On 11 April 2026, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) turns 90. Born in its first conference at Lucknow on 11 April 1936 in the crucible of the glorious freedom struggle of the Indian people against British imperialism, the AIKS is today by far the largest peasant organisation in India — with a membership of over 1 crore 53 lakh (15.3 million) spread over 27 states of the country. Ever since its inception, the AIKS has led a long series of iconic and victorious struggles of the peasantry across the country. The latest — the three massive Kisan Long Marches in Maharashtra which mobilised a total of over 1,00,000 peasant women and men from three districts—form the cover story of this issue.

Internationally, the most serious challenge faced by the AIKS, our country, and the world, is that of US Imperialism and Israeli Zionism going on the rampage against Iran. After having destroyed, decimated, and grabbed oil-rich Iraq, Libya, Syria and brutally killing over a million people there, and after co-opting several other servile oil-rich countries in the Middle East, Iran was the only remaining obstacle for the US-Israel Axis of Evil. As a dress rehearsal, the US flagrantly attacked Venezuela — a country with the largest known oil reserves in the world — and abducted its President. Now a bitter war with Iran is on, with Iran fighting back valiantly.

India is a great country with fiercely independent, non-aligned, and anti-imperialist traditions. The current Prime Minister and Government of our country surrendering with servility before Trump of the USA and Netanyahu of Israel is one of the most shameful episodes in our history.

Nationally, the gravest challenge before the AIKS, our country, and our people is the anti-people, pro-corporate, pro imperialist, communal, manuwadi, corrupt, and neo-fascist character of the central government of the BJP-RSS led by Narendra Modi. In the last couple of months, it has launched a series of fresh attacks on the working people. The draconian four Labour Codes, replacing the MGNREGA with the Gram-G, the Electricity Amendment Bill and smart meters, the Seed Bill, and on top of all this, is the anti-national US-India Trade Deal.

All the earlier burning issues of the peasantry still continue to hang fire — like legal guarantee of a Minimum Support Price (MSP) at C2 + 50%, sharp reduction in input costs, liberation from debt for agricultural workers and poor and middle peasants, a fully revamped pro-farmer crop insurance scheme, expansion of irrigation and power facilities, adequate pensions for the rural poor, the vital issue of land rights and land reforms, opposition to arbitrary and forcible land grab by the government-corporate nexus, and universal access to clean water, food security, minimum wage, housing, education, employment, health, and environment.

Massive independent and united struggles with a mass line on these issues are the need of the hour. The increasing unity in action between the Central Trade Unions (CTUs) and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), recently seen in the huge 12 February All India General Strike, is a welcome development which must be taken forward with greater determination.

But all these struggles must be integrally combined with an extremely concerted and consistent political ideological mass campaign against imperialism, neoliberalism, neofascism, communalism, and casteism, and positively in favour of our clear alternative – socialism.

Finally, of course, as Lenin never fails to remind us, is the crucial importance of the organisation for any radical social transformation. The first-ever AIKS National Convention on Organisation at Guntur in March 2026 and the seminal Resolution that it adopted must be made our compass for greatly expanding and strengthening our organisation for rapid future advance in the next one decade, when we cross the historic milestone of our century!