.jpg)
On
this day as we assemble here to remember our martyrs, I take this opportunity
to pay my sincere tributes to Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh who has been a
great inspiration to me in my life.
The
supreme sacrifice by Sardar Bhagat Singh, who laid down his life for the
freedom of his nation at a very young age makes him a youth icon for generations
to come. At the stroke of midnight as a nation awoke to life and freedom, its
leadership took a pledge to fulfil the aspirations of our freedom-fighters. Many
of these promises made at the dawn of independence have been realized while we
strive to achieve the unfulfilled promises. The task of nation-building is a
continuous process. The progress India has made in recent times makes every
Indian feel proud of his country.
Sardar
Bhagat Singh was a radical socialist revolutionary He led from the front to oppose
an alien imperialist rule and also inspired his people to raise their voice
against all sorts of injustices by friends of the imperialists which comprised
of the local satraps, the jagirdars and the zamindars. Of the scores of
literature written by Sardar Bhagat Singh that has come down to us, I am drawn
towards his views on rural uplift, particularly the emancipation of the
peasants. We all know that Sardar Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt were tried
in the Assembly Bomb Case. But what is not known commonly is the fact that Sardar
Bhagat Singh had made a statement in the
court during the trial in the Assembly Bomb Case. The statement is a
testimony of Bhagat Singh’s concern for the peasants. He had said and I quote -
“Producers and workers are the most
important section of society, but the exploiting class loots their
hard-earned income and also keeps them bereft of
basic rights. Farmers, who grow food for everyone, die of hunger along
with their families, weavers who weave cloth for the world do not
have enough to clothe their children, carpenters,
blacksmiths and masons who build grand palaces are
forced to live in slums themselves. The bourgeoisie and
other exploiters leech on them to make for themselves a life
of luxury and comfort.” Unquote.
Sardar Bhagat Singh’s struggle for the freedom
of the nation was not merely aimed at getting rid of the British; he wanted the
nation to get rid of many other ills that plagued the society those days.
While the Congress resolved for ‘Purna Swaraj’
and unfurled the tricolour flag of Indian independence on the banks of river
Ravi on 31 December 1929, Sardar Bhagat Singh outlined the agenda of complete
independence in a letter he wrote to his band of young revolutionaries on 2nd
February 1931, i.e. just a half before he attained martyrdom. The agenda
included the abolition of jagirdari/zamindari system and the liberation of
farmers from their clutches as the primary goal of an independent India. Bhagat
Singh advocated the nationalization of land by the Government and restoration
of ownership rights of land with the peasants, adding that farmers’ debt must
be waived off as this debt was because of a repressive system as the farmers
did not get the full price of their produce. Bhagat Singh favoured the abolition
of all taxes collected from farmers except a minimum land tax. This was the
welfare state of Bhagat Singh’s dream.
Realising these dreams in the pre-independence era was
a tough task. It proved tougher in post-independence India. Yet some leaders
showed the courage to take up Bhagat Singh’s agenda of complete independence in
right earnest and left no stone unturned in fulfilling the promises made to the
revolutionary freedom-fighters.
The Zamindari System had its roots in the
Permanent Settlement Act, 1793 of Lord Cornwallis. It suited an alien rule as
it assured them of fixed returns as land revenue with minimum governance. The
system created a class of people in the form of zamindars who were loyal
to the British and proved a trusted ally.
Post-independence, Bihar led the nation in
abolishing zamindari by introducing legislation to this effect. The law to
abolish Zamindari was introduced by Krishna Ballabh Sahay, the Revenue Minister
in the Sri Krishna Sinha’s Ministry in 1946. The decision had large scale
repercussions. At a time when politics and, to a large extent,
society were controlled by the landed gentry, it was no mean achievement for K.
B. 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 super zamindars went about displaying the
honours and titles bestowed on them by the alien rulers for services rendered
to the latter, ganged up against K. B. Sahay. They even approached the central
leadership of Congress appealing it to stop the passage of the Bill. Then, just
a few days before the Zamindari Abolition Bill was to be introduced in the
Bihar 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 legislatures 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 bring justice
to the peasants and fulfil the promises the nation made with Bhagat Singh and
his band of revolutionary freedom-fighters. The zamindars challenged the
Bill in the courts which issued injunctions restraining the State from
implementing it. Finally, the first Bill had to be repealed.
However, thanks to the support extended to him
by Dr Sri Krishna Sinha, the then Chief Minister of Bihar, K. B. Sahay could go
ahead with his epoch-making legislation despite the bitter opposition it
generated among even a section of the ruling party. It was against this none
too pleasing background that the Bill was revised and the Bihar Land Reforms
Bill 1949 was passed by the State Legislature in 1950. Once again 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.
It was now the turn of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru
and the Central Government to bring forward the first amendment to the Constitution
to validate the Bihar Act. The amendment was challenged in the Supreme Court
which, however, held it valid. Thus the Zamindari System was finally abolished
and Bihar became the first state to achieve this goal.
A series of agrarian reforms followed the Bihar Land Reforms Act and all of them were carried out by K. B.
Sahay to accomplish
the agenda of complete independence as envisioned by Sardar Bhagat Singh, in
letter and spirit. The Bihar Wastelands (Reclamation, Cultivation and Improvement) Act,
1946, (Bill 3 of 1946) was introduced and implemented to identify
the lands encroached by zamindars over their zamindari rights and
bring such land under Government control and distribute these among landless
farm labours and marginal peasants.
Next, K. B. Sahay introduced the Bihar
State Management of Estates & Tenures Act (Bihar Act XXI of 1949) which enabled
the Government of Bihar to take over the Estates & Tenures without payment
of any compensation for twenty years. The Act brought all zamindari land
under Government control to be managed by the Collector of the district. However,
this Act was struck down by the Court.
In 1950 the
Bihar Encroachment Act was implemented by K. B. Sahay to clear encroachment of
‘gair-mazurwa’ lands. These lands were held in illegal possession by zamindars
as part of their zamindari. The Act provided for the clearing of all
such encroachments.
Bihar
Private Forest Act, 1946 brought all forest property under Government control
to preserve
the forests and protect them from getting destroyed by indiscriminate felling
of trees by zamindars. Bhagat Singh had envisioned that land must be brought
under Government control and this Act achieved this objective.
The issue of
rent dispute between the zamindars and the tenant was sought to be
resolved by implementing the Bakasht Disputes Settlement Act. Often the zamindars
evicted the peasants from their land for their failure or alleged failure to
pay rent on time. Such land, resumed by zamindars from tenants, was
known as Bakasht land. The zamindars got the Bakasht land
cultivated with servants, forced or bonded labour or share-croppers. The Act provided
for the constitution of a Board of Panchayat- an Arbitration Board
at the district level to settle disputes and award such land to raiyat or
the zamindars on the merit of the case on a case to case basis. The
provisions of the Act helped the peasants get back their land.
In 1955 K. B.
Sahay introduced the Bihar Agricultural Lands (Ceiling and Management) Bill to
fix a ceiling of agricultural lands. The bill aimed to nullify all benami
transactions resorted by zamindars and tenure holders to circumvent the
provisions of the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950.
Through all these legislative measures, K. B. Sahay restored the land
to the peasants, which helped them regain their lost pride. Though the goals of
an egalitarian society were still away, K. B. Sahay, nonetheless, helped in
creating a change in rural economy and society where the peasants could once
again live without fear and with their heads held high. The agrarian reforms
introduced by K. B. Sahay achieved the objectives of complete independence
envisioned by Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh and this is a real tribute to this
great martyr.
A
time comes in the journey of a nation when it pauses to pay its gratitude to
the supreme sacrifice of its freedom-fighters and its citizens resolve to
follow the footsteps of their freedom-fighters to work for the progress of
their country. This year as the nation celebrates its 75th year of independence
as ‘Azaadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’, to remember the forgotten heroes of the
freedom struggle, I take this opportunity to remind a nation to remember such
unsung heroes like Krishna Ballabh Sahay. I feel proud to be his descendent. I
feel proud that a study on agrarian reforms in post-independence India is never
complete without referring to the achievements of K. B. Sahay. I feel proud
that his agrarian reforms form part of the doctoral research of scores of intellectuals
and academicians across the world. K. B.
Sahay was a courageous man- a man of steel- the ‘Iron Man of Bihar’ –a title
bestowed upon by him by ‘The Indian Nation’- the leading Press newspaper of
Bihar of the time. It was an acknowledgement of his strong leadership style
that saw him taking up the cudgels on behalf of the peasants to abolish the
Zamindari System and help the nation redeem its pledge of a welfare
State, if not wholly or in full measure, but substantially.
Thank you.
(Excerpts of the speech delivered on 19th March 2022 on the occasion of 'Shaheed Diwas' organised by Global Organisation of Indian People, Manhattan Chapter to remember the martyrdom of Sardar Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru and other freedom fighters.)
No comments:
Post a Comment