Brain death, ideological drain, losses on the ground: What is causing the collapse of the Maoist movement 

It is a well-known fact that the influence of Maoists has come down drastically in the country. This is largely due to the efforts of the security forces who have been relentless in their pursuit against Maoists in the country.

While the spread has reduced to almost nil, the bigger crisis that the movement is facing is that there is a lack of a second rung which can carry forward this battle. What remains on the ground are the foot soldiers who have the capability of fighting guerrilla warfare. What the moment is lacking is ideology and none of the top-rung leaders who have been killed in recent times have been able to pass that on to the the next generation. This has led to the major question and that is whether the naxalite movement will be able to survive of not.

Ideology is dead

While the guerrilla warfare and the logistic dominance did yield positive results for the Maoists in the past, that scenario has changed today. It is the lack of ideology among the newer lot that has led to the movement turning lacklustre, an official explains to Organiser.

The older lot of Maoist leaders had a mix of everything. They were political in their thinking, highly trained on the ground, held a sway among the villagers and were also ideologically strong. This meant that they would battle till the very end and enjoy the support of the locals who believed in them. They would never rat out their tribe and would also make the next generation believe how crucial this movement is.

If one looks at the newer recruits, they are just trained to fight on the ground. The top leadership, very few of who are remaining have had no time to install a sense of belonging to the cause. All they have been able to impart is training in guerrilla warfare and this does not go a long way in a battle such as this.

In the earlier days, even the locals who were not part of the movement believed in the cause. This was the main reason why they would tip off the Maoists when the forces arrived.

Gradually that perspective changed and the Maoists adopted a strategy whereby fear was instilled in the minds of the locals. They would pass on information about the movement of troops out of fear and not because they believed in the cause. This was a big shift for the movement.

Today that scenario has changed completely. The locals neither believe in the cause nor do they have any ideological connect towards the movement. This is because the government has undertaken developmental works in the villages and even sensitised the locals about the issue. The locals are today in a position to understand that they stand to gain in terms of development and other benefits if they stay away from the movement.

The new Maoists have zero ideology since they have not been programmed that way. One of the main reasons for this is because even the senior leadership has no time since they are too busy fighting on the ground to save their last bastions against a very resurgent security force. The new age naxalites are un-educated as opposed to the older lot who were highly educated with degrees from top colleges. Even their ideological mentors in the cities are missing today. Earlier each time a Maoist encounter would take place, protests would erupt in major institutes such as JNU and other similar institutions in other parts of the country. That trend too has gone down drastically today as all of them realise that this is a lost battle.

Enthusiasm and numbers are down

Naxalism is one of the oldest known problems in the country. For years, it was considered to be the most dangerous movement, even lethal when compared to Jihad undertaken by the likes of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba or the Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Today that has changed and the movement is existent in a very small volume.

The problem that the naxalites are facing is the lack of a strong leader at the helm from whom inspiration can be drawn. In recent years, the naxalites have lost some of their tallest leaders. In 2023, Katakam Sudarshan died of illness while Prashant Bose popularly known as Kishen Da was arrested in 2021. Kobad Gandhi who was expelled from the party had been arrested in 2019. In 2023 two more top leaders, Pramod Mishra and Sumanand were arrested.

The other top leaders that the naxalites lost included, Cherukuri Rajkumar, Mallojula Koteshwar Rao alias Kishen ji, Sushil Rao and Narayan Sanyal.

The other top leaders that the naxalites have lost in recent times are Ramanna, Yapa Narayan, Bansindhar Singh, Akkiraju Rajgopal, Lakhmu Mallaraji Reddy, Deepak Milind Teltumbde in Gadchiroli and Ramachandra Reddy

Meanwhile Sheela Marandi, Santay Deepak Rao, Vijay Krishnamurty. Mithilesh Mehta, Arun Bhattacharjee and Balraj are the other top leaders to be arrested.

This has led to the shrinking of the politburo of the Maoists and in turn it has led to a major blow to the movement. Once the top leadership is wiped out then the younger lot have no guidance or direction. This has come to the rescue of the security agencies who are able to carry out successful operations. The government has said that the entire movement would be dead by 2026 and looking at the developments, that deadline may not be hard to achieve.