K. B. Sahay- As I knew him Atma Deo Singh, Action Research Institute for Development Studies, Patna

I saw Shree Krishna Ballabh Sahay from very close quarters. My association with him extended to five years as a Congress worker. K.B. Sahay was one of the most devoted and dedicated Congress leaders in the entire State of Bihar.

He had a golden heart. His sympathy for and help to the poorer and the suppressed people of Bihar were remarkable.

He brought about radical changes in the Congress organisation. He put Bihar firmly on the industrial map of India. The Zamindari Abolition Act and the introduction of land reforms, including consolidation of holdings, etc, were extraordinary measures for economic reforms.

His role during the United Front Ministry in the year 1967 was something startling. He accepted the challenge of the U.F. Ministry. Like a gifted and talented political leader, he worked out in such a way that the non-Congress government formed in Bihar fell like a pack of cards. His organisational skills were superb. It was amazing.

K.B. Sahay was a towering parliamentarian with a radical image. He was a dauntless freedom fighter who gave up his post-graduate studies for the sake of his motherland.

 

KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY- HIS SOCIAL AND FAMILY LIFE -RAM LAKHAN SINGH YADAV, M.L.A. (EX MINISTER), BIHAR

I hesitated to write about the Late Krishna Ballabh Sahay. He was my respected ‘Guru’, my brilliant mentor. I learnt tremendously from his dynamic capabilities, and I received guidance and inspiration from him.

Ransacking the memory lane, I am overwhelmed by a plethora of reminiscences about this extraordinary person. He was kind-hearted. He was large-hearted. He, like a true patriarch, realised the heavy responsibilities as the Revenue Minister and as the Chief Minister of Bihar- a historic State in India. As the head of a large extended family, he was fully aware of his immense obligations. My view is that the most striking thing which struck me on observing him was his deep affection and attachment existing among all the members of his big family. There were some marvellous instances of such cohesion and adjustment, but such homogeneity in Indian families is few and far between.

There was another strain in his character. He was an extremely methodical person in his daily life and domestic environment. Very few had any inkling that he exercised a critical look at the expenses incurred daily. He scanned the daily accounts of expenditure at the fag end of each day when the household chores came to a halt. But he calculated the unavoidable monetary requirements of each member of his family and made ample provision for each of them. He also helped his friends financially whenever they faced economic blizzards. Outwardly, he seemed a tough person and occasionally even a callous person. But it was a camouflage. Inwardly and inherently, he was mild and soft-hearted. In fact, he was a sensitive, kind-hearted soul since his very childhood. One instance will illustrate it. Once his father, Officer-in-Charge of a Police Station, went out of his headquarters for some urgent work. He left a servant to look after his son. He had instructed his son to use the milk of his domestic cow after milking it personally. He had also requested his colleague, another Sub-inspector of Police, to take care of the young person during his absence. The other S.I., intelligent but callous, wondered about one curious thing: how could the young man consume the entire milk every day?

He thought it was fishy. One day, while K.B. Sahay was absent from the government quarter, the police officer interrogated the servant about the consumption of milk. The servant, simple-minded as he was, told the truth that Krishna Ballabh offered him half of the milk daily, while the other half was consumed by his young malik. The police officer was annoyed beyond measure. He gave a thorough thrashing to the poor servant for no fault of his. He beat him blue and black. The beating was so merciless that several bruises occurred on his body. When Krishna Ballabh returned to the police quarter, he was horrified to see the pitiable plight of the servant. He applied the healing balm to the poor victim. As a protest, he left the thana premises. In fact, he never visited the thana again so long as the callous police officer remained in that thana.

As already alluded to, K.B. Sahay relieved the distress and worries of his friends whenever the dire situation warranted it. But he never divulged the names of such friends. In fact, he exercised precaution to keep mum. He never entertained any idea of lowering his friends in the estimation of other people. 

I would like to refer to two instances revealing his outspokenness and truthfulness. One instance related to the Sathi land, which had raised a lot of dust throughout India. K.B. Sahay was anxious to meet the late Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, the then Home Minister of India in order to apprise him about the correct particulars. Dr Sri Krishna Sinha, the then Chief Minister of Bihar, deputed him along with Pandit Binodanand Jha to contact Sardar Patel in Delhi. K.B. Sahay had an exclusive interview with the ‘Iron Man of India’. As soon as he entered the chamber, Sardar started a volley of questions on the Sathi land issue. In anger, he clinched the matter by loudly declaring that the Sathi land must be returned. But K.B. Sahay was equally adamant and dogmatic. With a rare tone of assertiveness and guts, he retorted that the Sathi land would not be returned. Sardar glared hard at K.B. Sahay. He interrogated the Bihar leader searchingly and asked why. K.B. Sahay apprised him about the minute details. He was fully equipped with all relevant papers and documents. The Sardar, a hard-boiled, pragmatic figure, calmed down in the face of hard logic. The details embodied in the documents disarmed him. Ultimately, he concurred with the version of the Revenue Minister of Bihar.

Belonging to a middle-class family, K.B. Sahay was a leader of the masses. He did not reside in the ivory tower. He knew the pulse of the masses, the teeming millions of Bihar state. He grappled with their manifold problems. His work routine was unconventional. His morning started at 3.00 a.m. in the unearthly hours. His P.A.s, assistants, and orderlies had a hard time. He never condoned any delay in the disposal of the files. What is more remarkable is that he thoroughly studied all the files diligently and critically. His decision was prompt. There were hardly any ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’.

One remarkable phenomenon about him is worth mentioning. He had an uncanny memory. He never forgot any incident, however trivial, in his life. Instinctively and temperamentally, he was a Socialist par excellence. He had watched thousands of people in distress, in agony, battling with poverty. Indeed, the poverty and indigence of the majority of the people of Bihar State had fully convinced him at the threshold of his life that Socialism was the only panacea for the diverse maladies which afflicted the masses. He had an open mind on the major national issues of that period. For example, he was not in favour of imposing Hindi throughout the country at one stroke. There was considered tolerance in his approach to the language issue. Indeed, he was opposed to the idea of reorganisation of the States in India on the rigid principle of linguistic chauvinism. No doubt, he advocated the enrichment of the Hindi language. But he counselled patience, prudence and gradual implementation in the entire country on the national language issue. He apprehended danger in foisting Hindi overnight in the States of Southern India. This was a fine example of his language farsightedness.

I saw K.B. Sahay very closely during the period of joy and jubilation. I also saw him during the period of storm and stress. But I never found him worried, perturbed or downcast. He smiled equally confidently on all occasions. His face always radiated with the lines of triumph like the Sun, which emits warmth at dawn and leaves a trail of glow even on the eve of sunset.      

पुण्य तिथि पर विशेष : काँग्रेस को कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू का योगदान और अब अस्तित्व की जद्दोजहद (04/06/2025)

 

पिछले दिनों हजारीबाग जाना हुआ। उद्देश्य था काँग्रेस मैदान एवं कार्यालय, जिसे अब कृष्ण बल्लभ आश्रम कहते हैं, में कृष्ण बल्लभ सहाय के संबंध में जानकारी एकत्रित करना। इस स्थान का अधिग्रहण और यहाँ अवस्थित कार्यालय की स्थापना कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू ने किया था। 1966 में इस परिसर का उदघाटन श्रीमती इन्दिरा गांधी के हाथों हुआ था। अपने मुख्यमंत्रित्व काल में ही कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू ने सदाकत आश्रम का भी पुनरुद्धार करवाया था। यह कहा जा सकता है कि दक्षिण बिहार विशेष कर छोटानागपुर क्षेत्र, जो अब झारखंड राज्य है, में स्वतन्त्रता संग्राम के दौरान काँग्रेस के संगठन को ईंट दर ईंट जोड़ने और खड़ा करने वाले कृष्ण बल्लभ सहाय ही थे। 

1921 में असहयोग आंदोलन से लेकर 1947 तक कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू ने काँग्रेस को गाँव-गाँव तक पहुंचा दिया। वे दक्षिण बिहार के प्रत्येक ज़िला, अनुमंडल एवं प्रखण्ड स्तर तक काँग्रेस कार्यालय स्थापित करने को कृत-संकल्प थे।   उनका ध्येय था कि हर गाँव में कम से कम एक परिवार ऐसा हो जो काँग्रेस की ध्वजा अपने घर के परकोटे पर फहराने का हिम्मत जुटाये। इन परिवारों का भरण-पोषण का जिम्मा काँग्रेस का होता। इन्हें प्रत्येक माह एक छोटी रकम बतौर वजीफा मिलता जिसे कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू डॉ राजेंद्र प्रसाद की सहमति से काँग्रेस के फ़ंड से भुगतान करते थे। ये वो दौर था जब देश और काँग्रेस एक दूसरे के पर्याय थे।

1921 में अँग्रेजी विषय में स्नातक करने एवं पूरे कलकत्ता विश्वविद्यालय में अव्वल आने के बाद कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू चाहते तो सरलता से आई.सी.एस. बन अंग्रेजों का पिट्ठू बन अपनी ही प्रजा से हुकुम-हुज़ूरी करवा सकते थे। किन्तु उन्हें यह गवारा नहीं था। उन्होंने दर-दर भटकना स्वीकार किया और अवाम को स्वतन्त्रता संग्राम में सहयोग को प्रेरित करते रहे। उनकी कमाई यही रही कि उन्हें अवाम का विश्वास हासिल हुआ। ऐसे कई प्रसंग हैं जब आमजन से उन्हें काँग्रेस कार्यालय स्थापित करने क लिए भूमि दान में मिले। वर्ष बयालीस के एक पत्र का संदर्भ है जिसमें डोमचांच का एक किसान काँग्रेस कार्यालय के लिए आवश्यक जमीन सिर्फ इस शर्त पर मुहैया करवाया कि इसे डॉ राजेंद्र प्रसाद स्वीकार करें। कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू ने डॉ प्रसाद को पत्र लिख कर उस किसान की मंशा से उन्हें अवगत कराया। फिर डॉ प्रसाद की सहमति से वो भूमि का टुकड़ा प्राप्त हुआ जिस पर आज भी काँग्रेस कार्यालय स्थापित है। इसी प्रकार दक्षिण बिहार के विभिन्न जिलों में यथा सिंहभूम (कदमा एवं चक्रधरपुर), गिरिडीह (राजधनवार), दुमका (उद्योगपति रामजीवन हिम्मत सिंघका द्वारा डॉ राजेंद्र प्रसाद को गिफ्ट डीड से हस्तांतरित), देवघर (उद्योगपति द्वारका प्रसाद गुरगुटिया द्वारा डॉ राजेंद्र प्रसाद को गिफ्ट डीड से हस्तांतरित), धनबाद, डाल्टनगंज (पलामू), पाकुड़, लोहरदग्गा (प्रसिद्ध उद्योगपति शिव प्रसाद साहू द्वारा दान दिया गया जहां काँग्रेस कार्यालय का उदघाटन कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू ने किया), कोडरमा (डोमचांच), गोड्डा (पोरियाहाट), चतरा (चतरा एवं हंटरगंज)आदि स्थानों पर आज जो काँग्रेस कार्यालय विधमान हैं वे सभी उसी दौर के हैं जब कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू छोटानागपुर क्षेत्र में काँग्रेस एवं स्वतन्त्रता संग्राम को खड़ा कर रहे थे। आज इनमें से बहुतों के कागजात उपलब्ध नहीं हैं। नतीजतन इनमें से कई पर विवाद चल रहे हैं क्योंकि इन पर अवैध कब्जा हो रखा है। यह भी विधि की विडम्बना है कि आज उन्हीं कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू का पौत्र (मनोज सहाय) इन काँग्रेस कार्यालयों पुनर्स्थापित करने का प्रयास कर रहा है।

इतिहास पर नज़र डालें तो यह विदित होगा कि ये संपत्ति तो किसानों, स्थानीय लोगों और उद्योगपतियों ने महात्मा गांधी एवं डॉ राजेंद्र प्रसाद के नाम काँग्रेस को सौंपा था। इस पर आज की इन्दिरा काँग्रेस का दावा कितना सही है यह विवाद का विषय है, क्योंकि जिस काँग्रेस की स्थापना 1885 में हुई थी उसे भारतीय राष्ट्रीय काँग्रेस कहा गया। इसी काँग्रेस ने स्वतन्त्रता संग्राम की लड़ाई लड़ी। कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू इसी अविभाजित काँग्रेस के नेता थे। मृत्युपर्यंत वे एकीकृत काँग्रेस के सदस्य बने रहे। इसी मूल काँग्रेस में बने रहने और इन्दिरा काँग्रेस की मातहति ना करने के कारण ही वे राजनीतिक षड्यंत्र के शिकार हुए।    

आज जो काँग्रेस है वो दरअसल इन्दिरा काँग्रेस है जिसकी स्थापना ही 1979-80 में इन्दिरा गांधी द्वारा किया गया। 1969 के बाद यह दूसरा अवसर था जब इडिरा गांधी ने खुद ही इस ऐतिहासिक पार्टी को तोड़ उसे कमजोर किया। किन्तु 1980 के बाद तो काँग्रेस पारिवारिक संपत्ति ही बन गयी। अतः विचार करने वाली बात है कि इन्दिरा काँग्रेस कैसे मूल काँग्रेस के विरासत की हकदार हो गयी? क्या इसका निर्णय निर्वाचन आयोग के जिम्मे छोड़ा जा सकता है? जिस विभाजित काँग्रेस का जन्म ही 45 वर्ष पूर्व हुआ वो 2025 में अपना 84वां अधिवेशन कैसे मना सकती है, जैसा पिछले दिनों प्रचारित किया गया। दूसरी ओर यदि ऐसा है तो काँग्रेस को इस मुद्दे पर विचार करना चाहिए कि वो पारिवारिक काँग्रेस तक सीमित रहना चाहती है अथवा अपनी पुरानी पहचान पर वापस जाना चाहती है। उस स्थिति में में उसे अपने नाम से इन्दिरा शब्द हटा लेना चाहिए।  साथ ही उसे मूल काँग्रेस के सिद्धांतों पर चलने का संकल्प लेना चाहिए। 

THE PHASE OF POLITICAL ASSASSINATION IN BIHAR: REMEMBERING K.B. SAHAY ON HIS 52ND DEATH ANNIVERSARY (03/06/2025)

 

On May 23, 2024, Himanta Biswa Sarma challenged Rahul Gandhi to address several unsolved historical incidents involving senior Congress leaders. (News Courtesy India Today, NE)

Sarma's list included the unnatural deaths of two prominent political leaders of Bihar. They included the fatal accident of K.B. Sahay and the mysterious bomb blast which claimed the life of L.N. Mishra.

K. B. Sahay's Fatal Accident: The Chief Minister, Sarma, raised concerns about the unexplained car accident that claimed the life of Bihar’s former Chief Minister K. B. Sahay, known for abolishing the Zamindari System, after falling out with Indira Gandhi. "Why wasn’t his death investigated?" Sarma probed.

Lalit Narayan Mishra's Death: Sarma questioned the mysterious bomb blast that killed former Union Railway Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra, who had differences with then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. "Who was behind the blast?" he asked.

On June 2, 2025, ‘The Indian Express’ published an article, ‘Why L.N. Mishra’s killing is being discussed 50 years later?

The unnatural and untimely demise of K.B. Sahay on June 3, 1974 and of L.N. Mishra just six months later on January 5, 1975, began a dark chapter of political assassination of political rivals. Both K.B. Sahay and L.N. Mishra were unparalleled in their political stature. The third leader who survived the brutality was Loknayak Jai Prakash Narayan, who launched the ‘Sampurna Kranti’ to dislodge Mrs Indira Gandhi. However, we are all aware of Jai Prakash Narayan’s sufferings in jail during the emergency, which took a heavy toll on his health.

WHY K. B. SAHAY’S CASE IS A COLD-BLOODED MURDER AND NOT A FREAK CAR ACCIDENT

The brutality with which K.B. was eliminated opened the shady chapter of violence in politics in post-independence India. The car accident was a Machiavellian ploy to eliminate K.B. Sahay, which was carried out with criminal precision to make it appear an accident.

On that fateful day, K.B. Sahay left Patna for his native Hazaribagh at 5.00 a.m., which was quite usual for him. He was seated in the front seat of the ambassador car (BRM-101) along with his grandson, while his wife and daughter-in-law, with three children, were seated in the rear seat. As soon as their car reached the highway, a truck followed the car. This truck kept speeding, overtaking, and abruptly stopping on the pretext of disturbances on the road ahead. But the car driver successfully manoeuvred these disruptions and safely reached Jhumri-Telaiya, even crossing the Rajauli valley in the Koderma Reserve Forest without any harm. K.B. Sahay halted at Jhumri-Telaiya at his son’s place for an hour. The said truck stopped over at the petrol pump just a short distance away, as people who had seen that particular truck confirmed later. From here K.B. Sahay proceeded to Hazaribagh.

As K.B. Sahay left Jhumri-Telaiya, the cat-and-mouse chase between the truck and the car began once again. The family was just 5 kilometres away from Hazaribagh when the truck struck the car at a place near Sindur village on a sloppy stretch of the highway. The driver of the truck screeched the vehicle to a sudden halt, expecting the car to ram head-on into it from behind on the slope. But the driver was fairly experienced, and he managed to stop the car swiftly enough, just short of ramming into the truck. However, the worst happened thereafter. The truck went into reverse and steered to the left to ram the car forcefully on its left side, i.e. the side of the front seat where K. B. Sahay was seated. The act proves beyond doubt that it wasn’t an accident but a cold-blooded attempt at assassinating K.B. Sahay. K.B. Sahay was quite agile even at this advanced age, and just as the truck was about to hit the car, he swiftly lifted his grandson to push him behind, saving his life just in time. But the hit proved fatal for this veteran of many a struggle. Face smeared with blood, K.B. Sahay was gasping for breath when he and his family members were picked up by a private car and admitted to the Hazaribagh hospital. Doctors tried their best to save him by giving mouth-to-mouth respiration, but they failed to bring him back to life. (K.B. Sahay dies in car mishap near Hazaribagh, ‘The Searchlight’, June 4, 1974, (Courtesy- Sachchidanand Sinha Library, Patna-1)

The manner the hit-and-run incident was made to appear like an accident left no scope for doubt that K.B. Sahay was eliminated by his political rivals. Another Gandhian was silenced for taking up the cause of the poor and the downtrodden. Thus, unfortunately, the decision ‘to be’ to live a meaningful political life was made null by unknown forces that must not have wanted his resurgence, which led to his life’s end in a ‘hit-and-run’ case. The story of the life of K. B. Sahay lives on through the words of his numerous speeches, his revolutionary political initiatives and the mark of stamp he left in the administration of Bihar.

 

KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY- AS AN EMINENT PATRIOT -DR S.M. ISA, STATE MINISTER, P.H.E.D. (BIHAR)

 

KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY 
(31.12.1898-03.06.1974)

Bihar has produced several political leaders of All India fame and even of international image. Shri K.B. Sahay was one of those stalwarts and distinguished political leaders of whom the entire state of Bihar can always be proud.

The varied events, the various activities, and the hectic political phases of his eventful life read like the pages of a memorable saga. In fact, these myriad events mirror the entire gamut of the freedom movement launched in India. His personality is multi-dimensional. It had varied facets. In this brief article, the role of K.B. Sahay as a restless freedom fighter is assessed.

After winning laurels and the coveted ‘Gold Medal’ by standing first in the first class in English literature, he joined Patna College for M.A. He was agog with post-graduate studies and would have come out with flying colours. But destiny willed it otherwise. The clarion call of freedom for our motherland was more strident, more sacred than the mere addition of another golden feather in his academic cap. The Non-Cooperation Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi beckoned him. He enthusiastically responded to his call in 1921. Even as an undergraduate college student, he was anxiously watching the momentous visit of Mahatma Gandhi to the soil of Champaran in 1917 to probe into the atrocities of the British indigo planters on the poor, defenceless raiyats of that district. He also joined the Bihar Congress movement led by Dr Rajendra Prasad in condemning and castigating the repressive Rowlett Act promulgated by the British rulers to gag the spirit of the freedom fighters.

When Maulana Abul Kalam Azad appealed as the Congress President on the 8^th December 1920 to the people of Bihar to enrol more satyagrahis to impart greater momentum to the freedom movement, K.B. Sahay gave full-fledged support. Even when Dr Sri Krishna Sinha and K.B. Sahay were in prison during this period, they gave vent to their resentment when they refused to meet their relatives in the presence of C.I.D. officers. The 35^th session of the Indian National Congress held in Nagpur in December 1920 under the Presidentship of Shri C. Vijaya Raghavacharya ratified the famous resolution on Non-Cooperation Movement passed by the stormy Calcutta Congress session. K.B. Sahay got about organising committees throughout the villages of Bihar to invoke the patriotic spirit of the entire Indian masses to join this movement in overwhelming numbers and enrolling a band of devoted and dedicated national workers for the cause of freedom.

The Boycott of government offices and institutions followed. Government colleges were abandoned. The control of education in the national educational institutions was now vested by the ardent freedom fighters with the National Council of Education, monitored by Congress leaders of Bihar. When the Bihar National College was started in Patna in 1920, K.B. Sahay voluntarily placed his services as a lecturer in English. Dr Rajendra Prasad was the Principal. A host of other freedom fighters like Badrinath Verma, Abdul Bari, Phuldev Sahay Verma, Ram Chariter Singh, Qazi Munemi, etc, joined this institution as its staff.

Apart from his instinctive and emotional attachment to the Congress creed, K.B. Sahay was a cool, incisive thinker, a gifted intellectual. He agreed with the views of Pandit Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das and Yusuf Imam of Mirzapur that constitutional methods should also be tapped to cause another dent against the British Raj by taking recourse to wrecking the British Government from within. K.B. Sahay, along with Narayan Prasad of Chatra and Prof. Abdul Bari of the National College, Patna, supported the Council entry policy spearheaded by Pandit Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das and Yusuf Imam as referred to above.

On the 20^th February, 1923, K.B. Sahay and others met at Patna. They formed a provincial branch of the Swaraj Party. They again met at Gaya on the 9^th May, 1923, and set up a new Executive Committee. The Swaraj Party made considerable headway in Bihar. K.B. Sahay was one of the elected members. He was elected from the Hazaribagh constituency. K.B. Sahay was a very vocal and spirited member of the Legislative Council. One example would illustrate. On the 12^th March 1924, a motion was tabled in the Legislative Council by Jimat Vahan Sen, castigating the Board of Revenue, Bihar Government for miserably failing to control the affairs of the Wards Estates, particularly the bungling in the Bettiah Raj affairs. K.B. Sahay boldly and fearlessly condemned the British Raj English Manager.

Dr Rajendra Prasad took up constructive schemes of development of Bihar on the national pattern, particularly in the realm of national education and the spread of Khadi. On the 19^th February 1924, a definite resolution was moved in the Bihar and Orissa Legislative Council to the effect that in all public schools, arrangements be made for teaching boys and girls above the age of ten regarding the art of spinning by Charkha. K.B. Sahay, along with Jimat Vahan Sen, strongly supported this resolution. On account of his ceaseless propaganda about the Khadi programme as laid down by the Indian National Congress, he, along with Ram Narayan Singh, was arrested under Section 108 of the Cr. P.C. They were sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for refusing to furnish the sureties. The British Government in Bihar could not allow such anti-British activities. District Magistrate, Patna, declared the Sadaqat Ashram as unlawful. He seized the Sadaqat Ashram, and Dr Rajendra Prasad, K.B. Sahay, Braj Kishore Prasad, and Jagat Narayan Lal were arrested. They were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months each. A mighty challenge to the British was thrown by the Indian National Congress led by Mahatma Gandhi in August 1942. On the 5^th August, 1942, the ‘Quit India Movement’ was started by Mahatma Gandhi, supported by all prominent leaders of the Indian National Congress. K.B. Sahay, always a dedicated and devoted soldier in the freedom movement in India, supported this movement.

On 12 April 1942, Dr Sri Krishna Sinha, the leader of the Congress Party in Bihar, presided over the District Political Conference in Hazaribagh. K.B. Sahay, Jagjivan Ram and Basavan Singh also addressed the crowded meeting where thousands of adivasis (Khervars) assembled.

A sensational incident took place on the 9^th November, 1942, in the Hazaribagh Central Jail. Six prominent political leaders, viz. Jai Prakash Narayan, Ram Narayan Mishra, Jogender Shukla, Suraj Narayan Singh, etc, dramatically escaped from the Hazaribagh Central Jail. The British rulers of Bihar of those days suspected the hand of K.B. Sahay and Sukhlal Singh in this sensational event. Consequently, K.B. Sahay, along with Ram Narayan Singh, Sukhlal Singh, etc, were secretly transferred overnight from the Hazaribagh Central Jail to the Bhagalpur Central Jail. The British had no doubt read the writing on the wall. They got ready to pack up. Freedom, which had eluded the Indian people since 1857, at last dawned. The British handed over complete independence to the freedom fighters of India on the 15^th August, 1947.          

 

 

K.B. Sahay- Some Glimpses of his Social and Political Life - Vishwanath Prasad Verma (18/05/2025)

 K.B. Sahay- Some Glimpses of his Social and Political Life

-Vishwanath Prasad Verma

Ex President, Patna Town Congress (I) Committee &

General Secretary, K.B. Sahay Birthday Celebration Committee, Patna

‘I slept and dreamed that life was beauty

I woke up and found that life was duty’- Ellen S. Hooper

The epigram above is generally true, but there is an exception. Sri K.B. Sahay never slept soundly. He also never wove a utopia. He was always alert, wide awake, vigilant and dynamic. He always realised the supreme virtue of duty as enshrined in the sacred Gita. He stuck to it throughout his eventful life of 76 years.

As a firm supporter of and believer in the democratic and secular ideology of the Indian National Congress, I came in close contact with Sri K.B. Sahay. I had numerous occasions to watch the various phases of his hectic, social and political life. In this brief article, I have attempted to spotlight some features of his busy, crowded life.

During 1967 on the occasion of the stormy general election in Bihar, a commercial-minded Congress supporter approached K.B. Sahay and solicited monetary advances from him by trotting out a plan to take recourse to underhand, clandestine means to secure more votes by practicing what is popularly called rigging and booth capturing. K.B. Sahay flatly refused to entertain this shady idea, much less to encourage and finance it. He firmly declared that it was a preposterous proposal and could never be acceptable to him.

K.B. Sahay’s approach to various social and political issues confronting the masses was direct, clear-cut, and outspoken. There was no circumlocution or diplomacy. K.B. Sahay was a hard working person. He worked tirelessly till 9.00 p.m. He stopped work by that hour. By 9.30 p.m. he would always have a simple dinner consisting of rice, bread, meat or fish. He was a non-vegetarian. He relished chicken and biryani. ‘Bharta’ 9pounded potatoes) was his favourite item. He went to bed positively by 10.00 p.m. He got up at 4.00 a.m. An early morning walk was a must for him. In the morning after taking a bath, he took light refreshment- two boiled eggs along with other items and tea.

K.B. Sahay was a leader of the masses, of the common people, of the oppressed and the underprivileged. He put on course, rough khaddar cloth for his daily apparel. Fine Khadi was anathema to his democratic instinct. He was a true socialist. K.B. Sahay possessed vast and astounding organizational talent. During the annual Congress session in Patna in 1962, the issues of food, accommodation, transport etc of thousands of Congress delegates thronging to Patna from all States of India, posed a tough, complicated and vexing issue. Eminent Congress leaders of Bihar chose K.B. Sahay for this onerous responsibility. K.B. Sahay stood supreme on that occasion. The entire arrangements under his direct supervision were superb, well-planned, methodical and efficient. He won laurels from the high command of Delhi.

Contrary to general impressions, K.B. Sahay was soft-hearted from within. On occasions of marriages, festivals etc he would make it a point to enquire about the financial worries of his subordinate staff. He would make over some requisite funds to them to tide them over their monetary hardships. This was in consonance with his strong and surging democratic instinct.

Like a benevolent patriarch, he sheltered the poor and the helpless. He shielded the oppressed. In fact, he falsified the familiar general epigram, ‘the poor have no friends’.

On the contrary, it is refreshing to note that he upheld and symbolized the following epigram- ‘He that hath pity upon the poor, landeth unto the Lord’.

Intellectually, a colossal figure, he was also an embodiment of simplicity, sublimity, and soft-heartedness in all phases of his social, cultural and political life.

 

  

 

 

 

गुरुदेव रबीन्द्रनाथ टैगोर- के.बी. के पुस्तकालय से (कवीन्द्र रबीन्द्रनाथ टैगोर की 166 वीं जयंती पर विशेष) (07/05/2025)

 

आज कवीन्द्र रबीन्द्रनाथ टैगोर की 166 वीं जयंती है।

आज अपनी निजी पुस्तकालय में पुरानी पुस्तकों को व्यवस्थित करने के क्रम में मुझे अपने पितामह कृष्ण बल्लभ सहाय की कुछ पुस्तकें मिली। ये पुस्तकें मुझे अपने मरहूम चाचा श्री राधेकान्त सहाय जी के सौजन्य से 2023 में प्राप्त हुई थी। 2024 में चाचाजी का निधन हो गया। अपने पिता कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू के पुस्तकालय की पुस्तकें मुझे सौपते हुए उनके शब्द मुझे आज भी याद हैं- इस थाती को संभाल कर रखना।

आज रबीन्द्रनाथ टैगोर की जयंती पर जब में मैं अपनी निजी पुस्तकालय में किताबों को उलट-पलट रहा था तो मुझे टैगोर की लिखी और प्रकाशित कई किताबें मिली जो मेरे पितामह ने अपने पुस्तकालय में सहेज कर रखी थी। अँग्रेजी एवं बंगला में कवीन्द्र टैगोर की मूल रचनाएँ और उर्दू एवं हिन्दी में अनुवादित और साहित्य अकादमी द्वारा टैगोर की जन्म शताब्दी वर्ष (1961) में प्रकाशित ये किताबें अनमोल हैं। इन्हीं में से कुछ मैं साझा कर रहा हूँ।

‘गीत-पंचशती’ टैगोर की लिखी पाँच सौ चुने हुए गीतों का संग्रह है। इस पुस्तक में प्रख्यात चित्रकार श्री नंदलाल बोस के एक ‘एचिंग’ की अनुकृति है। इस अनुकृति में रबीन्द्रनाथ टैगोर शांतिनिकेतन को अपनी कविता ‘झूलन’ का पाठ करते हुए पेश किया गया है।

इसी प्रकार ‘एकोत्तरशती’ रबीन्द्रनाथ टैगोर के एक सौ एक चुनी हुई कविताओं का संकलन है। इस पुस्तक में टैगोर द्वारा खुद की उकेरी एक पेंटिंग है जिस पर दिनांक 24/04/1896 अंकित है।

‘नाट्य-सप्तक’ टैगोर के साथ नाटकों का संग्रह है। इस पुस्तक में टैगोर की बाउल कलाकार के रूप में एक चित्र अंकित है जो अबनींद्रनाथ टैगोर द्वारा उकेरा गया है।

रबीन्द्रनाथ टैगोर से संबन्धित उर्दू में अनुवादित रचनाएँ है ‘इक्कीस कहानियाँ’, एवं दो उपन्यास ‘तीन नाटक’ (जो तीन नाटकों ‘डाक-घर’, राजा’, और ‘रक्तकरबी’ का संग्रह है) एवं ‘चोखेर-बाली’ जिस पर फिल्म भी बन चुकी है।  

अँग्रेजी में स्वयं टैगोर द्वारा लिखित पुस्तक ‘ग्लिम्पसेस ऑफ बंगाल’ (‘GLIMPSES OF BENGAL’) है। यह टैगोर द्वारा 1885-1895 के बीच लिखी चुने हुई खतों का संग्रह है जिसे 1930 में मैकमिलन की लंदन शाखा द्वारा प्रकाशित किया गया था। इस पुस्तक में टैगोर को ‘सर’ की उपाधि से संबोधित किया गया है जबकि टैगोर ने सर की उपाधि जालियांवाला बाग कांड के बाद ही त्याज्य दिया था। इस पुस्तक की तमाम पृष्ठ कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू की लाल-नीली पेंसिल से रंगे हुए हैं जिस में से एक मैं यहाँ उद्धृत कर रहा हूँ-

India has two aspects- in one she is a householder, in the other a wandering ascetic. The former refuses to budge from the home corner; the latter has no home at all. I find both these within me. –Tagore, Balia, Tuesday, February, 1893.

मैं इन पुस्तकों को अभी तक आद्योपांत नहीं पढ़ पाया हूँ। किन्तु कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू न केवल इन सभी पुस्तकों को पढ़ रखा था वरन जहां उन्हें कुछ पंक्तियाँ सटीक लगी उसे उन्होंने नीली-लाल पेंसिल से मार्क भी कर रखा है। कृष्ण बल्लभ बाबू की आदत में शुमार था कि किसी भी पुस्तक को पढ़ते हुए वे उन पंक्तियों को, जो उन्हें प्रभावित करते थे, लाल-नीली पेंसिल से चिन्हित करते जाते थे। प्रायः वे इन पंक्तियों का उद्धरण विधान सभा में बहस के दौरान करते थे। पुस्तक पढ़ने के बाद वे उस पर उनके पुस्तकालय में उस पुस्तक का परिग्रहन संख्या (ACCESSION NUMBER) लिखते और प्रथम पृष्ठ पर तारीख के साथ हस्ताक्षर कर पुस्तकालय में करीने से सभाल कर रख देते थे।