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Indian Freedom Struggle (1707–1947 A.D.)

Notes a decade prior to Non-cooperation, had set up many national schools, persuaded students to leave
government schools, carried out the boycott of foreign cloth and liquor, and had captured the
Surat municipality.
After the withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement, the Bardoli Congressmen had settled
down to intense constructive work. Stung by Gandhiji’s rebuke in 1922 that they had done nothing
for the upliftment of the low-caste untouchable and tribal inhabitants—who were known by the
name of Kaliparaj (dark people) to distinguish them from the high caste or Ujaliparaj (fair people)
and who formed sixty per cent of the population of the taluq—these men, who belonged to high
castes started work among the Kaliparaj through a network of six ashrams that were spread out
over the taluq. These ashrams, many of which survive to this day as living institutions working for
the education of the tribals, did much to lift the taluq out of the demoralization that had followed
the withdrawal of 1922. Kunverji Mehta and Keshavji Ganeshji learnt the tribal dialect, and
developed a ‘Kaliparaj literature’ with the assistance of the educated members of the Kaliparaj
community, which contained poems and prose that aroused the Kaliparaj against the Hali system
under which they laboured as hereditary labourers for upper-caste landowners, and exhorted
them to abjure intoxicating drinks and high marriage expenses which led to financial ruin. Bhajan
mandalis consisting of Kaliparaj and Ujaliparaj members were used to spread the message. Night
schools were started to educate the Kaliparaj and in 1927 a school for the education of Kaliparaj
children was set up in Bardoli town. Ashram workers had to often face the hostility of upper-caste
landowners who feared that all this would ‘spoil’ their labour. Annual Kaliparaj conferences were
held in 1922 and, in 1927, Gandhiji, who presided over the annual conference, initiated an enquiry
into the conditions of the Kaliparaj, who he also now renamed as Raniparaj or the inhabitants of the
forest in preference to the derogatory term Kaliparaj or dark people. Many leading figures of
Gujarat including Narhari Parikh and Jugatram Dave conducted the inquiry which turned into a
severe indictment of the Hali system, exploitation by money lenders and sexual exploitation of
women by upper-castes. As a result of this, the Congress had built up a considerable base among
the Kaliparaj, and could count on their support in the future.
Simultaneously, of course, the Ashram workers had continued to work among the landowning
peasants as well and had to an extent regained their influence among them. Therefore, when in
January 1926 it became known that Jayakar, the officer charged with the duty of reassessment of
the land revenue demand of the taluq, had recommended a thirty percent increase over the existing
assessment, the Congress leaders were quick to protest against the increase and set up the Bardoli
Inquiry Committee to go into the issue. Its report, published in July 1926, came to the conclusion
that the increase was unjustified. This was followed by a campaign in the Press, the lead being
taken by Young India and Navjivan edited by Gandhiji. The constitutionalist leaders of the area,
including the members of the Legislative Council, also took up the issue. In July 1927, the
Government reduced the enhancement to 21.97 per cent.
But the concessions were too meagre and came too late to satisfy anybody. The constitutionalist
leaders now began to advise the peasants to resist by paying only the current amount and
withholding the enhanced amount. The ‘Ashram’ group, on the other hand, argued that the entire
amount must be withheld if it was to have any effect on the Government. However, at this stage,
the peasants seemed more inclined to heed the advice of the moderate leaders.
Gradually, however, as the limitations of the constitutional leadership became more apparent,
and their unwillingness to lead even a movement based on the refusal of the enhanced amount
was clear, the peasants began to move towards the ‘Ashram’ group of Congress leaders. The latter,
on their part, had in the meanwhile contacted Vallabhbhai Patel and were persuading him to take
on the leadership of the movement. A meeting of representatives of sixty villages at Bamni in
Kadod division formally invited Vallabhbhai to lead the campaign. The local leaders also met
Gandhiji and after having assured him that the peasants were fully aware of the implications of
such a campaign, secured his approval.
Patel reached Bardoli on 4 February and immediately had a series of meetings with the
representatives of the peasants and the constitutionalist leaders. At one such meeting, the moderate
leaders frankly told the audience that their methods had failed and they should now try

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