The United Provinces, or present-day Uttar Pradesh, was where the initial uprisings of the First War of Independence took place, and was at the forefront of the Indian Independence Movement. Several important nationalist leaders came from this region like Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Purushottam Das Tandon.
During the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930-31, farmers from all over the United Provinces arrived for the ‘kisan conference’ at Allahabad. Nehru was one of the speakers at the conference and got to know of the struggles of this hard-working yet marginalized community first hand.
They poured out their woes to him and he was deeply moved. The farmers had to pay landlords tax which was in turn paid to the government. The landlords .exploited the peasants and collected as much money as they could. If they did not pay, they were driven off the land.
They led poor and miserable lives. Nehru spoke to them and encouraged them. A no-tax campaign was launched at the conference that was taken up enthusiastically by the farming community and spread all through the United Provinces. In Nehru’s own words, “The no-tax movement in the United Provinces shifted the centre of gravity from the urban to the rural areas” and gave the movement a broader scope. Under the leadership of Nehru, the farmers joined the national movement in large numbers.
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