In the year 1967 a group of peasants who toiled the land for Jotedars (Landlords) in a small village called Naxalbari in West Bengal took to violence against their landlords. The peasants started harvesting crops in the land belonging to Jotedars in the region and this started a tussle between the peasants and landlords. In the violence the peasants ended up killing the police officer on 24 May 1967. In retaliation the police open fired killing nine women and one child on 25 May 1967. The event triggered Naxalism and its ideology advocated the peasants and daily wages labourers to resort to use of force and violence to overthrow the landlords. This unfortunate armed peasant revolt was itched as “Naxalbari Uprising” on the walls of Indian history.
Personally though I feel why was this revolt let to happen in the first place??? Were the Jotedars protected by the then Bangla Congress Government lead by Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee which was co-governed with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Or were the peasants so staunch believers of violence and bloodshed that they did not care for the loss of lives of their own people???
Naxalism has grown multi-fold over the years due to the problems from both sides and marched down to central and southern India. The basic problem is lack of trust from peasant’s side and the failure on the part of the system to get them into confidence. The administration over the decades has failed to create a sense of trust among them, making it seem to them that it is only interested in grabbing their lands and selling it to Investors, and not caring about their development at all. The peasants too were deprived of basic amenities like good schools, proper sanitation, roads, and even a proper house.
After 70 odd years of Independence we need to analyse why Naxalism exists even today when the situation now is not as bad as it was in 60s. However this issue has another dimension too. If observed carefully we can see that there is a specific group of people who are up against the government opposing its policies. They are seeds sown by the Non-State Actors who use this Naxal movement which primarily was fighting for the oppressed. In recent times the Naxalite movement has been a brain child of a bunch of anti-nationals who refuse to co-operate with the democracy of the country. They are supporting the forces which does not want the government to stay in power.
Any movement cannot survive without funds. To purchase weapons and maintain an army of mischief mongers funds are necessary. The funds were flowing freely to them through NGO’s and the current government with its policies has thrown a spanner to this arrangement. The flow of funds for the movement has been immobilised. The so called “Intellectuals” who were waiting for an opportunity to go against the current government have found it appropriate to jump into the arena as volunteer and be sympathisers to those seeds of Naxal movement. They are now labelled as “Urban Naxalites.” Unlike the Naxals they don’t use weapons; instead they use Media (Print, Electronic & Social), Mike and Movies to spread their propaganda.
Now the question is, what is their agenda???
They are not concerned about the oppressed lot but their aim is to liberate Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland from my India. And it is unfortunate that our major educational institutions are under the clutches of these Urban Naxalites as majority of them are professors in the institutions.
I personally came across many saying Naxals took to weapons because of poverty, hunger and unemployment, but their argument doesn’t hold much value to me because these Urban Naxalites are against development. They support those who scream, “Bharat tere tukde tukde honge Inshallah-Inshallah.”
Hence they hate my Pradhan Sevak because he says, “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.”
I bow to the sacrifices of the 22 brave security personnel martyred while fighting Naxalites in Tarrem, Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh.. Nation will never forget their valour.
