Naxalism – The Greatest Threat to Internal Security of India
This article talks about the origin and history of naxalism in India. It also discusses the causes of emergence of red corridor, events of naxalism and also the measures which can be taken to curb it.
Introduction
Origin
Objective
Historical Background
Extent of Red Corridor
Causes of Naxalism
Phases of Naxalism
Efforts of Government
Conclusion
Introduction
Naxalism is a violent strategy to create stress upon the government. Its ideology can be called as extreme socialism. Naxalites cause damage to public property and interrupt developmental projects of government. For this purpose, naxalites trap poor people especially tribes and involve them in their violent activities by instigating them against government. In this way, they extend their army.
Origin
The origin of Naxalism in India can be tracked back in year 1967. In 1967, a young person was given a judicial order which allowed him ploughing his land. The goons of local landlords beat him mercilessly. This incident infuriated peasants and they collectively took violent steps. They started attacking on landlords, confiscated their lands, and burnt the documents. The entire sequence of events happened in Naxalbari village of West Bengal. That is why; such revolutionary violence is called “Naxalism” on the name of village. At the same time, Cultural Revolution was taking place in China. This major change also influenced India and strengthened Naxalism.
Objective
The purpose of Naxalism is to create a classless society. The roots of such thoughts of Naxalism lie in ideas of Karl Marx. Marxian idea was that one day all the differences between capitalist class and labour class will be put to end. All the property will belong to the whole society. This idea is the basis of Socialism. In Naxalism, this idea of socialism is taken to an extreme level by including violence against the authorities.
Historical Background
In fact the saplings of naxalism could be seen in India even before independence. In 1946, a peasant movement in Bengal called “Tebhaga movement” was a call to reduce the share of landlords in harvest from one half to one third. This movement was led by Communist Party of India. Many times, the movement turned in to violent. Similar movement of peasants started in Telangana region in 1946 to 1951.
Extent of Red Corridor
All the territories of the country where naxalism exists are collectively termed as “Red Corridor”. According to a government report of 2018, Red Corridor extent has got reduced to 90 districts of 11 states from earlier 126 districts. Out of 90 affected districts, 58 are worst. The affected states are Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Telangana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Causes of Naxalism
The root cause of violence against the system is poverty. The interesting fact is that areas where Naxalism prevails are not poor inherently but they are rich resources of wealth. The eastern states, cental eastern and south eastern states of India are rich in minerals and other resources like iron, copper, coal, gold, natural gas etc. They constitute about 60-70% of mineral wealth of the entire national territory. The naxalites spread their ideology by convincing the poor inhabitants that the real cause of their impoverishment is the exploitation of local wealth by the authorities for their own benefits. They spread the belief of non-sharing of benefits with the local people. Thus, the real cause of naxalism in red corridor is underdevelopment of these regions.
Phases of Naxalism
As described before, the spark of Naxalbari incident was a trigger of violent activities by peasants in many backward regions of the country. Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal, Jangal Santhal were the leaders of this movement. The movement spread in to three phases:
First Phase (1969-1980): Split Phase
Charu Majumdar merged the ideas of Marx and Lenin and a party called CPI (Marxist-Leninist) emerged on 22nd April 1969. Charu became General Secretary of CPI (M-L). His ideas were completely radical. He declared an annihilation line. The ideas encouraged even assassination of landlords, businessmen, university teachers, pole officials and politicians. On the other hand, Jyoti Basu, another communist leader did not support the radical ideas. His party was CPI (M) which formed government in West Bengal by making coalition with Bangla Congress. The coalition was government called United Front was in power for one year from 1969.
In 1971, Indian government mobilized Indian army and police against naxalites. Under “Operation Steeplechase”, thousands of naxalites were arrested.
In 1972, Charu Majumdar was dead in police custody. This period witnessed the split of Communist Party of India. The division was on the line of communist ideologies of Soviet (USSR) and China.
President rule was imposed in West Bengal followed by Congress government from 1972 to 1977. During national emergency, thousands of cadres were put behind bars.
Second Phase (1980-2004): Consolidation Phase
This period was the consolidation phase. At the end of emergency, movement restarted with more vigour. It started spreading in different parts of the nation. In 1980, CPI (M-L) emerged as “People’s War Group” (PWG) with its base in Andhra Pradesh. MCCI (Maoist Communist Centre of India) strengthened in Bihar.
Third Phase (2004 to present): Current Phase
PWG and MCI were merged in 2004 to form CPI (Maoist) which is responsible for a number of violent incidents. It was even declared as a terrorist organization under UAPA. From 2002 to 2006, more than 3000 people joined this movement. By 2009, more than 3.5 lakh tribals had been displaced.
Efforts of Government
This violent ideology is not only restricted to peasant but sat in to the minds of other people. The forest dwellers also felt cheated due to lack of ownership on forest resources. Similarly, tribals also got joined with the naxalite movement. Government of India followed different methods to deal with this issue at different points of time but could not eradicate it completely. Heavy crackdowns by police and operations by police and army were efforts on one side. On the other hand, government also followed the path of negotiation. Government designed and implemented integrated action plans in 2009 and 2015. A new step taken government is “SAMADHAN” in 2018 to deal with the problem of Naxalism in a smart way.
Conclusion
Though the continued efforts of government are actually shrinking the red corridor but its presence even after decades of its origin is dangerous. Our former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh recognized Naxalism as the greatest threat to the internal security of India. It is sure that Naxalites themselves do not want development. Rather they want to propagate and instill their cunning ideology in to minds of unaware poor people to take their advantage. Government should strategically deal with these mischievous elements and simultaneously work on the development agenda so as to save the innocent people from becoming victims of naxal trap.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for general purpose only. It does not intend to hurt sentiments of any one. It contains information only from available resources.
See Other Posts: Issue of Nagaland, Special Protection Group
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