naxalite-maoist insurgency in india...naxalite-maoist insurgency in india 2009 of world’s biggest...

INDIA DESK Pakistan Study Centre, University of the Punjab

Lahore, Pakistan

Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency in India

Muhammad Manzoor Elahi

Policy Report - December 2009

INDIA DESK - Pakistan Study Centre, University of the Punjab, Lahore

Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency in India 2009

* Muhammad Manzoor Elahi teaches at the Department of

Political Science, GC University, Lahore



Pakistan Study Centre University of the Punjab

Lahore, Pakistan

December 2009

Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency in India

By

Muhammad Manzoor Elahi

In India, rampant rebellious and subversive

activities of Naxalites are casting slur upon the image

Policy Report

Research Panel:

Professor Dr. Massarrat Abid,

Director

Professor Dr. Syed Farooq Hasnat

Ahmad Ejaz



of world’s biggest democracy. In recent months,

naxalites attacks on passenger trains, mining

companies and decapitating of police personnel has

challenged national prestige and

dignity, of the country, as well

posed a serious security threat.

The growing influence of

Naxalites and “glorious-liberal”

Indian image delineate the

dichotomy of Indian democratic

government. Such conundrum is

hampering the India aspiration

to become a regional power.

Owing to uncontrolled dreadful

and appalling insurgency by

Naxals in India, Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh in 2006 called

Naxalites, “the single biggest

internal security challenge

ever faced by our country”.1

In September 2009, he

reiterated the threat and said

that the country was “losing

the battle against Maoist

rebel” and added; now dealing

with left-wing extremism

requires a nuanced strategy - a

holistic approach. 2

In order to grasp the

essence of Naxalite-Maoist

Insurgency/Naxalism, let‟s take

into account the answers of the

following questions:

Who are Naxalites, what do they want and despite the

ideological affinity are these Indian-Maoists different from

Nepalese-Maoists?

What factors account for the genesis of Naxalite-Maoist

Movement?



What is the quantum of their socio-political, geographical

and military strength?

Is Naxalite really a secessionist movement or just an anti-

government rebellion?

What is the level of ramifications of insurgencies over

Indian national cohesion and how will India move towards

the East (impoverish region) West (enrich region)

syndrome?

Is this insurgency aided and abetted by foreign-forces?

Has Indian government chalked out any counter-

insurgency plan?

The word Naxalites derives

from the village of West Bengal

“Naxalbari”. Geographically

naxalites wield their influence in

North-Eastern states - Chhatt-

isgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and

West Bengal and South-

Eastern states Orissa,

Maharashtra and Andhra

Pradesh. Impoverishment,

scarcity of basic necessities of

life and absence of governmental

reforms are the dominant

characteristics of these regions.

Naxalite demand effective and

applicable land reforms, level

playing fields and resource

management between East

(impoverished regions) and West

(enriched regions). The nomen-

clature of this insurgency is two-

fold. One is geographical i.e.

Naxalites and the other is

ideological i.e. Maoist. Maoist

ideology gave an impetus to

Naxals for their uprising. As

Hindustan Times writes that,

"The naxal movement, which

was inspired by Chinese

leader Mao Zedong, took its

root in tribal dominated

Srikakulam agency in Andhra

Pradesh in December 1968." 3



Affinity between Nepalese

Maoists and Indian Maoists is a

natural phenomenon, but the

means of geographically

different Maoists to achieve ends

are totally different. Nepalese

Maoists are „moderate‟ and

adhere to the policy of joining a

democratic coalition gover-

nment. On the other hand Indian

Maoists are „radicals‟ and

staunch follower of Mao‟s

ideology of armed struggle and

revolution and armed struggle.

They argue that only armed

struggle can eradicate social

evils and purify the society.

Naxalites project guerrilla

warfare as propounded by Mao-

ze-Dung. They consider parlia-

mentary politics as futile and

advocate for continued armed

struggle and people‟s war to

seize the state affairs.

Naxalite-Maoist insurgency

is the outcome of dichotomy in

the policies of Indian

government. India, which is

beating the drum of eradicating

feudalism and harbinger of

democratic system in South

Asia, has failed to match slogan

with its acts on ground. Jawahar

Lal Nehru had propounded that

‘abolition of Zimindar system’

is the prerequisite for the

consolidation and culmination of

parliamentary democracy, but

Nehru‟s policy was not

implemented in its letter and

spirit. Consequently, the land

lords of north east regions

stonewalled the land reforms,

which infuriated locals e.g.

Dalits and Adivasis. Even today

in Andhra Pradesh there are

landlords who own between

1000 to 1500 acres of land.

These landlords have political

kinship and mostly are politicians

who always denounce land

reforms.4 Negligence of govern-

mental authorities, sense of

alienation, deprivation and

exploitation of poor class -Dalits

and Adivasis by the industrialists

and feudal lords gave birth to

Naxalite-Maoist Movement,



which picked up the guns to fight

for their rights.

Naxalite movement came

to light as a „peasant uprising‟ in

1967 in the village of Naxalbari.

Charu Mazumdar5 was the

main force behind this uprising

who wanted to overthrow feudal

order by launching agrarian

revolution. In this tumultuous

scenario the death of Mazumdar

in police custody added fuel to

fire and gave a momentum and

pace for the uprising of this

movement. Later government‟s

juvenile and atrocious policies

further strengthen their anti-

government stance. The

movement which started as a

peasant uprising now exerts its

influence over more than 180

Indian districts out of 630. Along

with the aforesaid affected

regions Madhya Pradesh, Andhra

Pradesh and Karnataka are also

becoming the epicenter of

Naxalite insurgencies. These all

regions are known as Red

Corridors. Naxalites has control

over 92 square kilometer land.

In the first half of 2009, 56

Maoist attacks have been

reported. According to the Indian

intelligence agencies the

movement has 22000 armed

cadre and over 50000 regular

members. Politically, Naxalites

got momentum in 2004. Maoist

rebel organization People‟s War

Group and the Maoist Comm-

unist Center of India merged and

formed a single coherent body

i.e. Communist Party of India

(Maoist).

Within 40 years, unbridled

social, geographical and political

proliferation of naxalites is

imposing severe challenges to

the Indian national integration,

although the Indian State in

general, has been in a state of

denial. Naxalites are acting as

the state. To say otherwise

would mean to admit the

possibility of imperium in

imperio, a state within a state or

a government within a gover-

nment. Now intelligentsia perc-



eives rampant influence of

Naxalites in India as a

secessionist movement. The fact

is that, Naxalite Movement is an

insurgency and has anti-

government stance. The United

States Department of Defense

(DOD) defines insurgency as "An

organized

movement aimed

at the overthrow of

a constituted

government

through use of

subversion and

armed conflict."

In a secret

interview to a

weekly magazine

„Open‟, Naxalite

leader Ganpathi vehemently

stated, “the people will rise up

like a tornado under our party

leadership to wipe-out the

reactionary blood sucking

vampires ruling our country”.6 At

another point Ganpathi titled

government as „sharks‟ who

want to ransack the wealth and

drive the tribal people of the

region to further impov-

erishment.

Snowball reverberations of

Naxalite insurgencies are hind-

ering India‟s growth to become a

regional power. The ramif-

ications of Naxalites-Maoist

movement can

be summed up

as follows:-

Naxals

main targets are

security forces,

telecomm-

unication

towers, railways

and power

transmission

centers. Now educational

institutions e.g. schools are

becoming the prey of rebel

fighting. At least 30 schools have

been attacked in the remote

state of Jharkand and 12 in Bihar

since November 2008.7 School

children are more prone to

traumatic disorder. According to

“Naxals main targets are security forces, telecomm-unication towers, railways and power transmission centers. Now educational institutions e.g. schools are becoming the prey of rebel fighting”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Defense

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Defense

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurgency#subversion



statistics tabled in the Lok

Sabha, on December 16, 2008, a

total of 62 tele-communication

towers have been damaged in

Maoist blasts between 2005 and

November 30, 2008, in the

States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,

Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maha-

rashtra and Orissa. 8

India is facing a massive

Human Rights violation. Both

unbridled naxalites activities and

offensive atrocious strategies by

government sponsored self-

defense groups e.g. Salwa

Judum & The Ranvir Sena and

counter-insurgency military

forces are responsible for gross

human rights violation. In 2008,

the state worst hit by Maoist

violence is Chattishgarh, where

rebels killed 241 people security

forces.9 The causalities and

collateral damage in other areas

depict parlous and acute picture

of violation of human rights.

“More than 6,000 people

have died during the rebels‟

decades-long fight for a

communist state in parts of

India.” (BBC News, December

19, 2007)

Another alarming situation

for India is energy and mineral

sector. The areas where Naxals

have influence are energy El-

Dorado regions. The rebellion is

strongest in states that have

abundant reserves of natural

resources specially „coal‟. As

reported by the Indian media

“India‟s electricity gene-

ration is predominantly coal-

based and the five states in

which the movement is

strongest account for 85% of

India's coal deposits”.10

Notwithstanding this Indian

defense expenditures are

shooting up like a rocket.

M.L.Kumawat special secretary

of Internal Security and Chief of

the Bureau Security Forces

(BSF) told Reuters in an

interview that, “1.7 billion

dollars would be spent over

the next five years to

increase deployment along



Most of India‟s top

nuclear and missile

facilities are

located in the

extremely Naxal

terrorists struck

districts of India,

located deep down

in the “Red

Corridor”.

Pakistan and Bangladesh

borders and modernize the

force”. 11 This whole scenario is

hampering the economic boom

of India, which is aspiring to

compete with such growing

Asian countries like China.

Naxalites access to Indian

nuclear arsenals

is the most

alarming and

perturbing

situation not

only for the

Indian but for

the whole world

as well. The

Daily Mail‟s

investigations

indicate that,

most of India‟s

top nuclear and missile

facilities are located in the

extremely Naxal terrorists

struck districts of India,

located deep down in the

“Red Corridor”.12 Pakistan has

been subject to U.S. and some

European criticism that its

nuclear arsenals are not in safe

hands. On the contrary, the

same sources are mum on this

frightening situation in India.

Comparatively, the naxalites

have more impetus and rapidity

than Talibans in Pakistan.

To leash the unbridled

guerrilla activities of

naxals Indian

Government has

decided to deal them

with iron hand.

According to Home

Ministry officials,

some 75,000 federal

paramilitary forces

along with personnel

drawn from the state

police will carry out

the offensive against

the Maoists. Six districts in the

worst hit states of Chhattisgarh,

Jharkhand, Orissa and

Maharashtra will be the focus of

the operations initially.13 The

offensive has been launched on

December 3, 2009. This

operation is codenamed as



Operation Green Hunt. This

offensive, Green Hunt, was

launched against insurgents in

Chhattisgarh, the epicenter of

violence between Maoist fighters

and security forces.

The alleged Invisible

hands and foreign assistance in

the rampant influence of

naxalites is a matter of grave

concern for the Indian

government. Maoists triumph in

Nepal in 2008 is a clear

indication of domino-effects for

India. Recently, Indian Home

Minister P. Chidambaram

mentioned about a possible

supply of arms from Nepal. His

apprehension came true when a

senior Standing Committee

member of the Unified

Communist Party of Nepal-

Maoist (UCPN-M) CP Gajurel

aptly remarked that "We have

extended our full support and

cooperation to the Indian

Maoists, who are launching

armed revolt." He also added

that "They are doing what

they think is right". He further

pointed out that "The Maoists

are launching their

movement in India and we

are launching ours here,

there is no need to oppose

the movement launched by

them".14

What type of support and

cooperation they have extended

towards Indian Maoists is still

debatable and intelligentsia is

mooting upon it. The fact is

there is no ambiguity in

recognizing a datum of greater

natural affinity between Chinese-

Nepalese Maoist and Indian

Maoists, but it doesn‟t mean to

perceive such ideological kinship

aid

and abet form Nepal or China.



The fact is that the

Naxalites demand massive

reforms for the welfare of the

Dalits and Adivasis. If Indian

democratic government launches

offensive strategies, continues

torture and extra judicial killings,

deals them with „sticks‟ and

gives no „carrots‟, then there is a

possibility of a start of a bloody

revolution in India which could

exacerbate the situation and

generations would heal the

wounds.

Postscript

“The Indian government sources in New Delhi, quoting Indian Home Secretary claimed that India is all set to launch joint army, Air Force and paramilitary forces operations against Naxalites in March 2010. The Indian Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) has also approved the government’s plan to counter Maoists in the six affected states. Initially, the operation would be carried out in four states namely Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Maharashtra, where according to Indian Intelligence reports most of the Maoist infrastructure, training camps and strongholds are located. On the basis of results of operations in these four states, joint Indian forces will be moved into remaining two states as well as, other affected areas. In all, joint operations will be carried out in phases in 20 Naxals affected states.” Ashraf Javed, The Nation,

January 6, 2010



NOTES:

1 Armed Conflicts Report - India-Andhra Pradesh

http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/ACRText/ACR-IndiaAP.html. Retrieved

on:14 Dec, 2009.

2 India is 'losing Maoist battle'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8256692.stm Retrieved on: 13 Dec,

2009.

3 The Hindustan Times, Friday, January 14, 2000.

4 Who helps the Naxals? http://www.indianexpress.com/news/we-support-the-indian-naxals-concede-

nepal-maoists/536712/ Retrieved on: 13 Dec,2009

5 The News, “The 'tornado' awaiting India” Tuesday, October 27, 2009 6 Ibid.

7 Daily Dawn, “Indian school caught in middle of rebel fight”, Thursday, 10

December, 2009.

8 Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis, “Maoists‟ Attacks on infrastructure”

http://www.idsa.in/idsastrategiccomments/MaoistsAttacksonInfrastructure_P

VRamana_200209 Retrieved on: 13 Dec,2009

9 Daily Dawn, “Rights abuses fuel Maoist insurgency in India”, Saturday, 30

May, 2009

10 Rising Maoist Insurgency in India

http://www.globalpolitician.com/22790-india Retrieved on: 12 Dec,2009

11 Daily Dawn, “India‟s other militancy problem” Tuesday, 09 Jun,2009

http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/ACRText/ACR-IndiaAP.html


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8256692.stm

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/we-support-the-indian-naxals-concede-nepal-maoists/536712/


http://www.idsa.in/idsastrategiccomments/MaoistsAttacksonInfrastructure_PVRamana_200209


http://www.globalpolitician.com/22790-india



12 The most vulnerable naked nukes of India

http://www.dailymailnews.com/1001/14/FrontPage/FrontPage1.htm

Retrieved on:11 Dec,2009

13 India takes off against 'Red Taliban'

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KJ16Df02.html Retrieved on: 10

Dec ,2009

14 We support the Indian naxals, concede Nepal Maoists http://www.indianexpress.com/news/we-support-the-indian-naxals-concede-

nepal-maoists/536712/ Retrieved on: 12 Dec, 2009

References:

News Papers

The Hindustan Times, Friday, January 14, 2000

Daily Dawn, “Rights abuses fuel Maoist insurgency in India”: report,

Saturday, 30 May, 2009

Daily Dawn, “India’s other militancy problem” Tuesday, 09 Jun,2009

The News, “The 'tornado' awaiting India” Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Daily Times, “Villagers flee war zone as India battles Maoist”, Saturday,

Nov 7, 2009

Daily Dawn, “Indian school caught in middle of rebel fight”, Thursday, 10 December, 2009

Webliography

India takes off against 'Red Taliban' http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KJ16Df02.html Retrieved on:

10 Dec ,2009

The most vulnerable naked nukes of India http://www.dailymailnews.com/1001/14/FrontPage/FrontPage1.htm

Retrieved on:11 Dec,2009

We support the Indian naxals, concede Nepal Maoists

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/we-support-the-indian-naxals-

concede-nepal-maoists/536712/ Retrieved on: 12 Dec, 2009


http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KJ16Df02.html



http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KJ16Df02.html






Rising Maoist Insurgency in India http://www.globalpolitician.com/22790-india Retrieved on: 12 Dec,2009

India is 'losing Maoist battle'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8256692.stm Retrieved on: 13 Dec,2009

Who helps the Naxals?

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/we-support-the-indian-naxals-

concede-nepal-maoists/536712/ Retrieved on: 13 Dec,2009

Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis, “Maoists‟ Attacks on

infrastructure” http://www.idsa.in/idsastrategiccomments/MaoistsAttacksonInfrastructur

e_PVRamana_200209 Retrieved on: 13 Dec,2009

Armed Conflicts Report - India-Andhra Pradesh

http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/ACRText/ACR-IndiaAP.html.

Retrieved on:14 Dec, 2009

http://www.globalpolitician.com/22790-india

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8256692.stm









Publisher:

Pakistan Study Centre

Phone: (92-42) 99231148

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.pscpu.edu.pk

Material can be freely published in any form with credit to India Desk,

Pakistan Study Centre, University of Punjab, Lahore

India Desk is a research wing of the Pakistan Study Centre, located in the

University of the Punjab, Quaid-i-Azam, Lahore, Pakistan. The Centre, was

established in 1981 with the main objective to promote and undertake

research on themes relating to history, politics, foreign affairs, economy,

culture and languages of the region.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.pscpu.edu.pk/

naxalite-maoist insurgency in india...naxalite-maoist insurgency in india 2009 of world’s biggest...

Documents