Unfulfilled Promise: Family Of Cook Who Refused To Poison Mahatma Gandhi Yet To Receive Land Promised By Prez

The family of a cook, who had refused to poison Mahatma Gandhi in 1917, is yet to receive the land promised by the first President of India for his patriotic act.

In the said year, a cook named Batan Mian had defied the orders of a British officer to poison Mahatma Gandhi during Champaran Satyagraha, according to a report in PTI. After Independence, India's first President Rajendra Prasad in 1952 promised the family to give land to his family.

Mian, who bore the brunt of severe torture and displacement from his land by the British due to his patriotic act, passed away in 1957. As per widely recounted narratives of the 1917 incident, the event unfolded during Mahatma Gandhi's visit to Motihari, the former central hub of the undivided Champaran district, aimed at investigating the dire circumstances faced by indigo farmers.

British manager of an indigo plantation named Erwin had invited Gandhi for dinner and asked his cook Batak Mian to serve him milk laced with poison.

However, he disobeyed his orders and exposed the plot to save Gandhi's life. The movement of the indigo farmers, which came to be known as Champaran Satyagraha, became a historic event in the Indian freedom struggle and finally, the British were forced to accept the demands of agitating peasants.

"Our grandfather Batak Mian had informed Gandhiji about the plot. But he had to pay heavily for his patriotic act. He was jailed and brutally tortured. He was evicted from his house and forced out of the village along with his family," his grandson, Kalam Ansari (60), told PTI.

"But, it seems people have forgotten my ancestor's sacrifices. We are now living in abject poverty. Promises made by Rajendra Prasad were not fructified," he stated.

Upon learning about the challenges encountered by Mian and his family in 1950, Prasad issued instructions to the collector of the Tirhut division, encompassing six districts such as East and West Champaran, to allocate 50 acres of land to Mian and his sons Rashid Ansari, Sher Mohammed Ansari, and Mohammad Jaan Ansari.

"However, we received only six acres of the promised land near a river in Akwa Parsawni village in Dhanaura panchayat in West Champaran district. Of the six acres, five have been lost to the river due to erosion. We urge the government to allot us some land at a safer place in the district," Kalam Ansari said.

According to Dinesh Kumar Rai, the District Collector of West Champaran, six acres of land has been allocated to Mian's family. The district administration will address any concerns related to his family and implement suitable actions, he said.

Sikta assembly constituency's CPI(ML) Liberation MLA Birendra Prasad Gupta said, "The government has constructed a Batak Mian memorial museum and library near Moti Jheel in Motihari but it is not fully functional... the library also does not have books related to Mian or the freedom struggle." "I have written several letters to the authorities in this regard. People must know about the person who saved Gandhiji," Gupta stated.