It is primarily known today for the Marichjhapi massacre in 1979 when the newly elected Communist Party of India (Marxist) government of West Bengal evicted several post-partition Dalit refugees who were living in the reserved forest.

The Partition of India in 1947 split the large eastern province of Bengal into two halves, along religious lines.

While the educated upper classes were able to settle themselves in the urban environs of Calcutta, the poor Hindus were moved to areas outside West Bengal, in the inhospitable terrains of Orissa and Chhattisgarh.

[4] The main party of opposition in Bengal the CPI(M) continually provided voice to these refugees from Bangladesh from the outset.

In a demonstration in a refugee camp in Dandakaranya, the leader of CPI(M) himself invited all of them to Bengal, and the response he got was overwhelming.

[6] This did not deter the refugees and many families went to the Sundarbans, especially those who were originally from the nearby district of Khulna in Bangladesh, and who already had relatives living from before in clearings in the forest.