Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Encyclopedia
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati (1889–1950), born in a Jijhoutia Brahmin
family of Ghazipur
of Uttar Pradesh
state
of India
, was an ascetic (Dandi Sanyasi) of Dashnami Order (Dasanami Sannyasi order) of Adi Shankara
Sampradaya (a monastic post which only Brahmins can hold) as well as a nationalist and peasant leader of India. Although he was born in Uttar Pradesh
(U.P.), his social and political activities centered mostly in Bihar
in the initial days, and gradually spread to the rest of India with the formation of All India Kisan Sabha
. He had set-up an ashram at Bihta, near Patna
and carried out most of his work in the later part of his life from there. He was an intellectual
, prolific writer
, social reformer and revolutionary
all rolled into one.
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) in order to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights, and thus sparking the Farmers' movement in India
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 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
, Jayaprakash Narayan
, Acharya Narendra Dev and Bankim Mukerji. The Kisan Manifesto released in August 1936, demanded abolition of zamindari system and cancellation of rural debts, and in October 1937, it adopted 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
.
On hearing of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati's arrest during Quit India Movement
, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and All India Forward Bloc
immediately decided to observe 28 April as an All-India Swami Sahajanand Day for the purpose of protesting against his incarceration as a fitting reply to the British Government.
Government of India
had issued a commemorative stamp in the memory of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, and the stamp
was officially released on 26 June 2000 by Ram Vilas Paswan
, the-then Minister of Communications, Government of India.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research
has an award Swamy Sahajanand Saraswati Extension Scientist/ Worker Award
instituted in his honour. In 2001, a two-day Kisan Mahapanchayat was organised on the occasion of the 112th birth anniversary of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati and had been inaugurated in Rabindra Bhawan by the then state assembly Speaker Sadanand Singh and attended, among others, by Rama Pilot wife of Rajesh Pilot
; O P Kejriwal, the then director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi
, medical education minister Shakeel Ahmad, registration minister Vijay Shankar Dubey and former assembly Speaker Radhanandan Jha. Bihar Governor R. S. Gavai released a book on the life of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati on his 57th death anniversary in Patna. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
, along with other Bihar leaders celebrated the 119th birth anniversary of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, the architect of the farmers' movement. Former Minister of Railways
, president of Rashtriya Janata Dal
and former Chief Minister of Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav had promised way back in 2003 to erect a life-size atatue of Swamiji at Patna exhorting that “The BJP
should have installed his portrait in Parliament
".
and colonial India was Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. Sahajanand was born in Deva, Dullahpur, Ghazipur
district in eastern Uttar Pradesh
in the late nineteenth century (1889) to a family of Brahmins of Bhumihar clan. He was the last of six sons and had no sisters. His mother died when he was a child and Naurang Rai (as he was known then) was raised by an aunt. His father, Beni Rai was primarily a cultivator, and was so divorced from priestly functions that he did not even know the gayatri mantras. The family held a small zamindari, income from which had sufficed in Sahajanand's grandfathers' time, but as the family grew and the land was partitioned, prosperity dwindled and (tenant) cultivation became the main occupation. However, the family was not so extremely poor that its condition would prevent Naurang from going to school, where he did very well both in the primary grades and in the German Mission high school where he studied English
. Even at an early age, however, Naurang showed sings of brilliance and scepticism of conventional populist religious practices. He questioned the institution of people taking guru- mantra from fake religious personages and wanted to study religious texts deeply in order to be able to find real spiritual
solace by renouncing the world. To prevent him from doing this, his family had him married to a child bride but, before the marriage could stabilise, in 1905 or early 1906, his wife died. The last fetter in his way to sanyas (renunciation of the world) having been removed, in 1907 Naurang Rai was initiated into holy orders and took on the name of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. This adoption of sanyas prevented him from appearing for the matriculation examination but he spent the rest of his life, especially the first seven years after sanyas, in studying religion, politics and social affairs. In all these he became increasingly radicalised so that towards the end of his life, the world was presented with the incongruous sight of a saffron-clad swami who denounced organised religion [Sahajanand, 1948:96-123].
platform. Only gradually did Sahajanand become involved in Indian National Congress
politics, and then in Peasant movement
, progressively in Patna, Bihar and, finally, all over India.
Even in order to get to the peasant question, however, Sahajanand went through political schooling in the Indian National Congress under Mohandas Gandhi. In fact, the Swami and the Mahatma had a curious filial relationship. Sahajanand started off in Congress as a devoted Gandhian, admiring Gandhi's fusion of tradition, religion and politics and, by 1920, threw himself into the nationalist movement as directed by Gandhi. However, he first became disgusted with the petty, comfort-seeking hypocrisy of the self-proclaimed `Gandhians' especially in jail and, within 15 years, he was disillusioned with Gandhi's own ambiguity and devious pro-propertied attitudes. The final break came in 1934 after Bihar had been violently shaken by the great earthquake of that year. During the relief operations in which Sahajanand was deeply involved, he came across many cases where, in spite of the destruction perpetrated by the natural calamity, he found the suffering of the people to be less on account of the earthquake than as the result of the cruelty of the landlords in rent collection. When Sahajanand found no way of tackling this situation, he went to meet Gandhi, who was then camping at Patna, to ask for advice. Gandhi sanguinely told him, 'the zamindars will remove the difficulties of the peasants. Their managers are Congressmen. So they will definitely help the poor' [Sahajanand, 1952:426]. In spite of this, the oppression of the peasantry by the `zamindari machinery including Congressmen managers' continued. These platitudes of Gandhi disgusted Sahajanand and he broke off his 14 year association with the Mahatma. After that, he consistently saw the Mahatma as a wily politician who, in order to defend the propertied classes, took recourse in pseudo-spiritualism, professions of non-violence and religious hocus-pocus.
After his break with Gandhi, Sahajanand kept out of party politics (though he continued to be a member of the Congress) and turned his energies into mobilising the peasants [Hauser, 1961:109-133]. By the end of the decade, he emerged as the foremost kisan leader in India. In this task of organising the peasants, at different times his political impetuosity took him close to different individuals, parties and groups. He first joined hands with the Congress Socialists for the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha
; then with Subhas Chandra Bose organised the Anti-Compromise Conference against the British
and the Congress [Sahajanand, 1940]; then worked with the Communist Party of India
during the Second World War [Das, 1981]; and finally broke from them, too, to form an `independent' Kisan Sabha [Rai, 1946]. In spite of these political forays, however, Sahajanand remained essentially a non-party man and his loyalty was only to the peasants for whom he was the most articulate spokesman and forthright leader. As a peasant leader, `by standards of speech and action, he was unsurpassed' [Hauser, 1961:85]. He achieved that status by a remarkable ability to speak to and for the peasants of Bihar; he could communicate with them and articulate their feelings in terms whose meaning neither peasant nor politicians could mistake. `He was relentlessly determined to improve the peasants' condition and pursued that objective with such force and energy that he was almost universally loved by the peasants, and almost equally both respect and feared by the landlords, Congressmen and officials. The Swami was a militant agitator; he sought to expose the condition of agrarian society and to organise the peasants massively to achieve change. He did this through countless meetings and rallies which he organised and which he addressed in his own inimitable forthright manner. He was a powerful speaker speaking the language of the peasants. Sahajanand was a Dandi Sanyasi and always carried a long bamboo staff (danda). In the course of the movement, this staff became the symbol of peasant resistance. They cry of "Danda Mera Zindabad" (Long live my staff), was thus taken to mean "Long live the danda (lathi) of the Kisans" and it became the watchword of the Bihar peasant movement. The inevitable response by the masses of peasants was "Swamiji ki Jai" (Victory to Swamiji) [Hauser, op cit]. "Kaise Logey Malguzari, Latth Hamara Zindabad" (How will you collect rent as long as our sticks are powerful?) became the battle cry of the peasants.
This was the manner in which a common communication was achieved. And it was vastly enhanced by the fact that Sahajanand was a Swami, which gave him a tremendous charisma. In 1937, he was reported to have said that as religious robes had long exploited the peasants, now he would exploit those robes on behalf of the peasants' [Hauser, ibid]. When landlords raised the question as to how a sanyasi (mendicant) was taking part in temporal problems of the poor, Sahajanand quoted the scriptures at them:
Prayen deva munayah swavimukti kama
Maunam charanti vijane na pararthnsihthah
Naitan vihaya kripnan vimumuksha eko
Nanyattwadasya sharanam bhramato nupashye
(Mendicants are selfish, living away from society, they try for their own salvation without caring for others. I cannot do that, I do not want my own salvation apart from that of the many destitutes. I will stay with them, live with them and die with them)[Sahajanand, 1952:171].
Such was Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, the charismatic sanyasi rebel, who laid the foundations of kisan organisation in Bihar, built it up into a massive movement, spread it to other parts of India and radicalised it to such an extent that what had started off as a move to bring about reform in the zamindari system, ended up by destroying the system itself. Sahajanand could not, however, witness the legal death of zamindari in Bihar. While the battle for this was still being fought in the legislature and the courts, on 26 June 1950, Sahajanand died [Sudhakar, 1973:14].
Although the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha was formed in 1929 and a smaller Kisan Sabha had been formed even earlier in Patna district
with a formal organisational structure, it really was institutionalised only after a few years. Actually, it is correct to say that the Kisan Sabha never really became an `organisation', but remained a movement [Hauser, 1961:87].
But if that is so for the whole of the history of the Sabha, in its first years it was even more nebulous: an idea, a forum, a propaganda platform, a lobby. Almost immediately after the formation of the Sabha Bihar was plunged, with the rest of India, into the Civil Disobedience Movement, which, although it helped in arousing the general consciousness of the masses, did not give the leaders of the Sabha the time to formalise its structure [Williams, 1933:1- 30]. In fact, the experiences of the Civil Disobedience Movement both outside and inside jails created the beginnings of the rift between the Kisan Sabhaites and some of the Congress leaders [BSCRO:21/1933], and so disgusted the supreme leader of the Sabha, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, that for several years he cut himself off from politics altogether [Sahajanand, 1952:373-381].
But while, because of these problems, the Kisan Sabha remained disorganised, the landlords recognised its potentially dangerous character. In order to meet its challenge and to consolidate their position, they organised themselves and their supporters into three main bodies. The first was a clearcut Bihar Landholders' Association which included within it all the prominent zamindars. The second was a more clever attempt to hide the organisation's basic class character; it was called the United Party and was supposed to represent the interests of various sections of the population. It even included a few Congressmen though its leadership was composed of the leading landlords, including the Maharajadhiraj of Darbhanga
and the Raja of Surajpura. Having failed in their first attempt in 1928-29 to get the Tenancy Act amended, the landlords tried to do so through this United Party. Rai Bahadur Shyamnandan Sahay, one of the richest zamindars of Bihar, accordingly drew up a new tenancy bill with the obvious intention of strengthening the zamindars' position by giving them more powers. However, in order to achieve a semblance of zamindar-tenant unity in presenting the new legislation, the United Party conspired to develop a compromise measure by forming a `Kisan Sabha' which held its meeting at Patna early in 1933 [Sankrityayana, 1943:112]. Ironically, it was this effort of the landholders which brought Sahajanand back into politics and vastly strengthened the Kisan Sabha [Sudhakar, 1973:9].
There was no unanimity among Congressmen about their approach to the United Party and its `Kisan Sabha'. While leaders like Rajendra Prasad
felt that as an election trick the United Party was doomed to failure, they also thought it might actually gain some concessions for the peasantry. Hence they felt opposition to the United Party was `unnecessary'. Some other Congress leaders thought otherwise:
My colleagues were agitated thinking that (an amended tenancy law) would increase the new party's influence among the peasants. They wanted the move to be opposed, but most of the Congressmen were in prison and the organisation was banned and could not do anything. They thought, therefore, of reviving the dormant Kisan Sabha. Word was passed on to Swami Sahajanand to activise the Kisan Sabha and expose the United Party's move... I felt that all this was unnecessary but, as I could not oppose it, kept quiet. [Prasad, 1957:361].
Sahajanand was apprised of the `bogus Kisan Sabha' and its proposed session at Patna by Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) Sharma
and induced by him to attend the meeting. After much hesitation about re-entering politics, Sahajanand agreed and made a dramatic entry in the Patna meeting which was being conducted by such well-known zamindars and their henchmen as Dr Sachidanand Sinha (the `Founder Modern Bihar') and Guru Sahay Lal (later President of the Bihar Chamber of Commerce). The Swami's unexpected presence caused considerable embarrassment to the sponsors of the meeting and his forthright stand there condemning such devious manoeuverings marked the end of the effort by the zamindars to play politics through the use of the name of the Kisan Sabha. At the same time, this abortive attempt proved that even the zamindars had recognised the potential of an organisation like the Kisan Sabha even though until then it was no more than a name. Recognising that even the name spelled powerful magic for the Kisans, Sahajanand decided to organise the Sabha.
In spite of the efforts of Swami Sahajanand in the direction of giving the Kisan Sabha a live but formal organisational structure, it remained more a movement than an organisation. However, after 1934, the movement was, in a way, institutionalised though its primary instruments of operation continued to by numerous meetings, rallies, `struggles' and annual conventions rather than paper-work. This was a reflection of the impatient leadership of Sahajanand which, in spite of resolutions to the contrary, was not basically concerned with the formal niceties of organisation. While the agitational character marked the movement as necessarily transitory in nature, it also provided it with an element of spontaneous strength. While the Congress relied on its organisational character for mobilising the people for its movements, the Kisan Sabha drew its organisational vitality from the different movements and struggles. And, for the time being at least, the Kisan Sabha's mode of working was more effective. Even the officials remarked that the `Kisan Sabha touches the ryot more directly and its meetings are larger than the Congress' [BSCRO:16/1935].
But Sahajanand also recognised and emphasised the need for organisation of the peasants, except that organisation to him meant organisation of mass action rather than a fossilised hierarchy of constitutional formalities:
You must speak in great numbers. Government officials are here and when you come in tens of thousands they will listen, otherwise they will think you need nothing because you are silent. In Gaya
there were 50,000 kisans and it caused a furore.... We do not teach you to assault zamindars, only to get what is your right. We do not seek to create trouble between zamindars and tenants. The Government, zamindars and capitalists are strong. I want you to be strong too and the way to do it is to hold meetings. If you do not organise and hold Kisan Sabhas, troubles will not end [BSCRO:16/1935/I].
The formal organisational structure of the movement was expressed through the Rules of 1929 and the Constitution framed in 1936. The 1936 Constitution served as the official statement of organisation form and objectives which included the winning of the `fundamental rights' of the peasants [BPKS, 1936]. It also outlined the rules and procedures for membership and other organisational details. All peasants were admitted as members of the Kisan Sabha with a membership fee reduced from two annas (Rs.0.12) to one price (Rs.0.015) in 1936. The basis of organisation was the village, or gram Kisan Sabha, electing representatives to thana Kisan Sabhas, which similarly elected members to the district body which in turn elected members of the Provincial Kisan Sabha. The executive organ of each of these bodies was the Kisan Council, elected by respective memberships. In the case of the Provincial Kisan Sabha, the Kisan Council comprised 15 members including officer-bearers who were specifically designated as a president, secretary and two joint secretaries. However, in practice there was considerable variation, with an increase in the number of joint secretaries normally to cover regional areas and often there were also some vice-presidents. These offices were all held for an annual term but a treasurer was elected to serve `until it was thought necessary to change him'. Income was derived from membership fees and from small levies on the members of various councils, with funds divided between local and provincial bodies. Provision was made for annual sammelans, or conventions of the several bodies of the Kisan Sabha with a president elected for such conferences. it was indicated that reports of the provincial sammelans were to be printed.
In practice, the formal organisation of the movement was confined to the activities of the Provincial Kisan Council and the annual provincial sammelan, though, on an irregular basis, sammelans at other levels were also held. In addition, a secretary was active for the period of 1935 to 1940 and an office was maintained at the Bihta ashram of Swami Sahajanand. In very large measure, the Swami himself co-ordinated much of the work of the Provincial Kisan Sabha when it was formed.
The membership of the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha was estimated at 80,000 in 1935 and the figure for 1938 was placed at upwards of 250,000, which made it by far the largest such provincial body in India. However, these and all other membership figures can be taken as no more than approxzimations. Verification is extremely difficult in the absence of any other data as a basis of comparison. The one possible measure of activity and an indication of participation, if not of membership, is to be derived from the press and official estimates of local meetings and provincial rallies. At the height of the agitation, Sahajanand consistently addressed local village meetings of up to 5000 peasants, and the estimates of peasant rallies in Patna were commonly as high as or even higher than 100,000.
With the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha
at Lucknow
in April 1936, the Bihar Kisan Sabha became one of the provincial units of that national body. The Congress Socialist Party
pressed for the organisation of an all-India peasant association, and N.G. Ranga
[1949:69; 1968:216] became a prime mover in the effort. While Sahajanand was named president of the first meeting at Lucknow, he had come to support the idea reluctantly, holding that a national organisation could function effectively only on the basis of a network of well-developed provincial bodies, which did not in fact exist [Sahajanand, 1952:449-453]. While Sahajanand, once involved, extended total support, and to a large extent created and maintained the organisational framework by his own efforts, the A.I.K.S. suffered from the very shortcomings he had indicated: there was insufficient local depth to sustain a national movement [Mitra, 1938:387-389].
Some of his followers and students in the spirit of serving the deprived masses were Pandit Yamuna Karjee
, Pandit Karyanand Sharma
, Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) Sharma
, Pandit Panchanan Sharma, Rahul Sankrityayan
and Baba Nagarjun.
Swamiji established an ashram at Neyamatpur
, Gaya
(Bihar) which later became the centre of freedom struggle in bihar. All the prominent leaders of congress visited there frequently to meet Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) Sharma
, the leader of Kisaan Aandolan.
Few will know that it was Yadav peasants who, in 1927, pleaded with Sahajanand to aid them in their struggles against the Bhumihar Brahmin
zamindars of Masaurhi
, and that it was from that beginning that the most powerful peas-ant movement in India, the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha, emerged.
And among the many beneficiaries of that movement were precisely those productive and upwardly mobile middle caste groups now courted so assiduously by the Janata Dal
, the Samata Party
, the Congress, and indeed, the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP).
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
spoke of Swamiji as
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati is, in the land of ours, a name to conjure with. The undisputed leader of the peasant movement in India, he is today the idol of the masses and the hero of millions. It was indeed a rare fortune to get him as the chairman of the Reception Committee of the All India Anti-Compromise Conference at Ramgarh
. For the Forward Block (All India Forward Bloc
) it was a privilege and an honour to get him as one of the foremost leaders of the Left movement and as a friend, philosopher and guide of the Forward Block itself. As a matter of fact, following Swamiji's lead, a large number of front-rank leaders of the peasant movement have been intimately associated with the Forward Block.
The sword of Damocles at last fell on Swamiji and he was arrested this morning at Patna under the Defence of India Act. Yesterday he was in Calcutta and we spent long hours in conversation with him. Little did we know at the time that the warrant for arrest was waiting for him at Patna
. He left Calcutta last night and this morning at Patna he was placed in custody.
Before he left Calcutta, we issued a joint statement under our signatures appealing for a proper observation of May Day
throughout the country.
On hearing of his arrest, we immediately decided to observe 28 April as an All-India Swami Sahajanand Day for the purpose of protesting against his incarceration. We earnestly hope that that day will be observed in such a manner as to give a fitting reply to the British Government.
The prime movers of these movements do not in their hearts desire that the agricultural labourers should get real relief. They seek only their own ends. Then how will the poor be benefited? They will be benefited in the long run because despite the determined efforts of dim false leaders to the contrary, this movement will gradually cause the oppressed to awaken. And when they begin to understand the reality of what is happening and who is at the root of their sorrows and sufferings, their dishonour, disgrace, hunger and disease, and when they also understand how to eradicate them, then their goals are certain to be realized. (Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Central Jail Hazaribagh
, 1941)
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
family of Ghazipur
Ghazipur
Ghazipur , or Ghazipur City, previously spelt Ghazeepore, is a city/town and a municipal corporation and headquarter of Ghazipur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghazipur Division and Sub-division...
of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
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...
, was an ascetic (Dandi Sanyasi) of Dashnami Order (Dasanami Sannyasi order) of Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
Sampradaya (a monastic post which only Brahmins can hold) as well as a nationalist and peasant leader of India. Although he was born in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
(U.P.), his social and political activities centered mostly 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....
in the initial days, and gradually spread to the rest of India with the formation of 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:...
. He had set-up an ashram at Bihta, near Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...
and carried out most of his work in the later part of his life from there. He was an intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
, prolific writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, social reformer and revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
all rolled into one.
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 who had formed in 1929 the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) in order to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights, and thus sparking the Farmers' movement in India
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
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 elected as its first President 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...
, 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. The Kisan Manifesto released in August 1936, demanded abolition of zamindari system and cancellation of rural debts, and in October 1937, it adopted 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
United Province
The United Provinces, was a province of British India and later of Independent India, which came into existence on 1 April 1937 in result of the shortening of United Provinces of British India...
.
On hearing of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati's arrest during 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...
, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and All India Forward Bloc
All India Forward Bloc
The All India Forward Bloc is a leftwing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party after the independence of India...
immediately decided to observe 28 April as an All-India Swami Sahajanand Day for the purpose of protesting against his incarceration as a fitting reply to the British Government.
Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
had issued a commemorative stamp in the memory of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, and the stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
was officially released on 26 June 2000 by Ram Vilas Paswan
Ram Vilas Paswan
Ram Vilas Paswan is the president of the Lok Janshakti Party and a Rajya Sabha MP.-Early life and education:Paswan was born to a Dusadh family...
, the-then Minister of Communications, Government of India.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
Indian Council of Agricultural Research , New Delhi, India is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India...
has an award Swamy Sahajanand Saraswati Extension Scientist/ Worker Award
Swamy Sahajanand Saraswati Extension Scientist/ Worker Award
Swamy Sahajanand Saraswati Extension Scientist/ Worker Award is awarded by Indian Council of Agricultural Research which was instituted in honour of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati....
instituted in his honour. In 2001, a two-day Kisan Mahapanchayat was organised on the occasion of the 112th birth anniversary of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati and had been inaugurated in Rabindra Bhawan by the then state assembly Speaker Sadanand Singh and attended, among others, by Rama Pilot wife of Rajesh Pilot
Rajesh Pilot
Rajesh Pilot was an Indian politician and a minister in the Government of India. He belonged to the Indian National Congress party and represented the Dausa constituency in Lok Sabha....
; O P Kejriwal, the then director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, medical education minister Shakeel Ahmad, registration minister Vijay Shankar Dubey and former assembly Speaker Radhanandan Jha. Bihar Governor R. S. Gavai released a book on the life of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati on his 57th death anniversary in Patna. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumār is an Indian politician currently serving as Chief Minister of Bihar, an eastern state of India. He leads the Janata Dal party...
, along with other Bihar leaders celebrated the 119th birth anniversary of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, the architect of the farmers' movement. Former Minister of Railways
Minister of Railways
The Cabinet portfolio Minister of Railways exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states:*Minister of Railways *Minister of Railways *Minister of Railways *Japanese Railway Minister...
, president of Rashtriya Janata Dal
Rashtriya Janata Dal
The Rashtriya Janata Dal is a political party in India, based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Laloo Prasad Yadav. The party came about as a result of Lalu Prasad Yadav, ex-president of Janata Dal, being evicted by Sharad Yadav, the then president, on corruption charges ...
and former Chief Minister of Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav had promised way back in 2003 to erect a life-size atatue of Swamiji at Patna exhorting that “The BJP
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
should have installed his portrait in Parliament
Parliament of India
The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body in India. Founded in 1919, the Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all political bodies in India. The Parliament of India comprises the President and the two Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha...
".
Biography
The foremost of the leaders of the peasantry in BiharBihar
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....
and colonial India was Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. Sahajanand was born in Deva, Dullahpur, Ghazipur
Ghazipur
Ghazipur , or Ghazipur City, previously spelt Ghazeepore, is a city/town and a municipal corporation and headquarter of Ghazipur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghazipur Division and Sub-division...
district in eastern Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
in the late nineteenth century (1889) to a family of Brahmins of Bhumihar clan. He was the last of six sons and had no sisters. His mother died when he was a child and Naurang Rai (as he was known then) was raised by an aunt. His father, Beni Rai was primarily a cultivator, and was so divorced from priestly functions that he did not even know the gayatri mantras. The family held a small zamindari, income from which had sufficed in Sahajanand's grandfathers' time, but as the family grew and the land was partitioned, prosperity dwindled and (tenant) cultivation became the main occupation. However, the family was not so extremely poor that its condition would prevent Naurang from going to school, where he did very well both in the primary grades and in the German Mission high school where he studied English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Even at an early age, however, Naurang showed sings of brilliance and scepticism of conventional populist religious practices. He questioned the institution of people taking guru- mantra from fake religious personages and wanted to study religious texts deeply in order to be able to find real spiritual
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
solace by renouncing the world. To prevent him from doing this, his family had him married to a child bride but, before the marriage could stabilise, in 1905 or early 1906, his wife died. The last fetter in his way to sanyas (renunciation of the world) having been removed, in 1907 Naurang Rai was initiated into holy orders and took on the name of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. This adoption of sanyas prevented him from appearing for the matriculation examination but he spent the rest of his life, especially the first seven years after sanyas, in studying religion, politics and social affairs. In all these he became increasingly radicalised so that towards the end of his life, the world was presented with the incongruous sight of a saffron-clad swami who denounced organised religion [Sahajanand, 1948:96-123].
Metamorphosis from narrow to national interests
However, before Sahajanand came to this stage, he had to traverse a long road. Quite naturally, his first involvement in public activity started from the narrow Bhumihar BrahminBhumihar
Bhumihar or Babhan or Bhuin-har is a Brahmin Hindu community mainly found in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh.- Varna status :...
platform. Only gradually did Sahajanand become involved in 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...
politics, and then in Peasant movement
Peasant movement
Peasant movement is a social movement involved with the agricultural policy.Peasants movement have a long history that can be traced to the numerous peasant uprisings that occurred in various regions of the world throughout human history. Early peasant movements were usually the result of stresses...
, progressively in Patna, Bihar and, finally, all over India.
Even in order to get to the peasant question, however, Sahajanand went through political schooling in the Indian National Congress under Mohandas Gandhi. In fact, the Swami and the Mahatma had a curious filial relationship. Sahajanand started off in Congress as a devoted Gandhian, admiring Gandhi's fusion of tradition, religion and politics and, by 1920, threw himself into the nationalist movement as directed by Gandhi. However, he first became disgusted with the petty, comfort-seeking hypocrisy of the self-proclaimed `Gandhians' especially in jail and, within 15 years, he was disillusioned with Gandhi's own ambiguity and devious pro-propertied attitudes. The final break came in 1934 after Bihar had been violently shaken by the great earthquake of that year. During the relief operations in which Sahajanand was deeply involved, he came across many cases where, in spite of the destruction perpetrated by the natural calamity, he found the suffering of the people to be less on account of the earthquake than as the result of the cruelty of the landlords in rent collection. When Sahajanand found no way of tackling this situation, he went to meet Gandhi, who was then camping at Patna, to ask for advice. Gandhi sanguinely told him, 'the zamindars will remove the difficulties of the peasants. Their managers are Congressmen. So they will definitely help the poor' [Sahajanand, 1952:426]. In spite of this, the oppression of the peasantry by the `zamindari machinery including Congressmen managers' continued. These platitudes of Gandhi disgusted Sahajanand and he broke off his 14 year association with the Mahatma. After that, he consistently saw the Mahatma as a wily politician who, in order to defend the propertied classes, took recourse in pseudo-spiritualism, professions of non-violence and religious hocus-pocus.
After his break with Gandhi, Sahajanand kept out of party politics (though he continued to be a member of the Congress) and turned his energies into mobilising the peasants [Hauser, 1961:109-133]. By the end of the decade, he emerged as the foremost kisan leader in India. In this task of organising the peasants, at different times his political impetuosity took him close to different individuals, parties and groups. He first joined hands with the Congress Socialists for 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:...
; then with Subhas Chandra Bose organised the Anti-Compromise Conference against the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the Congress [Sahajanand, 1940]; then worked with 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...
during the Second World War [Das, 1981]; and finally broke from them, too, to form an `independent' Kisan Sabha [Rai, 1946]. In spite of these political forays, however, Sahajanand remained essentially a non-party man and his loyalty was only to the peasants for whom he was the most articulate spokesman and forthright leader. As a peasant leader, `by standards of speech and action, he was unsurpassed' [Hauser, 1961:85]. He achieved that status by a remarkable ability to speak to and for the peasants of Bihar; he could communicate with them and articulate their feelings in terms whose meaning neither peasant nor politicians could mistake. `He was relentlessly determined to improve the peasants' condition and pursued that objective with such force and energy that he was almost universally loved by the peasants, and almost equally both respect and feared by the landlords, Congressmen and officials. The Swami was a militant agitator; he sought to expose the condition of agrarian society and to organise the peasants massively to achieve change. He did this through countless meetings and rallies which he organised and which he addressed in his own inimitable forthright manner. He was a powerful speaker speaking the language of the peasants. Sahajanand was a Dandi Sanyasi and always carried a long bamboo staff (danda). In the course of the movement, this staff became the symbol of peasant resistance. They cry of "Danda Mera Zindabad" (Long live my staff), was thus taken to mean "Long live the danda (lathi) of the Kisans" and it became the watchword of the Bihar peasant movement. The inevitable response by the masses of peasants was "Swamiji ki Jai" (Victory to Swamiji) [Hauser, op cit]. "Kaise Logey Malguzari, Latth Hamara Zindabad" (How will you collect rent as long as our sticks are powerful?) became the battle cry of the peasants.
This was the manner in which a common communication was achieved. And it was vastly enhanced by the fact that Sahajanand was a Swami, which gave him a tremendous charisma. In 1937, he was reported to have said that as religious robes had long exploited the peasants, now he would exploit those robes on behalf of the peasants' [Hauser, ibid]. When landlords raised the question as to how a sanyasi (mendicant) was taking part in temporal problems of the poor, Sahajanand quoted the scriptures at them:
Prayen deva munayah swavimukti kama
Maunam charanti vijane na pararthnsihthah
Naitan vihaya kripnan vimumuksha eko
Nanyattwadasya sharanam bhramato nupashye
(Mendicants are selfish, living away from society, they try for their own salvation without caring for others. I cannot do that, I do not want my own salvation apart from that of the many destitutes. I will stay with them, live with them and die with them)[Sahajanand, 1952:171].
Such was Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, the charismatic sanyasi rebel, who laid the foundations of kisan organisation in Bihar, built it up into a massive movement, spread it to other parts of India and radicalised it to such an extent that what had started off as a move to bring about reform in the zamindari system, ended up by destroying the system itself. Sahajanand could not, however, witness the legal death of zamindari in Bihar. While the battle for this was still being fought in the legislature and the courts, on 26 June 1950, Sahajanand died [Sudhakar, 1973:14].
The Organisation
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was, of course, a fascinating personality but what also added immense social significance to him was the fact that he was able to found a massive organisation. This took a great deal of both imagination and effort and the fact that it has had a turbulent history is evidence of the role of the individual as well as the relevance of the political-economic context.Although the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha was formed in 1929 and a smaller Kisan Sabha had been formed even earlier in Patna district
Patna District
Patna district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, with Patna as the district headquarters. Patna district is a part of Patna division...
with a formal organisational structure, it really was institutionalised only after a few years. Actually, it is correct to say that the Kisan Sabha never really became an `organisation', but remained a movement [Hauser, 1961:87].
But if that is so for the whole of the history of the Sabha, in its first years it was even more nebulous: an idea, a forum, a propaganda platform, a lobby. Almost immediately after the formation of the Sabha Bihar was plunged, with the rest of India, into the Civil Disobedience Movement, which, although it helped in arousing the general consciousness of the masses, did not give the leaders of the Sabha the time to formalise its structure [Williams, 1933:1- 30]. In fact, the experiences of the Civil Disobedience Movement both outside and inside jails created the beginnings of the rift between the Kisan Sabhaites and some of the Congress leaders [BSCRO:21/1933], and so disgusted the supreme leader of the Sabha, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, that for several years he cut himself off from politics altogether [Sahajanand, 1952:373-381].
But while, because of these problems, the Kisan Sabha remained disorganised, the landlords recognised its potentially dangerous character. In order to meet its challenge and to consolidate their position, they organised themselves and their supporters into three main bodies. The first was a clearcut Bihar Landholders' Association which included within it all the prominent zamindars. The second was a more clever attempt to hide the organisation's basic class character; it was called the United Party and was supposed to represent the interests of various sections of the population. It even included a few Congressmen though its leadership was composed of the leading landlords, including the Maharajadhiraj of Darbhanga
Darbhanga
Darbhangā is a twin city and a municipal corporation and the capital city of the Darbhanga district and Darbhanga Division in the state of Bihar, India. It is one of the most important districts of North Bihar situated in the very heart of Mithilanchal. According to the latest 2011 census, the...
and the Raja of Surajpura. Having failed in their first attempt in 1928-29 to get the Tenancy Act amended, the landlords tried to do so through this United Party. Rai Bahadur Shyamnandan Sahay, one of the richest zamindars of Bihar, accordingly drew up a new tenancy bill with the obvious intention of strengthening the zamindars' position by giving them more powers. However, in order to achieve a semblance of zamindar-tenant unity in presenting the new legislation, the United Party conspired to develop a compromise measure by forming a `Kisan Sabha' which held its meeting at Patna early in 1933 [Sankrityayana, 1943:112]. Ironically, it was this effort of the landholders which brought Sahajanand back into politics and vastly strengthened the Kisan Sabha [Sudhakar, 1973:9].
There was no unanimity among Congressmen about their approach to the United Party and its `Kisan Sabha'. While leaders like Rajendra Prasad
Rajendra Prasad
Dr. Rajendra Prasad was an Indian politician and educator. He was one of the architects of the Indian Republic, having drafted its first constitution and serving as the first president of independent India...
felt that as an election trick the United Party was doomed to failure, they also thought it might actually gain some concessions for the peasantry. Hence they felt opposition to the United Party was `unnecessary'. Some other Congress leaders thought otherwise:
My colleagues were agitated thinking that (an amended tenancy law) would increase the new party's influence among the peasants. They wanted the move to be opposed, but most of the Congressmen were in prison and the organisation was banned and could not do anything. They thought, therefore, of reviving the dormant Kisan Sabha. Word was passed on to Swami Sahajanand to activise the Kisan Sabha and expose the United Party's move... I felt that all this was unnecessary but, as I could not oppose it, kept quiet. [Prasad, 1957:361].
Sahajanand was apprised of the `bogus Kisan Sabha' and its proposed session at Patna by 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...
and induced by him to attend the meeting. After much hesitation about re-entering politics, Sahajanand agreed and made a dramatic entry in the Patna meeting which was being conducted by such well-known zamindars and their henchmen as Dr Sachidanand Sinha (the `Founder Modern Bihar') and Guru Sahay Lal (later President of the Bihar Chamber of Commerce). The Swami's unexpected presence caused considerable embarrassment to the sponsors of the meeting and his forthright stand there condemning such devious manoeuverings marked the end of the effort by the zamindars to play politics through the use of the name of the Kisan Sabha. At the same time, this abortive attempt proved that even the zamindars had recognised the potential of an organisation like the Kisan Sabha even though until then it was no more than a name. Recognising that even the name spelled powerful magic for the Kisans, Sahajanand decided to organise the Sabha.
In spite of the efforts of Swami Sahajanand in the direction of giving the Kisan Sabha a live but formal organisational structure, it remained more a movement than an organisation. However, after 1934, the movement was, in a way, institutionalised though its primary instruments of operation continued to by numerous meetings, rallies, `struggles' and annual conventions rather than paper-work. This was a reflection of the impatient leadership of Sahajanand which, in spite of resolutions to the contrary, was not basically concerned with the formal niceties of organisation. While the agitational character marked the movement as necessarily transitory in nature, it also provided it with an element of spontaneous strength. While the Congress relied on its organisational character for mobilising the people for its movements, the Kisan Sabha drew its organisational vitality from the different movements and struggles. And, for the time being at least, the Kisan Sabha's mode of working was more effective. Even the officials remarked that the `Kisan Sabha touches the ryot more directly and its meetings are larger than the Congress' [BSCRO:16/1935].
But Sahajanand also recognised and emphasised the need for organisation of the peasants, except that organisation to him meant organisation of mass action rather than a fossilised hierarchy of constitutional formalities:
You must speak in great numbers. Government officials are here and when you come in tens of thousands they will listen, otherwise they will think you need nothing because you are silent. In Gaya
Gaya, India
Gaya is the second largest city of Bihar, India, and it is also the headquarters of Gaya District.Gaya is 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. Situated on the banks of Falgu River , it is a place sanctified by both the Hindu and the Buddhist religions...
there were 50,000 kisans and it caused a furore.... We do not teach you to assault zamindars, only to get what is your right. We do not seek to create trouble between zamindars and tenants. The Government, zamindars and capitalists are strong. I want you to be strong too and the way to do it is to hold meetings. If you do not organise and hold Kisan Sabhas, troubles will not end [BSCRO:16/1935/I].
The formal organisational structure of the movement was expressed through the Rules of 1929 and the Constitution framed in 1936. The 1936 Constitution served as the official statement of organisation form and objectives which included the winning of the `fundamental rights' of the peasants [BPKS, 1936]. It also outlined the rules and procedures for membership and other organisational details. All peasants were admitted as members of the Kisan Sabha with a membership fee reduced from two annas (Rs.0.12) to one price (Rs.0.015) in 1936. The basis of organisation was the village, or gram Kisan Sabha, electing representatives to thana Kisan Sabhas, which similarly elected members to the district body which in turn elected members of the Provincial Kisan Sabha. The executive organ of each of these bodies was the Kisan Council, elected by respective memberships. In the case of the Provincial Kisan Sabha, the Kisan Council comprised 15 members including officer-bearers who were specifically designated as a president, secretary and two joint secretaries. However, in practice there was considerable variation, with an increase in the number of joint secretaries normally to cover regional areas and often there were also some vice-presidents. These offices were all held for an annual term but a treasurer was elected to serve `until it was thought necessary to change him'. Income was derived from membership fees and from small levies on the members of various councils, with funds divided between local and provincial bodies. Provision was made for annual sammelans, or conventions of the several bodies of the Kisan Sabha with a president elected for such conferences. it was indicated that reports of the provincial sammelans were to be printed.
In practice, the formal organisation of the movement was confined to the activities of the Provincial Kisan Council and the annual provincial sammelan, though, on an irregular basis, sammelans at other levels were also held. In addition, a secretary was active for the period of 1935 to 1940 and an office was maintained at the Bihta ashram of Swami Sahajanand. In very large measure, the Swami himself co-ordinated much of the work of the Provincial Kisan Sabha when it was formed.
The membership of the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha was estimated at 80,000 in 1935 and the figure for 1938 was placed at upwards of 250,000, which made it by far the largest such provincial body in India. However, these and all other membership figures can be taken as no more than approxzimations. Verification is extremely difficult in the absence of any other data as a basis of comparison. The one possible measure of activity and an indication of participation, if not of membership, is to be derived from the press and official estimates of local meetings and provincial rallies. At the height of the agitation, Sahajanand consistently addressed local village meetings of up to 5000 peasants, and the estimates of peasant rallies in Patna were commonly as high as or even higher than 100,000.
With 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:...
at Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
in April 1936, the Bihar Kisan Sabha became one of the provincial units of that national body. The Congress Socialist Party
Congress Socialist Party
The Congress Socialist Party was founded in 1934 as a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. Its members rejected what they saw as the anti-rational mysticism of Mohandas Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of the Communist Party of India towards the Congress Party...
pressed for the organisation of an all-India peasant association, and N.G. Ranga
N.G. Ranga
Gogineni Ranga nayukulu , better known as N. G. Ranga , was an Indian freedom fighter, parliamentarian, and kisan leader...
[1949:69; 1968:216] became a prime mover in the effort. While Sahajanand was named president of the first meeting at Lucknow, he had come to support the idea reluctantly, holding that a national organisation could function effectively only on the basis of a network of well-developed provincial bodies, which did not in fact exist [Sahajanand, 1952:449-453]. While Sahajanand, once involved, extended total support, and to a large extent created and maintained the organisational framework by his own efforts, the A.I.K.S. suffered from the very shortcomings he had indicated: there was insufficient local depth to sustain a national movement [Mitra, 1938:387-389].
Some of his followers and students in the spirit of serving the deprived masses were 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 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 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...
, Pandit Panchanan Sharma, 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...
and Baba Nagarjun.
Swamiji established an ashram at Neyamatpur
Neyamatpur
Neyamatpur is an old predominantly Bhumihar Brahmin village in Gaya district of Bihar, India. The village has a proud history as it was the bastion of extremist group of the Indian National Congress and Kisan Andolan...
, Gaya
Gaya, India
Gaya is the second largest city of Bihar, India, and it is also the headquarters of Gaya District.Gaya is 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. Situated on the banks of Falgu River , it is a place sanctified by both the Hindu and the Buddhist religions...
(Bihar) which later became the centre of freedom struggle in bihar. All the prominent leaders of congress visited there frequently to meet 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...
, the leader of Kisaan Aandolan.
Few will know that it was Yadav peasants who, in 1927, pleaded with Sahajanand to aid them in their struggles against the Bhumihar Brahmin
Bhumihar
Bhumihar or Babhan or Bhuin-har is a Brahmin Hindu community mainly found in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh.- Varna status :...
zamindars of Masaurhi
Masaurhi
Masaurhi is a city and a Nagar Parishad in Patna district in the Indian state of Bihar. Few will know that it was Yadav farmers who, in 1927, talked to Swami Sahajanand Saraswati to aid them in their struggles against the Bhumihar Brahmin zamindars of Masaurhi, and that it was from that beginning...
, and that it was from that beginning that the most powerful peas-ant movement in India, the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha, emerged.
And among the many beneficiaries of that movement were precisely those productive and upwardly mobile middle caste groups now courted so assiduously by the Janata Dal
Janata Dal
Janata Dal is an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Congress, and the Jan Morcha led by V. P...
, the Samata Party
Samata Party
The Samata Party is a political party in India. Initially formed as an offshoot of the Janata Dal in 1994 by Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes. The reason given was that the Janata Dal had shifted to casteism...
, the Congress, and indeed, the Bharatiya Janata Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
(BJP).
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
Subhash Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose known by name Netaji was an Indian revolutionary who led an Indian national political and military force against Britain and the Western powers during World War II. Bose was one of the most prominent leaders in the Indian independence movement and is a legendary figure in...
spoke of Swamiji as
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati is, in the land of ours, a name to conjure with. The undisputed leader of the peasant movement in India, he is today the idol of the masses and the hero of millions. It was indeed a rare fortune to get him as the chairman of the Reception Committee of the All India Anti-Compromise Conference at Ramgarh
Ramgarh
Ramgarh Raj was a major Zamindari in the era of the British Raj.The areas that would later comprise the Ramgarh Raj had initially belonged to the Raja of Chhota Nagpur. Around the year AD 1368, the area witnessed unrest for reasons not now known. The Raja deputed two brothers by name Baghdeo and...
. For the Forward Block (All India Forward Bloc
All India Forward Bloc
The All India Forward Bloc is a leftwing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party after the independence of India...
) it was a privilege and an honour to get him as one of the foremost leaders of the Left movement and as a friend, philosopher and guide of the Forward Block itself. As a matter of fact, following Swamiji's lead, a large number of front-rank leaders of the peasant movement have been intimately associated with the Forward Block.
The sword of Damocles at last fell on Swamiji and he was arrested this morning at Patna under the Defence of India Act. Yesterday he was in Calcutta and we spent long hours in conversation with him. Little did we know at the time that the warrant for arrest was waiting for him at Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...
. He left Calcutta last night and this morning at Patna he was placed in custody.
Before he left Calcutta, we issued a joint statement under our signatures appealing for a proper observation of May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
throughout the country.
On hearing of his arrest, we immediately decided to observe 28 April as an All-India Swami Sahajanand Day for the purpose of protesting against his incarceration. We earnestly hope that that day will be observed in such a manner as to give a fitting reply to the British Government.
Swamiji's quotes
The kisans are victim to a continuing series of exploitations. For example, if they were able to meet their needs of woods from the jungle, then what would be left for the forest officials, great and small to do. In fact these "rangers," "foresters," "patrolmen," and others seek out any opportunity to oppress the people, very much like beasts of prey. If they are not bribed, their sole object is to harass the poor. My blood begins to boil when I recall the many stories told to me by the Adivasi kisans of the harassment they have had to endure at the hands of forest officers.The prime movers of these movements do not in their hearts desire that the agricultural labourers should get real relief. They seek only their own ends. Then how will the poor be benefited? They will be benefited in the long run because despite the determined efforts of dim false leaders to the contrary, this movement will gradually cause the oppressed to awaken. And when they begin to understand the reality of what is happening and who is at the root of their sorrows and sufferings, their dishonour, disgrace, hunger and disease, and when they also understand how to eradicate them, then their goals are certain to be realized. (Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Central Jail Hazaribagh
Hazaribagh
Hazaribagh is a city and a municipality in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is famous as a health resort and for Hazaribagh National Park ....
, 1941)
Books
- Bhumihar BrahminBhumiharBhumihar or Babhan or Bhuin-har is a Brahmin Hindu community mainly found in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh.- Varna status :...
Parichay (Introduction to Bhumihar Brahmins), in Hindi. - Jhootha Bhay Mithya Abhiman (False Fear False Pride), in Hindi.
- Brahman Kaun?
- Brahman Samaj ki Sthiti (Situation of the Brahmin Society) in Hindi.
- Brahmarshi Vansha Vistar in SanskritSanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, HindiHindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
and EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. - Karmakalap, in Sanskrit and Hindi.
Autobiographical works
- Mera Jeewan Sangharsha (My LIfe Struggle), in Hindi.
- Kisan Sabha ke Sansmaran (Recollections of the Kisan Sabha), in Hindi.
- Maharudra ka Mahatandav, in Hindi.
- Jang aur Rashtriya Azadi
- Ab Kya ho?
- GayaGaya, IndiaGaya is the second largest city of Bihar, India, and it is also the headquarters of Gaya District.Gaya is 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital city of Bihar. Situated on the banks of Falgu River , it is a place sanctified by both the Hindu and the Buddhist religions...
jile mein sava maas - Samyukta Kisan Sabha, Samyukta Samajvadi Sabha ke Dastavez.
- Kisanon ke Dave
- Dhakaich ka bhashan
Ideological works
- Kranti aur Samyukta Morcha
- Gita Hridaya (Heart of the Gita)
- Kisanon ke Dave
- Maharudra ka Mahatandav
- Kalyan mein chapein lekh
Works related to peasantry and Zamindars
- Kisan kaise ladten hain?
- Kisan kya karen?
- Zamindaron ka khatma kaise ho?
- Kisan ke dost aur dushman
- Bihar prantiya kisansabha ka ghoshna patra
- Kisanon ki phasane ki taiyariyan
- On the other side
- Rent reduction in Bihar, How it Works?
- Zamindari kyon utha di jaye?
- Khet Mazdoor (Agricultural Labourer), in Hindi, written in Hazaribagh Central Jail.
- Jharkhand ke kisan
- Bhumi vyavastha kaisi ho?
- Kisan andolan kyun aur kya?
- Gaya ke Kisanon ki Karun Kahani
- Ab kya ho?
- Congress tab aur ab
- Congress ne kisanon ke liye kya kiya?
- Maharudra ka Mahatandav
- Swamiji ki Diary
- Kisan sabha ke dastavez
- Swamiji ke patrachar
- Lok sangraha mein chapen lekh
- Janta mein chapein lekh
- Hunkar mein chapein lekh
- Vishal Bharat mein chapein lekh
- Bagi mein chapein lekh
- Bhumihar Brahmin mein chapein lekh
- Swamiji ki Bhashan Mala
- Krishak mein chapein lekh
- Yogi mein chapein lekh
- Kisan sevak
- Anya lekh
- Address of the Chairman, Reception Committee, The All India Anti-Compromise Conference, First Session, Kisan Nagar, Ramgarh, Hazaribagh, 19 & 20 March 1940, Ramgarh, 1940.
- Presidential Address, 8th Annual Session of the Kisan Sabha, Bezwada, 1944.
- The Origin and Growth of the Kisan Movement in India (Unpublished)
- Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Rachnawali (Selected works of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati) in Six volumes has been published by Prakashan Sansthan, DelhiDelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, 2003.
Translations into English
- Swami Sahajanand and the Peasants of Jharkhand: A View from 1941 translated and edited by Walter HauserWalter HauserWalter Hauser was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council .He was elected to the Federal Council on December 13, 1888 and died in office on October 22, 1902...
along with the unedited HindiHindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
original (Manohar Publishers, paperback, 2005). - Sahajanand on Agricultural Labour and the Rural Poor translated and edited by Walter HauserWalter HauserWalter Hauser was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council .He was elected to the Federal Council on December 13, 1888 and died in office on October 22, 1902...
Manohar Publishers, paperback, 2005. - Religion, Politics, and the Peasants: A Memoir of India's Freedom Movement translated and edited by Walter HauserWalter HauserWalter Hauser was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council .He was elected to the Federal Council on December 13, 1888 and died in office on October 22, 1902...
Manohar Publishers, hardbound, 2003.