Peasant Movements 1857–1947

The impoverishment of the Indian peasantry was not accidental — it was the direct structural outcome of colonial transformation of the agrarian economy:

• Colonial economic policies restructured land relations in favour of extraction.
• Ruin of handicrafts drove artisans back to land, creating severe overcrowding in agriculture.
• New land revenue systems (Permanent Settlement, Ryotwari, Mahalwari) maximised extraction at the cost of cultivator security.
• Colonial administrative and judicial system systematically favoured zamindars and moneylenders over peasants.

The Triple Burden

In zamindari areas: high rents, illegal levies, arbitrary evictions, and unpaid labour (begar). In Ryotwari areas: the colonial government itself levied heavy land revenue directly on cultivators.

Across both systems, the overburdened farmer was driven to the moneylender — who extracted usurious interest rates, forced mortgage of land and cattle, and often seized mortgaged assets. Over time, actual cultivators were reduced to tenants-at-will, sharecroppers, and landless labourers.

Peasant resistance was the inevitable response. When legal and institutional channels failed, peasants occasionally turned to social banditry and crime as survival strategies.

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1. Indigo Revolt, 1859–60 (Bengal)

Context: European indigo planters in Bengal forced peasants to cultivate indigo — a less paying crop — instead of rice. They coerced peasants through:

• Fraudulent advance contracts used as legal weapons against cultivators.
• Kidnappings, illegal confinement, flogging, attacks on women and children.
• Seizure of cattle, burning of houses, destruction of crops.

Course of the Revolt:

• Peasant anger exploded in 1859, led by Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas of Nadia district.
• Peasants collectively refused to grow indigo under duress and organised counter-forces against planters and their lathiyals (armed retainers).
• When planters responded with evictions and enhanced rents, ryots launched a rent strike — refusing enhanced rents and physically resisting evictions.
• Peasants learned to use legal machinery — initiating court cases, collecting funds for litigation.

Role of Intelligentsia: The Bengali intelligentsia was crucial — newspaper campaigns, mass meetings, legal support, and memoranda on peasants' grievances.

Resolution: The Government appointed an Indigo Commission. In November 1860, a government notification declared that ryots could not be compelled to grow indigo. By end of 1860, indigo cultivation was virtually wiped out from Bengal as planters shut down factories.

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2. Pabna Agrarian Leagues (1870s–1880s, Eastern Bengal)

Context: Zamindars in Eastern Bengal used two principal weapons against tenants:

• Enhanced rents beyond legal limits.
• Preventing tenants from acquiring occupancy rights under Act X of 1859.
• Forcible evictions, seizure of cattle and crops, and costly litigation designed to wear down poor peasants.

Course:

• Peasants of Yusufshahi Pargana in Pabna district formed an agrarian league to resist zamindar demands.
• The league organised a rent strike — refusing enhanced rents, challenging zamindars in courts, and collecting funds for legal battles.
• The struggle spread throughout Pabna and other districts of East Bengal.
• Primary mode of struggle: Legal resistance — very little violence.

Resolution: Most cases resolved through official persuasion and zamindar fears by mid-1880s. Many peasants acquired occupancy rights. Government promised legislative protection, leading to the Bengal Tenancy Act, 1885.

Intelligentsia Support: Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, R.C. Dutt, and the Indian Association under Surendranath Banerjea.

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3. Deccan Riots, 1875 (Western India)

Context: Ryots of the Deccan suffered under the Ryotwari system with heavy taxation. The exploiters were primarily outsider moneylenders — Marwaris and Gujaratis. Conditions were severely aggravated by:

• Cotton price crash after the end of the American Civil War (1864) — cotton cultivators lost income.
• Government decision to raise land revenue by 50% in 1867.
• A succession of bad harvests.

Course:

• 1874: Growing tension led to a social boycott movement — ryots refused to buy from moneylenders' shops, no peasant would cultivate their fields, and even barbers, washermen and shoemakers refused their services.
• Spread to villages of Poona, Ahmednagar, Sholapur, and Satara.
• Social boycott transformed into agrarian riots — systematic attacks on moneylenders' houses and shops; debt bonds and deeds seized and publicly burnt.

Resolution: Government repressed the movement. As a conciliatory measure, the Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act, 1879 was passed.

Intelligentsia Support: Modern nationalist intelligentsia of Maharashtra supported the peasants' cause.

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Characteristics

• Peasants emerged as the main force — fighting directly for their own demands.
• Demands centred almost wholly on economic issues.
• Movements directed against immediate enemies — foreign planters, indigenous zamindars, and moneylenders.
• Struggles aimed at specific, limited objectives and redressal of particular grievances.
• Colonialism was NOT the target — these were not anti-colonial movements per se.
• No objective to end the system of subordination itself.
• Limited territorial reach.
• No continuity of struggle or long-term organisation.
• Peasants developed strong awareness of legal rights — used courts alongside direct action.

Weaknesses

• Lack of understanding of colonialism as the root cause of agrarian distress.
• No new ideology or comprehensive social, economic, and political programme.
• Militancy existed within the framework of the old societal order — no positive vision of an alternative society.

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4. Kisan Sabha Movement (UP, 1918–21)

Context: After 1857, the Awadh taluqdars had recovered their lands, strengthening feudal hold over agrarian society. Peasants faced:

• High rents, summary evictions (bedakhali), illegal levies, and nazrana (renewal fees).
• WWI had hiked food prices, worsening conditions of UP peasants.

Organisation:

• Kisan sabhas organised mainly through Home Rule activists.
• United Provinces Kisan Sabha set up in February 1918 by Gauri Shankar Mishra and Indra Narayan Dwivedi, with support from Madan Mohan Malaviya.
• By June 1919: 450 branches.
• Key leaders: Jhinguri Singh, Durgapal Singh, Baba Ramchandra.
• June 1920: Baba Ramchandra urged Jawaharlal Nehru to visit villages — Nehru developed close contacts with villagers during these visits.

Awadh Kisan Sabha (October 1920): Formed due to differences in nationalist ranks. Demanded:

• Refusal to till bedakhali land.
• No hari and begar (unpaid labour).
• Social boycott of those not complying.
• Disputes resolved through panchayats.

Escalation (January 1921): Activity shifted from mass meetings to looting of bazaars, houses, granaries and clashes with police in Rai Bareilly, Faizabad, and Sultanpur.

Decline: Government repression + passage of the Awadh Rent (Amendment) Act.

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5. Eka Movement (UP, 1921–22)

Location: Northern UP — Hardoi, Bahraich, Sitapur districts.

Issues:

• Rents 50% higher than recorded rates.
• Oppression of thikadars (revenue contractors).
• Practice of share-rents.

Character: Meetings involved a symbolic religious ritual — peasants collectively vowed to:

• Pay only the recorded rent, but on time.
• Not leave when evicted.
• Refuse forced labour.
• Give no help to criminals.
• Abide by panchayat decisions.

Leadership: Grassroots leaders — Madari Pasi and other low-caste leaders and small zamindars.

End: Severe repression by authorities brought the movement to an end by March 1922.

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6. Mappila Revolt (Malabar, 1921)

Context: The Mappilas were Muslim tenant cultivators in Malabar — most landlords (jenmies) were Hindus. Grievances:

• Lack of security of tenure, high rents, renewal fees, oppressive exactions.
• The local Congress body's demand for tenant-landlord regulation legislation had raised expectations.

Merger with Khilafat: The Mappila movement merged with the Khilafat-Non-Cooperation Movement. Leaders like Gandhi, Shaukat Ali, and Maulana Azad addressed Mappila meetings.

Turning Point — August 1921: Arrest of respected Mappila priest leader Ali Musaliar sparked large-scale riots.

• Initial targets: Symbols of British authority (courts, police stations, treasuries, offices) and unpopular Hindu landlords.
• After British declared martial law: Character of rebellion changed — Hindus were perceived as aiding authorities.
• The movement acquired communal overtones — an anti-government and anti-landlord movement transformed into a communal conflict.
• Communalisation isolated Mappilas from the broader Khilafat-Non-Cooperation Movement.
• By December 1921: All resistance ended.

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7. Bardoli Satyagraha (1928, Surat District, Gujarat)

Context: Bardoli taluqa (Surat district) had seen intense politicisation under Gandhian influence. In January 1926, authorities announced a 30% increase in land revenue — found unjustified by a Bardoli Inquiry Committee.

Leadership: Vallabhbhai Patel called in February 1926 to lead. The women of Bardoli gave him the title 'Sardar'.

Organisation:

• Peasants resolved to refuse payment of revised assessment until an independent tribunal was appointed or current amount accepted as full payment.
• Patel set up 13 chhavanis (workers' camps) across the taluqa.
• Bardoli Satyagraha Patrika launched to mobilise public opinion.
• An intelligence wing monitored compliance with movement resolutions.
• Social boycott of those opposing the movement.
• Special emphasis on mobilisation of women.
• K.M. Munshi and Lalji Naranji resigned from the Bombay Legislative Council in support.

Resolution: By August 1928, massive tension built up; prospect of a railway strike in Bombay forced government to seek graceful withdrawal. A committee found the revenue hike unjustified and recommended only a 6.03% rise — effectively a government defeat.

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8. All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), 1936

• Founded at Lucknow in April 1936.
• President: Swami Sahjanand Saraswati; General Secretary: N.G. Ranga.
• A kisan manifesto was issued; a periodical launched under Indulal Yagnik.
• AIKS and Congress held joint sessions at Faizpur (1936).
• Congress manifesto for 1937 provincial elections (especially agrarian policy) was strongly influenced by the AIKS agenda.

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9. Peasant Activity Under Congress Ministries (1937–39)

The period 1937–39 was the high watermark of peasant movements under Congress provincial rule.

Kerala (Malabar): Congress Socialist Party activists organised Karshak Sanghams (peasant organisations). Key method: jaths (peasant marching groups) to landlords. Significant 1938 campaign for amendment of Malabar Tenancy Act, 1929.

Andhra: N.G. Ranga set up the India Peasants' Institute (1933). Congress Socialists organised peasants post-1936. Summer schools of economics/politics addressed by P.C. Joshi, Ajoy Ghosh.

Bihar: Led by Sahjanand Saraswati, Karyanand Sharma, Rahul Sankritayan. 1935 Provincial Kisan Conference adopted anti-zamindari slogan. Rift with Congress over bakasht land issue. Movement died by August 1939.

Punjab: Punjab Kisan Committee (1937) gave new direction. Targets: landlords of western Punjab dominating the Unionist Ministry. Issues: resettlement of land revenue in Amritsar/Lahore; increase in water rates in canal colonies of Multan and Montgomery where feudal levies were demanded. Peasants went on strike and won concessions. Active areas: Jullundur, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Lyallpur, Shekhupura. Muslim tenants of west Punjab and Hindu peasants of southeastern Punjab remained largely unaffected.

Other regions: Bengal (Burdwan and 24 Parganas), Assam (Surma Valley), Orissa, Central Provinces, and NWFP also saw peasant activity.

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10. Tebhaga Movement (Bengal, 1946–47)

Background: In September 1946, the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha called for implementation of Flood Commission recommendations — tebhaga (two-thirds' share) for bargardars (sharecroppers, also called bagchasi or adhyar), instead of the existing one-half share. Bargardars worked on lands rented from jotedars.

Organisation: Communist cadres and urban student militias went to the countryside. Central slogan: 'nij khamare dhan tolo' — sharecroppers taking paddy to their own threshing floor, not the jotedar's.

Storm centre: North Bengal, principally among Rajbanshis (low caste of tribal origin); Muslims also participated in large numbers.

Dissipation: The movement collapsed due to:

• League ministry's Bargardari Bill (a legislative sop).
• Intensified repression.
• Hindu Mahasabha's agitation for a separate Bengal.
• Renewed Calcutta communal riots — ending urban solidarity.

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11. Telangana Movement (1946–51)

Context: The biggest peasant guerrilla war in modern Indian history — affecting 3,000 villages and 3 million people in the princely state of Hyderabad under the Asajahi Nizams.

Structural conditions:

• Religious-linguistic domination by a small Urdu-speaking Muslim elite over predominantly Hindu-Telugu, Marathi, and Kannada-speaking populations.
• Total absence of political and civil liberties.
• Brutal exploitation by deshmukhs, jagirdars, and doras (landlords) through forced labour (vethi) and illegal exactions.

Background: During WWII, communist-led guerrillas had built a strong base in Telangana villages through the Andhra Mahasabha, fighting wartime exactions, rationing abuse, excessive rents, and vethi.

Spark (July 1946): A deshmukh's thug murdered a village militant in Jangaon taluq of Nalgonda. The uprising spread rapidly to Warrangal and Khammam.

Methods: Village sanghams organised; peasants fought with lathis, stone slings, and chilli powder against brutal repression.

Peak intensity: August 1947 – September 1948 — peasants routed the Razakars (Nizam's stormtroopers).

End: Once Indian security forces took over Hyderabad (after police action, 1948), the movement fizzled out.

Achievements:

• Vethi (forced labour) disappeared in guerrilla-controlled villages.
• Agricultural wages raised.
• Illegally seized lands restored.
• Ceilings fixed and land redistributed.
• Irrigation improved; cholera fought.
• Women's conditions improved.
• Autocratic-feudal regime of India's biggest princely state was shaken — clearing the path for formation of Andhra Pradesh on linguistic lines.

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• Created the atmosphere for post-independence agrarian reforms — especially abolition of zamindari.
• Eroded the power of the landed class, contributing to transformation of agrarian structure.
• Movements were grounded in the ideology of nationalism by the 20th century.
• Despite regional diversity, movements showed similar patterns in diverse areas.

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• GS Paper I — Modern History: Peasant movements are essential to understanding the social base of Indian nationalism and the agrarian dimensions of anti-colonial resistance.
• Nationalism and Colonialism: The evolution from purely economic resistance (19th century) to integration with the national movement (20th century) illustrates how class struggle and anti-colonial nationalism intersected.
• Social Change: Peasant movements challenged not just economic extraction but the very social legitimacy of landlordism and moneylender power — transforming agrarian consciousness.
• Continuity vs. Change: Colonial-era peasant movements directly shaped post-independence agrarian legislation (zamindari abolition, tenancy reforms, land ceiling acts) — a strong line of continuity.
• Role of Intelligentsia: The consistent support of the nationalist intelligentsia (from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in Pabna to Nehru in Awadh) illustrates the cross-class alliances that made Indian nationalism distinctive.
• Women in Movements: Bardoli Satyagraha's special mobilisation of women (who gave Patel the title 'Sardar') and the Tebhaga movement both demonstrate the gendered dimensions of agrarian resistance.
• Interlinking: Peasant Movements ↔ Land Revenue Systems ↔ Economic Impact of British Rule ↔ National Movement Phases ↔ Champaran/Kheda Satyagrahas ↔ Post-Independence Land Reforms

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1. Leaders of Indigo Revolt: Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas of Nadia district — NOT the same as leaders of the Indigo rebellion in the 1917 Champaran context (Gandhi). The 1859–60 revolt is DISTINCT from Champaran Satyagraha (1917).

2. Pabna Agrarian Leagues = eastern Bengal, NOT Deccan: The Pabna movement (1870s–80s) was in eastern Bengal; the Deccan Riots (1875) were in western India (Ryotwari area). Both were in the 1870s but are geographically and structurally very different.

3. Deccan Riots (1875) — moneylenders, NOT zamindars: In Deccan, the target was the outsider moneylender (Marwaris and Gujaratis), not zamindars — because the Deccan was a Ryotwari area where zamindars didn't have the same role as in Bengal.

4. Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act = 1879, NOT 1875: The riots were in 1875; the legislation came in 1879. Do not confuse the year of the movement with the year of the legislation.

5. United Provinces Kisan Sabha (Feb 1918) ≠ Awadh Kisan Sabha (Oct 1920): Two distinct organisations in the same region at different times. The UP Kisan Sabha was first; the Awadh Kisan Sabha emerged later due to differences in nationalist ranks.

6. 'Sardar' title given to Patel by women of Bardoli — not by the Congress Working Committee, not by Gandhi. This is a frequently tested fact.

7. Eka Movement leadership = Madari Pasi (a low-caste leader) — not a Congress leader or an urban intellectual. The movement had grassroots, low-caste leadership with strong religious-symbolic rituals.

8. Mappila Revolt — initially anti-government AND anti-landlord, then became communal: The communal character was NOT original — it developed AFTER British martial law and repression when Hindus were perceived as siding with authorities. UPSC options often present the communal character as the movement's original intent — this is WRONG.

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• Indigo Revolt (1859–60): Led by Digambar Biswas and Bishnu Biswas (Nadia district); government notification Nov 1860 — ryots cannot be compelled to grow indigo.
• Pabna Agrarian Leagues (1870s–80s): Yusufshahi Pargana, Pabna; rent strike + legal resistance; Bengal Tenancy Act 1885.
• Deccan Riots (1875): Social boycott → agrarian riots; debt bonds burnt; Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act 1879.
• Post-1857 characteristics: economic demands, limited territorial reach, legal awareness, no anti-colonial ideology, no alternative social vision.
• UP Kisan Sabha: Feb 1918; Gauri Shankar Mishra and Indra Narayan Dwivedi; Malaviya supported; 450 branches by June 1919.
• Awadh Kisan Sabha: Oct 1920; Baba Ramchandra; Nehru visits (June 1920); escalated to looting (Jan 1921).
• Eka Movement: End-1921; Hardoi, Bahraich, Sitapur; Madari Pasi; religious vow ritual; ended March 1922.
• Mappila Revolt: Muslim tenants vs Hindu jenmies; merged with Khilafat; Ali Musaliar arrested (Aug 1921); communal turn; ended Dec 1921.
• Bardoli Satyagraha: 1928; Vallabhbhai Patel; 'Sardar' title; 13 chhavanis; 30% hike settled at 6.03%.
• AIKS: Founded Lucknow, April 1936; Sahjanand Saraswati (president); N.G. Ranga (general secretary); Faizpur session 1936.
• Tebhaga Movement: Sept 1946; Bengal; two-thirds share for bargardars; 'nij khamare dhan tolo'; north Bengal/Rajbanshis; collapsed due to Bargardari Bill + repression + communal riots.
• Telangana Movement: July 1946–Sept 1948 (peak); 3,000 villages, 3 million people; vethi abolished; Razakars routed; ended after Indian police action on Hyderabad; led to formation of Andhra Pradesh.