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#TheEncounter


Encounter... 
The meaning of the word as we use in India is unique. The word assumed it's new meaning in the late-1960s and acquired a unique place in our vocabulary by the time of Emergency.
It was the time of the Naxalbari movement in north Bengal turning violent and entering large parts of urban areas in the state. Even scholars and professionals were supporting a fledgling group of so-called Communists who had broken out of the Left parties, accusing the latter of "compromising with a cause" by following Parliamentary Democracy. 
"Power flows from the barrel of a gun," they quoted, conveniently ignoring the fact that if so, the state is many times more powerful. They made handful of poor villagers take on posse of rifle-toting police with bows and arrows. All in the name of "revolution"! 


Oblivious to logic, students on (then) Calcutta streets chanted, "China's chairman is our chairman". It was romantic to be called a Naxal or a Maoist. They considered themselves as unassailable as the Rambo, though the film was to be made a decade later. 
The jails were getting overcrowded, mostly with young zealots. Thus, in order to lessen their load, police would rough them overnight, let them suffer the next day, then just dump them in fields or roads. Some were let out of police vans and told to run. To be shot like animals of prey.
The news next day would say "Killed In Encounter"... It implied an armed combat with certain assailants who could not be overpowered and were thus eliminated in self defence.
The readers would sigh and turn to the next coloumn...


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