Satyagrahas in India Gandhi regarded Gopal Krishna Gokhale, whom he had met on previous visits to India, as his political guru. On his advice, Gandhi travelled the length and breadth of the country before plunging into politics. This enabled him to understand the conditions of the people. It is on one of these journeys through Tamil Nadu that Gandhi decided to discard his following robes and wear a simple dhoti.
(a) Champaran Satyagraha In Champaran in Bihar the tinkathia system was practiced. Under this exploitative system the peasants were forced by the European planters to cultivate indigo on three-twentieths of their land holdings. Towards the end of nineteenth century German synthetic dyes had forced indigo out of the market. The European planters of Champaran, while realising the necessity of relieving the cultivators of the obligation of cultivating indigo, wanted to turn the situation to their advantage.
They enhanced the rent and collected illegal dues as a price for the release of cultivators from the obligation. Resistance erupted. Rajkumar Shukla, an agriculturist from Champaran who suffered hardships of the Champaran Satyagraha Nationalism: Gandhian Phase system, prevailed on Gandhi to visit Champaran. On reaching Chamaparan, Gandhi was asked by the police to leave immediately.
When he refused he was summoned for trial. The news spread like wild fire and thousands swarmed the place in support of Gandhi. According to Gandhi, “The country thus had its first object- lesson in Civil Disobedience”. He was assisted by Brajkishore Prasad, a lawyer by profession, and Rajendra Prasad, who became the first President of independent India.
The Lieutenant Governor eventually formed a committee with Gandhi as a member which recommended the abolition of the tinkathia system, thereby ending the oppression of the peasants by the Indigo Planters. The success of Champaran satyagraha, followed by his fruitful intervention in Ahmedabad mill strike ( ) and the Kheda Satyagraha ( ) helped Gandhi establish himself as a leader of mass struggle. Unlike earlier leaders, Gandhi demonstrated his ability to mobilise the common people across the country. (b) Rowlatt Satyagraha