The Tebhaga movement was a militant campaign initiated in 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...

 by the Kisan Sabha (peasants front of 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...

) in 1946. At that time share-cropping peasants (essentially, tenants) had to give half of their harvest to the owners of the land. The demand of the Tebhaga (sharing by thirds) movement was to reduce the share given to landlords to one third.

In many areas the agitations turned violent, and landlords fled villages leaving parts of the countryside in the hands of Kisan Sabha.

As a response to the agitations, the then Muslim League ministry in the province launched the Bargadar Act, which provided that the share of the harvest given to the landlords would be limited to one third of the total.