All India Kisan Sabha (36 Canning Lane)

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), or Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha, is the peasant front of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and works for farmer's rights, peasant rights, and anti-feudal movement in India.

This organization is sometimes referred to as All India Kisan Sabha (36 Canning Lane), to distinguish it from the All India Kisan Sabha of Communist Party of India. All India Kisan Sabha (36 Canning Lane) was previously known as All India Kisan Sabha (Ashoka Road).

History

After the 1964 split in the Communist Party of India, there were efforts to retain AIKS as a united organization. However, there were tensions between the leftist and rightist factions within the AIKS. But soon, at the 28 August 1967 Central Kisan Council meeting in Madurai, differences arose over the membership figures. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) faction in AIKS accused the Communist Party of India faction of presenting falsely inflated membership data of state units in order to increase their influence in the organization. The dispute led to a walk-out from the Central Kisan Council. Due to the disruptive activities of those leaders, finally, there was a split in the Kisan Sabha, and another Kisan Sabha was constituted in October 1967, after a section of the leadership left the AIKS and formed a separate Sabha.

As a result, the CPI faction constitutes a parallel All India Kisan Sabha of its own by holding their 19th All India Conference at Amravati, Maharashtra, in January 1968. And the CPI(M) faction constitutes All India Kisan Sabha (36 Canning Lane) by holding its 19th All India Conference at Madurai, Tamil Nadu, on January 26–28, 1968. In Madurai, the conference amended its constitution and abolished AIKC as it rarely met. As there was no AIKC, the conference directly elected the CKC and office bearers for the first time. The conference elected A. K. Gopalan as its president, and Hare Krishna Konar was elected the general secretary. The conference also elected a 33-member CKC, including office bearers. On the last evening, a public rally was held at Madurai. A large number of peasants, agricultural workers, and working-class people attended the huge gathering. It was addressed by J. S. Lyallpuri, E. M. S. Namboodiripad, P. Ramamurthi, and others. A decision was taken to shift the central office. The Central Office of the Kisan Sabha was shifted from Delhi, 4 Ashoka Road, in April 1968, to Calcutta, first at 49 Lake Place and then to 36A Beniapukur Road, Calcutta 14.

National office bearers The 35th All India Conference held at Thrissur, Kerala from 13–16 December 2022 elected Vijoo Krishnan as the general secretary of All India Kisan Sabha. National president Ashok Dhawale and finance secretary P. Krishna Prasad retained their positions from the previous Hisar conference.

National Conference Date Place President General Secretary19th26–28 January 1968MaduraiA. K. GopalanHare Krishna Konar20th30 October–3 November 1969Barsul21st23–26 September 1971Rurka Kalan22nd11–14 April 1974Sikar23rd30 March–1 April 1979VaranasiBenoy ChoudhuryK. Chathunni24th8–11 November 1982MidnaporeUdaraju RamanSantimoy Ghosh25th17–19 May 1986PatnaGodavari ParulekarN. Sankaraiah26th27–30 April 1989KhammamHarkishan Singh SurjeetRam Narayan Goswami27th27–30 September 1992HisarN. Sankaraiah28th19–20 November 1995CuttackBenoy Krishna KonarS. Ramachandran Pillai29th5–8 March 1999KozhikodeS. Ramachandran PillaiK. Varadarajan30th6–9 March 2003Jalandhar31st28–31 January 2006Nashik32nd7–10 January 2010Guntur33rd24–27 July 2013CuddaloreAmra RamHannan Mollah34th3–6 October 2017HisarAshok Dhawale35th13–16 December 2022ThrissurVijoo Krishnan

Membership chart This chart uses the Indian numeral system State/Union territory 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999–2000 Andhra Pradesh 2,11,465 1,37,100 2,25,137 2,25,234 1,00,808 2,15,930 1,00,000 Assam 1,44,538 1,59,723 1,01,324 1,44,545 1,18,611 1,61,277 1,44,588 Bihar 2,10,000 2,30,100 1,52,000 2,00,000 2,04,000 2,17,000 1,84,000 Gujarat 13,000 9,140 11,500 6,000 6,000 8,400 10,440 Haryana 14,500 12,500 12,300 13,000 15,000 14,100 16,150 Himachal Pradesh 5,200 5,000 6,000 7,000 13,000 12,780 10,000 Jammu and Kashmir 4,500 5,000 5,000 5,000 6,000 4,000 7,000 Karnataka 52,000 75,000 89,633 92,568 67,160 73,515 70,775 Kerala 10,05,760 12,26,488 11,91,666 13,23,562 13,33,620 17,66,606 19,45,366 Madhya Pradesh 19,000 19,252 36,012 37,482 48,965 37,534 50,411 Maharashtra 69,800 70,000 85,343 92,273 90,371 92,340 1,21,807 Manipur 5,740 4,100 4,720 5,140 4,700 4,960 - Odisha 22,000 18,349 26,392 21,700 22,000 31,364 30,000 Punjab 80,000 1,05,600 1,30,120 90,000 1,02,000 1,06,000 1,20,000 Rajasthan 32,432 71,659 36,000 54,040 55,893 59,496 50,950 Sikkim 500 1,600 2,000 - 1,600 - - Tamil Nadu 2,50,000 2,50,000 2,46,289 3,00,000 2,71,355 3,00,000 4,01,029 Tripura K.S. 1,01,000 1,11,920 1,26,500 2,12,000 (KS+GMP) 1,21,500 1,38,000 1,35,650 Tripura G.M.P 52,000 60,000 85,000 see above 92,000 92,000 70,000 Uttar Pradesh 89,655 1,28,450 1,26,000 1,60,000 1,15,844 1,37,499 1,15,084 West Bengal 99,54,652 1,05,38,499 1,11,06,406 1,14,59,519 1,00,55,121 1,12,18,075 1,10,11,153 Total: 1,23,37,742 1,32,39,480 1,36,25,726 1,44,49,063 1,28,45,248 1,46,90,879 1,45,94,403

Activities Protest against three Agri-bills

AIKS led nationwide protests against Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

26 January 2021: AIKS organized tractor rally in national capital. 25 January 2021: 50,000 farmers from various regions of Maharashtra marched towards the Raj Bhavan and submitted its charter of demands to Governor Bhagat Singh Kosyari. 24 January 2021: 20,000 farmers’ vehicle march from Golfclub Maidan in Nashik to Mumbai, Maharashtra.

References

Further reading A History of the All India Kisan Sabha, by Md. Abdullah Rasul. Published by National Book Agency, 1974. All India Kisan Sabha (2 volumes), by O. P. Ralhan (ed.). Published by Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd., 1998. . (pp. 1–10), by O. P. Ralhan. Published by Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd., 2002. .

External links AIKS Official website AIKS Official X–Handle AIKS Official Facebook Newsreport on 2003 AIKS conference in Jullundhur PRESS RELEASE BY NATIONAL FARMER UNION LEADERS