All India Kisan Sabha (Ajoy Bhavan)
Encyclopedia
All India Kisan Sabha is the peasant or farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India
. The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar
under the leadership of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
, who had formed in 1929 the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights.
Gradually the peasant movement intensified and spread across the rest of India
. All these radical developments on the peasant front culminated in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha
(AIKS) at the Lucknow
session of the Indian National Congress
in April 1936, with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
elected as its first president. The other prominent members of this Sabha were N.G. Ranga
, Ram Manohar Lohia
, Jayaprakash Narayan
, Acharya Narendra Dev and Bankim Mukerji, and it involved prominent leaders like N.G. Ranga
, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, Pandit Karyanand Sharma
, Pandit Yamuna Karjee
, Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) Sharma
, Rahul Sankrityayan
, P. Sundarayya, Ram Manohar Lohia
, and Bankim Mukerji. The Kisan Manifesto, released in August 1936, demanded abolition of the zamindari system and cancellation of rural debts; in October 1937 it adopted the red flag as its banner. Soon, its leaders became increasingly distant with Congress and repeatedly came in confrontation with Congress governments, in Bihar and United Province.
In the subsequent years, the movement was increasingly dominated by Socialists and Communists as it moved away from the Congress. By the 1938 Haripura session of the Congress, under the presidency of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the rift became evident and, by May 1942, the Communist Party of India
, which was finally legalized by the government in July 1942, had taken over AIKS all across India, including Bengal
where its membership grew considerably. It took on the Communist Party's line of People's War and stayed away from the Quit India Movement
which started in August 1942, though this also meant losing its popular base. Many of its members defied party orders and joined the movement. Prominent members like N.G. Ranga
, Indulal Yagnik and Swami Sahajananda soon left the organization, which increasingly found it difficult to approach the peasants without the watered-down approach of pro-British and pro-war, and increasing its pro-nationalist agenda, much to the dismay of the British Raj which always though Communists would help them in countering the nationalist movement.
The Communist Party of India
(CPI) split into two in 1964; following this, so did the All India Kisan Sabha, which each faction affiliated to the splinters.
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India is a national political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925...
. The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
under the leadership of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati , born in a Jijhoutia Brahminfamily of Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh state of India, was an ascetic of Dashnami Order of Adi Shankara Sampradaya as well as a nationalist and peasant leader of India...
, who had formed in 1929 the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights.
Gradually the peasant movement intensified and spread across the rest of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. All these radical developments on the peasant front culminated in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha
All India Kisan Sabha
All India Kisan Sabha , was the name of the peasants front of the undivided Communist Party of India , an important peasant movement formed by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati in 1936, and which later split into two organizations, by the same name.-History:...
(AIKS) at the Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
session of the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
in April 1936, with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati , born in a Jijhoutia Brahminfamily of Ghazipur of Uttar Pradesh state of India, was an ascetic of Dashnami Order of Adi Shankara Sampradaya as well as a nationalist and peasant leader of India...
elected as its first president. The other prominent members of this Sabha were N.G. Ranga
N.G. Ranga
Gogineni Ranga nayukulu , better known as N. G. Ranga , was an Indian freedom fighter, parliamentarian, and kisan leader...
, Ram Manohar Lohia
Ram Manohar Lohia
Rammanohar Lohia was an Indian freedom fighter and a socialist political leader.-Early life:Lohia was born in a village Akbarpur in Ambedkar Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh, in India to Hira Lal, a nationalist and Chanda,a teacher. He was born to Marwari Maheshwari family. His mother died when he...
, Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan , widely known as JP Narayan, Jayaprakash, or Loknayak, was an Indian independence activist and political leader, remembered especially for leading the opposition to Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and for giving a call for peaceful Total Revolution...
, Acharya Narendra Dev and Bankim Mukerji, and it involved prominent leaders like N.G. Ranga
N.G. Ranga
Gogineni Ranga nayukulu , better known as N. G. Ranga , was an Indian freedom fighter, parliamentarian, and kisan leader...
, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, Pandit Karyanand Sharma
Pandit Karyanand Sharma
Pandit Karyanand Sharma was an eminent nationalist and peasant leader who led movements against zamindars and British.-Biography:Pandit Karyanand Sharma was born in Sahoor village in Monghyr district into a poor tenant Bhumihar Brahmin family. Although he started studying in 1906, he had soon to...
, Pandit Yamuna Karjee
Pandit Yamuna Karjee
Yamuna Karjee was an Indian independence activist.-Early life and education:Yamuna Karjee was born in a small village name Deopar near Pusa in Darbhanga District of Bihar in 1898 in a Bhumihar Brahmin family. His father Anu Karjee was a farmer who died when Yamuna Karjee was just 6 months old...
, Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) Sharma
Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) Sharma
Pandit Yadunandan Sharma was an Indian peasant leader and national liberation figure from the Indian state of Bihar. He had started a movement for the rights of tillers against the zamindars and Britishers at Reora celebrated as the Reora Satyagraha.-Biography:Pandit Yadunandan Sharma was born in...
, Rahul Sankrityayan
Rahul Sankrityayan
Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan , who is called the Father of Hindi Travel literature, was one of the most widely-traveled scholars of India, spending forty-five years of his life on travels away from his home. He became a buddhist monk and eventually took up Marxist Socialism...
, P. Sundarayya, Ram Manohar Lohia
Ram Manohar Lohia
Rammanohar Lohia was an Indian freedom fighter and a socialist political leader.-Early life:Lohia was born in a village Akbarpur in Ambedkar Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh, in India to Hira Lal, a nationalist and Chanda,a teacher. He was born to Marwari Maheshwari family. His mother died when he...
, and Bankim Mukerji. The Kisan Manifesto, released in August 1936, demanded abolition of the zamindari system and cancellation of rural debts; in October 1937 it adopted the red flag as its banner. Soon, its leaders became increasingly distant with Congress and repeatedly came in confrontation with Congress governments, in Bihar and United Province.
In the subsequent years, the movement was increasingly dominated by Socialists and Communists as it moved away from the Congress. By the 1938 Haripura session of the Congress, under the presidency of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the rift became evident and, by May 1942, the Communist Party of India
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India is a national political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925...
, which was finally legalized by the government in July 1942, had taken over AIKS all across India, including Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
where its membership grew considerably. It took on the Communist Party's line of People's War and stayed away from the Quit India Movement
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...
which started in August 1942, though this also meant losing its popular base. Many of its members defied party orders and joined the movement. Prominent members like N.G. Ranga
N.G. Ranga
Gogineni Ranga nayukulu , better known as N. G. Ranga , was an Indian freedom fighter, parliamentarian, and kisan leader...
, Indulal Yagnik and Swami Sahajananda soon left the organization, which increasingly found it difficult to approach the peasants without the watered-down approach of pro-British and pro-war, and increasing its pro-nationalist agenda, much to the dismay of the British Raj which always though Communists would help them in countering the nationalist movement.
The Communist Party of India
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India is a national political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925...
(CPI) split into two in 1964; following this, so did the All India Kisan Sabha, which each faction affiliated to the splinters.