Babu Chotelal Srivastava (28 February 1889 – 18 July 1976) was a freedom fighter in the area that would later become

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

. He was born on 28 February 1889 in Kandel. His participation in national movements began after he met Pt. Sundarlal Sharma. In 1915, he established the Srivastava Library. His house in

Dhamtari Dhamtari is a municipal corporation and headquarters of the Dhamtari district in the state of Chhattisgarh, India, which is part of the Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituency formed on 6July 1998.. The district is home to 3.13 percent of Chhattisga ...

was a major center of the freedom struggle in the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

. He was also among the principal organizers of the Dhamtari Tehsil Political Council in the year 1918. Chhotelal Srivastava was most famous for organizing the Kandel Nehar Satyagraha, a rebellion against the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. Leading the peasants, they demonstrated against the British Raj. In 1921, he established the Khadi Production Center for the

Swadeshi movement The Swadeshi movement was a self-sufficiency movement that was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the development of Indian nationalism. Before the BML Government's decision for the partition of Bengal was made public in ...

. A Jungle Satyagraha was held in Sihawa in 1922 under the leadership of Shyam Lal Som, where Babu Chotelal Srivastava gave full support. When the Jungle Satyagraha was decided to be in Bandwagon near Rudri in 1930, Srivastava played an active role in it. He was then arrested and sent to jail where he was tortured, bringing additional attention to the Satyagrahis. In 1933, Gandhi, on his second visit to Chhattisgarh, went to

Tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs ...

. There, he praised the leadership of Babu Chhote Lal. In the year 1937, Srivastava was elected the President of the Dhamtari Municipality Corporation. Shrivastava also had an active role in the

Quit India Movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

of 1942. Babu Chotelal Srivastava died on 18 July 1976 in Kandel, an area of great pilgrimage of the

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Babu visited Handel in 1920
* In Hindi {{Authority control 1889 births 1976 deaths Indian independence activists