Swami Sahajanand Saraswati
Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was a sanyasi (a Hindu monk) who became the leading peasant leader of Bihar. In 1929 he founded the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha, a peasants' association. He fought zamindars (big landlords) over high rents, illegal cesses (extra charges) and evictions. Over time he moved towards the left and demanded that the zamindari system be abolished.
Example
In 1936 the All India Kisan Sabha was formed at Lucknow, with Sahajanand as its first president. In the late 1930s he led the bakasht struggles in Bihar. In these, tenants fought to win back land that zamindars had taken from them.
Don't confuse with
- Baba Ramchandra: he led the peasants of Awadh in the United Provinces through the Oudh Kisan Sabha in 1920. Sahajanand worked in Bihar and led the all-India peasant body from 1936.
Related concepts
- All India Kisan Sabha
- FICCI
- G.D. Birla
- Jamnalal Bajaj
- All India Trade Union Congress
- Communist Party of India
- Meerut conspiracy case
- Women in the civil disobedience movement
- Women's Indian Association
- All India Women's Conference