on the revolutionaries heavily, the party had to face a serious setback. Most of the leaders were either incarcerated or killed. The reorganisation process, therefore, began after August 1977 when the detainees were released. In September 1978, as a result of the annihilation of a landowner at Manihari in Katihar district of Bihar, the Central Committee got divided between Mahadev Mukherjee and his supporters on the one hand and the hardliner section of the party led by Ajijul Haque and Nishit Bhattacharya on the other. After Mahadev Mukherjee's expulsion Haque and Bhattacharya assumed leadership and reorganised the party. They named it CPI (M-L) 2nd CC as a continuation of the Central Committee that was elected in the Second Party Congress (Kamalpur) in 1973. During Haque and Bhattacharya's tenure, that is between 1978 and 1982, CPI (M-L) 2nd CC formed a provisional revolutionary government in the rural areas of North and South Bengal and in the struggle zones of Bihar. After a series of clashes with the state, both Haque and Bhattacharya were arrested. They were subsequently expelled from the party due to Haque signing a cease fire deal with the government of West Bengal. After their expulsion 2nd CC gradually became a dying force. Despite a number of efforts, the new leadership could not raise the level of struggles. On 19 May 2003 a part of the party merged with the Maoist Communist Centre of India. It had to withdraw its pro-Lin Piao stand for the merger to go through. Basic Standpoints The Basic Standpoints of CPI (M-L) 2nd CC are as follows: It believes that it is the only genuine heir of the undivided CPI (M-L) that was formed on 22 April 1969 by Charu Majumdar and his comrades. It takes Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong thought and Charu Mazumdar’s Politics as its theoretical guideline. It believes that this is the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution in which imperialism is heading for total collapse and socialism is advancing, despite temporary setbacks, to worldwide victory. It maintains that India is a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country based on Neo-colonial nature of exploitation. It rejects the parliamentary path for the whole of this strategic period and advocates the path of armed agrarian revolution by waging a successful people’s war—encircling cities with villages as shown by Mao and Lin Piao. References Communist militant groups Communist parties in India Left-wing militant groups in India Maoist organisations