Re-reading the Role of Violence in the Naxalbari Movement (1965-1975) through The Naxalites An Interaction between History and Literature

Abstract

This paper aims to study the Naxalbari movement of Bengal through the lens of violence by making a parallel study between the historical discourse and its literary representation in The Naxalites (1979), a novel by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas. The Naxalbari movement (1965-1975) was the first peasant insurgency in twenty years after Indian independence that developed into a dissenting movement against existing class hierarchy. While, on the one hand, violence evolved to be one of the major tools by the members of the movement to attain their goal; on the other hand, it also became an effective tool of the state machinery to suppress the movement. Taking theoretical cue from Slavoj Zizek’s subjective and objective violence, this paper attempts to dissect the use of violence. Using the text, the paper also tries to engage with the aporia of violence and resolve it by suggesting an alternative modus operandi of continuing the movement. Thus, this article engages with the unravelling of the use of violence and the seeking of alternatives to it through an interaction between historical and literary narratives represented by and through The Naxalites.