What kind of a movement was the Tebhaga movement and what was the primary demand?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Peasant movement demanding two-third share of the produce
Option (1) Peasant movement demanding two-third share in land — Incorrect. It was a peasant movement, but the demand was for a share of the crop, not of the land. The sharecroppers kept tilling the landowner’s land and wanted a bigger part of what it produced.
Option (3) Peasant movement demanding two-third share of the produce — Correct. The Tebhaga movement (1946–47) was a struggle of sharecroppers in Bengal for two-thirds share of their produce instead of the customary half. It had the support of the Kisan Sabha and the Communist Party of India.
Option (4) Farmers movement against feudal landlords — Incorrect. The struggle against feudal conditions describes the Telangana movement (1946–51) in the princely state of Hyderabad, the other classical peasant movement of the time. Tebhaga was a sharecroppers’ demand for a bigger share of the crop.
NCERT (2025-26): “Peasant Movements … Between 1920 and 1940 peasant organisations arose. The first organisation to be founded was the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (1929), and in 1936 the All India Kisan Sabha. The peasants organised by the Sabhas demanded freedom from economic exploitation for peasants, workers and all other exploited classes. At the time of Independence, we had the two most classical cases of peasant movements, namely the Tebhaga movement (1946–47) and the Telangana movement (1946–51). The first was a struggle of sharecroppers in Bengal in North Bihar for two thirds share of their produce instead of the customary half. It had the support of the Kisan Sabha and the Communist Party of India (CPI). The second was directed against the feudal conditions in the princely state of Hyderabad and was led by the CPI.” |