How the local Tehri forces surrounded and fired on peaceful farmers of Rawain region
-Vidya Bhushan Rawat
THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK – Tiladi is an open space on the bank of river Yamuna near Barkot town in Uttarakhand state of India. In this episode of Himalaya ki Ganga, we are tracking the Yamuna Valley and some of its historical landmark.
Uttarakhand was autonomous areas and even during the British regime in India, they remain by and large independent though British had their interest in the Himalayas. The region came under the direct domain of Gurkhas ( Nepal was not a entity that time) in 1790 and remained with them till 1815 when the British forced Sigauli Treaty on them resulting in the demarcation of Nepal with British Garhwal as river Kali became de facto border between the two.
After that the British actually controlled the Tehri kingdom and confined him to Tehri while taking full control of the entire Garhwal region known as British Garhwal. They also compelled the Tehri kingdom to change its land settlement policies and ensure the forest settlement. King Kirti Shah’s death resulted in minor Narendra Shah ascending the Tehri throne. By 1927, the king was enjoying luxurious life in Europe while his administration was being run by the local Diwan named Chakradhar Juyal. They wanted to build a beautiful capital and for that needed to tax on the people. There was already a pressure for the forest settlement and hence lives of the people became more miserable. People started protesting against the brutal tax regime as their life became difficult and they became virtually caged in their land. Even fishing was prohibited. Keeping cattle, going to forest, accessing the minor forest produce became illegal while British citizen like Frederiek Wilson enjoyed the heavy forest being leased and the Pine and Chir wood being transported to Britain.
On May 30th, 1930, about five thousand natives gathered for an Azad panchayat or independent parliament to raise the issue to the official in a peaceful way on the bank of Yamuna. The Tehri Darbar refused to listen to the people and ordered its forces to surround the people and fired upon them. The military fired on unarmed peaceful people sitting for a public meeting on the bank of Yamuna, far away from the capital city or any big town yet the Darbar was not ready. over 100 people died, 196 injured. The king or his administration never apologised but the native people faced threat, intimidation and humiliation from the officials as they faced FIR against them.
Tehri Raja did not ally with the Indian freedom movement and joined Indian Union two years later in 1949 after people had raised a revolt against him. Unfortunately, the same Rajah and his family became the people’s representative in Parliament since then. No member of Parliament ever visited Tiladi memorial which many remember every year particularly on May 30th but no eyebrows are raised and nobody question their nationalism and patriotism.
Often, we ask the British to apologise for Jallianwala Bag incident and rightfully the British must tender an apology but the same historian never ask the Tehri kingdom to apologise for Tiladi massacre. So far no body in Uttarakhand ask for the same. Was it because the villains in the case were all their own caste fellows ? Uttarakhand state where the issue of Himalaya, Ganga and native people are so important yet rarely have the historians of the state written anything concrete to identify the villains of both Tiladi as well as Chipko movements. We are experts in ‘creating’ heroes but rarely have we challenged the popular narrative and asked for accountability from our own people. Is it not the hypocrisy of the intellectuals and historians for keeping silent on it. Merely remembering Tiladi and Chipko movement will not do justice unless we identify the reasons of these movements as the issues are still relevant and important for the survival as well as the historical natural identity of Uttarakhand.
