that genius of the great Vinoba Bhave

Speech of Shri P.V Narasimha Rao Hon’ble Prime Minister of India delivered during Inaugration of the National Council of Rural Institutes (NCRI) at Hyderabad on December 3, 1995 RURAL UNIVERSITIES MY VISION

When a very difficult problem was sought to be solved by the simple method of doing away with the land lords, kill him off, the land is yours, kill somebody off whatever he has is yours, the best way of solving the economic problem.

That was too simple to work and it did work. Many of us, many of the outside people do not know that it did work. Lands were distributed; food grains where either looted or distributed or taken away in such a way that anyone who had the muscle power to do so would take away the largest portion. And then they also called it their own Government. The underground movement of the Communist party in Telangana got headlines in almost all the newspapers of all the countries influenced by certain ideas and certain policies in those days. So don't ever think that the movement started in early 50's or late 40's in Telangana, did not simply fail, just like that. I remember, I am not sure, India was mentioned but Telangana was also mentioned. It was mentioned in very high circles.

So when some-one had to find an alternative to this, what a person with a gun can manage in five minutes in a village, a person with no gun, may be an officer, may be a party worker, has to achieve the same result with nothing in his hands except the will of the people on the one side and the goodness of the workers backed by good laws when it comes to the government and honest implementation. Now these were the tools with which one was supposed to counteract a great movement, a very deep-seated movement and still bring about the same results. Now it was a tall order.

But Vinoba ji he cut out many of these things. He said "If I want to gift my land to someone, now who are you to stop. So let us see if these people who have gone through all this nightmare for more than two and a half to three years, have they really understood anything, have they realised anything that the concept of Bhoodan which is not new, which is a part of our heritage, can become a substitute for what has been going on for the bloodshed and the distress".

It was found by him and many of us who got this influence that it is possible but we didn't think of it, either Mr Rajalingam or Mr Pulla Reddy or anybody. We are only trying to face the Communist Party or undo the propaganda of the Communist Party! Find Mr. Venkataram also here- These were all people who went from village to village, they are alive- here because they are lucky. Many of their comrades had been done away with by the Communists. But they couldn't think of an alternative. They thought of going to the police or they thought of doing some Satyagraha and try to organise the people. But before a gun, it was not possible always to see that non-violent approach without the will and without the alternative could prevail.

So it was, that genius of the great Vinoba Bhave said, "O.K., let us ask for land". If the land is available, let us distribute it. Then what? If you get the land, you don't have to give the gun for a land. O.K. One part of it is solved. So Mr Ramachandra Reddy of this particular village came forward and said, "I have got fifty or there was a number of acres of land. I am going to give it free". After that many of us followed suit. But he was the first donor. And at Pochampalli a movement, a huge, massive, magnificent movement called Bhoodan Movement was born. There was some small activities after that. Meanwhile Vinoba ji passed from that place to so many other places. He went along the road and many people joined him, we all joined him. And later on it became a country-wide movement, it got off. That place, we have chosen to have the Rural Institute which I will blossom into a big Rural University later.