Satara prati sarkar

History glossary

Also called: Satara parallel government · Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"

Meaning

Satara prati sarkar ("counter-government") was a parallel government that people set up in 1943 in Satara district of Maharashtra during the Quit India Movement. It ran its own service squads, fighting squads and people's courts in place of British rule, and it lasted right up to the 1946 elections.

It matters because it shows that Quit India went deeper than protest. In some places people actually replaced the British government and ran their own, even while the top Congress leaders were in jail.

Explanation

Background: why it came up

Cripps Mission failed (1942). Britain offered only dominion status after the war, which meant self-rule under the British Crown rather than full freedom. The talks broke down over the demand for an Indian Defence Member. [4]
This failure helped spark Quit India. Japanese victories in South-East Asia and anger at British rule added to it. [2]
Quit India began. The Congress Working Committee at Wardha passed the Quit India resolution on 14 July 1942. The AICC in Bombay adopted it on 8 August 1942. [2][3]
Gandhi gave the call "Do or Die" at Gowalia Tank Maidan. [2]
The leaders were arrested. On 9 August 1942 nearly all top leaders, including Gandhi, were arrested. [2]
With no leaders to guide them, local people and underground workers carried the movement forward on their own.
In a few areas they went further than protest and set up their own "independent" governments. Satara in the west and Medinipur in Bengal in the east were the best known.

Main features

Name. Prati sarkar means "counter-government" or "parallel government".
Started. In 1943, in Satara district (Maharashtra).
Leader. It is usually linked with Nana Patil (often called Krantisinh Nana Patil, "Krantisinh" being an honorary title meaning "lion of revolution").
Its parts:
seba dals (service squads that did relief and village work).
tufan dals ("storm squads", the fighting arm of the government).
People's courts (village bodies that settled disputes themselves, so people did not have to go to British courts).
Social base. Mainly kunbi peasants (a large farming community of Maharashtra), with support from dalits.

How it worked and how long it lasted

It acted like a real government at the village level.
It gave relief, kept order and gave justice through its own courts.
It refused British authority and challenged it through the tufan dals.
It lasted a long time.
The British needed over a year to crush Quit India in most places, using the army, mass firing and arrests.
Satara held out much longer, right up to the 1946 elections.
That made it one of the longest-lasting parallel governments of the movement.

Results

It showed that nationalism had reached villages and peasants, not just the city elite.
It showed that ordinary people could run their own government and courts without British help.
It brought kunbi peasants and dalits into the same struggle, which made the movement's social base wider.
It is one of the main examples used to prove that Quit India was a genuine mass movement.

Time, place and evidence

Period. The Gandhian era, during the Quit India Movement (1942 onwards). The prati sarkar was set up in 1943 and lasted until the 1946 elections.
Place. Satara district in western Maharashtra, then part of the Bombay Presidency.
Key people:
Nana Patil, the leader most often named.
Kunbi peasants, who made up its main base, with dalit supporters.
The wider movement:
Gandhi gave the Quit India call. [2]
The socialist underground kept the movement going: Jayaprakash Narayan, Aruna Asaf Ali and Ram Manohar Lohia.
How we know:
NCERT Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement" names the "independent" governments at Satara and Medinipur.
Official Indian government material on Quit India sets out the background and timeline. [2][3]

Don't confuse with

Medinipur (Tamluk) parallel government: this was the other famous parallel government of Quit India, but it was in Bengal in the east. Satara was in Maharashtra in the west. Satara also lasted longer, up to the 1946 elections.
Ballia parallel government: this was set up in eastern Uttar Pradesh in August 1942 under Chittu Pandey. It lasted only a very short time, while Satara lasted for years.
Individual satyagraha (1940–41): in this protest, chosen persons broke the ban one by one by speaking against the war and courted arrest. It was not a mass rising and did not set up any government. Satara came later and replaced British rule locally.
Socialist underground of 1942: this was a secret network led by JP, Aruna Asaf Ali and Lohia that worked across India. Satara was a local government in one district, with its own courts and squads.

Prelims Hooks

Prati sarkar = "counter-government". It was set up in Satara (Maharashtra) in 1943 during Quit India.
The two best-known Quit India parallel governments were Satara (west) and Medinipur (Bengal, east).
Satara's parts were seba dals (service and relief squads), tufan dals (storm or fighting squads) and people's courts.
Its social base was kunbi peasants, with dalit support. It lasted till the 1946 elections.
Chronology: Cripps Mission (March–April 1942) → CWC at Wardha, 14 July 1942 → AICC Bombay, 8 Aug 1942 → mass arrests, 9 Aug 1942 → Satara prati sarkar, 1943. [4][2]
Trap: Satara was not short-lived like Ballia. It outlasted the over-a-year-long British crackdown on Quit India.

Mains Points

Proof that nationalism reached the villages.
The leaders were jailed on day one of Quit India, yet Satara's peasants ran their own government from 1943 to 1946.
This shows nationalism had spread below the leaders into the countryside. Use it to answer the claim that the national movement was a leaders-only affair.
People's power, and its limits.
Satara's seba dals, tufan dals and people's courts show that people could run their own government, with a social base that joined kunbi peasants and dalits.
But Quit India was not mainly non-violent everywhere: the tufan dals were a fighting arm. A good answer can discuss how far 1942 moved away from strict Gandhian non-violence once the leaders were in jail.
Gains of 1942 against the cost of 1946.
Satara stands for the high point of mass action in Quit India.
But while Congress was in jail, the League grew into Punjab and Sind. The 1946 elections, the same year Satara's government ended, then fixed the split between Congress and League seats.
A GS-I answer should link the strength of local revolt to this political cost at the national level.

Related concepts

War, Quit India, Partition and the last heroic days, 1935–48

Sources

1Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement" (primary)
2Quit India Movementpib.gov.in · tier 1
3Quit India Resolution adopted by the AICCindianculture.gov.in · tier 1
4Cripps Missionbritannica.com · tier 3