Bharatiya Kisan Sangh

History

Beginnings

The first chapter of the BKS to be formed was its Rajasthan branch, founded on 13 March 1978. The all India organisation of the BKS was announced by Dattopant Thengadi on 4 March 1979 at the first All India Conference of BKS in Kota. The 650 delegates at the 1979 conference had been handpicked by Thengadi, who travelled across the country to meet with farmers' representatives. The launch of the BKS was preceded by earlier efforts of RSS to organise the peasantry. In the 1960s, RSS had organised farmers in the Vidarbha region, and again in 1972 in Uttar Pradesh. The RSS effort to build an agrarian front, parallel to Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh trade union movement, had however failed to attract major mass support.

1980s

On 26 February 1981 the BKS held a mass rally at the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in Hyderabad, the first major farmers' mobilisation after the Green Revolution. The organising of peasants in areas of Andhra Pradesh such as Karimnagar district, Nizamabad district and Warangal district led to tensions with the dominant Naxal movement in the area, and in February 1984 BKS Karimnagar District Secretary Gopal Reddy and Ramchander Rao (a RSS Tehsil-level organiser) were killed in Jagityal. In July 1985 BKS organised a mass rally at the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, a protest movement that forced the state government to lower electricity prices.

In 1986–1987 BKS led a mass movement in Gujarat, culminating in a violent gherao of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly in March 1987. The campaign began in October 1986, following two years of drought in the state. On 1 January 1987 a mass rally of 400,000 people was held in Vijaypur. The movement culminated in the gherao of the Legislative Assembly, at which police fire killed four demonstrators at the 19 March 1987 gherao, and one police officer was killed by the demonstrators. The BKS leadership was arrested and the organisation declared an indefinite state-wide bandh following the clashes. The 1986–1987 Gujarat movement was marked by a competition between BKS (based mainly in northern Gujarat, with some influence in central Gujarat) and the Khedut Samaj and Kisan Sanghatana (based in south Gujarat). Whilst the movement had a larger charter of demands, its key demand was the lowering of electricity prices for farmers. BJP supported the BKS agitation, as means of countering the influence of Sharad Joshi in the state.

Later history

With its base among wealthier farmers, BKS supported the privatisation of inputs and increased mechanisation of agriculture in the 1990s. In Gujarat BKS became primarily dominated by cotton farmers, an export-oriented cash crop.

BKS held its sixth national conference in Hastinapur in 1999, addressed by RSS sarsanghchalak Rajendra Singh. At the time, Kunvarji Bhai Jadhav, was the BKS president. Anand Prakash Singhal, elder brother of VHP head Ashok Singhal and a US-educated agriculturist, played a significant role in the BKS. He was instrumental in India obtaining the patent for cow urine.