CBSE Class 12-science Answered

Indigo is a part of Gandhiji's biography written by Louis Fischer. This story represents Gandhiji's struggle for the poor peasants of Champaran. The peasants were share croppers with the British planters. According to an old agreement, the peasants had to cultivate indigo on fifteen percent of the land and surrender the entire produce as rent.

 Gandhiji took up fight for the sharecroppers against the landlords. Rajkumar Shukla, an illiterate man who was appalled by the injustice, told him about the sharecroppers’ suffering. He took Gandhiji to Champaran in order to assess the situation. Gandhiji understood that the landlords were forcing the sharecroppers to plant 15% of their holding with indigo and then give up the entire harvest to them as rent. Since Germany had come up with the concept of synthetic indigo, the price of the natural indigo fell. The landlords forced the sharecroppers to pay compensation. It was then that Gandhiji heard about the ill-treatment of a peasant.

Gandhiji decided to look into the matter but he received an official notice to leave Champaran and quit whatever he was doing there. Gandhiji fought against this injustice by telling the court that it was a conflict of duties and he had come to serve the peasant. In the end, he won his case against the cruel landlords and made them pay 25% of the money back to the sharecroppers. This movement emboldened the peasants and they got to know their rights. He made the British realize that Indians now have the courage to oppose injustice.  This episode gave Gandhiji a clear direction to launch the freedom struggle. Thus, it was a turning point in the history of Indian freedom struggle.