Marginalizing representation of women in the Naxalite movement in West Bengal, India (1967–1975)

Abstract

Frustrated by economic depravity, peasants and their urban supporters revolted against the bigger landowners and the State in a violent frenzy in West Bengal, India in the 1960s. These revolts were a part of the Naxalite movement that followed left-extreme politics and adopted a line of annihilating class enemies. Women were at the crossroads of the power struggles between the Naxalites and actions taken by the State. They were marginalized within the Naxalite movement and faced scrutiny for their association with violence by the Indian society. This essay will look at literary fiction such as Mahasweta Devi’s Hajar Churashir Maa (1974), Samaresh Majumdar’s Kalbela (1981) and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland (2013) to form an understanding of how female participants of the Naxalite movement were represented in popular culture. The analysis highlights how the female participants of the movement faced multiple challenges to survive in extreme settings, constantly surrounded by violence. As the private and public domains overlap in a revolution, the normative system order breaks down. The contributions of female Naxalites from these private spheres are marginalized by the historiography of the movement, which focuses on the public domain. This influences the representation of female Naxalites in popular culture. The essay explores how female Naxalites were sidelined to caregiving roles or were viewed as deviants who had transgressed their femininity to enter the violent male-dominated domain of the Naxalite movement.

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