Exit In Pain or Out of Frustration!

In our adoloscent days, we used to get the impression that politics and political parties were mostly the domain of two groups (a) erstwhile-freedom fighting Congress Party men and women, most of whom had no potential to earn a decent livelihood without being in the ruling party and the goons or musclemen they used to oppress the weak and (b) middle class left-oriented, socialist persons who could not succeed in secondary and higher education, often strong in Bangali language/ literature but with poor quality science or mathmatical brain motivated by aspiration to become popular and  / or   motivated by a duty to lead the weak and the oppressed, in particular, the factory or transport workers, clerks and the very small farmers oppressed by rural rich and their bulging followers among the middle class, blue and white collar employees including the members of Hindu families displaced/ driven out from East Pakistan (Bangladesh after India assisted freedom from Pakistan). A few of these political were clean and honest and so dedicated to the cause of their parties and ideologies that they sacrificed their middle class comforts and lived on very little food and shelter that they could manage.  Frankly speaking, many of us were disappointed that politics in India is led by such poor quality brains or such corrupt persons. We also thought that it was a great disaster that only poor brains, ruiffians and job shirkers were the supporters of these political leaders. Politics was all about staying in power by the Congress Party and its useless ministers starting from Jawharlal Nehru and the opposition by the various socialist parties, the Communist Party of India and the Jan Sangh which had more educated leaders but very poor quality supporters. It was clear that we have had to live in this environment and suffer the rest of our lives under their oppression and foolish governance.
By the time we went to the higher secondary school, it was becoming clear that the Congress Party was failing the country and messing up all things. In the elections many thought that the Socialist and the communists could give an effective opposition to the oppressive and poor brain Congress leadership. Non-Congress parties were slowing winning more and more seats in legislative bodies.
The 1962 War with China exposed the gross incompetence of the big speech mouths of the Congress Party leadership. It also gave a thrust to the Communists. They thought that they would win the hearts and minds of the Indians. Communists could not spread and they got increasingly divided into factions depending how quickly they could get hold of political power in at least some parts of India. The socialists also got divided. Indians, particularly, the less educated and the middle class, always want to become leaders. One  party can have x number of leaders but in the party there are 3x or 4x members who want to lead. So, the party's had to split. So, the 63 year old nation has so far been led by hundreds of leaders at the national level and many thousands of leaders at the state level.

One such leader was Kanu Sanyal who came into prominence when we were in the undergraduate and post-graduate classes in the mid- or late 1960s. Not many brilliant students of Kolkata's best colleges including the Presidency College could convince the CPI (M) leadership that they were better leaders both in terms of organisational capability, brain quality and leadership quality as compared to the traditional studet leaders who came from run of the mill undergraduate colleges. The CPM had difficulty is giving more or equal importance to these budding scholar students of prestigious undergraduate colleges and universities. So, these students searched an way out for getting ino limelight. The Naxalbari movement attracted them: they found Charu Mazjumder and Kanu Sanyal of the terrorist variety of communism an advetures launching ground. These included many students from reltively high middle-class or rich families. Most of them, however, would after a few years of romance with terrorism including figting with guns in villages and urban streets killing small businessmen, rich agricultural property owners, police men and CPM party activists trying to protect their turf among the voters, would get heavy dressing from the police after the Congress Government forced itself into power in the State of West Bengal. Later many of them would get themselves rehabilated by fleeing to other states or t the US for higer educaton. Meanwhile, education suffered the most severely during 1966- 1975. They had coined the most offensive of the slogans for our young Indian minds: "Chairman Mao of China was Our Chirman".

Kanu Sanyal, (1929 – March 23, 2010)  announced the formation of the original CPI (ML) on Vladimir Lenin's birthday in 1969 at a public rally in Kolkata.  The left-sympathetic media in West Bengal portrayed him as a "great revolutionary" and compared him to the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Jatin Das, largely because of his charisma and his public showmanship, such as his displays of "wealth-renunciation" and his publicity campaigns where he tried to identify with the proletariat. How this publicity was financed was however not an issue to the so-called politically conscious pseudo- intellectual electorate. Sanyal believed in highly secretive and cabalistic group who would periodically surface to commit acts of terrorism such as political assassinations and armory raids. Sanyal actively solicited help from the communist regime in neighboring China to further his goals. After the failure of the Naxalite uprising, Sanyal went into hiding. The death of his colleague Charu Majumdar was followed by the breakup of the Naxalite movement. Apparently, Sanyal abandoned violent means and accepted parliamentary practice as a form of revolutionary activity. He was eventually cornered and arrested in August 1970. News of his arrest sparked of region-wide violence by the radical communists. CPI(ML) cadres destroyed property, raided and attacked educational institutions, and engaged in rioting.]For seven years Sanyal was imprisoned in a jail in Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh in the case known as the Parvatipuram Naxalite Conspiracy case.He was convicted in the Parvatipuram Conspiracy Case, by the Sessions Judge.

Sanyal was released from jail in 1977, following the shift of government in India as well as in West Bengal. Jyoti Basu, the new CPI(M) chief minister, personally intervened to ensure Sanyal's release. By the time of his release, Sanyal had publicly repudiated the original strategy of armed struggle of the CPI(ML).
After his release Sanyal rallied his supporters and formed the Organising Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (OCCR). In 1985 Sanyal's faction along with five other groups, merged to form the Communist Organisation of India (Marxist-Leninist). Sanyal became the leader of COI(ML). On January 18, 2006, Sanyal was arrested along with other fellow agitators who were also protesting against closures of tea gardens in the region for disrupting a Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express train at the New Jalpaiguri Railway Station in Siliguri, North Bengal.

On 23 Mar 2010, he was found hanging at his residence at Seftullajote village, 25 km Siliguri (West Bengal) from where Naxal Movment began under his leadership. The 81-year-old Sanyal was suffering from old-age related ailments. At the time of his death he was general secretary of a new CPI(ML), formed by merger of several splinter groups of the original party.

With a body in great pain due to old age and  mind was frustrated by the life-long failure, a Maoist has every reason to quit.  Chairman Mao failed the Indian Communist Revolution. China is no longer Maoist. India's Home Minister PC Chidambaram has committed to clearing of Maoists from the Indian soil in 1913. Some other 'ists' will replce them. Long Live Communist Revolution.