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Introduction |
In the
melee of centenary celebrations these days, one
great mind who has attracted little attention is
that of Swami Sahajanand. The transformational
character of his career and his commitment to the
cause of the peasants saw him at loggerheads with
many of the frontline nationalist leaders.
Nevertheless, he emerges as one of the most
outstanding peasant leader the country has ever
seen. He represents one of the most important
stream of struggle among the several struggles
which saw India acquire its independence. The
contemporaneity of his career acquires an added
meaning as the issues for which he struggled still
beleaguers most part of the countryside, which is
especially true for a state like Bihar. |
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Early
life and career |
Born in 1889 in the Ghazipur
District of Eastern U.P. he became a renouncer at a very
early stage of his life. It was the religious life of
meditation and study which engaged him until 1914 after
which he became a social activist, initially involving
himself with the status struggle of Bhmihars. By the
early twenties, Sahajanand’s interests shifted to
Gandhian politics of the freedom movement, and then in
the late twenties and early thirties to the politics of
peasant activism. In these transitions he was not only
entering new arenas of activism, but in that very
process engaging in ideological and political conflict
with his former allies. For example, the leading figures
in the Bhumihar-Brahman, Mahasabha with whom Sahajanand
was associated in the teens and twenties, were also
among the largest land controllers of Bihar and hence
his most vigorous antagonists in his peasant activism
phase. And by the same token, his admiration for Gandhi
shifted in the middle and late thirties to sharp
opposition over the issue of peasant rights within the
context of the struggle for political freedom from the
British.
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His
personality |
Before attempting
any hasty slotting of his personality on the basis of
his association with any one cause, it should be borne
in mind that he was an activist constantly on the
leading edge of social, cultural, and political change
which for him had to be transformational in character.
He himself writes in ‘Mera Jeevan Sangharsh’, I am
gradually moving ahead .. I have learnt from my
experiences. And this much I can say that I have always
moved ahead . This process is an ongoing
one.
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Swami
ji and kisan sabha |
On the basis of
experiences gathered from his social activism,
Sahajanand formed the West Patna Kisan Sabha in 1928.
His struggle against the brazen exploitation of the
peasants by the zamindars and the economic backwardness
in the countryside created the platform for the Bihar
Pradesh Kisan Sabha. As the scope of the struggle
widened, it moved through the stages of struggle on
economic issues like rent and forced labour to soon
cover the much broader issue of the abolition of
Zamindari system. The struggle in the area of politics
strengthened the organisation and there was a time when
in Bihar alone there were more than two lakh members of
Kisan Sabha. The strength in which the peasants
demonstrated in front of the Bihar Assembly in 1936
still remains
unparalleled.
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Swami
ji on present problem |
The novelty of Swamiji's
career lies in his ability to be always sensitive to his
surrounding and transform his ideas and activities in
the interest of justice and equity. Hence, given his
background in representing the interests of peasant
tenants in the early and middle 1930s, it is not
surprising to find him arguing the case for agricultural
labourers and the rural poor on the margins of the
Indian social experience. In his tract 'Khet Mazdoor' he
asks, "But who cares for the poor?" In the essays of
this tract he vividly describes their condition and
their history and submits proposals for change that in
many respects have as much relevance today as they did
in 1941, when it was
written
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Relevance of Swami ji in the
present |
In his political life he came across
politicians of all shades and the affinity and
difference which he developed with them on the twin
issues of freedom struggle and peasant movement made him
more sensitised and multidimensional. He was one of the
few members of AICC who opposed the demand for Pakistan.
He also opposed the undemocratic manner in which the
Constituent Assembly was convened. He remained committed
to the idea of an exploitation free socialist India both
before and after the independence. His career
exemplifies the broad spectrum of Indian experience from
the religious and cultural to the social and political
activism. There are some direct lessons to be drawn from
the life and career of Swami Sahajanand which are very
relevant for us today. First, how a meaningful political
struggle can be combined successfully with social and
economic struggle and, secondly, what should be the
nature and form of peasant organisation and struggle in
the changing context of rural society. In 1944, in the
8th session of All India Kisan Sabha held at
Vijayawada, Swamiji in his presidential speech said,
“The middle and big peasantry are trying to use Kisan
Sabha for their own benefit, whereas I want to use it
for arousing consciousness among the least privileged
class of peasants. In my opinion it is the landless
peasants and agricultural labourer who are the real
Kisan Sabha. It is they who will form the backbone of
this struggle in the years to come.”
Such was the
personality of Swamiji, he was a fighter to the core and
remained uncompromising on the issues concerning the
rights of the peasants. There are few in Indian history
who can measure his height and he remains one of the
most relevant personality for the present society, as
much of the countryside is still under the severe
clutches of exploitation.
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