ABSTRACT
Reading Satinath Bhaduri’s Dhorai Charit Manas (1949–1951), the paper engages with the conservative role of Gandhi and the Congress with respect to peasants and mass organizations in colonial India. Prominent Kisan Sabha leader Sahajanand Saraswati asserts (The Struggle of My Life 1952/2018) that even as Gandhi enthusiastically took up the case of peasants against Britishers in Champaran and Kheda agitations, he subsequently towed the Congress line, which advocated a balance between the interests of the zamindars and peasants. Thus, the paper argues how the nationalist policy on peasants and other marginalized populations was mired in the caste, community and gendered contexts of the time.
