Question

what was the reason behind the estalishing awadh kishan sabha

Answer 1

In Awadh, peasants were led by Baba Ramchandra – a sanyasi whohad earlier been to Fiji as an indentured labourer. The movementhere was against talukdars and landlords who demanded frompeasants exorbitantly high rents and a variety of other cesses. Peasantshad to do begar and work at landlords’ farms without any payment.As tenants they had no security of tenure, being regularly evicted sothat they could acquire no right over the leased land. The peasantmovement demanded reduction of revenue, abolition of begar, andsocial boycott of oppressive landlords. In many places nai – dhobibandhs were organised by panchayats to deprive landlords of theservices of even barbers and washermen. In June 1920, JawaharlalNehru began going around the villages in Awadh, talking to thevillagers, and trying to understand their grievances. By October, theOudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, BabaRamchandra and a few others. Within a month, over 300 brancheshad been set up in the villages around the region. So when the Non-Cooperation Movement began the following year, the effort of theCongress was to integrate the Awadh peasant struggle into the widerstruggle. The peasant movement, however, developed in forms thatthe Congress leadership was unhappy with. As the movement spreadin 1921, the houses of talukdars and merchants were attacked,bazaars were looted, and grain hoards were taken over. In manyplaces local leaders told peasants that Gandhiji had declared thatno taxes were to be paid and land was to be redistributed amongthe poor. The name of the Mahatma was being invoked to sanctionall action and aspirations.