Hare Krishna Konar: Difference between revisions

| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=y|1915|08|05}}

| birth_place        = [[Kamargoria]], [[Bardhaman district]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British Raj|British India]]

| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=y|1974|07|23|1915|08|05}}

| death_place        = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]

| party              = {{ubl|[[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]]<br />(1964–1974)|[[Communist Party of India]]<br />(1938–1964)}}

| relatives          = {{ubl|[[Benoy Krishna Konar]]<br />(brother)|[[Maharani Konar]]<br />(sister-in-law)}}

'''Hare Krishna Konar''' ([[ISO 15919|ISO]]: ''Harē Kr̥iṣṇā Kōṅār'', {{IPAc-en|audio=En-HareKrishnaKonar.ogg|ˈ|h|ɑː|r|ə|_|ˈ|k|r|ɪ|ʃ|n|ə|_|'|k|ɔː|n|aː|r}}; 5 August 1915{{Snd}}23 July 1974) was an Indian [[Anti-colonial nationalism|anti-colonial revolutionary]], [[Agriculturist|agricultural theorist]], and politician who was the chief architect of India's first and largest [[Land reform in India|land reform in West Bengal]].{{Efn|Hare Krishna Konar was the 1st [[Ministry of Land & Land Revenue (West Bengal)|Minister of Land & Land Revenue of West Bengal]].}} He was one of the founding members of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]]. Between the 1960s and 1970s, he became one of the principal leaders of [[Communist movements in India]]. In 1932, Konar was deported to the [[Cellular Jail]] of the [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands|Andamans]] for 6 years at the age of 18 for his involvement in the Begut Robbery case of the [[Jugantar|Jugantar Party]]; there he took part in the first hunger strike, and in 1935 he founded the [[Communist Consolidation]]{{Efn|The Cellular Jail convicts formed an Indian revolutionary and communist organization based on the [[Marxism–Leninism]] doctrine. Later, it became the main resistance group against British control in the jail.}} and led the historical second hunger strike.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ganashakti.tripod.com/archive/hkonar.htm|title=Remembrance:konar|website=ganashakti.tripod.com|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Konar |first=Hare Krishna |url=http://nationalbookagency.com/HarekrishnaKonarPrabandhasangraha.html |title=Prabandhya Sangraha |publisher=National Book Agency Private Ltd |year=2015 |location=Kolkata |pages=534 |language=Bengali |asin=B011ROQ5CO |access-date=12 July 2024 |archive-date=12 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212004625/http://nationalbookagency.com/HarekrishnaKonarPrabandhasangraha.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Hare Krishna Konar was born to a [[Bengalis|Bengali]] [[Aguri (caste)|Ugra Kshatriya]] family on August 5, 1915, in [[Kamargoria]], a village across the [[Damodar River]] in the [[Bardhaman district]] of the [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Liyiyu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G-VJEAAAQBAJ |title=Alternatives in Development: Local Politics and NGOs in China and India |last2=Dasgupta |first2=Abhijit |date= |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-981-16-4698-0 |pages=156 |language=en}}</ref> His father, Sarat Chandra Konar, was a well-known businessman and landlord of Burdwan who had a very close relationship with the ruler of [[Bardhaman Raj]], [[Bijay Chand Mahtab]], while his mother, Satyabala Konar, was a housewife. As Konar was born to a [[Zamindar]] family, eventually he grew up in a very privileged manner in an Indian-style [[joint family]] with his young siblings, as he was the eldest son of Sarat Chandra Konar and Satyabala Konar. There were no political or anti-government activists associated with his family; moreover, his father had good connections with British officials for his trade purposes.<ref name=":0" />

After moving to the new village, the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] leader of [[Burdwan]], Bibhuti Bhusan Dutta, used to visit their house on a regular basis since Bibhuti Babu and his father had good relationships; Konar used to listen to their discussions about politics and independence movements taking place throughout the countryside. From Bibhuti Babu, Konar heard about the new leader who had recently made his name in Indian politics, [[M.K. Gandhi]], who had come out with his new idea of [[Nonviolence|Ahimsa Andolan]] and launched his first [[Satyagraha]] movement that was participated in by teachers, professors, lawyers, college students, and school students, but the teachers of Memari Vidyasagar Smriti Vidyamandir never encouraged their students for the independence activities; they actually tried many ways to maintain distance between movements and the school students.<ref name=":0" />

The armed struggle revolution reached its peak in 1931. In February, Anushilan Samiti's allies, [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Association|HSRA]] leader [[Bhagat Singh]], were sentenced to death, while in London, M.K. Gandhi built the [[Gandhi–Irwin Pact]]. Independence activists slowly began to oppose Mahatma Gandhi and his nonviolent ideas. Finally, in March 1931, the key figures of the Indian armed resistance revolution, Bhagat Singh and [[Chandra Shekhar Azad]], were hanged and shot to death. Following that, Gandhi organized another Satyagraha movement, which was met with opposition from many students and from numerous revolutionary parties. As a result, the armed struggle revolution expanded, and revolutionary groups spread throughout the country. At the same time, the ''"Indian Proletarian Revolutionary Party"'' was established by Panchu Gopal Bhaduri, Kali Ghosh, [[Bankim Mukherjee]], [[Bhupendranath Datta]], and others. The Indian Proletarian Revolutionary Party was also recognized as a branch of the [[Communist Party of India]]. Konar, along with Benoy Choudhury, joined the group. Konar soon became involved in various kinds of revolutionary activities, including bomb making, robbery, and party fund management, and gradually rose to the position of leader of that organization.<ref name="sansad" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Konar|first=Hare Krishna|title=Nirbachito Rochona Sonkolon|publisher=National Book Agency Pvt ltd|year=1978|location=Kolkata|pages=|language=Bengali}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-07-14 |title=Revolutionaries: Section 'K' |url=http://www.andamancellularjail.org/K1.htm |access-date=2022-02-10 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060714121042/http://www.andamancellularjail.org/K1.htm |archive-date=14 July 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{blockquote|What I have done is not shameful, and the consequences will be something I am proud of.}}

{{blockquote|Therefore acquit the accused of the charge under section 398 IPC with regard to the sentence to death on the accused under section 394 IPC. We have the consideration on the one hand that the offence is exceedingly grave one and on the other hand the youth of the accused who is to be about 17 years age, taking both the circumstances into account sentence the accused to undergo rigorous imprisonment six years.}}

During the hunger strike, Konar met with Dr. Narayan Roy, [[Niranjan Sengupta]], [[Satish Pakrashi]], [[Ganesh Ghosh]], [[Sudhangshu Dasgupta]], [[Shiv Verma]], [[Bejoy Kumar Sinha]], and many more. As after the hunger strike, the supervision and checking process in the jail was extremely reduced, so the prisoners had been able to smuggle in a lot of [[Communism]] and [[Socialism]] literature. Dr. Narayan Roy and Niranjan Sengupta smuggled the largest volume of literature in the cellular jail from the [[Marxism|Pro-Marxist]] group of [[Kot Lakhpat Jail|Central Jail Lahore]] and from the [[Congress Socialist Party]] group of [[Yerawada Central Jail]]. Several prisoners were well educated and were given access to a wide range of books for study while in jail. When they were released, prisoners handed over their literature to the other revolutionary. Many brought their own literature secretly on their way to Andaman, unchecked by the so many authorities that formally checked them. The prisoners also requested the warders outside the Andaman jail to get books directly from book smugglers; the prisoners also requested their relatives to bring the specific books via letter; when they arrived in jail, the authorities checked them and, finding them objectionable, set them aside. However, other revolutionary prisoners who work in the jail office picked up those books and gave them to their comrades. Konar also arranged to bring many books from his Memari's house for his study, and his main responsibility was to read those books all day and then meet at a particular place in the evening to explain the substance of each book in detail to the other revolutionaries. The cellular jail authority made a library for the revolutionaries, but the control of the library passed into the hands of all the [[Left radicalism|left radicals]] who were formerly revolutionary and named the library as ''"The Veritable University of Revolutionaries"''. This was around the year 1935. The prisoners spent most of their time reading communist or socialist literature in ''"The Veritable University"'', and a thirst for books and knowledge began. There were students, doctors, lawyers, peasants, and workers all together, discussing [[politics]], [[economics]], [[history]], and [[philosophy]], as the result that there was hardly any left who had not become a confirmed Communist or Socialist. Hare Krishna Konar, Shiv Verma, and Satish Pakrashi organized study circles in which the ideas of Socialism, Marxism, and Communism were explained; doctors among them taught [[biology]] and [[physiology]], while others taught [[History|historical]] and [[dialectical materialism]]. As the revolutionaries gathered to discuss and read, a novel and unique environment appeared. Hare Krishna Konar and Shiv Verma soon decided to form a party organ known as the [[Communist Consolidation]], and on April 26, 1935, the Consolidation was established with 39 inmates. National slogans such as "[[Vande Mataram]]" and "[[Bharat Mata|Bharat Mata ki Jai]]" were never used. The consolidation members only use the slogans "[[Inquilab Zindabad]]" and "[[Workers of the world, unite!|Dunia ka majduro ek ho]]". [[Dhanwantri]], [[Bejoy Kumar Sinha]], [[Batukeshwar Dutt]], [[Niranjan Sengupta]], and Narayan Roy were appointed to the editorial board of a newspaper named ''"The Call"'', which was published from the jail. The Call was started as a monthly paper and acted as a mouthpiece of communist consolidation. The number of members in communist consolidation swelled to 200, and all of them contributed articles on different subjects dealing with Communism, Marxism, Socialism, the biographies of [[Vladimir Lenin]], [[Karl Marx]], etc. The Call was like a magazine paper; only one copy was written and placed in the library; it had about 150 pages. Later, the consolidation member celebrates [[May Day]], [[October Revolution Day]], Vladimir Lenin's birthday, etc. These activities of the Communist Consolidation continued unhindered till about the middle of 1937. The [[Chittagong armoury raid|Chittagong Arms Group]] members therefore started military parades, at first without the sanction of the authorities, but a little later with the full approval of the authorities. They also had their uniform prepared; they prepared their buttons and badges from the silver utensils they were given for use. [[Ananta Singh]] was the lead instructor of this parade, and they put on an impressive show. When they marched past and performed several laying and attacking formations with bamboo sticks instead of muskets, they looked magnificent. Members of the Communist Consolidation were so fascinated by the Chittagong group's military actions that they asked their leaders for permission to join the Chittagong group's daily parades. This increased the number of Chittagong paraders to over 90, and consequently all of the Chittagong arms group members also joined the Communist consolidation. This is the time of 1937 when the prisoners were enjoying their daily activities and saying themselves as political prisoners of Cellular Jail.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":15">{{Cite web |date=2006-07-17 |title=History of Andaman Cellular Jail |url=http://www.andamancellularjail.org/History.htm |access-date=2022-02-10 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717230535/http://www.andamancellularjail.org/History.htm |archive-date=17 July 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=In Andamans, the Indian bastille|last=Sinha|first=Bejoy Kumar|date=1988|publisher=People's Pub. House|isbn=978-8170070771|edition=2nd rev.|location=New Delhi|oclc=19946950 |author-link=Bejoy Kumar Sinha}}</ref>

{{blockquote|All political prisoners should be repatriated to the mainland and released. An ultimatum was given that if these demands were not met, a hunger strike would begin.}}

{{blockquote|I, as a poet, appeal to you to transfer the political prisoners of cellular jail to the mainland as the hunger strike begins, and we cannot allow this flower of the nation to wither away, so please don't use cellular jail as a concentrating camp of revolutionaries, and you have to release the political prisoners from jail.}}

{{blockquote|The whole nation, along with me and Congress working committee members, appeals to you to end the hunger strike and assures you to take up your demands and to see them fulfilled.}}

Konar knew many international languages, which include [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[German language|German]], [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], etc. He was a member of the [[International Department of the Chinese Communist Party]] and a member of the International Department of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]. He attended the [[Communist Party of Cuba]]'s conference at [[Havana, Cuba]] in 1970 and met with [[Fidel Castro]]; He attended the [[Progressive Party of Working People]]'s conference at [[Nicosia, Cyprus]] in 1970; He has also attended the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]'s conference at [[Moscow, Soviet Union]] in 1971; He attended the [[Romanian Communist Party]]'s conference and met with [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] at [[Bucharest, Romania]] in the 1960s; He had also attended [[Workers' Party of Korea]]'s conference at [[Pyongyang, North Korea]] in 1971 and met with [[Kim Il Sung]]; He attended [[Italian Communist Party]]'s conference at [[Rome, Italy]] in 1971; He attended the [[Mexican Communist Party]]'s conference at [[Mexico City, Mexico]] in 1973 and [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]]'s conference at [[Berlin, Germany]] in 1973. Konar was invited to several universities throughout the world for his contributions to land reform policy, including the [[University of Oxford]], the [[University of Cambridge]], [[Brown University]] in the [[United States]], and many more.<ref name=":0" />

=== Controversial Hanoi congress ===

In the year 1960, the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]] held its [[3rd National Congress of the Workers' Party of Vietnam|Third National Party Congress]] in [[Hanoi, Vietnam]], from 5–12 September 1960. Konar and [[K. Damodaran]] were the delegations of the [[Communist Party of India]]. [[Ajoy Ghosh]], the general secretary of the Communist Party of India, instructed Konar and Damodaran to avoid interacting with the Chinese delegations of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) at the Hanoi Conference due to the [[Sino-Soviet split]] and the party's ties with the [[Soviet Union]]. Eventually, in Vietnam, Konar met with [[Ho Chi Minh]], the [[President of Vietnam|1st President of Vietnam]], and [[Phạm Văn Đồng]], the [[Prime Minister of Vietnam|1st Prime Minister of Vietnam]]. Konar and Ho Chi Minh discussed an important topic. Firstly, he said, "What can [[India]] do to support [[First Indochina War|Vietnam's revolutionary struggle]]?" Ho Chi Minh stated that all they want is support and fraternity from the people of India, simply to explain Vietnam's struggle to the people of India. Secondly, Konar inquired as to the validity of reports concerning the dispute between the Soviet Union and China, as well as the evacuation of all its engineers and technicians from both countries. Ho Chi Minh became serious and added, "Unfortunately, it's true". Konar stated that you are the most recognized senior living comrade with international recognition. You step in to handle the issue between these two parties. Ho Chi Minh became more serious, stating that he was older and well-respected by everyone. However, he is the leader of a "small country party". Konar noticed the pain in Ho Chi Minh's eyes and face. Later, I learned that he attempted to address the issue. He traveled all the way to [[Moscow]] via [[Peking]], but as a "small country leader", he may have been unable to prevent the situation from escalating. Conflict within the international communist movement also harmed Vietnam. But, like a realistic leader, he and his party accepted reality; they rallied under the banner of [[Marxism]] and [[Anti-imperialism]] struggle and prepared the Vietnamese people for a long and difficult struggle. Knowing that the people of Vietnam could have to give their blood alone, he did not abandon them in the fight against ruthless [[American imperialism]].<ref name=":19">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2T7X8ieZzRIC&pg=RA5-PA87 |title=Problems of Communism |publisher=Documentary Studies Section, International Information Administration |year=1966 |pages=89 |language=English}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

Hare Krishna Konar played a leading role in getting surplus land held by big landowners in excess of land ceiling laws and kept ‘Benami’ (false names) vested with the state. The quantum of land thus vested was around one million acres (4,000&nbsp;km²) of good agricultural land. Subsequently, under the leadership of Hare Krishna Konar and Benoy Choudhury, land was distributed amongst 2.4 million landless and poor farmers. It has been argued that this land reform, along with [[Operation Barga]] of 1978, formed the base for the [[Left Front (West Bengal)|Left Front]] victory in subsequent elections.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=319550&catid=39 |title = The story of a pretender |publisher = The Statesman, 9 February 2010 |access-date = 2010-11-12 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110807052518/http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=319550&catid=39 |archive-date = 7 August 2011 |df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Konar |first=Hare Krishna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qyscAAAAIAAJ |title=Agrarian Problems of India |publisher=Gour Saha |year=1977 |location=The University of California |pages=240 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CPI-M-led West Bengal Government trains its guns on rural landlords |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19790430-cpi-m-led-west-bengal-government-trains-its-guns-on-rural-landlords-821990-2014-03-05 |access-date=2023-07-28 |website=India Today |date=5 March 2014 |language=en}}</ref>

It was a strange quirk of history that at each stage of West Bengal's two-phase land reforms, there was a stalwart to guide and lead the program. One was Hare Krishna Konar, the other [[Benoy Choudhury]]; both of them were totally committed to the cause, profound believers in the principles of [[Scientific socialism]]. The fearsome volatility of Konar was necessary to remove the immobility of the administration and to break the stranglehold of the landed gentry of West Bengal on society and the political establishment in the late sixties. The amiable Gandhian mode of accommodation of Benoy Choudhury was equally essential in another socio-political setting to carry a large majority of people with him for the success of the massive "[[Operation Barga]]". Each performed his unique role to carry out land reforms in two different historical situations. Soon after the first [[United Front (West Bengal)|United Front]] (UF) government came to power in 1967, the first arrow of the now-famous [[Naxalbari uprising|Naxalbari movement]] was shot, killing inspector Wangeli of the [[West Bengal Police]]. The countryside was seething with discontent. It was a troubled time when Hare Krishna Konar became the land and land revenue minister. His talks with his old compatriot [[Kanu Sanyal]], held in a jungle about 6&nbsp;km away from the [[Sukna, Darjeeling|Sukna]] forest bungalow from midnight to early morning, had failed. The new government faced a militant peasant movement. Konar was convinced that any attempt to suppress the movement by the brute force of the repressive machinery of the state would help spread the movement through underground channels. Being a practitioner of the militant peasant movement himself, he knew the fish-in-the-water tactics of armed partisan action. He was determined to evaporate the water by weaning away the landless and land-poor peasantry by substantially meeting their land hunger. And that could be done only through the vesting of ceiling surplus land held clandestinely by the landed gentry of the state. Shortly after assuming power, Hare Krishna Konar collected the land held by ‘Benami’ that exceeded the ceiling and vested it in the state through due process of law.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Bandyopadhyay|first=D.|date=2000|title=Land Reform in West Bengal: Remembering Hare Krishna Konar and Benoy Chaudhury|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4409315|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=35|issue=21/22|pages=1795–1797|jstor=4409315|issn=0012-9976}}</ref><ref name=":5"/><ref name=":11">{{Cite book|title=The State and Poverty in India, Kohli|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|date=22 January 1987|isbn=9780521378765|pages=626|language=English}}</ref>

=== Ingenious strategy of Konar and Choudhury ===

Though the [[United Front (West Bengal)|United Front]] came to power with tremendous electoral support, it had to function strictly within the rigid parameters of the [[Indian Constitution]], the established basic [[law]]s, [[Judiciary|judicial]] review of executive action, and set legal and administrative procedures and practices. Any threat to any of the established parameters would have led to a summary dismissal by the not-so-friendly central government. The political genius of Hare Krishna Konar lay in his ability to play his own ball game with the same set of rules that were apparently set against it. The [[Constitution of India]] guarantees the right to form associations and unions and to assemble peaceably. The Indian Evidence Act permits disbelief of documentary evidence on the strength of overwhelmingly reliable oral evidence. The Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) (u/s 110) allows some sort of public participation for gathering evidence against a person allegedly engaged in "bad livelihood" in order to bind him down for good behavior. Nowhere is it stated that the restraining powers under the CrPC should always be used against the peasantry and workers. If the agricultural workers and sharecroppers assemble peacefully to espouse a cause, if public order was threatened by landowners, the latter could be restrained under the CrPC in the interest of maintenance of public order. Combine the essence of these constitutional and legal rights and procedures, and you have the "Konar" recipe of legal reform with popular participation. It was so simple, so bold, and so novel. Konar did not approve of the seizure and occupation by force of private property by peasants, even though such lands had in many cases been held 'benami'. Peasants, according to him, were conservative by nature. In their psyche, private property was inviolable. Having lost their land through the process of exploitation, they hankered for their land as their own property. Hence, illegal occupation of even illegally held land would not absolve them of the sense of guilt for an illegal and even immoral action. Therefore, they would not have the courage and determination to fight for their rights if threatened with eviction in a changed political situation. Konar, therefore, favored the legal way of vesting land in the state. Once the land became the property of the state, what would happen to it would be a matter of state policy, and no individual's property rights would be involved. It may look strange for a [[revolutionary]], but being a hard-headed realist, it made sense to Konar.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5"/>

=== Detecting evasion ===

Konar asked the director of land records and surveys, Parimal Bandyopadhyay, to prepare a few actual case studies based on diligent investigation of the methodology used to disperse ceiling surplus land in a clandestine manner and then deduce the approach to be used for legally recovering such lands. The ministerial instruction resulted in the preparation and publication of a brochure entitled ''"A Note on Evasion of Ceiling Law in West Bengal (1967)"'', which detailed the methods employed by different families in different parts of West Bengal to evade the ceiling law. (The publication was withdrawn from circulation when the state was under president's rule in 1968) From the analysis, it came out that the following stages would be involved in any all-out effort to vest land in excess of the ceiling:

{{blockquote|(i) identification of families possessing or suspected of possessing land above ceiling. (ii) locating and identifying all plots of land in the effective and real possession of every such family and tracing of 'benami' lands held through fictional and collusive transactions. (iii) initiating the quasi-judicial process of vesting all surplus land (including 'benami' lands) by gathering adequate evidence that would stand the scrutiny of review/appeal at higher levels of administrative tribunals or courts of law. (iv) taking over possession of vested land after quasi-judicial processes. (v) assigning such land according to law or prescribed priority to the landless or land-poor peasantry. (vi) providing a mechanism to prevent illegal physical eviction from the assigned land. (vii) some provision for consumption and production credit to enable the new resourceless allottee to start cultivation without falling into the debt trap of the former patrons.}}

 

If one analyzed some of the stages, particularly the first three, it would be clear that much of the crucial information, intelligence, and admissible evidence could be obtained only from agricultural workers, tenants, and sharecroppers working on lands of such landed families. Konar effectively utilized the mass organizations for gathering evidence from such witnesses to demolish well-crafted fictitious documents regarding benami lands. A state of disbelief prevailed on both sides. The witnesses could not imagine that the authorities would trust their oral testimony, denouncing cunningly drafted documents. Landowners could not believe that their own trusted and loyal agricultural workers and sharecroppers would have the initiative and courage to tell the truth and denounce their "masters" before the public authorities. Many witnesses stood firm in the face of grueling cross-examination and revealed many more secrets. It was the alchemy of mobilization that encouraged the witnesses. What started off as a trickle induced from outside soon turned into a voluntary deluge of evidence coming from organized and often not-so-organized peasants and peasant groups. And within a short period of less than three years (1967–70), nearly 1 million acres of land were vested with the state through strictly legal processes, which ultimately stood the scrutiny of the courts of appeal. It broke the backbone of the economic power and social dominance of the landed aristocracy of West Bengal. But an ugly feature of this magnificent effort was the fierce internecine fight among the UF partners for the occupation of vested land. Konar, who was so insistent on the legality of vesting, took a completely different line so far as the distribution of vested land was concerned. Instead of going through any established procedure, he encouraged extra-legal occupation by peasant groups. This resulted in competition among the UF partners to occupy vested lands, which caused bloodshed among the partners, and ultimately the second UF cracked under internal pressure. Whatever the internal dynamics of the [[Second Mukherjee ministry|second UF]], the fact remains that Konar succeeded in weaning away the poor peasantry from the naxalite movement. When they found that they could get land legally by joining one of the recognized political outfits without any militancy, they promptly eschewed the violent mode of naxalism. Naxals raved and ranted against this land reform, calling it a sham exercise for defrauding the struggling peasantry. They almost abruptly stopped it when Charu Mazumdar's ceiling surplus land of 12 acres or so got vested. Charu Mazumdar's wife wrote an angry letter denouncing the "corrupt" bureaucracy for denying her the only means of livelihood. Naxals turned urban terrorists soon after. Here is a lesson for Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, but it is certain that they will not learn anything from it. Thus ended the first phase of land reform in West Bengal in 1970–71.<ref name=":4" />

 

According to Konar, the land question is a national question and not one affecting merely the peasantry. If we fail to solve the land problem, the whole society will go down. If the nation as a whole does not stand behind the measures for land reform, the peasantry or the government can do very little by themselves. History tells us that the land question and the struggle of the peasantry to resolve it were the motive force behind every revolutionary uprising, whether in the [[Russian Revolution]], the [[Chinese Communist Revolution|Chinese Revolution]], or the [[August Revolution|Vietnamese Revolution]]. We are not sure how the land problem is going to be solved in India and what the future of this country will be. As I had said, the question of land reform does not affect the poor peasant only. Land reform is an imperative necessity for the revitalization of a moribund economy and a backward country. Modern research puts all the emphasis on providing technical know-how to increase agricultural production. This is a one-sided approach. Agriculture does not depend on the bounty of nature alone. The peasant must have a love for his profession, and there must be conscious effort for increasing production. Concentration of land in a few lands will condemn many to forced unemployment and make them a liability of society. Even if there is full production, it will not lead to equal distribution of food unless there is an equal distribution of land. Sanctions of law will fail to put an end to malpractices. If opportunities to reap higher profits with less labor and investment exist, people will naturally try to take advantage of such opportunities, and it is idle to believe their attitude can be changed through sermons. A solution to the land problem is necessary not only from the point of view of social justice but also from that of increasing food production. To build up our country, we must stand on our own two legs and shed dependence on foreign aid. A scientific mobilization of our natural and human resources will go a long way to developing our agriculture. It is the wrong notion that small holdings are a bar to increasing production. Even if the peasant is given a small plot of land, he will feel the urge for increasing production since he feels it is his own. Of course, there is a limit to such an increase. The primary task, therefore, is the abolition of large-scale land and its distribution to the landless. The next step would be for the government to explain to the peasants the disadvantages of cultivating small holdings. The peasant will then voluntarily take to collective farming. Private ownership of land will thus be done away with. Then comes the question of removing the pressure on land. Land distribution by itself will not solve this problem. The pressure on land has to be reduced gradually. Cottage industries have got a positive role in this respect and those to be developed. The development of cottage industries, however, will not make for full-scale economic regeneration. We have to embark on industrial development. The rich will be denied the luxurious living they enjoy now, not because we have any personal grudge against them but because that mode of living does not fit with the overall interest of the country. Without going in for a radical change of the existing social system, we cannot take the country along the path of progress and prosperity. It is impossible for the government to solve the land problem under the present social system. The [[Zamindars]] and [[Maharajas]], who have other sources of income, should not be allowed to possess land. But the constitution stands in the way of taking such a step. We, however, can and should try to plug the loopholes in the law relating to celling on land. The machinery of the government cannot carry out land reforms even though there are honest officers in the administration. In our case, there is the bureaucracy—a built-in obstacle. The efforts of the administration have to be strengthened and supplemented by the conscious and organized participation of the peasants and the people at large. Academic discussion, to be useful, must shed its abstract nature and be a practical and down-to-earth enunciation of policies and programs. A combination of all these factors will enable us to solve the land problems.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mukherjee|first=Sukanta|title=Kisan sangram, west bengal publisher kisan sabha|publisher=Madan gosh|year=2014|location=Kolkata|pages=79|language=Bengali}}</ref><ref name=":13" />

=== Second phase ===

{{blockquote|I am a jailed communist. In future, I must be in jail or hiding, and I may even be killed. Can you continue in this uncertain life of mine?}}

{{blockquote|Yes! I can continue with you in your uncertain life.}}

Konar's younger brother, [[Benoy Krishna Konar]], who was also a firebrand peasant leader and later became the national president of the All India Kisan Sabha, became the chairman of the Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Benoy Konar was also a member of the [[West Bengal Legislative Assembly]] for more than 7 years.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2014-09-15 |title=Benoy Konar passes away |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/benoy-konar-passes-away/articleshow/42473910.cms?from=mdr |access-date=2023-10-03 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref>

The death was followed by public mourning on an unprecedented scale. The next day, July 24, at 10:00, he was brought to Muzaffar Ahmad Bhawan at 33, Alimuddin Street. His body was in the hall of the PC office, and countless people lined up from 10:00 to 15:00 to pay their last respect, including [[Indira Gandhi]], many other cabinet ministers, and international delegations from [[North Korea]], [[Vietnam]], [[China]], and the [[Soviet Union]]. The work of giving garlands went on till 15:00. When his body was taken to the street on the way to [[AJC Bose Road & APC Road|A.J.C. Bose Road]] to [[Keoratola crematorium]] via [[Dharmatala]], the police and volunteers wore a helpless look as a sea of people poured in from every possible corner of the city. It had nearly taken 2 hours to cross the road from Dharmatala to Keoratola, and finally, at 18:00, Konar was cremated in accordance with [[Antyesti|Hindu rites]] at the Keoratola crematorium on the banks of the [[Ganga]], where he was cremated in electric furnaces. He was given a state funeral by the [[Government of West Bengal]]. On July 25, there was a statement published in all the national and state newspapers that:<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Birth Centenary of Comrade HareKrishna Konar {{!}} Peoples Democracy|url=https://peoplesdemocracy.in/2014/0810_pd/birth-centenary-comrade-harekrishna-konar|access-date=2022-01-02|website=Peoplesdemocracy.in}}</ref><ref name=":18" />

{{blockquote|In a funeral procession, Calcutta streets had never witnessed such a gathering like this before.}}

== Ideology and practices ==

Hare Krishna Konar believed [[Communism]] was the only doctrine capable of eliminating oppression, which made it an effective source of inspiration for the struggle against the British. As Konar was born in the era of [[World Communism]] of the 1920s, moreover, a fraction of Indian freedom struggles were divided between the ideology of [[nonviolence]] and radical communism; eventually, the communist ideology attracted him very early in his life.<ref name=":16" />

 

 

Despite his [[atheism]], Konar often used phrases from the [[Mahabharata]], [[Ramayana]], and [[Vedas]] during his oratory to connect with the mass of rural India. He always embraced [[Culture of Bengal|Bengali culture]] and the Bengali attitude by wearing a [[Dhoti]] and [[Kurta|Panjabi]]. His normal lifestyle, powerful, bold oratory, and revolutionary struggle made him a [[Charisma|charismatic]] figure between the peasants and workers of rural India.<ref name=":16" />

Konar regarded [[Mahatma Gandhi]], the [[Anti-colonial nationalism|anti-colonial nationalist]] and Congress leader, as a young freedom hero. Konar feels that the concept of [[Ahimsa]] and [[nonviolence]] is an excellent ideal that has surely influenced the [[Indian independence movement]], but it has failed to address its root cause, and such politics will just replace one set of exploiters with another. So, in many ways, Konar criticized [[Gandhism|Gandhian philosophy]] and his nationalist ideas.<ref name=":16" />

 

During the [[Sino-Soviet split]], Konar's hardline pro-Chinese stance in the [[Communist Party of India]], where the party has always been with the [[Soviet Union]], led to controversies. His visit to China in 1960, despite General Secretary [[Ajoy Ghosh]]'s prohibition, set his fame as a pro-[[Chinese Communist Party|Chinese communist]] and anti-[[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet communist]].<ref name=":16" />

In the 1962 [[Sino-Indian War]], again, Konar's strong neutrality toward China and India became a severe allegation of a Chinese agent and an anti-national. During his many speeches, he often praised the [[Chinese Communist Revolution|Communist revolution]] of the [[Chinese Communist Party]], and these kinds of statements made him the face of an anti-nationalist by the Congress; nevertheless, when Konar was questioned whether he was actually a nationalist or not, he stated:

{{blockquote|I was only 18 years old when I was deported to a cellular jail during the Indian Independence Movement, and I then dedicated my entire life to the working-class struggle. So asking me about nationalism or patriotism is a pointless topic for me.}}

According to Konar, believing in [[Humanity (virtue)|Humanity]] is more important than believing in the philosophy of [[Nationalism]]. He described nationalism as a word of [[Elite theory|urban elites]] and the [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocrats]] of society, who do not think anything about the working-class landless peasants of rural areas and the workers of a factory.<ref name=":16" />

While in cellular jail, Konar was an avid reader of [[Mikhail Bakunin]]'s teachings, as well as [[Karl Marx]], [[Leo Tolstoy]], [[Maxim Gorky]], [[Nadezhda Krupskaya]], and [[Clara Zetkin]]. He studied the histories of revolutionary movements in [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|India]], [[French Revolution|Europe]], the [[Russian Revolution|Soviet Union]], and beyond. Konar refers to Lenin as "A revolutionary of the modern world", and he has read the revolutionary ideas of [[Trotsky]] and [[Mazzini]]. Dr. Narayan Roy used to bring those books and allow young Konar to study them; later, Konar admitted that Dr. Narayan Roy and [[Satish Pakrashi]] were the driving forces behind the teaching of [[Communism]] and [[Socialism]] and their practical implementation in society. Actually, Dr. Roy taught Konar a valuable lesson during his time in jail; additionally, this man entirely transformed Konar's thinking from revolutionary intellectual to true communist who wants to fight for backward working-class people.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|title=The Communist Parties in Power and Agrarian Reforms in India|publisher=P. Eashvaraiah|year=1993|isbn=9788171880164|location=Kerala and West Bengal, India|pages=240|language=English}}</ref>

After being released from jail in 1938, Konar joined [[Communist movements in India|India's mainstream communist movement]], and during the [[1964 split in the Communist Party of India]], he stood for the leftist faction and became a founding member of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]]. Konar was a hardline believer in [[Karl Marx]]'s social-political-economic philosophy, also known as [[Scientific socialism]]. According to Konar, scientific socialism deals with social, economic, and material phenomena by examining their historical trends through the use of the scientific method in order to derive probable outcomes and probable future developments, establishing seemingly rational propositions for organizing society and convincing others of their rationality or desirability. Konar sees social and political developments as being largely determined by economic conditions. Konar believes that social relations and notions of morality are context-based relative to their specific stage of economic development. He further noted that economic systems, [[socialism]], and [[capitalism]] are not social constructs that can be established at any time based on the subjective will and desires of the population but instead are the products of social evolution. Konar described scientific socialism as a more practical-based theory that focuses on all aspects of land and other socioeconomic values in India, as well as the rural structure. Hence, his land reform effort followed the socialistic formula. He says towards this agrarian revolution that:

{{blockquote|If the agrarian revolution in the villages does not continue, the People's Democratic Revolution will be just a distant memory. The agrarian revolution is the only driving force behind the People's Democratic Revolution.}}

According to Konar, fundamental land reform is impossible in this state structure. So the campaign began to seek as much legally feasible and fundamental land reform in the state of West Bengal. The liberation of the country sparked a new surge of activity in the struggle for the liberation of exploited people. Konar turned down any prospects for comfort in his personal life. He knew how to read the minds of the villagers; agriculture was their primary source of income, and he was well-versed in agricultural issues. And because of his remarkable oratory, exceptional ability to understand the mindset of rural India, desire to reform Indian agricultural beliefs, and positive impact on working-class people's mindsets. Even the [[Union Council of Ministers|Union Cabinet Ministers]] used to fear him on any form of agricultural disagreements and issues, including [[Ashok Mitra]], the [[Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India]], who once said:

{{blockquote|When Konar used to speak, I had no audacity to speak in front of him at any issue. He was my teacher, and I was his studious student.}}

=== Explanatory notes ===

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