Baba Ramchandra
Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India"
Meaning
Baba Ramchandra was a sanyasi, a holy man who has given up worldly life. Earlier he had worked in Fiji as an indentured labourer, a worker bound by contract to work abroad. Around 1920 he led the peasants of Awadh against the taluqdars (big landlords). The peasants were fighting high rents, extra cesses (charges), begar (forced, unpaid labour) and evictions. His movement shows that "swaraj" meant different things to different groups.
Example
In October 1920, Baba Ramchandra and Jawaharlal Nehru set up the Oudh Kisan Sabha. Within a month it had over 300 branches. Peasants used nai–dhobi bandhs: they stopped barbers and washermen from serving landlords. In 1921 some went further than the Congress wanted. They attacked taluqdars' houses in Gandhi's name.
Don't confuse with
- Alluri Sitaram Raju: led the tribal guerrilla struggle in the Gudem Hills of Andhra. He insisted on using force, and he was executed in 1924.
Related concepts
- Gandhi as Mahatma
- Shahid Amin
- Gandhi's dhoti and loincloth
- Charkha
- Khadi
- Linguistic Pradesh Congress Committees
- Praja Mandal
- All India States Peoples Conference
- Bijolia movement
- Abul Kalam Azad