Vinoba Bhave.
New Delhi: It was the year 1951. Telangana was a battleground for the communists and the landlords. No one was ready to listen. There was violence. There was a conflict between the landowners and the landless. In such a situation, Gandhi’s spiritual successor took a vow to become a peace ambassador and proceeded to do the work that was called Bhoodan Yagna. Why was there a need for Bhoodan, what was it? Today we will tell you in detail about the Bhoodan movement and Vinoba Bhave who brought it into practice.
Vinoba was born in a religious environment
Born in a Brahmin family, Vinoba’s background was religious. He got the values from his mother and father and Bapu’s thoughts helped him in deciding his direction. On 11th September 1895, a child was born in a Brahmin family of Maharashtra. Born in Gagoda village of Colaba, this boy was named Vinayak Narhari Bhave. The family used to call him ‘Vinya’ but later Bapu named him Vinoba. The Mahatma was first heard at a programme in Banaras Hindu University. The elite class of the country was stunned after listening to that historic speech of 1916 and like thousands of Indians, Vinoba also became an admirer and follower of Gandhi. He made it his mission to follow the path shown by him and adopt his teachings in his life.
The first donation of land was received in 1951
The Bhoodan movement was another form of Bapu’s Sarvodaya Sankalp. The Sankalp has been explained in Shricharuchandra Bhandari’s Bangla work ‘Bhoodan Yagna: Ke O Ken’. Bhandari was one of Vinoba’s close associates. He himself has written that 18 April 1951 was the day when the first donation of land was received. The Gangotri of Bhoodan Yagna was started from Shivrampalli in Telangana. This great disciple of Gandhi believed that just as everyone has a right on the air, water and light given by God, in the same way everyone has an equal right on the land given by God. On the basis of this principle, he wanted to take land from the landowners and give it to the landless.
There was a rift between the communists and the landlords
The only purpose was to make the landless economically strong, to make them stand on their own feet. The question arises that how did Telangana write the script of Bhoodan, what was the name of the first land owner who gave concrete form to Vinoba’s ideas? Bhandari writes in Bhoodan Yagna, I had to reach Telangana in April 1951 for the Sarvodaya conference. In a place called Telangana, a violent movement was going on over the land problem. There was a standoff between the communists and the landlords. Land was snatched from many land owners and distributed among the farmers. On the other hand, land was also being snatched from those people by committing atrocities. Both sides were bent on violence.
20 people were murdered in 2 years
During the day the police would arrest communists and at night the landlords would torture the landlords. Vinoba Bhave was ill and he did not want to come to the conference. Then it was decided to hold the conference at a place in Odisha. He expressed his inability to go there. Then on the request of his companion and freedom fighter Shankar Dev Rao, he left on 8 March. Reached Shivrampalli 300 miles away on foot. The Telangana incident had become a challenge for the activists. 20 people had been killed in two years. In such an environment, Vinoba said that for me the word Sarvodaya is like God and everyone understands the meaning of Sarvodaya and hence communists are also no exception to it.
Ramachandra Reddy did the first land donation
On April 18, he went to Pochampalli, a Harijan colony from there. Where people did not even have anything to eat. They used to work as labourers and the owner used to give them 20th part of the crop, blanket and a pair of shoes. Seeing their pitiable condition, he wanted to know their wishes. He asked them how much land they wanted. The landless said 40 acres of high land and 40 acres of low land, making a total of 80 acres. Vinoba said write an application. Then he asked the gentlemen of the village if anyone could donate their land? A person named Ramchandra Reddy came forward and donated a total of 100 acres including his and his brothers’ land. That day Bhave announced the donation in the prayer meeting and the landless got the land.
13 lakh acres of land distributed among the landless
Starting from Telangana, this Bhoodan reached various states of the country via Bihar, Bengal. In 13 years, it showed great results. In this experiment of economic freedom, Vinoba Bhave covered a distance of about 58,741 kilometers on foot. During this period, 44 lakh acres of land received under the Bhoodan Yagna was distributed among about 13 lakh landless farmers. In ‘Bhoodan Yagna: K O Kane’ itself, it is written that Vinoba Bhave was a lifelong sanyasi (a monk) devoted to service, and a great follower of Mahatma Gandhi. He was such a spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi who increased the wealth received from his ancestors. It is also said that only that disciple is worthy who can leave his Guru and go. Vinoba Bhave did the same. (IANS)
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