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{{Short description|Indian communist activist (died 1972)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Jagdish Mahto
| image = File:Jagdish_Mahato.jpg
| caption =
| honorific_suffix = Master Saheb
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = [[Ekwari]], [[Bhojpur district, India|Bhojpur]], India
| death_date = {{death-date|1972}}
| death_place =
| death_cause = Murder
| body_discovered =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| monuments =
| occupation = Teacher
| employer =
| party = [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)]]
| criminal_charge =
| criminal_penalty =
| criminal_status =
| office1 = [[Politburo]] Member of [[Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)]]
| termstart1 = 1970
| termend1 = 1972
}}
'''Jagdish Mahto''' was an Indian communist activist. He was a [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|naxal]] leader who led the [[1970 Bhojpur uprising]] in the landlord-dominated [[Bhojpur district, India|Bhojpur]] region of [[Bihar]]. He was a member of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)]], an organisation which was leading the Naxalite insurgency in Bihar. He also fought against the upper-caste landlords for the cause of lower-caste people.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHttCwAAQBAJ&q=jagdish+mahto+master+saheb&pg=PA181|title=Maoism in India|first=Arun|last= Srivastava|publisher=Prabhat Prakashan|year= 2015|isbn=978-9351865131|page=181|access-date=26 July 2020}}</ref><ref name="d mello">{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8K07DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT36
|title=India after Naxalbari: Unfinished History
|author=Bernard D'Mello|
publisher=NYU Press|year=2018|
isbn=978-1583677087|accessdate=16 July 2022}}</ref> Mahto, also called '''Master Saheb''', was a member of the Bihar State Committee of CPI(M–L) and one of the founding leaders of the party in Bhojpur.<ref name="TOI">{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/ml-to-honour-kin-of-martyrs/articleshow/28306629.cms|title=ML to honour kin of 'martyrs'|website=[[Times of India]]|date=15 November 2002 |editor=Pranava K Chaudhary|accessdate=21 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721030402/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/ml-to-honour-kin-of-martyrs/articleshow/28306629.cms|url-status=live|archive-date=21 July 2022 }}</ref>

==Life==
Jagdish Mahto was born in [[Ekwari]], [[Bihar]]. He was a member of [[Koeri]] community. Mahto established a newspaper called ''Harijanistan'' ("Land of Dalits") in order to voice support for the rights of the [[Dalit]]s.<ref name="Gail">{{cite book|title =Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India|first=Gail|last= Omvedt|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|pages=58–60|year=1993|isbn=0765631768|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlxb0uacnRcC|access-date=16 June 2020}}
The Naxalite challenge developed in the central districts where some agricultural development was producing an objective base to challenge the bonds of ex ploitation they called "semifeudalism." Its first mass leader was Jagdish Mahto, a koeri teacher who had read Ambedkar before he discovered Marx and started a paper in the town of Arrah called "Harijanistan" (dalit land), even leading a march of dalits on this demand. This was similar to innumerable assertions throughout India at the time, but Bihar contradictions drove Mahto in a more violent direction. Beaten up after supporting the CPI in the 1967 elections, he turned to Naxalism and began to organize murders of landlords and their gang ster henchmen in the area around his native village. The issues on which dalits were stirring were not only those of their abominably low wages, but also izzat, social honor, and especially honor defined in terms of the unrestricted and arro gant access of the upper castes to dalit women. In 1971, before he was killed, Mahto told a fellow teacher, "Brother, I know that I am going to die one of these days. But I will die partly satisfied. For one change that our movement has brought about is that landlords now do not dare to touch the women of the poor."</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jp4xDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT115
|title=Windows into a Revolution:Ethnographies of Maoism in India and Nepal|quote= Jagdish Mahto, for instance, a teacher in his village, was hated by the local upper-caste Bhumihar landlords because he refused to get up from his cot in his courtyard when they passed his house.|first=Alpa Shah|last= Judith Pettigrew|publisher=Routledge|year= 2017|isbn=978-1351381819|access-date=26 June 2020}}</ref> [[Shri Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha]], a former Minister in the [[Government of Bihar]], is Mahto's son-in-law.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/Sitting-Ara-MP-finds-the-going-tough/articleshow/33676808.cms?from=mdr|title=Sitting Ara MP finds the going tough|website=[[Times of India]]|date=13 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116055226/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/Sitting-Ara-MP-finds-the-going-tough/articleshow/33676808.cms?from=mdr|access-date=16 November 2020|archive-date=16 November 2020}}</ref>

Prior to his involvement in the Naxalite movement, Mahto taught science at [[Harprasad Das Jain College]], [[Arrah]].<ref name="Singh">{{cite book|title=Ruled or Misruled: Story and Destiny of Bihar|chapter=ch13.A bit of muscles|first=Santosh|last= Singh|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2015|isbn=978-9385436420|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVu8CgAAQBAJ&q=jagdish+mahto+ruled+or+misruled&pg=PT144|access-date=16 June 2020}}</ref> Later in his life, he developed an interest in politics and was inspired by the writing of [[Karl Marx]]. Later, he became an [[Ambedkarite]] after reading the philosophy of [[B. R. Ambedkar]]. Mahto was a staunch supporter of the rights of the [[Dalit]]s. He was also against many of the privileges that the upper castes enjoyed, particularly those who had been "twice born"([[dvija]]). When [[Bengal]] and [[Punjab]] experienced a Dalit upsurgence in 1967, the Bihar region saw no similar uprising from the oppressed sections of the society. Scholars attribute this lack of uprising to prevalent landlordism and the dominance of upper castes in the area, creating fear within lower castes. The first spark of Naxalism developed in Mushari, but it was soon extinguished by feudalistic forces.<ref name="Gail"/>

==Communist upsurge under Mahto==
In the 1967 election, Mahto was supporting his friend [[Ram Naresh Ram]]<ref name=mushar/> in the elections to the [[Bihar Legislative Assembly|legislative assembly]], who was running on the ticket of the [[Communist Party of India]] against a candidate supported by local [[Bhumihar]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Charvaka|title=No Check on Managements|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=13|year=1978|issue=1 | pages= 8–10|jstor=4366261}}</ref> When Mahto went to the polling booth, he saw that a Bhumihar youth was preventing voters from casting their votes. Mahto spoke out against this and was beaten badly by other Bhumihars. He was admitted to the hospital, where he remained for several months. After being discharged, Mahto became sympathetic to radical ideas. Mahto met [[Charu Mazumdar]] during this period, who had led a "communist uprising" in [[West Bengal|Bengal]] and had travelled to Bhojpur to deliver a speech against the landlords.<ref name="Gail"/>

Mahto formed an alliance with other like-minded youths, including Ram Naresh Ram and Rameswar Ahir. They assembled their supporters under the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation]].<ref name="Samaddar"/> They began organising murders of landlords and their henchmen.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Bela|last=Bhatia|title=The Naxalite Movement in Central Bihar|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume= 40|year= 2005|issue=15 |pages=1536–1549 |jstor=4416471}}Initially, the focus was on annihilation of oppressive andlords and their henchmen, and a fight against the state. The struggle against the landlords was not only about land, but also against their samanti (feudal) attitudes and behaviour. Jagdish Mahato is said to have described this hangover from the past in the following words: "the landlord's moustache has got burnt but the twirl still remains".</ref> According to author Bernard D'Mello:
{{Blockquote|Reportedly, the Master would prevail upon his Dalit followers to go forth to "force [their] acceptability as human beings." His practical lesson was: "This is a gun, the weapon of subjugation. Hold it straight, [and] go and deliver justice."<ref name="d mello"/>}}

By the end of the 1970s, a large number of landlords were killed. The movement pushed for economic reforms (e.g., eliminating unpaid labour of the Dalits for their masters) as well as increased respect for the Dalits. Prior to the movement, there were virtually no consequences for landlords who engaged in unwanted sexual contact with Dalit women. The Dalits were mostly landless labourers who were fighting under Jagdish Mahto for their honour.<ref name="Gail"/>

==Associates==
One of the most notable associates of Mahto was Ganeshi Dusadh, who is described as an outstanding [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla fighter]]. He was the son of a landless [[Debt bondage|bonded]] peasant from the Chauri village of the [[Sahar, Bihar|Sahar block]]. Under the leadership of Dusadh, the CPI-ML guerrilla fighters made several attacks on the regional landlords. They killed landlords as well as moneylenders, which was followed by the confiscation of their lands and the organisation of peasants to sow those lands. In addition, the grains of large trading companies were seized and distributed by the guerrillas. For at least six months in 1973, the Chauri village remained under the control of the Naxalites' revolutionary committee. On 6 May 1973, the armed police force entered the village along with the henchmen of the local landlords. The battle that ensued saw the villagers and CPI-ML guerrillas under Ganeshi Dusadh fighting the police and henchmen of the landlords. After a twelve-hour-long conflict, Ganeshi Dusadh was killed.<ref name="d mello"/>

==Participation in revolutionary uprisings across Bhojpur==
===Ayar Rebellion of 1972===
The [[Ahir|Ayar]] village of [[Jagdishpur]] was a stronghold of [[Rajput]] landlords and Thana Singh, one such landlord, had committed several offenses against the [[Musahar]]s and [[Chamar]]s of the village. Two-thirds of the land in the village was controlled by these landlords, including Charichan Singh and Madho Singh. A sentiment against the poor condition of the lower caste in the village began brewing in 1957 but was suppressed by the landlords through the use of brute force.<ref name="Mukherjee"/>

In 1962, the ongoing skirmishes between the lower castes and the landlords led to the deaths of peasant leaders Shivratan Yadav and Bhikhari Yadav and the offenses against lower-caste women continued. According to Kalyan Mukherjee, the village was so unpopular among the Dalits that no Dalit family of another village would want to have a family member married to a resident of the village. The tipping point to revolt was the sexual harassment of the wife of Ramayan Chamar, who used to work as an agricultural labourer in the fields of Charichan Singh, by the sons of her landlord. Chamar's complaint to Charichan Singh led to his physical assault by the men of Charichan Singh. The disgruntled Chamar joined the "Jagdish Mahto group", also called as ''Ekwari ke Master Saheb ka group''. In the retaliation by Mahto and his armed group, who were invited to the village by Chamar, Thana Singh was assassinated; another landlord, Hari Singh, was injured and killed later by the rebels.<ref name="Mukherjee">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8HweAAAAMAAJ&q=thana+singh+rape|title= Bhojpur: Naxalism in the Plains of Bihar|author1=Kalyan Mukherjee|author2=Rajendra Singh Yadav
|publisher=Rādhā Krishna|year=1980|access-date=25 February 2021|page=48,49|quote= [48]..The litigation that followed did not diminish the brutality of Thana Singh . Innumerable cases of rape and molestation were attributed to him . ” Things came to such a pass that Ayar became a word of fear in the Harijan of even distant villages.....[48].. In Ayar, a person called Ramayan Chamar responded to the call of Jagdish Mahto. So did his nephew ... The villagers heard the explosion of bombs : Thana Singh, who was revelling in the company of women, was killed. [49]... On the other hand the kinsmen of Thana Singh suspected a fellow Rajput, Dinanath Singh, and killed him in an act of reprisal two months later.}}</ref>

===Activism and anti-landlord activities in Bhojpur===
On 14 April 1970, Mahto, along with Rameswar Ahir and Latafat Hussain, organised a massive rally and candle march in support of [[Harijan]]istan, a separate territory to be inhabited by the lower-castes. The rally was supported by a large number of landless labourers and [[Other Backward Class|backward-caste]] peasants. Mahto also ran a drive against the concept of [[untouchability]] in the villages of Inrukhi, [[Baruna]] and Koshiyar. Anti-landlordism prevailed in the village of Ekwari, a few kilometres away from [[Arrah]].<ref name="Rādhā Krishna">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8HweAAAAMAAJ&q=thana+singh+rape|title= Bhojpur: Naxalism in the Plains of Bihar|author1=Kalyan Mukherjee|author2=Rajendra Singh Yadav
|publisher=Rādhā Krishna|year=1980|pages=53–56|access-date=29 March 2021}}</ref>

The village of Ekwari was known for its fertile land and the feudal dominance of the upper-caste who exploited the lower-caste. The women of the lower caste were raped with impunity to such an extent that it was accepted as a social norm. The [[Naxalbari]] revolt in [[West Bengal]] motivated Mahto and his friend Ramnaresh Dusadh, who were joined by a [[bandit]] called Rameswar Ahir, to lead an armed uprising against the exploitative [[Zamindar]]s. In a bid to find like-minded youths for rebellion against the upper-caste landlords, the three men came together and organised the youths belonging to the lower castes for an armed rebellion. The tipping point in the rebellion was the assault on Gora Chamar and Chandrika Dusadh by the landlords. A group of [[Koeri]]s and [[Dusadh]] under Jagdish Mahto met with the [[Sub Divisional Magistrate|Sub-Divisional Magistrate]] and a police office was established in the village to handle any future skirmishes.<ref name="Rādhā Krishna"/>

Rameswar Ahir, who joined Mahto in the struggle against the landlords, started his career as a communist rebel by leaving all of his land claims and joining the underground society of communists along with Mahto. On 23 February 1971, a landlord named Shivpujan Singh, who was accused of raping a [[Harijan]] women in a village called Inrukhi, was assassinated by the Mahto group. The assassination followed the murders of a number of other landlords, namely Jagdish Singh, Dudheswar Singh, Mangal Singh, and Paramhans Singh. The attempt by some of them to organise a counter revolution against the communists under Mahto failed. These incidents popularised Ekwari as the "Naxalbari of Bhojpur". Mahto and his wife went [[Resistance movement|underground]], and by 1971 the Ekwari village was divided on a class line between two groups, one containing the influential landlords and the other containing poor peasants and the [[Dalit]]s.<ref name="Rādhā Krishna"/>

==Death==
Mahto was killed after being beaten by a [[Musahar]] mob who mistook him for a ''[[dacoit]]'' (bandit).<ref name=mushar>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Barricade-to-ballot/articleshow/591808.cms|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210407081306/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Barricade-to-ballot/articleshow/591808.cms?from=mdr |title=Barricade to ballot|first=Akshay|last=Mukul|newspaper=The Times of India| date=31 March 2004 |access-date=26 July 2020|url-status=live|archive-date=7 April 2021}}</ref> Before dying, Mahto is said to have told one of his comrades that, though he was dying, the upper caste landlords wouldn't dare to touch Dalit women in future.<ref name="Gail" />

In an interview with the media outlets in [[Delhi]], Ram Naresh Ram, an associate of Mahto, discussed the conflict that had taken place for decades in Bhojpur between landed gentry and the subordinate tenants.<ref name="Samaddar">{{cite book|title=From popular movement to rebellion:The Naxalite dacade|page= 317,318|first=Ranbir|last=Samaddar|publisher=Routledge|location =New york|year=2019|isbn= 978-0-367-13466-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjZ7DwAAQBAJ&q=jagdish+prasad+mahto+naxal&pg=PT317|access-date=30 May 2020}}</ref> The caste strife came to an end years later owing to the killings of the core Naxal leaders and retirement of their subordinates.<ref name="Singh" />

==In popular culture==
Jagdish Mahto became a notable figure among people of Ekwari and several books were written to commemorate his struggle against the landlords for the cause of poor and the deprived. Some of the biographical accounts of Mahto are ''Bhojpur Mein Naxalvadi Andolan'' (Kalyan Mukherjee and Rajendra Yadav), ''Master Saab'' ([[Mahashweta Devi]]), ''Raktim Tara'' (Suresh Kantak), and ''Arjun Zinda Hai'' (Madhukar Singh).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cpiml.net/liberation/2019/01/revolutionary-lives|title=Revolutionary lives |website=Communist Party of India(Marxist-Leninist)liberation|first=Santosh|last=Sahar|access-date=30 July 2020}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Brahmeshwar Singh]]
*[[Ashok Mahto gang]]
*[[Chhatradhar Mahato]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TD9uAAAAMAAJ |title=Agrarian Struggles in India After Independence
|author=Akshayakumar Ramanlal Desai
|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1986|
isbn=0195616812}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahto, Jagdish}}
[[Category:Activists from Bihar]]
[[Category:People from Bhojpur district, India]]
[[Category:Maoist theorists]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) politicians]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian communists]]
[[Category:Naxalite–Maoist insurgency]]
[[Category:People murdered in Bihar]]

Jagdish Mahto - Revision history

Teena29I554 at 12:23, 9 November 2025