Singh was replying to a question posed by then Congress MP Mullappally Ramachandran: “Whether the government has taken any decision to announce Paika Bidroha as first war of independence? “Later, in 1857, we see a movement or uprising of similar nature though on a much larger scale. The chapter describes the 1857 uprising as a “massive rebellion”. Before the 1857 rebellion, he said, there had been many instances of popular resistance to British rule. Since the British conquered Bengal first, the early rebellions were witnessed in Bengal; when they later annexed other places, they too witnessed uprisings.

Source: The Telegraph October 21, 2019 00:11 UTC