Naxalite

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Map showing the districts affected by the Naxalite movement

Naxalite or Naxalism is an informal name given to radical, often violent, revolutionary communist groups that were born out of the Sino-Soviet split in the Indian communist movement. Ideologically they belong to various trends of Maoism. Initially the movement had its epicentre in West Bengal. In recent years, they have spread into backward areas of rural central and eastern India, such as Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh through the activities of underground groups like the Communist Party of India (Maoist).^[1] The CPI(Maoist) and some other Naxal factions are considered terrorists by the Government of India and various state governments in India.^[2]

1 History
2 Bengal Insurgency
3 Recent Activities
4 Cultural References
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

The term comes from Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, where a section of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal led a violent uprising in 1967, trying to develop a "revolutionary opposition" in opposition to the official CPI(M) leadership. The insurrection started on May 25, 1967 from the village of Naxalbari in the state when a tribal was attacked by local authorities over a land issue. The tribals attacked the opposing landlords and the violence escalated.^[2]

Majumdar greatly admired Mao Zedong of China and advocated that Indian peasants and lower classes must follow in his footsteps and overthrow the government and upper classes whom he held responsible for their plight. He engendered the Naxalite movement through his writings, the most famous being the 'Historic Eight Documents' which formed the basis of Naxalite ideology[1].

In 1967 'Naxalites' organized the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR), and later broke away from CPI(M). Uprisings were organized in several parts of the country. In 1969 AICCCR gave birth to Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).

Practically all Naxalite groups trace their origin to the CPI(ML). A separate tendency from the beginning was the Maoist Communist Centre, which evolved out of the Dakshin Desh-group. MCC later fused with People's War Group to form Communist Party of India (Maoist). A third tendency is that of the Andhra revolutionary communists, which was mainly presented by UCCRI(ML), following the mass line legacy of T. Nagi Reddy. That tendency broke with AICCCR at an early stage.

Naxalite propaganda poster in Kolkata

Today some groups have become legal organisations participating in parliamentary elections, such as Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation. Others, such as Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Janashakti, are engaged in armed guerilla struggles.

[edit] Bengal Insurgency

The Naxalites gained a strong presence amongst the radical sections of the students movement in Calcutta. Large number of students left their education to join revolutionary activities. Majumdar adjusted the tactics of CPI(ML), and claimed that the revolutionary warfare was to take place not only in the rural areas but everywhere and spontaneously. Thus the 'annihilation line', that the revolutionaries should assassinate individual class enemies as a part of the revolutionary warfare was put into practice not only against landlords, but also against university teachers, police officers, politicians, etc..

Throughout Calcutta schools were shut down. Naxalite students took over Jadavpur University and used the machine shop facilities to make pipe guns to fight the police. Their headquarters became Presidency College in Calcutta. They are also presumed to have assassinated the vice chancellor of Jadavpur University, Dr. Gopal Sen.^[3]

The strategy of individual terrorism soon proved counterproductive. Eventually, the Chief Minister, Siddharta Shankar Roy, began to institute draconian counter-measures against the Naxalites. The police committed several civil and human rights violations on the Naxalites, up to and including detention without counsel, torture, staged shootouts and others.

In a matter of months, the Naxal uprising was quelled. The view of the police and the state was that the only language the Naxals understood was that of deadly force. They also argued that effectively the state was fighting a civil war with these communists and democratic pleasantries had no place in a war, especially when the opponent did not fight within the norms of democracy and civility. This insurrection tarnished the image of the radical Maoists and their support dwindled.^[2]

Moreover, the movement was torn about by internal disputes. Large sections began to question Majumdar's line of struggle. In 1971 CPI(ML) was split in two, as Satyanarayan Singh revolted against Majumdar's leadership. In 1972 Majumdar was captured and tortured to death by police forces. After his death the fragmentation of the movement accelerated.

[edit] Recent Activities

The past few years has seen the insurgents spreading Naxal influence from 76 districts in nine states to 118 Districts in 12 States. The Communist Party of India (Maoists) was formed on September 21, 2004 through the merger of two prominent naxalite outfits - the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War (PWG) and the Maoist Communists Center of India (MCCI).The Research and Analysis Wing alleges that many Naxalites have tried to coordinate with international terrorist groups and organizations against India, such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, with whom they have engaged in weapons transactions[2][3][4]. The president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajnath Singh, alleges links between the Naxalites and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence.^[4] The Naxalite party has been banned in Andhra Pradesh, a ban that they have protested [5]. They have also been attacked by anti-Naxalite paramilitary groups.^[5]

The Naxalites intensified their insurgency in 2007 and are now active in half of India's states, mostly in rural areas, in an attempt to encourage a peasant revolt in response to a government plan to expropriate large tracts of peasant land in eastern India in order to create special economic zones to attract industry.[6] Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the Naxalites pose the biggest internal security threat to India since Independence.[7]

On 5 March 2007, Sunil Mahato, a member of the national parliament was shot dead by Naxalite rebels while watching a football match on the Hindu festival of Holi near Kishanpur, some 160km (100 miles) east of state capital, Ranchi.^[6] The Naxalite leadership has declined to take responsibility for the incident.

On March 15, 2007, at least 49 police officers were reported killed in an attack on a police outpost in the village of Radi Bodli by Maoist rebels.^[7] The dead included 15 personnel of the Chhattisgarh Armed Forces and 34 Special Police Officers (SPOs). 12 others were injured in the attack.^[8] The total forces present during the time of the attack were 23 regular officers and 55 SPOs.^[9]