Debra and Gopiballavpur are two regions in the district, of Midnapore in West Bengal which shot into prominence between 1969 and 1971 when armed bands of peasant guer¬illas backed by poor and land¬less villagers under the leader¬ship of CPI (ML) killed landlords, seized guns, took possession of the properties owned by the landlords, burnt the records of debts and set up revolutionary committees as alternative power structures.
The movement in these two areas assumed a special impor¬tance because of the existence of the second United Front, headed by the CPI (M), in office in West Bengal at that time. Jyoti Basu who was the Home Minister in the govern¬ment, sought the help of the Eastern Frontier Rifles to suppress the movement. Thousands of peasants were put behind bars, their villages burnt and the activists killed.