Non-Cooperation Movement and Bihar

• In September, 1920, a special session of the Congress was held in Calcutta, in which Gandhi proposed a non-cooperation movement, which was passed unanimously.
• Prominent among the persons associated with this movement in Bihar were- Mazharul Haq, Rajendra Prasad, Brajkishore Prasad and Mohammad Shafi.
• The 12th session of the Bihar Provincial Conference was held in Bhagalpur under the chairmanship of Rajendra Prasad on August 28-29, 1920, in which Rajendra Prasad gave a speech in Hindi, giving special emphasis on non-cooperation.
• Dharnidhar of Darbhanga presented the motion regarding non-cooperation, while it was seconded by Shah Mohammad Zubair of Munger, Ghulam Imam of Patna and Gorakh Prasad of Motihari.
• In this conference, a committee was formed to determine a practical plan to implement the non-cooperation program suggested by Gandhiji. Rajendra Prasad Mazharul Haque and Shah Mohammad Zubair were members of this committee. The committee was to present its report before a special session to be held at Saran.
• Gandhiji’s non-cooperation program was accepted in September, 1920 in the Calcutta special session held under the chairmanship of Lala Lajpat Rai. In the annual session of the Congress in Nagpur, full approval was given to the non-cooperation movement. It also included boycotting the elections to the councils. As a result, Mazharul Haq, Rajendra Prasad, Brajkishore Prasad, Gorakh Prasad, Dharnidhar and Mohammad Shafi withdrew from the candidature of the Council.
• Chhapra’s honorary magistrate Mahendra Prasad resigned from his post. Anugrah
• Narayan Singh, Brajanandan Prasad, Mukutdhari Prasad, Mathura Prasad, Ramdayal Singh, Deepnarayan Singh, Shrikrishna Singh left the practice.
• In December 1920, during Gandhiji’s visit to Bhagalpur, the liquor ban movement started there, while in his meeting in Muzaffarpur, the song ‘Firangiya’ composed by Babu Manoranjan Prasad Sinha was sung.
• Well-known litterateur Rahul Sankrityayan was active in Chhapra during the non-cooperation movement.
• Mazharul Haq established ‘Sadaqat Ashram’ on the land donated by Khairu Mian in Digha, Patna, in which the work of making charkhas was started by the students here.
• The purpose of establishment of Bihar Vidyapeeth was to accommodate control and direct all the national institutions opened in the province.
• Mazharul Haque and Brajkishore Prasad were appointed as Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of Bihar Vidyapeeth respectively, while Rajendra Prasad was appointed as the Principal of National College.
• On September 30, 1921, Mazharul Haq started bringing out a newspaper called ‘The Motherland’ from Sadaqat Ashram, whose objective was to spread national sentiment, spread non-cooperation program and preach Hindu-Muslim unity.
• On August 16, 1921, the meeting of the All India Congress Working Committee was held at the Sadaqat Ashram in Patna.
• Apart from Gandhiji, Motilal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Muhammad Ali, Jamnalal Bajaj were present in it. Eleven proposals were approved in this meeting. The most important proposal among these was regarding the boycott of foreign clothes.
• In the middle of November, 1920, the drug prohibition movement was started in Dumrao of Shahabad and on November 13, 1920, an appeal was made to quit drug addiction.
• During his short visit in December, 1920, some national schools were opened under the influence of Gandhiji and it was decided to set up a vidyapith in Bihar.
• On November 27, 1921, the Bihar Provincial Congress Committee established the Quami Sevak Dal, its main task was to maintain peace in the province.
• The prominent leaders who were arrested during the non-cooperation movement in Champaran were Vipin Bihari Verma, Shivdhari Pandey, Ganesh Prasad Sahu, Ramdayal Sahu, Ramdas Prasad, Harvansh Sahay and Jaynarayan Prasad.
• Syed Mohammad Sher, a student of Patna Law College, and Abdul Bari and Mohammad Shaki, students of Bihar National College, left the college. Later Abdul Bari proved to be an extremist leader.
• The Bihar Vidyarthi Parishad, under the chairmanship of Sarla Devi, decided to oppose the arrival of the Prince of Britain in its Hazaribagh session. When the prince came to Bihar on December 22, 1921, except the moderates, everyone else opposed Rajkumar.
• Many leaders of Bihar were arrested in a reaction to this protest. The behavior of the jail administration with the political prisoners of Bihar was animal like which was publicized by Mazharul Haque through his newspaper ‘The Motherland’. The then prison inspector Banatwala filed a defamation case against Mazharul Haque. Mazharul Haque was punished with a fine of one thousand rupees or three months’ imprisonment, of which he chose imprisonment.
• The Prince of Wales arrived in Patna on 22 December, 1921, he was shown black flags everywhere and a hartal was observed in the city on that day.
• When the non-cooperation movement was gaining momentum, on February 5, 1922, Gandhi suspended the non-cooperation movement after being disturbed by the Chauri-Chaura incident.
• The most widespread effect of this movement was seen in Muzaffarpur and Shahabad Patna was its main centre. Along with this, Gaya, Arrah, Munger, Kishanganj and Purnia were also affected by it.
• There were many reasons for non-cooperation-Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April 13, 1919), Hunter Committee report, demand of Swaraj by Indians etc. The Khilafat Movement had a wide impact in Bihar.