Here's The Story Of Pir Muhammad Munis, A Hindi Journalist And Unsung Hero Of Champaran Satyagraha
After witnessing the desolate condition of farmers in 1917, Mahatma Gandhi started his first Satyagrah, the Champaran Satyagrah, a landmark struggle for the rights of indigo farmers in Bihar.
The Champaran Satyagraha is an unforgettable landmark in India¡¯s struggle for freedom. In the earlier years of the 20th century, farmers were suffering due to colonial British policies and in Bihar¡¯s Champaran region, conditions had become unbearable. It was then, in 1917, that Mahatma Gandhi decided to start his first Satyagraha, which significantly changed the framework of the struggle for Independence. Amongst the thousands of natives who had vowed to fight for freedom was Pir Muhammad Munis.
Munis dedicated his whole life to freeing his nation from the clutches of the British Raj while conserving its social fabric. He took it upon himself to maintain communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims in India. His journalistic aesthetics became the carrier for a social movement at the time. Born in the era of slavery, he chose the path of revolution (Inquilaab) while he was still a child and his weapon of choice was the pen. He championed the issues of local farmers with conviction so strong, it shook the foundations of the British rule.
At a time when Urdu, Persian and English were spoken among the educated elite in north India, Munis took a stand and worked hard to make Hindi a popular spoken and written language.
A Hindi journalist par excellence
The colonisers could not tolerate this odious stand of Munis and as a result declared him a ¡°Badmash Patrakar¡±. According to British documents: "Pir Muhammed Munis is actually a dangerous and hoodlum journalist who through his questionable literature, brought in light the sufferings of a backward place like Champaran in Bihar. And influenced Mr Gandhi to visit Champaran."
Interestingly, the suburbs around district Champaran, especially the places near the Indigo factories had started voicing their issues in 1915 itself. So, even before the arrival of Gandhi in 1917, the revolution had started. This could be confirmed by a report published by the Bihar Special Branch Intelligence dated March 4, 1916, which states ¨C ¡°It is also rumored in the Dehat that Gandhi, who has once agitated Indians in South Africa is coming here to deliver lectures.¡± This discussion was the result of a pamphlet written by Munis.
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It is also said that Gandhiji learned Hindi in Champaran and Munis played a key role in this. Before going there, Gandhiji only knew his native language Gujarati and English and took all his early notes in English. Subsequently, when the need arose, Munis made sure that Gandhiji learns Hindi and use it whenever required.
Pir Muhammad Munis accompanied a local farmer Rajkumar Shukla, to the Lucknow Conference (for Congress Party) along with his close friend Harivansh Sahay. After coming back to Champaran, Rajkumar Shukla wrote a letter to Gandhi ji on February 27, 1917 which left a deep impact on him. This only strengthened his intentions of visiting Champaran. Actually, this was the letter which Rajkumar Shukla got written by Munis. The principal of Patna college and Historian K. K. Dutta found this letter at Munis' home.
Raising issues of Champaran
After that, on March 22, 1917, Pir Muhammed Munis himself wrote a letter to Gandhi, in which he raised many pivotal questions regarding Champaran. In response to this letter, Gandhi jiinquired how he could get to Muzaffarpur and if arrangements could be made for him to stay in Champaran for three days. This letter was yet to be received by Munis when Gandhi ji sent a telegram to Rajkumar Shukla, informing him about his visit to Kolkata and asking Shukla to visit him there.
When Gandhi ji came to Champaran to commence the struggle against the Britishers, Pir Muhammed Munis remained with him throughout the journey. He cooked for Gandhi ji and served him whole heartedly. When the British government prepared a list of 32 individuals who were helping Gandhi, the tenth name was his. They began to identify Munis as a major ally of Gandhi.
A letter, written by W.H. Lewis, sub division officer to the commissioner of Tirhut division read, ¡°¡ Mr Gandhi got offers of assistance, the most prominent is Pir Muhammad. I have not full details of his career, but either Whitty or Marsham could give them. He is, I believe, a convert to Muhammadanism and was a teacher in the Raj School. He was dismissed from his post for virulent attacks on local management published in or about 1915 in the press. He lives in Bettiah and works as press correspondent for the Pratap of Lucknow, a paper which distinguished itself for its immoderate expressions on Champaran Questions¡ Pir Muhammad is the link between this Bettiah class of mostly educated and semi-educated men and the next class, i.e. the Raiyats¡¯ own leaders¡¡±
It needs to be noted here, that W.H. Lewis did not know that Pratap was a Kanpur based newspaper and not one based in Lucknow. Munis was not the teacher of Bettiah Raj school, he taught in Guru Training School. He was not a converted Muslim but he was a Muslim by birth. His father's name was Fatingan Miyaan. The commissioner of Tirhut division, then sent a report in May 1917 which clearly stated - "Two persons are helping much and supplying the party with lot of materials viz (1) Pir Muhammad, who subscribes all the articles to paper, ¡®Pratap¡¯ of Cawnpore and who wrote the proscribed pamphlet ¡®Champaran ke Praja par Atyachar¡¯, (2) Raj Kumar Shukla of Satwaria, a village near Chanpatia.¡±
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Gandhi ji went to Bettiah on 22nd April, 1917 for the first time. He stayed at Hazarimal Dharmshala for a while then went to see Pir Muhammad Munis' mother. Thousands of friends of Munis were delighted to welcome Gandhi. Munis had proved himself to be a mujahid-e-azadi and had dedicated his whole life to jang-e-azadi. Gandhi too, loved Munis with all his heart and soul. In fact, it was Munis' revolutionary words that had drawn Gandhi to Champaran.
Banarsidas Chaturvedi wrote about Munis in his autobiography, ¡°Who will tell the complete tales of struggles that were made by Munis for Champaran? It should be noted that as much as Munis has done to bring the attention of people towards Champaran, no other writer has done that¡±.
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, while paying tribute to Munis when he died, wrote in his newspaper, Pratap, ¡°We have the utmost sorrow that Pir Muhammed Munis of Bettiah, Champaran district has died. We have the privilege to see such souls who are quietly lying aside. The world doesn¡¯t come to know anything about their issues. The lesser these sons of Mother India are renowned, the more profound is their work, the more philanthropic.¡±
He further wrote, ¡°You recited the dreadful story of Champaran to Gandhi ji and this was a result of your hard-work only that Mahatma Gandhi visited Champaran which made this land a pious place and the place which is unerasable in the pages of history¡±.
Afroz Alam Sahil is an independent journalist and author based in Delhi
