Summary of Chapter 5 Indigo Class 12 Flamingo
Summary of Indigo by Louis Fischer
This story describes Gandhi’s struggle for the poor peasants of
Champaran. In those days most of arable land in the Champaran district
was divided into large estate owned by Englishmen and worked by Indian
tenants.
The
chief commercial crop was Indigo. The landlords compelled all tenants
to plant 15% of their Indigo and surrender the entire Indigo harvest as
rent. This was done by long term contract. The British didn’t need the
Indigo crop any more when Germany had developed synthetic Indigo. Just
to release the peasants from the 15% agreement they demanded
compensation. Some illiterate peasants agreed but the others refused.
One
of the sharecroppers named Raj Kumar Shukla met Gandhi in this regard
and compelled him to visit Champaran because of the long term injustice
of landlords. Then the two of them boarded a train for the city of Patna
in Bihar. From there Shukla led him to the house of a lawyer named
Rajendra Prasad. Mahatma Gandhi’s humble and simple attire made the
servants mistook him as another poor peasant. He surveyed before taking
any vital step in order to get those peasants justice. It was the time when British government punished those who in any condition gave shelter to national leaders or protesters.
Gandhi’s
arrival and the nature of his mission spread like a wildfire. Many
lawyers and peasant groups came in large numbers to support him. The
lawyers accepted the fact that their charges were high and for a poor
peasant it will be irksome. Gandhi rebuked them for collecting big fee
from the sharecroppers. He stressed on counseling as this would give the
peasants enough confidence to fight their fear. He managed to get
justice after a yearlong battle for the peasants. He also made
arrangements for the education, health, and hygiene for the families of
the poor peasants. He gave them the lesson of self-reliance.
NCERT Solutions of Indigo Class 12 Flamingo
NCERT Solutions of Indigo Class 12 Flamingo