Communism v. Gandhi's "Son"

The onetime princely state of Hyderabad in Central India has an old custom called yetti. This is a system by which police and revenue officers combine with the deshmukhs (rich landlords) to force tenant farmers to work without wages. No one took much notice of yetti until 1945, when the Communists organized a peasant uprising, murdered several deshmukhs and started to redistribute their lands.

In 1948 Prime Minister Nehru ordered Indian army detachments and 10,000 policemen into Telingana province, heartland of the rebellion, to restore order. Despite these measures, Communist guerrillas over the past four years have murdered 3,000 deshmukhs and government supporters,burned hundreds of houses and thousands of tons of rice. Nehru's government abolished yetti, but the police were not above using a little yetti themselves. They seized the peasants' poultry and goats, "requisitioned" their bullock carts. Many peasants turned to the Communists.

"The Land Is a Mother." In April a lean, ascetic-looking little man with yellow-rimmed spectacles and a greying goatee walked into Telingana with a small party of followers. He was Vinoba Bhave, disciple of the late Mahatma Gandhi. He set out to give the peasants what the Communists promised them--land.

Each day Bhave's party rose at 3:30 a.m., prayed and meditated for 90 minutes, then set out briskly afoot for a native village. There, after resting, Bhave held court. Peasants came to air grievances, bring disputes for arbitration. Bhave followed Gandhi's line. He told the peasants: "If policemen compel you to work without wages, please refuse to do so and tell them I told you so." He would add: "The land is a Mother. Everybody has a right to approach her. Hence, a proper distribution of land should take place. If landlords will donate their lands willingly and with pleasure, they'll transform the entire outlook of the people."

After walking more than 700 miles, Bhave has persuaded the deshmukhs to give him 5,000 acres which he is redistributing among the landless. Indian Congress leaders are helping Bhave. The Hyderabad government recently enacted a law by which deshmukhs owning more than 750 acres must sell part of their land to tenants at a government-fixed price.

"The God Has Come." One Indian newspaper has called Bhave "the Saint Paul of constructive work." Wherever he goes, roads, huts or houses are decorated with festoons of palm and mango leaves. As he passes through wayside villages at dawn, groups of scantily clad, emaciated people shout: "The God who is distributing land has come!" Or, calling him the "son of Gandhi," they touch his feet, offer him flower garlands and fruit, beat drums, and blow bugles.

Last month, Hyderabad reported only three Communist murders--instead of the usual score. Police arrested the two principal guerrilla leaders. The backbone of the Communist-led rebellion was broken. Some former Communists were said to be attending Bhave's prayer meetings.

Says Bhave: "The Communist path of violence is not in tune with the culture of India. The notion that the Communists serve the poor is wrong . . ."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.