In 1970, there was a nation-wide land-grab movement initiated by the combined efforts of the left parties. At Palghar taluka, this effort was organized by the locally strong Praja Socialist Party, which offered satyagrah on land belonging to the Anjuman Trust of Mahim, Bombay. The Trust owned 2,000 acres of land in this area, but most of the income from the Trust land was not being utilized for religious purposes. Rather, it was being appropriated by a tenant cultivator. About 150 tribals participated in this strike and got arrested. Among them was an adivasi leader, Kaluram Dhodhade, who decided not to depend further on the short-term patronage of political parties, and to continue to struggle independently. After his release from prison, he formed his own organization, Bhoomi Sena (army of land tillers). The aim was to get back the thousands of acres belonging to the tribals, which had been usurped by the sahukars (non-adivasi rich). About 800 soldiers joined the Bhoomi Sena. Their first struggle was in the village Bathan. About 600 tribals, armed with sickles, cut down the standing crop on a rich sahukar's land. Taken by surprise, the sahukar offered no resistance. Encouraged by this, the Bhoomi Sena continued this in ten villages, harvesting the crop on seventy-two to eighty farms. Illegal landholding soon became media issue. Navnit Shah, a socialist and a state representative from that area mobilized the government to pay attention to the tribals. A sub-district officer visited the area, and settled 800 land cases in favor of adivasi cultivators.