Pariksha SaathiLesson 2 of 10 · Uttar Pradesh General Knowledge
Modern Uttar Pradesh and the Freedom Struggle (1775-1950)
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How the Company took over
British control came in stages. By the Treaty of Faizabad (1775) the Nawab of Awadh ceded Banaras to the East India Company, and Warren Hastings deposed Raja Chait Singh of Banaras in 1781. In 1801 Awadh ceded Rohilkhand and the lower Doab (the Ceded Provinces), and Lake's campaign of 1803 took Aligarh and Agra from the Marathas (the Conquered Provinces); these were organised as the North-Western Provinces in 1836. Lord Dalhousie annexed Awadh itself in February 1856 on the ground of misgovernment, not under the Doctrine of Lapse, and Wajid Ali Shah was sent away to Calcutta. The annexation, a land settlement that dispossessed many taluqdars, and the fact that many sepoys of the Bengal Army came from Awadh made the region the heart of the revolt of 1857.
The revolt of 1857
The revolt began at Meerut on 10 May 1857, when sepoys freed comrades jailed for refusing the new cartridges and marched to Delhi to proclaim Bahadur Shah Zafar emperor. At Kanpur, Nana Saheb, adopted son of the last Peshwa Baji Rao II, led the rising with Tatya Tope and Azimullah Khan; General Wheeler's garrison surrendered, and the killings at Satichaura Ghat and Bibighar followed. At Lucknow, Begum Hazrat Mahal declared her son Birjis Qadr ruler and her forces besieged the Residency, where Sir Henry Lawrence was killed; Havelock and Outram reached it, Colin Campbell evacuated it, and Lucknow was retaken in March 1858. Rani Lakshmibai held Jhansi until Sir Hugh Rose stormed it in April 1858, and she died fighting near Gwalior in June 1858. Khan Bahadur Khan led at Bareilly, Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah at Faizabad and Maulvi Liaquat Ali at Allahabad. Mangal Pandey, who struck at Barrackpore near Calcutta on 29 March 1857, is generally held to have been born at Nagwa village in Ballia.
Congress sessions in UP
After the revolt, Lord Canning read Queen Victoria's Proclamation at Allahabad on 1 November 1858. The province later hosted many Congress sessions: Allahabad in 1888 (George Yule, the first British president), 1892 (W.C. Bonnerjee) and 1910 (William Wedderburn); Lucknow in 1899 (R.C. Dutt), 1916 (Ambika Charan Mazumdar) and 1936 (Jawaharlal Nehru); Banaras in 1905 (Gopal Krishna Gokhale); Kanpur in 1925 (Sarojini Naidu, the first Indian woman president); and Meerut in 1946 (J.B. Kripalani). The Lucknow session of 1916 reunited the Moderates and Extremists and produced the Lucknow Pact with the Muslim League. Peasants joined the struggle through the Awadh Kisan Sabha (1920), led by Baba Ramchandra in Pratapgarh, and the Eka movement of Madari Pasi.
Chauri Chaura and Kakori
On 4 February 1922, at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district, a crowd of Non-Cooperation volunteers who had been fired upon by the police set fire to the police station, and more than twenty policemen died. Gandhi called off the Non-Cooperation Movement at Bardoli on 12 February 1922, and many young men turned to revolutionary methods. The Hindustan Republican Association, founded in 1924 by Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Ram Prasad Bismil and others, looted government money from a train at Kakori near Lucknow on 9 August 1925. In December 1927 Bismil (Gorakhpur jail), Ashfaqullah Khan (Faizabad jail), Roshan Singh (Allahabad) and Rajendra Lahiri (Gonda jail) were hanged; Bismil, Ashfaqullah and Roshan Singh were all from Shahjahanpur. Chandrashekhar Azad escaped, helped form the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association in 1928, and died fighting in Alfred Park, Allahabad, on 27 February 1931.
Later struggle and leaders
In 1928 the Simon Commission protest at Lucknow, led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Govind Ballabh Pant, was lathi-charged. During the Quit India Movement of 1942 Chittu Pandey set up a short-lived parallel government in Ballia, a district proudly called Baghi (rebel) Ballia. Leaders from the province include Madan Mohan Malaviya, founder of Banaras Hindu University (1916); Motilal Nehru of Anand Bhawan, Allahabad; Jawaharlal Nehru; Purushottam Das Tandon; Lal Bahadur Shastri; Rafi Ahmed Kidwai of Barabanki; Acharya Narendra Dev; Ram Manohar Lohia of Akbarpur; and Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, the Kanpur editor of Pratap, who died in 1931 while trying to stop communal riots.
From United Provinces to Uttar Pradesh
Named the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh in 1902 and the United Provinces in 1937, the province formed a Congress ministry under Pant in 1937 under the Government of India Act 1935. After independence it was renamed Uttar Pradesh on 24 January 1950, two days before the Constitution came into force, keeping the familiar initials UP; the day is now celebrated as Uttar Pradesh Diwas.
Key facts
- Treaty of Faizabad 1775: Banaras ceded to the Company; 1801: Rohilkhand and the lower Doab ceded; February 1856: Awadh annexed by Dalhousie for misgovernment.
- 1857 in UP: Meerut 10 May; Kanpur Nana Saheb and Tatya Tope; Lucknow Begum Hazrat Mahal; Jhansi Rani Lakshmibai; Bareilly Khan Bahadur Khan; Faizabad Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah; Allahabad Maulvi Liaquat Ali.
- Siege of the Lucknow Residency: Henry Lawrence killed; Havelock and Outram reached it; Colin Campbell evacuated it; Lucknow retaken in March 1858.
- Queen Victoria's Proclamation was read by Lord Canning at Allahabad on 1 November 1858.
- INC sessions in UP: Allahabad 1888, 1892, 1910; Lucknow 1899, 1916, 1936; Banaras 1905; Kanpur 1925; Meerut 1946.
- Kanpur 1925: Sarojini Naidu, first Indian woman Congress president; Lucknow 1916: Lucknow Pact and reunion of Moderates and Extremists.
- Chauri Chaura (Gorakhpur), 4 February 1922: police station set on fire; Gandhi withdrew Non-Cooperation at Bardoli on 12 February 1922.
- Kakori train action, 9 August 1925 (HRA); hanged in December 1927: Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Lahiri.
- Chandrashekhar Azad died in Alfred Park, Allahabad, on 27 February 1931; Chittu Pandey's parallel government in Ballia, 1942.
- Name changes: United Provinces of Agra and Oudh 1902, United Provinces 1937, Uttar Pradesh 24 January 1950 (UP Diwas).
Quick revision
Banaras ceded 1775 (Treaty of Faizabad); Ceded Provinces 1801; NWP 1836; Awadh annexed Feb 1856 for misgovernment; 1857 began at Meerut 10 May; Nana Saheb Kanpur, Hazrat Mahal Lucknow, Lakshmibai Jhansi; Proclamation read at Allahabad 1 Nov 1858; INC Lucknow 1916 (Pact), Kanpur 1925 (Naidu), Meerut 1946; Chauri Chaura 4 Feb 1922; Kakori 9 Aug 1925; Azad died 27 Feb 1931; Ballia 1942; renamed UP 24 Jan 1950.