The All India Kurmi Mahasabha (AIKM) is an organisation that was established in 1910 to promote the interests of the Kurmi community.
The Kurmi agriculturist community had a reputation as hard-working caste by the authorities of the British Raj. They were at one time classified as a criminal tribe and had a reputation for being violent and ruthless in their attempts to dominate untouchable communities. [1] Desiring recognition as a caste, the first Kurmi community association was formed in 1894 at Lucknow to protest against the recruitment policy that debarred them from entry to the police service. This was followed by an organisation in Awadh that sought to draw other communities — such as the sainthawar-mall, kudmi-mahto, Patidars, Marathas, Kudumbars, Kapus and Naidu, kamma, velama,Reddy, vokkaliga, khandayat, kamboj, under the umbrella of the Kurmi name. This body then campaigned for Kurmis to classify themselves as Kshatriya but there's no valid proof to support this statement in the 1901 census and, according to Christophe Jaffrelot, this led to the formation of the All India Kurmi Mahasabha in 1910. [2] Other sources agree with this general history, which reflected a wider trend among Indian communities for social and political recognition, but consider the AIKKM to have formed in 1894. [1]
In the 1940s and after, following the independence of India, the position of the AIKKM as a focal point for the community changed. In common with many other caste associations, it had been concerned primarily with resolving disputes among members of the community and with maintaining cohesion but a new breed of educated, youthful Kurmi activists sought a more politicised agenda. They appealed to the upwardly-mobile landowning members of the community to support their goal of recognition for Chhattisgarh as an independent state within the Republic of India. Some of these people, who included Purushottam Kaushik, formed organisations such as the Nau Yuvak Sangh (1946), while Khubchand Bagel was elected as head of the AIKKM in 1948 but, like Kaushik, was primarily interested the Chhattisgarh issue. [3]
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Kurmi is traditionally a non-elite tiller caste in the lower Gangetic plain of India, especially southern regions of Awadh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar. The Kurmis came to be known for their exceptional work ethic, superior tillage and manuring, and gender-neutral culture, bringing praise from Mughal and British administrators alike.
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Christophe Jaffrelot is a French political scientist and Indologist specialising in South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan. He is a professor of South Asian politics and history the Centre d'études et de recherches internationales (CERI) at Sciences Po (Paris), a professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King's India Institute (London), and a Research Director at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS).
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The Backward Caste movement in Bihar can be traced back to the formation of Triveni Sangh, a caste coalition and political party, in the 1930s, which was revived after the introduction of land reforms in the 1950s aimed at removing intermediaries from agrarian society. But, this drive could not succeed in bringing long-lasting changes in the condition of lower strata of society, as they lacked political representation and economic power. The period since land reform included caste conflicts and the class struggle which eventually led to a transfer of absolute political power in the hands of Backward Castes, who had been kept away from it earlier. The class struggle succeeded the struggle of some of the Upper Backward Castes against the sacerdotal authorities for improvement in their ritual status. By the 1990s, the conflict between upper-castes and the lower-castes continued, with nearly 17 massacres taking place during this time period. But with the advent of politics of social justice and the Janata Dal in the 1990s, the lower caste became more active politically.
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The Luv-Kush equation is a political term used in the context of the politics of Bihar, to denote the alliance of the agricultural Kurmi and the Koeri caste, which was assumed to be approximately 15% of the state's population The alliance of these two caste groups has remained the support base of Nitish Kumar, as against the MY equation of Lalu Prasad Yadav, which constitutes Muslims and the Yadavs. Caste consciousness and the quest for political representation largely drive the politics of Bihar. The political alliance of the Koeri and the Kurmi castes, termed the "Luv-Kush equation" was formed when a massive Kurmi Chetna Rally was organised by members of the Kurmi community in 1994 against the alleged casteist politics of Lalu Yadav, who was blamed by contemporary community leaders for promoting Yadavs in politics and administration.
Muraos are a community of agriculturists found in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They are also known as Maurya. They form a part of a wider community called the Kushwaha, which includes Koeri and Kachhi castes. The All India Kushwaha Kshatriya Mahasabha is an organisation of these sub-castes, which also represents the interests of the Murao community. In Uttar Pradesh, a section of the community called Kunjra amongst Muslims, classified as an Other Backward Class, was formed due to conversion of Muraos to Islam. The Kunjra are also called Sabj Farosh and like Muraos, they grew vegetables. In recent times, the community produced educated individuals engaged in white collar jobs. The Kunjras are an urban based and landed community in Uttar Pradesh, a group among them, now called Kabaria has distinguished itself from the community by adopting the profession of dealing in scrap. However, vast majority of them are now involved in trade, business and are employed in service sector.