Visions of peasant rule: agrarian populism in India, c.1920-80

Thesis

This thesis explores a neglected ‘agrarian populist’ ideological tradition in India through four figures: Sir Chhotu Ram, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, N. G. Ranga and Charan Singh. Well studied within their respective regions - Haryana, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh - historians have largely overlooked the political influence of their ideologies in India, particularly after independence in 1947. Their ‘agrarian populisms’, rooted in a notion of the ‘people’ (peasantry) defined against various urban ‘elites’, led them to advocate for land reform, cooperatives and parliamentary democracy. However, their thought was not completely identical as each politician took independent stances on each policy in accordance with their own unique experiences and intellectual interests. Nevertheless, the thesis seeks to understand why ‘agrarian populist’ ideology first emerged in India in the 1920s, and how what was initially a marginal creed came to exert significant influence in post-colonial Indian politics. 

Taking a political and intellectual history approach, this study proposes an alternative ideological framework for understanding each figure’s ideology, as well as a new approach to studying twentieth-century Indian agrarian politics. Rather than focusing on the worldviews of ‘subaltern’ groups or the more prominent national figures of M. K. Gandhi (1869-1948) and Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), this thesis examines the writings and political careers of figures who, while not peasants themselves, wielded enormous influence on peasant politics. Their ideas also clearly resonated with rural populations, as evidenced by the substantial support their parties and movements received in the countryside. 

Overall, this thesis intends to show that the origins of ‘agrarian populist’ thinking run much deeper than previously suggested in the historiography. Appreciating these deep roots of ‘agrarian populist’ thought suggests that ‘populism’ of one kind, or another, has been an important feature of Indian politics for at least a century.

Authors: Graham, BM

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-eor6eqgnb
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Lok; agrarianism; Janata; Kisan; Mazdoor; populism; Praja
• Subjects: Agrarianism; India, South; Depressions--1929; Political parties; Populism; Agriculture and state; India, Northwestern; Anti-communist movements; Farmers' Protests, India, 2020-2021; India - History; Imperial history; Political history; Intellectual history