Gaddar's Lal Salaam to Kanu Sanyal

Folk balladeer and poet Gaddar remembers founder of the Naxal movement Kanu Sanyal, who passed away on Tuesday. Gaddar has been involved with the Naxal movement in Andhra Pradesh for 20 years.

"Kanu Sanyal was a legendary figure and founder of the Naxalbari movement, a great leader who emerged from grassroots and fought for the "land to peasant". He sacrificed everything for the suppressed classes and made a huge contribution to the revolutionary movement in India.

He was so different from other leaders that when serious differences cropped up on ideological issues with Charu Majumdar and others, he left the movement, went back to his village and lived like an ordinary person.

On the one hand he was a source of inspiration for many revolutionaries and on the other he has left behind a question for all of us to ponder. What made such a great revolutionary to leave everything and retire to his village? Why did he prefer to remain far away from the movement he had founded and after having worked day and night for the suppressed people he loved so much? What compelled him to hang himself?

I met him only once and had no contact when he was in the thick of the movement. But I understand, he carried in his person both hope and disappointment. He gave hope to others but was himself was disappointed with the strategies and tactics adopted by the others in revolutionary movement.

After the Charu Majumdar's death and with Kanu Sanyal leaving, the movement fragmented into many splinters. Kanu Sanyal opposed the strategy of individual annihilation as the only method of revolution. He believed that it was one of the many ways to be adopted. He was all for the mass struggle, the mass movements. Naxalbari was one such example. Charu Majumdar learnt a lesson from Kanu Sanyal and rectified his mistakes. But other leaders did not do so.

Kanu was also more soft and lenient towards democracy and elections while other leaders strongly believed that elections were of no use to the oppressed and suppressed classes. They thought if democracy had not failed, and had delivered the results, there would not have been any need for a new democratic revolution.

While Kanu criticised the strategy and tactics of the Maoist movement, his failure was that he did not show any alternatives.

His death is a great loss to the revolutionary moment.

As told to Mohammed Siddique.