Subject: Modern History

As a part of the ongoing farmers’ protest, groups across the country have celebrated February 23 as ‘Pagri Sambhal Diwas’.

Try this PYQ:

Q.What was the immediate cause for the launch of the Swadeshi movement?

(a) The partition of Bengal done by Lord Curzon.

(b) A sentence of 18 months rigorous imprisonment imposed on Lokmanya Tilak.

(c) The arrest and deportation of Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh; and passing of the Punjab Colonization Bill.

(d) Death sentence pronounced on the Chapekar brothers.

Pagri Sambhaal Movement

• Pagrhi Sambhaal Jatta was a successful farm agitation that forced the British government to repeal three laws related to agriculture back in 1907.
• Bhagat Singh’s uncle Ajit Singh was the force behind this agitation, and he wanted to channel people’s anger over the farm laws to topple the colonial government.

What were the ‘three laws’?

• The three farm-related acts at the centre of the storm in 1907 were the Punjab Land Alienation Act 1900, the Punjab Land Colonization Act 1906 and the Doab Bari Act.
• These acts would reduce farmers from owners to contractors of land, and gave the British government the right to take back the allotted land if the farmer even touched a tree in his field without permission.
• Amid resentment against the laws, Bhagat Singh’s father Kishan Singh and uncle Ajit Singh, with their revolutionary friend Ghasita Ram, formed the Bharat Mata Society.
• It worked to mobilise this unrest into a revolt against the British government.

Repeal of the laws

• Ajit Singh persuaded Congress leader Lala Lajpat Rai to come on the stage during a rally in Lyallpur on March 3, 1907, to protest against the laws.
• On sensing the popular resentment, the British made a minor amendment to the laws.
• The agitation couldn’t remain non-violent. Ajit Singh was booked for sedition after his speech at a public meeting in Rawalpindi on April 21, 1921.
• Violence erupted soon afterwards and the British government repealed the three controversial laws in May 1907.

As the Assembly elections in West Bengal draw closer, the ‘insider-outsider’ theme has grown to become one of the topics of political debate. Bengali politicians have been terming outsider campaigners as ‘bargis’.

Bargis: Etymology of the term

• The term ‘Bargi’is of special significance in Bengal’s history.
• It is a reference to the several Maratha invasions of West Bengal between 1741 and 1751, which resulted in looting, plundering and massacres of what was then Mughal territory.
• The happenings of this specific period have affected Bengal’s consciousness so much that they have an established presence in Bengali folklore and literature.
• Today this term is used as a casual reference to troublesome outsider forces.

Who were the bargis?

• Simply speaking, the word bargi referred to cavalrymen in Maratha and Mughal armies.
• The word comes from the Persian “bargir”, literally meaning “burden taker”, notes historian Surendra Nath Sen in his 1928 work The Military System Of The Marathas.
• But in the Mughal and Maratha armies, the term signified a soldier who rode a horse furnished by his employer.
• In the Maratha cavalry, any able-bodied person could enlist as a bargir, unless he had the means to buy a horse and military outfit.
• Both the bargirs and silhedars were under the overall control of the Sarnobat (Persian for “Sar-i-Naubat”, or Commander in Chief).

Why did the Marathas raid Bengal?

• Maratha incursions into the Mughal province of Bengal (which included the regions of Bihar, Bengal and Orissa) between 1741 and 1751 came at a time of intense political uncertainty of then Mughal India.
• At the Maratha capital in Satara, Chhatrapati Shahu was trying in vain to resolve the differences between his two top power centres– the Peshwa dynasty of Pune and Raghoji I Bhonsale of Nagpur.
• As the Mughal Empire was crumbling by the 18th century, the two Maratha chieftains were scrambling to secure taxation rights in its far-flung regions, and violently disagreed over their spheres of influence.
• In Bengal – a Mughal Subah (subdivision) during this era– Nawab Subahdar Sarfaraz Khan had been overthrown by his deputy Alivardi Khan.

Try this PYQ:

What was the immediate cause for Ahmad Shah Abdali to invade and fight the Third Battle of Panipat:

(a) He wanted to avenge the expulsion by Marathas of his viceroy Timur Shah from Lahore

(b) The frustrated governor of Jullundhar Adina Beg khan invited him to invade Punjab

(c) He wanted to punish Mughal administration for non-payment of the revenues of the Chahar Mahal (Gujrat Aurangabad, Sialkot and Pasrur)

(d) He wanted to annex all the fertile plains of Punjab upto borders of Delhi to his kingdom

Stir within the Maratha empire

• After Khan’s inauguration, the provincial governor of Orissa, Zafar Khan Rustam Jung, more commonly known as Murshid Quli II, rebelled against the usurper.
• The revolt failed, and Jung enlisted Raghoji’s help to oust Khan.
• Raghoji was also motivated by internal politics within the Maratha camp, fearful as he was of Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao, also known as of Nana Saheb who trying to establish his claim over Bengal first at this time of political disturbance in the province.

Maratha invasions of Bengal

• The Marathas first entered the Mughal province in August 1741, when Raghoji’s infantry troops accompanied Mirza Baqar Ali, the son-in-law of Jung, to conquer Orissa.
• In 1743, the Bengal province faced the wrath of two Maratha armies – both, as it happened, at loggerheads with each other.
• The Peshwa forces proceeded further, committing all sorts of atrocities on the way in a land which they had ostensibly come to protect.
• Raghoji’s armies were also doing the same, but at least he had openly arrived as an invader.

Ousting the ‘local’ invaders

• Finally, in 1751, after remaining encamped in western Bengal for a significant amount of time, the Marathas reached an agreement with Alivardi Khan.
• The Nawab promised an annual tribute of 12 lakh rupees and the cession of Orissa to the Marathas. In return, the Bhonsales gave word to not return to Bengal.

Damage caused

• Ten years of Maratha invasions had crippled Bengal’s economy.
• The Dutch believed that 400,000 people had been killed. Losses of weavers, silk winders and those who cultivated mulberry were particularly high.
• Historian P J Marshall noted that people were so distressed that they would take flight even on imaginary alarms, and wander around.

Newsfeeds on Republic Day were dominated by scenes of protests on the ramparts of the Red Fort.

Mob stormed and vandalized the national flag and the mast of Red Fort in guise of peaceful farmers protest! What did this act signify?

 

To unravel some of these strands of meaning, one must go back in history, to a time centuries before the Red Fort was even constructed.

The History of Capital

• Before the 13th century, Delhi — or ‘Dilli’ — was, politically speaking, a moderately significant town.
• It was for long the capital of the modestly sized kingdom of the Rajput Tomar dynasty.
• By the mid 12th century it was conquered by the Rajput Chauhans who, however, ruled from Ajmer.
• It was the conquest by Ghurid Turks in the late 12th century that put Delhi on the map as a centre of power.
• As the capital of the Sultanate, Delhi gradually developed an aura of power — in the popular imagination, it came to be associated with a dominant power in the subcontinent.
• Babur, having defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat in 1526, headed for Delhi, which he described as “the capital of all Hindustan”, even though the Lodis had ruled from Agra for the previous two decades.

Sultanate period

• There was another important feature of the Delhi of these two centuries.
• From the 13th century, the capital had been located at a number of different sites – Mehrauli, Kilugarhi, Siri, Tughlaqabad, Jahanpanah, Firozabad, and Dinpanah.
• Now it came to be settled permanently in Shahjahanabad, with the emperor’s seat being in the Red Fort.

Seat of the Mughal power

• During the first century or so of Mughal rule, Agra was the capital for longer than Delhi.
• Still, the Mughals continued to be seen as rulers of Delhi.
• A Sanskrit inscription from 1607 refers to Akbar as “Dillishvara”, the lord of Delhi, though he had ruled from Delhi for a very short time.
• In a Persian inscription dated 1621 on the Salimgarh Bridge adjoining the Red Fort, Jahangir, who never reigned from Delhi, was described as “Shahanshah e Dehli”, the emperor of Delhi.

Construction of Red Fort

• It was only in the reign of Shah Jahan (1628-58) that the Mughal connection to Delhi was given concrete form, with the founding of the city of Shahjahanabad and the inauguration of its palace citadel, the Red Fort, in 1648.
• From that date to the end of Mughal rule in 1857, Delhi would be the formal capital of the Mughal Empire.

Fading centre

• The significance of Delhi and the Red Fort was thrown into sharp relief by political developments in the 18th century, once the Mughal Empire started on the long road to decline.
• Erstwhile Mughal provinces such as Bengal, Awadh, and Hyderabad broke away, and new forces like the Sikhs and the Marathas arose.
• Not only did the Mughal territories shrink, but the Mughal emperor also became increasingly ineffectual even within them.

A takeover by the East India Company

• The control over the emperor and of Delhi was, therefore, a prize worth fighting for.
• Safdar Jang, the Nawab of Awadh, fought a civil war in an attempt to keep his position as PM of the Mughal emperor.
• The Sikhs had their ambitions and came up to the walls of the city in 1783 before retreating.
• The Marathas met with greater success the following year when Mahadji Sindhia became the power behind the throne.
• Finally, the East India Company defeated the Maratha forces in 1803 and went on to control Delhi and the emperor for the next 54 years.

Shifting of capital

• Delhi was officially announced as the capital of British Raj by the then-Emperor George V, on December 12, 1911.
• The capital was shifted from Calcutta as Delhi was the financial and political seat of many earlier empires and was located closer to the geographical centre of India.
• The rising nationalist movement in Calcutta was also responsible for the shift.

Symbolic importance then

• In the popular imagination, the legitimate rule was associated with the Mughal emperor to the extent that when the country broke out in revolt in 1857, the mutinous soldiers made their way to Delhi, seeking his leadership.
• When the revolt in Delhi had been crushed, the British army occupied the Red Fort and the officers drank to their Queen’s health in the Diwan-e-Khas, where the Mughal emperors had held court.
• It was in this same hall that Bahadur Shah was put on trial, convicted, and exiled.
• Nearly ninety years later, in 1945-46, the memory of that trial foreshadowed another historic trial in the fort.
• The personnel of the Indian National Army were tried there, which generated an immense wave of nationalist sentiment in the run-up to Independence.

Symbol of the nation, now

• With the coming of Independence, it was necessary that the site of the Red Fort, over which the British colonial government had sought to inscribe its power and might, be symbolically reclaimed for the Indian people.
• It was for this reason, that after the first hoisting of the national flag at India Gate on August 15, 1947, the next day, the PM hoisted it on the ramparts of the Red Fort.
• This was to then become India’s lasting Independence Day tradition.

The Union Culture Ministry has announced that January 23, birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose, would be celebrated as “Parakram Diwas” — the day of courage — every year.

Try this PYQ

Q.Highlight the difference in the approach of Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for freedom. (150 W)

Subhash Chandra Bose (1897-1945)

• Bose was an Indian revolutionary prominent in the independence movement against British rule of India.
• He also led an Indian national force from abroad against the Western powers during World War II.
• He was a contemporary of Mohandas K. Gandhi, at times an ally and at other times an adversary.
• He was highly influenced by a socialist ideology that acquired popularity as consequences of the Russian Revolution.

Forget not that the grossest crime is to compromise with injustice and wrong. Remember the eternal law: You must give if you want to get.

– Netaji

Association with INC

• In 1927, after being released from prison, Bose became general secretary of the Congress and worked with Jawaharlal Nehru for independence.
• In late December 1928, Bose organised the Annual Meeting of the Indian National Congress (INC) in Calcutta.
• Subsequently, Bose wanted to get elected as Congress President in a subsequent session of 1939 convened at Tripuri.
• However, his candidature was challenged by Mahatma Gandhi who wanted to prevent socialist orientation to the Indian National Movement.
• Gandhi proposed Pattabhi Sitaramaya for this candidature.
• In this election, Bose emerged victorious by a huge margin which was not acceptable to Mahatma Gandhi.
• Congress leader supported Mahatma Gandhi and forced Subhash Chandra Bose to step down from Presidentship.
• Under such collective pressure, Bose not only resigned from the Congress members. Thereafter he established a separate political party known as “Forward Bloc”.

Escape to Germany

• On the outbreak of WW-II, Bose advocated a campaign of mass civil disobedience to protest against Linlithgow’s decision to declare war on India’s behalf without consulting the Congress leadership.
• Having failed to persuade Gandhi of the necessity of this, he was house arrested from where he escaped to Germany.
• He then went to several countries of Europe and finally landed in a region of Singapore in “South East Asia”.

Azad Hind Fauj

• The SE Asia region was under the control of Japan where a large number of “Indian Prisoners of War” was confined.
• When Subhash Chandra Bose reached Singapore in1943 this army was led by a prominent revolutionary Ras Behari Bose whose cadre was known as “Indian National Army”.
• Subhash Chandra Bose reorganized and expanded this force in order to liberate India. This force was renamed as “Azad Hind Fauj” by him.

The Azad Hind Government

• The Provisional Government of Free India, or, more simply, Free India (Azad Hind), was an Indian provisional government established in occupied Singapore in 1943.
• C. Bose was the leader of Azad Hind Government (AHG) and also the Head of State of this Provisional Indian Government-in-exile.
• It was a part of the freedom movement, originating in the 1940s outside India with a purpose of allying with Axis powers to free India from British rule.

Its collapse and INA Trials

• INA under the leadership of Bose got defeated severely at Rangoon due to lack of support of Japanese.
• Bose was suggested to leave Burma to continue his struggle for Indian independence and returned to Singapore before the fall of Rangoon.
• The AHG govt in the islands collapsed when the island garrisons of Japanese and Indian troops were defeated by British troops and the islands themselves retaken.
• The Provisional Government of Free India ceased to exist with the deaths of the Axis, the INA, and Bose in 1945.
• It was followed by the Famous Trials at Red Fort.

Also read:

In news: 1946 Royal Indian Navy Mutiny

The history of the Bhima-Koregaon battle should be taught in schools, said the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.

Try this PYQ:

What was the immediate cause for Ahmad Shah Abdali to invade and fight the Third Battle of Panipat:

(a) He wanted to avenge the expulsion by Marathas of his viceroy Timur Shah from Lahore

(b) The frustrated governor of Jullundhar Adina Beg khan invited him to invade Punjab

(c) He wanted to punish Mughal administration for non-payment of the revenues of the Chahar Mahal

(Gujrat Aurangabad, Sialkot and Pasrur)

(d) He wanted to annex all the fertile plains of Punjab upto borders of Delhi to his kingdom

Battle of Bhima-Koregaon

• The 1818 battle of Bhima-Koregaon, one of the last battles of the Third Anglo-Maratha War culminated in the Peshwa’s defeat.
• It was fought on 1 January 1818 between the British East India Company (BEIC) and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy, at Koregaon at the banks of River Bhima.
• A 28,000-strong force led by Peshwa Baji Rao II while on their way to attack the company-held Pune were unexpectedly met by an 800-strong Company force of which 500 belonged to the Dalit community.
• The battle was part of the Third Anglo Maratha war, a series of battles that culminated in the defeat of the Peshwa rule and subsequent rule of the BEIC in nearly all of Western, Central, and Southern India.

Mahars under Shivaji

• Back in the seventeenth century, the community was particularly valued by the ruler Shivaji, under whom Maratha caste identities were far more fluid.
• The value of the Mahars for military recruitment under Shivaji was noted by the social reformer Jyotirao Phule.
• The Mahars were not only beneficiaries of the attempt at caste unity under Shivaji but were in fact valued for their martial skills, bravery, and loyalty.

Mahars after Shivaji

• The position occupied by the Mahars under Shivaji, however, was short-lived and under later Peshwa rulers, their status deteriorated.
• The Peshwas were infamous for their Brahmin orthodoxy and their persecution of the untouchables.
• The Mahars were forbidden to move about in public spaces and punished atrociously for disrespecting caste regulations.
• Stories of Peshwa atrocities against the Mahars suggest that they were made to tie brooms behind their backs to wipe out their footprints and pots on their necks to collect their spit.

Why is the battle significant?

• The battle resulted in losses to the Maratha Empire, then under Peshwa rule, and control over most of western, central, and southern India by the British East India Company.
• The battle has been seen as a symbol of Dalit pride because a large number of soldiers in the Company forces were the Mahar Dalits, the same oppressed community to which Babasaheb Ambedkar belonged.
• After centuries of inhumane treatment, this battle was the first time that Mahars had been included in a battle in which they won.

Dr. Ambedkar’s association

• It was Babasaheb Ambedkar’s visit to the site on January 1, 1927, that revitalized the memory of the battle for the Dalit community.
• He led to its commemoration in the form of a victory pillar, besides creating the discourse of Dalit valor against Peshwa ‘oppression’ of Dalits.