Pariksha SaathiLesson 3 of 10 · Haryana General Knowledge
Modern Haryana: British Rule, 1857 and the Freedom Struggle
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Under the Company
The Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon (1803) brought the Haryana region under the East India Company. It was first run as part of the Delhi Territory under the British Resident at Delhi and in the 1830s was placed under the North-Western Provinces. Several small states survived under British protection, such as Jhajjar, Ballabhgarh, Farrukhnagar, Bahadurgarh, Dujana, Loharu and Pataudi, while Jind and other Sikh states lay to the north. Heavy revenue demands and years of famine left the peasants restless, which helps explain the strength of the revolt in 1857.
The revolt of 1857 in Haryana
When the sepoys rose at Meerut on 10 May 1857 and marched to Delhi, the revolt spread quickly across the region. Troops rose at Hansi and Hisar, and peasants of many communities joined in, while the Meo peasants of Mewat took up arms under Sadruddin. At Hansi the merchant Lala Hukam Chand Jain was later hanged for helping the rebels. Raja Nahar Singh of Ballabhgarh, who guarded Delhi's southern approach, was hanged in Delhi in January 1858, and Nawab Abdur Rahman Khan of Jhajjar was also executed.
Rao Tula Ram and Nasibpur
The strongest resistance in the south came from Rao Tula Ram, the Ahir chief of Rampura near Rewari, who took control of the Rewari area, raised troops and sent help to the rebels in Delhi. After Delhi fell to the British in September 1857, a column under Colonel Gerrard marched against him. On 16 November 1857 the two forces met at Nasibpur near Narnaul; Gerrard was killed, but the rebels were defeated with heavy losses, and Rao Kishan Gopal and other leaders died on the field. Tula Ram escaped, joined Tatya Tope, later went to Afghanistan to seek help and died in Kabul in 1863. He is honoured in Haryana as a hero of 1857.
The punishment of 1858
The British punished the whole region. In 1858 it was taken away from the North-Western Provinces and merged into the Punjab province, where it remained a neglected, Hindi-speaking south-eastern part until 1966. The states of Jhajjar, Ballabhgarh, Farrukhnagar and Bahadurgarh were confiscated; parts of Jhajjar were given to loyal princes, Dadri to Jind, Narnaul to Patiala and Bawal to Nabha. Many rebel villages were fined or lost their land.
Reformers and early leaders
Social and political awakening came largely through the Arya Samaj, which spread widely in the region after Swami Dayanand's visits. Lala Lajpat Rai began practising law at Hisar in 1886, worked for the Arya Samaj and served on the Hisar municipality; he later became the 'Punjab Kesari' of the extremist wing of the Congress (Lal-Bal-Pal) and died in 1928 after being injured in a police lathi charge during the protest against the Simon Commission at Lahore. The Hindi journalist Babu Balmukund Gupt, from Gudiyani village (then in Rohtak district, now in Rewari district), mocked colonial rule in his satirical 'Shivshambhu ke Chitthe'.
Sir Chhotu Ram and the Unionist Party
Sir Chhotu Ram (1881-1945), born at Garhi Sampla in Rohtak district, became the leading voice of the peasants of Punjab. He started the weekly Jat Gazette at Rohtak in 1916 and in 1923 co-founded the National Unionist Party with Sir Fazl-i-Husain, a cross-community party of rural landholders that governed Punjab under provincial autonomy. As a minister in the Punjab government he pushed through laws that freed farmers from moneylenders' debts and returned mortgaged land, among them the Punjab Relief of Indebtedness Act 1934 and the Restitution of Mortgaged Lands Act 1938; farmers called them 'golden laws'. He is remembered as 'Deenbandhu' and 'Rahbar-e-Azam'.
National movements
The region joined every phase of the national struggle. The Rowlatt Satyagraha of 1919 brought hartals to Rohtak, Hisar, Bhiwani and Ambala. During the Non-Cooperation Movement Gandhiji visited Bhiwani in 1920, and Pt. Neki Ram Sharma of Bhiwani, the 'Haryana Kesari', led the Congress in the region, and in 1923 Pt. Shri Ram Sharma of Jhajjar started the nationalist weekly Haryana Tilak. The Salt Satyagraha (1930) and the Quit India Movement (1942) saw arrests across the region, and thousands of soldiers from Haryana joined Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army. After Independence the princely states of the region joined India; Jind became part of PEPSU, which merged into Punjab in 1956.
Key facts
- 1803: the Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon brought Haryana under the British; it was run as part of the Delhi Territory and later the North-Western Provinces.
- 1857 in Haryana: Raja Nahar Singh of Ballabhgarh was hanged in Delhi (January 1858); Nawab Abdur Rahman Khan of Jhajjar was executed; Lala Hukam Chand Jain of Hansi was hanged.
- Battle of Nasibpur (near Narnaul), 16 November 1857: Rao Tula Ram's forces against the British; Colonel Gerrard was killed but the rebels lost; Tula Ram died in Kabul in 1863.
- 1858: as punishment the region was moved from the North-Western Provinces to Punjab; Jhajjar, Ballabhgarh, Farrukhnagar and Bahadurgarh were confiscated; Dadri went to Jind, Narnaul to Patiala, Bawal to Nabha.
- Lala Lajpat Rai: practised law at Hisar from 1886; Arya Samaj; 'Punjab Kesari'; died in 1928 after the lathi charge during the Simon Commission protest at Lahore.
- Sir Chhotu Ram (1881-1945): born at Garhi Sampla (Rohtak); Jat Gazette 1916; co-founded the Unionist Party in 1923 with Fazl-i-Husain; 'Deenbandhu'; debt-relief laws for farmers.
- Pt. Neki Ram Sharma of Bhiwani: 'Haryana Kesari'. Gandhiji visited Bhiwani during the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920).
- Babu Balmukund Gupt (Gudiyani, then in Rohtak district, now in Rewari district): Hindi journalist, author of 'Shivshambhu ke Chitthe'. Pt. Shri Ram Sharma started the weekly Haryana Tilak in 1923.
Quick revision
1803 Surji-Anjangaon; Delhi Territory, then North-Western Provinces; 1857: Nahar Singh (Ballabhgarh) and Abdur Rahman Khan (Jhajjar) executed; Rao Tula Ram of Rewari, Nasibpur 16 Nov 1857, Col. Gerrard killed, Tula Ram died in Kabul 1863; 1858 region merged into Punjab; Lajpat Rai at Hisar 1886; Chhotu Ram born Garhi Sampla 1881, Jat Gazette 1916, Unionist Party 1923, Deenbandhu; Neki Ram Sharma Haryana Kesari; Gandhiji at Bhiwani 1920; Jind to PEPSU, Punjab 1956.