The Kheda Satyagraha
of 1918 was a satyagraha movement in the Kheda district of Gujarat in India
organised by Mahatma Gandhi during the period of the British Raj. It was a
major revolt in the Indian independence movement. It was the second Satyagraha
movement, which was launched 7 days after the Ahmedabad mill strike. After the
successful Satyagraha conducted at Champaran in Bihar, Gandhi organised the
movement to support peasants who were unable to pay the revenue because of
famine and plague epidemic.
Leaders who participated
in Kheda Satyagraha –
In Gujarat, Mahatma
Gandhi was chiefly the spiritual head of the struggle. He was assisted by the
newly joined Satyagraha Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and other local lawyers and
advocates namely Indulal Yagnik, Shankarlal Banker, Mahadev Desai, Narhari
Parikh, Mohanlal Pandya and Ravi Shankar Vyas. They toured the countryside,
organised the villagers and gave them political leadership and direction.
Struggle for Kheda
Satyagraha –
In 1918, the British
authorities had increased the taxes of Kheda region by 23% while it was hit by
Chappania famine and others leading to cholera and plague. Nadiad collector
refused any aid from 'Anavari' system of taxes in spite of Sardar Patel and
Mahatma's meetings. Initially started by Mohanlal Pandya and Shankarlal Parikh,
the movement later gained the support of Gujarat Sabha and National Congress.
Patel and his colleagues organised a major tax revolt, and all the different
ethnic and caste communities of (Kheda) rallied around it. The peasants of
Kheda signed a petition calling for the tax for this year to be scrapped in
wake of the famine. The government in Bombay rejected the charter. They warned
that if the peasants did not pay, the lands and property would be confiscated
and many are arrested.
The tax with held, the
government's collectors and inspectors sent in thugs to seize property and
cattle, while the police confiscated the lands and all agrarian property. The
farmers did not resist arrest, nor retaliate to the force employed with violence.
Instead, they used their cash and valuables to donate to the Gujarat Sabha
which was officially organising the protest.
The revolt was astounding
in terms of discipline and unity. Even when all their personal property, land
and livelihood were seized, a vast majority of Kheda's farmers remained firmly
united in the support of Patel. Gujaratis sympathetic to the revolt in other
parts resisted the government machinery, and helped to shelter the relatives
and property of the protesting peasants. Those Indians who sought to buy the
confiscated lands were excluded from society. Although nationalists like Sardul
Singh Caveeshar called for sympathetic revolts in other parts, Gandhi and Patel
firmly rejected the idea.
Result of Kheda
Satyagraha –
The Government finally
sought to foster an honourable agreement for both parties. The tax for the year
in question, and the next would be suspended, and the increase in rate reduced,
People also worked in cohesion to return the confiscated lands to their
rightful owners. The ones who had bought the lands seized were influenced to
return them, even though the British had officially said it would stand by the
buyers.
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