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The First Naxal A Review of Kanu Sanyals Biography

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December 1, 2014

[Book Review of The First Naxal: An Authorised Biography of Kanu Sanyal by Bappaditya Paul
(Delhi, Thousand Oaks: Sage), pp. xiv+249.]

By Jayanta Bhattacharya

The book under review makes the supposedly robust claim that Kanu Sanyal, one of the key
personalities who pioneered the uprising of Naxalbari, was the First Naxal. Sage publications
being the publisher, the book should gain a wider audience than any Bengali book written on this
subject. Moreover, particularly in this era of de-politicization of students politics as well as a
palpably vacuous social milieu inscribed by pragmatism, this text (perhaps no text being an
exception) should be critically and carefully read. One can regard it as a human document too,
with political notes and overtones heavily inscribed.

In his now classic essay The Death of the Author Roland Barthes reminded us, We know
that a text does not consist of a line of words, releasing a single theological meaning (the
message of the Author-God), but is a space of many dimensions, in which are wedded and
contested various kinds of writing, no one of which is original: the text is a tissue of citations,
resulting from the thousand sources of culture. We find this insight at work throughout the
authorized biography of Kanu Sanyal by Bappaditya Pal, who took interviews of Sanyal 121
times or more over a period spanning more than three years, beginning in 2007. Following these
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interviews, the author recreates a history of the peasants struggle in Naxalbari in general and the
Naxalbari uprising and its aftermath in particular.

The Beginnings

Almost at the outset, Pal claims Kanu Sanyal to be the founder of the Naxalite movement (p.
2). Anyone who has some acquaintance with the Naxalbari movement may be surprised at this
assertion. Such a declaration seems to mangle some historical facts as well as the ontological
character of a revolution which reconstituted Indian society, psyche, administrative programs,
state functioning and, moreover, academia forever. It became a referent. To quote Samar Sen,
Naxalbari exploded many a myth and restored faith in the courage and character of the
revolutionary left in India Indeed the upheaval was such that nothing remained the same after
Naxalbari. People had to readjust their position vis--vis every aspect of the system: political,
administrative, military, cultural. (Naxalbari and After: A Frontier Anthology, Vol. 1,
Foreward)

Even with this argument in mind, we should not miss an important aspect of Kanu Sanyals life.
In Bappaditya Pals words, Enmeshed in political quest, Sanyal appeared for the ISc exam in
1948 only to come unsuccessful. He failed in chemistry. (p. 12. Emphasis added) It may be seen
again as a quest for an honest political person (in tune with Sanyals terms) as well. Long ago, in
Greece, we know about the mythical figure of Diogenes (of Sinope) who searched for an honest
man, with a lantern in broad daylight.

Before his initiation into communist doctrines, Sanyal was inclined towards the politics of the
Congress party. It came out of the environment he was nurtured in. But after the provincial
government of West Bengal clamped a ban on the Communist party in 1948, he was bewildered
why on earth a political party would be banned in Independent (sic) India, which now free
from the clutches of the British? (p. 26)

His new association and journey with the Communist party from CPI to CPI (M) to CPI (ML)
started. His most important days, as it transpires from the book, were during the making and
burgeoning of the Naxalbari movement. It is quite interesting to learn how he overcame the
dilemma of choosing between the struggle to find a job for the survival of a lower middle class
family and becoming an all time whole timer for the Communist Party without caring for any
sort of personal gain or material incentive. This fact becomes acutely true in an age of aggressive
homogenization of a heterogeneous world, reverberating with the hymn of success, benefit and
profit.

Importantly, throughout this journey, neither Sanyal nor the author ever completely leaves the
topography and terrain of North Bengal. Sans his incarcerations for a few occasions in jails
outside the region, like Kolkata and some other places, Sanyal never did move beyond Naxalbari
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and its vicinity. Neither was he in the mood for doing so. I would dare to call it a sort of the
myopic vision of agrarian movements in India. I strongly suspect the book has never transcended
this myopic handicap and unfortunately, it charts out a rather simple and, sometimes, nave,
trajectory of Sanyals life from his childhood to his demise. Moreover, an umpteen number of
gross historical and even grammatical as well as syntactical errors are splattered throughout. The
authorised biography, I think, could have been conceived and framed in a better way to give a
more illuminative understanding of an important leader like Kanu Sanyal who passed through a
chequered course throughout his life.

According to the author, the Second World War broke out in 1934, with Great Britain leading
the Allied forces against Adolf Hitlers Germany. (p. 11) Again, panchasher manwantar
( ) or the great Bengal Famine of 1943 has been referred to be in the period 1940-41
During 1940-41, a massive scarcity of food and clothing hit the entire Bengal province. The
crisis spelled onto the Darjeling hills as well. (p. 11)

At this juncture, one may take into account two or three issues. First, how does one reconcile
these infantile errors and lapses in a book so intimately intertwined with a series of stubbornly
turbulent changes arising out of society, culture, economics, history and peoples uprising?
Second, the Bengal Famine of 1943 was not simply a massive scarcity of food and clothing, it
was much more beyond this simple statement. People and the State confronted each other. The
Communist Party of India etched out a very significant role during this period and their
acceptance in public perception came to fruition. The omission of all these facts does not make
any proper sense of the succeeding preparatory premise of Naxalbari movement. Third, as stated
by the author, when the crisis spelled onto the Darjeeling hills it became an object of Kanu
Sanyals. Does this meaningfully constitute Sanyal as a primordial figure, as the founder of the
Naxalbari movement? Contrarily, from a more objective standpoint, he should be better
designated as a very dedicated organizer and leader of the Naxalbari movement. Consequently,
there remains an epistemological hiatus between the portrayal of Sanyal as the founder or the
leader and organizer of the Naxalbari movement.

[An aside: throughout the book Oraon people has been written as Oran. I do not think it
proper as Oraons are inhabitants of Naxalbari and tea garden areas for many generations and
they are spelt always as Oraon, not Oran. ]

Kanu Sanyal the Pragmatist?

In Sanyals reminiscence, Truly speaking, the series of actions throughout 1954-55 had laid the
actual foundation for the landmark Naxalbari uprising of 1967. There is nothing to argue
against this statement. But simplistic observations of this nature should be substantiated by a
more detailed analysis of economic, political, social as well as national and international
happenings of the time.
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Let us take a quick view. The agrarian crisis of the late 1950s and the failure of the Nehruvian
program of self-sufficiency and so many other factors accrued to give birth to the Naxalbari
uprising. It was the period when the first agreement on deliveries of American farm surpluses to
India under PL 480 was enacted. It was an agreement which compelled India to finance
indirectly the Indian private sector and American firms operating in India, in exchange for the
foodgrains. (In the Wake of Naxalbari, Sahitya Samsad edn, p. 79) By 1955, India was bound to
the USA and other American dominated international organizations like the World Bank, by an
outstanding debt of Rs. 1,185 million. At the same time, American private investments in the
Indian economy had increased from Rs. 179.6 million in 1948 to Rs. 474.9 million in 1955.
(Ibid, p. 80)

While looking back to the 1960s, Sanyal seems to attach more importance to the peasant
movement of 1959 than that of Naxalbari In fact, in my opinion, 1959 had more potentials
than 1967 when the Naxalbari movement actually broke out. Unfortunately, as in the case of
1954-55, he does not mention any national or international background which could have led to
the more promising nature of 1959, as he claims. The first communist government took over
power in Kerala in 1957. It was dismissed by the Congress Central government in 1959. The dire
crisis of food grains led to massive mass movements across India. Moreover, although the money
earnings increased from 139 in 1966 to 160 in 1968 (base 1961 = 100), real earnings fell from 95
in 1966 to 94 in 1968 (base 1961 = 100). (In the Wake of Naxalbari, p. 51) By the end of the
sixties there still existed an estimated 65,000 acres of surplus land (owned by tea estates) and
about 19,000 acres of Khas (private land belonging to jotedars) and vested land in the Naxalbari
area. It was this land that provided the focal point of the violence of 1967 in Naxalbari, Kheribari
and Phansidea. (Maurius Damas, Approaching Naxalbari, p. 124) Obviously enough to give rise
to a seething social mood.

Prior to it, on 29th August 1959, 80 people were killed by police firing in Calcutta. It ignited a
fiery response among the cadres of the Communist and general populace as well. Internationally,
a significant number of Euro-American academia came out on the street
Come and see the blood in the streets.
Come and see
The blood in the streets.
Come and see the blood
In the streets! (Pablo Neruda, Im explaining a few things) They valiantly confronted and
fought police and army. In Vietnam, the peoples struggle sustained every conceivable or
inconceivable as well as the most brutal American onslaughts over common people. Without
yielding to the onslaughts, they relentlessly marched forward to crush American aggression and
their every possible maneuver.

It is hard to guess why Kanu Sanyal does not mention anything about these historical
phenomena. He reins his accounts of the period limited merely to Naxalbari experiences. This is
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just what a myopic vision and truncated analysis of events may lead to. Retrospectively thinking,
it may be a reason that in the later period, despite all his efforts to build up an all India
revolutionary Communist party, he failed time and again. He seems to lack in broader vision as
well as dynamic capabilities to incorporate aspirations of all assorted sections of people under
the canopy of the organization. To me, Kanu Sanyal appears to be prone to pragmatic thinking,
often having a sharp rupture with a theoretical way of conceptualizing. I wonder if it made him
submerge in the quagmire of pragmatism.

Throughout the book, we find one Kanu Sanyal, who is moderate at his education, almost
preternaturally devoted to his work among poor people, almost never openly or seriously
countering arguments of his senior comrades.

But his psyche and personal characteristics do not end there. Throughout his reminiscences he
often becomes harsh and unsympathetic to the extent of not mentioning even the brutal killing of
Saroj Datta. Saroj Datta should not deserve such disregard and contempt from one of his leading
comrades. The only offense Datta might have done was by offering his sole loyalty to Charu
Mazumdar and armed uprising of the peasantry. Moreover, Sanyal draws attention to a few
simple issues with a serious note. Dr. K. N. Chatterjee had donated three bicycles to the CPI
Siliguri subdivisional committee. Charu Mazumdar, Biren Bose and Atin Bose used to visit the
tea gardens on those bicycles. He laconically remarks, But it was more of a joyride for them
than anything else. Could anything be more damaging than depicting the whole affair as a joy
ride? Was it a preamble to negating the contributions of Charu Mazumdar as the main architect
of the Naxalbari uprising? Charu Mazumdars role in the making of Naxalbari is a historical
phenomenon which cannot be ignored or erased summarily. For further appraisal, one may go
through numerous books (including In the Wake of Naxalbari by Sumanta Banerjee, Naxalbari
and After: A Frontier Anthology, Charu Mazumderer Katha by Souren Basu, Approaching
Naxalbari by Marius Damas, to name a few) and innumerable articles published especially in
Economic and Political Weekly and Frontier.

Kanu Sanyal and the Charu Mazumdar Line

In his own statement, Before coming to Visakhapatnam (jail), I was under the impression that
the majority of the anti-revisionist Communist leaders in India were in conformity with the
strategies of Charu Mazumdar and that was the prime reason why I never dared to challenge his
strategies in public. (p. 163. Italics added) Interestingly, again in Visakhapatnam jail, there
occurred the recovery of Sanyals identity (? Somewhat akin to Ashis Nandys loss and
recovery of self) I started venting out my criticisms on Charu Das flawed policies, which
made me assert my own identity independent of Charu Das shadow. (p. 162. Italics added)

How did this shadow begin to cast its spell on Kanu Sanyals personality and life? In his own
words, Many legends some fictitious and some true were in circulation about Charu Das
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extraordinary genius. These included his reported ability to make an exact forecast about his
exam score in college days; being able to complete huge voluminous books overnight; leaving
his opponents awestruck with logical arguments on any topic under the sun; daredevil attitude
and so on and so forth. He was also well revered in the Communist circle for his role in the
Tebhaga Movement of 1946. (p. 34. Emphasis added) All these taken together along with his
Historic Eight Documents may be a pointer to the fact that Mazumdar, though not even a
member of the Central Committee of the CPI (M), became the secretary of the CPI (ML).

As an aside, here and there we find Sanyals personal rapport with jail superintendents at least on
three occasions, which made his life in jail more tolerable and provided some amenities too.
Moreover, regarding his arrest Sanyal makes a sinister hint at Charu Mazumdar The
circumstances leading to my arrest was quite a mystery. (p. 91)

Chapter Fourteen is written solely for Off to China and Meeting Mao Tse-tung. The tit-bits of
this journey may not be very palatable or of much interest to all groups of readers. One important
event to mention is that during his meeting with Mao Tse-tung he never did mention the Historic
Eight Documents, or the name of Charu Mazumdar. It caused a rift between Deepak Biswas and
Sanyal. In Sanyals statement, since Charu Da was not personally involved in the Naxalbari
uprising, I did not find any immediate context to make reference to him. But Deepak was not
satisfied with my clarification and this created a rift between us. (p. 124)

As we pointed out earlier, it is pragmatism, not theoretical or intellectual conceptualizing, that

carries much import to Kanu Sanyal.

We should recollect what Charu Mazumdar had to say in his Eight Documents regarding the
struggle of 1959 and afterwards

From 1959, on every democratic movement of India, the government has been increasingly
launching violent attacks. We have not given leadership to any active resistance movement
against these violent attacks. We gave the call for passive resistance in the face of these attacks,
like the mourning procession after the food movement, among such instances. We shall have to
remember Comrade Mao Tsetungs teaching: Mere passive resistance against repression drives
a wedge in the fighting unity of the masses and invariably leads to the path of surrender. So, in
the present era during any mass movement, an active resistance movement will have to be
organised. The programme of active resistance has become an absolute necessity before any
mass movement. Without this programme, to organise any mass movement today means to
plunge the masses in despondency. As a result of the passive resistance of 1959, it was not
possible to organise any mass rally on the demand for food in Calcutta in the years 1960-61. This
organisation of active resistance will arouse a new confidence in the minds of the masses and the
tide of struggle will arise. What do we mean by active resistance? First, preservation of cadres.
For this preservation of cadres, proper shelters and a communication system are necessary.
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Secondly, teaching the common people the techniques of resistance, like lying down in the face
of firings, or taking the help of some strong barrier, forming barricades, etc. Thirdly, efforts to
avenge every attack with the help of groups of active cadres, which has been described by
Comrade Mao Tsetung as tit for tat struggle. At the initial stage, in proportion to their attacks,
we shall be able to avenge a few attacks only. But if even a little success is- gained in one case,
extensive propaganda will create new enthusiasm among the masses. These active resistance
struggles are possible in cities and in the countryside, everywhere. This truth has been tested in
the Negro resistance movement in America.

(Carry on the Struggle Against Modern Revisionism from Eight Documents, 1965-67)

Souren Basu observed, Charu Mazumdar had drafted his political thinking distinctly and as a
continuous journey through the Second to the Fifth Document. These documents did bring
forward definite political and organizational programs, which served as the pivot for the
Naxalbari peasant struggle as well as the formation of the CPI (ML). (Charu Mazumderer
Katha, p. 86)

It is not much evident from the book how Kanu Sanyal being released in June 1966 could be able
to determine the course of the struggle in Naxalbari. Mazumdars documents had begun to be
practiced since early-1965. Sanyal was in jail from 4 December 1964 to June 1966. It may also
appear to be shady to learn about Sanyals encounter with Mazumdar, No revolution can
achieve success and sustenance by remaining isolated from the masses. The formation of small
combat groups and the conspiratorial individual killing, which you are prescribing, would only
push us towards a wrong direction. (p. 86. Emphasis in original) In Sanyals own words, he
began to come out of allegedly overarching Charu Das shadow only in 1975 in
Vishakhapatnam jail. One may wonder how could he enunciate such a harsh criticism of
Mazumar in 1967?

Damas lets us know that the police in Naxalbari and Siliguri area responded by adding six to
their existing three patrol post and using dragnet operations to capture retreating guerrilla bands
The main guerrilla force split itself into three main groupings under the leadership of Kanu
Sanyal, Jangal Santhal and Mujibur Rahaman. (Approaching Naxalbari, p. 86) Additionally,
Kanu Sanyal was the person to declare publicly the birth of the CPI (ML) at a mass meeting in
Calcutta on the 22nd April 1967. Like a number of leaders of the pre-CPI (ML) AICCCR (All
India Coordination Committee of the Communist Revolutionaries) era, if he could assert his
definite ideological position on Naxalbari the revolutionary course of the Communist movement
in India could have taken a different locus.

However, the book provides a number of rather anecdotal information to our received
understanding of the emergence and spread of the Naxalbari movement not only throughout
India but also to adjacent countries of South Asia. We come to realize how the embers of the
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Naxalbari movement were being made relevant (sometime appearing to the extent of
hoodwinking) to the changing socio-economic-political scenario of India by different
organizations, including one of Sanyals.

It may be of some relevance to know that in his early years of communist life Kanu Sanyal failed
to grasp the Bengali translation of Stalins The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union even after repeated attempts. Despite such gross academic and intellectual shortcomings,
he remained most comfortable within the peasantry. It is intriguing to know why he actually
never trod beyond this point. It may be one of the reasons that he could not sincerely honor
undaunted struggle and unfathomable sacrifice of the students and workers, not to mention of
middle class people, at least as glimpsed through the book.

Almost at the end of his mortal and political life, on being questioned Would you support a ban
on the CPI (Maoist) in West Bengal he gave an ambiguous as well as swerving reply State
oppression can never be the answer for tackling any sort terrorism. You ban one outfit today and
another would crop up tomorrow. Thus the need is to alienate them by going closer to the poor
people address their grievances first. (p. 185) We should remember that it was the ban on the
Communist party in 1948 that was instrumental in the making of Kanu Sanyal a communist
forever.

After Naxalbari

Sanyal and Souren Basu were in Vishakhapatnam jail in 1975. The jail term had offered him the
opportunity to get a wholesome idea of Communist Movement in India. (p. 163) Moreover,
before being lodged there he held the idea that majority of the anti-revisionist Communist
leaders in India were in conformity with the strategies of Charu Mazumdar and that was the
prime reason, why I never ever dared to challenge his strategies in public. (Ibid) During this
period T. Naggi Reddy who parted with the AICCCR in 1968 approached Sanyal. Both of them
converged primarily on three basic issues (1) CPI (M) as a revisionist party, (2) the call of
election boycott and the line of annihilation are to be discarded, and (3) unlike CPI (ML), the
role of mass organizations is to be strongly upheld. But they could not unite on the question of
the nature of the Indian bourgeoisie. While Reddy (his organization being APCCCR Andhra
Pradesh Coordination Committee of the Communist Revolutionaries) was in favor of seeing the
Indian bourgeoisie as their international counterpart, Sanyal proposed tagging them as
compradors in nature, less harmful than the absolute compradors. (p. 174) As a result of this
difference (I am little convinced how much important it might be with respect to India peasantry,
workers, youth and middle class people), they fell apart and never united.

Prior to Sanyals release from jail, like-minded comrades formed the organization OCCCR
(Organising Committee for the Communist Revolutionaries). The first West Bengal conference
of OCCCR was held in February 1980. Kanu Sanyal became the secretary. Since its beginning, it
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excluded the groups pursuing the Charu Mazumdar line; it was deemed futile to talk to them as
they were adamant to carry forward the annihilation line and belittled the utility of mass
organizations. (p. 173) By 1984, as a result of Sanyals ceaseless efforts and his fellow
comrades, a favorable milieu for consultations and negations was in the offing. But,
unfortunately, though these groups upheld many political thinkings on a similar line the
unification committee did not meet ever again. In 1985, six Naxalite groups including the
OCCR (by then diminished by one C) merged to give birth to a new organization COI-ML, the
Communist Organistion of India (Marxist-Leninist). Sanyal was elected its general secretary and
jubilantly noted, I was feeling for the first time post-1967 that we were capable of doing
something big. We are in a position to bring about a paradigm shift in the Indian Communist
struggle. (p. 176. Emphasis added)

However, the euphoria was not a lasting phase. By 1991, the COI-ML got split into two camps
one led by Kanu Sanyal and the other headed by the Karnataka based leader M. H. Krishnappa.
The reasons for the split were more to do with operational aspects of the party; ideological
issues secondary. (p. 176. Emphasis added) By the late 1990s innumerable Naxalite groups and
factions came up, sometimes with fierce infighting among them. In authors note, Kanu Sanyal
continue to strive for a visibly important target the unity of the Indian Communist
revolutionaries. We come to know that as a result of his persistent efforts, the COI-ML and the
Central Organizing Committee of CPI (Marxist-Leninist)-Janashakti faction merged. On 17
January 2003, they assumed the name of the CPI-ML. (p. 179) In January 2005, the CPI-ML
Red Flag headed by K. N. Ramachandran of Kerala merged with the CPI-ML.

After all these mergers and divisions in succession, there exists at present at least 12 active
Naxalite parties, as the book informs us. Despite being bitterly antagonistic with Charu
Mazumdars line of election boycott and upholding the slogan of parliamentary path, the CPI-
ML of Kanu Sanyal is yet to have a berth in the state assembly or parliament. In 2009, the party
only had one elected gram panchayat member at the old bastion of Naxalbari. (p. 180)

How to reconcile such visible failures of a party with its total commitment to parliamentary path
and general elections since its birth as well as outright rejection of the path of Charu
Mazumdar? Notably, In sharp contrast to the complete disarray state of the CPI-ML (Kanu
Sanyal) the Communist Party of India (Maoist) is rising from strength to strength with the
every passing day. (p. 181) Contrarily, Kanu Sanyal instead accused the Maoists of
practicising left adventurism (p. 182) We can juxtapose this statement with reply regarding the
ban of this outfit, as I have discussed before.

Ending Thoughts

He was one of the very few prominent personalities, who had extended an open support to the
Singur and Nandigram agitations without a political equation in mind. (p. 183) One may quip
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did he have that enough strength and acceptability to people to make out any political
equation? In my opinion, Sanyal had again overread a situation and made his statement bereft of
any economic, political and social analysis, Nandigram can excel Naxalbari. (p.183)
Prospective readers of the book would judge these swings and shifts in ones cognitive world.
Perception can never substitute cognition, I assume.

Despite all this, the author rightly points out, There are not many political leaders be it in India
or abroad, whose private and public life is synonymous. This authorised biography of Kanu
Sanyal reveals this particular aspect of a leaders life. It is so rare now!

As a cautionary note, the mere presence of rarity of personal attributes does not add luster or
glorify its ontological nature and epistemological fissures. To comprehend this narrative and
trajectory, one should go through this book on Kanu Sanyal. It may provide some clues to the
present days predicament.

The author can be reached at drjayanta@gmail.com

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