Set in the pre-Independence Banaras, where the Viceroy of India is supposed to come, the magistrate is at a loss as to how to make the city clean for the visit. At the same time, the people of Banaras are calling for a strike in protest of the viceroy's arrival. The magistrate gets hold of the priest Moteram who decides to go on hunger-strike to stop the city's people from going ahead with the strike.

This has been translated from the famous original Hindi story called "Satyagrah" written by Munshi Premchand. He is one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent, and is regarded as one of the foremost Hindustani writers of the early twentieth century.