All India Kisan Sabha

 

·       All India Kisan Sabha also known as the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha, was the name of the peasant’s front of the Communist Party of India, an important peasant movement.

·       It was formed by Sahajanand Saraswati in 1936 at Lucknow.

·       First conference held at Lucknow, under the Presidency of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati and the General Secretary was N.G.Ranga

Background

·       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.

·       Gradually the peasant movement intensified and spread across the rest of India.

·       The formation of Congress Socialist Party (CSP) in 1934 helped the Communists to work together with the INC, however temporarily, then in April 1935, noted peasant leaders N. G. Ranga and E. M. S. Namboodiripad, then secretary and joint secretary respectively of South Indian Federation of Peasants and Agricultural Labour, suggested the formation of an all-India farmers body.

·       The Kisan Manifesto released in August 1936, demanded the abolition of the zamindari system and cancellation of rural debts. 

Objectives of All India Kisan Sabha

·       To abolish the Zamindari system, and to distribute the land free of cost to agricultural and other rural labourers.

·       To reduce land revenue.

·       To improve the standard of living of rural masses and to develop agriculture and industry.

·       To end exploitation meted out to the agricultural and other rural labourers.

Disagreement between AIKS and INC:

·       A good number of the INC leaders were Zamindars themselves, while the peasants and workers came from another class. Thus this class clash within the INC was a hurdle, in implementing all the schemes that were visualized by Gandhi, Nehru and others.

·       The INC failed to meet all the promises they had claimed to fulfil to the peasants. The peasants thus became disillusioned with the INC government. Thus, the All India Kisan Sabha felt betrayed by the INC and this is why, when in 1942, Mahatma Gandhi gave a call for the Quit India Movement, the peasant leaders such as Swami Sahajanand Saraswati appealed to the peasants not to support Gandhi or the INC.

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