Naxalite movement in Bhojpur

Naxalite movement in Bhojpur
Part of Naxalite-Maoist insurgency
Ekwari village is located in Bihar
Ekwari village
Ekwari village
Ekwari village (Bihar)
Date1970-2002[2]
Location
Bhojpur district
Bihar
25°17′51″N 84°29′58″E / 25.297513°N 84.499390°E / 25.297513; 84.499390
Belligerents
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation Government of Bihar
Bhojpur landlords[1]
Commanders and leaders

Jagdish Mahto †[3]
Rameswar Ahir. †[4]
Ram Naresh Dusadh[5][6]

Dr. Nirmal Mahato †[5]
Ramayan Ram †[5]
Singhasan Chamar †[5]
Units involved
Bihar Police Force[7]
Indian paramilitary units[8]
Armed gangs of the landlords[9]

Naxalite movement in Bhojpur or Bhojpur uprising refers to the class conflict manifested in armed uprising of the 1970s, that took place in the various villages of the Bhojpur district of Bihar. These clashes were part of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency in the state, which mobilised the agricultural labourers and the poor peasants against the landlords, primarily belonging to upper-castes. A distinguished feature of these insurgencies were their confinement to the villages, and the nine towns of the Bhojpur district remained unaffected from the periodic skirmishes between the armed groups. One of the reason sought for this peculiar feature is the absence of modern industries in the district. The economy of the district was primarily agrarian, and the industrial proletariat class was absent.

According to police records, the Naxalite movement in Bhojpur was spread across nine out of sixteen Blocks of the district, and a total of 150 village were affected by the armed uprising. In Sahar block, however, the entire population of the poor peasants was believed to be the participants of armed uprising against the feudal order. According to author Arun Sinha, due to caste composition of the belligerent groups in the uprising, it was often portrayed as the reaction against the "caste based oppression". The causes behind the uprising were, however, not the "caste consciousness".[1][10]

  1. ^ a b Sinha, Arun (1978). "Class War in Bhojpur: II". Economic and Political Weekly. 13 (3): 90–92. JSTOR 4366310.
  2. ^ Pranava K Chaudhary, ed. (15 November 2002). "ML to honour kin of 'martyrs'". Times of India. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  3. ^ Omvedt, Gail (1993). Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India. M.E. Sharpe. p. 59. ISBN 0765631768. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bhatia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d Amrik Singh Nimbran (1992). Poverty, Land, and Violence: An Analytical Study of Naxalism in Bihar. Layman's Publications. Retrieved 21 July 2022. His active associates and lesser leaders like Ram Naresh Dusadh, Rameshwar Ahir (both of Ekwari), Butan Musahar, Ramayan Ram, Narayan Koeri, Dr. Nirmal Mahto etc. came from these groups .
  6. ^ Ranabir Samaddar, ed. (2018). From Popular Movements to Rebellion: The Naxalite Decade. Routledge. ISBN 978-0429648977. Retrieved 19 July 2022.The first spark of Naxalbari in Bihar actually fell in Musahari but it was soon extinguished. This spark was once again ignited in Ekwaari village and took the form of a raging fire in the Bhojpur revolution which could never again be extinguished. When this spark fell in Ekwaari, the three who came forward to pick it up and carry the torch are well known in the Bhojpur revolution as the trio of ‘Mahto, Paswan and Yadav’ – Master Jagdish Prasad, Ramnaresh Ram, and Rameshwar Ahir (Sadhuji).
  7. ^ Mukherjee, Kalyan (1979). "Peasant Revolt in Bhojpur". Economic and Political Weekly. 14 (36): 1536–38. JSTOR 4367921.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Narayan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference d mello was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mukherjee Yadav was invoked but never defined (see the help page).