Then the lantern dulled its deep red glow

Amar Bari, Tomar Bari,
Naxalbari, Naxalbari.
My home, your home,
Naxalbari,Naxalbari.


Naxalbari (West Bengal): Welcome to poll-bound Naxalbari, home to the Revolution, tucked in the history and blue hills of the eastern rim. After 29 years of the Left rule, the CPM is at home in Naxalbari.
At Phansidewa constituency, which includes mostly Naxalbari, only the CPM has finalised its candidate. Three-time MLA Prakash Minjh has been dropped from Phansidewa. Choton Kisku, the saha-sabhadhipati of Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad and an educated tribal leader, will be contesting in place of Minjh.
Of 18 panchayaths, 13 are run by the CPM and the rest by Congress and Trinamool in Naxalbari, which shot to fame with peasant revolt in 1967. Claiming many lives and adding a desi word to Marxist lexicon, Naxalbari send waves of hope, scare, strength and doubt, depending on which side of the fence one sat on.
The movement, hailed by Communist China's People's Daily' as Spring Thunder over India, was later poltically and physically lynched by the CPM and troubles within. "Call us revisionists or reactionaries, if you like. But we have touched lives of the people here. Minimum wage levels have been increased from 1977 level from Rs 14 to Rs 85. Naxalbari has four higher secondary schools and a college. Land reforms have been implemented to fullest extent. Panchayath has even constructed roads in private estates to benefit tea workers. We have defeated Communist adventurists with our commitment to people's development," claims Gautam Bose, the CPM Naxalbari area secretary.
"Last year we created 10,000 fresh employment in tea gardens in consultation with the management," says Bose sitting under watchful eyes of Lenin and Stalin hung on the walls of the area committee office.
Two kilometers away, at Sebdella in Naxalbari, sits Kanu Sanyal under another set of Lenin-Stalin photographs, wearing cotton pants and 7'O clock shadow. "Farmers fall for immediate benefits. Larger issues still remain unfulfilled. Peasants are given agricultural loans by the Government and are being dragged into debt-traps," says Sanyal, one of the key leaders of the Naxalbari movement along with Charu Majumdar.
"Naxalbari peasants uprising was a remarkable armed struggle. Now everyone is branding themselves as Naxalites and indulges in individual acts of violence," says sanyal. Sanyal's party, the CPI (ML), is yet to announce candidates for the fourth round of polls in the area.
But the road to revolution has hit many crossroads. "Sanyal has diluted the ideals of Naxalbari movement by joining electoral politics. Our democracy is false. After British regime, a new set of masters have taken over us. Only a blood-wet revolution could save us," says Pavan Singh, an activist owing allegiance to CPI (ML) Mahadeb Mukherjee group. Singh's mother Dhaneswari Devi was killed at Prasadjote firing during the uprising.
He regularly keeps vigils at busts of Charu Majumdar, Stalin, Lenin and Stalin at the venue of firing. "The CPM activists once tried to destroy the busts. Since then we keep a vigil on it," says Singh.
Onil Sonya, a farmer living next to the firing venue, has already pledged his vote for the CPM. "The party has given a piece of land and arranged me an agricultural loan," he says.
Singh has also decided on what to do on voting day. "I will boycott the elections as per our party's call. On the polling day I will go to the hills and graze my cows. It will be much useful than going to polling booth," says Singh as he spits in anger. Singh's words drown in heavy downpour outside.