Modern History of Bihar

After the Battle of Buxar(1764), the British East India Company obtained the diwani rights for Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. In 1935, certain portions of Bihar were reorganized into the separate province of Orissa. Again, in 2000, 18 administrative districts of Bihar were separated to form the state of Jharkhand. Babu Kunwar Singh of Jagdishpur and his army’s as well as countless other persons from Bihar, contributed to the India’s First war of Independence 1857. Baikuntha Shukla another great nationalist from Bihar who was hanged for murdering phanindranath Ghosh who had become a government approver which led to hanging of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru a key member of the revolutionary party. Baikunth was commissioned to plan the execution of Ghosh as an act of ideological vendetta which he carried out successfully on November 1932. He was arrested and tried for the killing. Baikunth was convicted and hanged in Gaya Central Jail on May 14, 1934. He was only 28 years old.
Mahatma Gandhi started the freedom movement in India by his Satyagraha in the champaran district of Bihar at the request of Raj Kumar Shukla – against the British. Raj Kumar Shukla drew the attention of Mahatma Gandhi, who had just returned from South Africa, to the plight of the peasants suffering under an oppressive system established by European indigo planters. Gandhiji’s entry into the India’s Struggle for freedom. On his arrival at Motihari, the district headquarters Gandhiji along with his team of eminent lawyers comprising of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. Anugrah Narayan sinha, Brajkishore parsad and Ram Nayami parsad which he handpicked participate in the satyagraha were ordered to leave by the next available train which train they refused to do and Gandhiji was arrested.
Raj Kumar Shukla has been described by Gandhiji in his “Atmakatha”, as a man whose suffering gave him the strength to rise against the odds. Gandhiji reached Patna on 10 April, 1917 and on 16 April he reached motihari accompanied by Raj Kumar Shukla. Under Gandhiji’s leadership the historic "Champaran Satyagraha" began. The contribution of Raj Kumar Shukla is reflected in the writing of Dr. Rajendra parsad, first President of India, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Acharya Kriplani and of course, Mahatma Gandhi himself. Mahatma Gandhi received the spontaneous support of a cross section of people, including Dr. Rajendra Prasad, who ultimately became the first President of India, Bihar Kesari Sri Krishna Sinha, who became the first Chief Minister of Bihar, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, who ultimately became the first finance minister of Bihar and Brajkishore Prasad.

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