Pesant Revolt in 19th century Bengali newspapers / উনিশ শতকের বাংলা সংবাদপত্রে কৃষক বিদ্রোহ

Abstract

Agriculture has been the mainstay of the Indian and Bengali economy, yet farmers have historically been the most exploited and deprived class. Especially after the Permanent Settlement, the farmers of Bengal were utterly devastated. While one peasant revolt after another occurred from the late 18th century through the 19th century, the newly educated modern middle class did not support these uprisings. Bengali literature played a significant role in this indifference. Not only novels and plays but also prominent articles, periodicals, and newspapers spoke against the peasant struggles. In fact, most newspapers were patronized by the British Government or the landlord class. Moreover, both the writers and the readers belonged to the so-called ‘bourgeois class’. So, the peasant crisis, discontent, and struggles were nothing more than the despoilment of a barbaric society to them.

            This article aims to show how the educated Bengali society accepted British rule as a model of ideal governance and how the newly formed absentee landlord class consistently received support from writers and newspapers. Although the 19th-century Bengali intellectuals often tried to understand the suffering of the peasants, they could never transcend their own class boundaries and connect with them. Despite showing sympathy, they did not support any revolts except the Indigo Rebellion. Some newspapers, like Grambarta Prakashika and Satsanga, played a vital and exceptional role in expressing the true needs and crises of farmers’ lives. However, the majority of newspapers and reports failed to represent social history impartially. As a result, the Santal Revolt was portrayed as a robbery, and the Barasat Revolt appeared as a communal riot in the news reports of the 19th century.

             By highlighting various examples from Bengali newspaper reporting of that era, this article aims to show how class conflict developed in the Calcutta-oriented modern Bengal. While post-Chaitanya medieval literature emphasized the lives of common people, including farmers, this study will identify specific features illustrating how the modern Renaissance alienated the middle-class intelligentsia from the masses.