Contribution of Bihar in Freedom Movement

From the establishment of British rule in India, Bihar’s participation has always been there in getting independence from the British. Whether it is a religious-political movement or a pure constitutional struggle, a radical revolutionary explosion or a Satyagraha under the inspiring leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Bihar has made a great contribution in all these.

Revolt of 1857 and Bihar

After the establishment of British power in India, the first strong mass movement was the Revolt of 1857.

• The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was also known as the First Indian War of Independence, Sepoy Mutiny and Armed Rebellion.
• The Revolt of 1857 started on March 29, 1857 from Vairakpur Cantonment (34th Bengal Infantry) under the leadership of Mangal Pandey. It spread widely on May 10, 1857 from Meerut Cantonment. It also had a wide impact in Bihar.
• On June 12, 1857, after a rebellion in a detachment of the 32nd Regiment of the Native Army, located in the village Rohini of Deoghar district of Jharkhand (formerly a part of Bihar), the headquarters of this regiment was shifted from Rohini to Bhagalpur in Bihar.
• Rebellion started in Bhagalpur also in August, 1857 and the rebels reached Nawada via Bossi under Bhagalpur district. Although Captain Rattre, posted for the security of Gaya, made every effort to stop the rebels, the rebels reached Gaya and freed 400 prisoners from the jail and took away 10,000 rupees from the Tikari estate.
• Skipwith Taylor, the son of the former commissioner of Patna, fortified a house and gave shelter to European residents of Gaya. Thereafter the rebels joined Amar Singh near Sasaram and Rohtas in September- October, 1857.
• On July 3, 1857, a widespread rebellion broke out in Patna under the leadership of Pir Ali, a bookseller.
• Loyal, an agent of the opium trade in Bihar, tried to quell the rebellion, but was killed along with his soldiers.
• William Taylor, the commissioner of Patna, took drastic measures to suppress the rebellion.
• On July 4, the entire Patna city was searched and the local government officials took repressive action. Pir Ali was arrested in this action. Earlier on June 19, Taylor had fraudulently taken captive three eminent Muslims of Patna, Muhammad Hussain, Ahmadullah and Naijul Haq. These three were imprisoned for helping Wahabis.
• Pir Ali, Mahajan Lutf Ali Khan of Patna, his Jamadar Sheikh Ghasita and Mahabat Ali were prosecuted. On July 3, the inspector of Ghat Khajekalan police station was ‘dismissed’ on charges of failure to provide information.
• Patna City Magistrate Maulvi Mehndi was also arrested on suspicion.
• On July 25, 1857, in Muzaffarpur as well, some British officers were killed by rebel soldiers.
• On July 25, 1857, soldiers of three regiments mutinied in Danapur Cantonment and the next day entered Shahabad district, where the British Raj faced an organized challenge under the able leadership of Babu Kunwar Singh of
• On 30 July, the Company Government imposed martial law in the districts of Patna, Shahabad, Saran, Muzaffarpur and Champaran.
• The military headquarters at Danapur was under the command of Major General Lout.
• During the rebellion of 1857, the area of Munger remained unaffected while the centers of this rebellion were Ara, Danapur, Gaya, Patna, and Muzaffarpur.
• Kuwar Singh was born in Jagdishpur village of Bhojpur district. Kunwar Singh, the eldest son of Zamindar father Sahabzada Singh, was married in Devmunga of Gaya.
• On July 27, 1857, Kunwar Singh’s party surrounded the British army unit of Ara with the soldiers who had come from Danapur.
• It was here that Magistrate H C Beck had taken shelter in a two-story house along with all the other European residents of the city. This house was made like a fort by the company’s railway engineer Vikar Voyal by making protective arrangements.
• On August 5, 1857, the Bengal Government appointed A. Samuelsas the Commissioner of Patna in place of Taylor. By the time Samuels reached Patna, Justice R. N. Farquharson of Patna took over as Commissioner.
• Samuels, soon after taking over as the Commissioner of Patna on 18 August 1857, issued an order to the Magistrate of Arrah to have his headquarters at Buxar until the government buildings at Arrah were repaired.
• On August 21, 1857, Samuels ordered the magistrate of Arrahto confiscate the property of Kunwar Singh and some other people who participated in the movement under the 25th Act of 1857. He ordered the arrest of the heirs of Namdar Khan, who were creating disturbance in the Amarthu and Rajgir parganas of the same area. Vincent called Maya Singh, a resident of Amavan of the then Bihar police station, the main rebel of that area.
• Kunwar Singh Day is celebrated on 23rd April to mark his victory over the British on this day.
• Till July 1858, Kunwar Singh’s brother Amar Singh maintained his authority over entire Shahabad. The rebels joined Kunwar Singh’s brother Amar Singh around Sasaram and Rohtas in September-October 1857.
• While going to Nepal in December 1859 AD, the Maharaja’s soldiers arrested Amar Singh and handed him over to the British army.
• Amar Singh was kept in Gorakhpur Jail where he died on February 5, 1860 due to dysentery (diarrhoea).

Wahhabi Movement

• Wahabi movement was a Muslim social reform movement whose main proponent was Syed Wahab. Vilayat Ali and Inayat Ali of Patna played a leading role in this movement.
• Patna was the main center of the Wahhabi movement in Bihar from 1822 to 1868.
• The followers of Wahhabi movement called themselves Ahl Hadith.
• Four Khalifas (spiritual heads) were appointed in Patna to conduct the Wahhabi movement. These four Khalifas were Maulvi Vilayat Ali, Inayat Ali, Shah Mohammad Hussain and Farhat Hussain.
• Maulvi Vilayat All was considered the foremost leader of this movement in Bihar. For about 46 years (1822 to 1868), Patna remained a major center of the Wahhabi movement.
• According to the orders of Syed Ahmed, his disciples Maulvi Mohammad Ismail and Maulvi Hayy edited the famous book named ‘Seerat-e-Mustakum.
• The suppression of the Wahhabi movement in Bihar took place after the Ambala campaign of October, 1863. Under the Ambala trial, Sir Edward, the judge in his judgment on May 2, 1864 declared all the Wahhabi accused guilty. Of these, three main accused-Yahiya Ali, Mohammad Zafar and Mohammad Shafi were sentenced to death and the remaining eight were sentenced to black water for life.

Second Phase of Freedom Movement

• The spread of national consciousness was considered important in the second phase of the freedom movement. For this, special emphasis was laid on increasing political and social awareness. This work was done through many organizations, forums etc.
• The revolution of 1857 AD could not succeed in its goal but it laid a solid foundation for national renaissance and independent consciousness.
• The spread of western education contributed to the spread of new political ideas, especially national consciousness.
• The social reform campaigns of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati should be credited for preparing the background of national renaissance.
• While Raja Rammohan Roy shook the public consciousness against inhuman evils, Dayanand Saraswati provided new life to the dying society drowned in the quagmire of hypocrisy and

Boys Association

• On March 3, 1909, an association of youths named ‘Boys Association’ was established in the grounds of Darbhanga Raj.
• The founder of ‘Boys Association’ was Suryadev Narayan Verma, Kamleshwari Charan Sinha its founding secretary and Bihari Banerjee, Dinanath Jha and Jagdishwar Prasad Jha governing secretaries. This meeting was presided over by a barrister, Ashfaq Khan. Its establishment marked an important turning point in the direction of political awakening in the region.

Saraswati Academy

• Saraswati Academy was established in Darbhanga on January 1, 1901. This academy was inspired by the great ideals of patriotism and inspired its students as well. Kamleshwari Charan Sinha was the pioneer of this academy and the patriot Rajkishore Prasad was his able colleague.

Partition Movement and Bihar

• After the partition of Bengal, the ‘Swadeshi Movement’ also had an impact on different parts of Bihar.
• Surendranath Banerjeecame to Munger in 1906 and gave an impressive speech on ‘Swadeshi Movement: This had a deep impact on the minds of the people.
• Satish Chandra Chakraborty, a resident of Barisal, was a disciple of eminent patriot Ashwini Kumar Boys Association also celebrated Rakhi Bandhan Diwaswith great enthusiasm and devotion. Many youths of this region organized a meeting on February 6, 1906 and resolved to use only indigenous goods.

Bihari Students Conference

• It was established in 1906 AD.
• Impressed by the ideals of the Youth Swadeshi movement, the Bihari Students Conference was established.
• Since its inception, it contributed significantly in the upliftment of nationalist consciousness in the province.
• As an important step in this direction, the Muslim League was established in 1906 AD itself.

Bihar Provincial Conference

• In 1908 AD, on the occasion of Sonpur fair, an important meeting was held under the chairmanship of Nawab Sarfaraz Hussain Khan Bihar Provincial Committee was formed in this.
• The first session of the Bihar Provincial Conference was held in Patnain 1908. Its president was Syed Hasan Imam
• With the efforts of Babu Deepnarayan Singh, the second session of the Bihar Provincial Conference was held in Bhagalpur on April 9-10, 1909 under the chairmanship of Sachchidanand Sinha Indian newspapers (‘Bengali”, “Indian Mirror’ etc.) wrote praiseworthy comments on this harmony of Hindu and Muslim communities in Bihar.
• On December 9, 1919, the 28th Bihar Provincial Conferencewas held in Munger
• A resolution was accepted in the conference, in which independence was proposed.
• Vishwanath Mishra presented the proposal in the conference, while Ramakrishna Sharma presented some amendments to the proposal.
• After attending this conference, Sardar Patel traveled through Bihar province.
• During his visit, Sardar Patel also went to Bhagalpur College on the invitation of the girl students.

Indian National Congress and Bihar

A resolution of the Allahabad Session (1910) of the Indian National Congress opposed the introduction of the principle of separate electorates (communal) in municipalities, district wards or other local bodies. Mazharul Haq of Bihar strongly supported the resolution of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in a very logical manner and Syed Hasan Imam approved the resolution.

A total of 39 delegates from Bihar went to participate in the Allahabad session of the Congress.

Of these, Brajkishore Prasad and Dwarkanath approved and supported the proposals related to judicial reforms and indigenous movement respectively.

Patna University Bill

• Sir Sankaran Nair, the then Education Member, presented the Patna University Bill in the Central Legislative Council in September, 1916.
• A special session of Bihar Provincial Conference was held at Bankipur (Patna) in November, 1916, in which strong opposition was expressed on the reactionary nature of this Bill. Newspapers like ‘Express’ and ‘Bihari’ wrote special comments in support of this reaction.
• Finally, after several amendments, the Patna University Bill was passed and Patna University was established in 1917.
• Rajendra Prasad, joint secretary of the Bihar Provincial Union, had also expressed his opposition.

Home Rule Movement and Bihar

• On December 16, 1916, in a meeting at Bankipur, it was decided to establish the Home Rule League.
• In Bihar, its president was Mazharul Haque, vice-presidents Sarfaraz Hussain Khan and Purnendra Narayan Sinha, secretaries Chandravanshi Sahay and Vaidyanath Narayan Singh.
• Annie Besant traveled to Patna on April 18 and July 25, 1918, with the aim of giving impetus to the Home Rule movement in Bihar. Annie Besant met Hasan Imam and Sachidanand Sinha during the course of the visit.
• Janakdhari Prasad, a colleague of Mahatma Gandhi, founded the Home Rule League in Muzaffarpur with the help of some local lawyers and businessmen.
• Swaraj Katha, a booklet written by Balmukund Vajpayee, was confiscated by the governments of Bihar-Orissa, United Provinces and Punjab.
• Co-operative secretary of Patna Home Rule League, Rai Paranchand presented the idea of starting the worship of Bharat Mata on the day of Vijayadashami.