Naxalite movement began in Naxalbari after Bimal Kisan’s land dispute in 1967.
Leaders like Jangal Santhal, Charu Mazumdar, and Kanu Sanyal organized retaliatory actions.
The movement spread across West Bengal, highlighting land rights and peasant resistance.
The term “Naxalite” traces its origin to Naxalbari, a small village near Siliguri in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district. It was born following a series of agrarian conflicts in the 1960s. The movement began when a tribal farmer, Bimal Kisan, was forced to give up his land by a local landlord, Ishwar Tirkey. Bimal approached the authorities to reclaim his land, and after a prolonged legal procedure, the Supreme Court gave a judgment in his favor on 2nd March 1967—the very same day the Communist Party of India (CPI) came to power in West Bengal.
However, when Bimal returned to claim his land, he was beaten and intimidated by the landlord and his supporters. Finding no protection through law and governance, he turned to Jangal Santhal, a local CPI leader, for support. Underground activists, including Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal, were also active in the area and therefore got involved in the case. They launched a charge against the landlord, which marked the beginning of a series of violent incidents in the area. These incidents came to be known as “Naxalwadi,” taking their name from Naxalbari village. Eventually, the participants in these uprisings became known as “Naxalites.”
The movement initially emerged from land disputes and the injustices faced by tribal and peasant communities. Bimal Kisan’s struggle highlighted the challenges farmers face in asserting their land rights, particularly in regions where landlords maintained strong local influence. The failure of law enforcement to provide protection pushed the affected individuals toward organized, and eventually militant, actions.
People linked with underground movements, like Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal, played a crucial role in shaping the movement. Their involvement drew attention to broader social and political issues, such as land reform and peasant rights, and encouraged organized resistance against oppressive landlords at that time. Jangal Santhal served as a link between the villagers and the larger CPI network, coordinating the actions in the region. They started the movement, which gave hope to the farmers when officials failed them.
The Naxalite movement then spread from Naxalbari to other parts of West Bengal and neighboring states, as people there faced similar problems. It received full support from marginalized communities, particularly tribal and peasant populations, who wanted to resolve these land disputes and social inequalities. Later, over time, “Naxalite” became a general term used to describe those who engaged in militant actions inspired by Marxist-Leninist ideologies, particularly in rural India.
Historians and analysts trace the origin of the word to this specific village due to the timing, location, and sequence of events in early 1967. The Naxalite identity emerged with the legal victory of the tribal farmer Bimal Kisan and the immediate response by CPI leaders when law and order failed the locals.
Today, while “Naxalite” is widely associated with left-wing insurgency in India, its roots remain tied to this local agrarian dispute in Naxalbari village, showing the connection between land rights struggles and the rise of political militancy in rural West Bengal. [RhOG/SY]
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