Peasant Movements: Part II; Indigo Cultivators' Strike and Pabna Rebellion

Indigo Cultivators' Strike 1860- the Indigo Cultivators' strike in 1860 started as a result of excessive commercialisation of agriculture. Commercialisation of agriculture means when agriculture is not only used for household production but production takes place at a larger scale. This extra production is sold in the market to earn profits by the big landlords in the rural economy. Before the British East India Company had started its colonial rule, agriculture in India was only meant to fulfill the demand of food grains needed by the households in a particular village. In due course of time, production increased to help people from other villages also to get enough food grains. However, there was no motive of profit-making with the help of this form of agricultural production. Along with this during this time production of food crops like rice, wheat, barley, pulses were mainly grown which were needed for the people in the village and the neighbouring villages. The British East India Company after winning the Battle of Plassey could make a stronghold on the agricultural condition of the country. The Company wanted to use the cheap resources available in the country like the labour and other raw materials to increase agricultural production of cash crops like poppy and indigo. They wanted to sell these to England and other colonies at higher prices. In England there was huge demand of indigo as dye needed for the manufacturing of readymade clothes with the help of the growing textile industry in the country. The readymade clothes in turn were sold back in India. This also affected the cottage industry in India. The cottage industry which used charkha or spinning wheels to make clothes which could not compete with the mill-made clothes in England. 

In this way the cottage industry was getting completely destroyed in the country. At the time agriculture and food production was only important source of livelihood for majority of the people in the country. Along with large scale production the British East India Company wanted the Indian cultivators to produce more cash crops in place of food crops. Poppy was cultivated mostly in the western part of undivided Bengal which is the present West Bengal. Indigo was cultivated in the districts of Pabna, Jessore, Murshidabad, Dacca, Malda, Hooghly, Faridpur and others. The Bengali farmers did not take advance loans for production of rice and jute. So through rice and jute production it was not possible for the company to exploit the cultivators and the small peasants. The Company officials convinced the local zamindars to take advance loans (money taken in advance for production purpose which was to be paid off later) in form of contracts and force the peasants to cultivate indigo which was later to be sold at very high prices to England. In this way, huge acres of land were cleared off food crops and was used for the cultivation of poppy and indigo. The small peasants could not pay the taxes and also the zamindars could not pay off the loans. This was because the cost of cultivation of indigo is very high than rice and other food crops. In this way, the situation became worse for the peasants and the local zamindars too. Finally, the local zamindars and the peasants together struck against the company officials. This was the starting of such peasant movements in India where the local zamindars also cooperated with the peasants to strike against the British officials. Blair Kling in his book The Blue Mutiny: The Indigo Disturbances in Bengal 1859-62 (1966)  called the strike as Blue Mutiny because Indigo, the dye is blue colour and is very famously called as NEEL CHASH in Bengal.