Naxalism in India Emergence and Sustenance
Naxalism in India Emergence and Sustenance
Naxalism in India Emergence and Sustenance
DR.S.D.MISHRA
Lecturer in history
Govt. College, AJMER
History
The term Naxalites comes from Naxalvadi, a small village in West Bengal,
where a extremist 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 CPI(M)
leadership. 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 strengthened the Naxalite movement
through his writings, the most famous being the 'Historic Eight
Documents' which formed the basis of Naxalite ideology.[8] In 1967
'Naxalites' organized the All India Coordination Committee of Communist
Revolutionaries (AICCCR), and later broke away from CPI(M). Violent
'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) On 21 September
2004, two major revolutionary parties guided by Marxist-Leninist-Maoist
(MLM) principles – the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) and the
CPI-ML People’s War (PW) – merged to form the Communist Party of
India (Maoist).The consolidation that led to an expansion of the sphere of
revolutionary activity began in 1997. Various splinter groups working
within the framework of the MLM ideology like the CPI (ML) Maoist Unity
Centre (CPI-ML-MUC) merged with the CPI-ML Naxalvadi. Later, another
splinter group, the CPI (ML) Red Flag merged with CPI-ML Naxalvadi. The
Revolutionary Communist Centre of India (Maoist), operating in Punjab
had earlier united with the then Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) to form
the MCCI. The Bihar-based Party Unity (PU) had merged with the CPI-ML
People’s War, which was active in Andhra Pradesh. There are enough
indications that another splinter group operating in Andhra Pradesh,
Janashakti, is now likely to merge with the CPI-Maoist.
West Bengal, where Naxalism was crushed in the ’70s has seen a
spectacular rebirth of the movement. Presently, 15 districts of West
Bengal are affected with the Maoist problem. While Purulia, Bunkura and
West Midnapore are badly affected, the Maoists have made steady
progress in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Coochbihar, Malda, Murshidabad and
Burdwan. In a state like Uttar Pradesh, so far unaffected by any
revolutionary activity, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Sonebhadra are now
classified as Naxal-affected. Uttaranchal faces problems in Nainital,
Almora, Champawat, Pittorgarh and Uddhamsingh Nagar districts.
Karnataka, untouched till recently, now faces acute problems in
Chikmagalur, Udipi, Shimoga, Gulbarga, Tumkur and Gulbarga districts.
Tamil Nadu, which turned out to be the main rocket launcher making
centre for the Maoists, has witnessed revolutionary activity in
Dharmapuri, Salem, Coimbatore and Madurai.
Andhra Pradesh is the best example that can be cited for scaling down
revolutionary activity. It was in the mobile warfare stage with the
People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army almost running a parallel government
in some areas, when the party leadership took a conscious decision to
scale down to the organization stage and cadres were asked to give top
priority to their security and start mobilizing people on various issues. The
concept of area-wise seizure of power stems from this guerrilla strategy.