AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION : THE BATAIDARI STRUGGLE IN MADHUBANI, 1967-75 *

M. N. KARNA

North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong.

Of late the thickly populated North Indian district of Madhu- bani in the State of has experienced ferments in the life of peasants. The seeds of political awakening among small peasants, sharecroppers and landless agricultural workers were sown by the communist Party of (CPI) in the late 'forties and have now burgeoned into a vociferous section resisting the exploitative char- acter of the landowning class. Even the former , influen- tial Mahanths and powerful landowners admit that there is a fast growing consciousness among their erstwhile dependents who had once been mute and inarticulate and who meekly bore with repres- sion. The Madhubani peasant agitation is primarily a struggle of sharecroppers for their rightful claim. A close scrutiny of the back- ground and nature of the struggle of bataidars between 1967-75 launched by the CPI is intended here. The emphasis will be chiefly on the agrarian setting of the region, the programmes and objectives of the struggle, the organisation aimed at the realisation of these goals and the shaping influences of the movement. The analysis will be concluded with some general observations on theoretical and methodological issues. Agrarian Structure in Madhubani According to the census of 1971, has a population of 1,892,039 and land area of 3477.3 sq. kms. The man land ratio is significantly high with 536 persons per sq. km. as against only 324 in the case of the State as a whole. The region is pre-eminently agricultural with 97 7 per cent of the population living in rural areas. In this region 90.6 percent of the agricultur-

* The author is grateful to Professors D. N. Dhanagare and Sachchidananda for their comments, on earlier drafts of this paper SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN Vol. 30, No. 2, September, 1981 AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION 185 ists, rural working population is engaged in agriculture, and of these 51.8 per cent work as farm labourers, although the all India per- centage of this category of farm labourers is only 26.3 per cent. Historically, new social arrangements on land were made in Bihar by the of 1793 when several new classes of intermediaries emerged. However, on account of the non- acceptance of the terms of the settlement by the then estate, the new arrangement did not initially affect the large part of the old , of which Madhubani was a sub-division till recently. The Maharaja of Darbhanga who was the biggest of the region owned lands over 2400 square miles, covering several districts of Bihar. That the rampant feudal exploitation of the peasantry existed under the Raj Darbhanga was obvious from the extreme poverty and distress faced by the raiyats of the Raj. The Raj being the most powerful Zamindar of the area had no difficulty in imposing several abwabs on the poor and disgruntled peasants. Besides the Raj Darbhanga, there were other estates in the region which almost followed the path shown by the richest fellow zamindar. The Cadastral Survey of 1896-1903 recorded 13,400 estates in the then Darbhanga district with the total revenue de- mand of Rs. 788,301 (Roy Choudhary, 1964: 451). The conse- quences of such agrarian structure on the tenantry were not difficult to imagine even during that period. While assessing the impact of decennial settlement prior to the Permanent Settlement, the then Collcctor of Tirhut had observed: ... in making the zamindars, in act as well as in name, lords paramount of the soil, their abject and helpless vassals, the raiyats, trained up to hereditary submission, will bear in silence and secret dread whatever their imposing tyranny may inflict. (Roy Choudhary, 1964: 482). The patterns that developed later proved this apprehension, and the raiyats were deprived of even minimum rights and privileges. They could not plant trees, mould bricks, dig tanks or construct houses on their land without prior approval of the landlords. The enhancement of jama, and the practice of abwab like hari and begari were the most frequent forms of oppression of the tenantry. 1 The bhoulidars who paid rent in kind were not issued any rent 186 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN receipts and the tenants cultivating the bakast lands of the landlords were solely at the mercy of their zamindars. At the village level among asamis, the local officials and petty amlas were more influ- ential than the zamindar himself. The growing wealth and power of this feudal class could further be gauged from their ostentatious places and buildings which they had constructed in various cities and towns. Another class of dominant landowners which has rarely been studied by social scientists in India deserves special mention here. The granting of lands for religious and charitable purposes had been very common under both the Hindu and the Muslim rulers. In most of the cases these lands were granted on very liberal terms. In Madhubani region no public revenue was paid for these lands, which were known locally as lakhraj lands. In 1802, according to one account, 118,149 acres of revenue-free land were scattered over 1171 villages of old Darbhanga district.2 These religious and charitable institutions known popularly as Mahantha Asthan became personal properties of individual Mahanths and exploitation of poor tenants became their sole objective which continues till today. The Survey and Settlement operations of 1896 recorded that 86 per cent area of the old district of Darbhanga was under the occupation of landlords and tenants. Of this area, 14 per cent was under the control of proprietors and tenure holders and 83 per cent under occupancy and settled raiyats. Raiyats at fixed rates and rent- free tenants constituted 2 per cent of this total while only 1 per cent area was under the occupation of non-occupancy raiyats. The small section of the population had thus larger control over land while the major bulk worked as agricultural labour and sharecroppers. In between the Survey of 1896 and the revisional survey oper- ations which is at present on hand in various stages in the district, no accurate land records are available. Hence a proper assessment of the patterns of landownership and land control is difficult to make except with the help of census data. The 1951 census data reveal that as many as 89.11 per cent people belonged to agricultural classes in the old Darbhanga dis- trict. While 39.73 per cent of this total were cultivating their own land, 10.19 per cent came under the category of bataidars as they were cultivators of mainly unowned land. Between 1951 and 1961 AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION 187 the proportion of bataidtars among all the cultivators has almost been static. In 1961, 61 per cent of the cultivating households culti - vated their own land while only 10 per cent were working on un - owned lands, which evidently included sharecroppers. The agricultural census of 1970-71, on the other hand, indicates that all land holdings in Madhubani district (separate figures for Madhubani were col - lected in this census) were self owned and self operated. 3 These figures, however, are puzzling, because if they were accurate, then all sharecroppers would have become owners and no sharecropper would be found in the district. This, however, is not correct. A possibility of concealment in furnishing information about share - cropping cannot be ruled out as both landowners and sharecroppers usually suppress facts, the former due to fear of legal measures and the latter due to anxiety of eviction from lands, and so one will have to use these data with some caution because they may prove to be illusory. Thus no accurate and authentic conclusion could be derived from census data on the extent of sharecropping. However, data on the size of landholdings presented in Table 1 may give some TABLE 1 SIZE OF LANDHOLDINGS IN MADHUBANI, 1970-71

188 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN broad idea of the agrarian structure of Madhubani. It suggests that 87.96 per cent landholdings in Madhubani district are of 2 hectares or less. It further points out that while 96.03 per cent of the hold- ings of 4 hectares and less occupy only 68.81 per cent of the area, 31.14 per cent area is covered only by 3.97 per cent of operational holdings of 4 hectares and above. Madhubani is thus overwhelming- ly a district of marginal and small farmers and the pattern of landholding is characterised by extreme inequity. The growth of class of bataidars in the region has primarily been due to the process of subinfeudation during the days of Zamindari which perpetrated excesses on raiyats without encounter- ing much protests.4 Being mainly a wet paddy cultivation area, the ecological condition has further contributed in popularising the crop- sharing cultivation, and the exploitation of sharecroppers and their ejection from land on one pretext or the other has been an intermittent practice.5 Having realised the importance of sharecropping, an attempt was recently made by the author to collect data with regard to its role in the agrarian economy of Madhubani. It can be ascertained from Table II that bataidars constitute a significant proportion of the agricultural population in the region.

AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION 189

The system of sharecropping involves a set of rights, duties and obligations on the part of both sharecroppers and landowners. But in practice the sharecroppers are kept consistently under sub- ordination, and numerous exactions are imposed on them which make their life extremely miserable and wretched. Moreover, several age-old socio-religious practices attached to the system further involve unspeakable exploitation and oppression of the sharecroppers.6 Thus agrarian structure of Madhubani has been semi-feudal in character and iniquitous in content. Production from agriculture has almost been stagnant and subinfeudation rampant. In discussing the peasant unrest and struggle we shall have to keep this structural feature in view. It motivates enlightened political workers to make it a plank for their activities and they begin to ferret out the broad areas of the problem on which they could plan their future course of action. Peasant Mobilisation in Madhubani Prior to 1967 The earliest recorded attempt to mobilise the tenants in Madhu- bani region was made by an unknown sadhu named in police records as Swami Vidyanand during 1919-20.8 His main area of operation was Madhubani sub-division of the former Darbhanga district and the prime objective was to establish Kisan Sabha in every district of Bihar to ventilate the grievances of tenants. Among the major grievances highlighted by Vidyanand the highhandedness of the Darbhanga Raj officials was the most glaring one. In the absence of an accurate and detailed account of the Swami's activities, no specific conclusion can be drawn here regarding the growth and decline of peasant mobilisation in Madhubani between 1919 and 1928. The formation of the branches of the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS), which started functioning during 1928-29 under the distinguished leadership of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, was another significant development on the Kisan front. The former Darbhanga district, particularly the Sadar and Samastipur sub- divisions, soon became a strong belt of the Kisan Sabha activities. Swamiji used to attract large gatherings in Madhubani area also. His widely attended meetings at Madhubani, Sahar and Phulparas are still recalled by old peasant leaders. The influence of Kisan Sabha was further reinforced by the increasing popularity of the 190 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN Congress Socialists who joined the Sabha in large numbers. It aroused a series of agitations over the bakast and bhouli lands during 1935- 36. However, its impact on the poor peasants, bataidars and landless labourers was negligible because its narrow definition of the term 'peasant' excluded these categories and gave unfavourable priorities "to their demands in agrarian programmes (Dhanagare 1975:41-52). As the agrarian social structure of Madhubani was dominated by these categories of the rural poor, a sustained and effective mobi- lisation of peasants under the banner of BPKS could not take place. Most of the prominent Kisan Sabhites of Darbhanga district such as Ram Nandan Mishra, Yamuna Karjee, Ram Prakash Sharma, and Chhote Prasad Singh were upper caste big landowners. Although the ideological orientation of the BPKS and its class base changed subsequently, the growth of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) as a strong left organisation under the influence of CPI soon over- shadowed such regional peasant associations. While the CPI captured the AIKS completely by 1944-45, the Swamiji broke away from it to form a new All India United Kisan Sabha (Dhanagare 1975: 48). This process of shifting of ideology and loyalty had its obvious impact on the political scene of the Darbhanga district. A group of young activists under the influence of left ideology had emerged in the district soon after the provincial conference of Bihar Student Federation held at Darbhanga in March 1940. It is interesting to note that ever since 1944, Bhogendra Jha, the main organiser of the group has been the key figure, and his small band of active workers were the precursors of the peasant struggle in Madhubani. Although some of the Congress Socialists had attempted to mobilise the peasantry under the guidance of Kisan Sabha, there is little evidence to suggest that they succeeded in influencing the rural poor. Hence our discussion here will primarily be confined to the programmes and policies of the CPI which has shaped the agrarian relations in the area. Initially, the struggle was launched on the issue of batai and community lands which were illegally occupied by the influentia landlords. In 1946, an organised effort was made to mobilise peas- ants in Salempur (Harlakhi), Kataiya and Dhakjari villages. The fight at Salempur was against the oppression of the absentee land- lords while at Dhakjari it was on the issue of the division of crop on batai lands. But the major struggle on the issue of batai land AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION 191 started in Andbari where the village Mahantha was a terror. On 4 January 1947 a big procession was organised on Mahanth's land by Bhogendra Jha which was attacked by hired men of the Mahantha while police remained a silent spectator. Jha suffered severe injuries and one of his followers Paltu Yadav was killed on the spot. This incident sparked off the inflammation and the peasant agitation took a new turn. Several Zamindari villages — Dhakjari, Khirhar, Barha, Hisar, Pokhrouni and Akuli soon became the seats of Communists' activities. Spark of the 1947 resistance of Andhari, however, could not radiate effectively to other parts of the district. Even the limited mobilisation of the peasantry which had taken place was utilised merely for the immediate electoral gains of the CPI and nothing substantial resulted on agrarian front. Demonstrations on some local issues, mobilisation of bataidars and agricultural labourers for State and country level rallies in support of land reforms and pairbies for land disputes in local courts were the other programmes of the party workers. A few isolated forcible harvesting on batai lands and seizure of gairmazarua lands of those zamindars who had illegally occupied such lands were other militant actions of the Communists. A perusal of the list of persons killed in Madhubani land agitation, supplied by the District Office of the CPI, also suggests that between 1947 and 1967 only one person was killed in the struggle and that too in 1954. Thus, if intensity of action and expansion of its ideological in- fluence are important components of a movement, they were absent from the peasant struggle in Madhubani during 1947 and 1967. Consequently, they failed to channelise whatever consciousness had emerged in the area into a systematically planned movement. Alavi has almost similar explanation to offer in this context: In the period which followed 1952 the Kisan Sabha and the Communist Party moved away from the idea of direct peasant action, except for demonstrations and agitation. They rave put the emphasis, instead, on exerting pressure on the Congress Govern- ment for implementing effective land reforms and on parliamentary political struggle for the Communist Party, which if brought to Power would carry out a drastic land reform (1969:418). 192 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN

Despite such a limited success, the early mobilisation of small peasants, sharecroppers and landless labourers paved the way for a sustained struggle which Madhubani witnessed after 1967. Nature and Growth of Bataidari Struggle: 1967-1975 The communists were by now successful in building up their base in Madhubani specially in its north-western part. Between 1952 and 1967 they mobilised poor peasants, sharecroppers and landless labourers under the red-flag and effectively challenged the authority of the zamindars, Mahanths and other big landowners. Moreover, the electoral victory of the CPI established its political credibility in the absence of any other effectively organised political party. Other national political parties like the Congress, the Socialist, the Swatan- tra and the Jana Sangh had Virtually been flooded under the growing influence of the Communists. The situation was thus ripe to launch an intensified struggle on the agrarian front. Apart from an iniqu- itous pattern of landownership, the practice of sharecropping, out- moded wage-structure and oppressive traditional social hierarchy prevalent in Madhubani helped the left-wing political parties to arouse consciousness among the peasants against the landed aristo- cracy (Karna 1975 : 21-36). The Communists thus represented what could be termed as a new social order emphasizing equality and equitable distribution of means of living. The agrarian tension in Madhubani was the result of the conflict between the new social order upheld by the peasants and the traditional distribution patterns upheld by the big landowners. This restricted the continuance of their relations in an harmonious manner. However, the recent in- tensified struggle is an extension of the attempt made earlier in this direction, though some modifications in strategy as well as programmes have taken place during the period. The goal of the struggle as sum- marised by its leaders has been "to implement pro-peoples' Acts through mass movement" for which consistent efforts have since been made by the CPI led peasant associations.9 AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION 193

The Bihar Tenancy Act 1885 and its amendments have bestowed upon sharecroppers not only occupancy rights but several other pri- vileges including provisions against unlawful ejection from land, formation of the Board of conciliation in case of dispute, limitation on produce rent recoverable from under-raiyats, ban on imposition of all abwabs and so forth. The impressive account of legal rights and privileges allowed to the hataidars has merely been a mirage to them in the absence of their effective implementation. It has, however, done good to the Comnunists who could make this issue a plank for their political activities.

The stronghold of the struggle has been the north-western part of the district, particularly areas of the Basopattv, Benipatty, Bisfi, Harlakhi, Jayanagar, Khajouli, Ladanis and Madhwapur Community Development Blocks. The resistance of bataidars is more pronounced in about fifty villages of these Blocks, but its impact is also felt in nearly two hundred other villages. Since the beginning of the move- ment a multi-pronged attack has been launched by bataidars; to gain their rightful claims Initially, the bataidars were brought forward by the local leaders to register their claims over landlords' land which they claimed they had been cultivating continuously for more than twelve years. In doing so they took advantage of a provision re- cognised by law to acquire occupancy rights. The Kisan Sabha workers and Communist leaders have consistently been involved in this legal battle on behalf of bataidars which is evident from the number of 'claims' instituted before concerned officials (Table III).

AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION 195 Of 16,606 bataidari cases upto 1974-75 as many as 2351 were rejected by the Board, while claims were found valid in case of only 332. Documents in connection with these 'claims' give some fascin- ating information about the nature of the legal battle fought by the claimants. How individual claims are not made individually but in a group is revealed by a detailed study of some cases from the Basopatty area. In 1973-74, 1080 petitions were filed on behalf of bataidars but all of them were submitted on only fourteen different dates. For example in the months of April and October 1973 alone— 226 and 279 petitioners respectively had filed their claims. A similar trend was found in Harlakhi and Jayanagar Blocks where hundreds of applications were presented on a single day. Another significant aspect of these claims is the inclusion of the names of some persons as nominees of bataidars in thousands of such Boards. Raj Kumar Purbey, Tej Narayan Jha, both CPI members of the Bihar Legis- lative Assembly from the area, and Nityanand Jha, a local Kisan Sakha leader have almost monopolised these Boards as Bataidars 'nominee'. These claims have, however, been challenged by counter- claims made by landowners, Landlords spared by the Communists are now facing claims by their non-communist opponents but not so effectively. The Madhubani peasant struggle is centered thus, around the legal battle on batai lands heightening tension between share- croppers and landowners. Forcible harvesting, refusal to divide crops, forcible capture of batai lands, demonstrations before government officials, refusal to work on landlords' land and assault on farm labourers are some of the other forms of direct action. They have inevitably led to direct confrontation with the landowners resulting into serious cases of violence. Between 1967 and 1975 police recorded 803 cases of violent clashes involving agrarian disputes at Madhubani head- quarter alone. Reported cases at different police stations in the district indeed will be larger. An attempt was made to collect details of about 300 First Information Reports (FIR) to ascertain the nature of disputes and persons involved therein. In majority of these cases, CPI leaders and their supporters were named as trouble mak- ers. While launching the programme of forcible harvesting of crops the most common modus operandi was to raise popular slogans like Lal Jhanda Zindabad (Long-Live Red Flag) and CPI: Zindabad. Fire arms, lethal weapons and lathies were freely used by both sides. 196 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN

Between 1967 and 1975, 21 persons were killed in various clashes as reported by the District office of the CPI. For want of accurate and reliable information nothing can be said about the number of persons killed in landowners" side although its possibility could not be ruled out. The most violent clash, however, took place on 30 November 1972 in Selibeli under Basopatty Police Station in which seven persons including Santu Mahto, a member of the Bihar State Council of CPI were allegedly killed by the hired men of the village Mahantha. The Selibeli encounter has since become a landmark in the history of peasant resistance not only in Madhubani but in the whole of Bihar. Protests, however, have not always been violent. Peaceful demonstrations have also been organised before the govern- ment officials. Some 20,000 peasants, bataidars and agricultural labourers, for example, staged a massive demonstration on 17 Novem- ber 1971 before the Sub-divisional Officer of Madhubani demanding speedy formation of Board to deal with the pending bataidarl cases. Similar march-processions were taken out at the Block Headquarters demanding, among other things, immediate action under the Land Ceiling Act. Demonstrations by the workers and supporters of the CPI have been so frequent that they are now treated casually by both the administration and the general public. The degree of involvement of peasants and sharecroppers in the various forms of direct action can also be determined by the number of persons prosecuted under various sections of the Criminal Proce- dure Code. According to one assessment, till 1974, more than 10,000 persons were prosecuted and about 4,000 were undergoing trials for their participation in these action programmes.10 On 3 January 1972 alone about 4500 persons, involved in various cases, were presented before the concerned officials for mass-arrests, since individual pre- sence on different dates created problems for the party. The law and order problems created almost every year by the recurrent cases of violence compel the administration to impose prohibitory orders under the various sections of the Indian Penal Code specially during the harvesting season. The Central Reserve Police (CRP) is posted to maintain peace. Deputation of magistrates in disturbed areas with armed force and tear-gas squads has become a common feature in the district. The emergence of a new associa- tion representing landowners' interests brought further pressure on the AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION 197 magistracy. The Kisan Mazdoor Congress (KMC) formed under the patronage of some district level Congress leaders came into ex- istence in September 1972. A counter struggle was launched by the KMC to resist various moves of the Communists. Realising the seriousness of the mounting tension and its political nature, the then Bihar Minister for Revenue and Land Reforms, Lahtan Choudhary, initiated a dialogue with the major parties involved in agitations in the district. Thus a tripartite agreement known as 'Madhubani Agreement' was signed by the Congress (Ruling), the CPI and the Bihar Government on 9 September 1973. The meeting attended by twenty-seven political and peasant leaders and nine government officials recognised the need to solve the pro- blems of the sharecroppers and landless labourers. How far the decisions arrived at Madhubani were implemented remains to be properly assessed, but the Government's acceptance to settle this issue at the political level was obvious from this agreement. Several senior officers, through confidential reports and letters, had repeatedly requested the government to take up the matter with the local political leaders, as the problem was in their view beyond the con- trol of the law and order machinery. The matter attracted the attention of the then Prime Minister and a list of big landowners of Madhubani was sent by the PM's secretariat to the Government of Bihar for action under the Land Ceiling Act.11 Both the Central and State Governments thus showed concern over the happenings in Madhubani and directed the concerned officials to implement land reform measures on a priority basis. In this sense the Madhubani peasant struggle succeeded in pressurising the Government to take up the issue effectively. The sharecroppers have other measures of success to their credit. Landowners have accepted the authority of babaidars, albeit tacitly, and in some cases the) have openly surrendered before them. In village Loma Pahipura, for instance, about 250 acres of land are under the control of the sharecroppers even after the High Court verdict in favour of the landlord. Secondly, the success, with regard to 'homesteads'12, has been even more concrete. It is claimed that about 45 to 50 new tolas have come up on these lands in different parts of the district. Although no attempt was made to verify this claim in each case, some such settlements, numbering about ten, 198 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN were, however, seen by us during the field work. It is further claimed that more than one lakh parchas have been distributed among the 'privileged persons' with the efforts of the Communists in Madhubani district alone.13 Thirdly, the intensity of absenteeism has been reduced as absentee landlords, unable to resist the growing strength of the peasants, are selling their lands. But these lands are being usually bought not by the poor but by the middle peasants. Consequently, some sections of small and middle peasants are steadily flourishing in the changed situation giving rise to a new rural middle class in the agrarian sector. Some General Issues Having discussed the agrarian structure and nature of the sharecroppers' struggle in Madhubani, it would be appropriate at this stage to highlight some of the major issues underlying this struggle. Is it a simple struggle of the sharecroppers against rapacious landlords for immediate gains or the premonition of a bigger move- ment touching the life of the whole peasantry? Without going into hair- splitting polemics, an attempt will be made here to summarise some important features of this struggle which could offer a clue to its dynamics. A shared consciousness is not merely a pre-condition for the launching of a movement but a must for its sustenance tool. Its truth is noted especially in places with a traditional social set- ting as we have in rural India. The decisive element is class con- sciousness. It is a cementing force binding all divisive elements into a unity and cohesion. Judged from this point of view the share- croppers in the Madhubani region are yet to have intense awareness of the movement. Differences in the social and economic life of peasants interpose a barrier in the uniform growth of consciousness among the various sections of the peasantry. Under the umbrella of the dialectics of the CPI queer assortment of small and marginal peasants, sharecroppers and landless labourers has been effected in utter disregard of their conflicting interests. The bataidars in this region do not form an undifferentiated category. While some of them have their own land and also take other's land on sharecropping, a majority of them are landless and supplement their income by working as agricultural labourers. Another distinc- tion between various categories of bataidars could be made on the AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION 199 basis of the quantum of land leased in for cultivation. Even some of those who have substantial holding employ outside labour to complete the agricultural operations. Nevertheless, their complete investment with agricultural activities can not be denied. In this sense they are manual workers and different from those cultivators who own land but do not cultivate themselves. Thus the sharecrop- pers as a group rare highly differentiated in terms of the amount of land owned and the nature of control which they exercise over them. Moreover, the traditional social hierarchy composed of myriad castes is a fact to be reckoned with. The caste stratification still defines and determines the existential order of the Indian rural masses. Social and economic inequalities are thus per- ceived not as a matter of economic exploitation and social oppres- sion alone but also as a result of one's fate and social existence. As a consequence, a similar material condition of say, bataidars belonging to two different levels of caste hierarchy will not cause similar reaction against the oppression of landlords. Primordial loyalties among the sharecroppers in terms of the pre-existing kin and caste ties thus prevent them to have a distinct identity of their own. It is in this perspective that the conditions of bataidars should be viewed to get a proper sociological insight. Although these share- croppers are involved in the same type of production relations with their landowners, there are significant differences among them in terms of the economic, social, cultural and political characteristics. Hence even a long drawn struggle has not resulted into the growth of such a class solidarity among them which could strengthen their movement for rightful claims.

When we turn to the question of collective action undertaken by the agitators, we get a good account of the popularity of their protests. The number of persons killed and prosecuted and of the bataidari cases instituted in law courts, of mass-arrests, massive demonstrations, and FIRs lodged, of Satyagrah and march pro- cessions organised and of many other similar protests amply reveal the mass appeal of such action. The concern displayed by the politicians and administrators alike further reflects the strength these sharecroppers have gained in course of their struggle. 200 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN

At this point it would be wrong to conclude that the collective mobilisation of peasants in the region has been a potent and a perma- nent means to fight injustice and oppression. In normal times the pace of mobilisation for mass action under the leadership of committed party cadres has been remarkable. It has thus been 'mobilisation from above' rather than 'from below' resulting consequently, in shortlived upheavals which have languished as soon as a particular programme of action has been terminated. Sharecroppers come for- ward in substantial numbers whenever there is even a little chance of immediate gains. There is no shortage of volunteers when forcible harvesting of standing crops is attempted, but such enthusiasm is lacking, while courting arrests. Little or almost no resistance was put up by these sharecroppers during the national emergency in 1975-77 when they suffered terrible injustice at the hands of land- lords. This colossal indifference at a crucial hour in the history of the nation is a further proof of the lack of political consciousness to cope with all eventualities. The aspirations and expectations of the sharecroppers may now be taken up to highlight their goals and the end aimed at. What do Madhubani sharecroppers seek? How revolutionary are the aims of the struggle? The resistance in Madhubani has primarily been organised within the established legal framework and it has hardly attempted to break the semi-feudal system which not only perpetuates exploitation but facilitates social oppression as well. The ambivalence of peasant leaders is obvious from the gap between their professed goals and adopted strategies. It has been unsuccessful in combining various categories of peasants to attack the age-old agrarian structure. Action oriented-programmes, it seems, have been planned and executed chiefly in terms of the parochial and regional aims. The leaders were successful in bringing together a sizeable section of the rural poor by raising immediate local questions. The struggle gained or lost momentum as the pressure of genuine pea- sant grievances increased or decreased (Dhanagare, 1975:49). In this sense the sharecroppers' protest has achieved its immediate goals, a point which was touched upon earlier. But if the total transformation of the agrarian structure in favour of the peasants is a prime objective of peasant movements, the Madhubani struggle has fallen short of the expectation. Viewed from this angle it has not been more successful than the one launched by the bataidars AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION 201 of Bengal in the mid-forties to retain two-thirds share of the produce for themselves. Recognising this Dhanagare remarks: The nature of the tebhaga movement . . . leaves little doubt that on the whole the sharecroppers' resistance was weak and that on no occasion did they seem to have threatened the structure of authority or the system they were part of (1976: 371- 372). Mobilisation of peasants, it seems, has primarily been done to gain some electoral base for the Communist Party of India. It is thus not an 'independent class action' as described by the Marxists but as Shanin (1971:257) puts it, a 'guided political action in which the social group concerned is moved by an external uniting power elite'. As pointed out earlier, the leadership, working among peasants, has adopted a calculated strategy to win away marginal peasants, bataidars and landless labourers in its favour by raising purely local issues. The pressure on the Government for implementing land reforms measures through strikes, demonstrations and dharnas has helped to consolidate the political position of the Party. It has thus limited the struggle to agitation on various policies of the Govern- ment instead of launching effective direct action to break the system itself. Consequently, the struggle, launched as early as mid-forties, has till today failed either to 'usher in a system of self-cultivating tenancy' or to eliminate 'the remnants of semi-feudal structure'. Let us now evaluate the organisational dimension of the struggle. The three principal aspects of this dimension are self-education of peasants, programmes to exhibit its strength and political organ- isation to link it to the regional or national political and parliamentary processes. The weakest point of the peasant organisation under discussion has been at the level of self-education for the preservation of class interests. A close observation in the course of field work revealed that majority of the participants could hardly say anything about the policies, programmes or about the party-line of the struggle. Most of them were aware of only two things, first, they would get con- trol over the land they had been cultivating as bataidars, and, second, the struggle was being organised by the CPI. Although a good deal of clarity in respect of goals and ideology is not expected of an 202 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN ordinary participant of a peasant movement, atleast an acquaintance with the objectives of the movement is essential and should form part of his frame of consciousness for a persistent growth of a movement Some analysis of the quality of the leadership of the movement will be appropriate at this stage of our discussion. In the first place the leadership has basically a middle class bias, because most of the leaders come from upper and middle range castes owning some landed property. Some of them own land above the prescribed ceilings under the existing law of the Government of Bihar and are facing legal proceedings. Sharecroppers and poor peasants on the contrary, come from the lower strata and many of them are untouchables. The complex agrarian social structure restricts the growth of a unified organisation representing exclusively the class interests of the rural poor. The lowest in the agrarian hierarchy has always gone unrepre- sented among the leaders of the struggle. It has a direct bearing on the nature of the strategy adopted by the leadership. Secondly, the leaders have tended to exploit the primordial loyalties of individual recruits for their personal gains. This being the case, a break with the past has not always been possible and the organisation has mainly centred around some influential individuals without having a strong ideological attachment. Manipulations of these loyalties have further led to schisms within the organisation. While some rifts are in the nature of personal rivalries, others are based on caste and group differences. Although some intra-party conflicts, due to ideological differences, have also been observed, the organisation has mainly faced factional divisions. The erosion of organisational unity is a natural corollary of such internal schisms which go against the class interests of the sharecroppers. Thirdly, the organisational shortcoming is further evident from the lack of consistency in numerous programmes of direct action. It may be seen from the cases of attack on small farmers' land, while some of the big landowners have gone soot free. Both the leaders and bataidars find it profitable to err on safe side rather than to fight against those who have both physical and monetary resources to mobilise forces in their support. Such an approach alienates even genuine supporters of the peasants and a dangerous trend sets in. 14 Personal and family foes and political opponents of individual leaders face the wrath of the struggle though they could be allies of the movement. AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION 203

Finally, the division of labour into various categories of its leaders is not elaborate. It is claimed that the Kisan Sabha and the Khet Mazdaor Sangh (Agricultural Labourers' Union) have their branches in almost every Panchayat. But during our interviews with 475 poor peasants, sharecroppers and landless labourers of six 'CPI villages'15 only 19 could identify the local and front organisations as distinct from the CPI itself. It raises a significant question about the organisational dimension of a peasant movement. Should a move- ment be organised under the aegis of a national political party or under an exclusive and separate organisation consisting of various categories of peasants? The Kisan Sabha and Khet Mazdoor Sangh in Madhubani arc practically subservient to the legislative wing of the GPI and have never had an upper hand in the decision making process. This was one of the major political reasons as to why the sharecroppers in Madhubani could not sustain or turn their struggle into a full scale movement, despite strength and power. Our analysis amply demonstrates that this struggle is yet to take the shape of a full scale 'peasant movement'. A peasant movement cannot be linked to such changes as one meant or implied by such usages as 'reform' or 'development'. If peasants want to transform the quality of their relationship, they should not be satisfied merely with their reformative and developmental achieve- ments. Only radical changes in the total socio-economic system can fulfill the long cherished aims of the peasants. In the Third World they have adequate potential to do so provided they produce their own leadership with a clear ideology and goal.

GLOSSARY

AGRARIAN STRUCTURE AND PEASANT MOBILISATION 205

NOTES

1. The practice involves utilisation of the plough and bullocks of the fanners without payment as also taking forced and free labour. 2. See for details, Roy Choudhary [1964 : 448].

3. See Table 3, Government of Bihar, [1975].

4. A similar process existed in Bengal about which Ramakrishna Mukherjee [1957 : 40] writes : 'Loss of land, the primary) means of production in the agrarian economy, naturally precluded the possibility to the rural poor to remain as self-possessing, self-working and self-sufficient peasant} . . . Therefore, the landless or the semi-landless peasants were obliged to depend on agriculture as their source of livelihood, either as wage labourers or as sharecroppers!

5. Andre Beteille [1974] on the other hand, has argued that the type of work involved and other ecological conditions are main considerations to have agricultural work done by either sharecroppers or hired labourers.

6. For a detailed discussion on the socio -economic condition of bataidars in Madhubani, see Kama [1978}.

7. Taken from Kama [Ibid.]

8. The author is still exploring other details of the Swami's activities with the help of archives and other sources.

9. Interview with Bhogendra Jha, a front rank CPI leader and a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) from Madhubani area. New Delhi, April 9 and 11, 1976.

10. It was informed by Jha during the interview but its reliability has not, however, been checked.

11. Land Reforms Commissioner's letter No. 627/LR dated 11.7.75.

12. As defined in the Bihar Privileged Persons Homestead Tenancy Act, 1947.

13. Interview with Jha.

14. Even the leadership of the CPI has recognised this trend and in its re solution on agrarian situation the Bihar State Council cautioned its rank and file not to get involved in such activities.

15. See Table III for names of these villages.