Question

What was the swaraj for the plantation movement?

Answer 1

Workers had a different understanding of the Swaraj call given by Mahatma Gandhi. In Assam, for plantation workers, the meaning of Swaraj was retaining the link with the village they hail from, and right to move freely in and out of the enclosed place they were working in.

Swaraj in Plantations – Assam

• Plantation workers in the tea garden had to seek permission before leaving.
• Moreover, the plantation workers were rarely given permission to move out.
• This rule was implemented as per the Inland Emigration Act of 1859.
• When the workers came to know about the Non-Cooperation Movement, all the workers defied the rules and authorities by leaving the plantations without permission and they headed to their home village.
• The plantation workers believed that Gandhi raj would become a reality and all of them would be given lands in their villages.
• However, these plantation workers were not able to reach their destination.
• They were stranded because of a strike called by the steamers and railways.
• Plantation workers were caught by the police and they were brutally beaten up.
• However, the Congress did not define the vision of these movements.
• Plantation workers had interpreted the meaning of Swaraj in their own way.