Agrarian Struggles Since Independence
Telangana Peasant Struggle:
The peasants in Telangana faced intense feudal-like oppression from jagirdars and Deshmukhs, some of whom controlled vast tracts of land, often thousands of acres.
The actual cultivators were burdened with high rents, escalating debts, and the exploitative vetti system, which forced them to provide free labour.
Between 1946 and 1948, the Communist Party of India took up these issues as the foundation for a peasant struggle against feudalism.
The movement sought to secure land redistribution, abolish forced levies to the government, and prevent the eviction of tenants under any pretext.
The Communists organized peasants into gram sabhas and formed guerrilla bands, or dalams, to attack Razakars camps and protect villages.
The struggle escalated into violence, especially with police retaliation against the Gram Raj Committees, which were created by the peasant groups to serve as defense squads and self-governance bodies.
The government responded swiftly to the movement’s demands. In 1949, the Jagirdari Abolition Regulation was implemented, followed by the Hyderabad Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act in 1950.
Over 600,000 tenants, covering more than a quarter of the cultivated area, were granted “protected” tenant status, which included the right to purchase land on favourable terms.
Land ceiling laws were also introduced in the mid-1950s, and it was found that land reforms were more effectively implemented due to the high political awareness of the peasants.
The Srikakulam Peasant Uprising
The Srikakulam peasant uprising took place between 1967 and 1970 in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, inspired by the Naxalbari movement.
The spark for the uprising came on October 31, 1967, when two communists, Korana and Manganna, were killed by landlords in Levidi Village while en route to the Girijan Samagam Conference.
In retaliation, the Girijans began seizing land, property, and food grains from the landlords.
As the tribals faced severe repression, the leadership organized the resistance into a more structured movement, forming peasant guerrilla squads to mount systematic opposition.
By 1969, the activities of the peasant squads grew more intense.
In response, the government deployed 12,000 CRPF personnel to suppress the uprising. Fierce clashes continued for six months, resulting in the deaths of 120 CRPF officers by January 1970. However, the uprising gradually lost momentum and came to a swift decline.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU)
Social discontent in India during the seventies was widespread, affecting even those who had gained some benefits from the development process. One example of this discontent was the agrarian struggles of the eighties, where even relatively better-off farmers protested against state policies.
In January 1988, about twenty thousand farmers gathered in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, to protest against a government decision to raise electricity rates. This was a well- organized and disciplined movement, with the farmers receiving food supplies from nearby villages throughout the protest.
These farmers were members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), an influential farmers’ organization from western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The BKU played a key role in the farmers’ movement of the eighties.
Farmers in Haryana, Punjab, and western Uttar Pradesh had benefited from the state’s “Green Revolution” policies in the late 1960s, with sugar and wheat emerging as major cash crops.
However, by the mid-eighties, the cash crop market was hit by a crisis, partly due to the liberalization of the Indian economy.
The BKU’s demands included higher government floor prices for sugarcane and wheat, the removal of restrictions on the interstate movement of agricultural produce, affordable electricity, loan waivers, and a pension system for farmers.
Other farmers’ organizations across India echoed similar
demands. In Maharashtra, the Shetkari Sanghatana declared the farmers’ movement as a battle between Bharat (the rural, agrarian sector) and India (the urban, industrial sector).
Characteristics of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU)
To pressurize the state into accepting its demands, the BKU organized a variety of activities, including rallies, demonstrations, sit-ins, and jail bharo (courting imprisonment) protests.
One distinctive feature of these mobilizations was the strategic use of caste affiliations among farmers. Most BKU members came from a single community, and the organization leveraged traditional caste panchayats to unite them over shared economic issues.
Despite lacking a formal structure, the BKU was able to sustain itself for a long time due to its reliance on clan networks among its members. Resources, funds, and activities were mobilized through these strong community ties.
Until the early nineties, the BKU remained independent of political parties, operating instead as a powerful pressure group, relying on its massive numbers. In collaboration with other farmers’ organizations across India, the BKU succeeded in having some of its economic demands accepted by the government.
In this way, the farmers’ movement became one of the most successful social movements of the 1980s, with the success largely attributed to the political bargaining power its members wielded.
Anti-Arrack Movement
While the BKU was mobilizing farmers in the north, a different kind of movement was taking root in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh. This was a spontaneous mobilization led by women demanding a ban on the sale of alcohol in their localities.
Rural women from remote villages in the state fought against alcoholism, alcohol mafias, and even the government during this time, giving rise to what became known as the anti-arrack movement.
The movement’s central demand was straightforward
— a prohibition on the sale of arrack. However, this
seemingly simple request highlighted deeper social, economic, and political issues affecting women’s lives in the region.
A close connection between crime and politics had developed around the arrack trade. The state government collected substantial revenue through taxes on arrack sales and was thus reluctant to impose a ban.
Local women’s groups took on these interconnected issues as part of their resistance to arrack. For the first time, they openly addressed the issue of domestic violence, offering a platform for discussion of these private matters. As a result, the anti-arrack movement also became an integral part of the broader women’s movement.