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Peasant Movements In Post Colonial India
Four peasant movements in post-Independence India, have attracted the attention of the public, press and scholars. These are Tebhaga (1946-47) and Naxalbari (1967-71) in Bengal, the Telangana Movement (1946-52) and the MCC-led movement in Bihar. SinghaRoy chooses to examine the first three. Each of them has had its own characteristics and history. These movements are also known for having heaped a tremendous amount of misery on those whom they considered their enemies. This was done in the name of class struggle, peasant liberation, creating a more egalitarian society etc. Houses were burnt down, crops destroyed, assassinations and murders committed. The enemy mostly included other peasants, albeit belonging to the upper and middle castes, who were trying to eke a miserable living out of a hostile land. "My misery would be lessened if your misery increases", seemed to be the simple logic of these peasant movements. SinghaRoy documents all this in considerable detail and points out the irony inherent in the militant protests launched by the peasants. The formation of the United Left Front Government in Bengal was ironical because it meant that it was the leaders of the peasants who themselves were running the state. The problems facing the peasants had not been solved and yet any protest now would attract censure from the erstwhile leaders of the peasants. One would have expected the peasants to throw up new leaders who were not beholden to the state. That, however, never happened and the peasant movements died a quiet death. Was, then, Karl Marx right when he compared peasants with a sack of potatoes? |
THE book, which examines peasant movements, is the
latest from IGNOU and is by a young sociologist. The social scientists
at IGNOU are very prolific. Moreover, their writings are of a uniformly
high quality and are concerned with the pressing issues of the day. The
books are a pleasure to read. Without being overly radical they also
manage to poke a significant amount of fun at the sacred ideas in the
social sciences, and in the process also provide us with important
insights into the subject of their inquiry.