The Politics of Mass Mobilisation: Eastern Uttar Pradesh, c. 1920-1940

Eastern U.P. constituted by Benares, Ghazipur, Ballia and Azamgarh is not only known as, culturally and traditionally, a rich Bhojpuri region but it was also politically sensitive. During the national movement particularly in Gandhian age the people of this region were very much active. They participated in Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22) and Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-33) at a large scale. People’s grievances against the colonial government assumed such a proportion that during the Quit India Movement, they rebelled against the British government; and in Ballia district they even formed a nationalist government under a local Congress leader Chittu Pandey.