Recently, Prime Minister Modi said that to crush the Mangarh rebellion, the tribals were brutally murdered in Mangarh, but this massacre was not given a proper place in history, but now the time has come that we should also listen to these important events of history and Understand.
The Prime Minister has ensured to the Bhil tribals of Mangarh on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border that the sacrifices made by the tribals during the freedom struggle will be given due importance in history. The Prime Minister also lauded the role of Govind Guru in the movement launched by the tribals in the Banswara region in 1913 against colonial rule.
Govind Giri, also known as Govind Guru, was a social and religious reformer in the early 1900s in the tribal-dominated frontier areas of the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. He encouraged his followers to have dhuni (fire pit) and hoist the nishan (flag) outside their homes. Govindagiri criticized the treatment of women in the upper castes and argued that tribal practices were much better for women.
The Mangarh massacre (17 November 1913) took place six years before the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. It is also known as Adivasi Jallianwala.
The soldiers of the British Indian Army fired indiscriminately at the Bhil protesters demanding an end to bonded labour. The movement of the Bhil tribe was challenging the colonial government as well as the mistakes of the princely states in which they were living.
Around 1,500 Bhil tribals and forest dwellers died in this incident. This came to be known as the Mangarh massacre. In fact, the movement was initiated by Guru Gobindgiri, who took a stand against the rulers of the local princely states forcing the Bhils into unpaid labor i.e. begari, high tax rates and high land revenue rates.
The representatives of Govindgiri, the leader of this movement, presented a list of complaints and demands against the Rajput states, after which the British called on the Bhils to leave Mangarh Hill before November 15, 1913. This was followed by the princes of Dungarpur, Banswara and Sindh princely states. Put pressure on the colonial government, which later sent the Mewar Bhil Corps (Army) to attack Mangarh Hill.
According to Bhil’s oral statements and subsequent records, more than 1,500 men, women and children were killed and many were injured in the indiscriminate firing.
In 1952, an annual fair was set up at Mangarh in memory of Guru Gobindgiri and his disciples. The demand for national monument status to Mangarh Dham in Rajasthan is “long pending”. If the government takes initiative in this direction, it will honor the importance of the Bhils who sacrificed their lives in the Mangarh massacre in one of the most disgusting chapters in Indian history.