Tea workers movement: for land & for identity

Abstract

A burst out such as Chunarughat tea workers reminds us about the struggle against the anti-colonial oppression from the below much of which remained hidden or ignored in the mainstream media. The slogans carried out by the tea workers display the demand for owning the rights to land as well as the identity. Some may perceive it as a protest which deals with a certain economic or political problem of the tea workers. In some points, it questions the socio-economic as well as socio- political context they are currently embedded within. Therefore, this paper tries to figure out what social conditions that drive these tea- workers in Chunarughat to come out for day long processions which continued for several days. Again, this paper will break down the relational dynamics of these tea-workers under the power structure that exists within the community, the company people and the state. Therefore, this paper deals with the tea workers life and their struggle. In doing such the paper will argue with different theoretical models that conceptualize the ‘collective action’ and the ‘collective behavior’. Therefore, this paper will essentially tries to figure out whether we can theorize the outburst of the tea workers as a social movement or as a social protest.