SSC
Bishnu Charan Biswas and Digambar Biswas, two peasant leaders of Nadia district, led the Indigo Revolt (1859-60) in:
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Answer: Option D — Bengal
Detailed Solution
Bishnu Charan Biswas and Digambar Biswas, two peasant leaders of the village of Chaugachha in the Nadia district, led the Indigo Revolt (1859-1860) in Bengal.
About the Indigo Revolt:
- It is also called the "Blue Rebellion" or "Nil Bidroha".
- It began in the autumn of 1859, in the Nadia district, and spread to other districts of Bengal, such as Jessore, Pabna, Rajshahi, Murshidabad and the 24 Parganas.
Causes:
- European planters forced the peasants (ryots) to grow indigo on their best land, under contracts that gave them very low prices.
- The peasants were given advances which trapped them in debt.
- If they refused, they were beaten, imprisoned in the planters' factories, or had their crops and cattle seized.
NCERT on the Indigo Revolt:
- NCERT notes that in March 1859, thousands of ryots in Bengal refused to grow indigo.
- As the rebellion spread, ryots refused to pay rents to the planters, and attacked indigo factories armed with swords and spears, bows and arrows.
- Women turned up to fight with pots, pans and kitchen implements.
- Those who worked for the planters were socially boycotted, and the gomasthas, agents of planters, who came to collect rent were beaten up.
- Ryots swore they would no longer take advances to sow indigo nor be bullied by the planters' lathiyals (lathi-wielding strongmen).
- NCERT also notes that local zamindars and village headmen supported the peasants.
Results:
- The government set up an Indigo Commission (1860) to inquire into the system.
- The commission held the planters guilty and declared that it was not profitable for the ryots to grow indigo.
- The government declared that the ryots could not be forced to grow indigo.
- After the revolt, indigo production collapsed in Bengal, and the planters shifted to Bihar.
- The play "Neel Darpan" (1860) by Dinabandhu Mitra showed the oppression of the peasants.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Bihar saw a later indigo struggle; Gujarat and Madras were not the scene of this revolt.
Quick tip
Remember: Indigo Revolt (1859-60, "Nil Bidroha") = Bengal (began in Nadia; Bishnu Charan and Digambar Biswas); "Neel Darpan" by Dinabandhu Mitra.
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