People Power: The Naxalite Movement in Central Bihar

In Naxalbari where it originated, the militant agrarian movement seems to have faded away. But in Central Bihar it has been alive and gathering strength for over three decades since 1968, defying state repression and recurrent episodes of massacres by the feudal elements. This is the region in the eye of the storm, with mushrooming caste-based private armies of upper-caste landlords to counter the upsurge. It is also the arena where the various militant groups are waging their war of attrition, placing in doubt the very ideology of class struggle. In five districts of Central Bihar—Bhojpur, Jehanabad, Gaya, Patna, and Aurangabad—three left-wing groups are active: CPI (ML) party unity, Maoist Communist Centre, and CPI (ML) liberation. Contemporary radical agrarian movements have sharpened consciousness on issues like uneven land-ownership, low wages, caste discrimination, sexual exploitation of lower-caste women and similar structural oppression and exploitation of the lower strata of society. Agricultural labourers and small peasants, who predominantly hail from the lower-caste category and who are the most deprived and marginalized section of Indian rural society, charted out a vanguard role in the agrarian movements, spurred on by the militant political organizations which exerted themselves to sharpen the consciousness of the caste, class and gender contradictions. The main objective of this enquiry is to examine the socio-economic setting of central Bihar in order to understand the radical agrarian movements—their origin, historical growth, ideological principles, the actors involved, the strategies followed and the outcome. Except for newspaper reports, the Naxalite movement has not received sufficient sociological examination from social scientists. The present study aims at highlighting the internal dynamics of agrarian movements, peasant consciousness and local leadership, which rise up in militant revolt in favourable conditions.