On 29 October 1944, Mahatma Gandhi presciently told the peasant leader NG Ranga, “If the legislature proves itself to be incapable of safeguarding kisans’ interests they will of course always have the sovereign remedy of civil disobedience and non-cooperation.” The year-long agitation of farmers against the three farm laws captured this vision of Gandhi and the spirit of his first Satyagraha in Champaran. He launched this Satyagraha in 1917 to free the farmers of Bihar from exploitation by British planters, who would force them to plant indigo in vast swathes of fertile land. Eventually, the Satyagraha succeeded and the Champaran Agrarian Act of 1918 stopped forcible indigo plantation.
The Champaran Satyagraha began with Gandhi breaking the law and ended with the British regime enacting a law to end the exploitation of farmers. He pleaded guilty before the magistrate and submitted to the penalty of disobedience. He disarmed the colonial rulers with truthful articulation and the courage to accept the punishment for actions that violated the law. In his own words, Gandhi believed he was acting “…in obedience of the higher law of our being—the voice of conscience”.
The government dropped charges against Gandhi and allowed him to investigate the cause of the suffering of the victims of exploitation in the colonial era. He deliberated and consulted with farmers, British officials and the exploitative planters to unearth the truth in a report outlining why farmers lived in a pitiable condition. Based on that report, the British regime established a committee that included Gandhi as a member.
That committee submitted another report, after which the British authorities framed the Champaran Agrarian Bill. It was sent for scrutiny to the Select Committee of the Bihar-
— source newsclick.in | S N Sahu | 04 Dec 2021