All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)
Formation11 April 1936 (1936-04-11), Lucknow, United Province, British Raj
TypePeasant Organisation
HeadquartersAjoy Bhavan, 15, Indrajit Gupta Marg, New Delhi, India-110002
Location
  • India
General Secretary
Atul Kumar Anjan
President
R. Venkaiah
AffiliationsCommunist Party of India

All India Kisan Sabha (abbr. AIKS; lit. All India Farmers Union, also known as the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha), is the peasant or farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India, an important peasant movement formed by Sahajanand Saraswati in 1936.[1][2]

History

Kisan Sabha in Delhi (1970)

The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar under the leadership of Sahajanand Saraswati who had formed in 1929 the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) in order to mobilise peasant grievances against the zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights, and thus sparking the farmers' movements in India.[3][4]

Gradually the peasant movement intensified and spread across the rest of India. All these radical developments on the peasant front culminated in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha at the Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress in April 1936, with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati elected as its first president.[5] The other prominent members of this Sabha were N.G. Ranga, Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev and Bankim Mukerji, and it involved prominent leaders like E.M.S. Namboodiripad, Indulal Yagnik, Sohan Singh Bhakna, Z.A. Ahmed, Pandit Karyanand Sharma, Pandit Yamuna Karjee, Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) Sharma, Rahul Sankrityayan, P. Sundarayya, Yogendra Sharma and Bankim Mukherjee. The Kisan Manifesto, released in August 1936, demanded abolition of the zamindari system and cancellation of rural debts; in October 1937 it adopted the red flag as its banner.[6] Soon, its leaders became increasingly distant with Congress and repeatedly came in confrontation with Congress governments, in Bihar and United Province.

In the subsequent years, the movement was increasingly dominated by Socialists and Communists as it moved away from the Congress. By the 1938 Haripura session of the Congress, under the presidency of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the rift became evident[6] and by May 1942, the Communist Party of India, which was finally legalised by the government in July 1942,[7] had taken over All India Kisan Sabha all across India, including Bengal where its membership grew considerably.[8] It took on the Communist Party's line of People's War and stayed away from the Quit India Movement which started in August 1942, though this also meant losing its popular base. Many of its members defied party orders and joined the movement. Prominent members like N.G. Ranga, Indulal Yagnik and Swami Sahajananda soon left the organisation, which increasingly found it difficult to approach the peasants without the watered-down approach of pro-British and pro-war, and increasing its pro-nationalist agenda, much to the dismay of the British Raj.[9]

Conferences and office bearers

National ConferenceYearPlacePresidentGeneral Secretary
1
(founder conference)		11 April 1936Lucknow, Uttar PradeshSahajanand SaraswatiN. G. Ranga
225,26 December 1936FaijpurN. G. RangaSahajanand Saraswati
311–14 May 1938 Comilla
(now in Bangladesh)		Sahajanand SaraswatiN. G. Ranga
49–10 April 1939Gaya, BiharNarendra DeoSahajanand Saraswati
526–27 March 1940Palasa, Andhra PradeshRahul SankrityayanIndulal Yagnik
629–31 May 1942PatnaIndulal Yagnik Sahajanand Saraswati
71–4 April 1943Bhakhna, PunjabBankim Mukherjee
814–15 March 1944Vijayawada Andhra PradeshSahajanand Saraswati Bankim Mukherjee
95–9 April 1945Netrakona
(now in Bangladesh)		Muzaffar Ahmad
1022–26 May 1947Secunderabad, AligarhKaryanand SharmaM.A. Rasul
1122–23 April 1953Kannur, Kerala Indulal Yagnik N. Prasad Rao
1213–19 September 1954Moga, Punjab
1317–22 May 1955Talasari, Dahanu, MaharashtraNana Patil
1428–30 September 1956Amritsar A. K. Gopalan
1528 October – 3 November 1957Bangaon, West Bengal
1629 April – 3 May 1959Mayuram, Tanjaur, Tamil Nadu Bhabani Sen
1717–19 May 1960Gazipur, Uttar Pradesh
1830 March – 2 April 1961Thrissur, Kerala Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri
1910–12 January 1968Amravati Teja Singh Sutantar Z.A. Ahmed
201–5 April 1970Barasat, West Bengal
2119–23 September 1973Bhatinda Z.A. Ahmed Indradeep Sinha
227–10 June 1979Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh
2328–31 December 1986Barabanki Uttar PradeshIndradeep SinhaY. V. Krishna Rao
2416–19 June 1993Madhubani, BiharY. V. Krishna RaoBhogendra Jha
25Bihar Bhogendra Jha Y. V. Krishna Rao
26 Thrissur Atul Kumar Anjan
27 Kauntai, West BengalC. K. Chandrappan
289–12 December2010Aurangabad, Maharashtra Prabodh Panda
2927–29 March 2015Hyderabad, Telangana
16 November 2021In CC meetingR. Venkaiah

Activities

Protest against three Agri-bills

AIKS led nationwide protests against Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

  • 2 October 2018: AIKS organized march of farmers at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border.[10]
  • 26 January 2021: AIKS organized tractor rally in national capital.[11][12]
  • 26 February 2022: AIKS led Thousands of farmers started marching to Dhule District (Maharashtra) Collector's Office demanding forest land certificate.[13][14]

References

  1. ↑ Bandyopādhyāya, Śekhara (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India. Orient Longman. pp. 523 (at p 406). ISBN 978-81-250-2596-2.
  2. ↑ "75 Years of AIKS: A Saga of Glory". newageweekly.in.
  3. ↑ Bandyopādhyāya, Śekhara (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India. Orient Longman. pp. 523 (at p 406). ISBN 978-81-250-2596-2.
  4. ↑ Peasant Struggles in India, by Akshayakumar Ramanlal Desai. Published by Oxford University Press, 1979. Page 349.
  5. ↑ Bandyopādhyāya, Śekhara (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India. Orient Longman. pp. 523 (at p 407). ISBN 978-81-250-2596-2.
  6. 1 2 Mahatma Gandhi, by Sankar Ghose. Published by Allied Publishers, 1991. ISBN 81-7023-205-8. Page 262.
  7. ↑ Caste, Protest and Identity in Colonial India: The Namasudras of Bengal, 1872-1947, by Shekhar Bandyopadhyaya. Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0-7007-0626-7. Page 233.
  8. ↑ States, Parties, and Social Movements, by Jack A. Goldstone. Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-01699-1. Page 192.
  9. ↑ Peasants in India's Non-violent Revolution: Practice and Theory, by Mridula Mukherjee. Published by SAGE, 2004. ISBN 0-7619-9686-9. Page 347.
  10. ↑ "Kisan Krant March: AIKS terms police action as 'barbaric'; says Centre's acceptance of demands 'hoax'".
  11. ↑ "Farmers, Delhi Police gear up for Republic Day tractor rally; unions announce Parliament march on 1 Feb". First Post. 26 January 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  12. ↑ "Delhi Police flags threat to farmers' tractor rally on January 26". Business Standard, India. Agencies. 24 January 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  13. ↑ "वनपट्ट्यांसाठी रणरणत्या उन्हात शिरपूर ते धुळे लाँग मार्चला सुरवात".
  14. ↑ "राज्यपाल कोशियारी यांनी आदिवासींच्या वनहक्क कायद्याची मोडतोड केली?".

Further reading

  • Swami Sahajanand and the Peasants of Jharkhand: A View from 1941 translated and edited by Walter Hauser along with the unedited Hindi original (Manohar Publishers, paperback, 2005).
  • Sahajanand on Agricultural Labour and the Rural Poor translated and edited by Walter Hauser Manohar Publishers, paperback, 2005).
  • Religion, Politics, and the Peasants: A Memoir of India's Freedom Movement translated and edited by Walter Hauser Manohar Publishers, hardbound, 2003).
  • Swami And Friends: Sahajanand Saraswati And Those Who Refuse To Let The Past of Bihar's Peasant Movements Become History By Arvind Narayan Das, Paper for the Peasant Symposium, May 1997 University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
  • Bagchi, A.K., 1976, "Deindustrialisation in Gangetic Bihar, 1809- 1901" in Essays in Honour of Prof. S.C. Sarkar, New Delhi.
  • Banaji, Jairus, 1976, "The Peasantry in the Feudal Mode of Production: Towards an Economic Model", Journal of Peasant Studies, April.
  • Bandopadhyay, D., 1973, "Agrarian Relations in Two Bihar Districts", Mainstream, 2 June, New Delhi.
  • Judith M. Brown, 1972, Gandhi's Rise to Power: Indian Politics, 1915–1922, London.
  • Chaudhuri, B.B., 1971, "Agrarian Movements in Bengal and Bihar, 1919-1939" in B.R. Nanda, ed., Socialism in India, New Delhi.
  • Chaudhuri, B.B., 1975, "The Process of Depeasantisation in Bengal and Bihar, 1885-1947", Indian Historical Review, 2(1), July, New Delhi.
  • Chaudhuri, B.B., 1975a, "Land Market in Eastern India, 1793-1940", Indian Economic and Social History Review, 13 (1 & 2), New Delhi.
  • Arvind Narayan Das, 1981, Agrarian Unrest and Socio-economic Change in Bihar, 1900-1980, Delhi : Manohar.
  • Arvind Narayan Das (ed.),1982, Agrarian Movements in India : Studies on 20th Century Bihar, London : Frank Cass.
  • Arvind Narayan Das, 1992, The Republic of Bihar, New Delhi : Penguin.
  • Arvind Narayan Das, 1996, Changel : The Biography of a Village, New Delhi : Penguin.
  • Datta, K.K., 1957, History of the Freedom Movement in Bihar, Patna.
  • Diwakar, R.R., ed., 1957, Bihar Through the Ages, Patna.
  • Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1921, "The Zamindar and the Ryots", Young India, Vol. III (New Series) No. 153, 18 May.
  • Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1940, An Autobiography or The Story of My experiments in Truth, Ahmedabad.
  • Mishra, G., 1968. "The Socio-economic Background of Gandhi's Champaran Movement", Indian Economic and Social History Review, 5(3), New Delhi.
  • Mishra, G., 1978, Agrarian Problems of Permanent Settlement: A Case Study of Champaran, New Delhi.
  • Mitra, Manoshi, 1983, Agrarian Social Structure in Bihar: Continuity and Change, 1786–1820, Delhi : Manohar.
  • Pouchepadass, J., 1974, "Local Leaders and the Intelligentsia in the Champaran Satyagraha", Contributions to Indian Sociology, New Series, No.8, November, New Delhi.
  • Prasad, P.H., 1979, "Semi-Feudalism: Basic Constraint in Indian Agriculture" in Arvind N. Das & V. Nilakant, eds., Agrarian Relations in India, New Delhi.
  • Shanin, Teodor, 1978, Defining Peasants: Conceptualisations and Deconceptualisations: Old and New in a Marxist Debate, Manchester University.
  • Solomon, S., 1937, Bihar and Orissa in 1934-35, Patna.
  • Socialism in India, by Bal Ram Nanda, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Published by Vikas Publications, 1972.Page 205.
  • A History of the All India Kisan Sabha, by Md. Abdullah Rasul. Published by National Book Agency, 1974.
  • Peasants in History: Essays in Honour of Daniel Thorner, by Eric J. Hobsbawm, Daniel Thorner, Witold Kula, Sameeksha Trust.Published by Oxford University Press, 1981.
  • Bihar Peasantry and the Kisan Sabha, 1936-1947, by Rakesh Gupta. Published by People's Pub. House, 1982.
  • "The Constitution of All India Kisan Sabha" Encyclopaedia of Political Parties, by O. P. Ralhan, Published by Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd., 2002. ISBN 81-7488-865-9. Page 1-10.
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