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| DR RAJENDRA PRASAD (3 DECEMBER 1884-28 FEBRUARY 1963) |
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| KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY (31 DECEMBER 1898-3 JUNE 1974) |
Among the leaders
from Bihar who rose to prominence during the freedom struggle, the name of Dr
Rajendra Prasad shines like a polestar on the horizon putting behind the
brightness of every other star. The Non-Cooperation Movement was a watershed in
the history of the freedom movement as it was the first movement under the
leadership of Mahatma Gandhi after he took over the reins of the freedom
struggle. The Movement had a great impact on common masses and a greater impact
on the impressionable minds of youths who left their studies to join the
movement in large numbers. The Non-Cooperation Movement gave a definite
direction to the freedom struggle and the youths found themselves led by a
strong leader with equally strong regional pole-bearers of the independence
struggle. In Bihar, Dr Rajendra Prasad was instrumental in nurturing many young
and bright minds who were drawn into the freedom struggle. K. B. Sahay was one
such youth who was mentored by Dr Rajendra Prasad in the early years.
After graduating
from Saint Columba’s College in 1919, K. B. Sahay left for Patna to pursue
higher studies. But fate had something else in store for this young bright
youth. It was the time when Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation
Movement. Like many other youths of his age, K. B. Sahay shunned academics to
join the movement. This brought him before Dr Rajendra Prasad- the tallest
leader from Bihar at the time. Under the apprentice of Dr Rajendra Prasad, K.
B. Sahay joined the National College at Sadaqat Ashram, where he taught English
for a short spell. The teaching staff of National College during this period
was virtually a who’s who of freedom fighters from Bihar. Dr Rajendra Prasad
was the Principal of National College and Acharya Badri Nath Verma was the
Vice-Principal. Other faculties who taught at this hallowed institution
included noted scholars and freedom fighters like Babu Prem Sundar Das
(Philosophy), Babu Jagat Narayan Lal (Economics), Babu Phuldev Sahay Verma
(Chemistry), Pandit Ram Nirikshan Singh (Sanskrit), Professor Abdul Bari,
Maulavi Tamanna & Maulvi Md. Qazir Munemi (Urdu), K. B. Sahay (English),
Ram Charitra Singh (Chemistry), Arunoday Pramanik (Mathematics), Birendranath
Sengupta (History), Jnanda Prasanna Saha (Political Science), Kashinath Prasad
and Ramdas Gaur (Physics). The college was thus built on the strong edifice of
the age-old Hindu belief of ‘Sarva-Dharm
Sambhav’. (All religions are equal) which is rooted in the
famed Ganga-Jamuni
Tehzeeb- of our nation. It was a fine example of a secular institution that stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Sardar
Vallabh Bhai Patel, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and the likes aspired
the nation to evolve into.
One fine morning
K. B. Sahay along with eleven other brilliant friends went to the Pradesh
Congress Committee Office to meet Dr Rajendra Prasad. The Congress office in
those days was located on Budh Marg in Patna in a building just adjacent to the
“The Searchlight”-
one of the two noted newspapers of Patna- the other being “The Indian Nation”.
Remembering this meeting with Dr Rajendra Prasad, Sashi Bhushan Lal, a close
acquaintance of K. B. Sahay, recalled that ‘when
Rajendra Babu came we all stood before him. Instead of smiling he burst into
tears and began to sob. Dr Prasad felt that he had, by asking us to join the
Non-Cooperation Movement, ruined our career and this burden lay heavy on his
heart.” S. B. Lal says that ‘K.
B. informed Rajendra Prasad that he was not at all repentant of his decision of
joining the freedom struggle. Sticking to a decision stubbornly, once it was
taken, became the hallmark of K.B.’s character. He came to be remembered by his
friends and foes for such stubbornness.’ – a trait which will be
visualized by readers concerning the major decisions taken by K. B. Sahay
during his career as a political leader and later as an administrator.
Thus began a long
association between K. B. Sahay and Dr Rajendra Prasad - a relationship that
saw several ups and downs during the next fifty-five years. As a youth, K. B.
Sahay had decided to chart his course and carve out an independent political identity.
He realized that this was possible only if he came out of the shadow of a
towering personality like Dr Rajendra Prasad whose banyan tree like reach paled
everyone else. Hence after a brief stay at Patna, Krishna Ballabh Sahay went
back to Hazaribag to chart his destiny. Thus Hazaribagh in particular and
Chhotanagpur, in general, became K. B. Sahay’s political field for the rest of
his life, who led the freedom movements in the region. In due course by dint of
his hard labour and organizational capabilities, K. B. Sahay rose to become the
front rank leader of Congress in Chhotanagpur. He was ably guided by Dr
Rajendra Prasad. The Thirteenth Bihar Khadi Exhibition
was held at Hazaribag from 14th-16th August 1926. This was inaugurated by Dr
Rajendra Prasad. K. B. Sahay participated in this exhibition and sold Khadi clothes.
Krishna Ballabh’s effort was in keeping with Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of making
Congress a mass-based political outfit. Thus right from the Non-Cooperation
Movement of 1920 to the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930 and the Quit India
Movement of 1942, K. B. Sahay worked in close coordination with Dr Rajendra
Prasad and ensured the success of the movement in the Chhotanagpur
region.
Elections to
provincial assemblies were held in February 1937. In Bihar elections were held
for 156 seats. Congress won 99 of these followed by the Coalition Party (26),
Muslim Independent Party (20), Ahrar Party (5) and independents (6). The
Congress vacillated initially to form a government which forced the Governor to
invite the Muslim Independent Party, the second-largest singular Party (and not
a coalition) and the largest Muslim Party, to form the government. Mohammad
Yunus, President of the party, who founded the famous newspaper ‘The
Searchlight’ in Patna in 1924, accepted the invitation from the
Governor. He took the oath of office on 1st April 1937. He invited the Congress
and the Muslim League to join his Government. However, the Muslim Independent
Party failed to muster a majority in Assembly and had to resign three months
later. At the same time, the Congress Working Committee decided in favour of
office acceptance. Thus Congress ministries were formed in six provinces-
Madras, Bombay, Central Provinces, Orissa, Bihar and United Provinces. Later Congress
ministries were also formed in NWFP and Assam.
In Bihar, Dr
Rajendra Prasad backed Sri Krishna Sinha, who along with Anugrah Narayan Sinha
was then a member of the Central Assembly (Council of States). Sri Krishna
Sinha was called back and elected leader of Congress Legislative Party with the
support of Dr Rajendra Prasad who preferred him over Dr Syed Mahmud, who held
the post of General Secretary of the AICC and as such had a position both
inside and outside the province. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was ably supported in his
efforts by Anugrah Narayan Sinha and K. B. Sahay. This was resented by Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad. Years later, he expressed his displeasure candidly in his
memoir ‘India Wins Freedom’-‘Dr
Rajendra Prasad played the same role in Bihar as Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel in
Bombay where Nariman lost out to B. G. Kher due to Sardar’s intervention’.
However, this
opened a chapter of factionalism in the Bihar Congress. While Maulana Azad
backed Dr. Syed Mahmud, Dr. Rajendra Prasad supported Sri Krishna Sinha. K. B.
Sahay believed that this factionalism could be ended if both Dr Rajendra Prasad
and Maulana Azad withdraw from state matters and concentrate on central
affairs. He deliberated the issue both with Sri Krishna Sinha and Anugrah
Narayan Sinha in a meeting of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Working Committee
(BPCWC) on March 8, 1942, but found no takers to his suggestion.
In 1946 Sri
Krishna Sinha formed the interim government in Bihar and K. B. Sahay became the
Revenue Minister in his cabinet. He wrote a letter to Dr Rajendra Prasad in
which he outlined his plans as a minister. This included his resolve to abolish
zamindari. This letter of 22nd August 1946 is an important document that gives
an insight into K. B. Sahay’s policies and programmes on land reforms. Dr
Rajendra Prasad did not respond to this letter.
In December 1946,
when the Congress had to go to the electorate it referred to the question of
the abolition of zamindari officially in its election manifesto
“The reform of
the land system which is so urgently needed in India involves the removal of
intermediaries between the peasant and the State. The right of such
intermediaries should therefore be acquired on payment of equitable
compensation”. (AICC Congress Election Manifesto, 1946)
K. B. Sahay took
up the land reform measures in the right earnest beginning with the passage of
the Bakasht Disputes Settlement Act but soon realised that the landlords were
‘already circumventing the provisions of the measure’ through ‘benami settlement’.
However, this did not deter K. B. Sahay who finally tabled the famous Bihar
Abolition of Zamindari Bill in the Assembly 1947. The zamindars moved heaven
and earth to prevent, or at least stall the abolition of zamindari. K. B. Sahay
became their immediate target. So the landlords began to spread slander against
him and threatened “Direct Action”. But they suffered humiliation when K. B.
Sahay sued their leading newspaper ‘The Indian Nation” owned by
the Maharajadhiraja of Darbhanga, for libel and the paper had to apologize.
Since nothing else seemed to succeed, the zamindars tried to get K. B. Sahay
dropped from the Ministry. That move was forestalled by protests to the
Congress High Command by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. Then, just a few days
before the Zamindari Abolition Bill was to be introduced in the Assembly, K. B.
Sahay was run over and seriously injured in a motor accident. Undaunted by
these developments, however, K. B. Sahay, with the support of all progressive
opinion inside and outside the legislature and all the Kisan Sabhas- C.P.I.,
Swami-ite, Forward Bloc-ist, Socialist etc-finally introduced the Bill in the
Assembly with a blood-stained bandage on his forehead almost symbolizing the
struggle that had to be waged to move the first step in agrarian reforms.
However, the Act
got mired in Court where it was challenged by the Maharajadhiraja of Darbhanga
Sir Kameshwar Singh. At the same time, the zamindars received support from
other Congressmen, the most prominent among them being Dr Rajendra Prasad, the
first President of the Indian Republic. Rajendra Prasad, whose family for long
served the Hathwa Raj as its employees and held a small zamindari itself, was
expected to be sympathetic towards the zamindars-as indeed he turned out to be
in full measure. In 1947 a group of zamindars appealed to him by telegram to
say, ‘Kindly Drop Abolition Zamindari Save Country Civil War’. It was, of
course, not possible for Dr Rajendra Prasad publicly to go against the stated
policy of the Congress. However, he tried to delay zamindari abolition as much
as possible and chastised K. B. Sahay for being so prompt in implementing the
Congress Manifesto. “I
can understand the abolition of zamindari, he wrote, ‘The Congress had sanctioned
that, but I do not think there is any sanction in the Congress Resolution for
forcibly dispossessing people of their property before they have been
compensated for it.’ He
went on to warn that the proposed legislation would affect the entire economic life
of the Province”, and suggested that more time be taken to think
about it. K. B. Sahay was blunt in his reply, ‘So far as I am concerned, I
feel that to rehabilitate the position of the Congress the Bills relating to
Zamindari Abolition must be proceeded with.’ Defiantly,
K. B. Sahay also enclosed for Dr Prasad’s perusal a copy of the Bihar State
Acquisition of Zamindari Bill, 1947.
Thus after much
push and pull that culminated in the First Amendment to the Indian
Constitution, the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 (Act XXX of 1950) saw the light
of the day and Bihar became the first state in independent India to abolish
Zamindari. It was thus the legislative efforts of K. B. Sahay that the
Permanent Settlement Act, 1793 was consigned to the dustbin of history and a new
chapter in agrarian reforms was opened.
(Courtesy: (i) A personality-three in one: K. B.Sahay by Sashi
Bhushan Lal (ii) Agrarian Reforms from above and below: Bihar 1947-1978 by
Arvind N. Das, (iii) The Agrarian Crisis by A. J. Philip (iv) AICC, Congress
Election Manifesto 1946 (Delhi), (v) Bihar Legislative Assembly Proceedings 21st
March 1947. ‘The Searchlight’, ‘The Indian Nation’ & ‘The Hunkar’ of 1947-1949
are replete with reports of peasants movements, (vi) ‘Secret Behind Zamindari
Abolition’ ‘The Indian Nation, 26 March 1947, 6 April 1948 and ‘The
Searchlight, 10 April, 25 July & 1October 1947 (vii) Agrarian Crisis in
India- The Case of Bihar by F. Thomasson Jannuzi, University of Texas (viii)
Letter from Dr Rajendra Prasad to K. B. Sahay dated 27 April 1947 and letter
from K. B. Sahay to Dr Rajendra Prasad 1 May 1947 cited by Januzzi, (ix)
Interview with K. B. Sahay, Hazaribagh, 10 September 1972)
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