is considered the father of the Naxal movement, named after the peasant's armed uprising

at Naxalbari inWest Bengal. It became synonymous of armed insurrection influenced by

Chairman Mao Tsetung of China. Naxalbari Day is celebrated on 25 May to
commemorate the unprovoked killing of 11 innocent persons including 7 women and 2
children on 25 May 1967 at Naxalbari bazaar in West Bengal by the Assam Frontier
Rifles. The victims were participating in a meeting. The alleged killing was in retaliation
for the killing of Mr Sonam Wangdi, an enforcement inspector by a youth's arrow on 24
May 1967. Mr Wangdi was to raid the houses of those suspected of looting foodgrains,
arms and taking over lands from the Zamindars.

The West Bengal government responded with unprecedented violence and unlawful
measures such as torture, disappearances and extrajudicial executions to crush the
Naxalite movement. In 1980, another Naxalite movement was started in the impoverished
and underdeveloped Telengana region of Andhra Pradesh by the Peoples War Group
(PWG).

Killings of the class enemies, petty bourgeois, police informers and sentencing through
its Peoples Court became key features of the PWG functioning.

The State government of Andhra Pradesh too reacted with equal lawlessness. The
“Guidelines /Procedures to be followed in dealing with deaths occurring in Encounters”
of the National Human Rights Commission of India were developed based on systematic
extrajudicial executions perpetrated by the Andhra Pradesh Police with impunity. There
has been little difference between the security forces and the Naxalites in terms of
lawlessness and violations of human rights.

The Naxalite movement from Andhra Pradesh soon spread to neighbouring Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Maharashtr

IT is nearly two decades since the phenomenon popularly known as

naxalism manifested itself on the Indian political scene. What is the state of
naxalism today? What has happened to the ideology and politics of the
groups, which comprised the naxalite movement? An answer to these
questions for the recent period will be instructive, as it confirms the time-
lested experience of the international communist movement that left –
sectarianism and ultra-left adventurism is the observe of right-reformism
and revisionism and ends up serving the interests of the ruling classes.
Ultra – leftism of any variety of which naxalism is type, contains within
itself the seeds of disruption and self-destruction.

It is well known that the naxalite movement disintegrated into myriad

groups and factions in the early seventies within five years of its birth.
Along with this organizational disintegration, and preceding it, was the
ideological disarray and confusion. In this article, the focus is on the
ideological deadend these groups have reached, which is the basis for the
continuing derailment of the left-adventurist stream. After continuously
grappling with the ideologically bankrupt positions taken at the outset, the
naxalite groups are nowhere near resolving the problems, which began
when they abandoned their Marxist-Leninist moorings. Every theoretical
and political issue, which confronts them, leads of further ideological
confusion and consequent organisational splintering. Despite their decade-
long struggle to “reorient and rectify” their positions none of these groups
have come anywhere near correcting their dogmatic errors. On the other
hand, these groups have further degenerated into anti-left anarchic groups
subject to the worst forms of petty-bourgeois deviations.

The purpose in this article is not give an historical account of the theory and
practice of these groups since the disintegration began in the early
seventies. The emphasis is on analyzing their ideological and theoretical
positions and the inner contradictions and conflicts between the groups,
based on their own documents and publications. Without understanding
their current positions on ideological questions, the splintering and
kaliedescope merging and splitting of the groups cannot be comprehended.
The analysis also shows how the naxalities have had to abandon most of the
basic positions adopted by them when they challenged the CPI(M)’s
ideological-programmatic-tactical line in 1967-68. Where they have
persisted in clinging to some of the original positions, they have landed
themselves in irreconcilable contradictions between their theory and
practice.

Finally, the article points out that despite the failure of the ultra-left
challenge in the ideological sphere, the left-opportunism pursued by these
groups is dangerous for the left movement. Despite the political–
organisational splintering of naxalism, the potential for mischief by ultra-
leftism in new forms remains along with the necessity to continuously fight
against petty-bourgeois revolutionism, which finds fertile soil in India due
to the crisis and the impact of bourgeois-landlord rule.

The Current State of Naxalism

The much publicized claim of the naxalities that the CPI(ML), launched in
1969, heralded the new revolutionary party, collapsed in shambles in 1971-
72. Even before this the movement had begun to splinter. A brief recounting
of the organizational disintegration is necessary to get a full picture of the
state of the naxalite groups today.

Even before the announcement of the formation of the CPI(ML) in 1969, the
splintering had begun. In 1968 when the various naxalite groups which split
away from the CPI(M) formed the All India Coordination Committee of
communist Revolutionaries (AICCR), two groups broke away that year itself
in West Bengal-the Parimal Dasgupta and Asit Sen groups. The latter
formed the Maoist Coordination Centre. This was followed by the AICCR led
by charu Mazumdar disaffiliating the Andhra group led by Nagi Reddy, DV
Rao and Pulla Reddy. In 1969, the following groups also disassociated from
the Charu Maxumadar-led naxalites-the BB Chakraborty group which is
known currently as the Liberation Front, the Moni Guha group, and the
Kunnikal Narayanan group in Kerala which maintained a distinct identity.

In September, 1970 a few months after the ‘First Congress’ of the CPI(ML)
which elected Charu Mazumdar as its General Secretary, the faction led by
Satyanarian Singh revolted and in 1971 formed their own CPI(ML) Central
Committee. In 1971, Ashim Chaterjee, Santosh Rana and other split away
from the Charuite group. While the SNS group opposed the line of individual
annihilation pursued by the Charu-led party the Ashim Chatterjee group also
opposed the CPI (ML) of opposing the liberation struggle in Bangladesh.

In 1972, after Mazumdar’s death, the Charuite committee was led by

Sharma and Mahadev Mukherjee and during this time, the CPI (ML) totally
disintegrated. From this point onwards, the CPI (ML) Central Committee,
which succeeded Charu Mazumdar no longer represented the mainstream of
the naxalite movement. The Khokan Mazumdar group in West Bengal, the
Saraf group in Jammu and Kashmir, the Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala
factions all began to function independently without any coordination.

The CPI (ML) charuite group spilt two with Mahadev Mukherjee expelling
Sharma. The Mahadev Mukherjee group itself spilt into two-the anti-Lin Biao
and pro-Lin Biao groups. The anti-Lin Biao group which was also pro-
Charuite, based in Bhojpur district, Bihar, later evolved into the CPI (ML)
ked by Vinod Mishra. The pro-Lin Biao group led by Mukherjee saw him
ousted from leadership and after the emergency the group was led by by
Nishit Banerjee and Azisul Haq, and is based in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, Sharma who had parted ways with Mukherjee, along with the
Suniti Ghosh group, the Andhra Committee and some others formed the
central Organising Committee (COC) in 1974. However, this unity did not
last long. The October 1975 resolution “Road to Liberation” was a
compromise one which soon led to new disagreements. In 1976, the Andhra
Committee split away. This was followed by the COC breaking up with the
groups parting ways. The northern India group for sometime formed the
Communist League of India but later became defunct.
Among the major pro-Charu groups existing today, apart from the Vinod
Mishra group, there is the People’s War group led by Kondapalli
Seetharamiah in Andhra Pradesh. This group originated in the Andhra
Committee, which spilt away from the COC in 1976. From this committee the
Kondapali group combined with the Kothandaraman pro-Charu group of
Tamilnadu and formed the CPI (ML) People’s War group in 1980. The
decided to persist in armed struggle while also working in mass
organisations.

Another pro-Charu group existing today is the Central Reorganising

Committee (CRC) led by Venu. A section of the Kerala pro-Charu naxalites
and a splinter group from Andhra formed this group in 1979. This group also
defends the Charuite line while accepting the need for mass work.

Among the anti-Charu Mazumdar groups also a process of splits and

realignments has been going on. In Andhra the naxalites who from the
beginning refused to accept the CPI (ML) understanding and tactics, were
led by Nagi Reddy, Pulla Reddy and DV Rao. This group spilt into two in
1971 with Pulla Reddy forming his own group. after the death of Nagi Reddy
in 1976, DV Rao assumed the leadership of this group in Andhra. In 1975
the Negi Reddy group had joined with the Moni Guha group of West Bengal
and the North Zone unity center to form the UCCRI (ML). In 1976, they
divided again with Moni Guha and DV Rao expelling each other from the
organizations, and resumed separate functioning. The DV Rao-led UCCRI
also underwent various splits.

In the meantime, the other major anti-Charu stream led by SN Singh had
been joined in 1977 by the Unity committee comprising the Khokan
Manzumdar (N Bengal) and Vaskar Nandy groups. They constituted the
Central committee led by SN Singh. In 1975, the Chandra Pulla Reddy group
from Andhra united with the SNS group and they formed from West Bengal,
Maharashtra and Punjab revolted from the SN Singh group and formed what
is known as the Central Team. The SNS-Pulla Reddy group which became a
major group in the Naxalite movement broke up in 1980 with the Pulla
Reddy group walking off and resuming independent functioning.

Another formation of naxalite groups, which opposed the Charuite line

originated with the leaders lodged in the Vizag jail. Kanu Sanyal, the
erstwhile lieutenant of Charu Mazumdar, took the initiative to form the
Organisng Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (OCCR).
Nagabhusanam Patnaik also out of jail, formed his own group. Both these
leaders have been trying without success to forge some unity among the
warring groups.
Moni Guha after the debacle of the UCCRI, has been advocating the pro-
Albanian line and is considered anathema by other groups. The onlyothe
rpro-Albanian faction is the Ghadar Party which is Punjab. The Saraf group
plouged a lonely furrow and after being decimated in Jammu and Kashmir
has formed its own party titled the ‘Proletariat Party.’

From the above maze of splits and realignments, it can be said that the
major groups, which have not become defunct are: Pro-Charu groups; 1 CPI
(ML)-Vinod Mishra group 2. CPI(ML)-People’s War group 3. CPI(ML)-
CRC(Venu group) 4. CPI(ML) Second Central Committee groups (Pro Lin
Biao)

Anti-Charuite groups: 1. CPI(ML)-SN Singh group 2. CPI(ML)-C. Pulla Reddy

group 3. CPI(ML)-COC groups 4. OCCR (Kanu Sanyal) 5. UCCRI (ML)-(Nagi
Reddy DV Rao) 6. Maoist Communist Center 7. Liberation Front 8. CPI(ML)-
Central Team.

Apart from these, there are minor ones which still maintain some existence
such as: 1. Shanti Pal group (West Bengal) 2. Kunnikal Narayanan group
(Kerala) 3. B P Sharma group (Rajisthan, UP) 4. Chelapati Rao group (AP) 5.
Tamil Nadu splinters AOC and SOC 6. Ghadar party 7. Proletariat Party-Saraf
group 8. Revolutionary Communist Party (Punjab)

However, it must be remembered that the situation is not static. The above
groups constantly divide and re-form. For instance in 1984, splits have
occurred in the major groups of SN Singh and Chandra Pulla Reddy
committees. In the S N Singh-led group before his death in September 1984,
a serious split developed between the S N Singh-led minority in the PCC,
and the majority led by Vaskar Nandy and Santosh Rana leading to the
formation of parallel committees. Similarly in the Pulla Reddy led group also
a split occurred a few months before his death with a faction led by Palia
Vasudeva Rao Splitting off. The political-ideological bases for these splits
are being dealt with in a later section.

Futile Quest For Unity

Alongside the endless splintering of the groups, an equally endless but futile
for unity has also been going on. The earliest move was in March 1975 when
the SNS group united with the Pulla Reddy group and formed the Provisional
Central Committee of the CPI (ML). This broke up in 1980 because of sharp
differences between the two groups on the question of united front tactics
at the international and national levels against ‘social imperialism’ and
‘Indian fascism’. During the emergency in 1975 the SNS-Pulla Reddy group
had initiated a meeting with the COC the unity Committee and the UCCRI
and a joint declaration was issued for the formation of an ‘anti-fascist
united front’. However, soon after the COC and UCCRI denounced the
declaration and the move failed. This was allowed, as stated, with the COC
itself breaking up into four groups.

In 1979, the Vinod-Mishra group and the SN Singh-Pulla Reddy group issued
a joint statement and agreed to take up joint activities. But quarrels, in
December 1981, Nagabhushanam Patnaik and other took he initiative to call
a meet in which 13 groups attended. This meet also ended in mutual
recriminations and the unity effort ended in a fiasco. In April 1982, a
conference was held in Delhi initiated by the Vinod Mishra group, which the
Pulla Reddy, Nagabhushanam Patnaik groups and others attended. The
conference sought to achieve organizational coordination and to build up a
‘national alternative’. The Conference announced the formation of an Indian
People’s Front (IPF). Predictably the front and its concept of national
alternative came in for bitter attack from the SN Singh group, CRC Saraf,
and others. The SNS group saracastically commented, “NO sane political
creature believes that any single political party can emerge as the National
Alternative to Indira fascism right now… Recently one group and its
supporters held a national conference in Delhi and formed the Indian
People’s Front… Utpoian dreams based on exaggerated self-esteem is a
disease that drives a victim to commit suicide. So the Indian People’s Front
led by one revolutionary group has become the National Alternative!” (For a
new democracy, May Day, 1982)

The failure to unite is not surprising given their ideological difference and
inability to come to any common asseements regarding the past theories
and practice of naxalism. There are some group like the Vinod Mishra group,
CRC and People’s War group which refuse to renounce the Charu Mazumdar
line and defend his basic positions with some minor criticisms. On the other
hand the SNS-led group, UCCRI and Pulla Reddy groups consider the
Charuite line disastrous and responsible for the debacle of naxalism. Some
like the OCCR and Nagabhusganam Patnaik group are attempting
organizational coordination unity, skirting these divisive issues and hoping
for unity through united work and struggle.

The obstacle to unity is not only on pro and anti-Charuite lines. Within these
two broad camps, there are innumerable difference on the content of Mao
Zedong thought, attitude to the Chinese Communist Party application of the
three world theory, participation in parliamentary activities, individual
annihilation and armed struggle tactics and the concept of mass work and
mass organizations. It is necessary therefore, to look at the ideological and
political controversies which hold these groups in a barren and vice-like
grip.

The Naxalites, Naxals or Naksalvadis are a Maoist communist group in India, leaders of
theNaxalite-Maoist insurgency.

The Naxal name comes from the village of Naxalbari in the Indian state of West Bengal where the
movement originated. The Naxals are considered far-left radical communists, supportive
of Maoistpolitical sentiment and ideology. Their origin can be traced to the split in 1967 of
the Communist Party of India (Marxist), leading to the formation of the Communist Party of India
(Marxist–Leninist). Initially the movement had its centre in West Bengal. In later years, it spread
into less developed areas of rural central and eastern India, such
as Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh through the activities of underground groups like
the Communist Party of India (Maoist).[1]

As of 2009, Naxalites were active across approximately 220 districts in twenty states of
India[2]accounting for about 40 percent of India's geographical area,[3] They are especially
concentrated in an area known as the "Red Corridor", where they control 92,000 square
kilometers.[3] According to India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, 20,000
armed cadre Naxalites were operating in addition to 50,000 regular cadres[4] and their growing
influence prompted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare them to be the most
serious internal threat to India's national security.[5]

The Naxalites are opposed by virtually all other Indian political groups.[6] In February 2009, the
Indian Central government announced its plans for broad, co-ordinated operations in all affected
states (Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,
and West Bengal), to plug all possible escape routes of Naxalites.[7]
 Contents
[hide]

• 1 History

• 2 Violence in Bengal

o 2.1 Reasons for failure of naxalite movement, 1967-1975.

o 2.2 Lalgarh violence

• 3 Cultural references

• 4 See also

• 5 References

• 6 Further reading

• 7 External links

[edit]History

The term Naxalites comes from Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, where a section of
the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) led by Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal
Santhal initiated a violent uprising in 1967. On May 18, 1967, the Siliguri Kishan Sabha, of which
Jangal was the president, declared their readiness to adopt armed struggle to redistribute land to
the landless.[8] The following week, asharecropper near Naxalbari village was attacked by the
landlord's men over a land dispute. On May 24, when a police team arrived to arrest the peasant
leaders, they were ambushed by a group of tribals led by Jangal Santhal, and a police inspector
was killed in a hail of arrows. This event encouraged many Santhal tribals and other poor people
to join the movement and to start attacking local landlords.[6]

Charu Majumdar, inspired by the doctrines of Mao Zedong, provided ideological leadership for
the Naxalbari movement, advocating that Indian peasants and lower class tribals overthrow the
government and upper classes by force. A large number of urban elites were also attracted to the
ideology, which spread through Majumdar's writings, particularly the 'Historic Eight Documents'
which formed the basis of Naxalite ideology.[9] In 1967 Naxalites organized the All India
Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR), and later broke away from
CPM. Violent uprisings were organized in several parts of the country. In 1969 the AICCCR gave
birth to the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI(ML)).

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

During the 1970s the movement was fragmented into disputing factions. By 1980 it was estimated
that around 30 Naxalite groups were active, with a combined membership of 30,000.[10] A 2004
Indian home ministry estimate puts numbers at that time as "9,300 hardcore underground
cadre… [holding] around 6,500 regular weapons beside a large number of unlicensed country-
made arms".[11] According to Judith Vidal-Hall (2006), "More recent figures put the strength of the
movement at 15,000, and claim the guerrillas control an estimated one fifth of India's forests, as
well as being active in 160 of the country's 604 administrative districts."[12] India's Research and
Analysis Wing, believed in 2006 that 20,000 Naxals were involved in the growing insurgency.[4]

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

On 6 April, 2010 Naxalites launched the biggest assault in the history of the Naxalite
movement by killing 76 security personnel. The attack was launched by up to 1000 Naxalites[13]
[14]
in a well-planned attack, killing an estimated 76 CRPF policemen in two separate ambushes
and wounding 50 others, in the jungles of Chattisgarh's Dantewada district. On 17th May naxals
blew up a bus on Dantewda-sukhma road in Chhattisgarh, killing 15 policemen and 20 civilians.
In third Major attack by Naxals on 29th June, at least 26 personnels of Indian Centre Reserve
Forces (CRPF) were killed in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh.

[edit]Violence in Bengal
The Naxalites gained a strong presence amongst the radical sections of the student movement
in Calcutta.[15] Students left school to join the Naxalites. Majumdar, to entice more students into
his organisation, declared that revolutionary warfare was to take place not only in the rural areas
as before, but everywhere and spontaneously. Thus Majumdar declared an "annihilation line", a
dictum that Naxalites should assassinate individual "class enemies" such as landlords, university
teachers, police officers, politicians and others.[citation needed]

Throughout Calcutta, schools were shut down. Naxalites took over Jadavpur University and used
the machine shop facilities to make pipe guns to attack the police. Their headquarters
became Presidency College, Kolkata[citation needed]. The Naxalites found supporters among some of
the educated elite, and Delhi's prestigious St. Stephen's College, alma mater of many
contemporary Indian leaders and thinkers, became a hotbed of Naxalite activities.

The Chief Minister, Siddhartha Shankar Ray, instituted counter-measures