Saquib Salim

“Mazharul Haq had registered his name on a standing list of helpers whom I might count upon whenever necessary and he made a point of looking in once or twice a month. The way in which he associated with us made us feel that he was one of us, though his fashionable habit gave a stranger a different impression.”

A Slice Of History

This is what Mahatma Gandhi wrote about the Champaran Satyagraha of 1917. This Satyagraha was the first major poitical agitation of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in India at a place called Champaran (now bifurcated between Motihari and Bettiah) in Bihar.

With time, Champaran became associated with Mahatma Gandhi, and other people around him were either forgotten or their role in this movement remained less talked about. Mazharul Haque, one of the most prominent nationalist leaders of Bihar, was one of the first to welcome Gandhi on his return from South Africa. They have known each other since their student days in England.

Gandhi recalled, “I knew Maulana Mazharul Haq in London when he was studying for the bar, and when I met him at the Bombay Congress in 1915 - the year in which he was President of the Muslim League - he had renewed the acquaintance.”

Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha wrote that it was Mazharul Haque who countered the aristocratic Indian Muslims when they were forming a pro-British association. He ensured that the early constitution of the Muslim League did not have a clause to support the government unconditionally, and later brought about the Lucknow Pact between Congress and the Muslim League.

In April 1917, at the demand of the local peasants led by Rajkumar Shukla and Pir Munis, Gandhi reached Bihar with the intention to visit the peasants in Champaran. They were being harassed by the indigo planters and had been agitating against the repressive laws for years. Earlier, Sheikh Gulab and Sital Rai had championed the cause of the peasants in Champaran.

When Gandhi reached Patna on 10 April 1917 with Rajkumar Shukla, he knew nobody in the city except Mazharul. He wrote, “(Mazharul) extended me an invitation to stay with him whenever I happened to go to Patna. I thought of this invitation and sent him a note indicating the purpose of my visit. He immediately came in his car and pressed me to accept his hospitality. I thanked him and requested him to guide me to my destination by the first available train, the railway guide being useless to an utter stranger like me. He had a talk with Rajkumar Shukla and suggested that I should first go to Muzaffarpur. There was a train for that place the same evening, and he sent me off by it.”

Mazharul sent Gandhi to Muzaffarpur and informed J. B. Kriplani, who was a teacher there, to host him. Gandhi started meeting peasants and noting their problems right away with the help of the network provided through Mazharul and other Congress leaders.

On 16 April, when the first notice from the Police was served to Gandhi in Motihari, Mazharul and Madan Mohan Malviya were the two most prominent leaders who were telegraphed of the development. Mazharul, though, wanted to join him at Motihari, but was asked to remain in Patna as he would be needed to lead the movement in different capacities.

D. G. Tendulkar writes, “On April 18, Mazharul Haq, Brajkishore Babu, Rajendra Babu, Babu Anugrahanarayan, Shambhusaran, and Polak reached Motihari. After a prolonged discussion, they decided to follow Gandhi in jail, if necessary. Gandhi immediately took down names and divided them into batches of two to carry on the inquiry and court imprisonment one after another. Mazharul Haq and Brajkishore Prasad would be in charge if Gandhi were removed. The next batch would consist of Babu Dhamidhar and Ramnavmi Prasad. If they too were picked up, Rajendra Prasad, Babu Shambhusaran, and Anugrahanarayan would continue the work. Whatever happened, the ryots were not to be let down. In accordance with this decision, Haq and Brajkishore Prasad left for Patna and Darbhanga, respectively, to settle their private affairs, so that they might return by April 21. Mazharul Haq, who was then a member of the Viceroy’s Legislative Council, sent a telegram to the Viceroy, detailing the happenings in Ghamparan.”

The decision was reiterated by Gandhi in a meeting with several Congress leaders at Patna on 2 June that in case of his arrest, Mazharul would lead the peasant movement in Champaran.

A few British Government officials even believed that Mazharul was calling the shots and Gandhi was a pawn in the hands of Mazharul.

L. F. Morshead, Commissioner, Tirhut Division, wrote to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Bihar and Orissa, on 19 April 1917, “Mr. Mazharul-Haqq has been heard to say that they wish Mr. Gandhi to be sent to jail, because of the feeling this will arouse in India.”

On 27 April, J. T. Whitty, Manager, Bettiah Raj, wrote to the Commissioner, Tirhut Division, “In my opinion, Gandhi’s enquiry is an organized effort by the anti-European element of this province to discredit Europeans. Gandhi himself is probably an honest man who believes that he is an impartial enquirer into abuses, and is suffering from a slightly swelled head after his South African success. The agitators of this province, headed by Mazhar-ul-Haqq, Hassan Imam, and Brajkishor Prashad, know that they have a most useful figurehead in Gandhi, as he is a man who is prepared to go to any length in order to carry through an idea. He can easily be made into a martyr and cannot be easily suppressed.”

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Today, Mazharul Haque is a lesser-known man in India, and his prominent role in the Champaran Satyagraha is almost unknown to people in Bihar as well. If there had been no Champaran Satyagraha, there would have been no Mahatma Gandhi. We can say that Mazharul gave India its Mahatma.