World’s largest democracy with the youngest population has undergone the biggest electoral test but its foundations have contributions from such ends who tend to live in anonymity being steadfast in ideological commitment.
Indian politics is basically a fabulous mixture of the politics of Left, Right and Centre. It should be reiterated that to contest an Indian election as a “recognised” political party, the party’s fundamental document has to contain a specific provision that it shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution. In other words, from 1977, all recognised political parties in India are sworn to Socialism.
Parliamentary election results have shown that mainstream and organized Left force comprising of Socialists and Communists have come to bay with diminishing electoral strength in Indian Parliament. At this point when Indian Left is at its lowest tally, one man is still standing alone as the nation’s rarest socialist ideologue. He is Sachidanand Sinha.
Sachidanand Sinha was born in 1928 in Parsauni village, Sahebganj in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar. As noted writer, socialist thinker and activist, Sachidanand Sinha presently is living in the hinterland of Bihar since the 1950s mid.
A Silent-Illustrious background
Sachidanand Sinha did his schooling from Collegiate School Muzaffarpur but zeal to liberate country from imperial rule took over his mind very early in life as student of Std. IX as he had joined the Quit India movement in 1942 protesting against M.K.Gandhi’s arrest.
He inherited feelings of selflessness and sacrifice through blood. He hails from a noted family with a considerable political background of diverse ideologies. His grandfather, Ram Charitra Singh was Congress legislator who went on to become Bihar’s first energy resource minister in Shri Krishna Sinha’s cabinet. His uncle was a noted communist leader of 1960s, Chandrashekar Singh who is often credited for making Begusarai, Bihar’s Leningrad. His father, Brajnandan Prasad Sinha was Sahebganj’s first MLA in 1952.
After plunging into freedom struggle he failed to carry forward his education and degree but his hunger for knowledge and wisdom did not end. Soon after independence, he came in close touch with a stalwart of the nation’s socialist movement- Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia.
In 1949, he went Bombay. This phase of his life was an exposure to industrial society acknowledging the hardships of the working class. He undertook work of a coolie (luggage vendor) at Bombay railway station, worked as Dock worker and Jute Mill worker. This is where when he came touch with George Fernandes with only one common point i.e. ideology of Socialism which lasted for many decades.
A Prolific writer and Giant Freethinker:
Sachidanand Sinha had passed one part of his life in New Delhi from 1969 to 1987. These 18 months of his life carved his intellect in best manner as he came up with numerous books on varied subjects.
In the 1960s when Bihar became a battlefield of caste-based violence and killings this instigated him to pen down a book on Caste system out of anguish, agony and pain.
During days of Emergency, he used to be an underground activist and a visitor to Lalit Kala Academy. The environment and companionship of Nirmal Verma, the noted novelist, writer, activist and translator influenced Sinha to write a book on art and creativity called as Chaos and Creation.
In 1973 his book named The Internal Colony- A Study in Regional Exploitation on Centre-State relations focused on Bihar saw the light of the day as it emphasised how an enriched state undergoes exploitation serving its neighbour leading to a regional imbalance in development.
The striking feature of this book was it garnered the attention of Bihar’s Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur who then ordered his bureaucrats to have a deep study of it to counter state’s lagging fields.
In 1974 he wrote Socialism and Power which helped him to gain the status of a political thinker. Just next year in 1975 he came up with The Bitter Harvest: Agriculture and Economic Crisis whose emphasis was long term planning and management of agriculture and environment.
His idea of Socialism is incomplete without talking concerns of environment. Its degrading character has bothers him as a citizen and bewilders him as a thinker. Socialistic paradigm for development integrated with environmental issues makes Sachidanand Sinha a giant freethinker.
Sachidanand Sinha lives fondly with memories which he had shared with George Fernandes who coincidentally represented the Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha constituency for five terms. For the first time he contested 1977 general polls from Muzaffarpur but the story behind his candidature remains interesting.
In conversation with Newsd, Sachidanand Sinha said; “As I hailed from Muzaffarpur, George was aware about my connection with Bihar. Once in a thoughtful discussion on election he queried about contesting Lok Sabha elections for which few seats were shortlisted. In the meantime, he had shown interest in Muzaffarpur and then the interest transformed into a permanent choice when I insisted him to fight polls from here. WhileGeorge was in jail for the Baroda Dynamite Case, he contested on Muzaffarpur seat and emerged victoriously. I enjoyed a close bond with him which can be felt when George himself published first edition of my book- The Internal Colony.”
With unending suggestions for contemporary Socialists, Sinha hopes that the nation’s Left movement finds an appropriate way to equate questions of Class and Caste together which genuinely remains a colossal task in contemporary politics. Modifying socialism in terms of fulfilling the needs of human race remains his undying insistence.
Loaded with immense optimism, 92-year-old young mind (Sachidanand Sinha) is living life in lap of green fields with a lake on one side of his small house in subaltern Bihar. His love for the environment can be felt by intriguing the fact that after returning back from Delhi in 1979 instead of staying in Patna or Muzaffarpur city he settled in small village of Manika located in Mushahari block of Muzaffarpur, where he resides alone.
Sachidanand Sinha is a living example of an ideologue who doesn’t hold boundaries of knowledge rather practices exploration of ideas sticking to its relevance and scope towards inclusive development which keeps him alone in league of shinning freethinkers of this nation.