Peasant Movements in India- Complete Notes for UPSC

Peasant Movements in India

Peasant movements in India have been  pivotal in shaping the socio-political landscape, emerging as responses to oppressive feudal practices, high taxes, and exploitative colonial policies. Spanning from the 18th century to post-independence India, these movements varied in scope and impact, rallying for rights, fair land distribution, and against unjust economic burdens. They not only highlighted the grievances of the rural poor but also played a significant role in India’s broader struggle for social justice and independence.

During the British rule in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, there were many uprisings against the ruling class.  These uprisings resulted from the British’s economic policies, corrupt officials, unjust administration, oppression of zamindars and tax collecting officials, and interference of the British in tribal culture and their land.

In this chapter, we shall study the uprisings before revolt of 1857.

Peasant Movements in India:

Causes of Peasants’ Resistance Against the British

Peasants’ resentments against the British were due to the following reasons –

• The impoverishment of the Indian peasantry: During British rule, the Indian peasantry was affected severely due to the complete disruption of the old agrarian order of the tribal communities.
• Ruin of the traditional handicrafts: Due to the coercion of selling goods at low prices to the British, the conventional handicrafts reached their Nadir.
• Shifting of the vast labour force: Due to the destruction of the local industry, many workers moved from industry to agriculture. The demand for land increased, but the government’s land revenue and agricultural policy provided little room for developing Indian agriculture.
• The exploitative land revenue systems:
  • This led to high rents, illegal levies, arbitrary evictions, and unpaid labour in the Zamindari areas.
  • In Ryotwari areas, the government itself levied heavy land revenue.
  • It distorted the traditional rural structure with the commercialisation of agriculture and the introduction of the market economy.
  • Diluted conventional rights such as forest and pasture rights.
  • This resulted in peasantisation, e., the conversion of tribals into peasants.
  • Increased the caste and wealth divide.
  • Converted the many land-owning peasants to mere tenants or landless labourers as they fell prey to the moneylenders to repay the tax.
• Ineffective judiciary system: Colonial administrative and judicial systems biased toward the white population were of little help to the peasants.
• The emergence of harsh famines: The periodic recurrence of famines worsened the rural communities.

Movement of Ryots/Peasants with the help of Zamindars

Royts were affected by the British policies, and they were instigated by the Zamindar to rise against the Britishers.

Revolt	Characteristics of the revolt
Revolt in Midnapore and Dhalbhum (1766–74)	With Zamindars’ help, the ryots revolted against the revenue-collecting officials. The influential leaders of the uprisings were Damodar Singh and Jagannath Dhal.
Uprisings in Gorakhpur, Basti, and Bahraich (1781)	Warrant Hastings appointed Major Alexander Hannay as an izaradar of Gorakhpur and Bahraich in 1778. The zamindars and cultivators rose against Hannay’s oppression and excessive demand for revenue. The rebellion was suppressed, and Hannay was dismissed.

Civil Resistance:

Causes of Civil Resistance against the British

Civilians’ (rulers, zamindars, chiefs, general people) resentments against the British were due to the following reasons –

• Changes in several existing systems: The rapid changes made by British rule in the administration, economy, and land revenue system were against the people.
• The British administration’s harsh and unjust treatment of people created resentment against it.
• Loss of territorial control of the zamindar class: Due to British rule, several zamindars and poligars misplacedcontrol over their land and its   Moreover, they were sidelined in society due to a new class comprising merchants and moneylenders.
• Ruin of local handicraft industry: Handicraft was ruined by British policies, which made the artisans poor.
• Loss of Aristocats’ support: Priests and artisans had also lost their traditional patrons or buyers – princes, chieftains, and zamindars.
• Regional issues: Some uprisings were aimed at local causes and grievances against the ruling kingdoms.

Revolt

Characteristics of the revolt

Surat Agitations (1844 and 1848)

·      The Salt Agitation – In August 1844, the British government increased the tax on salt from 8 annas to Re 1 in Bombay state. The people revolted against the British by closing every shop in Surat and beating officials who acted as intermediaries for a truce. The British government was forced to reduce the salt tax to 12 annas In 1844, the government was forced to drop its idea to introduce Bengal Standard Weights and Measures in Bombay due to people’s boycotts and passive resistance.

Politico-Religious Uprisings

In these uprisings, religion provided the basis for understanding the exploitative colonial rule and articulating the resistance.  Some of these are –

1.  Sanyasi/Fakir Revolt (1763–1800)

• Background –
  • The East India Company’s officialcorrespondence in the second half of the 18th CE referred typically to the incursion of the nomadic Sanyasis and Fakirs, particularly in northern Bengal.
  • Beforethe great famine of Bengal (1770), groups of Hindu and Muslim holy men (Sanyasi and Fakirs) travelled from place to place.  They made surprise attacks on the granaries and property of the neighbourhood’s rich men and authority officers.  They looted local government treasuries.
  • They exact a religious tax from the local zamindars and headmen en route to the pilgrimage.
  • However, due to the harsh revenue policy and famine, the zamindars could not give the tax to them.
  • The famine brought many dispossessed Zamindars, disbanded soldiers and rural poor and peasants into the bands of Sanyasis.
• The revolt –
  • They moved from place to place in Bengal and Bihar.
  • They adopted the guerrilla technique to attack the local government’s treasuries and grain stocks.
  • They distributed the wealth among the poor.
  • The Sanyasi rebellionspiked in Bengal, India, within the Murshidabad and Baikunthpur forests of Jalpaiguri beneath the leadership of Pandit Bhabani Charan Pathak.
  • They were successful in forming independent governments in Bogra and Mymensingh.
  • Other influential leaders of the revolt were Majnu Shah, Chirag Ali, Musa Shah, and Debi Chaudhurani.
• The end –
  • Warren Hastings used his full force to subdue the revolt.
• Significance –
  • The most significant feature of this movement was the equal participation of Hindus and Muslims in the uprising.
  • Debi Chaudhurani’s participation signifies the women’s role in early resistance against the British.
  • Anandamath, a novel by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, is based on this revolt. He also wrote a book named Debi Chaudhurani.

2.  Wahabi Movement

Syed Ahmed of Rai Bareilly founded the Wahabi Movement.  It was fundamentally an Islamic revivalist movement.  He was influenced by the teachings of Abdul Wahab of Saudi Arabia and Shah Waliullah of Delhi.

Shah Waliullah or Sayyed Ahmad of Bareilly and their lesser-known followers like Haji Shariatullah of Faraizis in Bengal or Maulvi of Faizabad or Maulvi Karamat Ali of Jaunpur, all in the first half of the 19thcentury, were influenced by the Wahabi movement.

• Teachings –
• He criticised the Western influence on Islam and Islam and advocated going backto the pure form of the Prophet’s time, Arabic Islam and society.
• They concentrated their attention on the “Un-Islamic” practices prevalent among the Muslims, like the folk practices of joining each others’ festivals, modes of salutations and greetings, shared customs and etiquettes influenced by the surrounding Hindu ethos, and, above all, worship of saints as Shirk (associating other powers with Allah) and so on.
• They wanted to wean away the Muslims, especially the new converts, from the Hindu practices and replace a purified form of Islam unadulterated by “foreign influences instead”.
• The entire movement revolved around the “Quran” and “Hadis”.
• Syed Ahmed was hailed as the desired leader (Imam).
• A national organisation with an elaborate secret code for working under spiritual vice-regents (Khalifas) was set up.
• Sithana, in the northwest tribal belt, was selected as the organisation’s operational headquarters.
• Its important centre in India was Patna, though it had missions in Madras, Bengal, Hyderabad, the United Provinces, and Bombay.
• The revolt –
  • Since Dar al-Harb (territory of war or chaos) was to be converted into Dar al-Islam (the land of Islam), jihad was proclaimed against Punjab’s Sikh kingdom.
  • The English dominion in India became the only target of the Wahabi’s attacks after the Sikh King was overthrown and included in the East India Company’s dominion in 1849.
• The end –
• A series of British military operations, like the Battle of Balakot and the Ambala War of 1863, weakened the Wahabi resistance.
• Numerous sedition-related court cases were filed against the Wahabis.
• However, sporadic encounters with the authorities continued into the 1880s and 1890s.
• Significance –
  • The Wahabi movement never took on the characteristics of a national movement. On the other hand, it left a legacy of isolationist and separatist tendencies among Indian Muslims.  But we can see that Wahabis were crucial in spreading anti-British sentiments.