Krishna Nand Upreti, a tall Gandhian freedom fighter of Pithoragarh
Listen to this articleKrishna Nand Upreti, a tall Gandhian freedom fighter of Pithoragarh
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, Aug 13
Freedom movement under Mahatma Gandhi from British colonial rule remained active in Pithoragarh district which was then most interior part of country, as several highly awakened leaders from the area not only actively mobilised people for country’s freedom, but also worked on Gandhian model of village economy, fought against social evils and worked to spread education amongst masses.
Krishna Nand Upreti was one such tall figure amongst the freedom fighters from this district. Born in 1895, in Hureti, a village near Pithoragarh town and influenced by charismatic personality of Mahatma Gandhi, Upreti took Congress membership in the year 1920 and also opened first Congress office in his house at Hureti village in 1921.” The few freedom fighters of that time got a place to sit and organise the struggle under the leadership of Krishna Nand Upreti from our village,” claimed Rajesh Mohan Upreti, grandson of Krishna Nand Upreti and a teacher.
“Several other freedom fighters from Pithoragarh, namely Prayag Dutt Pant, Laxman Singh Mahar, Durga Datt Joshi, Jaman Singh Waldia have started organising people against British rule on the call of Gandhiji, after the Congress office found place in the Soor valley,” said Rajesh Mohan.
The “Kuli Begar” system also named “Kuli Uttarakhand or Kuli Bardais”, that was a blot on the region as the villagers of Kumaon region were forced to carry luggages of British officials on their shoulders and head mandatorily and without any payment, was abolished in the year 1921 at ‘Uttarayani’ festival at Bageshwar, under leadership of Badri Dutt Pandey. ” Krishna Nand Upreti organised a big contingent of people to that movement from Pithoragarh and took active part in the movement on January 14, 1921,”said Rajesh Mohan.”He not only took part in the movement on the day but also started awakening people against that humiliating system and spoke against it at public meetings held at Pithoragarh and Gangolihat on February 13 and 24, 1921, respectively,”added Upreti.
He was sentenced to stringent imprisonment for six months on March 1, 1922 for his participation against “Kuli Begar” movement. Besides taking active part in freedom movement, he also took part in several social reform movements and forest movement that erupted in the region against exploitative policies of British.
He led an anti forest settlement move in 1923 after the British government imposed a forest settlement act onwards 1911, for commercial management of forests hitting the traditional rights of the local people on the forest.”He was imprisoned for three months in 1923 for taking part in the forest movement,” said Rajesh Mohan.
Like other Gandhian leaders of the era, Upreti was also against atrocities of landlords being committed on general people.”When the people complained that Rajbar of Askot was committing atrocities on common cultivators, Upreti started an active struggle against the ‘Zamindar’( landlord). The movement resulted into an inquiry by government against the ‘Zamindar’ who relented,” said Rajesh Mohan.
The greatest contribution of Krishna nand Upreti was in the field of education. During that time, the students of Pithoragarh region had to go to 60 km distant Almora town after passing junior high school as there was no high school in this region then.
“After local people formed an education committee to establish a high school in Pithoragarh in 1927, Upreti was sent to Mayanmar (then Burma) and Lucknow to collect funds for the school. He collected a large sum of Rs 65000 from workers of Kumaon region working in Namlok, Lashio, Kaiol, Rangoon, Taji, Kalhio towns of Burma and parts of Lucknow, and also persuaded the villagers of Hureti, Paun, Bajeti to donate their land for the school building. This led to the establishment of first high school in Pithoragarh in 1928,” said Rajesh Mohan
Krishna Nand Upreti also took part in civil disobedience movement called by Gandhiji in 1930 and organised a large gathering in Chauk bazar of Pithoragarh town.” He was imprisoned for 6 months on October 8, 1930 and sent to Almora jail,” said Rajesh Mohan.
The freedom fighter and tall leader of Gandhian movements in Kumaon region, who embodied entire Gandhian philosophy of resurrection of the economy of country, could not survive to see country free and passed away in 1937 at the age of 42 years.”His sacrifices, social awakening works and struggle to free people from atrocities of feudals are still inspiration for the people of this region, who see him as a source of strength at time to time when similar situation arise,” said Rajesh Mohan Upreti, grandson of the Krishna Nand Upreti.
