Uttar Pradesh: 1857 and the freedom movement

The First War of Indian Independence began at Meerut on 10 May 1857, and the struggle soon spread across what is now Uttar Pradesh. District records describe local rulers, sepoys and villagers joining the fight in 1857-58, and later the region saw the Chauri Chaura incident, the Kakori action and the Quit India protests.

1857: Meerut

• Meerut had become a major British military centre. On 10 May 1857, aggrieved Indian soldiers of the British Army took control of the city in one day.
• They marched to the Red Fort in Delhi, joined on the way by common people; by the next morning, the Red Fort had fallen to the freedom fighters.
• It took the British one year to put down the struggle, which paved the way for the organised national movement. Its 150th anniversary was marked in 2007.

1857: Awadh and Bahraich

• On February 7, 1856, Resident General Outram declared Company rule over Awadh; Bahraich became a division centre.
• Peshwa Nana Saheb met local rulers at a place now called "Gullabeer"; the kings of Bhinga, Baundi, Chahlari, Rehua and Charda promised to fight till death.
• Three British officers, C. W. Canlif, Lt. Lag Bailey and Mr. Jorden, were killed near Behram Ghat after the revolting soldiers held the boats, and the district came under the freedom fighters.
• After the loss of Lucknow, King Balbhadra Singh of Chahlari died fighting near Chinhat on 27 Nov. 1857.
• On 26 Dec. 1858, the British captured and ruined Nanpara; after fighting at the Bargadia and Masjidia forts and at Dharmanpur, the remaining soldiers on the Rapti were driven away to Nepal.

1857: Shahjahanpur

• Nana Sahib Peshwa, princes from Delhi, Maulvi Ahamad Ullah Shah of Faizabad and Khan Bahadur Khan of Bareilly met at Shahjahanpur to plan the struggle.
• Maulvi Ahamad Ullah Shah began his struggle at Faizabad and died at Powayan (Shahjahanpur).

1857-58: Kunwar Singh and Ballia

• News of Meerut reached the area in May 1857; on 3 June the struggle broke out at Azamgarh, and Ballia fell into disorder. Fighters broke open the Sikandarpur jail.
• In March 1858, with British troops concentrated at Lucknow, Kunwar Singh crossed the Ganga and marched through Ballia into Azamgarh.
• On 15 April 1858 he besieged British troops at Azamgarh, then withdrew in good order to Natthupur. At Naghai he held Brigadier Douglas at bay while securing two lines of retreat.
• On 21 April, Douglas made a surprise attack at Maniar; Kunwar Singh's men regrouped at Santiwar and that night crossed the Ganga at Sheopur Ghat, about 16 km below Ballia.
• By 22 April 1858 he reached Jagdishpur (Bihar) with about 1,000 followers, having lost one arm and been wounded in the thigh.
• With no British troops left there, Ballia passed into the hands of the freedom fighters; Douglas finally defeated them by the winter.

Early National Movement in Ballia

• In 1908, when B.G. Tilak was sentenced to six years' transportation, Ballia saw shop closures and student strikes; about 25 students were expelled after a lathi charge.
• 1917: protests against the internment of Annie Besant (Home Rule movement of 1916); at least five persons were arrested.
• 1919: against the Rowlatt Act, Ballia observed a national week from 6 April to 13 April; this led to the forming of a district Indian National Congress Committee.

Chauri Chaura, Kakori and Quit India

• Chauri Chaura (Gorakhpur), 4 Feb. 1922: volunteers burnt the police station, killing nineteen policemen; Mahatma Gandhi then withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement launched in 1920.
• Shahjahanpur revolutionaries: Ramprasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan and Roshan Singh. Bismil formed the Mitravedi Sangh (led by Gendalal Dixit) and later the Hindustan Association with Yogesh Chatterjee.
• Kakori, 9 August 1925: Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan and Lahri took government funds near Kakori railway station. 40 persons were arrested on 26th December 1925; the case was decided on 19 December 1927.
• Bismil was hanged at Gorakhpur, Ashfaqullah Khan at Faizabad and Roshan Singh at Malaka (Allahabad).
• 1940: Jawahar Lal Nehru was tried in Gorakhpur district and sentenced to 4 years of rigorous imprisonment.
• Doharia (Sahjanwa Tehsil), 23 August 1942: British firing on a Quit India protest meeting killed nine; a Shaheed Smarak stands there.

Prayagraj

• The town was a centre of the 1857 war and later the heart of the freedom movement, with Anand Bhawan as its epicentre.
• In 1858, the East India Company handed India to the British Government at Minto Park.
• Mahatma Gandhi proposed his programme of non-violent resistance here. Prayagraj gave India the most Prime Ministers: Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and V.P. Singh.