Sahajanand Saraswati was an ascetic, a nationalist and a peasant leader of India. Although born in North-Western Provinces, his social and political activities focussed mostly on Bihar in the initial days, and gradually spread to the rest of India with the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha. He had set up an ashram at Bihta, near Bihar carried out most of his work in the later part of his life from there. He was an intellectual, prolific writer, social reformer and revolutionary.
Biography
Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was born in Deva Village near Dullahpur, Ghazipur district in eastern North-Western Provinces in 1889 to a family of the Jijhotia Brahmins. He was the last of six sons and was then called Naurang Rai Jijhotia. His mother died when he was a child and he was raised by an aunt.
Jijhotia Brahmana is one of the five branches of "Kanyakubja Brahmins". His father's name was "Pandit Beni Rai Jijhotia", who was a Karmakandi Brahmin and farmer. Pandit ji had a lot of land, so the surname of these people is associated with the surname of the landlord along with the Brahmin surname.
Since Swamiji's mother died sometime after Swamiji's birth, Swamiji's mother's name is unknown.
Later Swami Sahajanand Saraswati became the priest, guide and mentor of the "Bhumihars". That is why some people mistook Swami Sahajanand Saraswati as Bhumihar.
Due to his association with Bhumihars, his early political activities were mostly concentrated in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and spread throughout India after the creation of All India Kisan Sabha. He had built an ashram in Bihta near Patna, from where he used to conduct all the works of the latter part of his life.
Swami Sahajanand Postgraduate College is established in his home district Ghazipur in the pious memory of Swami Sahajanand.
The Kisan Sabha movement started in Bihar under the leadership of Saraswati who had formed in 1929 the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha in order 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 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:
Khet Mazdoor, in Hindi, written in Hazaribagh Central Jail.
Jharkhand ke kisan
Bhumi vyavastha kaisi ho?
Kisan andolan kyun aur kya?
Gaya ke Kisanon ki Karun Kahani
Ab kya ho?
Congress tab aur ab
Congress ne kisanon ke liye kya kiya?
Maharudra ka Mahatandav
Swamiji ki Diary
Kisan sabha ke dastavez
Swamiji ke patrachar
Lok sangraha mein chapen lekh
Hunkar mein chapein lekh
Vishal Bharat mein chapein lekh
Bagi mein chapein lekh
Bhumihar Brahmin mein chapein lekh
Swamiji ki Bhashan Mala
Krishak mein chapein lekh
Yogi mein chapein lekh
Kisan sevak
Anya lekh
Address of the chairman, Reception Committee, The All India Anti-Compromise Conference, First Session, Kisan Nagar, Ramgarh, Hazaribagh, 19 & 20 March 1940, Ramgarh, 1940.
