Bengal and The Naxalite Movement

Sandip Banerjee

History is very interesting for it is full of irony. Here so many things happen without forecast and then seem to fade away with the passage of time. But many of such things have a sudden spur of outburst that unsettles the socio-political structure. There is one school of critical thought that believes revolution to be a high jump and not a long jump. To them the fires of revolution create momentary sparks but eventually do not cause much substantial change.  Any revolution or movement has a hidden economic agenda where the conflict of interest between the haves and the have-nots become the determinant. It is all about exploitation and deprivation. The Naxalite movement that hit the shores of West Bengal like tumultuous billows in late sixties of the last century, can be categorised as such a movement which despite its violent and impetuous spread died its natural death. Today when we look back at that movement it appears to have very little consequential relevance in the context of the ideology that the movement exhibited.

The name Naxalite is derived from a place called Naxalbari, situated in the northern flanks of West Bengal. It is here where an incident occurred on May 25, 1967. This incident was the consequent outburst of another incident that took place in the April 1967 when one tribal peasant named Bigul Kishan came to toil his land with a court order but he was assaulted by the musclemen of landlord Iswar Tirki. In another incident, a landlord named Nagen Roychowdhury who tried gunmanship was convicted to death sentence by the Lok Adalat .These two happenings flared up Naxalbari. It marked the rise of a rebel communist leader called Charu Mazumder who would eventually become the most charismatic leader of the movement. Initially the Naxalite movement was rural and agrarian in nature; but soon it became a part of intellectual reaction. To understand the nature, effect and causes of growth and spread of Naxalite Movement in West Bengal, it is pertinent that one should catch the popular political and intellectual situation of the contemporary era. It was a time when young intellects and meritorious students were developing a craving for communism. The iconic photograph of Che Guevera got decked in the study or drawing room of millions across the globe. West Bengal was no exception, for it was perhaps the most politically conscious state of India during the sixties of the last century. The Bengali community of that time was acknowledged to be extremely conversant when it came to global issues pertaining to individual rights. So it was not a mere coincidence that the wave of Naxalite movement reached the strands of Calcutta.

Naxalbari was a calm and unperturbed village. But this place erupted into revolt when on May 25, 1967 when Sonam Wangdi, a sub-inspector went to Naxalbari to subdue peasant protest. He was blocked by village women. As tension mounted, suddenly an arrow struck the sub-inspector leading him to death. As a result, firing order on the villagers was issued by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Siliguri. Eight women and one man died in this firing. Two children also perished to this firing taking the total toll to 11. It was indeed a surprise to all to find that a government running on the support of the communists and having Jyoti Basu as Deputy Chief Minister ordered the firing on the peasants. Things became even more confusing when instead of taking proper course of investigation on the issue of firing, a very senior leader of the communist comrade Muzzafar Ahmed opined in Ganashakti newspaper that the Naxalite reaction was an instigation of C.I.A. trying to unsettle a government controlled by the communists. This was followed by the Chinese media welcoming the Naxalbari incident. To them it was like bombarding the Bourgeoisie, a call that the great Chinese leader Mao Dedong gave in 1966. Peking radio broadcast Naxalbari as a place for social revolution. A Chinese newspaper wrote that a peal of spring thunder crashed over the land of India. It also stated that the Chinese people gleefully applaud the revolutionary storm of the Indian peasants in the Darjeeling area. This reaction of the Chinese was appropriately timed because they believed India to be a kind of semi-feudal state under Congress leadership and this could crumble by mass protest led by the so called proletariats. This was also the beginning of the political strategy of surrounding the cities with rural revolt so that the bourgeoisie inhabitations of the cities face the social onslaught of mass revolt.

While on the subject of talking about the leadership of the Naxalite movement, along with Charu Mazunder another name that springs to everyone’s lips is that of Kanu Sanyal. There were other leaders too. Charu Mazumder was the key person to give the Naxalite movement a militancy shape. Charu Mazumder, mainly due to the courtesy of the then media started becoming a myth. However, this myth was eventually busted by none else than his fellow comrade-in arms Kanu Sanyal. Charu Majunder brought out his famous ‘Eight Documents’; he also sent a letter to Mao Zedong through comrade Krishna Bhakta Sharma who went to China.  He was chiefly instrumental in forming the political party CPI (Marxist-Leninist) and he was also its General Secretary from 1969- 1972. It was Charu Mazumder, popularly addressed as CM, who linked the Naxalite movement with China. The result was a popular outcry which got written on so many walls of Calcutta and other places- “Power comes through barrel of the gun’’ and “Chairman of China is our Chairman’’. The CPIM took a diplomatic stand. Though originally their party members spoke about revolution but once assuming administrative power and while participating in governance they tried to take the middle path. Whether they had any ideological support to the Naxalite movement is a matter of debate and discussion but what can easily be concluded is about their diffidence in advocating the cause of the Naxalite movement.

During the latter phase when the movement reached the city of Calcutta it lost the sting of the original purpose. There was a clout in communication, the leaders themselves could not maintain unity among themselves and the cadres were left in confusion. In fact it was a state of intellectual miscarriage as far as the movement was concerned. Brilliant students from institutions like Presidency College, Jadavpur University, Shibpur B.E College, Calcutta Medical College became Naxalites for they thought it to be radical reformism and revisionism. They longed for a total revolution by which they would bring about a fundamental change of the social order. Eventually it created more chaos. Acts of murder and creating fear psychosis took the Naxalites away from the mass. Gopal Sen the then Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University was killed. Public servants including policemen faced attempts on their lives. It was too much for a society that had already tasted the bite of democracy for more than twenty years. What these meritorious but misled group failed to realise that it was not the same social soil as that of China on which they could build the monument of rebellious reforms. The methods went wrong. The political ambience was not in the favour of the Naxalites particularly when their so called ideological brothers CPI and CPIM did not support them. Eventually when the Congress government was formed in West Bengal under the leadership of Siddhatha Sankar Ray it rang the death knell of the movement. The supporters were subject to ruthless torture. Many fell victim to the bullets of the police. Many left their places and went absconding perhaps to return after a decade. All these had a huge detrimental effect on the academic and professional domain of West Bengal. Students from other states decreased in number. The middle class intellect shuddered to participate in politics and soon their places got filled by lumpens. With the death of Charu Mazumder on July 28, 1972 it was almost all over for the Naxalite movement. Of course people like Kanu Sanyal and others like Ashim Chatterjee tried to keep the flame burning but by that time the movement was extinguishing. Charu Mazumder once said “Hundreds of Naxalbaris are smoldering in India… Naxalbari has not died and will not die’’. But history shows something grossly different. Today most people, even those who believe in radicalism do not resort to taking inspiration from this movement. To quote a very famous Bob Dylan song- ‘The Times are Changing’ and we can infer that the modern fabric of politics is far different from what it was fifty years back; the social texture has also changed. To be very honest it is of grave doubt whether the Naxalite movement had anything constructive in it or whether it has added any value to the politics of West Bengal. It got marginalised even at the place of its birth. Naxalite movement might not have obliterated for militant political outbursts may still be found. They might also be present in the minds of many living comrades who ruminate on what they actually tried for and how things went wrong. Some people can still raise tempests over tea cups arguing the justification of such movements. However, in public connotation the Naxalite movement has now remained as just a passing episode of history.