalpur District has also mentioned the extraordinary case of Rashbihari Lal Mandal. Late Rashbihari
Lal Mandal had many distinctions to his credit.
Most notable are the Champaran movement against the Indigo plantation and the Quit India Movement of 1942.
After his return from South Africa, it was from Bihar that Mahatma Gandhi launched his pioneering civil-disobedience movement, Champaran Satyagraha.[56] Raj Kumar Shukladrew the attention
of Mahatma Gandhi to the exploitation of the peasants by European indigo planters. Champaran Satyagraha received the spontaneous support from many Biharis, including Brajkishore
Prasad, Rajendra Prasad (who became the first President of India) and Anugrah Narayan Sinha (who became the first Deputy Chief Minister andFinance Minister of Bihar).[57] In India's struggle
for independence, the Champaran Satyagraha marks a very important stage. Raj Kumar Shukla drew the attention of Mahatma Gandhi, who had just returned from South Africa, to the plight of
the peasants suffering under an oppressive system established by European indigo planters. Besides other excesses they were forced to cultivate indigo on 3/20 part of their holding and sell it
to the planters at prices fixed by the planters. This marked Gandhis entry into the Indias independence movement. On arrival at the district headquarters in Motihari, Gandhi and his team of
lawyersDr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Brajkishore Prasad and Ram Navami Prasad, who he had handpicked to participate in the satyagrahawere ordered to leave by
the next available train. They refused to do this, and Gandhi was arrested. He was released and the ban order was withdrawn in the face of a "Satyagraha" threat. Gandhi conducted an open
inquiry into the peasants grievances. The Government had to appoint an inquiry committee with Gandhi as a member. This led to the abolition of the system.
Raj Kumar Shukla has been described by Gandhi in his Atmakatha, as a man whose suffering gave him the strength to rise against the odds. In his letter to Gandhi he wrote "Respected
Mahatma, You hear the stories of others everyday. Today please listen to my story.... I want to draw your attention to the promise made by you in the LucknowCongress that you would come to
Champaran. The time has come for you to fulfill your promise. 1.9 million suffering people of Champaran are waiting to see you."
Gandhi reached Patna on 10 April 1917 and on 16 April he reached Motihari accompanied by Raj Kumar Shukla. Under Gandhis leadership the historic "Champaran Satyagraha" began. The
contribution of Raj Kumar Shukla is reflected in the writings of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, first President of India, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Acharya Kriplaniand Mahatma Gandhi himself. Raj Kumar
Shukla maintained a diary in which he has given an account of struggle against the atrocities of the indigo planters, atrocities so movingly depicted by Dinabandhu Mitra in Nil Darpan, a play
that was translated by Michael Madhusudan Dutt. This movement by Mahatma Gandhi received the spontaneous support of a cross section of people, including Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Bihar
Kesari Sri Krishna Sinha, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha and Brajkishore Prasad.
Shaheed Baikuntha Shukla was another nationalist from Bihar, who was hanged for murdering a government approver named Phanindrananth Ghosh. This led to the hanging ofBhagat
Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. Phanindra Nath Ghosh hitherto a key member of the Revolutionary Party had betrayed the cause by turning an approver and giving evidence, which led to the
execution. Baikunth was commissioned to plan the execution of Ghosh as an act of ideological vendetta. He carried out the killing successfully on 9 November 1932. He was arrested, tried,
convicted, andon 14 May 1934hanged in Gaya Central Jail. He was only 28 years old.
In North and Central Bihar, peasants movement was an important side effect of the independence movement. The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar under the leadership of Swami
Sahajanand Saraswati who had formed in 1929 the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights.[58] Gradually
the peasant movement intensified and spread across the rest of India. All these radical developments on the peasant front culminated in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) at
the Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress in April 1936 with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati elected as its first President.[59] This movement aimed at overthrowing the fedual zamindari
system instituted by Britishers. It was being led by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati and his followersPandit Yamuna Karjee, Rahul Sankrityayan and others. Pandit Yamuna Karjee along with
Rahul Sankrityayan and other Hindi literaries started publishing a Hindi weekly Hunkarfrom Bihar, in 1940. Hunkar later became the mouthpiece of the peasant movement and the agrarian
movement in Bihar and was instrumental in spreading the movement. The peasant movement later spread to other parts of the country and helped in digging out the British roots in the Indian
society by overthrowing the zamindari system.
Bihar's contribution in the independence movement has been immense with famous leaders like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati,[60] Shaheed Baikuntha Shukla, Bihar BibhutiAnugrah Narayan
Sinha, Mulana Mazharul Haque, Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan, Satyendra Narayan Sinha (Singh), Basawon Singh (Sinha), Yogendra Shukla, Sheel Bhadra Yajee, Pandit Yamuna
Karjee, Dr. Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi and many others who worked for India's indepdence and worked for the upliftment of the underprivileged masses.Khudiram Bose, Upendra Narayan Jha
"Azad" and Prafulla Chaki were also active in revolutionary movement in Bihar. More than hundred of cases were registered in different jails of Bihar like Madhepura, Darbhanga, Saharsa etc.
against the great son soil Late Shri Upendra Narayan Jha "Azad".
Towards the end of 1946, between 30 October and 7 November, a large-scale massacre of Muslims in Bihar brought Partition closer to inevitability. Begun as a reprisal for theNoakhali riot,
whose death toll had been greatly overstated in immediate reports, it was difficult for authorities to deal with because it was spread out over a large area of scattered villages, and the number of
casualties was impossible to establish accurately: "According to a subsequent statement in the British Parliament, the death-toll amounted to 5,000. The Statesman's estimate was between
7,500 and 10,000; the Congress party admitted to 2,000; Mr. Jinnah claimed about 30,000."[61]
The first Cabinet of Bihar was formed on 2 April 1946, consisting of two members, Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha as the first Chief Minister of Bihar and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha asDeputy Chief
Minister cum Finance Minister of Bihar (also in charge of Labour, Health, Agriculture and Irrigation). [62][63][64] Other ministers were inducted later. The Cabinet served as the first Bihar Government
after independence in 1947. In 1950, Dr. Rajendra Prasad from Bihar became the first President of India.