CPI MP demands Bihta airport be named after peasant leader Sahajanand Saraswati

New Delhi, May 30 (PTI) CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar wrote to Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Friday, demanding that the Bihta airport on the outskirts of Patna be named after social reformer and peasant leader Swami Sahajanand Saraswati.

In a letter addressed to Naidu, Kumar said Saraswati, one of the tallest leaders of the peasant movement and the first president of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), was not only a spiritual scholar but also an "uncompromising champion of the oppressed peasantry".

"His leadership in Bihar during the colonial era fundamentally altered the landscape of agrarian politics. He led massive struggles against the exploitative zamindari system and built powerful farmer mobilisations that laid the foundation of the modern kisan movement in India," the Communist Party of India (CPI) leader said.

He said as a staunch advocate of socialism and a lifelong fighter for justice, Saraswati's political convictions brought him close to the communist movement and he remains a towering figure in India's progressive and agrarian legacy.

"To name the Bihta airport after Swami Sahajanand Saraswati would not merely be symbolic -- it would be historically and morally befitting. It would honour the legacy of a great son of Bihar who dedicated his life to the upliftment of peasants and rural poor, and whose vision still resonates with lakhs of kisans across the country," Kumar said.

"At a time when the rural and agrarian question is once again at the centre of national discourse, recognising such a figure is not just timely, but necessary," he added.

Saraswati was a significant peasant leader in Bihar and a key figure in India's freedom struggle. He played a crucial role in mobilising peasants against the zamindari system and British colonial rule.

He founded the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha in 1929 and was instrumental in forming the AIKS in 1936.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new terminal building of the Patna airport on Thursday and laid the foundation stone for a new civil enclave at the Bihta airport on the city outskirts. PTI AO RC