The Champaran Satyagraha was the combination of an elements of extra-constitutional struggle as well as the employment of moral force against an adversary, an exemplar of the rule of law; and the use of compromise as a gambit. It marked as the first India’s Civil Disobedience movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi to protest against the injustice meted out to tenant farmers in Champaran district of Bihar.
Champaran Satyagraha elevating Mahatma Gandhi
Non-Cooperation: Gandhi believed that it was the best time to start Satyagraha and that too from Champaran. He made the experiment of non-cooperation in a smaller way by giving leadership to the peasant struggles in Champaran (Bihar) and later on in Kheda (Gujarat). These struggles were taken up as a reformist movement but the idea was to mobilise the peasants for their demands.
First Civil Disobedience: The Champaran Satyagraha was the combination of elements of extra-constitutional struggle as well as the employment of moral force against an adversary, an exemplar of the rule of law; and the use of compromise as a gambit. It marked as the first India’s Civil Disobedience movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi to protest against the injustice meted out to tenant farmers in Champaran district of Bihar.
Mass politicization: The Champaran Movement truly was a landmark in the mass politicization of India. This movement, Gandhiji was able to transform the elitist, quit and urbanized national movement beyond recognition by placing it on the crest of surging popular participation, especially by peasants. Thus, this movement gave a new face to the National Movement.
Deepening Nationalism: This movement also uncovered the real face of Indian people – poor and downtrodden Gandhiji had natural compassion for such people but at the same time, wise enough to understand that any political programme would be futile in the country unless it rested on the shoulders of such people only.