Meerut:

A team of historians on Sunday visited villages mentioned in a book authored in 1858 by Robert Henry Wallace Dunlop, a British civil servant who was the then collector of Meerut and who had accompanied the British forces to collect taxes and suppress the rebellion in Baghpat villages.

The team, as well as the villagers, claim that this was the first time in the past 160 years that historians visited these people whose ancestors had actively participated in the 1857 uprising for which they had to pay a heavy price later.

Now, these historians plan to elaborately document these villages’ contribution to the freedom struggle and ensure they get the tag of ‘kranti gram (revolutionary villages)’.

Bichpuri village is one of those mentioned in the book. Dunlop, in his book ‘Service and Adventure with the Khakee Ressalah’ mentions on page 97: ‘I then came to Goojar village of Bichpooree: this had taken an active part in all Sah Mull’s misdoings, and deserved destruction.’ Sah Mull or Shah Mull was the local chieftain of this region who led the expedition against British and was considered a king in this cluster of villages.

Bichpuri village is located 15 km from Baghpat city and is one of the most backward areas of the district with just 5-6 hours of power supply everyday. 82 year-old Radhey Shyam Gurjar, a resident of the village, said, “Our elders have seen the worst of days when their land was snatched by the British and later the tax collectors snatched whatever small earnings they had. This is the first time that someone has come to our village to enquire about our history.”

When the team of historians visited these villages, residents only had stories of pain and struggle narrated to them by their ancestors who lost all their land and properties for daring to take on the might of the East India Company.

Another such village, Nimbali, which figures in the book, doesn’t even have a primary health centre, forcing villagers to travel 12 km to Baghpat for treatment. Speaking to TOI, Pramod Singh, a resident of Nimbali village, said, “Our elders tell us that after the mutiny (of 1857) was crushed, all our land were given to a zamindar by the name of ‘Naresh Lala’, who belonged to Sonepat and, hence, all our ancestors became tillers from owners. They were also forced to pay heavy taxes. Three men from our villagers were also hanged during retribution.”

One of the visiting historians, K K Sharma, associate professor of the department of history at Multanimal P C College, Modinagar, told TOI, “A few weeks ago, we came to know about the book in which there was a mention of a few villages. We decided to visit these villagers in order to get an insight into their life and lifestyles these people were leading, and the situation they were in was indeed pathetic.”

Amit Pathak, author of 1857–Living History and fellow at Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research (CAFHR), said, “These are the people whose ancestors were the first in the country to initiated the freedom struggle. These people have have been forgotten. No one ever visited them, forget about providing them with the due recognition they deserve.”

“We will certainly take it up at the highest level to ensure overall development of this region,” Pathak said.

The visit coincided with the commemoration of the oath taken by Indian sepoys on Quran and the Ganga water, not to use the cartridges allegedly made of cow and pig fat. The oath was taken on April 23, 1857, that marked the beginning of the uprising which eventually came out in the open on May 10, 1857.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Meerut News / Sandeep Rai / TNN / April 24th, 2017