India after Naxalbari: Unfinished History

by Bernard D'Mello

How the 1967 uprising at Naxalbari inspired a generation of resistance across India and the South Asian subcontinentAlthough the 1967 revolutionary armed peasant uprising in Naxalbari, at the foot of the Indian Himalayas, was brutally crushed, the insurgency gained new life elsewhere in India. In fact, this revolt has turned out to be the world’s longest-running “people’s war,” and Naxalbari has come to stand for the road to revolution in India. What has gone into the making of this protracted Maoist resistance? Bernard D’Mello’s fascinating narrative answers this question by tracing the circumstances that gave rise to India’s “1968”decade of revolutionary humanism and those that led to the triumph of the “1989” era of appallingly unequal growth condoned by Hindutva-nationalism, the Indian variant of Nazism. Will what remain of India’s continuing “1968” bring twenty-first-century “New Democracy” to the collective agenda? Or will the ongoing regression of “1989” lead the way to full-blown semi-fascism and sub-imperialism? India after Naxalbari is far more than a simple history of the ongoing Naxalite/Maoist resistance; it is a deeply passionate and informed work that not only captures the essence of modern Indian history but also tries to comprehend the present in the context of that history – so that the oppressed can exercise their power to influence its shape and outcome.

Genres: History, India

378 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 23, 2018

Reviews

[Anwesha Bhattacharjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book tells an amazing story of recent events in India that one doesn't read in history books or in the news. The facts obscured intentionally by corporate media are highlighted well here and I enjoyed, cried my way through the Spring Thunder stories.
My biggest criticism of the book remains it's inability to critique Maoism as implemented in China or the failure of the communist state in USSR and introspection on how the communist implementation of Marxist ideology has failed enough to where both Russia and China have fallen back on totalitarianism and capitalism.

[Pulkit · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a good book and very well researched book , and some how it's not throwing facts , which many books in this genre end up doing. A very fresh and interesting way of looking at issue
But where it lacked was in last 50-70 pages the book completely deviates from the topic and becomes extreme left criticism of Hinduism. Ironically he becomes Salman Rushdie ( people who have read the book will understand)
It's a good summary though way of looking at problem. But conclusion in last couple of chapter on blaming consumerism, rise of nationalism, Hinduism. Makes you sad as book had so much potential but author biasness , he forces his thinking on you , makes you even doubt the facts and earlier conclusion.
Even criticism is so Extreme that he even goes back to partition and no mention of Muslim League and even rakes up anti conversion laws and in last pages he bring bramhinism(one that Extreme Twitter handles, often uses) . That's where I seriously turned back and check I am I reading the same book .
Anyway just skip the last two chapters.and.book is good

[a · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely thorough and well researched. It helped me immensely while I was doing a project on India with understanding India generally and the Naxalite movement specifically.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent exposition of the extreme contradiction that is the "modern", "independent" India.
And contradictions cannot last, the question is what will it synthesize into . Will it be something of our own conscious choosing or will it be our worst nightmare.
Absolutely recommend this book to everyone interested in India which I contend is a federation of largely failed states.