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| SWAMI SAHAJANAND SARASWATI (22 FEBRUARY 1889-26 JUNE 1950) |
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| KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY (31 DECEMBER 1898-3 JUNE 1974) |
Farmer’s protest is an
important chapter in the history of India’s freedom struggle. Swami Sahajanand
Saraswati was the leading light of the peasants’ protest in twentieth-century
India. The peasant protest ran concurrently with the freedom struggle and it culminated
with replacing the Permanent Settlement Act, 1793 with the Zamindari Abolition
Act that took away ownership of land from landlords and restored it to the
peasants. Bihar took the lead in this struggle and K. B. Sahay’s effort in
piloting the Zamindari Abolition Act and implementing it in Bihar brought him
close to Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. The blog aims to bring forth the political
relationship between these two stalwarts.
Swami Sahajanand
Saraswati and K. B. Sahay were leaders carved in the same mould- both were
rustic in their approach, stubborn to a cause and outspoken in their thoughts
and believed in the maxim of plain living and high thinking. They were fearless
and led from the front and hence did not hesitate to take up the cudgels on
behalf of farmers to free them from the shackles of zamindars. They resembled
each other in their personality as well as their attire comprised of rugged khadi
kurta and dhoti with a slipper and were very simple and down to earth in their
food habits.
Swami Sahajanand
Saraswati was born in 1889 in a village in Ghazipur. During his childhood, he
was called Naurang Rai. He became an ascetic at a young age and left his house to
establish an ashram –the Sitaram Ashram’ at Bihta in Bihar over a period of
time. Swamiji entered the freedom struggle during the Non-Cooperation movement.
After Mahatma Gandhi called off the Non-cooperation movement, K. B. Sahay used
the time to mobilize rural people especially the farmers against British rule.
This brought him near Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. Swamiji founded the Bihar
Pradesh Kisan Sabha in 1929 and this drew K. B. Sahay towards the peasant
movement. He organised peasants meetings in the Hazaribagh district to
enlighten them towards their rights. The increased activities of the Kisam
Movement alerted the Congress which set up a committee under the chairmanship
of Dr Rajendra Prasad to study the cause of peasants’ unrest and suggest steps
for ameliorating their hardships. Apart from Krishna Ballabh Sahay other
prominent members on this committee included Sri Krishna Sinha, Professor Abdul
Bari, Bipin Behari Verma, Baldeo Sahay, Ambika Kant Sinha, Prajapati Mishra and
Radha Govind Prasad. The Committee convened its first meeting on 28th
August 1931 at Sadaquat Ashram wherein each member was assigned the
responsibility of a district directing them to submit a report on peasants state of
affairs in their assigned district. Incidentally except for Krishna
Ballabh Sahay and Professor Abdul Bari, other members on this committee came
from the landed gentry.
The worldwide
recession of 1929-1931 followed by a devastating earthquake in Bihar in 1934
made the economic condition of peasants deplorable. As a result protests
against the zamindari system increased as the peasants found themselves in an
unenviable position to pay the land revenue. The increased unrest among
peasants forced the Congress to take up their cause and the All India Kisan
Sabha was established during the 1936 Congress session at Lucknow and the
provincial Congress Committees were also directed to constitute the provincial
Kisan Committees. The provincial committees were asked to study the cause of peasants’
unrest and submit their report on measures to be taken to address these. It was
also decided that the provincial committees would submit their report before
Congress in the next session proposed at Faizabad. It was also decided that a
consolidated representation would be made before the Viceroy bringing to his
notice the problems being faced by peasants. The provincial Congress committee
in Bihar constituted a 9 member Kisan Committee to submit its report on
peasants’ matters as per the decision taken in the Lucknow Congress. Swami
Sahajanand Saraswati was made the Chairman of this Committee. However, later on,
it was felt that the report submitted by this committee would look more like a
Kisan Report rather than Congress Report. The provincial Congress brought this
matter to the notice of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati and requested him to suggest
a name in his place. Swami Sahajanand Saraswati accepted the plea of the state
Congress leaders and suggested the name of Krishna Ballabh Sahay in his place
to head this Committee. Krishna Ballabh Sahay thus emerged as the next most
important Kisan leader in Bihar after Swamiji. Swamiji had immense faith in the
capabilities of K. B. Sahay and had full faith in him that peasants would get
justice with him at the helm. K. B. Sahay proved his worth and the faith
reposed in him by Swamiji and submitted a report on land reform that was the
blueprint of the things to follow in coming years. The radical recommendations
widen the divide between Congress and the Kisan Committee. The zamindars became
apprehensive of the proposed changes and submitted a petition to Sir James
Sifton, a member of the Viceroy’s Council seeking his intervention to stall the
recommendations of the Kisan Committee.
In 1937 the Congress Ministry
was formed in Bihar in the leadership of Sri Krishna Sinha and as Parliamentary
Secretary attached to the Prime Minister K. B. Sahay made efforts to implement
the same recommendations he had given as the chairman of provincial Kisan
Committee- this included relief in revenue during the period of famine,
protection against forceful eviction in the event of failure to pay land
revenue, review of all Bakasht land etc. However, one issue which led to a
division among the Congress leaders was the abolition of the zamindari
system. While leaders like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Pandit Jawahar Lal
Nehru, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Jai Prakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev, Sampoornanad
and Murarilal were in favour of expediting the process of land reforms and
abolish zamindari straightaway, other leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Rajendra
Prasad, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Sri Krishna Sinha and Anugrah Narayan Sinha favoured
discussion with zamindars and arriving at a unanimous decision in consultation
with the zamindars. Hence any decision on the abolition of zamindari could not
be taken during 1937-1939 i.e. during the reign of the first Congress Ministry.
However, the government of Sri Krishna
Sinha did succeed in bringing down the rate of land revenue at the 1911 level.
After the resignation
of the first Congress ministry in the wake of the Second World War, the next
stage of the freedom struggle was resumed. Krishna Ballabh Sahay utilized this
period to consolidate peasants to the cause of freedom struggle promising them
a better future in an independent India. He also organised relief camps to help
farmers and the general population during the period of famine and at the same
time also launched an agitation to pressurize the government for a waiver of
land revenue on grounds of famine. He was joined in his efforts by the Congress
Socialist Party leaders like Jai Prakash Narayan, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, Minoo
Masani, and Ashok Mehta apart from Swami Sahajanand Saraswati of the Bihar
Kisan Sabha.
In 1946 the second
Congress Ministry was formed in Bihar once again in the leadership of Dr Sri
Krishna Sinha. Sri Krishna Sinha chose Krishna Ballabh Sahay as his Revenue
Minister. The period 1946-1950 was the most tumultuous in the life of K.
B. Sahay who piloted several Bills for land reforms including the famous
Zamindari Abolition Bill became a bone of contention between him and the
zamindars. While a faction of Congress leaders was in favour of ‘go-slow’ on
zamindari abolition, K. B. Sahay was in no mood to relent to their request. Swami
Sahanajand Saraswati came out strongly in support of K. B. Sahay and this gave
Sahay the mental and psychological support to face the zamindars and push
through the Bill despite all hurdles posed by the zamindars including an effort
on his life in September 1946. As soon as the Bill was passed in the Bihar
Assembly a group of zamindars approached the Home Minister Sardar Vallabh Bhai
Patel with a request to intervene. Sardar Patel raised the issue of adequate
compensation to zamindars before attaching their zamindaris-‘To
take away Zamindaris without paying compensation would amount to
robbery…..Compensation must be adequate and not nominal. The proposal is the
Maharajadhiraja of Darbhanga, who had an annual income of Rs. 60 lakhs, should
get Rs 25 lakhs as compensation. How would they feel?’- Sardar asked, ‘if they
were put in his (Darbhanga’s) position?’
It was
not proper for K. B. Sahay to reply to Sardar Patel, a senior leader of
his party. But Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was not bound by such limitations. He
was quick to retort-‘How will he [Maharajadhiraja of Darbhanga] feel? He would
feel like a very happy criminal. Compensation is nothing but ‘legal dacoity.’
The
support Swami Sahajanand Saraswati extended to K. B. Sahay in his efforts led
to about half a dozens of Bills for land reforms. This included
the Bihar Wastelands (Reclamation, Cultivation and improvement), Act, 1946,
Bihar Private Forest Act, 1946, Bakasht Disputes Settlement Act, 1947, Zamindari
Abolition Act of 1947, Bihar Public Land Encroachment Act, 1950, Bihar Land
Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Lands) Act, Chhotanagpur
Tenancy (Amendment) Act, Santhal Parganas Tenancy (Amendment) Act. The most
controversial among these legislative measures was the Zamindari Abolition Act
1947 which was struck down by the Patna High Court on the ground of violation of
the existing laws.
Failure
to abolish zamindari led Krishna Ballabh Sahay to pilot the Bihar State
Management of Estates and Tenures Bill which aimed to bring all zamindaris under
the direct control of the State Government. The bill was passed by the Bihar
Assembly and as soon as the Bill became an Act in 1949, the State Government
notified the Raj Riyasat Darbhanga and Ramgarh Estate and brought these two
zamindaris under the direct administrative control of the State Government. The
measure was opposed by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati who did not favour state
control of zamindaris but advocated the restoration of ownership rights with
the farmers. He gave a detailed statement to the Press which was published
prominently by ‘The Indian Nation’ the pro-zamindar newspaper owned by the
Maharajadhiraja of Darbhanga. The zamindars rejoiced the fissure between Swami
Sahanjanand Saraswati and Krishna Ballabh Sahay. The 18th May 1949
issue of ‘The Indian Nation’ published Swami Sahajanand Saraswati’s statement
in the bold caption as under:
‘Kisan Leader Denounces Estate
Management Bill- Revenue Minister’s Device disastrous for Tenants-Sahajaanand
Saraswati decides to oppose it tooth and nail’
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, President of the
‘Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha’ in a letter addressed to K.B. Sahay expressed
opposition to the Bihar State Management of Estates & Tenures Bill, 1949,
on the ground that the Zamindari Abolition has been given a go by and this Bill
has been brought to hoodwink the farmers. The stand of Kisan Sabha was
clarified that ‘it sticks to the principle that abolition of landlordism in all
its forms must be achieved through one stroke of the pen, without compensation
whatsoever, the landlords, big and small, being guaranteed like the rest of the
nationals, by the State suitable job and a decent standard of living.’ The
Sabha demanded that the entire land of a village be handed over to the farmers
including ‘Khet-mazdoors’ of that village through the village republic or
panchayat so that agriculture can be taken up by the village community. The
Sabha cannot, therefore, accept the position of this abolition being replaced
by the acquisition of zamindari by the Government through the above Bill.
