Sumanta banerjee the naxalite uprising festival

May , there was a peasant uprising at Naxalbari � an area in the north-stern tip of India, bordering Nepal on the west, Sikkim and Bhutan on the north, and East Pakistan on the south. It was led by armed Communist revolutionaries who until then had been members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-(M)), but were later to break away and form a separate party � the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI (M-L)).

The uprising was crushed by the police within a few months.

India's Simmering Revolution. The Naxalite Uprising

But from then on thing could ever be quite the same in the Indian countryside. The long-suffering peasants appeared to have rediscovered their traditional militancy. From to 72 � the main period dealt with in this book � in certain parts of India they boiled over in jacqueries against the privileged feudal elite.

In some places, led by the CPI (M-L), they fought the police and troops when the latter were sent by the government to protect the landlords. These events highlighted their despera