British East India Company acquired the right to collect tax on behalf of the emperor in 1765. The British colonialists pursued a formidable tax income, introduced a new land tenure regime through the Permanent Settlement Act and also invited moneylenders, merchants into the region as well as employ tax collectors from Greater Bengal to act as intermediaries. Many of them ruthlessly exploited the Adibashi population by a mounting tax load which made many Adibashis trapped to the Zaminders and money lenders. Thus trapped the simple Adibashis resorted to further debts. Many Adibashis were evicted or forced as a result of such unending debt trap and trickery to give up their ancestral lands and forests. The historic Santal Hool rebellion took place during 1855-1857 led by Santal-brothers Sidhu and Kanhu against the British government to protest such excessive land rents and forced dislocation of Santals and other Adivasis from their ancestral lands. This song is composed by Comrade Hemanga Biswas as a tribute to the historic Hool Bidroho. Some confusion about the date. While Com. Biswas has stated the date to be 20th August in his narrative, according to some history books the date is 30th June.
