Awadh Kisan Sabha and Peasant Mobilisation

The Awadh Kisan Sabha emerged in October 1920 as a pivotal peasant organization in the United Provinces (modern-day Uttar Pradesh) to unite cultivators against feudal exploitation by Taluqdars and local landlords. Established in Pratapgarh district under the leadership of Baba Ramchandra, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Gauri Shankar Mishra, the Sabha transformed localized rural discontent into an organized mass movement. The peasant mobilization in Awadh bridged the gap between agrarian struggles and the broader national movement, coinciding with the launch of the Non-Cooperation Movement by the Indian National Congress.

Feudal Structure and Agrarian Grievances in Awadh

The post-1857 political settlement in Awadh restored extensive landownership rights to Taluqdars, creating a harsh agrarian structure that left tenants vulnerable to arbitrary evictions and heavy financial levies.

Key Causes of Peasant Unrest

• Bedakhli (Arbitrary Evictions): Taluqdars routinely evicted tenant farmers from landholdings to demand high renewal fees (Nazrana) for fresh leases.
• Nazrana and Abwabs: Landlords extracted heavy illegal cesses (Abwabs) and upfront cash premiums (Nazrana) alongside regular land rents.
• Begar (Forced Unpaid Labor): Peasants were compelled to perform unpaid physical labor on landlords’ private farms and estates.
• Price Rise and Post-War Distress: World War I triggered hyperinflation, raising the costs of basic commodities and agricultural inputs while land revenue demands remained high.
• Lack of Legal Rights: Most cultivators functioned as tenants-at-will without occupancy rights or legislative protection against sudden rent enhancements.

Genesis and Formation of the Awadh Kisan Sabha

Early peasant mobilization in the United Provinces began with the UP Kisan Sabha, but internal strategic differences led to the creation of a more action-oriented organization.

Methods of Peasant Mobilization

The Awadh Kisan Sabha utilized cultural idioms and grassroots social networks to build agrarian solidarity across Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Sultanpur, and Faizabad districts.

Role of Baba Ramchandra

• Cultural Integration: Baba Ramchandra used recitations of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas to assemble peasants and instill political consciousness.
• Slogan of Unity: Popularized the slogan “Sita Ram” as a universal greeting among peasants to break caste barriers and foster rural solidarity.
• Mass Rallies: Organized massive peasant marches, including a march of over 10,000 peasants from Pratapgarh to Ayodhya in June 1920 to draw public attention to tenant distress.

Oath of the Kisan Sabha

Peasants joining the Awadh Kisan Sabha took a collective oath binding them to specific rules of non-cooperation:

• Refusal to cultivate lands from which fellow tenants had been arbitrarily evicted (Bedakhli land).
• Refusal to perform unpaid forced labor (Begar) for landlords or colonial officers.
• Refusal to pay illegal cesses (Abwabs) and Nazrana above recorded rents.
• Resolution of internal disputes through local village panchayats rather than colonial courts.

Escalation, Violence, and Government Suppression

By late 1920 and early 1921, the movement expanded rapidly, leading to agrarian riots across several districts in Awadh.

Outbreak of Agrarian Riots (January 1921)

• Peasants attacked and looted the estates, grain stores, and markets (bazaars) of prominent Taluqdars in Rae Bareli, Faizabad, and Sultanpur.
• Major violent clashes occurred at Fursatganj and Munshiganj in Rae Bareli district, where colonial police fired upon peasant gatherings, causing multiple casualties.
• The colonial administration arrested Baba Ramchandra in February 1921 to suppress the growing leadership network.

Division within Leadership

• The Indian National Congress leadership under Mahatma Gandhi disapproved of the violent outbursts and property destruction, urging peasants to remain non-violent and pay legal rents.
• The divergence between Congress’s national strategy and local radical peasant actions caused the movement to lose centralized momentum by mid-1921.

Legislative Outcome: Oudh Rent (Amendment) Act, 1921

To prevent complete rural collapse and calm peasant anger, the British administration introduced legislative reforms.

• Tenant Protection: The government passed the Oudh Rent (Amendment) Act in 1921.
• Fixity of Tenure: The Act extended statutory tenancy protection to non-occupancy tenants for a period of seven years.
• Limitation on Enhancements: Restricted landlords’ power to arbitrarily increase rents within the statutory period.
• Limitations of the Act: The law failed to abolish Nazrana completely, as landlords found legal loopholes to continue extracting informal cash fees.

Facts in Bullets

• Baba Ramchandra was originally named Sridhar Balwant Jodhka, a Maharashtra-born Brahmin who worked as an indentured laborer in Fiji before moving to Awadh in 1916.
• Within one month of its formation on October 17, 1920, the Awadh Kisan Sabha established over 330 branch offices across rural districts.
• Jawaharlal Nehru visited Awadh villages in June 1920, an experience he described in his autobiography as crucial to understanding rural Indian poverty.
• Mata Badal Pasi played a central role in mobilizing lower-caste agricultural laborers and landless tenants in Pratapgarh.
• The Munshiganj firing in Rae Bareli on January 7, 1921, was a major flashpoint where police fired on a crowd gathered to demand the release of arrested peasant leaders.
• The Eka Movement (Unity Movement), led by Madari Pasi in late 1921 across Hardoi, Bahraich, and Sitapur, emerged directly out of the base prepared by the Awadh Kisan Sabha.