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Labor and peasant movements in Chhattisgarh (1920 to 1940)

Labor Movements

The center of labor movements in Chhattisgarh was BNC Mills Rajnandgaon because this was the only big industry in Chhattisgarh. This mill was established on 23rd June 1890by the name of CP Mills. Later its owner J B Meckveth of Bombay sold it to Shawlin company of Calcutta because of losses. It was then renamed Begnal Nagpur Cotton Mills (BNC Mills) The King of the Riyasat, Raja Balramdas was on its Board of Directors.The mill started production in 1984.

1. First Strike – Thakur Pyarelal Singh organized the labor and cllaed the first strike in 1920. This strike lasted 36 days. It was the longest strike at that time. The reason for discontent in the labor was the long work hours of 12 to 13 hours per day. Finally the management had to agree to the demands of the labor and reduced the work hours. Thakur Sahab was expelled from Rajnandgaon but later he complained to the Governor and the expulsion order was cancelled.
2. Second Strike – In 1924 Thakur Sahab organized the second strike. At this time a feast was held of the labor in which a policeman kicked the utensils with his boots. The labor got angry and while returning they beat up a corrupt clerk in the Administration – Gangadhar Rao. The police arrested 13 laborers. The labor surrounded the court and got their friends released, but the police captured them again. One labor was not found so the police surrounded the house of Thakur Sahab. When the public came to know they started pursuing the policemen. The police resorted to firing in which one person died and 12 were injured. Thakur Sahab complained to the Governor but he was once again expelled. He settled in Raipur after this.
3. Third Strike – Mill management reduced the pay of the labor by 10%. The labor went on strike once again. They asked Thakur Sahab for help. Thakur Sahab ran the strike from the waiting room in Rajnandgaon Railway station, The mill management signed an agreement with Ruikar the representative ofthe labor but removed 600 labor from work. The labor suffered a loss of 4 lakh rupees. Thakur Sahab made a new draft for agreement which was accepted by the Board. The labor was taken back on work and expulsion of Thakur Sahab was also cancelled. Thus this strike was successful.

Peasants Movements

Like other parts of the country the condition of farmers was not good in Chhattisgarh during the feudal period and later in the British period. Begari system, high land revenue, difficulties in getting a reasonable price for crops all contributed to poverty of farmers. Movements against exploitation took place from time to time Sewta Thakur of Rajnandgaon raised his voice against Begari system. Landless farmers used to ask for land. The Kandel Satyagrah led by Pt. Sunderlal Sharma was also peasants’ movement. Babu Chhotelal, natthu Jagtap etc, played important role in it. The Jungle Satyagrahs which happened in different places were also peasants’ movements.

The peasant movement of Durg-Dondi – There was terror of the Zamindar o Dondi-Lohara, Maniram Pandey. On 28th August 1937 the people presented their grievances to the zamindar in a public meeting in Malthendi Bazar but the zamindar did not listen to them. \At that time Narsingh Prasad Agrwal was a big Gandhian leader. the farmers approached him and started a movement in his leadership. Shri Agrwal toured he area for three years and the movement spread to other zamindaris like Panbaras and Ambagarh-Chowki. His brother Saryuprasad Agrawal also helped him in the movement. Others who helped him were Vasudev Deshmukh and Pt. Ratnakar Jha. Wali Mohammad did satyagrah and 94 persons were arrested. Agrawal brothers were also arrested and sent to Seoni Jail. At this time there was Congress rule in the province and Ravishankar Shukla was Education Minister and Dwarika Prasad Mishra was Home Minister. They did not want the movement to spread. They called Agrawal for talks to Nagpur but could not reach an agreement. On 5th May 1939 a big public meeting was held in Kusumkasa village. Saryuprasad Agrawal fasted for 9 days. In the end the Government had to accept the Nistari rights of the people to a certain extent. Later rules were made to regulate Nistari rights. The zamindar filed a court case against the revolutionaries. The lawyer of Raipur Trivenilal Shrivastav and advocate Zakatdar from Nagpur represented the revolutionaries.

In 1938 there was a movement not to pay taxes in Chhuikhadan. The Government had arrested many agitators.