Jaunpur District - Freedom Struggle

Freedom Struggle

Jaunpur of the British period has been a witness to rebellion against the power of the state. A tormenting desire to take part in the revolution of 1857 and secure Independence for India was seen in its every nook and cranny. For the 1857 revolution, posters had been put up everywhere on 31 May. Instructions had been issued to the native soldiers to deposit their arms. The news of the rebellion reached Jaunpur from Benares on the 5th of June, 1857. On September 8, the Gorkha forces arrived inJaunpur from Azamgarh. On account of this, all the civilian officers who had fled to Benares returned to Jaunpur. The northwest part of Jaunpur was in the flames of the rebellion. The confrontation of the freedom fighters under the leadership of Mata Badal Chauhan with the English Forces took place but fate did not favour them. The English hanged Mata Badal Chauhan and his 13 confederates. In this conflict, these braves killed one Sergeant Brigade, a legal officer. Thakur Sangram Singh of Nevadhiya village became a Rebel and he defeated the English several times. The English could not cow down the Babu Saltanat Bahadur Singh, the Zamindar of Badlapur. Saltanat Bahadur Singh's son Sangram Singh took on the English on several occasions. Later on, the English tied him to a tree and shot him. Amar Singh, Along with his 4 sons, attacked the Indigo Godown of Karanja and plundered it. The English attacked his village Adampur during which he was killed fradulently. The Raghuvanshi Rajputs of Dobhi along the Varanasi-Dobhi-Azamgarh highway had never acquiesed to anybody's suzerainity. During the advance towards Benares, they came face-to-face with the Sikh Army of Taylor. The Rajputs of Dobhi killed the Englishmen of the Peshwa's Indigo Godwn. In Senapur village at midnight the English hanged 23 people, while they were asleep, from tree. The English hanged Haripal Singh, Bhikha Singh and Jagat Singh et al. after a charade of a trial by a kangaroo court. Ram Sundar Pathak too was known for his velour amongst the freedom fighters. Before the arrival of Gandhiji in India, Pathakji was an associate of Gandhiji in South Africa in Gandhiji's non co-operation movement against the white people there. Later, he too came over here and joined the freedom struggle. In Itaha village of Machhalishahar, the famouns freedom fighter was the elder brother of Pt. Shiva Varna Sharma. It is believed that, in the turmoil 1857 A.D., about ten thousand people of Jaunpur were martyred. In 1885, the Indian National Congress was established. A decade later, the first meeting of the Congress in the city was held in Urdu Mohalla. Several people from Jaunpur too attended the 1909 Annual convention of the Congress in Varanasi. During the First World War, a revolutionary from Jaunpur. Mujtaba Hussain, left for America to learn the technique of bomb making. Later he was arrested by the English through treachery. After the establishment of the Home Rule League in 1916, this institution started working in Jaunpur. In the non-cooperation movement of Gandhiji in 1920, Jaunpur took part with verse and zeal. During this period Motilal Nehru, Smt. Sarojini Naidu, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malviya, Shauqat Ali too toured the district and held meetings. In October 1929, Mahatma Gandhi too toured Jaunpur. In 1932, the Congress Flag was unfurled on the Municipal Board and Zila Parishad buildings. On this account, 72 people were put on trial and sentenced. Rebellion under the Quit India Movement started in the district on the 10th of August, 1942. On the 11th of Auct, 1942, several leaders of congress, students, youth and shopkeepers took out a Rally in Jaunpur city and at noon, a massive crowd entered the Collectorate premises and tried to unfurl the Tricolour Flag. The police opened fire to disperse the crowd. In the various parts of the district, the revolutionaries expressed their anger through different media. Sujanganj's Police station was burnt down. Telephone lines of Shahganj, Sarai Khwaja, Jalalganj were snapped. The Railway stations of Madiyahun, Bilawai, Badshahpur and Dobhi were damaged. At several places, the roads were cut. On 16 August 1942 while demolishing the Dhaniyamau Bridge, conflict raged between the police and the revolutionaries in the course of which to students of Singramau Jamindar Singh & Ram Adhar Singh along with Ram Padarath Chauhan and Ram Nihore Kahar became the victims of police bullets. A fair is held in Dhaniyamau at the Shahid Smarak on 16 August every year in their memory. In Machhalishahar and Uchaura, 11 people died and 17 were injured by Army's firings. Along with Hargovind Singh, Deep Narain VErma, Mujtaba Hussain and other important leaders, 196 people were arrested and sent to jails. Ramanand and Raghuraee were beaten barbarically by the police. On 23 August 1942, they were hanged from trees in Agraura village and shot. Their corpses kept hanging from the trees for three days.