On April 18, 1951, a frail old man, dressed in the traditional costumes of Indian sages, set out 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 supporter 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 nor did they want it. A series of landless poor, called tenants, took care of this task. Year after year, they plowed the fields, raised the crops, and filled the granaries 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. It depended on the sweet will of their masters and lords. When the system was legally abolished, some of these tenants acquired occupancy rights, but had to pay large sums before becoming actual owners of the land. Some political parties such as the communists declared that they did not need to pay money and tried to discourage farmers from paying their dues. An uprising arose in many states, especially Andra and Bengal. Everything looked like Andhra Pradesh was turning red. It was in this context that Vinobha Bhave launched the historical movement of him.
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 own individual way, which suited 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 the proper compensation guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. (Kashmir was an exception. Shaik Abdullah abolished the Zamindari system without paying a single cake as compensation.) The Bhoodan move solves both of these problems in one fell swoop; there is no need to use force or violence as 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 the giver and the receiver; With a smile on his lips, the donor offered; with a heart full of gratitude for the donations received. The Acharya went from village to village, meeting the wealthy landlords, requesting the grant of land. There was a spontaneous response wherever he went.
His movement gained momentum; The message from him reached distant corners of the earth. An army of young men and women willingly plunged into the task and wore the mantle. He crossed 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 attractive political career and devoted himself entirely to his cause. In 1954, when Survodaya Samaj of Bhave held its 6th 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 were collected, in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh together, and more than 55,000 acres were distributed. Many state governments 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 appearance, thanks to the movement of the great Acharya. There is a new breed of landlord in every town, brimming with new hope, joyfully working for a better tomorrow.
Therefore, the aim of Vinobha Bhave’s movement is nothing less than to reshape village life: to end generations of suffering, remove the shadows of poverty, and bring joy and light to the life of the working poor that was its objective. . It is essentially a true revolution, novel in conception, profound in exposition and exemplary in implementation. He 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 ultimately creating 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 narrow the gap. He notes that man is endowed with finer feelings such as understanding, compassion, and generosity; that he is willing to part with something for the sake of the underprivileged and the underprivileged 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 non-existent mythological figures, the idea of Bhave itself is novel. The attractiveness of him is immense. They find in it a solution to the undeclared war between rich and poor; between developed and developing. Now they are ready to offer a little of their wealth to usher in a new era of coexistence.
But the Acharya’s task is unfinished. In the same land where he had launched the plan, a new cult has arisen. Their objective is the same: to redistribute the wealth of the land; but his means are diametrically opposed to Bhave’s path of nonviolence. He doesn’t believe in a change of heart. As a result, not a day goes by without blood being shed 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 arrived. It is for those lucky ones who have inherited hundreds of hectares and the popular governments, both at the state and central 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.
