Question

Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as being resolute?

Answer 1

Hint: The context of the above question is given in the chapter ‘Indigo’. It is an excerpt taken from the book- The Life of Mahatma Gandhi written by Louis Fischer. It is one of the best books written by Mahatma Gandhi.

Complete answer:
Rajkumar Shukla was an illiterate peasant from Champaran, a district in the foothills of the Himalayas near the Kingdom of Nepal. He was a sharecropper who had gone to attend the annual convention of the Indian National Congress party in Lucknow in December of 1916.

He had gone to the convention to meet Gandhiji, to complain about the unfair landlord system in Bihar.
He requested Gandhiji to accompany him to Champaran. However, due to his busy schedule and a number of other commitments, Gandhiji could not do so. Therefore, for months, Rajkumar accompanied Gandhiji to all parts of India wherever Gandhiji had his meetings. Rajkumar did not give up.

Seeing his conviction, Gandhiji agreed to go with him after attending a meeting at Calcutta. They boarded their train for Patna, from Calcutta. It was the resolve of Rajkumar Shukla that brought Gandhi to Champaran and made the first civil disobedience movement successful. Gandhiji brought together the lawyers in Bihar, the indigo planters in Bihar and made them realize the power of unity. He stayed in Champaran for 7 months straight and regularly visited after that. This effort for poor peasants shaped the idea of new India’s political discourse.

Therefore Rajkumar Shukla is described as being ‘resolute’ because even after being told about the prior engagements of Gandhi at Cawnpore and other parts across the county, he doesn't quit and continues to accompany Gandhi everywhere. His resolution and determination finally impress Gandhi and therefore the latter complies along with his request.

Note: The landlord system in Bihar against which Rajkumar Shukla was primarily fighting was related to the Indigo plantation. Indigo was the main commercial crop at that time. Thus, it must have fetched a good price. The landlords had made the peasants sign a long term contract whereby the peasants were required to grow Indigo on 15% of their land and hand over the entire production in the form of rent. This was unfair to the farmers.