The History of Naxalite
Movement in West Bengal
Following the India-China war,
the party split into two during 1964 –Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist
Party of India (Marxist) {CPI (M)}. While the CPI preached the theory of ‘peaceful
road to non-capitalist development’, the CPI(M) adopted the centrist line.
Though there were serious differences on ideological and tactical grounds, both
the parties went ahead with their parliamentary exercises and formed the United
Front government in West Bengal.
In the backdrop of such
organizational upheavals within the Indian Communist movement, an incident in a
remote area transformed the history of left-wing extremism in India. The term
Naxalites came from Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, where a section
of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) led by Charu Mazumdar, Kanu
Sanyal, and Jangal Santhal initiated a violent uprising in 1967. In a remote
village called Naxalbari in West Bengal, a tribal youth named Bimal Kissan,
having obtained a judicial order, went to cultivate his land on 2 March 1967.
The local landlords attacked him with the help of their goons. Tribal people of
the area retaliated and started forcefully
recapturing their lands. What followed was a rebellion, which left one police
sub inspector and nine tribals dead. Within a short span of about two
months, this incident acquired great visibility and tremendous support from
cross sections of Communist revolutionaries belonging to the state units of the
CPI (M) in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar
Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
If the readers go by the name of the states where Communist movement grew up they will notice a significant feature. States like West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh have large number of Muslims as minority and states like Orissa, Andhra
Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Kerala have large number of Christan as minority.
Historically Communist movement grew in India by adding fuel to the “Minority”
sentiment from 1967 itself. So, we leave upto readers to understand meaning of
so called “Communal” word.
Now let us get back to our topic of Naxalite movement. These conflicts go back to the
failure of implementing the 5th and 9th Schedules of the Constitution of India.
In theory, these Schedules provide for a limited form of tribal autonomy with
regard to exploiting natural resources on their lands, e.g. pharmaceutical and
mining, and 'land ceiling laws', limiting the land to be possessed by landlords
and distribution of excess land to landless farmers and labours. The caste
system is another important social aspect of these conflicts.
Though the United Front
Government of West Bengal, headed by the CPI (M) was able to contain the
rebellion within 72 days using all repressive measures possible, these units
had a formal meeting in November1967, as a result of which the All India Coordination
Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) was formed in May 1968.
‘Allegiance to the armed struggle and non-participation in the elections’ were the
two cardinal principles that the AICCR adopted for its operations. However, differences
cropped up over how an armed struggle should be advanced and this led to the
exclusion of a section of activists from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, led respectively
by T. Nagi Reddy and Kanhai Chatterjee.
On the question of the
‘annihilation of the class enemy’ (শ্রেণী শত্রু), the Kanhai Chatterjee group had serious
objections, as they were of the view that the annihilation of the class enemy should
only be undertaken after building up mass agitations. However, a majority in
the AICCCR rejected this and the AICCCR went ahead with the formation of the Communist
Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) in May 1969. This led Chatterjee to join the
Maoist Communist Centre(MCC). The CPI(M-L) held its first congress in 1970 in
Kolkata and Charu Mazumdar was formally elected its general secretary.
Since then, both the CPI (M-L)
and the MCC continued with their respective forms of armed struggle for the
next couple of years. During this period, Charu Majumdar became the undisputed
Naxalite guru and with the organizational skills of Kanu Sanyal and Jaghal
Santhal, the movement spread to different corners of the country. The country
witnessed the euphoria of a Maoist revolution. However, it was far more short-lived
than expected. What was generally perceived by Indian as well as Chinese Communist
revolutionaries as the final enactment of the revolution, in reality, proved to
be no more than a dress rehearsal. As hundreds of CPI (ML) cadres lost their lives, and thousands were put
behind bars, the movement witnessed confusion, splits and disintegration. During that period thousands of immaculate brains went wayward and thousands lost lives. Present young generation, those who have interest in politics, can ask their parents. Every family have some sad
story to share. It is during that period, post-independence West Bengal witnessed massive destruction of Bengali intellectuals and talent. Charu Majumdar’s larger-than-life image also had
its negative impact, for after his death in 1972, the central leadership of CPI
(ML) virtually collapsed.
The history of the Naxal
movement post-Charu Mazumdar, is characterized by a number of splits, brought
about by personalized and narrow perceptions about the Maoist revolutionary
line and attempts at course-correction by some of the major groups. Even Kanu
Sanyal, one of the founders of the movement, could not escape this. He gave up
the path of "dedicated armed struggle" by 1977 and accepted
parliamentary practice as a form of revolutionary activity.
Violence in West
Bengal
Around 1971 the Naxalites gained
a strong presence among the radical sections of the student movement in
Calcutta. Students left school to join the Naxalites. Charu Majumdar, to entice
more students into his organisation, declared that revolutionary warfare was to
take place not only in the rural areas as before, but everywhere and
spontaneously. Thus Majumdar declared an "annihilation line", a
dictum that Naxalites should assassinate individual "class enemies"(শ্রেণী শত্রু) –
landlords, businessmen, university teachers, police officers, politicians of
the right and left and others.
The chief minister, Siddhartha
Shankar Ray of the Congress Party, instituted strong counter-measures against
the Naxalites. The West Bengal police fought back to stop the Naxalites. The house of Somen Mitra, the Congress
MLA, was allegedly turned into a torture chamber where Naxals were confined
illegally by police and the Congress cadres. CPI-M cadres were also involved in
the "state terror". After suffering losses and facing the
public rejection of Majumdar's "annihilation line", the Naxalites
alleged human rights violations by the West Bengal police, who responded that
the state was effectively fighting a civil war and that democratic pleasantries
had no place in a war, especially when the opponent did not fight within the
norms of democracy and civility.
Large sections of the Naxal
movement began to question Majumdar's leadership. In 1971 the CPI(ML) was
split, as the Satyanarayan Singh revolted against Majumdar's leadership. In
1972 Majumdar was arrested by the police and died in Alipore Jail. His death
accelerated the fragmentation of the movement.
The term ‘Naxal’ came from the name of a village - Naxalbari. In fact this village is in between Nepal border & main city of North Bengal Siliguri. Strategically village was important for Naxalites as they could have crossed Nepal border when attacked by police. CPI(M) ruled Bengal for 34 years and despite having an Minister, Mr. Ashoke Bhattacharya at Siliguri, the condition of village remained pathetic & roads even more horrible. Any public outage arises from under development of particular area. It appears none of the political parties were keen to develop this area even after Kanu Sanyal influence got reduced. We would like to draw reader's attention that Mr.SS Ahluwalia, from BJP, after being elected as MP in 2014 Lok Sabha Election from Darjeeling constituency noticed that and adopted village of Kanu Sanyal, Hatighisa, as his village for improvement in Adarsh Gram Yojana.
Difference between
Naxalism and Maoism
Most of us get confused between
Naxalites and Maoists when we hear these terms. We will try to explain in the
simplest possible way the difference between Naxalites and Maoists so that our
young readers can understand the difference.
The difference between Maoists
struggle and the Naxalite movement is that both trace their origin to the
Naxalbari uprising of 1967, but while the Naxalite movement thrives on the
original spirit of Naxalbari; the Maoist struggle is an outcome of the 1967
uprising. Maoists work with an agenda and use weapons to achieve their aims.
Naxalism focuses on mass organisations while the Maoism relies mainly on arms.
Naxalism
Naxalism originated as a
rebellion against marginalization of the poor forest dwellers and gradually
against the lack of development and poverty at the local level in rural parts
of eastern India. It began in 1967 with an armed peasant uprising in Naxalbari
village of Darjeeling district in West Bengal.
The origin of the Naxals was a
result of the split that took place in the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
in 1967. It led to the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist and
Leninist). West Bengal being the centre of the movement initially, Naxalism
spread to the even lesser developed areas like Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh
and Andhra Pradesh.
The CPI-ML has been fighting elections in several states across India.
Most prominent among these groups are the CPI-ML (Liberation), CPI-ML (Kanu),
CPI-ML (Jan Shakti), CPI-ML (New Democracy) and others.
Maoism
Maoism originated in China as a
form of communist theory derived from the teachings of Chinese political leader
Mao Zedong. Maoists were the loyal believers of the Chairman Mao’s philosophy
that "Power flows from the barrel of the gun."
When the Communist Party of
India (Marxist-Leninist) was born out of the Naxalbari uprising, a section of
communist rebels retained a distinct identity. Along with Marxism and Leninism,
a new concept, which is of Maoism, started emerging in India.
Around 1966, the Maoist
Communist Centre (MCC) was formed in West Bengal. Keeping a low profile in the
earlier years, the group shot into prominence in Bihar in the mid - 1980s, when
they killed 54 Rajputs in Dalelchak-Bhagaura village of Aurangabad.
In other words,
there are two fundamental differences between the Naxalites and Maoists. While
the Naxalites take part in elections and many of them are registered parties
with the Election Commission of India, Maoists do not support the elections at
all. Also, the Naxalites may have an armed wing, but the existence of the
Maoists depends on their armed militia.
Therefore, the two terms
(Naxalites and Maoists) should not be used interchangeably as they are not same
and their ideologies have different roots.
Reference
www.dnaindia.com
www.wikipedia.com
Kujur, Rajat – Naxal Movement in
India: A profile
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