Indigo Revolt Causes, Course And Assessment

Causes of Indigo Revolt

• Indigo cultivation started in Bengal in 1777. Indigo was in high demand worldwide and its trade was seen as a lucrative opportunity due to the demand for blue dye in Europe. Due to the monopoly of European planters over the indigo plant, Indian farmers were forced to grow indigo by signing fraudulent deals with them.
• The cultivators were given advanced loans and were forced to grow indigo in place of food crops. Once the farmers took loans, they could never repay them due to the high rates of interest, and to add to that were the tax rates which were quite exorbitant making the farmers brutally oppressed resulting in farmers either not paying the rent or refusing to do as asked by the planters.
• Another oppressive act against the farmers was that they were forced to sell indigo at non-profitable rates. This was done to maximize European planters’ profits. In case a farmer refused to grow indigo, the planters resorted to illegal means. Farmers were made to face brutal attacks which includes looting and burning crops, kidnapping the farmer’s family members, etc.

  Course of Indigo Revolt

  

  One such incident occurred in the Nadia district of Bengal where the indigo farmers revolted by refusing to grow indigo and attacked the policemen who intervened. In response to this, the planters increased the rents leading to more agitations against the oppression. All the farmers of the Barasat division went on a strike and refused to grow indigo.Farmers were led by the Biswas brothers of Nadia, which made it a deadly revolt as it was suppressed and many farmers were slaughtered by the government and some of the zamindars.

  This revolt was backed by the Bengali intelligentsia, Muslims, and the missionaries i.e. all in all, the whole of the rural population supported the revolt. This was even supported by the press and played its part in portraying the plight of the farmers and fighting for their cause.

  Assessment of the Indigo Revolt

  

  
  

  Ultimately, Indigo Revolt was a largely non-violent revolt and in later years acted as a precursor to Gandhi's non-violent satyagraha, and though, it was not a spontaneous one as it was built up over years of oppression of the farmers by the planters and the government.Another important point was that the Hindus and Muslims joined hands against their oppressors in this rebellion. It also saw the coming together of many zamindars with the riots or farmers.The revolt was a success despite its brutal quelling by the government with a notification was also issued which stated that farmers could not be forced to grow indigo which in response to the revolt, the government appointed the Indigo Commission in 1860, ‘not a chest of Indigo reached England without being stained with human blood.’