Bageshwar. There was a time when India was under the British. During his reign, he brutally tortured the people of India. One of these evil practices was the Coolie Begar system, in which he used to make the people of Kumaon work as coolies. This evil practice ended on the banks of Saryu in Bageshwar. In memory of this bloodless revolution, pictures of the Coolie Begar agitators are still present on the banks of Saryu. While talking exclusively to Local 18, senior citizen and expert of Bageshwar, Inder Singh Parihar, says that the protest against the Coolie Begar system took place for the first time in Bageshwar itself. After the efforts were successful, other districts and states also adopted this bloodless revolution and freed India from the black laws of the British.
He said that the Saryu coast has special significance in raising the voice of that bloodless revolution. Even today, Saryu beach is definitely involved in all the important movements of the district. The movement to end the Coolie Begar system is also known as the Bloodless Revolution, in which more than 10,000 people participated at that time and witnessed the end of Coolie Begar system on the banks of Saryu. The main heroes of this revolution were Badridatt Pandey and Hargovind Pant.
How did the Coolie Begar system end?
The Coolie Begar system ended in 1921 in Bageshwar, Uttarakhand. That day was of Makar Sankranti. There was a large scale movement against coolie forced labor on the banks of river Saryu. In this, the head porters of all the villages had arrived with the registers and to end the tradition, these registers were drowned in the Saryu river. Then the British tried to stop them but the crowd was so huge that the British had to run away with their tails down. Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi also came to Bageshwar after being influenced by this movement. Common people and many agitators took part in it. People coming from different villages had turned it into a huge demonstration. It started from Saryu coast. There was a flag at the front of the procession, in which it was written – Stop Coolie Begar.
What was Coolie Begar system?
Under the coolie-begar system, the British used to get the people of Kumaon to do their work without paying them. In this practice, local people were required to provide free transportation for the luggage of traveling British officials. For this, the chiefs in each village had to provide a certain number of porters for a certain period. There was a register for this work, in which the names of all the villagers were written. The British often forced Indians to do disgusting jobs, such as washing their clothes, cleaning feces, picking up garbage, etc. Due to this practice, the British used to physically and mentally exploit the local people.
Tags: Bageshwar News, British Raj, Ground Report, Local18, Uttarakhand news
FIRST PUBLISHED : December 13, 2024, 10:50 IST
