A British manager of an Indigo plantation known as Erwin in popular memory, decided to do something. He invited Gandhiji for dinner at his house which Gandhiji gladly accepted. Gandhi had absolutely no clue that behind Erwin’s invitation was a sinister plot to assassinate him. The British manager had coerced his cook named Batak Mian to serve Gandhi a glass of milk laced with poison (in some versions of the story Batak Mian was supposed to poison Gandhi’s food). Erwin also promised Batak Mian with handsome rewards. When the moment came, the poor cook did serve Gandhi the poisoned glass of milk, but while doing so he also told Gandhi about the poison, exposed the conspiracy and broke into tears. Mahatma Gandhi escaped unhurt.After his plot failed, and British manager came down heavily upon Batak Mian. Batak Mian was dismissed from work, arrested and tortured. His land was auctioned, house was turned into a crematorium and family was forced to leave the village. The British Raj treated Batak Mian like a criminal because he refused to kill a man!Rajendra Prasad, who went on to become the first president of India, witnessed the entire episode. His memory of the incident and a chance encounter saved Batak Mian from absolute obscurity from public memory. In the early 1950, Dr Rajendra Prasad visited Motihari. He was supposed to address a small gathering. Dr Girish Mishra, an economist and columnist who taught at Kirorimal College, Delhi University, was present at the gathering as a school student. In an article published in The Mainstream titled Gandhi’s Champaran Struggle, he mentions the incident because of which the story of Batak Mian came to light.Recounting the incident, Dr Mishra wrote, “In the early 1950s, when the then President of India Rajendra Prasad, while going somewhere…was addressing a small public gathering [at Motihari] there was commotion because security people were not allowing a very old person to enter. Rajendra Prasad saw this and went down and escorted that man and made him sit by his side. For a few minutes he talked to him…and then narrated how a planter, Erwin, tried his best to induce Batak Mian to mix poison in the food and asked the audience, if he had agreed to do the bidding of the planter, none of us including Gandhi would have been alive and nobody could say about the impact on India’s freedom struggle!”This speech established the story of Batak Mian’s selfless and courageous act, in the popular memory of the region making him a part of the folklore.
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