A New Brand of Radical Politics Under the Lens
T. Ananthachari
Maoist 'Spring Thunder' The Naxalite Movement (1967-1972) by Arun Prosad Mukherjee K.P. Bagchi and Company, 2008, 319 pp., 595
February 2008, volume 32, No 2

Maoist Spring Thunder is a detailed account and analysis of the momentous events, which made not only the West Bengal Administration but also the whole country sit up and think about the ruthless manner in which violent means were resorted to get the demands for land reforms and distribution of land among the have-nots in West Bengal. An altogether ‘new brand of radical politics’ took birth, thanks to the Naxalite movement. The author has recaptured the attempts made by him and a few other police officers to understand the underlying genuineness of the demands and therefore, not to deal with the uprising as yet another routine breach of law. In the process, the predicaments which daunted the political, administrative and the law and order machinery, have been brought out with sincerity and openness.’

The book recounts, on the basis of authentic, first hand records, which were meticulously maintained (and preserved for nearly four decades) by the author when he had to deal with this ‘movement’ which erupted rather suddenly. The Darjeeling Police in whose jurisdiction Naxalbari and other places of action lay, had intercepted information even as the ‘movement’ was taking shape. But the ground realities, about which the author has rendered painstaking account in the book, were obviously complex and therefore, it took quite a while to come to grips with the problem.

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