Mazumdar, Charu (1915–1972)

Indian Communist revolutionary, leader of the Naxalbari movement. In 1965, in opposition to the leadership of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), Mazumdar began advocating a revolutionary position along Maoist lines. He called for the destruction of existing state power and the creation of a new political order achieved through social revolution. This led to the organization and armed uprising of 15,000 to 20,000 landless peasants, tea plantation workers, and tribal people near the village of Naxalbari in the northern part of West Bengal in March and April 1967. Mazumdar was arrested in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in July 1972 and died in police custody. After his death the revolutionary movement in India collapsed.