Who was RajKumar Shukla? Why did he come to Lucknow?

Hint: The context of the above question is given in the chapter ‘Indigo’ written by Louis Fischer. It is an excerpt from the book- The Life of Mahatma Gandhi. The book has been reviewed as one of the best books ever written on Gandhi by the Times Educational Supplement.

Complete answer:
Rajkumar Shukla was a weak-looking peasant from Champaran. He was a sharecropper. He was illiterate but resolute. His resolve to take Gandhi ji to Champaran resulted in the first successful Civil Disobedience movement in the history of India.

Rajkumar Shukla had gone to Lucknow to attend the annual convention of the Indian National Congress party in Lucknow in December 1916. He had gone there to complain about the unfair landlord system in Bihar. He had heard from someone that Gandhiji can help him resolve this issue. Thus, in the hope of justice, he had gone to attend the convention.

The landlord system of Bihar was unfair because the landlords had compelled all tenants to plant 15 percent of their holdings with indigo and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent. Most of the arable land in the district was divided into large Indigo estates which were owned by Englishmen and worked by Indian tenants. The chief commercial crop was indigo. Being the chief commercial crop it must have fetched a good price but giving away all the crops as rent left no profit for them.

Note: Rajkumar Jha accompanied Gandhiji to every part of India until Gandhi ji agreed to accompany him to Champaran. The visit to Champaran became historic and made people realize the importance of self-reliance and unity.