Originally Published in The Times of India (Agra), May 12, 2015.
Source url: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agra/Aligarh-experimented-with-self-government-in-1857/articleshow/47253889.cms
Aligarh: The 1857 revolt began in Meerut, but gained strength as it spread. There is a popular adage about the 1857 revolt: "Meerut se jab hawa chali, Aligarh aatey andhi ban gayi." (The winds that blew from Meerut became a storm by the time they blew over Aligarh). The revolt in this region also saw a brief, 20-day experiment with local self-government, soon after British troops were repulsed.
Originally Published in The Times of India (Agra), May 12, 2015.
Source url: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agra/Aligarh-experimented-with-self-government-in-1857/articleshow/47253889.cms
Aligarh: The 1857 revolt began in Meerut, but gained strength as it spread. There is a popular adage about the 1857 revolt: "Meerut se jab hawa chali, Aligarh aatey andhi ban gayi." (The winds that blew from Meerut became a storm by the time they blew over Aligarh). The revolt in this region also saw a brief, 20-day experiment with local self-government, soon after British troops were repulsed.
Abdul Jaleel, principal of the Madrasa Islamia Arabia of Jama Masjid in Aligarh gave a call to revolt, and Hindus and Muslims joined forces in attacking the British. By May 20, 1857, Aligarh and nearby areas were in the eye of the storm of revolt. There were repeated attacks against troops of the colonial army at Khair, Tappal, Madrak and Hathras.
On June 1, British soldiers conquered Khair and killed Rao Bhupal Singh, who was leading the local revolt, and his associates. While moving towards Aligarh, the British army found itself engaging repeatedly in skirmishes with the Jats of Tappal. Soon afterwards, this battalion of British soldiers was called to Agra, leaving just a few men behind in Aligarh.
After a big part of the contingent returned to Agra, a few soldiers led by an officer who in local records is referred to as Watson, took shelter at Madrak, but was faced with an attack by revolutionaries of Koil (Aligarh).
After the British were repulsed from Aligarh, a publication brought out by the information department of the government explains, a new form of government was experimented with here – a local self-government. As Meerut, Awadh and Delhi were fighting against foreign rule, Aligarh witnessed a brief period of governance by a panchayat.
The experiment, however, was short-lived: In just 20 days, there were differences in the local leadership. However, for those 20 days, the Muslim Naseem Ullah served as collector and the Hindu Daya Shanker as his deputy.
MS Shewan, an Urdu journalist who has researched this era, said: "Aligarh demonstrated communal harmony and Hindus and Muslims came together to establish a local government, even as adjoining areas were fuming in protest against British rule."
AMU PRO Rahat Abrar, who has worked on Urdu manuscripts from the era of the revolt, said, "The revolt in Aligarh shows how a Muslim issued a fatwa for fighting against the British, and the Hindus joined Muslims to do so."