Naxals Spreading Tentacles

The attack on CRPF personnels at Bijapur in Chhattisgarh has once again made us dive into the question on the problem of Naxalism. When we look at the Naxal problem it is important to know the history of Naxalism. Naxals call themselves as the warriors, who are fighting to end oppression in India. They say that they are fighting for the oppressed classes. These people believe in Communism, an ideology which has its roots in writings of German thinker Karl Marx. They are also referred as “Maoists” as they consider Mao Zedong of China as their hero.

Rejecting the state and its Constitution, the Naxals say that state is a flawed concept and it is being run by the “bourgeoisie” (oppressing class). The armed revolution against the bourgeoisie can only bring an end to oppression.

Communism became one of the most talked about topics as the Bolshevik Communists under Vladimir Lenin were able to form a government in Russia after dethroning the “Tsarist” Regime during the Russian Revolution (1917). Just like any other part of the world, Indians also were attracted to this revolutionary ideology. A lot of Congress leaders of pre-Independence India, including Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru were influenced by this ideology. It was Manabendra Nath Roy who inspired by the Communist ideology formed the Communist Party of India in 1920 at Tashkent in Uzbekistan.

The CPI launched its first armed struggle in the erstwhile state of Hyderabad. Also referred to as Telangana Peasant Movement, it was against the exploitative landowning system and the system of vetti (forced labour) by the Nizam. It generated a lot of support. However, it led to the killing of a number of people. After Hyderabad state was annexed after Operation Polo in 1948 by the Indian Union, the Communists were in confusion whether to carry on the armed struggle or not. They met Josef Stalin who advised them not to get involved in armed struggle then.

After the Russian Revolution, the Communist Revolution of China in 1949 further strengthened its ideology. Communists formed a government in China under Mao Zedong. This led to a rise of a difference of opinion among the CPI cadre. While one group wanted to follow Mao’s aggressive way, the other group wanted to follow a moderate path. This ultimately led to the formation of CPI (Marxist) faction in 1964. However, CPI(M) was also hit by a rise of difference of opinion on how to run the party and spread the ideology. Some leaders like Charu Mazumdar were too radical and believed in class annihilation. This difference in thought process first led to expulsion of Charu from CPI(M) in 1966 and then Charu forming CPI(Marxist-Leninist) in 1967. CPI(ML) started its first armed struggle against zamindars in a village called “Naxalbari” and from here on these radical Maoist ideologues were referred to as “Naxals”.

Charu gave a murder manual to his fellow comrades which guided them to murder the enemy in a brutal way. He advised them not to use guns, rather use saws, knives and axes. Once a comrade from the group of Charu narrated how they used to kill the zamindar with gory details. They used to hang the beheaded head in front of zamindar’s house to instill fear among other zamindars. Gradually these people turned intolerant and started killing whoever did not agree to their idea.

Naxals under Charu wanted to capture Kolkata and make it a liberated zone. However they weren’t able to capture Kolkata and after huge violence and large numbers of killings, the Communist backed off from Kolkata in October 1971. Ultimately Charu was arrested in 1972 and later died in police custody. However, leaders like Kondappalli Seetharamaiah and Vinod Mishra took Naxalism to Andhra Pradesh and Bihar respectively.

Seeing the growth of Naxals, many anti-Naxal forces were created by various states. Greyhounds by Andhra Pradesh were the most prominent. Many regional private groups were also made like the “Bhumi-Sena” in Bihar who carried out counter killings against the Naxals . A tribal movement in tribal areas of Chhattisgarh was started in 2005 by tribal leader Mahendra Karma. It was called Salwa Judum which means “purification hunt” in the Gondi language. It was a quite successful movement. However it was declared illegal in 2011 by the Supreme Court.

Over 12,000 people, including security force personnel, have been killed by Naxals in nine Left Wing Extremism-hit states in the past 20 years. Of the total 12,183 people killed, 9,471 were civilians and 2,712 central and state security force personnel, the Home Ministry said in reply to an RTI query. Recent attacks on CRPF jawans in Bijapur proves that there is a lot more work to do to eradicate Naxalism from India.