First Tea garden labour Strike in Assam

 

[8] UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE

 MOVEMENT IN ASSAM FROM 1921 TO

 1947: First Tea garden labour Strike 

When the British started tea plantations in Assam the Assamese labourers could full fill the demands of the British planters. But taking advantage of their simplicity the British planters started to exploit them. Therefore the local tea labourers continued their protest against the British colonial rule. The first protest was raised in 1848.  They protested against inequality, less and irregular wages. The Assam Company paid more wages to the Chinese labourers than to the Assamese.  The local labourers got around 1.50 to 2.50 rupees, whereas the Chinese labourers got  5 to 7 rupees. The British officers of Assam Company ignored their plea repeatedly, therefore they gheroud the superintendent. Even the police atrocities could not break their will. After three days of protest, the Assam Company agreed to pay their remaining wages and also assured them that their wages will be paid in time. It was the first tea labour strike in India[1].

Later in the  Revolt of 1857, the Assam villagers who were working under the Assam Company at Nazira, struck work in support of the rebels. Under the leadership of Madhuram Koch, the contractor and the tea labours, organized a strike in the tea garden of the company.  The tea planters became apprehensive seeing the attitudes of the tea garden labours. Madhuram Koch was tried on 30 January 1858 and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for seven years[2].

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[1] . Kakati, Robin, BharatarSwadhinataSangramAruAsom ( in Assamese), page – 19.

[2]  Dr. Ajit Kr. Dutta, ManiramDewan and the Contemporary Assamese Society, Jorhat 1990. P-176