Translation by Purna Banerjee 6. Repertoires and Politics in the Time of Naxalbari

By the time 1966 ended, Bengal stood on the threshold of unprecedented radicalisation. In the background of the violent food movement and the general strike of 22-23 September 1966, peasant agitations in parts of the state, labour unrest, and particularly student movement in the latter half of that year against the expulsion of students from Presidency College1 accentuated the process of radicalisation. The radical mood meant thinking of politics in new ways. It also meant rebelling against the established mode of Left politics.