Tebhaga Movement in Bengal

The Tebhaga Movement was a major peasant agitation that erupted in Bengal between 1946 and 1947, demanding a fundamental restructuring of sharecropping terms. Spearheaded by the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha, the regional arm of the All India Kisan Sabha, the movement targeted the exploitative Jotedar system that dominated rural Bengal under the Permanent Settlement. Sharecroppers, known as Bargadars or Adhiars, revolted to secure two-thirds (Tebhaga) of the harvested crop for themselves instead of the traditional half share demanded by non-cultivating landlords. The agitation swept across northern and coastal Bengal, marking one of the largest mobilized agrarian struggles on the eve of Indian Independence and the Partition of Bengal.

Background and Agrarian Structure

The Jotedar-Bargadar Relationship

Rural Bengal’s agrarian hierarchy was defined by a complex tier of intermediaries created under the Permanent Settlement of 1793.

• Jotedars were wealthy landholders who held large tracts of agricultural land, often leasing it out rather than cultivating it directly.
• Bargadars (also known as Adhiars) were landless or land-poor peasants who cultivated the Jotedars’ land using their own bullocks, plows, and seeds.
• Under the traditional Adhiari system, the harvest was split equally (50-50) between the Jotedar and the Bargadar.
• Bargadars bore all input costs, held no legal occupancy rights, and faced constant threats of eviction at the end of each agricultural season.

Recommendations of the Floud Commission

In 1938, the colonial administration appointed the Land Revenue Commission of Bengal, chaired by Sir Francis Floud, to investigate the province’s agrarian distress.

• The Floud Commission submitted its report in 1940, explicitly criticizing the Adhiari system as economically inefficient and exploitative.
• The commission recommended granting Bargadars two-thirds of the produce if they provided inputs, leaving one-third for the landholder.
• It advocated converting Bargadars into direct tenants under the state with permanent occupancy rights.
• World War II and the Bengal Famine of 1943 delayed any official implementation of these recommendations, deepening rural poverty and landlord exploitation.

Key Demands and Mobilization

Core Demands of the Peasants

In September 1946, the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha launched the Tebhaga struggle based on the Floud Commission’s findings.

• Tebhaga: Allocation of two-thirds of the harvested crop to the Bargadar and one-third to the Jotedar.
• Shift of Thrashing Yards: Storing and thrashing the harvested paddy at the Bargadar’s own yard (Khamar) instead of the Jotedar’s premises, preventing forced deductions.
• Elimination of Illegal Abwabs: Total cessation of extractions, illegal interest rates (Karja), and unrecorded fees collected by Jotedars.
• Tenant Rights: Written receipts (Pattas) acknowledging the Bargadar’s cultivation rights to prevent arbitrary evictions.

Extent and Key Centers

The agitation spread rapidly across 19 districts of undivided Bengal, mobilizing over five million peasants.

• Dinajpur and Rangpur emerged as the primary strongholds of the movement.
• Other major affected districts included Jalpaiguri, Malda, Mymensingh, Midnapore, 24 Parganas, Jessore, and Khulna.
• Slogans such as “Nij Khamaane Dhan Tolo” (Store grain in your own yard) and “Tebhaga Chai” (We want two-thirds) galvanized rural communities.

Course, Leadership, and Social Base

Leadership and Grassroots Mobilization

The movement brought together communist activists, regional peasant leaders, and local indigenous organizers.

• Prominent leaders included Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal, Abani Lahiri, Sunil Sen, Kansari Halder, and Moni Singh.
• Bhabani Sen served as a key ideological strategist through the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha.
• Tribal leaders like Hajrah Begum and indigenous organizers mobilized Rajbanshi, Santhal, and Oraon agricultural communities.

Participation of Women (Nari Bahini)

Women from peasant and tribal households played an essential frontline role in sustaining the agitation.

• Women organized resistance units called Nari Bahini to guard villages and warn against police raids.
• Leaders like Bimala Majumdar, Ila Mitra (in the Nachole region of Malda/Rajshahi), and Rani Mitra Dasgupta organized female sharecroppers.
• Female volunteers used traditional household items like broomsticks, sickles, and pestles to fight off police units and Jotedar henchmen.

Colonial Suppression and Legislative Impact

State Repression

The Muslim League ministry in Bengal, led by H. S. Suhrawardy, initially introduced the Bengal Bargadars Bill in January 1947 to concede peasant demands. However, intense pressure from landed elites caused the government to withdraw the bill and launch a crackdown.

• The police enacted heavy measures, placing major districts under emergency regulations.
• In February 1947, police fired on a peaceful gathering of peasants at Khanpur in Dinajpur district, killing 20 cultivators.
• In Jalpaiguri and Midnapore, armed encounters between police squads and Bargadars led to mass arrests and the destruction of peasant homes.
• Communal tensions surrounding the impending Partition of Bengal in mid-1947 fractured the unity of Hindu and Muslim sharecroppers, causing the movement to subside by late 1947.

Post-Independence Legislative Reforms

Though crushed militarily, the Tebhaga Movement forced post-independence governments to pass agrarian legislation addressing sharecropper rights.

Key Facts for Quick Revision

• The Tebhaga Movement occurred between September 1946 and mid-1947 in undivided Bengal.
• The primary demand was a two-thirds share (Tebhaga) of the harvested crop for sharecroppers (Bargadars/Adhiars).
• The agitation was organized by the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS), an affiliate of the All India Kisan Sabha.
• The movement drew its legal rationale from the 1940 report of the Land Revenue Commission of Bengal, chaired by Sir Francis Floud.
• Dinajpur and Rangpur served as the principal epicenters of the agitation.
• Key leaders included Bhabani Sen, Abani Lahiri, Sunil Sen, Kansari Halder, Ila Mitra, and Moni Singh.
• Peasant slogan “Nij Khamaane Dhan Tolo” instructed cultivators to store harvested paddy in their own thrashing yards.
• Women organized active defense groups called Nari Bahini to resist police incursions.
• The Khanpur firing in Dinajpur district (February 1947) resulted in the death of 20 peasants.
• H. S. Suhrawardy was the Chief Minister of Bengal during the state suppression of the movement.
• The movement laid the groundwork for the 1978 Operation Barga initiative in West Bengal.