Topic Of The Day:-“On a different trajectory”
Half a century after the Naxalbari movement arrived like a Spring Thunder over India, questions are beginning to arise as to whether the spark that gave rise to it is in danger of being extinguished. Independent India had previously experienced armed peasant movements, including the Telangana armed struggle and the Tebhaga movement (in Bengal), but the Naxalbari movement seemed to follow a different trajectory. It was ignited by a small group of Bengal revolutionaries (all members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) formed in 1964) who felt disillusioned with the so-called embourgeoisement of the party which had only recently split from the CPI on the ground it had turned revisionist. Breaking away from the CPI (M), this faction received almost instant endorsement from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under Mao. This was followed by a few cadres visiting China to receive the benediction of the CCP. In course of time some of the cadres went to China for training.
Rural, semi-urban base
It was in April 1969 that the movement took formal shape, with the coming into existence of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) under the leadership of Charu Mazumdar. It initially had a mesmeric effect, enthusingsections of the rural population as well as some semi-urban and urban elements mainly in the States of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The Chinese Communists were keen that the new Naxalbari movement should follow the Chinese model of revolution relying on the peasantry, establishing base areas in the countryside and using the countryside to encircle and finally capture the cities. As the movement progressed, it became obvious that the Indian Marxist-Leninist revolutionaries preferred the Ho Chi Minh model to that of Mao. The CPI(ML), hence, consisted of both rural and semi-urban elements. In the early years, and till the 1990s, a number of recruits to the movement came from the urban intelligentsia. From the beginning, the movement, which included many well-known ideologues, suffered from a series of splits. Several leaders from Bengal and Andhra Pradesh thereafter set up their separate parties. A high degree of ideological motivation, however, helped the movement to survive despite the several splits. The ideological motivation could be sustained through the several hundred revolutionary journals in different languages published during the period. The splintering of the movement subsided to some extent after Muppala Lakshmana Rao, aka Ganapathy, took charge in the early 1990s. Following this, the movement witnessed a degree of consolidation with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) formally coming into existence in the first decade of this century with the merger of several existing factions. Nevertheless, several smaller Marxist-Leninist parties and groups survive to this day.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) Extinguished
Meaning: Put an end to; destroy.
Example: “hope is extinguished little by little”
Synonyms: Destroy, Annihilate
2) Peasant
Meaning: An ignorant, rude, or unsophisticated person.
Example: “‘That is a civilized drink, you peasant’”
Synonyms: Clown, Lout
3) Trajectory
Meaning: The path followed by a projectile flying or an object moving under the action of given forces.
Example: “the missile’s trajectory was preset”
Synonyms: Course, Orientation
4) Ignited
Meaning: Arouse or inflame (an emotion or situation).
Example: “the words ignited new fury in him”
Synonyms: Arouse, Trigger
Antonyms: Dampen
5) Embourgeoisement
Meaning: The proliferation in a society of values perceived as characteristic of the middle class, especially of materialism.
19) Revisionist
Meaning: A person with a revised attitude to a previously accepted situation or point of view.
Example: “revisionists have argued that the battle was crucial”
6) Benediction
Meaning: The state of being blessed.
Example: “he eventually wins benediction”
Synonyms: Beatitude, Bliss
7) Mesmeric
Meaning: Causing a person to become completely transfixed and unaware of their surroundings.
Example: “she found herself staring into his mesmeric gaze”
Synonyms: Causing
8) Enthusing
Meaning: Express eager enjoyment, interest, or approval regarding something.
Example: “they both enthused over my new look”
Synonyms: Gush, Rave
9) Intelligentsia
Meaning: Intellectuals or highly educated people as a group, especially when regarded as possessing culture and political influence.
Example: “a distrust of the intelligentsia and of theoretical learning”
Synonyms: Literati, Scholars
Antonyms: Masses
10) Splintering
Meaning: Break or cause to break into small sharp fragments.
Example: “the soap box splintered”
Synonyms: Shatter, Split
11) Consolidation
Meaning: The action or process of combining a number of things into a single more effective or coherent whole.
Example: “a consolidation of data within an enterprise”
Synonyms: Integrate
