Saturday, 26 June 2021

'THE LEGACY': 13: SWAMI & SAHAY: SWAMI SAHAJANAND SARASWATI AND KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY (26/06/2021)

SWAMI SAHAJANAND SARASWATI
(22 FEBRUARY 1889-26 JUNE 1950)

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.

Even the Bihar State Management of Estates and Tenures Act 1949 was struck down by the Patna High Court as violative to the existing laws. The Patna High Court verdict went as per Krishna Ballabh Sahay’s plan as he was able to project that his efforts to restore ownership of lands to farmers through the Zamindari Abolition Act was struck down by the High The court while his decision to bring zamindari under the State control met the same fate. This made it clear that if zamindari was to be abolished the existing laws were insufficient to uphold the land reforms legislation. The message was loud and clear to the central leadership. Hence when K. B. Sahay made another effort to abolish zamindari by bringing in another legislation-The Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 which met the same fate as its previous edition, the central leadership had no other option but to intervene and amend the Constitution and safeguard all land reforms legislation by taking it away from the purview of judicial review by adding a new Schedule- the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution. The Bihar Land Reforms Act, (Act XXX of 1950) was the first piece of land reform legislation to be brought under this Schedule. Thus K. B. Sahay succeeded in permanently unsettling the Permanent Settlement Act 1793 and Bihar became the first state after independence to abolish zamindari. Thus a long-cherished dream of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was fulfilled. However, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati did not live to rejoice in this success- he left for his heavenly abode on 26th June 1950.

[Reference: (i) Land, Labour And Power- Agrarian Crisis and the State of Bihar by Usha Devi, (ii) Agrarian Reforms from Above and Below (1947-1978) by Arvind N. Das, (iii) Records from National Archives, New Delhi (iv) Mera Jeevan Sangharsh by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati (v) Swami Sahajanand Saraswati’s letter to Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru dated 24th July 1947 (vi) Sahajanand Papers- Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), New Delhi]


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