By Neha Yadav
Source: Better India
Flipping back the pages of Indian history, steps for righteousness trace the momentous events and occurrences that simply altered and shaped lives of many people. The Bardoli Satyagraha launched in 1928, comes as a major episode in the history of civil disobedience completes 94 years this February.
The movement elevated Sardar Vallabhai Patel to the pinnacle of utmost glory and bolstered the dwindling morale of Mahatma Gandhi after the setback of stepping out of the non-cooperation movement soon after the Chauri-Chaura violence.
Subhash Chandra Bose said, “Bardoli Satyagraha was a precursor to a larger battle that Gandhi would wage.” It indeed was the agitation that unequivocally led to the Dandi March where ordinary peasants in Surat district transformed the villages into the place of looming political mobilization in the wake of dusk.
The position where Bardoli Satyagraha grew its roots laid the bitter truth of the colonial government that never intended to improve the socio-economic conditions of the people. They rather increased the taxes to fill their pockets. A report prepared by an Indian officer of the Provincial Civil Service ignited the rage of protest amongst the people of India.
The officer was directed to scrutinize the extent of revising the tax settlement of 1896. He was recommended to increase the land revenue by 30% over the existing assessment. The advice was given considering a railway line that was built in the Tapti River Valley in 1896. In his reports, there was growth in cattle, bullock carts, and pucca houses that further indicated greater prosperity.
Agriculturists in Bardoli agonized at such recommendations because the ground reality was contrary to what was construed by the report. Bardoli did not cow down to these recommendations since it was chosen by Gandhi to launch the civil disobedience movement in 1922. Although the movement had to be abandoned after the Chauri Chaura incident, Congress did not give up the political engagement with the people of Bardoli.
Congress constantly engaged with each of the Hindu and Muslim communities. The peasants mutually decided to withhold tax payment and decided to seek the assistance of Sardar Patel who was known for having various past experiences in leading Satyagraha in Nagpur, Kheda, and Borsad. Sardar Patel heard them out but warned them to brace themselves for the forthcoming consequences.
As the president of farmers’ conference, Patel first resorted to writing to the governor, but could not seek immediate response while the final date for paying the dues lagged ahead. During the agitation, when the officials deboarded trains at Bardoli station, they could not find bullock carts or any other mode to travel within the taluq. People hid their cattle inside their homes fearing being arrested.
At one point, even the British-owned papers, such as Pioneer and Statesman, implicated the government for its unfair position. Gandhi and Patel together decided that the former must not visit Bardoli to retain the agitation’s local character. However, Patel pictured the national image differently. Gandhi ultimately came to Bardoli only when he feared Patel could be arrested.
The government's patience was wearing a little thin considering the power of the Satyagrahis. Chunilal Mehta, a prominent member of the Governor’s Council brokered a settlement that provided the government with a better formula. Later, those who resigned government jobs in solidarity with the Satyagrahis were reinstated and the Bardoli Satyagraha became an acclaimed success.
Gandhi and Patel together led the Indian peasantry to demonstrate that with truth, they were an outright force that the most powerful failed to subside. The Bardoli Satyagraha hence became a remarkable point in the Indian national struggle.
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