Chapter 7 Rise Of Popular Movements

This chapter explores the emergence and significance of **popular movements** in Indian politics, particularly from the 1970s onwards. After three decades of independence, many people began feeling impatient and that their needs and demands were not being adequately addressed by democratic politics as practiced by political parties. This led diverse social groups, including women, students, Dalits, and farmers, to organize under various social organizations to voice their grievances and demands. These collective actions are known as popular movements or new social movements.

The chapter examines the nature and characteristics of these movements, the sections of society they mobilized, their main agendas, and their role within India's democratic system.

These photographs show participants in the Chipko Movement literally embracing trees to prevent them from being felled, illustrating a unique form of collective action related to environmental protection.

Nature Of Popular Movements

Popular movements can be social or political, often with overlapping characteristics. The nationalist movement itself was primarily political but included discussions on social and economic issues that gave rise to early independent social movements like the anti-caste movement, peasant organizations (kisan sabhas), and trade unions in the pre-independence era. These movements addressed underlying social conflicts.

Chipko Movement

The **Chipko Movement**, starting in Uttarakhand (then part of Uttar Pradesh) in the early 1970s, is a prime example of a popular movement focusing on environmental issues and local resource control. It began when the government's forest department denied villagers permission to cut ash trees for agricultural tool making but allotted the same area to a sports manufacturer for commercial logging. This sparked outrage among villagers, who protested by **hugging the trees** to prevent them from being cut.

The movement spread, raising broader issues of ecological and economic exploitation of the Himalayan region. Villagers demanded that forest contracts should not be given to outsiders and that local communities should have effective control over natural resources (land, water, forests). They also sought low-cost materials for small local industries and development that respected ecological balance. The movement also addressed economic issues like minimum wage for landless forest workers.

A significant aspect was the active participation of **women**, who not only protested against logging but also agitated against the widespread problem of alcoholism, often fueled by forest contractors, broadening the movement's agenda to include social issues. The Chipko Movement achieved a victory when the government banned tree felling in Himalayan regions for fifteen years. More broadly, it became symbolic of numerous popular movements emerging across India from the 1970s onwards, addressing diverse issues beyond traditional political party concerns.

Party Based Movements

Some popular movements have been closely linked to political parties. In the post-independence period, movements focusing on economic injustice and inequality, particularly among peasants and industrial workers, were often led by or strongly associated with political parties. Trade unions were prominent in industrial centers and linked to major political parties. Peasant movements, like the agitations in Telangana in the early independence years, were organized under the leadership of Communist parties, demanding land redistribution. Marxist-Leninist groups (Naxalites) also led peasant agitations focusing on similar issues.

While these movements did not formally participate in elections, many participants and associated organizations had active connections with political parties. These links helped ensure that the demands of diverse social sections were represented within party politics.

Non-Party Movements

In the 1970s and 1980s, many segments of society became disillusioned with the functioning of existing political parties, partly due to the failure of the Janata government and political instability, but also stemming from the long-term effects of state economic policies. Despite impressive growth in some sectors, widespread poverty and inequalities persisted. Existing social inequalities like caste and gender intersected with poverty, and a significant gap remained between the urban-industrial and rural-agrarian sectors. This led to a growing sense of injustice and deprivation among different groups.

Many politically active groups lost faith in traditional democratic institutions and electoral politics. They chose to operate **outside of party politics** and engage in **mass mobilization** to voice their protests. Students and young activists were prominent in organizing marginalized sections like Dalits and Adivasis. Middle-class youth initiated voluntary organizations focused on social work among the rural poor.

These groups, often called **voluntary organisations** or **non-party political formations**, deliberately chose to remain outside formal party structures and electoral contests. They believed in engaging in politics but not through the traditional party system, hoping that direct participation and mobilization by local citizen groups would be more effective in addressing local issues and could potentially reform democratic governance. While these organizations continue their work, their nature has evolved, with many now relying on external funding, which can sometimes impact the ideal of local initiative.

These posters from different popular movements demonstrate how artistic production serves as a medium for expressing the demands, concerns, and ideologies of these movements and mobilizing public support.

Dalit Panthers

The **Dalit Panthers**, formed in Maharashtra in 1972, was a militant organization of Dalit youth that emerged as part of the assertion of the first generation of Dalit graduates, particularly in urban areas. This movement was rooted in the continued experience of caste-based inequalities, material injustices, and brutal atrocities faced by Dalit communities despite the constitutional abolition of untouchability and guarantees of equality.

Origins

In the post-independence period, despite constitutional provisions against untouchability and laws passed in the 1960s and 70s, social discrimination and violence against ex-untouchable groups persisted. Dalit settlements were often segregated, denied access to common resources like drinking water, and Dalit women faced specific forms of abuse. Dalits also faced collective atrocities over minor issues of caste pride. Existing legal mechanisms often proved inadequate to stop their social and economic oppression. Furthermore, political parties specifically supported by Dalits, like the Republican Party of India (RPI), remained marginal in electoral politics, facing splits and needing alliances to win seats. Consequently, the Dalit Panthers turned to **mass action** to assert Dalit rights and protest injustices.

Information about Namdeo Dhasal's poem "Dalit Pilgrims of Darkness":

This poem by Marathi poet Namdeo Dhasal captures the historical suffering and continued oppression faced by Dalit communities ('pilgrims of darkness') over centuries. It expresses the anguish of post-independence Dalits facing persistent injustices but also conveys a sense of hope and determination ('Now, now we must refuse...'). The 'sunflower-giving fakir' is a reference to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the key figure in the Dalit liberation movement, symbolizing his role as a liberator and inspiration who encouraged Dalits to turn towards a future of dignity and assertion, like sunflowers turning to the sun. The poem reflects the blend of historical consciousness, present struggle, and future aspirations characteristic of Dalit assertion movements.

This image likely represents aspects of the Dalit assertion movement, perhaps highlighting their struggle for rights or protest against continued discrimination and atrocities.

Activities

The activities of the Dalit Panthers primarily focused on combating the rising wave of **atrocities against Dalits** in Maharashtra. Their sustained agitations, often in collaboration with other like-minded groups, contributed to the government passing a comprehensive law in 1989 providing stricter punishment for such acts.

Beyond immediate action against atrocities, the Panthers had a larger ideological goal: to **destroy the caste system** itself and build an organization that included all oppressed sections of society, uniting landless poor peasants, urban industrial workers, and Dalits. The movement also provided a platform for educated Dalit youth to express their experiences and protest through creative means, particularly in literature. Dalit writers published powerful autobiographies and literary works portraying the brutalities of the caste system, shaking the Marathi literary world and initiating a cultural challenge against dominant norms. However, the Dalit Panthers faced internal splits and electoral compromises in the post-Emergency period, leading to their decline, with organizations like the Backward and Minority Communities’ Employees Federation (BAMCEF) filling some of the vacuum.

Information about 'Hidden Apartheid':

'Apartheid' was the system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa. The term 'Hidden Apartheid' is used in the context of India to draw a parallel between the systemic discrimination faced by Dalits based on caste and the racial discrimination faced by Black people in South Africa. It suggests that caste-based discrimination, though legally abolished, continues to operate in subtle and pervasive ways, creating a system of social exclusion and oppression comparable to apartheid. Examples beyond Dalits could include discrimination faced by other marginalized groups based on caste or tribal identity, even when not explicitly called 'untouchability'.

Bharatiya Kisan Union

Social discontent in India extended beyond the most marginalized. Even sections who had benefited partially from development policies voiced complaints. The **Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)** represents agrarian struggles led by better-off farmers in the 1980s.

Growth

A notable instance of BKU mobilization was the gathering of around twenty thousand farmers in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, in January 1988, protesting against an increase in electricity rates. Their disciplined three-week encampment outside the collector's office showcased the 'rural power' of farmer cultivators. The BKU, active in western UP and Haryana, emerged as a leading farmers' organization in the 1980s. Farmers in these regions had benefited from the Green Revolution, with sugar and wheat becoming major cash crops. However, the market for these cash crops faced challenges with the onset of economic liberalization in the mid-1980s.

The BKU's demands included higher government guaranteed prices (floor prices) for sugarcane and wheat, removal of restrictions on interstate movement of farm produce, guaranteed electricity supply at reasonable rates, loan waivers, and government pensions for farmers.

Similar demands were raised by other farmer organizations nationwide (e.g., Shetkari Sanghatana in Maharashtra, Rayata Sangha in Karnataka). Some framed the movement as a struggle between 'Bharat' (rural, agrarian India) and 'India' (urban, industrial India), highlighting the long-standing debate about the model of development prioritizing industry over agriculture, which resurfaced with liberalization policies perceived as threatening the agricultural sector.

This photograph shows a large rally organized by the Bharatiya Kisan Union in Punjab, demonstrating the organization's capacity for mass mobilization and the collective assertion of farmers' demands.

Characteristics

BKU employed various methods of protest, including rallies, demonstrations, sit-ins, and 'jail bharo' (courting imprisonment) agitations, mobilizing tens of thousands of farmers. A key characteristic was the use of **caste linkages**; most BKU members belonged to a single dominant community, and the organization leveraged traditional caste panchayats for mobilization on economic issues. Despite lacking a formal organizational structure, BKU sustained itself for a long time through **clan networks** that facilitated mobilization of funds, resources, and activities.

Until the early 1990s, the BKU maintained distance from all political parties, operating as a pressure group. Alongside other farmer organizations, it successfully achieved some of its economic demands, becoming one of the most successful social movements of the 1980s in this regard. Their success was attributed to the political bargaining power of their members – prosperous farmers from dominant regional castes involved in market-oriented cash crop farming. Other prominent farmer organizations sharing similar characteristics included Shetkari Sanghatana and Rayata Sangha.

Anti-Arrack Movement

The **anti-arrack movement** in Andhra Pradesh represents a distinct form of popular mobilization, initiated and led primarily by rural women, demanding a ban on the sale of alcohol (arrack) in their localities. This movement emerged in the early 1990s.

These photographs depict women participating in protests against the sale and consumption of arrack, showcasing the grassroots mobilization and leadership of women in this social movement.

Origins

The movement's origins can be traced to discussions in Adult Literacy classes in Dubagunta village, Nellore district, where women complained about the negative impacts of increased arrack consumption by men in their families. Alcoholism was causing severe problems: ruin of physical and mental health, economic hardship (indebtedness, men absent from work), and crime linked to the arrack trade. Women bore the worst consequences, facing the collapse of family economies and experiencing domestic violence from male family members, particularly husbands.

In response, women in Nellore launched spontaneous local protests against arrack, forcing the closure of local wine shops. The news spread rapidly, inspiring women in thousands of other villages to organize meetings, pass resolutions demanding prohibition, and petition the District Collector. This pressure led to repeated postponements of arrack auctions in Nellore. The movement gradually expanded across the entire state of Andhra Pradesh.

Linkages

The anti-arrack movement's primary demand was simple – a ban on arrack sale. However, this demand was deeply connected to larger social, economic, and political issues affecting women's lives in the region. The arrack business was linked to a nexus of crime and politics, and the state government was reluctant to impose a ban due to the significant revenue collected from arrack taxes. Women actively challenged these complex issues through their agitation, openly discussing topics like domestic violence.

By providing a platform for women to discuss private issues like domestic violence publicly, the anti-arrack movement became intertwined with the broader **women's movement**. Earlier, urban middle-class women's groups focused on issues like domestic violence, dowry, and sexual abuse, advocating for legal reforms. In the 1980s, the women's movement increasingly focused on sexual violence against women (within and outside the family) and campaigned against dowry, demanding gender equality in personal and property laws.

This photograph shows women participating in a procession in Hyderabad in 1992 as part of the anti-arrack movement, demonstrating the expansion of this women-led agitation to urban centers and state-level political expression.

This image of women demonstrating in favor of an anti-dowry act represents another facet of the women's movement in India, highlighting their activism against harmful social practices and demanding legal measures for their protection and rights.

These campaigns significantly raised social awareness about women's issues. The focus shifted from legal reforms to direct social action. In the 1990s, the movement demanded equal political representation for women, contributing to reservations for women in local bodies (73rd and 74th amendments) and ongoing demands for similar reservations in state and central legislatures (constitutional amendment bill facing debate and opposition on internal quotas for Dalit/OBC women).

Narmada Bachao Aandolan

The **Narmada Bachao Aandolan (NBA)** is a prominent example of a movement that directly challenged the model of economic development adopted by India since independence, explicitly raising issues related to displacement caused by large developmental projects. Unlike movements focusing on single issues, the NBA interconnected environmental concerns, social justice, and the nature of development.

This poster supporting the Narmada Bachao Andolan serves as a visual representation of the movement's cause, aiming to mobilize public opinion and support against the Narmada dam projects.

Sardar Sarovar Project

The movement emerged in opposition to the **Sardar Sarovar Project**, an ambitious multipurpose mega-dam project in the Narmada valley. This project, spanning Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, involved building numerous big, medium, and small dams. The Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat and the Narmada Sagar Project in MP were the largest dams planned. Proponents highlighted potential benefits like drinking water, irrigation, electricity generation, increased agricultural production, and flood/drought control for vast areas.

However, the project entailed submerging 245 villages and relocating approximately 2.5 lakh (250,000) people. Initial concerns about proper relocation and rehabilitation of project-affected people were raised by local activist groups. Around 1988-89, these issues coalesced under the NBA's banner, formed as a collective of local voluntary organizations specifically to oppose the construction of these dams and question the prevalent model of development.

Debates And Struggles

From its inception, the NBA linked its opposition to the Sardar Sarovar Project to broader questions about India's development model and the definition of 'public interest' in a democracy. It demanded a **cost-benefit analysis** of major projects, arguing that such analysis must include calculation of social costs, such as forced resettlement, loss of livelihoods and culture for affected people, and ecological depletion. Initially, the NBA focused on ensuring just rehabilitation. However, it evolved to question the decision-making processes behind mega-projects, insisting that local communities should have a say and control over natural resources. The movement challenged the notion that some people should sacrifice for the benefit of others in a democracy. These fundamental questions led the NBA to shift from demanding rehabilitation to a position of **total opposition to the dam**.

The NBA's arguments faced strong opposition, particularly in states like Gujarat, where the dam was seen as essential for development and providing water access. Despite the movement's efforts, the right to rehabilitation has been recognized by the government and judiciary, leading to the National Rehabilitation Policy in 2003 (seen as an NBA achievement in this area). However, the core demand to stop the dam construction was criticized as hindering development. The Supreme Court ultimately upheld the government's decision to proceed with the dam while ordering proper rehabilitation.

These images illustrate the forms of protest employed by the Narmada Bachao Aandolan, such as Jalsamadhi (protesting by standing in rising dam waters) and boat rallies, showcasing their use of direct action and symbolic gestures to highlight the plight of affected communities and oppose the dam projects.

The NBA sustained its agitation for over two decades, utilizing various democratic strategies: appeals to the judiciary, international mobilization, public rallies, and forms of Satyagraha. However, it did not gain significant support from mainstream political parties. The NBA's journey highlights a growing disconnection between political parties and social movements in Indian politics. By the late 1990s, many local movements emerged challenging large development projects. The NBA became part of a larger alliance of people's movements addressing similar issues nationwide.

Lessons Of Popular Movements

The history of popular movements in India provides important insights into the nature of its democratic politics. These movements are not merely sporadic protests; they arise to address shortcomings in the functioning of party politics and are an integral part of the democratic process. They give voice to new social groups and represent diverse demands that were not adequately addressed within the electoral arena. By providing effective representation, popular movements help prevent deep social conflict and keep disadvantaged groups engaged with democracy. They introduce new forms of active participation, broadening the scope of democratic engagement.

Critics argue that movements using strikes, sit-ins, and rallies disrupt government functioning and destabilize democracy. However, this raises the question of why movements resort to such assertive actions. As seen in this chapter, popular movements often raise legitimate demands and involve large-scale participation, particularly of the poor, disadvantaged, and marginalized sections. The frequency and methods suggest that routine democratic channels may not provide adequate space for these groups' voices, leading them to seek avenues outside the electoral framework.

The recent example of new economic policies illustrates this. With growing political consensus on these policies, marginalized groups negatively affected may receive less attention from parties and media. Effective protest might require assertive actions by movements outside party politics.

Information about the Movement for Right to Information (RTI):

The RTI movement, particularly active in Rajasthan led by MKSS (Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan) since 1990, is a notable success story of a movement compelling the state to accept a major demand. It began with demanding records of famine relief work and labor payments in a backward region, asserting citizens' right to information about public funds. MKSS organized Jan Sunwais (Public Hearings) where administrators were questioned publicly. This local initiative gained national momentum, contributing to the push for a national RTI law. After a weaker act in 2002, the comprehensive RTI Bill was passed in 2005, granting citizens the legal right to access government information, demonstrating how a popular movement can bring about significant legislative change and increase transparency and accountability in governance.

These visuals, related to the Right to Information movement, might illustrate its methods (e.g., public hearings, use of theatre) or its goals (transparency, accountability), highlighting how movements employ creative means to educate and mobilize citizens and pressure the government.

Movements are processes of people coming together with shared problems and demands, but also educating people about their rights and expectations from democracy. They contribute to the expansion of democracy. However, their impact on public policy can be limited, partly because many contemporary movements focus on single issues and sections, making it easier to ignore their demands. Democratic politics ideally requires a broad alliance of disadvantaged groups, but movements haven't effectively forged this, and political parties seem less engaged with marginalized groups' issues, creating a disconnect between movements operating on specific issues and parties needed for broader representation.