Fading Red.....?

Santanu Saraswati

More than four decades ago three men dreamt of a new India from a small village in north Bengal. Less than a year later the names of Kanu Sanyal, Jangal Santhal and Charu Majumdar struck terror in the heart of the administration. The slogan “Naxalbari Zindabad” was heard along the corridors of institutions like Presidency College.
When the sun was setting over Kolkata on Monday, the legacy of Charu Majumdar kindled the emotions of a few thousand farmers and students at Sahid Minar. The turbulence that rocked the 70s was absent but the romanticism that tried to change Bengal had returned.
Mazumdar’s son Abhijit made his first appearance at a rally as the newly elected central committee member of the CPI (ML) Liberation. Just like his iconic father there was nothing striking about Abjijit’s lean structure, salt and pepper hair and the lost look behind those glasses. But something made the middle aged English professor from Siliguri College stand out from the crowd. When he raised the same slogan nostalgia swept across the Sahid Minar grounds. People’s revolution seemed to have returned, sans the terror and trail of blood.
Abhijit is aware that carrying the legacy of his father is not easy. “ For me, it probably happened by default. When my father thought of a society ruled by the factory workers and tillers, I was just a child. Now my people expect more from me. That is definitely a pressure. But I never see Charu Mazumdar as my father. To me he is a leader who founded this party, exclusively for those oppressed people whose contributions are never recognised.”
Like a true Naxalite Abhijit firmly believes that it was the state and the CPI (M) that brought an end to the Naxalite movement. “The movement was suppressed by force after my father died in 1972. Probably, both Azizul Haque and Asim Chatterjee had personal reasons to leave the party or might have to come under state pressure to do so. As far as I know, Haque is presently not associated with any politics and Chatterjee contested the last Assembly election on a Trinamool Congress ticket”.
Since the CPI (ML) believes and takes part in electoral politics is only natural that its detractors would draw comparisons between the peasants movement propagated by Majumdar and mainstream CPI (M) leaders like Hare Krishna Konar. But Abhijit does not get perturbed.
“Konar has a great contribution. But my father called for greater participation of farmers and mill workers in governance of the country. Before 1967, my father was the CPI (M) Jalpaiguri district secretary. From 1964, at the time of political division in the party and formation CPI (M) from CPI, my father started believing that the path his party had taken would ultimately lead to nowhere. The Panchayati Raj brought about changes only in the economic conditions of the landowners and landless farmers were left to their destiny. If it was a success then why do farmers in West Bengal commit suicide every other day? How come the Naxalite movement is still alive?”
Though talks on formation of a broad anti CPI (M) coalition have started in many circles Abhijit is aware of the class and the class struggle. “The capitalist is our class enemy and the CPI (M) our political rival, not class enemy. We don’t wish to get associated with leaders like Mamata Banerjee. Her party has association with the BJP. There should not be any misconception about alliances that are being discussed. We are not Maoists. The CPI (ML) didn’t need any political party’s help to come in power in Nepal. We only need the people to be with us”.

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