West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lambasted government officials for not protecting the house of legendary Naxal leader Kanu Sanyal at Naxalbari.
Banerjee received a letter from a confidential source, informing her that local land-grabbers are out to encroach the house of Sanyal, who died by suicide in 2010 inside his house, which also doubled as the party office. Some people claim otherwise—that he used to stay at the party office.
Sanyal, along with Charu Majumdar and Jangal Santhal, started the Naxalite movement in late 1960s which spread across the country. While Majumdar died in police custody and Santhal died due to alcoholism, Sanyal, who was leading a small fraction of CPI(ML), was disgruntled because of the failed Naxalite movement. This sense of failure led him to take his own life.
The chief minister was unhappy apparently because some left leaders—belonging to a CPI(ML) faction—informed her about it. Earlier, the party office or his house used to be looked after by his close confidante, the country’s first woman Naxal, Shanti Munda.
Munda recently told THE WEEK, “Some groups have snatched the keys of the party office and they closed it down.” However, Munda and others managed to keep the red flag fluttering in front of the house.
Banerjee, on Wednesday, asked why Darjeeling district Magistrate and superintendent of police failed to look after the house of Sanyal. When both the officials said the place is far away from the Darjeeling hills, where they operate from during summer, the chief minister had a quick solution—bringing Naxalbari under the Siliguri police commissionerate.
“I may not subscribe to his ideology. But his house must not be encroached by land mafia,” said the chief minister.
While DGP Manoj Verma instantly noted down her directive, the chief minister asked him to send a proposal in this regard. However, many senior IAS officers have raised concerns about bringing Naxalbari under the Siliguri police commissionerate.
“Naxalbari is a block comprising villages. The house where Sanyal’s house is located is also a village. First the government would have to convert the Naxalbari block into a township,” said an officer.
