The naxal challenge faced by different states in the country has heightened the interest in the study of naxalites and their ideology in recent years. Though a bulk of literature has been written on the history of naxalite movement, almost all of this focuses on the history of naxalite movement that happened in Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. But, most historians writing on this area has overlooked the fact that impact of Naxalbari revolt and Srikakulam revolt were far-reaching and in several parts of the country there were attempts to start a naxalite movement on similar lines. As the figures compiled by the Union Home Ministry indicates, from September 1967 till the middle of 1969, there has been a marked increase in the incidents of occupation of land, demonstrations demanding land for the landless, agitations for increase in wages of agricultural labourers etc. in different parts of the country. [1] One can draw very important lessons from the study of history of rise [and fall] of naxalism in these areas.
Most studies so far have been content to study the history of only those regions where naxalism became popular. This paper focuses on the history of naxalite movement in a state where it failed to take root-Kerala. And it is for this very reason that a study of history of naxalite movement in Kerala is important. What is it that prevented the growth of naxalism in Kerala? The purpose of this paper is to answer this interesting question.
Another important theme this paper addresses is the causes which led to the rise of Naxalism in Kerala. This question is important because, unlike in other states, naxalism did not emerge in Kerala due to the stark class contradictions existing between the landlords and peasants; but it was initiated by a number of other factors; though the presence of contradictions gave an impetus to the movement. The project investigates these other factors which led to the rise of naxalism in Kerala. The first theme is inter-related with this second theme in that the factors which gave rise to naxalite movement also play a bearing on the death of the movement.
State of affairs: 1967-68
The naxalite movement in Kerala was inspired from the events that happened in Naxalbari village of West Bengal West Bengal . They attacked police stations and landlords and had the region under their control where no outsider could enter without their permission[2]. But by July 1967, the police was able to suppress the uprising and were able to arrest almost all major rebel leaders. Thus the uprising fizzled out without achieving anything significant.
But the Naxalbari incident had a far-reaching impact on the entire agrarian scene throughout India
In 1968 the first of such incidents inspired from Naxalbari uprising occurred in Pulpally in Wynad and Thalassery in Kannur district of Kerala, followed by revolt in Kuttiyadi(1969) and later in Thirunelly(1970).
The chapter seeks to explain the conditions and causes which led to the rise of naxalism in Kerala.
The naxalite attacks in Kerala were concentrated in the northern districts of Wynad and Kannur and Calicut China
The Rural Scene
As mentioned earlier, the first attack modelled on the Naxalbari incident occurred in the Wynad region. This is because the revolutionaries thought that this region had the most conducive environment for the fostering of revolutionist ideas. The Wynad region had a major portion of the adivasi population. The Wynad valley was remarkable for its vast stretches of paddy field. Scarcity of agricultural labourers to work on the fields as serfs during the 18th century prompted the non-tribal landlords to import large numbers of adivasis (the Paniya and Adiya) from the neighboring forests that now belong to Karnataka and Tamilnadu. In Malabar the cultivating tribals were dispossessed by the influx of immigrants. [3]Poor wages from labour on land and lack of extra avenues of employment outside agriculture drove the landless workers to borrow money from their landlords. In ability to pay off debts landed these people in a form of bonded slavery. The Commissioner of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes commented in his report of 1965-66: “The survey on the economic conditions of Paniyans of Wynad in Kerala conducted by the Bureau of Statistics and Economics of the Government of Kerala, throws light on the system of bonded labour prevalent in that area.”[4] Thus the ideologies of the naxalite revolutionaries appealed them most and the revolutionaries could garner a lot of support from these adivasis.
The role of intellectuals
While ‘comprador’ bourgeoisie and nationalist bourgeoisie were despised in Charu Mazumdar’s theories, the petty bourgeois was assigned a revolutionary role. Petty bourgeois are the middle and lower-middle class people consisting of teachers, white-collar employees, students etc. They had access to education and employment, and could thus afford an intellectual life free from the responsibility of production. This class played an important role in the political struggles during the British Rule. Impatient with the politics of compromise of the Indian National Congress led by the comprador-bourgeoisie, the radical section of this class turned to the path of armed revolt. Many of them later turned to communism. It is therefore no surprise that the intelligentsia came up to provide the naxalite movement with leadership and became its main ideologues.[5]
It was these ‘petty bourgeoisie’ who provided the leadership for the naxalite revolts in Kerala also. In fact it was they who publicised the ideologies of Mao-TseTung and the Naxalbari incident among the peasants and the tribals. The important leaders among them were Kunnikkal Narayanan, Mandakini, T.V.Appu, Philip M. Prasad and Varghese. The daughter of Kunnikkal Narayanan and Mandakini, Ajitha, was also involved in the activities from her junior college days.
They were dissatisfied with the CPI(M) as the party did not advocate an armed revolution and was participating actively in the parliamentary democracy. They thought that after the death of Stalin, Soviet Union has given up the interests of world revolution and they saw China
They were dissatisfied with the revisionist policies of the Marxist party and the ‘traitorous approach of the party leadership’ in repressing the Naxalbari uprising. Thus they and many other members of the CPI(M) were embarrassed by and were critical of the first United Front Government’s (of whom CPI(M) was in the cabinet) action against the Naxalbari rebels, left the party and were drawn to the Naxalite brand of Communism.
These intellectuals were mainly confined to the townships of Calicut
Thus their message of revolution spread widely in Kerala.
The Chinese Contribution
As explained before, China India India
So when peasants of Naxalbari rose in revolt, Peking found in it the signal it had been waiting for. Describing it as ‘spring thunder over India ’, People’s Daily held that it was the result of the militant action of the "revolutionaries" of the Indian Communist Party who had "deserted the united front government" in West Bengal because "it served as a tool of the Indian reactionaries. . . ." Encouraged by the outbreak of this peasant rebellion, the People's Daily laid down the Maoist line for India India
the cities." The city-orientation of the Indian communist strategy must be given up and the peasants must be made "the invincible force of the Indian revolution "; the proletariat must therefore integrate with the peasants. Since the reactionary forces were “temporarily stronger than the revolutionary forces," communists must use "the whole set of the flexible strategy and tactics of people's war" and "persevere in protracted armed struggle." This armed struggle must begin in the countryside "where the reactionary rule is weak" and where "the revolutionaries can manoeuvre freely." It did not matter if the beginning was small, and if the peasants had to fight with bows and arrows;" so long as the Indian proletarian revolutionaries adhere to the revolutionary line of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tse-tung's thought and rely on their great ally, the peasants, it is entirely possible for them to advance from one revolutionary rural base area to another in the huge backward rural areas and build a people's army of a new type."[9]
And it is this propaganda of Peking Radio that inspired the revolutionaries in Kerala to start armed rebellions in the villages on the model of Naxalbari.
Immediate Causes for early revolts
The earliest of naxalite revolts was that in Pulpally-Thalassery. The Pulpally attack was directed against the exploitation of migrant farmers who had illegally occupied the forest land (about 20,000 acres) owned by Devaswom and were cultivating there for years. The forest department asked them to leave and filed criminal cases against them. A special Police Camp (M.S.P) was stationed there for the purpose of removing these migrants from these forest lands. The corruption and vulgarism of the police camped there antagonised these people. The Communist party, who promised to give title of the lands to these people during the elections also failed to deliver the promise. Therefore these people approached the bourgeoisie intellectuals who were spreading the ideology of Mao and Naxalbari to do something. These intellectuals, waiting for an opportunity to put their propaganda to practice, took up the issue.[10]
The Thalassery attack was in support for the impoverished beedi workers of Kannur district. Their problems started with the ‘Ganesh-Bharat Beedi crisis’. After coming to power, the E.M.S government implemented the beedi-cigar Rules as per the Minimum Wages Act. But the Ganesh and Bharat Beedi companies, which employed about 20,000 contractual labourers, were owned by proprietors in Mangalore (Karnataka District). So they closed down their operations in Kannur soon after the Act was implemented and shifted to Mangalore where the Act was not applicable. Thus more than 20,000 labourers lost their only means of livelihood. They began to work as agricultural labourers and thus the wages of the agricultural labourers also went down. The government couldn’t solve this crisis. The naxalist idea was quite popular in this area and the naxalist leaders decided to take up the issue.[11]
The Revolts
Pulpally-Thalassery Revolts (Nov. 1968)
As mentioned earlier, Thalassery-Pulpally revolts was the first naxalite attack that took place in Kerala. The naxal leaders decided that they would synchronise the attacks in Pulpally and Thalassery. They formulated the plan that they would split into two. One group, under Kunnikkal Narayanan, would attack the Thalassery Police Station on 20th November and would procure arms from there. The other group, under Varghese, would then launch the attack in Pulppally and then both groups would rendezvous in the forests near Thirunelly after which they would launch a massive revolution in Thirunelly.
But the Thalassery attack turned out to be a complete failure. On the decided date, out of 1000 people expected, only 315 turned up. And out of those who turned up, many were panic-struck by the heavy security at the police station. So they decided not to attack the police station that night. Next evening, fewer people turned up, but nonetheless they went ahead in attacking the police station. But when the sentry at the police station rung the alarm, all but one fled, and the one grenade that was thrown at the station did not explode.
The other group was waiting in Pulpally for hearing about the news about Thalassery attack in the radio so as to launch their attack in Pulpally. They had formed a coordination council of which prominent members were Varghese, Thettamala Krishnan kutti, ‘Kurichiyan’ Kunjiraman, Kisan Thomman, Philip M. Prasad and Ajitha. The council formulated the plan that they would attack the MSP camp followed by attack on Police Station and to destroy the records in registrar’s office. They also decided to attack the houses of landlords on their way to Thirunelly.
But on the day of the attack, out of 400 people recruited from among the farmers and tribals only fifty turned up. They attacked the wireless camp and hacked the operator to death. They also attacked the Sub Inspector. Many had fled by this time. They decided not to attack the police station and Registrar’s office. On their way to Thirunelly, they attacked the houses of two landlords and distributed the grains and money among the tribal people.
By this time, most of the people involved in Thalassery attack had been arrested by this police and none of their group came to the rendezvous point. So the group under Varghese had to wander through forests and finally when they reached Thirunelly, they were captured by the local people and were handed over to the Police.
Kuttiyadi Attack (1969)
Exactly one year after the Pulpally-Thalassery attack, those of early Naxalites who were outside the jail decided to attack Kuttiyadi Police station. They threw grenades at the station, destroyed the records and attacked the Sub Inspector. But when one of their leader Velayudhan was killed by the sentry fire, all fled after throwing the pamphlets titled ‘Thalassery-Pulpally:one year’. The pamphlet concluded by saying that ‘no force in the world can destroy the revolutionary spirit of the peasants of Kerala that sparked off the Thalassery-Pulpally revolts.’
Thirunelly attack (1970)
Two months after Kuttiyadi police attack, the naxalite leader who led Pulpally-Thalassery also led another attack at Thirunelly. He was trying to mobilise the adivasis during this period. What happened in Thirunelly attack was personal vendetta. They murdered a landlord and a person whom they thought to be an agent of the police. They also looted another landlord’s house.
The government was determined to curb naxalite menace by any force. The local police with the help of Central Reserve Police captured Varghese within few days and according to local people, was brutally murdered; though the police version was that he was killed in an encounter.
The police had arrested all the important naxalite leaders and the rest were dead by this time. And by 1976, the naxalite movement for all practical purposes died in Kerala. As the former Naxalite leader Ajitha put it, “I was caught by the police and landed in jail by the end of 1968... [I] remained in prison for nine years. When I came out of jail, the movement had faded away... circumstances were no longer conducive to revive the movement. So I chose to remain content with a mundane life.”[12]
Epilogue
On close examination, we can extract certain interesting features. One is that the revolts that happened in Kerala were not "a great storm of revolutionary armed struggle” as predicted by People’s Daily, but were isolated events which happened after a long interval. In all the revolts, the attacks were directed against police stations. Naxalites attack police stations to symbolically represent their protest against the institutions of the state. But in Kerala, these attacks on police stations were not symbolic, they were the end.
Another interesting feature is the number of people that participated in these revolts. Even after months of campaigning, propaganda and recruitment, the naxalite leaders could mobilise only very few people into the struggle. It is also important to note that it is the local population which captured the naxalite leaders and handed over them to the Police.
In most of the histories written about naxalist movement in India
Why did Naxalism as a movement fail to take roots in Kerala? Did the naxalite revolts that happened had any significance? The researcher in this chapter attempts to find an answer to these difficult questions.
On careful analysis, we can find a number of reasons why naxalism fizzled out at an early stage in Kerala. One very important reason was that the social and political situation prevailing in Kerala was not conducive for the fostering of revolutionist ideas of Naxalism which attempts to overthrow the basic institutions and assumptions of the government. As a prominent early naxalite K. Venu said, and as several former members often claim, “the naxalites [in kerala] failed to realise the realities of Kerala and the impact of the progressive policies followed by successive democratic (especially Left) governments and, before them, other enlightened rulers. They failed to understand that the driving force of armed struggle as envisaged by Charu Mazumdar - the class rivalry of poor, landless peasants against the landlords - was already satiated to an extent in Kerala through social reforms, (though imperfect) land reforms, the crumbling of the landlord-tenant link, the organisation of the working class and the spread of literacy that made old-world-style exploitation impossible.”[15]
The government was determined to curb naxalism completely by following a ‘carrot and stick’-a policy of carrot towards the people and a policy of stick towards naxalites. Soon after the Pulpally incident, government gave titles of land to the migrant farmers and started ‘Dinesh’ beedi company to give employment to the unemployed workers. The state government led by Communist party passed Kerala Scheduled Tribes (Restriction on Transfer of Lands and Restoration of Alienated Lands) Act in 1975 with a view to appease and wean away adivasis from the naxalites.[16]
While the government followed a policy of appeasement towards farmers and adivasis, they resorted to extreme repressive measures towards the naxalites. The police arrested almost all the leaders of the movement. The police offensive played a very significant role in curbing the naxalite movement in Kerala.
An essential condition for the success of armed rebellions of the type envisaged by naxalism is the rapid expansion of the rural bases and the fighting forces of the revolutionaries.[17] But as we have seen, in Kerala, the naxalite leaders, mostly belonging to the ‘petty bourgeoisie’ class, were not able to mobilise large sections of farmers or adivasis. The movement failed to advance beyond the initial stages of the warfare-attacks on police station, attacks on class enemies etc. and that too these were carries out in a few pockets of power. No programmes with long term goals were chalked out and one is tempted to ask what the naxalites planned to achieve with this individual and isolated acts of violence.
Yet another reason for the failure of the movement is that military requirements of the movement were neglected by the leadership. There was a lack of military experience and training which is highly essential for this kind of movement.[18] Moreover, they disregarded the military strength of the enemy. None of the attacks were planned and coordinated which led to dissensions and pandemonium.
Another very important reason for the early death of the naxalite movement in Kerala was the disunity among the naxalites from the very early stage. The early naxalites did not have the support of the AICCCR. In April 1969, soon after the formation of the all-India coordination committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist- Leninist) under Charu Mazumdar, a State organising committee of the CPI(M-L) was constituted in Kerala under the leadership of Ambadi Sankarankutty Menon. The imposition of an "unpopular" leadership by the central committee was a fact that led to the first of the divisions within the movement in the State.[19]Again, the leaders where divided into different groups. Thus while Kunnikkal Narayanan’s group sought direct actions, there were other groups stumbling along in different directions. There was one group at Trichur and Calicut, another at Trivandrum headed by the city’s ex-Mayor, Kosal Ramdas, and yet a third led by K.P.R Gopalan, trying to coordinate the activities of all these groups.the activities of all these groups were, however, confined to publishing Maoist articles in different journals.[20]
On a final analysis, the researcher is of the opinion that the conditions prevailing in Kerala was not conducive for the growth of naxalist ideas and therefore the movement died a natural death.
Naxal Varghese
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