The village was Naxalbari in Darjeeling district, the time was 1967 and the movement was Naxalism. But in 2006, is West Bengal sowing the seed for unrest again and are the protests in Singur a warning?
The Naxal movement, under the leadership of a revolutionary group of the Indian Communist Party, was applauded by the Chinese and was influenced by the Maoist Communist movement in Nepal. But with the abolition of the zamindari (feudal) system and with the empowerment of labourers under strong labour unions, the movement subsided in West Bengal.
But the memory of that era and is still strong in West Bengal. Naxalism grew because of acute poverty and labour exploitation in tea estates.
The situation in Singur looks similar to Naxalbari of late sixties. Here the sufferers are landless farmers who earn a livelihood by working on someone else's land. Now that land, the only source of livelihood, is being taken away from them. The crucial difference here is that the land-grabber is not a zamindar but the government.
It is ironic that the Communists, who always support the cause of the poorest of the poor, are now change the role and snatching the bread and butter of the landless farmers. By confronting with the farmers in Singur, the government may be sowing the seed of Naxalite movement again. And thousands of landless peasants, the true beneficiaries of the controversial land for several decades, have already vowed to fight till death.
The movement is still very much in force in the tribal belt of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa, and altogether 13 states are affected. And the process of evacuation of the controversial field in Singur for Tata Motors may provide the ground for resurgence of Naxalite movement in the state.
Naxals in West Bengal so far kept faith on the Communist Parties, which help the Left government to convince them to follow law and order.
But the recent police atrocity on the landless farmers in Singur may result into eruption of the sleeping "Naxalite" volcano, which will make the situation totally out of control. first published:December 11, 2006, 21:01 ISTlast updated:December 11, 2006, 21:01 IST
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Thirty-seven years ago, an obscure village in West Bengal sparked an armed peasant struggle which when it burnt out had taken the lives of hundreds and created a new ideology.
The village was Naxalbari in Darjeeling district, the time was 1967 and the movement was Naxalism. But in 2006, is West Bengal sowing the seed for unrest again and are the protests in Singur a warning?
The Naxal movement, under the leadership of a revolutionary group of the Indian Communist Party, was applauded by the Chinese and was influenced by the Maoist Communist movement in Nepal. But with the abolition of the zamindari (feudal) system and with the empowerment of labourers under strong labour unions, the movement subsided in West Bengal.
But the memory of that era and is still strong in West Bengal. Naxalism grew because of acute poverty and labour exploitation in tea estates.
The situation in Singur looks similar to Naxalbari of late sixties. Here the sufferers are landless farmers who earn a livelihood by working on someone else's land. Now that land, the only source of livelihood, is being taken away from them. The crucial difference here is that the land-grabber is not a zamindar but the government.
It is ironic that the Communists, who always support the cause of the poorest of the poor, are now change the role and snatching the bread and butter of the landless farmers. By confronting with the farmers in Singur, the government may be sowing the seed of Naxalite movement again. And thousands of landless peasants, the true beneficiaries of the controversial land for several decades, have already vowed to fight till death.
The movement is still very much in force in the tribal belt of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa, and altogether 13 states are affected. And the process of evacuation of the controversial field in Singur for Tata Motors may provide the ground for resurgence of Naxalite movement in the state.
Naxals in West Bengal so far kept faith on the Communist Parties, which help the Left government to convince them to follow law and order.
But the recent police atrocity on the landless farmers in Singur may result into eruption of the sleeping "Naxalite" volcano, which will make the situation totally out of control.
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