On April 18, 1951, a frail old man, dressed in the traditional robes of the sages of India, went on his first round of begging. It is not for food that he asked for, but for land; not for himself, but for the countless farmers he farmed on land that never belonged to them; farmers who worked day after day, but remained for the countless farmers who worked day after day, but remained forever poor and hungry. That frail old man was Vinobha Bhave, a staunch follower of Gandhiji and a firm believer in the Gandhian principles of peace and non-violence, and the project he launched was the ‘Bhoodan Movement’.
In those days when the feudal system was in vogue, much of the land ownership was in the hands of a few lords and lords. They never tilled the land or desired it. A series of landless poor, called tenant farmers, took care of this task. Year after year, they plowed the fields, raised the crops, and filled the barns of these landowners, retaining a fraction of the produce as wages. They did not acquire any type of rights over these lands, nor their permanent possession. He depended on the sweet will of his masters and lords. When the system was legally abolished, some of these tenants acquired squatting rights, but had to pay large amounts before becoming the actual owners of the land. Some political parties like the communists declared that they did not need to pay money and tried to dissuade farmers from paying their dues. An uprising broke out in many states, especially Andra and Bengal. Everything seemed as if Andhra Pradesh turned red. It was in this context that Vinobha Bhave launched his historic movement.
This agrarian problem that was inherited from medieval feudalism existed in all parts of the world. Each country tried to solve the problem in its individual way, which was adapted to its conditions. One was the revolutionary method adopted by the communists, first in Russia and then in China. There was much murder, violence, and bloodshed before the owners were exterminated and the land nationalized. Gandhiji’s India could not subscribe to the use of violence and force. He, too, was not prepared to abolish the Zamindari system without adequate compensation guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. (Kashmir was an exception. Shaik Abdullah abolished the Zamindari system without paying a single pie as compensation.) The Bhoodan movement solves both of these problems in one fell swoop; there is no need to use force or violence like in Russia and China and there is no need to pay any compensation. Hundreds of acres were offered on the first day of its launch. It was an immediate success. It brought happiness to both giver and receiver; With a smile on his lips, the giver offered; with a heart full of gratitude for the donations received. The Acharya went from village to village, meeting the rich landowners, requesting the grant of land. There was a spontaneous response wherever he went.
His movement gathered momentum; his message reached distant corners of the earth. An army of young men and women willingly plunged into the task and carried the mantle. He crossed the rigid party boundaries and fascinated great people like Jayaprakash Narayan who decided to serve the cause of the Bhoodan Movement. True to his decision, he gave up his glamorous political career and devoted himself entirely to his cause. In 1954, when Bhave’s Survodaya Samaj held its sixth annual session in Bodhgaya, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Pandit Nehru, Dr. Radhakrishnan attended the session along with many other celebrities.
In a span of 3 years, more than 27,40,000 acres of land, in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh combined, were collected and more than 55,000 acres distributed. Many state governments have pledged to introduce new legislation to cover Bhoodan. As natural corollaries, Sampath dan, Sramadan and Budhidan have arisen. Those who cannot offer land can donate money or offer mental or manual labor. With roads built, wells dug, bridges built, without any outside help, many villages have a new look, thanks to the movement of the great Acharya. There is a new class of landowners in every town, brimming with new hope, joyfully working for a better tomorrow.
Therefore, the goal of the Vinobha Bhave movement is nothing less than to restructure village life: to end generations of suffering, drive away the shadows of poverty, and bring joy and light to the life of the working poor that was its objective. . It is in essence a true revolution, new in conception, deep in exposition and exemplary in implementation. It envisions turning each town into a miniature republic self-sufficient in all respects in food, clothing, and every other essential need, ready to take its rightful place in a larger republic, and eventually create a new order based on economic freedom. and social justice.
His theory accepts that there are inequalities between man and man, but rejects the proposition that an element of force and compulsion is essential to bridging the gap. He notes that man is endowed with finer sentiments such as understanding, compassion, and generosity; that he is willing to part with something for the good of the underprivileged and disadvantaged and that sacrifice is not new to man.
In this land of Bali, Sibi and Karna, what Vinobaji says may not seem so new or strange. It is the essence of our heritage, the sum and substance of our culture; we do not call it charity or generosity; we call it our duty, our sacred dharma.
But to the Western mind that dismisses such important characters as nonexistent mythological figures, Bhave’s idea itself is novel. His appeal is immense. They find in him a solution to the undeclared war between rich and poor; between developed and developing. Now they are ready to offer a bit of their wealth to usher in a new era of coexistence.
But the Acharya’s task is unfinished. In the very land where he had launched the plan, a new cult has arisen. Their goal is the same: to redistribute the wealth of the earth; but his means are diametrically opposed to Bhave’s path of non-violence. He doesn’t believe in change of heart. As a result, not a day goes by without blood being spilled in the name of a new social order. It is that Vinoba Bhave’s task is unfinished, the revolution he dreamed of has not yet come. It is for those lucky ones who have inherited hundreds of hectares and the popular governments, both at the state and center levels, to come out of their state of indecision and wholeheartedly support the movement of the greats. Acharya and end the unnecessary threat. It is an urgent choice that must be made between violence and peace between selfishness and selflessness.