Maoist (Naxal) Violence in India: Defeat the Ideology, not People! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maoists, popularly known as Naxals, Naxalites or left wing extremists, are at war with the Indian State since 1967. They have succeeded in carving out a large chunk of area in the countryside, labeled by the media “Red Corridor,” along the eastern coast of India from Nepal border in north to Karnataka in the south, covering about 92,000 sq km. They are active in over 200 districts and have influence in about one-third of the geographical area of India. These are predominantly tribal areas. In brief, in the “red corridor” region the state administration or its machinery has been virtually absence and the rich and the powerful freely exploited poor farmers and tribal people. Popular Misconceptions In recent years the news of Maoist violence has become quite common so is their clashes with police or security forces, besides the usual kidnappings or killings. Maoists are the most misunderstood group by the ordinary people except for their negative image. Since the Maoists activities are concentrated in the tribal areas, city dwellers automatically tend to believe that the tribals are either Maoists or their supporters. Maoists are regularly painted as enemies of “development” by the government and highlighted by the media. Another widespread perception is that the Maoists are simply terrorists. Then there are those who see Maoists as champions of the cause of out-castes and marginalized and voiceless tribals and dalits, or as protectors of their rights. There is certainly utter poverty, deprivation, and lack of development in areas where Maoists operate but it is wrong to conclude that they are there with a mission to eradicate these conditions. On the contrary, the history of past half a century testifies to only one thing: these conditions provide ideal fertile ground for their activities to both to sustain and flourish. They do occasionally take up the cause of exploited poor, but that is more to serve their cause and to win sympathy for their ideology – to overthrow the Indian State through protracted armed struggle. However improbable that might seem, but that is exactly what their ideology is. A 2006 status paper of Home Ministry sums up the Maoist activities very succinctly: “The naxalites operate in the vacuum created by absence of administrative and political institutions, espouse the local demands and take advantage of the disenchantment prevalent among the exploited segments of the population and seek to offer an alternative system of governance which promises emancipation of these segments from the clutches of ‘exploiter’ classes through the barrel of a gun.” Origin of Maoists’ Uprising Although the Maoist violence is generally traced to an incidence of 1967 in the Naxalbari village of West Bengal – a violent clash between the landless farmers and powerful landlords – ideological roots date back to the Telangana Movement of the late forties (1946 – 51) which was an effort to copy Mao’s peasant revolution of China. Maoists pick up different local issues in different regions. Thus, the Maoist struggle came about caste conflict in Bihar, got connected to land issues in Andhra Pradesh, and tribal exploitation provided them grounds to spread roots in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. They appear to be supporting separatism in J&K and in the Northeast. However, regardless of the causes they may appear to be fighting for, their ultimate ideological goal remains the same – to throw out the Indian State and establish a people’s State. A Brief History of Evolution of Maoist’s Struggle All shades of leftist parties in India are off springs of the Telangana Movement around the time of India’s partition – over 2500 villages in Andhra were organized into “communes” as part of the peasant struggle in 1948. The movement leaders’ strategy was based on Mao’s New Democracy. It ultimately gave birth to three branches of communism in India – one favored the Russian type revolution, another opted for the Mao’s Chinese model, and the third decided to go along the parliamentary democracy. The idea of armed struggle to achieve the goal got a boost from an incidence twenty years later – in the Naxalbari village in the Darjeeling area in 1967. A land dispute between a poor farmer and landlords provided opportunity to a section of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) led by Charu Mujumdar to initiate a violent uprising. It soon spread to other neighboring areas and landless farmers picked up arms against landlords. It resulted in the formation of the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) in 1968. The AICCCR adopted two basic principles for its operations – allegiance to the armed struggle and non-participation in the elections.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 17:05:53 +0000
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