Dudu Miyan


Dudu Miyan was a militant leader of Faraizi Movement and peasant uprising in Bengal. He played active role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Early life

Dudu Miyan's real name was Muhsinuddin Ahmad. His father Haji Shariatullah was also a top leader of Faraizi movement. Miyan was born in 1819 in Faridpur district, British India. He was educated by his father and then at the age of twelve was sent to Mecca for further studies. Although he never achieved the levels of scholarship attained by his father but quickly proved himself a supreme leader of peasant movement against the indigo planters and landlords.

Movement

After the death of Shariatullah, Miyan led the movement to a more radical, agrarian character and able to create an effective organizational structure. In his view land belonged to those who worked it. He established his own administrative system, and appointed a khalifa for each village. His policy was to create a state within the British-ruled state. He organised the oppressed peasantry against the oppressive landlords. In 1838, Miyan called upon his followers not to pay revenue to zamindars. Indigo Kuthis, were frequently attacked and ransacked by raiyats. In retaliation, the landlords and indigo planters tried to contain Miyan by instituting cases against him. In 1838, 1844, 1847 he was arrested several times but released because he became so popular irrespective of religion with the peasantry that in those cases, courts seldom found a witness against him.

Death

At the time of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British government arrested him as precaution and kept him in the Alipore Jail, Kolkata. He was released in 1859 and rearrested and finally freed in 1860. In 1862, Miyan died at Dacca.