50 years of Naxalbari movement: Classic case of fight for right cause with wrong means
Exactly 50 years ago, a police team was ambushed in what was the first naxal attack in the country. A sub-inspector was killed in the attack led by Jangal Santhal near Naxalbari village in West Bengal.
In Short
- Naxalbari movement began in Darjeeling district of West Bengal.
- First naxal attack took place on May 25, 1967.
- At present, 68 district are influenced by naxalism.
People of slightly older generation know that naxalism owes its origin in a West Bengal village called Naxalbari in Siliguri sub-division of Darjeeling district. For younger people, naxalism is more synonymous with Maoism and terrorism .
The government of India defines naxalism and Maoism as left wing extremism and is dealt with by a separate division of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Maoists carried out two massive attacks this year in March and April. In March, naxals killed 12 CRPF jawans at Sukma before launching a fresh attack on the paramilitary forces on April 24 in the same district killing 24 more personnel.
The biggest attack on security forces was launched in April 2010 in Dantewada of Chhattisgarh when 72 CRPF and one police jawan were killed.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
It was in 1967, when a small group of Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders decided to break away and launch their own armed struggle against big landowners. These leaders were Charu Mazumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal.
Their objective was to snatch the lands from those big zamindars and re-distribute the same among the tilling farmers and landless labourers.
The then president of the Siliguri Kisan Sabha Jangal Santhal started organising people for the same. But, within a week of the call for armed struggle, a sharecropper was attacked and killed at a village near Naxalbari by the armed band of the local zamindar. This incident took place on May 24, 1967.
The next day - exactly 50 years ago from now - Jangal Santhal led a group of tribals to ambush a police team which had come to investigate the killing of the farmer. A sub-inspector was killed as the Naxalbari team attacked the police convoy with bows and arrows.
The incident took place at Naxalbari, which gave the armed movement its name.
WHAT CAUSED NAXAL MOVEMENT
Many observers have found the incomplete agrarian reforms as the reason behind naxal movement. Extreme poverty, exploitation of landless tillers - often from Dalit and tribal communities - and denial of social justice by the administration gave birth to extreme discontent among the masses and left wing leaders.
After Independence, the government abolished zamindari system as part of agrarian reform but redistribution of land was not undertaken amid protest by some groups. Meanwhile, attempts were made to improve agriculture, which led to better returns from farms.
The combined effect of the abolition of zamindari and improved practices in agriculture produced many neo-rich farmers, who were not ready to share their profit with the tillers and labourers, who put the real hard work in the fields. While the landowners prospered fast, the landless continued to struggle for food.
In several agriculture depended areas, the poverty levels were reportedly as high as over 95 per cent. Discontent was simmering. Naxalbari only gave vent to the socio-economic anger.
IDEOLOGY AND DISSENSION
Charu Mazumdar was the inspiration of the early naxal leaders. Charu Mazumdar was, in turn, inspired by the success of Mao Zedong of China. Mao had shown brilliant acumen in organising and leading the ordinary and exploited masses of rural China to overthrow the ruling elite.
Charu Mazumdar interpreted Mao's ideas in the context of West Bengla and framed strategies to suit his surroundings. His Historic Eight Documents propounded the naxal ideology and was instantly popular among the early rebels.
In the next four-five years, naxalbari movement spread across West Bengal. 'Amar bari, tomar bari, Naxalbari, Naxalbari' slogan filled the campuses in the then Calcutta and other places of the state.
But, differences started cropping up in the ranks. Several groups came in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The various splinter groups again reunited in September 2004 under the banner of Communist Party of India (Maoist), which an outlawed outfit in the country.
At the time of the merger, three groups were active. These were the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML), the People's War (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI).
WHAT GOVERNMENT HAS DONE
The successive central governments since 1960s seem to have underestimated the influence of naxal movement and ignored the real reasons behind the armed struggle.
In June 1967, - some three weeks after the Naxalbari incident - the then Union Home Minister YB Chavan told the Lok Sabha that it was a law and order problem and should be dealt with by the local police with heavy hand.
The heavy-hand dealing approach of the government has continued ever since. In 2008, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the Maoist violence as the biggest threat to internal security.
Since, then efforts have increased to deal the problem with multi-layered approach, which has helped reduced the sphere of Maoist influence in the country.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on March 17 this year, informed the Lok Sabha that the number of district affected by Maoism was 68. In 2009, the then Home Minister had told Parliament that the Maoist affected districts number 223.
Of the 68 districts influenced by Maoism, only six are affected by Maoist violence. In the rest of the districts, Maoist ideology has sizeable influence.
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