Kanu Sanyal

2022-11-29T03:52:13Z

50.46.235.162:

{{Short description|Indian communist politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Kanu Sanyal
| image =
| image_size =220px
| alt = Kanu Sanyal
| caption = Kanu Sanyal
| birth_name = Krishna Kumar Sanyal
| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|01|01|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|2010|03|23|1932|df=y}}
| death_place =
| death_cause = Suicide
| party = [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Class Struggle|Class Struggle Group]]<br />[[Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)|CPIML]]<small>(1969-1972)</small>
| nationality = [[India]]n
| other_names =
| known_for = [[Naxalism]]
| occupation =
| criminal_charge = Criminal Conspiracy
| criminal_penalty = Jailed (1970-1977)
| criminal_status =
| office2 = [[Politburo]] Member of [[Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)|CPIML]]
| termstart2 = 1969
| termend2 = 1971
| office1 = General Secretary of [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Class Struggle|CPIML Class Struggle]]
| termstart1 = 2004
| termend1 = 2009
| office3 = [[Darjeeling district]] committee member of [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)|CPIM]]
| termstart3 = 1965
| termend3 = 1967
}}

'''Kanu Sanyal''' (1932<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1100324/jsp/siliguri/story_12254481.jsp|newspaper=The Telegraph|location=India|title=Naxalbari movement founder kills self|date=24 March 2010|first=Avijit|last=Sinha|accessdate=26 June 2018}}</ref> – 23 March 2010)<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite journal|jstor=2642225|title=India's Third Communist Party|first=Marcus F.|last=Franda|date=1 January 1969|journal=Asian Survey|volume=9|issue=11|pages=797–817|doi=10.2307/2642225}}</ref> was an Indian communist politician. In 1967, he was one of the main leaders of the [[Naxalbari uprising]] and in 1969 he was one of the founding leaders of [[Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)]] ([[Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)|CPI (ML)]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bannedthought.net/India/CPI(ML)-Orig/index.htm|title=CPI(M-L) [original party formed in 1967]}}</ref> Sanyal committed suicide on 23 March 2010.<ref name="Top Naxal leader Kanu Sanyal commits suicide">{{cite news|title=Top Naxal leader Kanu Sanyal commits suicide|url=http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/mar/23/top-naxal-leader-kanu-sanyal-commits-suicide.htm|accessdate=14 August 2012|newspaper=Rediff news|date=23 March 2010}}</ref>

==Formation and growth of CPI (ML)==
Kanu Sanyal joined communist politics, first as a member of CPI then CPI(M). He announced the formation of the original CPI (ML) on [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s birthday in 1969 at a public rally in [[Calcutta]]. He came out with the seminal [[Terai report]] on revolution in India, which openly denounced the anarcho-nihilist policies of [[Charu Majumdar]] and his loyalists.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

After the failure of the [[Naxalite]] uprising, Sanyal went into hiding. The death of his colleague [[Charu Majumdar]] was followed by the breakup of the Naxalite movement, and Sanyal is claimed to have abandoned violent means and accepted parliamentary practices as a form of revolutionary activity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.flonnet.com/fl2221/stories/20051021008801000.htm |title=The road from Naxalbari |website=www.flonnet.com |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017003722/http://www.flonnet.com/fl2221/stories/20051021008801000.htm |archive-date=17 October 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Arrest and jail==
He was eventually cornered and arrested in August 1970. News of his arrest sparked region-wide violence by radical communists. CPI(ML) cadres destroyed property, raided and attacked educational institutions, and engaged in rioting.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/131-3-77.shtml|title=Naxalites on Hard Times|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219135653/http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/131-3-77.shtml|archivedate=2008-02-19}}</ref>

For seven years Sanyal was imprisoned in a jail in [[Visakhapatnam]], [[Andhra Pradesh]] in a case known as the [[Parvatipuram Naxalite Conspiracy]]. He was convicted by a sessions court.

== Release and renewed political engagement ==
Sanyal was released from jail in 1977, following a change in government in New Delhi as well as in West Bengal. [[Jyoti Basu]], the new CPI(M) chief minister, personally intervened to ensure Sanyal's release.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pd.cpim.org/2004/0704/07042004_interview%20bb.htm|title=Bengal Left Front Govt Steps Into 28th Year|publisher=|access-date=5 February 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301202849/http://pd.cpim.org/2004/0704/07042004_interview%20bb.htm|archive-date=1 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> By the time of his release, Sanyal had publicly condemned the original strategy of the armed struggle of the CPI(ML).<ref>[http://www.flonnet.com/fl2221/stories/20051021008801000.htm The road from Naxalbari] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017003722/http://www.flonnet.com/fl2221/stories/20051021008801000.htm |date=2006-10-17 }}</ref>

After his release, Sanyal rallied his supporters and formed the [[Organising Committee of Communist Revolutionaries]] (OCCR).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpim.org/marxist/198501_marxist_naxalism_Prakash.htm |title=Naxalism today|publisher=}}</ref> He continued to attended CPI(M) all-party meetings until his death.

In 1985, Sanyal's faction, along with five other groups, merged to form the [[Communist Organisation of India (Marxist-Leninist)]], and Sanyal was appointed leader of the CPI(ML).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.massline.info/India/Indian_Groups.htm|title=Maoist Revolutionary parties and organizations in India|first=Scott|last=H.|publisher=}}</ref>

==Later years==
In his later years, Sanyal continued his broad engagement in [[political activism]], including the [[Trade unions in India|labour movement]] and [[Land acquisition in India|land rights]]. For these activities he was arrested and detained several times.

On 18 January 2006, while protesting against a [[Lockout (industry)|lockout]] of tea garden workers in the region, Sanyal and other fellow agitators were arrested for causing a train to be held up at the New Jalpaiguri Railway Station in [[Siliguri]], [[North Bengal]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nchro.org/index.php/2006/01/18/kanu-sanyal-arrested-for-rail-roko/|title=Kanu Sanyal arrested for "rail roko"|publisher=[[NCHRO]]|date=16 January 2006|accessdate=28 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/kanu-sanyal-arrested-for-rail-roko/article3241868.ece|title=Kanu Sanyal arrested for ''rail roko''|website=[[The Hindu]]|date=18 January 2006|publisher=}}</ref>

By late 2006, Sanyal had become a prominent figure in the opposition to land acquisition in [[Singur]].{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} On 8 December, he was arrested and detained along with three other Naxalite leaders after the police stopped and charged a demonstration.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061209/nation.htm#1%5D,|title=Buddha invites Mamata for talks. Police lathi charges mediapersons, seven hurt|newspaper=The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Nation|date=9 December 2006|accessdate=28 July 2019}}</ref>

==Death==
On 23 March 2010, he was found [[hanging]] at his residence at Seftullajote village, 25 km from Siliguri (West Bengal), where the Naxal movement had begun under his leadership. Sanyal was suffering from old-age related cardio-pulmonary ailments. At the time of his death, he was the General Secretary of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Kanu Sanyal)|new CPI(ML)]], formed by a merger of several splinter groups of the original party.<ref>{{cite news|author=Saugata Roy, TNN 23 Mar 2010, 04.20pm IST |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-03-23/india/28145460_1_kanu-sanyal-top-naxal-leader-charu-majumdar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811051749/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-03-23/india/28145460_1_kanu-sanyal-top-naxal-leader-charu-majumdar |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 August 2011 |title=Top Naxal leader Kanu Sanyal found dead in his house |date= 23 March 2010|work=[[The Times of India]] |accessdate=2012-08-14}}</ref>

==Popular culture==

Sanyal, as well as the Naxalite movement, was referenced in [[Jhumpa Lahiri]]'s 2013 novel ''[[The Lowland]]''.<ref>

{{cite web
|url=http://lareviewofbooks.org/review/the-moment-in-jhumpa-lahiris-the-lowland
|title='The Moment' in Jhumpa Lahiri's 'The Lowland'
|author=Anita Felicelli
|website=[[Los Angeles Review of Books]]
|date=9 October 2013
}}
</ref>

==References==
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.cpiml.in/ CPI(ML) website]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanyal, Kanu}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian communists]]
[[Category:Suicides by hanging in India]]
[[Category:Indian prisoners and detainees]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of India]]
[[Category:Naxalite–Maoist insurgency]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) politicians]]

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Kanu Sanyal