What was the name of Mahatma Gandhi’s 1917 campaign supporting indigo farmers in Bihar?

Mahatma Gandhi’s 1917 campaign supporting indigo farmers in Bihar was the Champaran Satyagraha.

The campaign took place in the Champaran district of Bihar, where European indigo planters compelled many tenant farmers to grow indigo under exploitative arrangements. Indigo cultivation reduced the land available for food crops, while changing market conditions made the system increasingly burdensome for cultivators.

Raj Kumar Shukla, a local cultivator, persuaded Gandhi to investigate the farmers’ complaints. Gandhi’s arrival led colonial officials to order him to leave the district. He refused, accepted the legal consequences, and turned the case into a public test of official authority. Investigations documented the farmers’ grievances, and the government eventually appointed a committee that included Gandhi.

The resulting reforms did not eliminate every rural problem, but the campaign became Gandhi’s first major satyagraha in India. It is distinct from the Kheda campaign of 1918, which concerned land revenue relief in Gujarat, and from the Ahmedabad textile workers’ dispute.