Hare Krishna Konar: Difference between revisions

'''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 one of the founding members of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] and 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]].}} 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 the deputy member of the Administrative Committee of the [[Trade Union International of Agricultural, Forestry and Plantation Workers]] (TUIAFPW), which was the Communist Bloc of the [[World Federation of Trade Unions]]. He attended and led many Trade Union International conferences, such as the 21st meeting of the Administrative Committee of the TUIAFPW from 28 to 31 August 1972 in [[Prague, Czechoslovakia]], and at the [[Berlin, East Germany]], meeting of the Administrative Committee of the TUIAFPW from 28 to 31 August 1973.<ref name=":0" />

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 appointed Parimal Bandyopadhyay as director of land records and surveys and put him in charge of unearthing land held "Benami" in excess of the ceiling and vesting 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>

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" /><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>

After being released from jail in 1938, Konar's father intended to put his son into [[business]] and expand the value of his assets. Despite his disappointment, he refused to give up. He believed that if he could get his son married and have children, then Konar would have to return home. Finally, after three years of trying, Konar agreed to the marriage, but only under three conditions:

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

After Konar's marriage, his father hoped that Konar would stay at home and look after his business, but within three months of marriage, Konar received an arrest warrant, and Benoy Choudhury took Konar's wife, Biva Konar, to a secret lair, and she had to go underground with her husband. Sribrajeshwar Dan was a wealthy zamindar; therefore, when his daughter married, he gave her a lot of jewelry. However, during their party life, Biva Konar almost sold all of her jewelry for the party funds. Although there was no political tradition in the paternal family of Biva Konar, there was a simple devotion to her husband's ideals and an uncanny ability to throw herself into the crowd at the expense of the conventional notions of individual happiness—Biva Konar was a simple image of simplicity.<ref name=":18" />

During their underground time period, Biva Konar gave birth to a daughter. Later, she gave birth to another two sons. Konar spent the last few months of his life living at his [[Beniapukur]] house in [[Calcutta]] with his wife and two sons, as his daughter got married. However, after Konar's death in 1974, his wife, Biva Konar, with his two boys, shifted to [[Bardhaman]], where Biva Konar later became an active member of the [[All India Democratic Women's Association]], although she had been active in politics and a member of the [[Communist Party of India]] from 1943, and after the [[1964 split in the Communist Party of India]], she sided with the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] and was a member from 1964 until her death.<ref name=":18" />

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]] from the [[Memari Assembly constituency]] 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>

Konar's sister-in-law, [[Maharani Konar]] (wife of Benoy Krishna Konar), was a veteran communist leader and politician and one of the founding leaders of the [[All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers]]. She was a member of the West Bengal State Committee of the [[Centre of Indian Trade Unions]]. Maharani Konar served as a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, representing the [[Memari Assembly constituency]] for over 13 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Red Salute Comrade Maharani Konar |url=http://citucentre.org/federations/867-red-salute-comrade-maharani-konar |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=[[Centre of Indian Trade Unions|citucentre.org]] |language=en-gb}}</ref>

In 1974, Konar was diagnosed with neck cancer because of his excessive smoking of cigarettes and cigars, and due to his critical condition, he immediately traveled to the [[United States]] for treatment. In the States, the doctors strictly mentioned to him not to smoke or speak loudly. He came back to India and was in a routine for a few months. However, throughout the 1970s, [[India]]n and [[West Bengal]] politics were at their peak. So he initially ignored doctors' advice and began attending meetings and oratory.<ref name=":18" />

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

The headquarters of the [[All India Kisan Sabha (36 Canning Lane)|West Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha]] in [[Sealdah|Sealdah, Kolkata]], was named after Hare Krishna Konar as the "Harekrishna Konar Smriti Bhavan".<ref name=":14" />

Three government libraries were named after Hare Krishna Konar as "Harekrishna Konar Smriti Pathagar": one in [[Bankura district|Natherdanga, Bankura district]]; one in [[Gangarampur|Gangarampur, Dakshin Dinajpur district]]; and another one in his birthplace, [[Kamargoria|Kamargoria, Purba Bardhaman district]].<ref name=":14" />

In 1979, the [[Ministry of Information & Cultural Affairs (West Bengal)|Department of Information & Cultural Affairs]] of the [[Government of West Bengal]] made a biographical documentary film named ''"Comrade Harekrishna Konar"'', which was produced by Gour Saha and the Harekrishna Konar Memorial Agrarian Research Centre. This documentary was screened several times in [[Kolkata]] and [[Delhi]] during various campaigns. The film covers Konar's childhood days, revolutionary life, and political career and also includes an interview video of revolutionary [[Ganesh Ghosh]].<ref name=":18" />