K. B. SAHAY- ANOTHER FORGOTTEN HERO- BY RAJESH SAHAY

K. B. SAHAY- ONE OF HIS LAST PHOTO

AUTHOR: RAJESH SAHAY

This is the complete researched version of the biography by the author which is available on the author’s blog. The edited versions have got published in various national newspapers and news-magazines.

A

mong the galaxy of leaders who have shaped Bihar in the post-independence era, the name of Sri. Krishna Ballabh Sahay shines and shines almost alone as a pole star. His single contribution at enacting the famous Zamindari Abolition Act should have allowed him a coveted place in the annals of Indian history, but it is indeed a sorry state of affair that, leave alone the central government which failed to recognize his geniuses by issuing at least a commemorative postage stamp in the freedom fighters category, even the Government of Bihar failed to appreciate his contributions and regards him as a pariah since he was the only chief minister from the erstwhile Chhotanagpur (the present Jharkhand). On the other hand the Government of Jharkhand does not recognize him as its own leader for he did not come from a tribal community of Jharkhand. It is indeed a pity that the present ruling classes have compartmentalized leader in such a narrow manner that they are least bothered to acknowledge a leader, if he does not represent their vote bank, never mind even if that leader spent his whole life working for the welfare of the people and in the interest of the nation. Had the legislation on Zamindari Abolition been drafted and enacted by any other leader belonging to the SC/ST/OBC, his contribution would have been hailed as epoch-making legislation towards ushering in the era of social justice, at par with the contribution of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar and the likes. But considering that Sri Krishna Ballabh Babu came from the Kayastha community, a community which does not count in the vote bank politics, his contribution has been left unacknowledged. It is indeed a sorry state of affairs. It is high time that an objective analysis of the contribution of Krishna Ballabh Babu is made and he is given his due place in the history of India and Bihar. This study is directed at achieving this objective. It is customary that only the brighter side of a personality is highlighted while remembering a personality. This study touches all the controversial issues related to the life and times of Sri Sahay, different shades of his personality, and puts them in their right perspective for the readers to judge him as a leader of modern India.

The life of Sri Krishna Ballabh Babu can be studied in three phases: the pre-independence era, the period from 1947 to 1963 when he was under the tutelage of Sri. Krishna Sinha, the first chief minister of Bihar and the period from 1963 to 1967 and after, when he primarily held the post of chief minister of Bihar. The first phase of his life shaped his thinking and developed his personality and made him take decisions in the second phase. The third phase can be regarded as the most controversial period of his life, which shall be the focus of the present study. However, even though the three phases represent different periods, these cannot be compartmentalized and their overlapping impact is quite evident.

The period from 1919 to 1947 saw K. B. Sahay in the forefront of freedom struggle in Bihar in general and Hazaribag district in particular. Till 1919 he had concentrated on his studies. He graduated with honours in the Queen’s Language, with a first-class and a gold medal to boot. He was of the firm opinion that education was essential for enlightenment and students should concentrate on studies and join politics only after completion of their studies. As a true Gandhian, he felt that students should not indulge in violence. It was these firm beliefs that were tested during his stint as Chief Minister of Bihar later. During this period, as a son of a daroga of the British raj, he was witness to the atrocities committed by the police and the goons of Zamindars on poor, which firmed up his determination to abolish this draconian agrarian system.

After studies, Sri K. B. Sahay jumped into the freedom struggle and whichever agitation was launched by Mahatma Gandhi at the national level it was led by Sri K. B. Sahay in Bihar, particularly in the Hazaribag district of Bihar. Thus he led the agitation at Hazaribag during the Non-cooperation movement of 1919-20, the Civil disobedience movement and “Salt Satyagraha” of 1930-32 and the “Quit India Movement” of 1942. He went to jails on a number of occasions during this period. He was also instrumental in the escape of Sri Jai Prakash Narayan from Hazaribag jail during one such incarceration. He was also associated with the “Antyodya Movement” of Gandhiji had a deep impression on his mind and made him think of ways for their real emancipation. His determination to resolve the agrarian crisis was reflected in his efforts in organizing Kishan sabhas and other such meetings. At a meeting at Chhapra on 11^th May 1942 which was presided over by Dr. Rajendra Prasad and at another such meeting at Kudra in Shahabad, he spoke in length on the subject. Sri Babu, who also came from a zamindar family, asked him to arrange a public meeting at his native place Tarapur in Monghyr. At this meeting issue related to “Torture of inhabitants of Banaili Raj by their Zamindars” was taken up by Sri Babu and Krishna Ballabh Babu. This meeting, which was also attended by Acharya J. B. Kriplani, was a grand success.

The genius of Sri K. B. Sahay, however, came to the fore during the second phase i.e. when the reins of power passed on to the hands of Congress after independence. It gave him an opportunity to give shape to his dream. On 16^th April 1946, he became the Revenue Minister in the Sri Krishna Sinha’s ministry, a post which he held till 5^th May 1957. These 11 years are the most happening years in the life of K. B. Sahay. It was during this period, in pursuit of his principles; he drafted a number of legislations to ameliorate the hardships of poor, the Dalits and the have-nots; so much so that he came to be regarded as an authority on land reforms, notwithstanding his role as lawmaker as one of the 36 members of the Constituent Assembly from Bihar. Even today any study on land reforms does not get completed without a reference to his name. Search any book on agrarian crisis and land reforms in India on any internet-based search engine and one will invariably find reference to K. B. Sahay and his contribution in this field.  It is a pity that such an authority on land reforms has been forgotten by its leaders as well as its countrymen. Not that he is never remembered by his party. Even today when his party has to make a promise of development, it has no other leader to fall back on other than him. That his contributions are indispensable was visualized during the election campaign of Smt. Sonia Gandhi in Bihar during 2000 when she exhorted the people of Bihar to vote for Congress because “development had taken place in the state only during the Congress regime; even the land reforms were started by the Congress under the Chief Ministership of K. B. Sahay”.¹ (Indian Express, 5^th February 2000) This is indicative of the impact of the contribution of K. B. Sahay in the matters related to land reforms, even 37 years after his death. 

K. B. Sahay’s contribution towards the abolition of Zamindari is well known. Yet it will be proper to delve on the subject at this stage. Two important legislation drafted and introduced by him were the Zamindari Abolition Act, which was finally promulgated as the Bihar Land Reforms Act 1950 and the Bihar Tenancy (Amendment) Act 1955, which also made considerable changes in the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 and the Santhal Parganas Tenancy Act, 1949.

Bihar was the first state where land reform legislation was first brought in after independence. It is important also to know the rural class composition right before the land reforms. In the 1950s, just before the zamindari abolition, there were 2, 05,927 regularly revenue-paying, permanently settled, holdings. They accounted for 90% of the land area. Legally the zamindars were considered to be the owners of the land. But in reality, their role was that of government-appointed middlemen who collected revenue from the title-holders. Revenue used to be paid in cash to the government and it used to be 90% of the revenue paid by the title-holders to the zamindars. But zamindars had the right to collect any amount of revenue as they wished from the title-holders. And then there were the title-holders at the second level who had obtained the right from the owners of the land or from other title-holders to collect revenue. At the third level, there were the occupancy ryots who used to pay revenue for the land they had occupied and cultivated the lands by themselves or with the help of the members of their family or by hired laborers or with the help of their partners. They could transfer their rights to someone else. Below them were the non-occupancy ryots who had to pay revenue for occupying the land on a temporary basis. Then there were sub-tenants who had to pay revenue for getting land on a temporary basis from the ryots. At the lowest level of this arrangement were the labourers who in spite of putting in very hard labour had no right on the land and were caught in various exploitative agrarian relations. Thus the zamindars were nothing more than a middleman, a creeper in the words of Sardar Patel.  It was with an aim to improve the lot of this downtrodden, K. B. Sahay drafted the legislation and the Bihar government passed the Zamindari Abolition Act in 1947. Then in 1948 this was amended and published as Bihar Zamindari Abolition Act (1948).²  With this Act, in one stroke, the rights of zamindars and title-holders on land and on trees, forests, fish-breeding ponds, markets, mines and minerals, were legally terminated. And these rights were directly vested with the state government.

“The opposition faced by Sri. K. B. Sahay during this period (1946 to 1948) was unparalleled. K. B. Sahay was almost alone in his crusade for land reforms in the formative 1950s and 60s. Even so, Bihar under K. B. Sahay was the first to introduce legislation to abolish zamindari.³ At a time when politics and, to a large extent, society were controlled by the landed gentry, it was no mean achievement for Sri Sahay to come up with the Bill which was sure to cause convulsions in the tradition-bound, land steeped society. Sure enough, the entire land owning class controlled by the rajas and zamindars who went about displaying the honours and titles bestowed to them by an alien rulers for the service rendered to the latter, ganged up against him. Apart from legal maneuvers that they resorted to, the Zamindars made direct appeals to the national leaders with a view to stemming the tide against them and arresting the historical process. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, who became the first president of the Indian Republic lent a receptive ear to them and wrote to Mr Sahay: “Any hope that you may have of giving satisfaction to tenants by simply getting rid of zamindars is doomed to failure unless it is accomplished by some positive steps for the betterment of the tenants’ lot but I gathered….that you were not thinking of the next step and that for the present you would be satisfied if you can remove the zamindars…. I have never been able to understand the justice or fairness of depriving a man of the management of his propriety.” In picking holes in the Act, Dr. Prasad had, perhaps, been influenced by the large number of memoranda and telegrams, one of which read: “HON’BLE RAJENDRA PRASAD NEW DELHI IN HONOUR GANDHI JAYANTI APPEALING PEACE KINDLY DROP ABOLITION ZAMINDARI SAVE COUNTRY CIVIL WAR” sent to him by the zamindars. Since they had to eat humble pie, they sought to undermine Sri K. B. Sahay’s political career.⁴ This will be further elaborated in the subsequent part of this study.  

With the support of Sri Krishna Sinha, Sri K. B. Sahay could go ahead with the epoch-making legislation despite the bitter opposition it generated among even a section of the ruling party. The challenge before K.B. Sahay to present the Bill on the floor of the House was so immense that an attempt was made to even physically eliminate him. Sri Sahay survived this assault and when he presented the Bill on the floor of Bihar Legislative Assembly, head bandaged and bleeding profusely, he was the epitome of agrarian reforms in independent India. It was a historic moment. It was against this none too pleasing background that the Bihar Land Reforms Bill, 1949 was passed by the State Legislature in 1950. The zamindars retaliated, expectedly. They challenged the Bill in the courts which issued injunctions restraining the State from implementing it. Finally, the Bill had to be repealed. The Act was set aside by the Patna High Court, where it was challenged by the zamindars, as it felt it had contravened some provisions of the constitution.⁵

It was now the turn of the Central Government to step in. Addressing the parliament Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru presented the Statement of Objects and Reasons to the first-ever amendment to the Indian Constitution on 10^th May 1951. This statement was appended to the Constitution (First Amendment) Bill, 1951 which was enacted as the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, and read as under:

“Another article in regard to which unanticipated difficulties have arisen is article 31. The validity of agrarian reform measures passed by the State Legislatures in the last three years has, in spite of the provisions of clauses (4) and (6) of article 31, formed the subject-matter of dilatory litigation, as a result of which the implementation of these important measures, affecting large numbers of people, has been held up.

The main objects of this Bill are, accordingly to amend article 19 for the purposes indicated above and to insert provisions fully secure the constitutional validity of zamindari abolition laws in general and certain specified State Acts in particular.

14. Addition of Ninth Schedule.-After the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution, the following Schedule shall be added, namely:-

"NINTH SCHEDULE [Article 31B]

1. The Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 (Bihar Act XXX of 1950).”

Article 31B imposes restriction on Article 31 in so far as provisions of land reform acts were concerned. A new Schedule was added to the Constitution incorporating the Bihar Land Reforms Act (Bihar Act XXX of 1950) and henceforth all legislation on land reforms came to be placed under this Schedule making them immune from the Fundamental Rights granted under Article 31.

The significance of this legislation can be understood in the backdrop of these developments. This Amendment to the Constitution was also challenged in the Supreme Court which, however, held it valid. The zamindars could only take solace from the fact that they could earn a respite from the law which promised to “replace the zamindari system of land tenure by a Ryotbari system under which raiyats will hold their lands directly under the provincial government (Bihar) and to transfer to the Provincial Government all the rights of proprietors and tenure holders in land, including rights in forests, fisheries and minerals” for as long as 5 years.

The next legislation brought forward by K. B. Sahay as Revenue Minister was an amendment to the Bihar Tenancy Act, 1885 which was conceived by the British with an aim to safeguard their colonial interest. Bataidari System (Share Cropping System), one of the features of Bihar’s agrarian system was responsible to a great extent for the backwardness of the state’s agriculture. This system cuts at the very root of better farming and deprives the actual tillers of the motivation for switching over from subsistence farming to commercial farming (K. N. Prasad). Until the Bihar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1955, and under raiyat (petty landless farmer) ejected by his landlord illegally from the land held by him, had no option other than to go to the civil court. But as they were very poor they were not in a position to meet the court expenses. Sharecroppers were also put to disadvantageous position as the landlord never executed any agreement or lease deed for the contract, with the result that their rights were not legally tenable. The Bihar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1955, which also brought a similar amendment in the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 and the Santhal Parganas Tenancy Act, 1949, was introduced by K.B. Sahay in a special session on 13.12.1954 and faced severe opposition from the treasury bench itself. Justifying the amendment, K. B. Sahay maintained that the amendment would mitigate the sufferings and oppressions of the tenants to a considerable extent. Opposition to the Amendment came from some of the public men of state, who did not want   that occupancy rights should accrue to raiyats on such lands which were within the ceiling area (The Searchlight, 12.12.1954)

K. B. Sahay had to face the reactionary press, conservative Bar Associations and the so-called peasants’ organizations. “The Indian Nation” owned by one of the biggest landlords of the country was critical to the proposed amendment. However, the Amendment was described as “progressive and revolutionary” by “The Searchlight” (14^th October 1955). Despite all opposition, memorandum to the Prime Minister and the President of India, the Bihar Tenancy (Second Amendment) Bill of 1954 became an Act in December 1955, after Governor’s assent. The amendment as mentioned below had a far-reaching effect:

·         Clause 178B was amended to reduce the share of the landowners from 9/20^th to 5/20^th;

·         Clause 48A was amended to ensure that this share would not be in excess to 7/20^th in any case;

·         Clause 48D was amended giving District Collector the power to restore unlawful ejection.

Thus under the Bihar Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1955, Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 and the Santhal Parganas Tenancy Act, 1949, the rights of the raiyats have been permanent and heritable rights in agriculture. Their status became hardly distinguishable from zamindars, particularly after the abolition of zamindari, as government replaced the erstwhile zamindars as the owner of land.⁶

The period from 1946-1957 was thus a period of glorious contribution by K. B. Sahay in the field of land reforms. His efforts and the sole fight which he carried into the den of the zamindars made him the eyesore of all zamindars and the erstwhile rajas. He had to face the combined opposition of these forces led by the Raja Kamakhya of erstwhile Ramgarh estate and his Janata Party which was well supported with money and manpower by all the other landed gentry of the state notably Raja Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga and his mouthpiece newspaper “The Indian Nation”. They virtually opened a tirade against Sri Sahay. Sri K. B. Sahay was thus defeated in the 1957 general elections.

Before moving to the third phase of Sri K. B. Sahay’s life, it would be pertinent to take stock of his achievement during this period i.e. 1946-1962. The grit and determination of K.B. Sahay and the fearlessness with which he went ahead promulgating land reform legislations can be well judged from the fact that no leader after him ever had the courage to take up these reforms with the same authority and strength. No wonder he is regarded as the “Iron man of Bihar”. Invariably all studies on land reforms in the post-independence era, conclude that the process of land reforms slowed down once Sri K. B. Sahay left the center stage and finally eliminated in 1974, by the same forces opposed to him in the fifties.  After his exit, legislations on land reforms were few and far between and did not bring any radical changes in the society. Critics have often questioned K. B. Sahay’s strategy to bring about social changes through legislative measures. The efficacy of Sri Sahay’s method of bringing about social changes through legislative measures was a very much correct and appropriate in the given time since other methods viz; the “Bhoodan Movement” and the “Gramdaan Movement” of Sant Vinoba Bhave could not produce the desired results in solving the skewed distribution of land in rural India and failed miserably. The failure of these movements was best expressed in these words of Sri Jai Prakash Narayan: “I am ashamed. We Biharis took a vow of 32, 00,000 acres in order to solve the land problem of our province. We have kept baba (Vinoba Bhave) with us for 18 months, but still this vow has not been fulfilled. If we have not enough workers to solve the land problems in Bihar, how can we ever solve it in the rest of India?’ The other indicator of Sri Sahay’s leadership qualities is the failure of successive government to bring about any real change in rural areas to avoid a backlash. Sri Karpoori Thakur, during his tenure as chief minister, had taken up the plan for updating the land records and proper maintenance of tenancy records so as to protect the rights of the tenants. But after this plan went ahead for some time in Koshi Division this was stopped on the pretext that "this will become like a survey and tenants would record their names in large numbers leading to disruption of peace in this agricultural area". Even during the JD regime twice there was some talk of providing rights to tenants on two occasions but on the contrary, the tenants could not get their rights and were evicted in large numbers. Even the present Chief Minister Sri Nitish Kumar developed cold feet when faced with the prospects of implementing similar recommendations proposed by Sri. D. Bandyopadhyay, Chairman of the Bihar Land Reforms Commissions, which include capping of land ceiling to 15 acres, severe action on Benami transaction of land, and imparting more rights over land to the sharecroppers. He virtually surrendered to the pressure of landlords observing that “My Government wants to increase agricultural production in the state and it has no intention of ending ownership rights of landowners.” He informed that a committee of experts would look into the possibility of giving legal rights to `bataidars', thus virtually putting the recommendations of D. Bandyopadhyay Commission’s Report in cold storage. The courage and determination of Sri K. B. Sahay should be judged in this backdrop. Sri K. B. Sahay, through his legislations, gave the poor and the Dalits an opening which finally brought about the social changes which is now termed as “social justice” by the likes of Sri Laloo Prasad Yadav and Sri Ram Vilas Paswan. If Dalits and backward are in a position to cross swords with the forward caste in Bihar today on the same footing, credit goes to such historic legislation on land reforms which gave them the real strength and freedom to carry out such a fight for their rights. The ultimate credit goes to Sri K. B. Sahay for piloting these changes through legislative methods.  

It is also pertinent to add here that the genius of Sri K. B. Sahay was not restricted to land reforms only. “Bihar has not produced a better administrator than Sri K. B. Sahay. He was ruthless. All the files of the departments he held charge in various capacities were almost on his fingertips, so prodigious was his memory. No officer could bluff him. During the regime of Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha, he was the moving spirit behind all the reform measures introduced by the Congress government. And he had the traits of a soldier; he was straight forward in his dealings and quick in decisions-right or wrong. Efficient and smart as he was, he could not tolerate slackness and inefficiency. Not a few institutions in this state of Bihar owe their origin to the zeal of Sri K. B. Sahay.”⁷(The Indian Nation, 04.06.1974). It was on the strength of politicians like Sri K. B. Sahay that the Appleby Committee declared Bihar to be India’s best-administered state. Remembering these, give a thought to the state of Bihar today.

Sri K. B. Sahay won the 1962 general elections and became minister for Cooperative Affairs in the B. N. Jha ministry. In 1963 when the “Kamraj Plan” was introduced Sri Binodanand Jha was selected as one of the 8 Congress Chief Ministers for organizational work. This paved for the selection of a new leader in Bihar. The rise of K. B. Sahay, a Kayastha, to the Chief Ministership of a caste-ridden state like Bihar, was indeed on the strength of his abilities and not by virtue of his caste. His reign as the chief minister was again one of the most eventful tenure of any chief minister of Bihar. It became even more eventful due to his stubbornness to improve the system even if it needed an iron fist, so much so that at one stage his style of functioning was dubbed as dictatorial by none other than Sri Jai Prakash Narayan. A number of factors led to this built up which this study aims to analyze in the correct perspective, on the basis of writings by noted critics during this period. Three issues are of interest: the famine of 1966-67 and its handling by the Bihar Government, secondly, the student agitation and lastly, setting up of Aiyar Commission by the subsequent government to investigate into the alleged corrupt practices during his regime. The dust which these issues gloves the personality of Sri. K. B. Sahay needs to be wiped to bring out the real him for an objective assessment of his genius. Once again the study tends to clear the ground by extensively relying on written material by eminent critics during this period.

The reign of K. B. Sahay saw development programmes and launching of projects viz the Bokaro Steel Plant and establishment of Patratu Thermal Power Station (PTPS), the inauguration of the Heavy Electrical Corporation (HEC) at Hatia by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1963 and of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in 1964, development of industrial estate in Kodarma. The period also saw cultural and educational development viz establishment of the Academy of Indian Culture in Ranchi in 1965, opening up of schools and colleges including setting up of a Sainik School in Telaiya and setting up of a Regional Planning and Development Board in Ranchi in 1964 for taking up all issues related to development of Adivasi population, extension of the development programmes of the government, etc. Sri Sahay did his level best to improve the state of Bihar and always felt that the Centre was paying scant regard to the requirement of the State. Even in agriculture he was of the opinion that the Green Revolution was directed only towards Punjab, Haryana and Western U.P. while Eastern U.P., Bihar and Bengal received scant attention. He often entered into a conflict with the central government to obtain more grants for the state. He got considerable support in his endeavour from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and later Sri. Lal Bahadur Shastri, a support which he found missing towards the end of his regime.

The most difficult challenge faced by Sri K. B. Sahay was the famous famine of 1966-67, especially in the face of a hostile central government which was not inclined to come to support its own government, for its political expediency.“The Political Uses of Crisis: The Bihar Famine of 1966-1967” by Paul R. Brass, brings out succinctly the manner this issue was highly politicized. This ultimately led to the downfall of the Government of Sri K. B. Sahay.

“A double calamity in 1966 in Bihar led to a state of famine. Having gone through a year of less than normal food grain production in 1965-66 (72.3 million tones instead of the normal 80 million tons), which aroused concern over conditions of scarcity in some parts of the state, the crop next year i.e. 1966-67 was again below average i.e. 74.2 million tons leading to greater scarcity of food grains. While differences existed within the Congress, the Central leadership was also not happy with K. B. Sahay’s record in support of Mrs. Gandhi, and this difference between Mrs. Gandhi and Sri Sahay became apparent as the elections approached. Other actors of this crisis were the officials of the state government who were found inept at handling the famine. Prices for essential commodities had risen significantly in the months before the elections, a police firing had enraged the students and many of the hundreds of thousands of government employees in Bihar also were antagonistic to the Congress because of government’s failure to respond to their demand for a pay hike. The drought in 1966, coming on top of all these provided a common basis for opposition to the ruling party. The Bihar press, particularly the two Patna based English language dailies “The Searchlight” and “The Indian Nation” adopted vigourously critical positions towards the Congress Government. “A central feature of the Bihar Famine was its high degree of politicization. The kind of politicization that occurred in Bihar cannot be expected in the normal course in other equivalent situations, in India or elsewhere. The degree of politicization that occurred during the Bihar Famine was a function not of the severity of the crisis but of the intensity of division within the Congress between the State and the Centre and between Congress and non-Congress parties.”⁸

K. B. Sahay faced the challenge with the same grit and determination and his now-famous trademark stubbornness. “He ordered the detention of a large number of grain dealers to teach them a lesson in rectitude and the principles that moderate profits as permitted should be made and not the loot which appeared to be the order of the day. He often became harsh and empirical in his drive, forcing the bureaucracy to fall in line. The idea of a result-oriented administration was the goal as Sri Sahay found that conventional methods were proving an utter failure in our democracy, in which the emphasis was only on one’s rights and little on the sacrifices required for a good social order. Corruption had gone into the very system of work, and therefore his thesis was to take up cudgels against blatant acts rather than take steps which may even clog the wheels of administration. This appeared to be a very sensible approach to the mounting problem even though it was impossible to spell it out publicly in a society where prudery had come to have a pride of place”. ⁹ In spite of such rising tides against his governance, the only saving grace for Sri K. B. Sahay and his government were the poor peasants and Dalits for whom Sri Sahay had staked his political career, and who in spite of having worst hit from the famine, were never in opposition to his government. This was only natural because more than the crisis itself, it was its politicization which worked against Sri K. B. Sahay. 

At the time Sri K. B. Sahay was grappling with the famine came the second crisis. Unable to find support from the farmers, the non-Congress leaders were in search of an issue to humiliate the government.They found precedence in the student agitation of 1955. In that case, on 12.08.1955 the police had to open firing on a mob of violent students of the Bihar National College leading to the death of a student Sri Dinanath Pandey. The issue of non-availability of buses for colleges was blown out of proportion; thanks to the support students got from opposition leaders. This agitation became so violent that finally, none other than Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru had to come down to Patna to address students and pacify them. Leaders of the opposition, especially Mahamaya Prasad Sinha who had challenged Sri Sahay that he would see him in the elections, used the same tactics, to instigate the students against the government of Sri Sahay. “Mahamaya Prasad Sinha addressed the students as “Mere Jigar Ke Tukdo” (“part of own liver”) and this type of theatrical references had a negative outcome that affected the students. Students’ unrest on flimsy grounds and indiscipline became rampant, disturbing normal academic life. Mahamaya Prasad Sinha had another angle to his personality full of histrionic talents.”¹⁰

K. B. Sahay had his own opinion on student agitation. He was opposed to students’ participation in petty politics. He was of the firm opinion that better leaders could be produced if students concentrate on their studies during their academics and join politics only after completion of their studies. And he was firm to ensure that it remained that way. To ensure this, his government came down heavily on the students. It culminated in a police firing on 05.01.1967 leading to the reported death of 9 students. This had its own impact on the forthcoming elections in February 1967. It would be wrong to conclude that a leader of the stature and wisdom of Sri K. B. Sahay failed to read the general mood of the electorate. Far from it. But Sri Sahay belonged to a genre of politician who was not ready to compromise on discipline and sacrificed his government for the cause. In the hindsight, it can be concluded that Sri K. B. Sahay was correct in his approach; for the indiscipline that raised its head in 1967 has caused irreparable damage to education in Bihar. “What is significant about these incidents is that the institutions failed to take any action against the students involved in indiscipline and certainly did nothing to uphold the norms of the institution. Second, none of the leaders sought any redress of any specific grievances; nor did they focus upon the concrete issues affecting the student body. Nothing indicates the lack of seriousness about education more than the fact that the academic session which became irregular in 1967 has not been fixed even now! It is embarrassing but true that we ourselves, as well as the power elite of Bihar today, are products of the same decaying system, which had been under constant attack, as it were, from that crucial period, 1966-67.”^11.

Another major event of this period was the arrest of the noted editor of “The Searchlight” Sri T.J.S. George, for the support it extended to the student agitation. Sri K. B. Sahay himself had been a press reporter for the “Amrita Bazaar Patrika” during the freedom struggle and he lay great emphasis on the role press should play in forming public opinion. He felt that the press should not get carried away by momentary disturbances created by mischief mongers among politicians and should rather be capable enough to read between the lines and the evil designs of such politicians. The arrest of the editor nevertheless had an adverse impact on the image of his government. Yet Sri Sahay prefers to play by the rule is evidenced from the comments of Sri T.J.S. George, the arrested editor of “The Searchlight”, himself. “Despite the harassment and the mental torture caused to him, Sri George had only words of praise for Sri Sahay. “What did he do? He only got me arrested by the police. Didn’t he have respect for the Court? A politician in his place today would have got me killed. Haven’t you heard about the Orissa journalist whose wife was gang-raped and then killed?” Sri George asked.¹²

The elections of 1967 finally led to defeat and exit of Sri K. B. Sahay from the center stage of Bihar politics, momentarily. He found himself alone in the cobweb of opposition created by multiple forces, each with a malice intention and a personal agenda. This included the landed gentry (read the upper caste of Brahmins, Rajputs and Bhumihars) who had developed enmity with him for taking up the cause of the landless farmers, a hostile central leadership for whom his stature was difficult to handle, a combined opposition of opportunistic leaders who pampered student for their petty political gains, an indifferent government staff who were interested in their own salary hike during a period of crisis and a profit-oriented business class which was opposed to his tactics of controlling the black market and black marketers and finally a hostile press which either supported their owner’s agenda (“The Indian Nation” owned by the biggest landlord of the era the Darbhanga Maharaj Sri Kameshwar Singh) or was brooding at their editor’s arrest (“The Searchlight”).

Sri Sahay left the chief ministership after defeat in elections on 05.03.1967. That the seat of Chief Minister of Bihar was a seat of thorn and not a bed of roses was very soon understood by his successors, as the State slumped into a phase of political instability. Chief Minister held the office for a period ranging from 3 days to 3 months. A total of 20 incumbents occupied the office of Chief Minister during the period 1967 to 1990 (23 years) with an average tenure of less than 14 months (1 Year 1 month). Compare this to the 3 ½ years of rule of Sri K. B. Sahay amidst such opposition and one can only admire his ability to lead in adverse and trying conditions. Had he received able support from the central leadership, he would he have certainly brought about far-reaching changes in Bihar considering his administrative acumen and knowledge. It is pertinent to mention here that the Congress in general had fared poorly in the 1967 elections. While at the center its tally was reduced by 60 to 283 seats only, it also lost power in the State of Orissa, Madras (present Tamil Nadu), West Bengal, Punjab and Kerala, apart from Bihar. But it was only in case of Bihar that the defeat of Congress was dubbed as a personal defeat of K. B. Sahay. “The Congress which had dominated the political scene in Bihar since the beginning of the 20^th century lost its preeminent position. The work it had done for more than half a century did not seem to impress the people anymore. The Congress leader Sri K. B. Sahay, who, as Revenue Minister, earlier had played probably the most important role in the abolition of zamindari and who had proclaimed in 1954 that he would stake his career on the issue of ameliorating the condition of the bataidars (sharecroppers) (Thorner, 1956:34) was ignominiously voted out of Chief Ministership, an inquiry regarding grave charges was instituted and he was driven out of the public view in political limbo.” ¹³

After demitting office in 1967 and before his death in 1974, the only mentionable event was the institution of a Commission of Inquiry against Sri K. B. Sahay and his 5 colleagues namely Sri Mahesh Prasad Sinha, Sri Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Sri Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav, Sri Raghvendra Narayan Singh and Sri Ambika Sharan Singh. This Commission of Inquiry was headed by former justice of Supreme Court Sri T. L. Venkatarama Aiyar. The inquiry committee submitted its report on 05.02.1970. Though 189 charges were levied by the United Front Ministry of Sri Mahamaya Prasad Sinha, only two charges were found to have an element of substance as pointed by A. G. Noorani in his book Ministers Misconduct (1978). These were: (i) Two sons of the Chief Minister were favored with mica mining lease over others; and (ii) the Chief Minister reintroduced the distillation of country liquor from a mixture of molasses and mahua in order to benefit a firm whose proprietors were his financial supporters.

With regard to the first charge, it was also a fact that the two sons of the Chief Minister were among the 10 applicants who had duly applied and were granted mica mining lease and therefore the charge that undue favour was granted should have stood true for the other 8 applicants also, though no such undue favour from the other 8 applicants could be established.

As regards the second charge, Sri Sahay had only reintroduced a policy which had been withdrawn earlier and its reintroduction had the cabinet’s approval. Had the charges been of grave consequences, the central leadership of the period would not have spared Sri K. B. Sahay from the gallows.

In the year that followed, Mahamaya Prasad Sinha’s ministry was voted out of power and the government of Sri Bhola Paswan Shastri instituted another Commission of Enquiry headed by another retired judge of Supreme Court Sri J. R. Mudholkar to inquire into the charges of corruption against the United Front ministry of Sri Mahamaya Prasad Sinha and his cabinet colleagues namely Raja Kamakhya Narayan Singh, Sri Karpoori Thakur, Sri Hasibur Rehman, Sri Bhola Prasad Singh, Sri Krishna Singh, Sri Indradeep Sinha, Sri Chandra Shekhar Singh, Sri Tej Narayan Jha, Sri Kapil Deo Singh, Sri Basant Narayan Singh, Sri Basawan Singh, Sri Ramanand Tiwari, and Sri V. K. Mitra.

The Aiyar Commission or the Mudholkar Commission did not lead to purging of the system, though it did dent the image of Sri K. B. Sahay as none other, not even that of Sri Karpoori Thakur, who came to be known as Jannayak. One of the reasons for this was Sri Sahay lacked his caste support which was essential for political resurrection. “By now, the inquiry commission also became a part of the political game plan. Such instances laboriously hunted out by judicial commission in some state will not surprise, much less shock anyone in India today. These will be hardly noticed even, because, in gravity and magnitude, these are peanuts in comparison to the ‘achievements’ of our present-day ‘performer’.¹⁴ A. G. Noorani who investigated the charges of corruption against K. B. Sahay in own independent manner in his book “Ministers misconduct” in 1978, was quite watered down in his views on the same issue of corruption against the CJI  forty years later in September 2007: “It cannot be stated sufficiently strongly that the public life of persons in authority must never admit of such charges being even framed against them. If they can be made, then an inquiry whether to establish them or to clear the name of the person charged, is called for. What was sauce for Bihar’s Chief Minister K. B. Sahay is sauce also for the former Chief Justice of India Sri Y. K. Sabharwal under CJI M. Hidayatullah’s ruling. The charges are specific. Public interest mandates an inquiry. A Chief Minister is subject to checks. A Chief Justice of India to none.”(Edit page “The Hindustan Times”, “Matters of Policy: It is the public interest to monitor judicial conduct Law & Behold!)¹⁵

K. B. Sahay made a last effort to make a comeback by contesting the local body elections in 1974. Even at this age, he was full of vigour and determination. He had confided that he will take up the incomplete task of land reforms for the upliftment of landless peasants and bataidars (sharecroppers) to its logical conclusion. However, that was not to be. Krishna Ballabh Sahay faced another body blow, this time in the form of a road accident near his home town of Hazaribag on 03.06.1974. However, this time the assault was fatal. Krishna Ballabh Sahay succumbed to his injuries on the spot, just a week after winning the elections to the Bihar Vidhan Parishad. As “The Indian Nation” in its obituary to the leader wrote “inscrutable are the ways of God. Nobody knew when Babu Krishna Ballabh Sahay was recently elected to the Bihar Vidhan Parishad that it was not for his return to politics it was for giving him the consolation that he had been exonerated by people’s court. His death came as a great shock to his admirers who had begun to cherish the hope that KB, one time “Iron Man of Bihar” might again stage a comeback to the politics of the state, for which there was a need as well.”Jai Prakash Narayan remembered him as one of the “Makers of Modern Bihar”, a champion of land reforms and an able administrator. It is indeed the call of the moment that the country acknowledges these achievements of this great son of the soil by issuing a commemorative postage stamp in the memory of this freedom fighter and social reformer. It will be a befitting tribute to this great leader.

Citations:

1                     Indian Express, 05.02.2000. Speech of Sonia Gandhi

2                     Land Reforms in Bihar: Need for a far-reaching approach by Pradip Jha. (July 1997)

3                     Why Bihar is aflame by Jairam Ramesh.

4                     “The Agrarian Crisis” by A. J. Philip in “The Hindustan Times (Patna edition) 11.03.1987.

5                     “The Agrarian Crisis” by A. J. Philip in “The Hindustan Times (Patna edition) 11.03.1987.

6                     Rural Tension in India by Anil Kant Mishra.

7                     The Indian Nation, 04.06.1974.

8                     “The Political Uses of Crisis: The Bihar Famine of 1966-1967” by Paul R. Brass (Published by Association for Asian Studies), February, 1986.

9                     Forty Years of Indian Police by Trilok Nath.

10                  Bihar through the Ages by S. R. Bakshi and Ritu Chaturvedi.

11                  Reviving Culture by Prabhakar Jha (2007)

12                  “KBS Versus TJS” by A. J. Philip in “The Hindustan Times (Patna edition) 18.03.1987.

13                  Agrarian Movements in India: Studies in 20^th Century Bihar by Arvind N. Das. 1982

14                  Politics of Corruption: The Goddess that failed by Shashi B. Sahai.(1995)

15                  “Matters of Policy: It is the public interest to monitor judicial conduct Law & Behold!” by A. G. Noorani in “The Hindustan Times”, September 25, 2007.

THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN "THE SCHOLASTIC WORLD" - A NEWS MAGAZINE FROM JAMSHEDPUR.