(1st Part)
A few merchants came to
India at a time when Europeans were competing for geographical discoveries and
colonization. After a long period of retaliation, their rule in India was established
almost two hundred years old. At that time Europeans were dominated by the
French. Not only in Europe but in the whole world at that time the superpower
was dominated by the French. The British needed a lot of money to defeat the
French in this domination. And the British were able to defeat the French by
establishing their colony in India and achieving that economic prosperity. The
British exploited the Indians to expand their dominance, enriching Britain and
almost destroying India. The first direct step of the British to dominate India
was the victory of their strategy in the battle of Palashi in Bengal. They then
gradually established their rule over the whole of India from Bengal.
1757 June 23: Battle of
Palashi: At the Battle of Palashi, the English rulers begin their
empire in India by defeating Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah through farce, treachery and
deception. From then on, the long history of almost two hundred years of Indian
subjugation began. The history of the struggle of the Indians against the
British rule started from that time.
In 1760:
Mir Zafar, the traitor through whom the British began to pull the ropes of
power in India, was removed from the throne and his son-in-law Mir Qasim was
pardoned in 1960. Freedom-loving Mir Qasim was the first to revolt against the
British. Mir Qasim ascended the throne and saw that the peasant society of Suba
Bengal, the weavers and the merchants were all uneasy about the oppression of
the English workers at Bofani. In a letter to the English chief Jankitart in
Calcutta, he wrote:
Your employees forcibly snatch goods from farmers and merchants. Either it does not pay the price, or it pays only a quarter of the price. Use your cowboys as if they are Zamindars, Talukdars or Maliks.
Due to Nawab Mir Qasim's
hostile attitude towards the British, Mir Qasim became an eyesore to the
British. As a result, Mir Qasim was dethroned from Bengal. In 1764, the British
defeated the Nawab at the Battle of Boxer and Bengal was annexed by the
British. In this defeat Bengal was completely taken over by the British.
Battle of Boxer in 1764: The
battle of Boxer in 1764, the armies of Mir Qasim, Nawab Sujaud-Daula of Ayodhya
and the fugitive King Shah Alam of Delhi were defeated by the British. The
Nawab and the king bowed down. But Mir Qasim did not give up. Mir Qasim died in
1777 while on the run. He was the first defeated Nawab of India's freedom
struggle.
In 1765:
On 12 October in 1765, Governor Clive received a decree of civil charter from
Bengal, Bihar and Orissa from Emperor Shah Alam II. In other words, instead of
donating Tk 26 lakh a year to Emperor Shah Alam, the East India Company got the
exclusive right to collect revenue from Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. In the same
year, they also snatched the right to control the administrative system from
Mir Jafar's son Nazmudullah, who replaced Mir Qasim.
In 1769-70: (Bengali calendar
in 1176) Famine of the Seventy-Six: One-third of the people
of Bengal and the adjoining provinces of Bengal died of famine negative impact
of Dual Rule Policy.
Bankim chandra writes in Anandamath-
“People started begging first. Then who begs. ..... sell cows, sell plows, sell plows. Then I started selling the girl. Then the wife began to sell. Then who buys the girl, the boy, the wife? ... began to eat the leaves of the tree as food. Began to eat grass. Weeds began to eat. Icarus and the wild ones began to eat dogs, rats and cats. Many escaped, and those who did not escape began to die of disease by eating inedible food.”
But even that year (1771)
the net revenue of the English surpassed the revenue of the previous sixteen
years of crop production.
(To be continued)
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