Jagdish Mahto: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Naxal leader}}

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix   =  

| name               = Jagdish Mahto

|image               =

|caption             = stone slab erected in commemoration of Jagdish Master and leaders of Bhojpur rebellion.

| honorific_suffix   = Master Saheb

| birth_name         =  

| birth_date         =  

| birth_place       = Ekwaari, [[Bhojpur district, India|Bhojpur]]

| disappeared_date  =  

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| death_place       =  

| death_cause       = Murder

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| monuments         =

| nationality       = Indian

| occupation         =  

| employer           =  

| party             = [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation|CPIML Liberation]]

| denomination      =  

| criminal_charge    =  

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| criminal_status    =  

'''Jagdish Mahto''' was a [[Communist|naxal leader]] who led the [[Bhojpuri region|Bhojpur]] rebellion of 1970s in a landlord-dominated "Ekwaari" region of [[Bihar]]. Mahto was also known as "Master Saheb" among his villagers. He was a member of [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation]], an organisation which was leading an Maoist insurgency against the Government of India. He also fought against the upper-caste landlords for the cause of lower-caste people.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHttCwAAQBAJ&q=jagdish+mahto+master+saheb&pg=PA181|title=Maoism in India|first=Arun|last= Srivastava|publisher=Prabhat Prakashan|year= 2015|isbn=978-9351865131|page=181|accessdate=2020-07-26}}</ref>

Jagdish Mahto was born in Ekwaari village. He was a member of [[Koeri]] community.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jp4xDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT115|

title=Windows into a Revolution:Ethnographies of Maoism in India and Nepal|quote= Jagdish Mahto,for instance, a teacher in his village, was hated by the local upper-caste Bhumihar landlords because he refused to get up from his cot in his courtyard when they passed his house. This was, in the landlords' eyes, a heinous ... |first=Alpa Shah|last= Judith Pettigrew|publisher=Routledge|year= 2017|isbn=978-1351381819|accessdate=2020-06-26}}</ref> Mahto established a newspaper called "Harijanistan" (Dalit land) in order to voice support for the rights of the [[Dalit]]s.<ref name="Gail">{{cite book|title = Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India|first=Gail|last= Omvedt|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|pages=58–60|year=1993|isbn=0765631768|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlxb0uacnRcC&q=koeri+kills+rajput&pg=PA59|accessdate=2020-06-16}}</ref> [[Shri Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha]], a former Minister in [[Government of Bihar]] is son-in-law of Master Jagdish Mahto.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/Sitting-Ara-MP-finds-the-going-tough/articleshow/33676808.cms?from=mdr|title=Sitting Ara MP finds the going tough|website=[[Times of India]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116055226/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/Sitting-Ara-MP-finds-the-going-tough/articleshow/33676808.cms?from=mdr|accessdate=2020-11-16|archive-date=2020-11-16}}</ref>

Prior to his involvement in the [[Naxalite movement]], he was teaching science at HD Jain College, [[Arrah]].<ref name="Singh">{{cite book|title=Ruled or Misruled: Story and Destiny of Bihar|chapter=ch13.A bit of muscles|first=Santosh|last= Singh|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2015|isbn=978-9385436420|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVu8CgAAQBAJ&q=jagdish+mahto+ruled+or+misruled&pg=PT144|accessdate=2020-06-16}}</ref> In the later part of his life he had some political connection and he became  inspired by the writing of [[Karl Marx]]. Later he was became an [[Ambedkarite]] when he  came across the philosophy of [[B. R. Ambedkar]]. Mahto was a staunch supporter of the rights of the [[Dalit]]s. He was also against the privileges that the upper castes enjoyed, which was ascribed to their birth as "twice born"(dvija). In 1967, when Bengal and [[Punjab]] witnessed Dalit upsurge and popular movements, Bihar was quiet and there was no reaction from the oppressed sections of the society. Scholars ascribe the prevalent landlordism and dominance of upper castes as the reason behind fear of lower castes to rise their voices. The first spark of Naxalism evolved in "Mushari", but it was soon extinguished by the feudalistic forces.<ref name="Gail"/>

In the meantime, Mahto formed an alliance with the other like minded youths like Ramnaresh Ram and Rameswar Ahir and they assembled their supporters under the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation.<ref name="Samaddar"/> They began organising murders of landlords and their henchmen. By the end of 1970s a large number of landlords were killed. The question was not only of economic reforms i.e. the "banihari"(unpaid labour), which Dalits did to their masters but was also of honour or the "''ijjat''" as there used to be unrestricted and arrogant access of the Dalit women to the landlords. The Dalits who were mostly landless labourers were fighting under Jagdish Mahto for their honour.<ref name="Gail"/>

The Ayar village of [[Jagdishpur]] was a stronghold of Rajput landlords, and Thana Singh, a big landlord, who had numerous cases of atrocities against the Dalits, particularly the [[Musahar]]s and [[Chamar]]s of the village. Two-thirds of the land of the village was controlled by these landlords which included Charichan Singh, Madho Singh among others. The rebellion against the poor condition of the lower caste was stirring in the village since 1957, but it was suppressed by the landlords through the use of brute force. In 1962, in the ongoing skirmishes between the lower castes and the landlords led to death of peasant leaders Shivratan Yadav and Bhikhari Yadav and the atrocities against lower-caste women continued. According to Kalyan Mukherjee, the village was unpopular among the Dalits to such an extent that no Dalit family of another village would like to had marriage relations with the inhabitants of the village. The trigger to revolt was the sexual harassment of the wife of Ramayan Chamar, who used to work as agricultural labourer in the fields of Charichan Singh, by the sons of her landlord. Ramayan's complaint to Charichan Singh led to his physical assault by the men of Charichan Singh. The disgruntled Ramayan joined the "Jagdish Mahto group", also called as ''Ekwari ke Master Saheb ka group''. In the retaliatory action by Mahto who was invited by Ramayan Chamar in the village along with his armed group led to the assassination of the Thana Singh and another landlord called Hari Singh was injured to be killed later by the rebels.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8HweAAAAMAAJ&q=thana+singh+rape|title= Bhojpur: Naxalism in the Plains of Bihar|author1=Kalyan Mukherjee|author2=Rajendra Singh Yadav|

publisher=Rādhā Krishna|year=1980|accessdate=25 February 2021|page=48,49|quote= [48]..The litigation that followed did not diminish the brutality of Thana Singh . Innumerable cases of rape and molestation were attributed to him . ” Things came to such a pass that Ayar became a word of fear in the Harijan of even distant villages.....[48].. In Ayar , a person called Ramayan Chamar responded to the call of Jagdish Mahto . So did his nephew ... The villagers heard the explosion of bombs : Thana Singh , who was revelling in the company of women , was killed. [49]... On the other hand the kinsmen of Thana Singh suspected a fellow Rajput , Dinanath Singh , and killed him in an act of reprisal two months later . }}</ref>

On 14 April 1970, Mahto along with Rameswar Ahir and Latafat Hussain organised massive rally and candle march in the support of [[Harijan|Harijanistan]], a separate territory to be inhabited by the lower-castes. The rally was supported by a large number of landless labourers and backward-caste peasants. Mahto also ran a drive against the [[untouchability]] in the villages of Inrukhi, Baruna and Koshiyar. The anti-landlordism however, prevailed in the village of Ekwari, situated few kilometres away from [[Arrah]]. The village of Ekwari was known for its fertile land and feudal dominance of the upper-caste who exploited the lower-caste. The women of the lower caste were raped with impunity to such an extent that it was accepted as social norm. The [[Naxalbari]] revolt in [[West Bengal]] motivated Mahto and his friend Ramnaresh Dusadh, who were joined by a [[bandit]] called Rameswar Ahir to lead an armed uprising against the exploitative [[Zamindar]]s. In a bid to search like-minded youths for rebellion against the upper-caste landlords, the three men came together and organised the youths belonging to lower-caste for armed rebellion. The trigger to their activities was the assault on Gora Chamar and Chandrika Dusadh by the landlords, who were also implicated in the fraudulent cases. A group of [[Koeri]]s and [[Dusadh]] under Jagdish Mahto met the [[Sub Divisional Magistrate]] and the police office was established in the village to tackle  future skirmishes. Rameswar Ahir, who joined Mahto in the struggle against the tyrant landlords started his career as a [[communist]] rebel by leaving all claims over his land and joining underground society of communists along with Mahto. On 23 February 1971, a big landlord named Shivpujan Singh, who was accused of a rape with a [[Harijan]] women in Inrukhi village was brutally assassinated by the Mahto group. The assassination followed the murders of a number of other tyrant landlords, namely Jagdish Singh, Dudheswar Singh, Mangal Singh and Paramhans Singh. The attempt by some of them to organise a counter revolution against the [[communist]]s under Mahto failed by organised crackdown on them. These incidents popularised Ekwari as the "Naxalbari of Bhojpur". Mahto and his wife had went underground and by 1971, the Ekwari village was divided on class line between two groups, one containing the influential landlords and the other containing poor peasants and the [[Dalit]]s.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8HweAAAAMAAJ&q=thana+singh+rape|title= Bhojpur: Naxalism in the Plains of Bihar|author1=Kalyan Mukherjee|author2=Rajendra Singh Yadav|

publisher=Rādhā Krishna|year=1980|pages=53–56|accessdate=29 March 2021}}</ref>

Mahto was killed after beaten up to death by a [[Musahar]] mob who confused him to be a "Dacoit" (bandit).<ref name=mushar>{{cite web|url=https://m.timesofindia.com/india/Barricade-to-ballot/articleshow/591808.cms|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210407081306/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Barricade-to-ballot/articleshow/591808.cms?from=mdr |title=Barricade to ballot|first=Akshay|last=Mukul|website=Timesofindia.com|accessdate=2020-07-26|archive-date=7 April 2021}}</ref> Before dying Mahto is said to have spoken to one of his comrades that though he was dying but the upper caste landlords won't dare to touch Dalit women in future.

 

In an interview with the media outlets in [[Delhi]], Ramnaresh Ram, the associate of Mahto reiterated the conflict that was taking place for many decades in Bhojpur between landed gentry and the subordinate tenants.<ref name="Samaddar">{{cite book|title=From popular movement to rebellion:The Naxalite dacade|page= 317,318|first=Ranbir|last=Samaddar|publisher=Routledge|location =New york|year=2019|isbn= 978-0-367-13466-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjZ7DwAAQBAJ&q=jagdish+prasad+mahto+naxal&pg=PT317|accessdate=2020-05-30}}</ref> The caste strife came to an end in later years owing to the killings of the core naxal leaders and retirement of their subordinates.<ref name="Singh" />

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Jagdish Mahto became a notable figure among people of Ekwaari and several books were written to commemorate his struggle against the landlords for the cause of poor and the deprived. Some of the biographical accounts of Mahto are, Bhojpur Mein Naxalvadi Andolan’ (Kalyan Mukherjee and Rajendra Yadav), ‘Master Saab’ ([[Mahashweta Devi]]), ‘Raktim Tara’ (Suresh Kantak), and ‘Arjun Zinda Hai’ (Madhukar Singh).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cpiml.net/liberation/2019/01/revolutionary-lives|title=Revolutionary lives   |website=Communist Party of India(Marxist-Leninist)liberation|first=Santosh|last=Sahar|accessdate=2020-07-30}}</ref>

[[Category:Ambedkarites]]