Movement that divided Naxals

Even as the CPIML movement in the country as a whole split immediately after the Emergency, the party continued to remain undivided in Assam up to 1978. National-level leaders like Santosh Rana, C P Reddy, Satyanarain Singh and Bhaskar Nandi believed that an armed struggle could not be imposed on the people, and that people would take to arms only when faced with armed repression, and their followers in Assam toed the line.

8216;8216;Though we8217;d been around since 1972, we got the first opportunity to take part in electoral politics after the Emergency in 1977,8217;8217; says Biswajit Chakrabarty, full-time secretary of the CPIML Assam state committee Bhaskar Nandi group. The CPIML had two factions in Assam: Nandi versus Vinod Mishra. 8216;8216;We do not believe in class as an absolute truth, but consider caste as a part of a semi-feudal society. 8217;8217;

The party, therefore, supported the 8216;8216;national content8217;8217; of the Assam agitation led by the AASU in 1979-85. This faction also supported the Bodo movement for a separate script, not separate state.

The CPIML Mishra, not only extended full support to the AASU-led agitation against Bangladeshi influx, but its leaders also allied with the AGP during 1985-90. Once the Assam Accord was signed, its leaders fought the elections in alliance with the AGP.