Independence Day 2023: Ballia, a district in eastern Uttar Pradesh, is often called by people as Baghi Ballia. This is because the first ray of freedom broke out in Ballia itself, however, this freedom could not last for long. Along with this, the name of Mangal Pandey, who fired the first bullet in the freedom struggle of 1857, to Chandrashekhar, the young Turk of Indian politics, is associated with this Ballia district.
But in the freedom struggle, Ballia has done that feat, which has been recorded in golden words not only in Indian history but also in British history. Five years before India’s independence in 1947, the people of Ballia had freed themselves from the British rule and that too through transfer of power.
fire of quit india movement
Mahatma Gandhi started the Quit India Movement on 8 August 1942, in whose fire the entire Ballia district was also burning along with the country. Public anger was at its peak. Police stations were being burnt at various places in Ballia since 9th August. Government offices were being looted. The railway tracks were uprooted. To crush the public anger, the British government had imprisoned all the leaders of the movement. But the British forgot that it was Ballia district, where every resident does not consider himself less than a leader. Therefore, the move to put the leaders in jail, overshadowed the British themselves.
Whatever the leaderless people understood, they started doing it. On August 11, a procession of independence took place in Ballia. On August 12, a huge procession took place in Ballia and Bairia. On August 13, the students who came from Banaras to Ballia by train burnt Chitbadgaon station. On August 14, a procession of middle school children was run over by horses in Sikandarpur by the Thanedar. On August 14 itself, railway tracks were uprooted in Chitbadgaon, Tajpur, Phephna. In the same Belthara-Road, the goods train was looted and the tracks were uprooted. After this, Ballia was completely cut off from the rail service.
It was not that the British did not launch a cycle of repression to crush this movement. A large number of people were martyred in the action of Firangis, in which 7 people including Dukhi Koiri were martyred in Lohapatti, Gudri Bazar of Ballia city in police firing on 16th August, 4 people were martyred in police firing in Rasda on 17th August, on 18th August 18 people including Kaushal Kumar were martyred in the battle of hoisting the tricolor at the police station in Bairia. Thousands of people were locked up in jails. But the anger of the people was not taking its name.
Seeing the good morning of independence on 19 August 1942
The form of the revolution in Ballia was such, in front of which everyone from the village watchman to the district collector had to bow down. On August 19, people came out on the streets on foot from their homes. There was a crowd on every road coming from the rural areas of the district towards the city. Thousands of people from every corner of the district had gathered at the district jail. There was anger among the people about the oppressive action of the British.
Seeing the increasing pressure of the people gathering on the jail, British Collector JC Nigam and Police Captain Ziauddin Ahmed entered inside the jail and opened the jail gate for the second time after talking to the revolutionary leaders including Chittu Pandey. Speeches of Pandit Chittu Pandey, Radha Mohan Singh, Radhagovind Singh and Vishwanath Choubey etc. took place in the town hall Kranti Maidan. The leaders said that this release took place under the pressure of the mass movement.
Seeing the fierce attitude of the agitators, the police of more than 10 police stations of the district had become inactive. On the other hand, after the British rule was paralyzed in Ballia, on 20 August 1942, the new administration was duly announced. JC Nigam, the collector of the British rule, transferred the administration to Chittu Pandey and continued on his way.
Chittu Pandey became Collector and Pandit Mahanand Mishra Superintendent of Police
Rashtriya Swaraj government was formed in Ballia. This government was headed by a charismatic leader Chittu Pandey. The public supported the Rashtriya Swaraj Government and collected thousands of rupees as donations. In this way, Chittu Pandey and Pandit Mahanand Mishra, the first collector of Ballia district, which became independent 5 years before India’s independence, were declared Superintendents of Police.
Ballia’s re-occupation announced by BBC
On the night of 23 August, Governor General Hallett of the British Government sent Benaras Commissioner Nether Soul as the District Magistrate in charge of Ballia and sent him along with the Baloch army. Which created a massacre as soon as they came to Ballia while laying railway tracks from the Banaras side, on 23rd August in the afternoon from Buxar side under the leadership of Mark Smith by waterways and in the morning of 24th August from Azamgarh side under the leadership of Captain Murr. Reached Ballia.
The cycle of heavy repression by the British army started, during which 84 people were martyred and Ballia was again ruled by the British. All the leaders were again put in jail. The cycle of village-to-village repression started, which continued till 1944. BBC Radio announced the re-occupation of Ballia, which was enough to tell how much this rebellion had brought disgrace to the British rule all over the world. But the revolutionaries of Ballia had made history.
reverberated in the British Parliament as well
This freedom of Ballia may have lasted for a few days, but its implications were very wide. The independence of a small district, despite being surrounded by the British rule on all sides, instilled new enthusiasm in the revolutionaries, while the world was also shocked by this news. Freedom fighter Durga Prasad Gupta, who was an executive member of the Provincial Congress Committee at the time of the revolution of 1942, has written in his book ‘Freedom Struggle in Ballia’ that at the end of August, the governor of the state, Sir Hallet, sent the news to London that Ballia would be attacked again. has been captured.
In this message of the governor, there was an acceptance that the British rule in Ballia had ended. This issue also raised in the British Parliament. Then Indian Affairs Minister Emery also reiterated Hallett’s point in the Parliament. Ballia’s independence resonated in the British Parliament. In other countries of the world, it was seen as an acceptance of its defeat by the British rule.
I want to kiss the land of Ballia
Ballia’s revolution was appreciated by almost every big leader of that time. Durga Prasad Gupta writes in his book that Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the then president of the Congress, had said that I want to kiss the land of Ballia, where so many bravehearts and martyrs were born.” Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India He also appreciated the role of Ballia in the movement of 42. He had said that if I had been out of jail in 1942, I would have done the same thing that the people of Ballia had done.