Naxalbari

Naxalbari
—  village  —
Naxalbari Location of Naxalbari in West Bengal and India
Coordinates	26°41′N 88°13′E / 26.68°N 88.22°E / 26.68; 88.22Coordinates: 26°41′N 88°13′E / 26.68°N 88.22°E / 26.68; 88.22
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District(s)	Darjeeling
Parliamentary constituency	Darjeeling
Assembly constituency	Matigara-Naxalbari
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 152 metres (499 ft)

Naxalbari is the name of a village and a community development block in northern part of the state of West Bengal, India. Naxalbari block comes under the jurisdiction of Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district. Naxalbari became famous for the left wing revolt that took place in the late 1960s.

Geography

Naxalbari is located at 26°41′N 88°13′E / 26.68°N 88.22°E / 26.68; 88.22^[1]. It has an average elevation of 152 metres (501 feet).

The stretch of land, where Naxalbari is situated, lies on the Terai region at the base of the Himalayas. To the west of Naxalbari, across the border river Mechi lies Nepal. The entire stretch of the land surrounding Naxalbari is covered by farm lands, tea estates and forests and small villages, consists of an area of 182.02 km². The Naxalbari block has six Gram Panchayats (village councils), viz. Gossainpur, Lower Bagdogra, Upper Bagdogra, Hatighisha, Naxalbari and Moniram, from north to south. The population of Naxalbari block was 144,915 in the year 2001.

History

Naxalbari became famous for being the site of a left-wing poor peasants uprising in 1967, which began with the "land to tiller" slogan, an uprising continuing to this day (see Naxalite).

The "Naxalbari" incident was triggered on 25 May 1967 at Bengai Jote village in Naxalbari when the police opened fire on a group of villagers who were demanding their right to the crops at a particular piece of land. The firing killed 9 adults and 2 unknown children.

The CPI(ML) have put up busts of Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Charu Majumder on that piece of land. The spot has Bengai Jote Primary School next to it. There is a memorial column erected that has the names of the people who died during the police firing. The names are 1. Dhaneswari Devi (F), 2. Simaswari Mullick (F), 3. Nayaneswari Mullick (F), 4. Surubala Burman (F), 5. Sonamati Singh (F), 6. Fulmati Devi (F), 7. Samsari Saibani (F), 8. Gaudrau Saibani (M), 9. Kharsingh Mullick (M) and "two children".

Administration

Naxalbari block consists of one census town: Uttar Bagdogra and rural areas with 6 gram panchayats, viz. Gossaipur, Lower Bagdogra, Nakshalbari, Hatighisa, Maniram and Upper Bagdogra. This block has two police stations: Bagdogra and Naxalbari. The headquarters of this block is in Naxalbari.

References

1. ^ Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Naxalbari

External links

• The Rising: Naxalbari to now
• From Naxalbari to Nalgonda
• The Road from Naxalbari
• Naxalbari (1967): The Naxalite Movement in India