JADUNANDAN SHARMA: A Peasant Leader in Bihar

Description

Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, a sanyasi turned kisan (peasant) leader in India, and Bihar in particular, was a prolific writer too, though many of his main writings were prepared while he was in jail (1940-42). His most trusted associate and a kisan sevak (an activist in the service of the peasants) in the 1930s, Jadunandan Sharma left few writings and speeches. Though he was a graduate of Banaras University, he was a C class prisoner at the Patna Camp Jail after he joined the Salt Satyagraha in 1930. However, his life in the Camp Jail made his contact with peasants and peasant leaders easier, and led him to join the kisan movements in the 1930s. He was well known as a leader of the Reora Satyagraha in 1938-39. This is a revised edition of the author’s interview with Pandit Jadunandan Sharma, Gaya, April 10-11, 1966.

The main part of the book is the author’s interview in Hindi with Jadunandan Sharma who had pride in his fruitful and productive days as a C class prisoner at the Patna Camp Jail after the Salt Satyagraha of 1930. Jail life provided him a rare chance to talk to the peasants and peasant leaders. Sharma’s elaborate preparation for the rural survey in Gaya district in 1933 secured the trust of Swami Sahajanand in his work as a kisan (peasant) leader. Jadunandan Sharma is well-known as a leader of the kisan satyagraha in a village Reora, Bihar in the late 1930s. The appeal of the peasant women to Jadunandan Sharam in Reora, his talk and exchange with Mrs. Sharma, a co-worker in Shahbajpur satyagraha and his response to the Magistrate Whittaker’s unexpected ‘radical’ proposal in jail will go down in history as the unforgettable scenes. The interview was held at Gaya on the hottest days in April 1966. It was the time when Jadunandan Sharma felt no need of the peasant movement against the government. However here he freely talks about the peasant movement in Bihar in the 1930s in his own words and perception cultivated by his experiences. He also reflects on his underground days in 1940-42, and claims that he already worked for ‘Quit India’ during these two years before the ‘Quit India’ movement started in August 1942. He says that he decided it on his own as a kisan.

Sho Kuwajima is Professor Emeritus of South Asian Studies, Osaka University of Foreign Studies. He studied at the Indian School of International Studies in 1962-66, and was Senior Fellow at the Indian Council of Social Science Research in 1988-90.