Chapter indigo: Indigo | Short Questions

Mahatma Gandhi sharply chided the prominent lawyers of Muzzafarpur because they were regularly collecting heavily exorbitant legal fees from the incredibly poor and deeply oppressed sharecroppers. Gandhi firmly realized that aggressively taking such hopeless cases to the British law courts was completely useless, as the frightened peasants were already totally crushed by the corrupt system. He passionately explained to the lawyers that genuinely freeing the poor farmers from their deep-rooted fear of the British was far more important than pursuing expensive legal battles.

The massive, completely spontaneous demonstration by thousands of fearless peasants perfectly surrounding the Motihari courthouse tremendously helped Mahatma Gandhi by thoroughly paralyzing the local British administration. The deeply baffled government officials suddenly felt entirely powerless to manage the overwhelmingly large crowd and urgently needed Gandhi's active cooperation to skillfully regulate them. This unprecedented, powerful show of absolute unity clearly demonstrated that the previously unquestioned and highly dreaded British might could indeed be fearlessly challenged and successfully resisted by ordinary, fully awakened Indians.

Mahatma Gandhi strategically agreed to the seemingly low twenty-five per cent refund precisely to successfully break the frustrating deadlock created by the stubborn British planters. He profoundly realized that the actual financial amount of the refund was practically far less important than the monumental fact that the powerful landlords were finally forced to legally surrender part of their illegally extorted money. More importantly, this historic surrender effectively shattered their previously unquestioned prestige, thereby deeply instilling massive confidence and newfound courage among the oppressed peasants.

In the Motihari court, Mahatma Gandhi passionately explained that he was caught in a profound "conflict of duties." On one hand, as a highly responsible citizen, he genuinely did not want to set a remarkably bad example by openly acting as a deliberate lawbreaker. On the extremely crucial other hand, he felt absolutely compelled to actively render the urgently needed humanitarian and national service for which he had specifically traveled to Champaran, directly obeying the much higher, supreme law of his own conscience.

Mahatma Gandhi triumphantly declared that the "battle of Champaran is won" exactly when the prominent Indian lawyers finally overcame their initial hesitation and bravely agreed to peacefully follow him into jail. Initially, the lawyers had selfishly planned to simply go home if Gandhi was imprisoned. However, their sudden, powerful realization that they needed to selflessly stand beside this brave stranger perfectly demonstrated absolute unity and massive fearlessness. This crucial shift in mindset practically guaranteed their ultimate, historic victory against the British.