K. B. Sahay
Encyclopedia
Krishna Ballabh Sahay (31 December 1898 – 3 June 1974) was a freedom fighter
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...

, who after independence became the Revenue minister of Bihar and then went on to become the Chief Minister of unified Bihar.

Early Life

Krishna Ballabh Sahay poularly known as K. B. Sahay was born on December 31, 1898 at Sheikhpura in the Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...

 district of Bihar. He was the eldest son of Munshi Ganga Prasad, who served as a Daroga under British Rule. In 1919, he graduated with first class in English honors from St. Columba’s College, Hazaribag and was also awarded the Gait’s Gold Medal from the then Governor of Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....

 & Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

 Mr. Gait.

Independence Movement

Soon thereafter in 1920, Sri Krishna Ballabh Sahay jumped into the fray giving up further studies by joining the Civil Disobedience Movement at the call of Gandhiji. Between 1930 and 1934, he was jailed four times for different periods while taking part in the independence movement. During one of these incarcerations, he met his mentor Sri Babu and this bond of friendship remained intact throughout their lives. He was also close to Anugrah Narayan Sinha, the other legendary nationalist from Bihar.

Came 1942 and with it came Gandhiji’s battle cry of “Do or Die” for the “Quit India Movement”. Before this, senior leaders of Bihar including Dr. Rajendra Prasad visited Bihar to convey the conclusions of the “Vardha Accord” as well as to charter an action plan for Bihar during the Quit India Movement, in an important meeting at Sadaquat Ashram. Sri Krishna Ballabh Sahay was a notable contributor to this plan. “Quit India Movement” was launched with great fierceness all over India and K B Sahay led the movement at Hazaribagh. The British Government ordered immediate arrest of all its leaders. An order to arrest K B Sahay was passed by Deputy Commissioner, Hazaribagh (Order No.: 132 of 10.08.1942) and the very next day he was sent off to jail. In jail, he was instrumental in the escape of Sri Jaya Prakash Narayan from jail along with his associates namely Rama Nandan Mishra, Yogendra Shukla, Suraj Narayan Singh, Sri Gulab Chand Gupta and Sri Shaligram Singh on November 9, 1942. As a consequence, he was sent off to Bhagalpur jail with orders for rigorous imprisonment.

Political Life

Earlier, when Provincial Autonomy was granted by the British Raj, Sri K B Sahay was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1936 and was made a parliamentary secretary in Sri Krishna Sinha’s ministry in 1937.

During this period, K. B. Sahay also developed sympathy for the poor peasants whose inhuman suffering at the hands of zamindars had a great bearing on his mind. At a meeting at Chhapra
Chhapra
Chhapra is a city and headquarters of Saran district in the state of Bihar, India. Chhapra is also written as Chapra. It is situated near the junction of the Ghaghara River and The Ganges River....

 on 11 May 1942, presided over by Dr. Rajendra Prasad and at another such meeting at Kudra in Shahabad, he spoke at length on the subject. Chief Minister of Bihar Sri Babu
Sri Krishna Sinha
Sri Krishna Sinha , known as Bihar Kesari, was the first Chief Minister of the Indian state of Bihar . Along with the nationalists Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Sinha is regarded among the Architects of Modern Bihar...

 and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Anugrah Babu
Anugrah Narayan Sinha
Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha , known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian statesman who was the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar...

, also came from zamindar families. Sri Babu asked him to arrange a public meeting at his native place Tarapur in Munger
Munger
Munger town is the headquarters of Munger district, in the Indian state of Bihar. Historically, Munger is known for its manufacturing of iron articles such as firearms and swords. One of the major institutions in Munger is Bihar School of Yoga. It is one of the foremost learning center in the...

. At this meeting, issues related to “Torture of inhabitants of Banaili Raj
Banaili
Banaili estate in Bihar was one of the largest estates in India. It stretched into four of India's current states - Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa...

 by their Zamindar” was taken up by Sri Babu and Krishna Ballabh Babu. This meeting which was also attended by Acharya J. B. Kriplani
Jivatram Kripalani
Acharya Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani was an Indian politician, noted particularly for holding the presidency of the Indian National Congress during the transfer of power in 1947. During the election for the post of the future Prime Minister of India held by the Congress party, he had the second...

 and was a grand success.

After independence, when the interim government was formed in Bihar, K.B. Sahay was given the Revenue ministry since it was his pet subject. This gave him an opportunity to fulfill his cherished dream of relieving the peasants from the clutches of zamindars. K. B. Sahay was assisted suitably by Sri Bajrang Sahay in drafting "Abolition of Zamindari" Bill and the credit for its successful implementation goes to Sri Krishna Babu who faced the brunt of the zamindars in the Bihar Assembly and got it passed successfully.

He is credited with having authored and passed the first pioneering legislation in the country to abolish the Zamindari system. In 1952, it was the first such legislation in the country. With the Bill becoming an Act (Bihar Act 30 of 1950), it sent shock waves among the zamindars all over Bihar and these zamindars under the leadership of Dr. Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga decided to challenge the Act as a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. During this period, Sri K. B. Sahay also survived a body blow intended to wipe him out. K.B. Sahay was almost alone in his crusade for land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...

s in the formative 1950s and '60s. Bihar was the first to introduce legislation to abolish zamindari. But Patna High Court
Patna High Court
Patna High Court is the High Court of the state of Bihar. It was established on 3 February 1916 and later affiliated under the Government of India Act, 1915. The court is headquartered in Patna, the administrative capital of the state.-History of Court:...

 struck down the Act, as did the Supreme Court. It was this that led an exasperated Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...

 to push the first amendment to the Constitution. The Constitution of India was amended for the first time and Article 31 (A) and Article 31 (B) were added to nullify the effect of Article 14. The legislation on land ceilings was introduced in the Assembly in 1955. A watered-down version was passed only in 1959 and got presidential assent in 1962.

K. B. Sahay contested the first assembly elections of 1952 from Giridih
Giridih
Giridih is headquarters of the Giridih district of Jharkhand state, India. The literal meaning of Giridih is the land of hills & hillocks - giri, a Hindi word, means hills and dih, another word of the local dialect, indicates upland...

 and won by a handsome margin to return as the revenue minister to the Government of Bihar in Sri Babu’s cabinet. But in 1957, he was defeated in the assembly election from Giridih
Giridih
Giridih is headquarters of the Giridih district of Jharkhand state, India. The literal meaning of Giridih is the land of hills & hillocks - giri, a Hindi word, means hills and dih, another word of the local dialect, indicates upland...

 by Raja Kamakhya Narayan Singh of Padma (Hazaribag). However, K. B. Sahay won the assembly elections of 1962 to enter the Bihar Assembly for the third time. In 1957, during the leadership struggle between Dr. S K Sinha and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, he supported Anugrah Babu for becoming Chief Minister
Chief Minister
A Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British Overseas Territory that has attained self-government...

. However Sri Krishna Babu won and again became the CM with Anugrah Babu as his deputy.

Chief Minister of Bihar

In the years that followed, Kamraj, the veteran Congress leader came forward with his “Kamraj Plan” to strengthen the party. On 19 September 1963, with the announcement of “Kamraj Plan” came the news of Sri B. N. Jha being taken as one of the eight Chief Ministers to look after the affairs of Congress Party. Sri Beer Chand Patel threw his hat in the contest for the Chief Minister of Bihar. K. B. Sahay who was deputy minister in B. N. Jha’s cabinet was the other contestant. Satyendra Narayan Sinha, the prominent Education Minister, who was decidedly second-in-command in the Binodananda Jha Cabinet announced his support for K B Sahay. B. C. Patel was no match for K. B. Sahay, who polled double the number of votes as Sri Patel.

On 2 October 1963, the birth anniversary of Gandhiji was celebrated in Bihar along with the swearing in ceremony of Sri Krishna Ballabh Sahay as the fourth Chief Minister of Bihar with Satyendra Narayan Sinha again becoming second in command.

K. B. Sahay lost the 1967 elections but won the local body elections in 1974 to enter the Bihar Legislative Council as an MLC. He faced enquiries by the Aiyyar Commission in between but was vindicated. Sri K. B. Sahay met with a fatal road accident on 3rd June 1974 just after winning the election, on his way back to his native place Hazaribag. His death was a terrible loss to the country and the people of Bihar.

Among the leaders of Bihar belonging to the 20th century, whom the people of this state would long remember for the constructive and invaluable services rendered towards the progress of Bihar, Sri Krishna Ballabh Sahay would certainly find a prominent place. His life is a superb example of how a man can attain his cherished dream by dogged determination, systematic planning and hard labour. He dreamt of an independent India and an ever progressing Bihar for which he sacrificed his whole life.

Industries and Education

As the Chief Minister of Bihar, he gave full support for the establishment of Sainik School in Tilaiya. He was also instrumental in starting women's college in Hazaribah in 1963, which is named after him.

Family

He belonged to Hazaribagh
Hazaribagh
Hazaribagh is a city and a municipality in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is famous as a health resort and for Hazaribagh National Park ....

 and is survived by his sons and grand-children who continue to dwell in the areas surrounding Hazaribagh - Tilaiya
Tilaiya
Tilaiya is a town in Koderma district in the Indian state of Jharkhand.-Geography:Tilaiya is located at .-Tilaiya Dam:...

, Giridih
Giridih
Giridih is headquarters of the Giridih district of Jharkhand state, India. The literal meaning of Giridih is the land of hills & hillocks - giri, a Hindi word, means hills and dih, another word of the local dialect, indicates upland...

, Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...

  and Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

.
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