Satyagraha in New India: Founded by Vinoba Bhave, Sarva Sewa Sangh in protest mode

By Rosamma Thomas*

A 100-day Satyagraha has been launched at the entrance to the demolished Sarva Sewa Sangh in Rajghat, Varanasi, by a group of Gandhians seeking restoration of the land to the Sarva Sewa Sangh, and punishment as provided by law for the illegal capture and demolition of the headquarters of the Sarva Sewa Sangh, a society registered in 1948 by Vinobha Bhave to spread the message of Gandhi.

The 100-day Satyagraha, which began on September 10, 2024, will see relay hunger strikes across 100 districts of the country. People from across the country are travelling to express solidarity with the Gandhians who have been forcibly evicted and are now protesting peacefully for the restoration of the land.

Sarva Seva Sangh, through its production of low-priced books that exposed readers to the thoughts of Gandhi, Vinobha Bhave and the Sarvodaya Movement, which stood for dignity and equity as goals for a post-Independence India, stood as a bulwark against the rising tide of Hindutva. Demolishing the structure that housed the institution and forcing the Gandhians who convened there to scatter was clearly like hammering a nail into what may have appeared like the coffin of Gandhian ideals.

Gandhi’s ideals, however, are far from dead in India. A new book by former NCERT chief Prof Krishna Kumar was released just this month, commemorating Gandhi in fiction. Hundreds of Gandhians, young and old, will come together in peaceful protest to demand that the usurped land in Varanasi be returned, and that the Sarva Seva Sangh be compensated for the loss of the buildings and the books and documents at the site, spread over more than eight acres on the banks of the Ganga in Varanasi.

The Sarva Seva Sangh is also fighting the matter in court – on September 12, 2024, the civil judge, Varanasi, ruled that the Civil Declaration Suit that had been filed in May 2023 to clear the status of ownership of the land that the Northern Railways claimed as its own despite the fact that the Sarva Seva Sangh had been operating from it for over five decades, was maintainable. The matter will be heard next on September 23.

Even as this matter was pending resolution, the structure was demolished after forceful eviction in August 2023.

It was under Vinoba Bhave’s leadership that the land was acquired in three installments between May 1960 and May 1970

The government argued in the Civil Declaration Suit matter that the Divisional Engineer, Northern Railways, who had signed the sale deed that Sarva Seva Sangh has carefully preserved over the years, was not authorized to make such a sale; that no government order had recorded such a sale, and that the Railways had never sold land to any private party before. The government argued that the engineer who signed the deed had not written his name; that it was unclear whether he was the Divisional Engineer One or Two, for that is the proper name of the designation.

These arguments make mockery of the memory of Vinobha Bhave, who became a resident of Gandhi’s ashrams in 1916 and spent several years in jail during the freedom struggle, punished for civil disobedience. It was under Bhave’s leadership that the land was acquired in three installments between May 1960 and May 1970; documents establishing the sale were preserved in the library of the Sarva Seva Sangh at Varanasi, now a pile of rubble; entry to the premises is barred.

Gandhians involved in the court proceedings noted with concern that orders on the Civil Declaration Suit – a procedure by which a court can declare a title, in cases where there is some confusion over ownership -- were deferred more than once; five judges have been transferred in the course of hearings. Meanwhile, the original case in this matter has still to be heard. The Gandhians believe that documentary evidence in their favour is incontrovertible, and a proper hearing will expose dubious decision-making on the part of the government.

No attempt was made by this reporter to contact government authorities for a comment on this matter, for what can one expect from a government led by a prime minister who in over 10 years at the helm, has never once addressed a press conference? On September 17, 2024, as the prime minister celebrated his birthday, the Supreme Court ruled that even one instance of illegal demolition was against the ethos of the Constitution.

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*Freelance journalist

Comments

Saurabh Singh said…

Was with Gandhians but saw them compromising their values, agenda and aligning the political groups. Left these people. Opportunists and full of corruption. Don't go on facade and their narratives.

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