political extremism and insurgency in india

8/10/2019 Political Extremism and Insurgency in India

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Political

Extremism andInsurgency inIndia


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Types of Affiliations


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Left Wing Politics

In politics, the Left, the left-wing, andleftists are people who generally support

social change to create a moreegalitarian society. They usually involve aconcern for those in society who aredisadvantaged relative to others and an

assumption that there are unjustifiedinequalities that should be reduced orabolished.


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The spectrum of left-wing politics rangesfrom centre-left to far left (or ultra-left).

The term centre left describes a positionwithin the political mainstream. The termsfar left and ultra-left refer to positions thatare more radical. The centre-left includes

social democrats, social liberals,progressives and also some democraticsocialists and greens


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Right Wing politics

Stanford University economist Thomas Sowell argues thatthe Right is made up of many different elements that have

almost nothing to do with each other besides opposition tothe Left: "Perhaps the most fundamental differencebetween the left and the right is that only the former haseven a rough definition. What is called "the right" are simplythe various and disparate opponents of the left. Theseopponents of the left may share no particular principle,much less a common agenda, and they can range fromfree-market libertarians to advocates of monarchy,

theocracy, military dictatorship or innumerable otherprinciples, systems and agendas.


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Insurgency in India India has had its share of insurgencies. In all,

an estimated 30 armed insurgency

movements are sweeping across the country,reflecting an acute sense of alienation on thepart of the people involved. Broadly, thesecan be divided into movements for politicalrightse.g. Assam, Kashmir and Khalistan(Punjab), movements for social andeconomic justicee.g. Maoist (Naxalite) andnorth-eastern states, and religious groundse.g. Laddakh. These causes overlap at times.


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Wikipedia lists 16 belligerent groups and68 major organization as terrorist groups in

India, which include: nine in the northeast(Seven Sisters), four in centre & the east(including Maoist/Naxalites), seventeen inthe west (Sikh separatist groups), and

thirty eight in the northwest (Kashmir).


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Reasons for Civil Unrest

Political Causes

Caste Based Social Discrimination

Economic Disparity

Hindutva The Hindu Political PhilosophySteeped in Prejudice


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Insurgency Movements

Naxalites or Maoists

The Seven Sisters

Khalistan Movement of the Sikhs

Kashmir

Tamil Nadu


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Naxalism Inspired by the Nepalese Maoist forest dwellers

who took over and ruled their forests, the lowest ofIndian forest dwellers of Naxalbari (West Bengal)the adivasis, launched their own Maoistmovement and took control of their forests too.

When huge mineral deposits were discovered insome of the forested areas, the authoritiesdecided to relocate the adivasis in 1967. They

refused. Having no other title, they did not want togive up what they held and this set in motion acycle of resistance and reprisals, including rapesand murders by the powerful vested interests.


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These Maoists now inhabit an area knownas the Red Corridor that stretches from

West Bengal to Karnataka state in thesouthwest. They are active across 83districts in 9 states - They also threaten toextend operations in major urban centers,including New Delhi. Indian intelligence

reports say that insurgents include 20,000armed men and 50,000 regular or fulltimeorganizers and mobilizers.


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The Seven Sisters

These states accuse New Delhi of apathytowards their issues. Illiteracy, poverty and

lack of economic opportunities have fueledthe natives demand for autonomy andindependence. There also exist territorialdisputes among states and tensions

between natives and immigrants from otherstates which the governments have notattended to, accentuating the problems.


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Assam

Meghalaya

Mizoram

Nagaland

Arunachal Pradhesh


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Tamil Nadu In the wake of their defeat by the Sri Lankan

military in the Jaffna peninsula, the Tamil LTTE

freedom fighters took refuge in the adjoiningTamil Nadu state of India, where on accountof common ethnicity, religion, language andculture they mixed easily and enjoyed masssupport for their cause. Overtime LTTEregrouped and recruited volunteers fromamongst the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees andthe local population and began to amassweapons and explosives.


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Tamils are inspired by the Maoist/Naxalitemovement but their secessionist

organizations have been shut down afterbeing labeled as terrorists.

Coimatore Bombings in 1998 ,46 persons -35 men, 10 women and one child - were

killed and over 200 injured in 13 bombattacks in 11 places


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Kashmir Because of its location, Kashmir could choose

to join either India or Pakistan. Maharaja Hari

Singh, the ruler of Kashmir, was Hindu whilemost of his subjects were Muslim. Unable todecide which nation Kashmir should join, HariSingh chose to remain neutral.

But his hopes of remaining independent were

dashed in October 1947, as Pakistan sent inMuslim tribesmen who were knocking at thegates of the capital Srinagar.


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India had to fight the first of its warsagainst Pakistan and Kashmir was ceded

to India.

Attempts at reconciliation have beennumerous with gestures such as talks andtransport links being resumed.


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Conclusion

As of 2006, at least 232 of the countrys 608

districts were afflicted, at differing intensities,

by various insurgent and terrorist movements In a changing world, as the poor of India

become more and more aware of the

affluence of the relative few who reap the

benefits from the countrys development

boom, the rich-poor division assumes greater

significance and cannot not be ignored.

political extremism and insurgency in india

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