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Batak Mian – forgotten patriot who saved Mahatma’s life in 1917. It was 1917 when two top leaders of India’s freedom movement – Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Rajendra Prasad – were on a trip to Motihari, the headquarters of erstwhile Champaran district, to probe the appalling condition of labourers at indigo plantations and to hold an agitation against the British government. This was the first agitation led by Gandhiji in India.

A British manager of an indigo plantation in Motihari invited Gandhiji at a dinner and conspired to kill him through poison. According to the plan, the British manager instructed Batak Mian, his cook, to serve a glass of milk laced with poison to Gandhiji.

But Batak Mian’s patriotism did not allow him to kill Gandhiji. So, he took the glass to Gandhiji but revealed the plot to him. Dr Rajendra Prasad was a witness to it. Thus he saved the life of Gandhiji, the leader who later led the nation for freedom and known as father of the nation. But Batak Miyan had to pay heavily for his patriotism. The manager put him into jail and brutally tortured him. His house was turned into a crematorium and later he and his family were forced out of the village.

It is nothing less than a tragedy that this extraordinary Indian, without whom India’s independence might not have been possible, has completely been ignored. Isn’t it tragic that today Nathu Ram Godse, the man who killed Mahatma Gandhi (on 30 Jan. 1948) is known to all but very few know Batak Mian who saved the Mahatma’s life (in 1917).

On his visit to Motihari in 1950, Dr Rajendra Prasad, who was now first President of India, ordered that Batak Mian’s family be allotted 24 acres of land in recognition of his superb sacrifice. Six decades have passed but the presidential order is yet to be implemented.

The unsung hero Batak Mian died in 1957. Currently, his five grandsons stay with their families at Akwa Parsawni village in West Champaran district. Illiterate, they work as migrant laborers. They have been visiting the government officials in the hope of getting the land but all in vain.

Recently, when President of India Mrs. Pratibha Singh Patil came to know about the dire condition of the family of Mahatma’s saviour, she stepped in to ensure that Mian's grandchildren get the land that was gifted by India’s first President Dr Rajendra Prasad.

President Patil took action after Hindustan Times published a story titled ‘Family of Mahatma’s Saviour in Dire Straits’ on January 22, eight days before the 62nd death anniversay of Gandhiji.

President’s Officer-on-Special Duty (OSD) Archana Datta asked the district magistrates of East and West Champaran to file report on the steps the Bihar government has taken to implement the Presidential order.

According to news reports, West Champaran district magistrate Ramesh Lal has accepted that he got orders from the President’s office to verify and report in this regard.

Following the footsteps of the President of India, Bihar Chief Minister Mr. Nitish Kumar has also taken interest in the matter and directed the Divisional Commissioner, Tirhut, S M Raju to provide help to the family.

It is to be seen whether Batak Mian's grandchildren, who are living in penury, see the presidential promises turning into reality or the matter is left to cool until the next death anniversary of Gandhiji.