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The Tebhaga Movement in Dinajpur District and the role of the Communist
Party of India

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Anil Kumar Sarkar

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The Tebhaga Movement in Dinajpur District and the role of the Communist Party of
India

Anil Kumar Sarkar

Tebhaga movement was a movement of the sharecroppers demanding two-third instead of half as
their share of the produce. Tebhaga in Bengali means to divide into three parts. The sharecroppers
had no right over the land, they had only taken 50 percent of the produce even after bearing the entire
cost of cultivation. The main issue of this struggle was reduced of rent to Jotedars from 50 percent to
33 percent of production by the Adhiars or Bargadars. This exploitation was going on as a result of
the sharecroppers revolted against Jotedars. We have seen in different fields that exploitation may not
always lead to a movement without the political organization of the exploited. Here, the Tebhaga
movement was led by the Communist Party of India. The CPI played a vital role to mobilize the
peasants and went for a mass movement. Historically, it is seen (British Records) that the peasant
unrest has been frequent in Dinajpur District right from the advent of British rule.1 So, the focus of
my work is on the role of CPI to organize the peasants in Dinajpur District

Before going to a detailed picture of the Tebhaga movement in Dinajpur District, I draw the actual
picture of the land system in this issue. The land system of the Dinajpur emerged from a new
relationship over and above the jotedar-bargadar. The land was to be reclaimed from jungles by the
poor hardworking Santals, Oraons and Rajbanshisand then they were given an incentive in the
beginning. These poor people were on the verge of demanding some type of tenancy rights after 12
years of tenure they were uprooted.2 The conflict between the sharecropper and the jotedar was
always there in the system. A clear picture of exploitation by jotedars was given by Colebrooke. He
said, “The under-tenants depressed by an excessive rent in kind and by usurious returns for the cattle,
seed and subsistence advanced to them can never extricate themselves from debt….whenever the
system of an intermediate tenancy subsists, the peasant is indignant, the husbandry ill-managed.”3
These zamindars used to charge ‘abwabs’ or illegal exaction with the connivance of the jotedars. The
Zamindars- jotedars became a great source of exploitation of the actual tillers from the early 19 th
century. Buchanan Hamilton gave a real picture of the land system in Dinajpur.

Table-1
Dinajpur (1808) Arable Land 7174009 Bighas

% of % of land
cultivated land ownership
6600 principal farmers at 165 bighas each on an average 1.5 16.5
B 8800 great farmers of 75 bighas each 2.0 10.0
C. 11000 comfortable farmers at 60 bighas each 2.5 10.0
D. 19800 easy farmers at 45 bighas each 4.5 13.5
E. 55000 poor farmers at 30 bighas each 12.4 25.0
F.110000 needy farmers at 15 bighas each 24.9 25.0

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 G. Adhiars or sharecroppers 150000 34.0 0
H. Kisan or agricultural labourers 18.2 0
100.0 100.0
Source: Buchanan Hamilton, A Geographical, Statistical and Historical Description of the District
of Dinajpur, 1833, p.236

Here Buchanan Hamilton gave a good account of the intermediary farmers who emerged as a
distinct category in Dinajpur in the early 19th century. These classes were known as ‘jotedar’in local
parlance.4 They do not cultivate the fields themselves but employ people to do it for a share.5 Some
of the jotedar was big and powerful in Dinajpur District. They settled Adhiars in reclaimed land and
exploited it. This is one of the important causes of intense sharecroppers’ unrest in this District in the
later period such as the Hattola movement (1939), and Adhiar movement (1939-40) and finally the
Tebhaga movement in 1946-47.

The jotedars of the Dinajpur were landholders as well as traders. They became more powerful by
combining control over both agricultural production and marketing. Naturally, in the later period, the
system of ‘karja’ or excessive interest became a factor of conflict between jotedars and sharecroppers.
Most of the people were so submerged in debt that they were bound to starve during the lean season
if they did not get a loan or karja from these jotedars.6 It was in the 20th century that this intense
exploitation could breed peasant unrest led by the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha of Communist Party
of India in Dinajpur District.

After the 1943 famine and the bad harvest of 1944-45, the people’s misery created a more
compelling condition for unrest. The karja system and exploitation of the poor peasants gradually
increased the number of bargadars in Dinajpur as poor peasants had to sell their meager land for
survival. The problem became more serious because the peasants had already lost their lands to
Mahajan-jotedars.7 The District committee of CPI and Kisan Sabha in Dinajpur concentrated its
activities on this problem under the direction of BPKS.8 In this background, the mass upsurge for a
better tomorrow, Tebhaga movement was started in September 1946. Within weeks it spread like
wildfire in the district. The main difference between the Dinajpur Tebhaga movement and the
Tebhaga struggle in other parts of Bengal was the strong organizational base of the CPI and Kisan
Sabha in Dinajpur.

It was no doubt that the exploited Hindu, Muslim, Rajbanshi and Tribal adhiars or bargadars
developed and nurtured movement against jotedars.9 The Dinajpur Kisan Sabha organized a number
of meetings, baithaks and distributed leaflets in simple language to the villagers. The cadres were
pasted with posters and they propagated the Tebhaga movement.10 Kisan Sabha was strongly
organized, in this connection Hindu- Muslim riots were not serious. Bibhuti Guha, Sushil Sen and
Kali Sarkar played an important role to organize it.11 According to an official report, the movement
started in December 1946 when some CPI workers of the district and local workers of Kisan Samities
called upon Adhiars to remove all paddies to their homes after harvesting. Kisan Samiti volunteers
moved about from village to village shouting various anti-jotedar slogans and asking the adhiars to
die rather than two parts with their paddy.

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 The movements spread to other subdivisions of Dinajpur. The BPKS workers prepared the ground
before the movement starts. At first, it was confined to Atwari and Baliadangi police station but later
on spread to PS Rani Sankail, Birganj, Thakurgaon, Bochanganj and Pirganj.12 In the Balurghat
subdivision, “a very strong tebhaga movement was launched … its propaganda started in September
1946. It gradually gained momentum among the poorer sections of the people primarily the
aboriginals and Palias. It was organized by the local communist leaders under the direction of leaders
at Dinajpur. There was practically no outside leader here.”13 It was only in Thakurgaon that “the
tempo of the agitation was kept up by the outside agitators through their newly converted local
adherents” but in the other two subdivisions of Dinajpur the movements was nurtured by local
leaders.14

Within a short time, the area was divided into six zones under different leaders

Table-2

The Six zones of Dinajpur District were:-

Zone Name of in charge of the zone

1. Thakurgaon (East) Bibhuti Guha and Ajit Roy
2. Thakurgaon (West) Gurudas Talukdar
3. Setabganj area Janardan Bhattacharya
4. Chirirbandar area Sudhir Samajpati and Sachindu Chakravorty
5. Itahar area Basanta Chatterji
6. Phulbari and Patiram area Kali Sarkar and Rupnarayan Roy
Source: Asok Majumdar, The Tebhaga movement politics of peasant protest in Bengal 1946-1950,
Delhi, 2011, p.236.

There was also a subdivided area under different local leaders. Abani Lahiri remained the overall in
charge of Dinajpur district and kept contact with the state CPI through Bhowani Sen. 15 Dinajpur
district, the popularized slogans were- ‘Nij Kholane Dhan Tolo (Take paddy to bargadar’s kholan),
Adhi Nai Tebhaga Chai (No half share, we want2/3 share), Karja Dhane sud Nai (No interest on
karja paddy).16 These slogans were propagated through hat meetings, posters, baithaks and small
group discussions among the activists. Sunil Sen was in charge of the district of CPI. Sushil Sen went
to Rampur village to start the movement; volunteers stood around with lathis and red flags to gourds
the harvest. The police arrived and arrested Sushil Sen with 32 other volunteers.17 The news of the
arrest and resistance spread fast and under the leadership of the party, the movement started
everywhere. The administrations lodged criminal cases against bargadars and arrest them on charges
of paddy looting. The newspapers also propagated the same view.18 The jotedars sent a deputation to
the SDO of Dinajpur.19 The Government issued the circular and acknowledging this problem of the
tebhaga movement in December 1946 saying that it would come with a bill in the next assembly
session.20 The first major clash between police and the peasants took place in Talpukur village in
Chirirbandar which was an organized base of the Kisan Sabha and CPI under the local leadership of
Sachindu Chakravorty, Sudhir Samajpati and Madhu Burman.21 When the police opened fire, Sibram
(a Santal) and Samiruddin (a Muslim Adhiar) fell dead and Pohatu Burman (Rajbanshi adhiar and

3
local leader) and some others were injured Barada Bhusan Chakravorty was arrested. 22 These
incidents were not only confined within the district but it was reached by the Assembly. Jyoti Basu
protested in the Bengal Legislative Assembly alleging, ‘the Kisan are being given a taste of bullets
and bayonets, their women are dishonoured and murdered. The peace of the country is broken by the
minions of the bureaucracy and the police.23

After this incident, the Muslim League Government was considering a bill to prevent the eviction
of adhiars and to give them Tebhaga, i.e. 2/3 share of crops. Fazlur Rahman, land Revenue Minister,
made this point at a public meeting in Serajganj24 and the Bengal Bargadar Temporary Regulation
Bill was published in the Calcutta Gazetteer on January 22, 1947. But the real picture was different,
the adhiars who could not get 2/3 share and had deposited paddy in the jotedar’s kholan or khamar
now thought that they were going to be denied their just and legal share of 2/3 produce.25 The adhiars
or bargadars started their movement against jotedars to ‘kholan bhanga’ or break open the jotedar’s
khamar to divide the paddy on tebhaga basis. They started to attack jotedars’ homes and divide the
harvested paddy into 2/3 share. The movements spread all the areas of the district spontaneously;
sometimes leaderless and intense movement was met with ferocious state repression.

The women's participation in Tebhaga movement is mentioned here especially. The poor peasant
women began to participate in increasing numbers with the intensification of the struggles. 26 A
number of women activists, i.e. Joymoni, Jashoda, Phuleswari, Dipsari, Surma Singh, etc took an
active role and fought against armed police with unconventional weapons like lathi, dheki’s stick,
broom, powdered pepper and banti.27 Women worked as couriers in organizational part and they also
gave shelter to activists and helped them to avoid police arrest. The CPI and Kisan Sabha workers
organized folk theatre forms like palagan, zarigan, yatra etc. helped in developing people’s
consciousness in the period revising 1944-46. The members of Mahila Atma Raksha Samity also
played a vital role to inspired the women to participate in this movement.28

On February 20, 1947, the police attacked and opened fire at Khanpur in Dinajpur district, major
political parties gave allegation of state repression because the government feared the movement.
Prime Minister of Bengal, Suhrawardy said in the Bengal Assembly, “ police firing in Thumnia in
Baliadangi PS of Dinajpur was a natural result of the lawlessness which is being sedulously
propagated by the agitators….. and according to the activities of such agitators there is not merely a
general wave of unrest but lawlessness and defiance of authority.”29 Jyoti Basu said, “The policy of
the government has been to ditto the action of governor and bureaucracy and surrender to vested
interest both Indian and European and give way to the zamindars and jotedars in the countryside. For
instance, we find that even the Bargadars Bill has been thrown to the wind and successfully
sabotaged.”30

Soon after, state repression began in full scale as we have got in a confidential report of SP
Dinajpur. He wrote, “Interim instructions regarding ‘the Tebhaga movement directing’ that ‘firm and
drastic action’ be taken against the followers of Krishak Samities and CPI.”31 The order made it clear
that police should not hesitate to use force to the extent necessary to enforce law and order. Gradually,
by April 1947 almost all the leaders and activists were arrested. Among them were Sudhir Samajpati,
Sunil Sen, Basanta Chatterji, Gurudas Talukdar and Sachindu Chakravorty with 500 others. 32 The

4
series of communal riots from 25 March to Independence Day on 15 August 1947, the movement
almost collapsed. After Independence, the movement changed its direction. The partition of the
country put the whole of Thakurgaon and Dinajpur sub-division, i.e two-third of Dinajpur district in
East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), so the movement suffered a lack of communication and leadership.
This spontaneous, sometimes leaderless and intense movement was met with ferocious state
repression and gradually the movement started to subside. In such an impact, the Tebhaga movement
suffered a setback during 1948-50.

Notes and references

1. Peasant Revolt in Rangpur and Dinajpur in 1783, Sannyasi and Fakir Rebellion (1763-1800),
Indigo Revolt in (1859-1861), Santal Revolt in Dinajpur(1932), etc.
2. Asok Mitra, Census 1951, Vol.II Alipore, 1953. Also, see N.K. Sinha, Economic history of
Bengal, Vol.2, Calcutta,1968, p.54
3. H.T. Colebrooke, Remarks on the Husbandry and Internal Commerce of Bengal, Calcutta,1866.
Also see Asok Majumdar, the Tebhaga movement, Delhi, 2011, p.214.
4. Buchanan Hamilton, A Geographical, Statistical and Historical Description of the District of
Dinajpur, 1833, p.236,
5. Sunil Sen, Agrarian struggle in Bengal 1946-47, New Delhi, 1972, p.30
6. Asok Majumdar, the Tebhaga movement, Delhi, 2011, p.216
7. Bhowani Sen’s article on Dinajpur in Janayuddha, 15.12.1943.
8. Ibid, 17.11.1943
9. Buchanan Hamilton, op.cit.,for role of jotedars in Dinajpur.
10. Krishna Binod Roy, Tebhaga Sangram(B), August, Calcutta,1973, Tebhaga Rajat Jayanti
Smarak Grantha.
11. Bibhuti Guha, Chasir Sathi Istahar No.3(B) August, 1943.
12. SDO Report on Thakurgaon, No.41C,103. 1947, p.134,(West Bengal Achieves), File No.30-47.
13. SDO Report on Balurghat, No.31C,6.3.1947, p.133,(West Bengal Achieves), op. cit.
14. SDO Report on Balurghat, ibid, p.130 (Dinajpur), p.133,(West Bengal Achieves), op. cit.
15. Abani Lahiri, Assistant Secretary, BPKS leader of the North Bengal movement
16. Asok Majumdar, op.cit., Delhi, 2011, p.235
17. Sunil Sen, op.cit., New Delhi, 1972, p.37
18. In the statesman and Ananda Bazar Patrika news on the looting of paddy and forcible harvesting
became frequent.
19. Ananda Bazar Patrika, 9.12.1946.
20. Ananda Bazar Patrika, 20.12.1946.
21. Sachindu Chakravorty, local CPI leader and organizer, a lawyer by profession.Sudhir Samajpati,
another young middle-class CPI cadre and Madhu Burman, a poor Rajbanshi peasant organizer.
See also Asok Majumdar, op.cit., Delhi, 2011, pp.238-239
22. Ananda Bazar Patrika wrote 2 dead in police firing in Talpukur village, 5.1.1947, Amrita Bazar
Patrika published the news on 21.1.1947, Swadhinata 5.1.1947.
23. Bengal Legislative Assembly Proceedings Vol.72, No.1, p.509, 27.2.1947. (WBLAL).
24. Ananda Bazar Patrika, 8.1.1947,Amrita Bazar Patrika, 6.1.1947.
25. Tebhaga Sangram Subarna Jayanti Smarak Grantha(Bengali), Calcutta,1973.

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 26. Satyen Sen, Gram Banglar pathe Pathe (B), Dacca, 1970.
27. K.B. Roy, Tebhagar Larai (Bengali), 1947 and also Krishaker Laraier Kaida (Bengali), 1947.
28. Jayamoni Singh played an important role in Baliadangi PS. Women helped in combined
harvesting and resist police attacks in 1946-47.
29. Suhrawardy’s speech Bengal Assembly Proceedings, Vol.72, No.1, p.526(28.2.1947).
(WBLAL)
30. Jyoti Basu, speech, BLA proceedings. Vol.72, No.1,p.509 (WBLAL).
31. Bengal Police Report, SDO, Dinajpur, File No.42C, 27.12.1946 (WBPA)
32. Ananda Bazar Patrika, 11.3.1947.

I am very much indebted to Professor I. Sarkar, Dept. of History, North Bengal University and
Professor Asok Majumdar.

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