Peasants' Movements in Post-Colonial India

The central concern of this book is to examine in a comparative framework, the ways in which grassroots mobilizations transform and institutionalize themselves, forge new collective identities and articulate new strategies for survival and resistance.

Debal K SinghaRoy focuses on three major radical movements—Tebhaga and Naxalite in West Bengal and Telangana in Andhra Pradesh. Based on empirical data and supported by a wide range of secondary sources, the author argues that as spontaneous expressions of discontent against oppression, domination and marginalization turn into institutionalized movements, the space for radical challenge shrinks. As exemplified in West Bengal, the co-option of peasant movements by the state has largely stifled the scope for radical action. In Andhra Pradesh, on the other hand, the relative independence of the grassroots mobilization process has allowed the peasantry to exercise multiple options for collective action.