The beginning of Naxalism in India
The beginning of Naxalism in India
Very recently, we heard about the news of Naxalite attack in Chattisgarh which left 15 policemen dead. And this is not the first time that any such piece of news has come to knowledge. Headlines are abuzz with the words like “Naxalism” or “Maoism”. But what exactly is the meaning of this word? Why did a group of normal citizens choose to pick up bullets in their hands? Is there any positive to the negative? Well, to know the answers we will have to leap back into the history.
The word “Naxal” comes from NaxalBari, a small village of West Bengal in which a group of Communist Party of India led by Kanu Sanyal initiated the first Naxalite movement of India in 1967. Their movement was aginst the land distribution to the landlords in tribal areas of West Bengal where most of the tribals remained landless. A meeting was held on 18th May 1967 regarding their opposition to the land distribution system or “feudalism”. The next week, a sharecropper was killed in a dispute with the land owner. Post that a series of events took place, marking the death of 9 women and 2 children, the movement became violent and police (which was considered as pro-land owners) was ambushed and killed.
The lands which were the core issue of the rebellion were basically the tea growing lands of Darjeeling district. The root causes of this problem lie in the pernicious caste system of our country. During its evolution, the upper castes saw to it that ownership of cultivable lands remained with them. The tribals were driven into the forests, bringing about the new coinage to describe them: vanvasis.
To address this core issue the 5th and 9th schedule in Indian constitution were bought. As per the fifth schedule of the constitution the forest reserves which are inhabited by the schedule tribes are to be administered by the governors of those states and for this they have to appoint tribal advisory which will be made from the tribals but this never happened. Similarly as per the 9th schedule the cultivable land which was owned by landlords pre-independence was to be distributed between the tribals by the state governemnt but the land ceiling laws could not see the light of the day.
Now going back to the story of 1967 and Kanu Sanyal. The movement grew in 1971 when it was supported by students form Calcutta. The movement was violent and pro naxal students were being targeted by the state administration and police. Then, the CM of Bengal Siddharth Shanker Ray used the police force to counter Naxalites. The leader of that movement Charu Majumdar, was arrested and later he died in jail which led to the fragmentation of the movement. Though there were many splits in the Communist Party of India and also issues in the leadership of naxal movement it has been successful is spreading its roots to the tribal areas of Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and many other states.
In 2010, the most violent attack in the history of this movement happened where 76 policemen were killed by naxalites in Chattisgarh’s Dantewada district and such incidents are still happening. Prominent congress leader Vidyacharan Shukla died last year in one such naxal attack.
Naxalism, the movement against feudalism, against the atrocities and suppression of the tribals, has taken a very critical and violent shape. Because in its current form, naxalism has become a platform where tribal women are sexually assaulted, people are forcefully inducted in the movement, levies are charged on the tribals for financial support as well as connection with international institutions who want to tarnish India’s unity. The best solution of this problem could be to deal with the issues of tribals and execute the 5th and 9th schedule of the constitution so that tribals can get their due of a dignified life. Only with concrete and tangible steps can this internal war be pacified.
