Commemorating P Sundarayya's 40th Death Anniversary
Nidheesh Villatt
THE P Sundarayya Memorial Trust (PSMT) commemorated the 40th death anniversary of the legendary freedom fighter and towering peasant leader P Sundarayya by organising a book discussion on the book “A Peoples’ History of the Farmers’ Movement, 2020-21”, edited by Shamsher Singh and Sabah Siddiqui, on May 19, 2025 at the Harkishan Singh Surjeet Bhawan in New Delhi. P Sundarayya, the master strategist and tactician of the agrarian revolution in India, and in particular of the iconic Telangana Armed Peasants' Struggle, devoted his entire life to liberate the peasantry from the imperialist and big bourgeois-landlord stranglehold.
The book under discussion critically chronicled the “people’s history” of the historic struggle against the draconian farm laws initiated by the Modi 2.0 regime. The protracted and non-violent year-long resistance by the peasantry and the other working people was unprecedented in the history of independent India. While reflecting about the legendary Telangana armed struggle in his autobiography, P Sundarayya wrote that “any struggle—leave alone the armed struggle—if it is to be withdrawn, there should be on some minimum terms”.
By Sundarayya’s logic, the 2020-2021 farmers' movement was successful in ensuring “some minimum terms” from the Modi regime that was showing fascistic traits. These “minimum terms” were nothing but the withdrawal of the draconian Farm Laws which prevented the Indian peasantry from succumbing to the “whims and fancies of the establishment”, which is increasingly integrated with international finance capital.
In his presidential address, Ashok Dhawale, a contributor to the book as well as the president of the AIKS said that the 2020-2021 movement was “unparalleled in the annals of history”. Describing how the emergence of the united front of the SKM arrested the fascistic onslaught of the RSS-BJP-led union government on the peasantry, Dhawale pointed out that the popularity of Bhagat Singh’s images in all the Delhi borders of the struggle was a reflection of the growing politicisation of the peasantry. And this was the true need of the hour today.
Vijoo Krishnan, general secretary, AIKS, formally introduced the book. He outlined the major arguments of the book and commented that the anti-imperialist class outlook of the book distinguished it from other academic works available on the topic.
Prof. Indu Agnihotri, former director of the Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS), was the main discussant. In a detailed presentation, Agnihotri commented that the “editors approach the collection from the standpoint of a people’s history, thereby addressing the question of the 'objectivity' in a very direct way”. She described how the “editors straddle a vast space between theory and activism to open up the different aspects of one of the most significant struggles in India in contemporary times”. By reiterating that there is a need to recognise the “continued significance of the agrarian question” in India, Prof. Agnihotri argued that it is very important to grasp the developments in rural India, especially in the post-reform period. “The conditions in rural India have a special place in India’s history due to the nature and processes of capitalist development in India from colonial times. The peasant/agrarian question remains critical to building democracy in India and the South Asian region, as can be seen from the political strife, civil war conditions and political instability faced when regimes play havoc with the lives of the peasant masses”.
In his reply, Shamsher Singh, one of the editors, explained how the book originated from the process of documenting the 2020-21 movement at the borders of Delhi. “The chapters in this volume focus on two broad spectrums. Firstly, they underline and talk about the emerging solidarities between different classes in the wake of a neoliberal attack. Secondly, they do not let go of the existing class antagonisms and conflicts of the agrarian structure and underline the scope of building and advancing an alliance on demands that favour the majority of the rural masses”.
Hannan Mollah, veteran AIKS leader and Nidheesh Villatt, research coordinator, PSMT also addressed the gathering.
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