Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was born in
Deva Village near Dullahpur, Ghazipur district in eastern Uttar Pradesh Provinces in 1889 to a
Bhumihar family. He was the last of six sons and was then called Naurang Rai. His mother died in his childhood, and he was raised by his aunt. The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar under the leadership of Saraswati, who formed the
Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) in 1929, 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. All these radical developments on the peasant front culminated in the formation of the
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) at the
Lucknow session of the
Indian National Congress in April 1936 with Saraswati elected as its first President and it involved prominent leaders such as
N. G. Ranga and
E. M. S. Namboodiripad. The Kisan Manifesto, which was released in August 1936, demanded abolition of the zamindari system and cancellation of rural debts. In October 1937, the AIKS adopted the red flag as its banner. Soon, its leaders became increasingly distant with Congress, and repeatedly came in confrontation with Congress governments in Bihar and United Province. Saraswati organised the Bakasht Movement in Bihar in 1937–1938. "Bakasht" means self-cultivated. The movement was against the eviction of tenants from Bakasht lands by
zamindars and led to the passing of the Bihar Tenancy Act and the Bakasht Land Tax. He also led the successful struggle in the Dalmia Sugar Mill at
Bihta, where peasant-worker unity was the most important characteristic. On hearing of Saraswati's arrest during the
Quit India Movement,
Subhash Chandra Bose and
All India Forward Bloc decided to observe 28 April as
All-India Swami Sahajanand Day in protest of his incarceration by the
British Raj. Saraswati died on 26 June 1950. Subhash Chandra Bose, leader of the Forward Bloc, said: Three reformist leaders, namely, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda, and Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, each in his own way, played a modernising role in our socio-cultural tradition. Both
Dayananda and
Vivekananda established their own socio-religious sects. But they had shied away from direct involvement with the political processes of the country, though they had become a major source of inspiration for Indian nationalism. On the other hand, Sahajanand did not found any religious sect. He engaged in social work for a while. Soon, he got directly involved in the national movement and even spent a number of years behind bars. Besides, he was not only instrumental in founding the organised peasant movement in India but also later assumed the role of its putative progenitor. ==Publications==