P. Sundarayya’s Contribution to the Study of Agrarian Relations and Its Contemporary Relevance

I consider it a privilege to be asked to deliver the first P. Sundarayya Memorial Lecture in Delhi organised by the Sundarayya Memorial Trust.

P. Sundarayya (PS) made the biggest contribution to the CPI(M)’s understanding of the agrarian question in India. The two most important documents of the CPI(M) in its early years, the Agrarian section of the Programme of the Party adopted in 1964 and the Tasks on the Kisan Front of 1967, which is a classic report of that period, bear his imprint. The latter was co-drafted with M. Basavapunniah.