Ek revolutionary ki mauth…

I took some time to write about Kanu Sanyal, one of the fathers of what is arguably the only genuine revolutionary insurrection in post-independence India. I took some time to write about his death not only because it was a suicide but also because writing about the death of a revolutionary means bringing in his life as well…

Kanu Sanyal was found hanging in his house, at the same place that saw the break of the Spring Thunder in 1967. The end seemed almost poetic, but then you need a Neruda for to make poetry. All that the old warrior had was a few columns in newspapers, one of whom actually described it his death as the “death of a top Naxal leader”, as if he was still in the neo-Naxalite movement…

In the end, all he had become was a blurry myth and a sad present, repudiated by those who carry his legacy and casually ignored by those who once feared him…the fate of all great men who did not die in the blaze of glory and whom history passed by in search of fresher and more photogenic heroes…

His death came a few days before the Naxalites massacred 76 CRPF jawans in an ambush, the biggest attack by them to date. The government and the Naxals have declared open war, in which for now, the government seems to be on the backfoot.

So, at a time that the Naxalites have become, officially, the biggest threat that this country has ever faced (J&K terrorism pales by comparison), with them having a presence in a quarter of the country, with their tentacles reaching out into urban centres as well, you would expect the symbol of the Naxalite movement to be satisfied. At least, the last thing you would expect him to do is to go hang himself…

But then you got to ask yourself – was he a Naxalite anymore? Maybe in his last moments he would have muttered to himself paraphrasing Marx who once famously said “If that is Marxism, then I am not a Marxist”…maybe he was aware that no matter what he did, the media and the society would fail to spot the difference between what he believed in and what the Naxalites today believe in.

The Naxalism that arose from the simple need to fight for dignity slowly became a movement in which violence, not justice (which is an abstract term anyway) became the priority for maintaining momentum. It became a movement in which poor must remain poor in order for having a raison d'etre for the movement.

If an insurrection goes on for too long, it begins to look like what it intends to supplant. Maybe that's what Kanu Sanyal saw and realized.

When Naxals make pacts with dodgy politicians and when they start to blow up schools, when Naxals become the tipping factors in elections by way of fear, when they begin to claim glorious victory by killing CRPF men who have been pushed to be cannon fodder, maybe he realized that it was a war for its own means – a never ending war in which the people to be killed will be the ones whom he wanted to give a different life all those years ago…

Maybe the end came for him much before the noose tightened. Maybe at the end he had had enough of the power that flows out of the barrel of the gun…

Maybe its time to mourn him as we mourn those great visionaries who dreamt big and tried to live upto that dream, no matter how much the rug was pulled under them.

That takes courage…so does preparing a rope for yourself…

RIP Kanuda…

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Sumon – the tragedy of a poet turncoat

There was once a rebel poet-singer who modelled himself on the traditions of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and early Dylan. He sang songs that cut through the baggage of Bengali music that had stagnated for over two decades. He sang songs of protests, of frank love, of yearning, of rage and of revolution. He sang songs of the man on the street and his life. His voice and lyrics reminded us of the best traditions of Bengali music – anti-conventional, poetic and stirring.

For this he was hailed and feted as the saviour of Bengali culture by a generation tired of its own pretensions and saw him as a fresh wind blowing away the cobwebs of oppressive tradition. I remember whole families – three generations together, under his spell.

And for a while he lived upto his promise. He touched off a revolution in Bengali music with Anjan Dutta becoming the first convert. Today’s popular bands like Chandrabindoo, Bhoomi, Cactus owe their existence directly or indirectly to Sumon’s revolution.

Today, however, Sumon has become the face of the tragedy of people who betray themselves and show themselves to be hollow, both politically and personally.

The worst kind of extremist is someone who is a new convert to a faith that he once opposed. He is the most enthusiastic and as a result is the most vulgar. Sumon has come to typify this example best.

Sumon joined Trinamool. If that was not enough to make his former fans puke instantly, he goes on become a servile sycophant of one of the worse politicians to ever come up in India – Mamta Banerjee. He talks about uprooting and killing and wiping off CPM off West Bengal in the worst form of demagoguery possible.

Anyone with half a political brain can see the tragedy that would befall Bengal if Mamta Banerjee and her goons ever come to power – they who have never done anything constructive in their political career and instead have focussed on disruption as their main agenda.

And Sumon, who once extolled the virtues of the 60’s political stance cravenly follows this party. Why you may ask? Maybe he needs a career and he feels he is morally outraged by what happened in Nandigram (which needs a big discussion in itself) and that Trinamool gave him some importance that others don't give him.

Whatever the case may be, Sumon has become the face of people who were once hailed the voice of the people and who instead of remaining outside the sphere of political parties so that he is not morally compromised, has become a tool in the hands of politicians who just want to use him for giving some hollow ‘fiery’ speeches.

Does he understand that he is being exploited? He, once sang of society’s oppression and how humans are used as tools, does he understand the depths to which he has fallen?

Maybe it is too late for realizations. Sumon has become an example of those who are fiery in their youths out of compulsion of their hot blood which masks their cowardice and lack of political depth, which comes out later…and when it does, it is ugly.

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