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Module Detail and its Structure

Subject Name Sociology

Paper Name Social Movements

Module Name/Title Maoist Movements in India: Issues and Challenges

Module Id SM 33

Pre-requisites Some knowledge of social movements

Objectives To introduce the learners to the issues and challenges of Maoist

movements in India

Keywords Maoism, Armed Conflict, Adivasi, Dalits, Collective action, State

response

Development Team

Role in Content Development Name Affiliation

Principal Investigator Prof. Sujata Patel Dept. of Sociology,

University of Hyderabad
Paper Coordinator Prof. Biswajit Ghosh Professor, Department of Sociology,
The University of Burdwan, West
Bengal
Email:bghoshbu@gmail.com
Content Writer Prof. Biswajit Ghosh Professor, Department of Sociology, The
University of Burdwan, West Bengal
Email:bghoshbu@gmail.com
Content Reviewer (CR) & Prof. D. R. Sahu Professor, Department of Sociology,
Language Editor (LE) Lucknow University, Lucknow, U.P.

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Contents

1. Objective………………………………………………………………………………3
2. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...3
3. Learning Outcome…………………………………………………………………….3
4. Factors influencing Maoist Movements……………………………………………....3
5. Necessary Conditions…………………………………………………………………4
Self-Check Exercise 1………………………………………………………………...5
6. Sufficient Conditions………………………………………………………………….6
Self-Check Exercise 2……………………………………………………………….10
7. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….…..10

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1. Objective

The objective of this module is to introduce you to the issues and challenges of Maoist movements in
India. As several factors have dictated the contours of this movement, this module will allow you to
introspect into diverse structural processes and discursive conditions that make the possibilities of any
collective action indefinite, fluid, and situationally contingent.

2. Introduction
The Maoist/Naxal movements (these words used alternately though they refer to different phases of
the movement) in India, which would complete 50 years in May 2017, have drawn the attention of
many scholars and activists by now. While it is true that such movements have been able to draw our
attention to the plights of poor tribals and dalits, it is equally true that the Maoist themselves are to be
blamed for restricting this ‘political’ struggle to certain pockets having little base among the mass.
Though the leaders of such movements claim to have maintained certain ideological and strategic
uniformity, these movements have taken several trajectories and shades over the years and its leaders
have maintained critical differences on many issues. Thus, the beginning of Naxalbari uprising in 1967
took the shape of an armed uprising of peasants against the landlords by a group of revolutionaries in
the Darjeeling district of West Bengal. But in 1980s, in the second phase of the movement (Banerjee
2006a), rethinking took place on the part of some survivors of the first phase. Participation in
parliamentary politics and trade union activity then became the possible path for them. Even though
some became ‘revisionists’ or ‘counter-revolutionists’, a mixture of the line of armed struggle with
mass mobilisation through open fronts was favoured by some. Fragmentation was a common feature
of the Maoists groups during 1970 and 80s. Again, in the third phase, in 2004, leaders of scattered and
divided fractions of Maoist could create a single revolutionary party, the CPI (Maoist). Further,
despite their critique of the parliamentary system, the CPI (Maoist) changed its stance in 2009 and
started developing tacit understanding with regional parties like Rashtriya Janata Dal, Jharkhand
Mukti Morcha and Trinumul Congress (Verma 2011: 11). Despite these differences, there are some
strong commonalities among those who identify them as Maoists or Naxals. Keeping in view the
changing shades and colours of Maoist movements, we would treat these as different phases of the
same movement and therefore use the plural word ‘movements’ to refer to them.

3. Learning Outcome
In this module, we would learn about the way Naxal/Maoist movements have grew in India, the
factors that contributed to its sustenance for the last five decades and the consequences of armed
struggle over the lives of marginalised tribals and dalits. The discussion would also allow students to
critically review the activities of the Maoists and decide whether and to what extent the movement
poses a ‘threat’ to India’s security.
4. Factors Influencing Maoist Movement
It is often argued that the major reasons of Maoist movements in India are poverty, inequality, lack of
development and want of primary services. Sundar (2011) has labelled this dominant liberal thinking
as “root cause perspective”. Ghosh (2003, 2015) has termed such factors ‘necessary conditions’ which
very often play a critical role in explaining the origin of many social movements. The necessary
conditions include several socio-economic factors like poverty, inequality, land alienation and
eviction, displacement, under-development, unemployment, etc. For instance, the Maoist movements
have flourished in the backward regions domesticated by the tribals and dalits. The necessary postulate
that results out of such argument is that Maoist will find it difficult to sustain if this ‘gap’ is bridged.
Going by such logic, the Indian state has announced a number of developmental projects.

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Despite very strong arguments in favour of this approach, ‘development’ alone does not explain the
rise of Maoism in any area. Logically speaking, factors like “poverty, deprivation, oppression and
neglect” identified by Bandhopadyaya committee (GoI 2008: 3) are present in many other parts of the
country that has nothing to do with Maoism. According to Nandini Sundar (2011), Jhabua in western
Madhya Pradesh and Dantewada in Chhattisgarh share similar socio-economic conditions. Yet,
Dantewada is the heartland of the Maoist movement while Jhabua is a site for remarkable non-violent
movement (Narmada Bachao Andolan). Similarly, Naxalites are absent in western India despite the
presence of sizeable number of adivasis there. Scholars have therefore preferred to contextualise
Maoist movements by regions as areas with better records of development also witness the growth of
insurgent activities as compared to less developed districts.
As against the arguments of ‘root cause perspective’, Maoism did not die a natural death in areas that
witnessed ‘development’. One of the reasons for the sustenance of Maoism is that it serves as a form
of ‘political protest’ (Judge 2015: 248) putting up stiff ‘political challenge’ to the ruling elites like
landlords, capitalists including the state apparatus at local level. Maoists also represent a political
movement based on a distinct ideology. As a political formation or group(s), the Maoists have much
similarity with many other political parties particularly of Left variety. Thus, they maintain a hierarchy
of structure with top leadership dictating terms, collect fund to maintain their operations, change
ideology and strategy to spread across regions, stress on local/regional issues and develop tacit
understanding with regional/local political parties and groups in opposition to the ruling elite. We need
to take contingence of these political processes in evaluating the strength of Maoists in a particular
area.
Another reason for their sustenance is the costs of the very model of ‘capitalist development’ that the
state follows. It has been argued that the neo-liberal policy pursued by the Indian state since 1991 had
led to displacement and deprivation of the tribals in large numbers. The state has therefore not altered
the ‘basic structure of exploitation’ (Sundar 2011) even though it spends crores of money to ‘develop’
Naxalite affected areas. Hoelscher et al. (2012) have shown that mining projects undertaken in recent
years have “pushed” local people to support anti-capitalist and anti-foreign stance of the Maoist in
order to save their land. To these authors, increased violence is a result of “pull factors” as mining
industry and Maoist movements are correlated.
One, therefore, needs to go beyond the conventional models to explain the phenomenon and look for
alternative reasons. Ghosh (2003) has called them ‘sufficient conditions’. These conditions include an
acute sense of discrimination among the youth in particular, emergence of a strong elite leadership,
political interest and manipulation, state policies and actions, easy accessibility to external support and
geographical location. Let us now discus these conditions in some detail.

5. Necessary Conditions
The significance of necessary conditions like poverty, unemployment, backwardness, deprivation, land
question, displacement, exploitation, marginalisation have found prominence in any analysis of social
movement in a country like India. The rise of Naxalite/Maoist movements also depicts the same story.
Thus, The Naxalbari movement came into being as a result of prevailing social and economic issues.
The West Bengal State Secretariat of the CPI (M) while conducting an enquiry into the uprising,
recognised that “behind the peasant unrest in Naxalbari lies a deep social malady - malafide transfers,
evictions and other anti-people actions of tea gardeners and jotedars” (Quoted in Dixit 2010). All the
regions in which the Naxal movement took place are ones with alarming levels of poverty. Alienation
of tribal land was a major issue that crippled their economic welfare. This was evident in good
measure in the Srikakulam Naxal movement. Andhra Pradesh accounted for the highest incidence of
tribal land alienation in the country with non-tribals owning more than half the land in the scheduled
areas (Banaji 2010: 136). In the Kondeamodalu in East Godavari, the Maoist took up the demands of
indebtedness of the tribals, their exploitation by money lenders and farm wages (Sinha 1989). One of

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the major services that the Maoist cadres have provided is to offer protection for villagers from
confiscation of assets by moneylenders (Kapur et al 2012).
The Expert Group set up by the Planning Commission of Government of India (2008) to look into the
issues of ‘development’ of Naxal/Maoist affected areas also observed that the affected districts suffer
from lack of proper governance and appropriate implementation of poverty amelioration programmes.
And since economic globalisation, the dispossession and oppression of tribals and dalits in India have
provided the Maoists a major platform to launch movement.
We may use the example of Lalgarh in West Midnapur, West Bengal to explain the issue. This place
became famous for Maoist activities in recent past. It is an undulated forest area within Junglemahal
occupied mainly by the tribal communities belonging to the Santal, Bhumij and Sabar, along with the
Mahatos who are recognized as an OBC Community in West Bengal. The people here generally have
little or no landholding, except a very few who enjoy political authority. The area virtually has no
irrigation facility. The marginal economy is centred round collection of minor forest produces like sal
leaves (for making leaf-plates), forest tubers, babui grass (for making rope) and kendu leaves (for
making bidi). The sale of these products is done through the middlemen at a much lower price than
that in the market. Most of the young men and women are unemployed and engaged as occasional
labourers with very low wage rate. People here are forced to go to namaal (low-land distant areas with
rich agricultural prospects) as seasonal agricultural wage labourers at a cheap wage rate. Junglemahal
being an underdeveloped area is marked by absolute poverty and dearth of proper healthcare and
educational facilities. The poor people are, therefore, deprived of their basic requirements for
generations (Midya et. al. 2012).
It is under such circumstance, the outside Maoists leaders initially chose some areas of Junglemahal to
build up their organizational bases in late 1990s. Their presence was felt during 1996-97 when they
were trying to achieve higher price for babui rope and kendu leaves in Banspahari area. In several
other places where the Maoists operate in the country, the immediate issues of the tribals or dalits are
seriously addressed through armed resistance. These ‘modus operandi’ often allowed them to break
new grounds, spread influence and could establish them as ‘protector of rights of the tribals’ (Verma
2011: 13). To the marginalised tribals and dalits then, Maoism is “an ideology of hope for those at the
lower rung of rural society” (Chakrabarty and Kujur 2010: 202). It in such a context that Arundhati
Roy (2010) has argued for understanding a “spectrum of resistance”, on which Maoist armed struggle
deserves respect.

Self Check Exercise 1

Q1. What was the objective of Naxal Movement?

‘Naxalite movement’ came into being when a group of revolutionaries separated themselves from
the then ‘reformist’ communist parties and launched an armed uprising of peasants against the
landlords in May 1967 in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal. It later spread into other parts of
the country. It initially aimed at resolving existing inequalities in the ownership and possession of
land. Deep social maladies like illegal transfers, evictions and other anti-people actions of tea
gardeners and Jotedars were behind the peasant unrest. All the regions in which the Naxal
movement took place are ones with alarming levels of poverty. Alienation of tribal land was a
major issue that crippled their economic welfare. But gradually, its leaders decided to ‘annihilate
class enemies, create liberated zones and seize state powers through the barrel of the gun to
establish people’s democratic dictatorship’.
Q2. What were the recommendations of the Expert Group?
The Expert Group known as Bandhopadyaya Committee set up by the Planning Commission of
Government of India to look into the issues of ‘development’ of Naxal/Maoist affected areas

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observed that the affected districts suffer from lack of proper governance and appropriate
implementation of poverty amelioration programmes. And since economic globalisation, the
dispossession and oppression of tribals and dalits in India have provided the Maoists a major
platform to launch movement. Hence, the committee recommended proper implementation of
protective legislation, asked the stakeholders to be careful with land acquisition as well as
rehabilitation and resettlement policies, look after the issues of livelihood security and governance,
and recommended introduction of new programmes and policies in Maoists affected areas.

6. Sufficient Conditions
We have seen earlier that ‘necessary conditions’ alone cannot explain the totally of the way the
Naxal/Maoist movements have spread and sustained over the last 48 years. Such straightforward
argument does not take care of the “human agency” factor that plays a crucial role in deciding the
trajectory of any social movement. Too much of stress on the economic factors also distract out
attention from the salient social, cultural, political and geographical factors. Let us now discuss these
factors in the context of Maoist movements in India.

6.1 An acute sense of discrimination among the youth

Studies on social movement have time and again stressed on the role of youth population in either
perceiving prevailing discrimination or aspiring for a better system and thereby forming the core of
any protest activity (Ghosh 2003, 2015, Oommen 2010, D’mello 2015). Scholars studying the
Maoist movements in India and Nepal have also found that the educated disenfranchised youth
were the first to join it. In recent times, tribal girls have also joined the rank of rebels though they
are mostly assigned ‘women specific’ jobs like cooking (Verma 2011: 28). Alpa Shah and Judith
Pettigrew (2009) have noted the importance of youth aspiration along with modernity and gender
roles. The Maoist movements have enabled them to participate in a new type of modernity. The
young cadres also started asserting their rights over the traditional authority of the village elders.
Banerjee (2006a) has also noted that the early activists of the Naxal movement were influenced by
romantic ideals of revolution. The sense of disillusionment and the fiery idealism of youth directed
them to Naxalist ideology. The repression of Naxalism during the emergency also attracted a large
number of youth to Naxalism as a rebellious reaction to the government's oppression (Dixit 2010).
In Jharkhand, tribal youth with the appropriate language and technical skills can join the Maoists,
NGOs, and sometimes, even both (Chandra 2013: 3). These youths, who did not like working in the
field and forests because of their education, liked the higher, masculine status of a ‘terrorist’ with
gun or even the job of a special police (Salwa Judum) that entails a monthly salary (Guha 2007). It
is, therefore, argued that there is recognisable deterioration of quality as the new cadres are “more
attracted to its weapons than its politics” (Balgopal 2003: 515).

6.2 Elite formation

The role of local and external elites in providing leadership is another interesting feature of Maoist
movements. The spread of modern education and the rise of middle class are found to be critical in
developing a critique of the state and its policies. It is for such reasons that the Naxalist movement
found enormous support among the educated youth (Banerjee 2006b). Many of these young men
and women belonged to the petty bourgeois class. Some of the young Naxalites who went off to the
forests were medical and engineering graduates. For them, universities are hotbeds of radical
ideology. Some went to rural areas to mobilize the people there and some stayed back in Calcutta,
perpetrating acts of violence in an attempt to overthrow the state. Rabindra Ray (1988) has,
therefore, argued that the Naxal movement is ‘intellectually driven’ as the doctrinal inputs of the
movement came from middle class ideologues who wanted to lead ‘the people’.

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In the subsequent phases of Maoist movements also the leadership, by and large, is found to be
from among the highly educated middle class intellectuals who were often from urban India (Shah
and Pettigrew 2009, Banaji 2010). Though it is often claimed that cadre of the CPI (Maoist) comes
from sections of India’s poorest population, it is equally true that men and women from subaltern
backgrounds are yet to assume top leadership posts in the party. Interestingly, Maoists also believe
that “the adivasis cannot represent themselves; they must be represented” (Nigam 2010). Looking
into the methodology of the Maoists, it appears that ‘someone else’ and not they were the
liberators. It is a project defined as such by those who claim to represent their interests.
Shah (2006) has found that the initial spread of movement of the Maoist Communist Centre in
Jharkhand was not among the poorest tribal populations, but rather within an educated, often upper
caste, rural elite, who were intimately connected with the developmental state. The Maoist could
trap the educated youth, who were no longer satisfied with tilling their land, by entering into the
‘markets of protection’ offered by locally powerful people. Similar such parallels, noted by
scholars from different parts of the world, prove that social movements take shape only after
certain stages of development, and more importantly after certain level of literacy, awareness, and
growth of middle class (Oommen 2010, Shah and Pettigrew 2009, Ghosh 2003).

6.3 Political Interest and Goal

The political interests and goal of the Maoists formation play a major role in dictating their
activities in real life. There is, however, doubts about what constitute their ‘real’ political interests
and goal. Maoists also differ about the uses of armed struggle. Irrespective of such critical
assessments, it can fairly be claimed that the Maoists’ ‘political’ interests override the other types
of interests. Thus, as per written documents of the Maoists, their major goal is to annihilate class
enemies, create liberated zones and seize state powers through the barrel of the gun to establish
people’s democratic dictatorship. Some ideologues of this movement have also cautioned the
revolutionaries not to fall in the trap of ‘humane’ socio-economic approach that would urge them to
strip their politics as a prelude to bring them back to ‘normal political process’ (Giri 2009: 465). It
is due to such political reasoning that the Indian Maoists, unlike their Nepali counterparts, have
paid less attention to the identity or indigenous question even though they mostly operate in
Adivasi-dominated areas (Ismail and Shah 2015: 112).
The Maoist’s line of ‘politics’ is critiqued by many intellectuals including some of their
sympathisers. Balagopal (1997: 2254), for instance, has argued that Maoists take and implement
most decisions “over the heads of the people but justified in the name of the people”. Some critics
also argue that the real political interests of the Maoists become clear when they gain and retain
control over a group of people and territory (Miklian 2009, Bahree 2010, Verma 2011, Hoelscher et
al. 2012). In the context of Maoist domination in Dandakaranya in central India over a long period
of time, Mukherjee (2010: 16) has argued that, they themselves have achieved little by way of
adivasi welfare, be it in wages, education, health or agriculture. This is because the Maoist’s
politics of waging guerrilla warfare on the road to seizure of state power has meant that they must
focus on using the adivasis for their war.
Similarly, questions are being raised about their commitment for the marginalised and a
revolutionary ideology. No one can deny that the Maoists have strong monetary interests since they
collect huge amount as royalty/levy from the contractors, companies and others. They also ‘sell’
protection in return for support like the state (Shah 2006). The interconnections of politicians,
private companies and both Maoists and non-Maoists forces also lead to reproduction of conflict,
because so many powerful actors benefit from it (Harriss 2010: 22). It is accused that their arms
deals lead them inevitably into shady transactions with rich and corrupt power brokers at different
levels (Sarkar and Sarkar 2009: 11).

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The shifting strategy of mobilization of the Maoists has also given rise to confusions. There are
several instances of Maoists shifting their emphasis from mobilising landless dalits to uniting the
middle peasants by addressing the latter’s demand for government subsidies and remission of rents
and more importantly protecting them from the classes below them. This led the dalits to suspect
the Maoist’s motive.
The armed strategy of the Maoists is not without criticism. There are plenty of instances where the
Maoists have liquidated common tribals, dalits, human rights workers, NREGA activists and
members of rival groups. More importantly, the strategy of ‘annihilation of class enemies’ has
ultimately led to killing of poor tribals in most cases (Nigam 2010; Simeon 2010). In this context, it
is also alleged that notwithstanding revolutionary proclamations, the Maoist party in practice is an
undemocratic—perhaps even anti-people—force whose sole aim is to seize state power by hook or
crook to bring the masses under the control of the leadership of the party (Mukherji 2010). As
against such a negative assessment, Sundar’s (2011) field exposures in the undivided Bastar district
of Madhya Pradesh tells us about the positive contributions of the Maoists in reorganizing the
stratified society that helped them to expand their support base. But, as people’s allegiances change
over time, in response either to repression or to new opportunities, they may consciously choose to
be neutral or portray as “sandwiched” between the Maoist and the state (Sundar 2013: 366).
Santosh Rana, one of the original participants in the Naxalite movement, has accused the Maoists
of destroying the people’s unity at Lalgarh in West Bengal by killing Sudhir Mandi in November
2008. Sudhir was a leader of Majhi Marwa. His only offence was that he refused to act according
to orders of the Maoist squads (cited in Mukherji 2012a). Interestingly, when the Maoist extended
support to this movement to resist and defeat the police and other forces, the people did not mind it
as they themselves were not in a position to resist the ‘powers’ of police, forest officials, CPI (M)
leaders, big landholders, ration shop owners, contractors, agents of babui rope and kendu leaves
and the like. But gradually they understood that the Maoists are using them for their own political
benefit (Guha 2012). A movement against dictates of police and political force has therefore lost its
relevance under the dictates of an ultra-violent force.

6.4 State policies and action

Along with rebel groups like the Maoists, the state is equally to be blamed for the rise of armed
conflict and insurgency. C. P. Bhambri (2015: 71) has argued that “the Indian state is in a hurry to
ruthlessly and violently suppress the Maoist armed groups because the big business houses of
India, and powerful transnational corporations of the West are feeling impatient”. In the context of
ethnic movement in India, T. K. Oommen (1997: 158) has argued that the state does not even take
the justified demands of ethnic minorities seriously unless the movement takes an anti-India or
ethno-national character. Its approach is one of tension management preferably with force (Ibid.
158). Similarly, in case of protest movement by the tribals or dalits, the state and its agencies tries
to ignore the genuine issue until it picks up a violent character. The Maoist threat is often utilised
by the government to justify the rise of security centric state and even to crush popular democratic
uprising. Sundar (2011) has argued that for the cash-strapped state governments, Naxalite threat is
a ploy to attract more funds from the Central government.
In Junglemahal and elsewhere, the issues of intolerance on the part of the state machinery to give
redressal to people’s demands and that of near-absence of governance and democratic principle
have important bearing upon the growth of Maoist movement. It is an irony that the state starts
confidence building measures only after it is destroyed. Even those efforts remain mostly on paper
as the fund allocated for development is either not spent or diverted for some other cause. More
importantly, there has also been very little progress to implement properly pro-tribal laws like the
Panchayat (Extension to Schedule Areas) Act, 1996, or The Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional
Forest Dwellers (Recognition of forest Rights) Act 2006.

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Ironically, ‘cleansing operations’ by the state in the name of ‘Greyhounds’ (Andhra Pradesh),
‘Operation Green Hunt’ (Dandakaranya), or Salwa Judum (Chhattisgarh) have rather allowed the
Maoists intellectuals and activists to gain fresh support and followers (Shah and Pettigrew 2009,
Harriss 2010, Sundar 2011, 2013 Chandra 2013). This is because, when the state attacks and the
economic lives of adivasi and dalits are further disrupted, enrolment for the militia increases
sharply. In other words, “more the repression by the state, the bigger the ‘people’s army’ of
starving children” (Mukherji 2010b: 20). Hence, it might be argued that incidences of ‘white
terrors’8 by the state serve as ploy for the Maoists to prepare the ground for the ‘red terror’.
There are also contrary instances to prove that violence resulted only when the Maoists failed to
utilise the alternative line of action like mass mobilisation or when they became confident about
challenging the state. For instance, the Maoists in Bihar depended on mass mobilization of dalits in
the 1980s and the Mazdoor Kishan Sangram Samiti (MKSS), a Maoist mass front, carried out the
task. But, in the 1990s, with shrinking space for such mobilization, the Maoists became
increasingly reliant on armed actions (Shah and Pettigrew 2009). Consequently, the Government of
India has banned the Maoists as ‘terrorists’ only in May 2009. From such a point of view, the
production of ‘red terror’ appears to be a specific strategy that the Maoists use in a particular
context (Lecomte-Tilouine 2004).

6.5 Outside support

The involvement of outside leaders/agencies has been found to be instrumental in aggravating the
issues of the tribals and dalits. Interestingly, the Maoist movements did not emerge from within.
Instead, it was brought to the forest highlands by committed cadres seeking to expand their
revolutionary ambit. In case of Singur and Nandigram movements, the Maoists took advantage of
popular anger of the peasants to show their presence. There are also a number of evidences that
prove that external Maoist leaders very often force the local tribals or dalits to accept their path of
violence after they are able to capture the territory. As a corollary, the strength or zeal of the
movement vanishes rapidly after the surrender or death of their leaders, mostly in encounters. This
has exactly happened in Junglemahal in West Bengal after the death of Koteswara Rao (alias
Kishenji). In other words, Maoists brand of politics is not always spontaneous and one of the
reasons for this is the dominance of outside leaders.
The domination of outside leaders is also closely linked to the ‘hidden’ political agenda of the
Maoists. When these ultras starts infiltrating the ranks of Adivasis in their fight against poverty,
deprivation and exploitation, their other agendas remain concealed. Having secured the confidence
of the local, predominantly adivasi population, they set about organising them so that they can
realise their rights like rights of land, forest produce, and the like. The tribes also do not question
Maoist insistence on guerrilla warfare as they themselves had a strong tradition of armed militancy.
As a corollary, the Maoists gain impressive support base among the adivasis (Mukherji 2010). But
gradually, the real agenda of the outside leaders comes to the forefront and a new chapter of
domination of the tribal begins. Maoists then try to replace the traditional social structure of a tribe
with a new authority structure in the controlled areas. The non-tribal leaders, being unable to
understand the significance of tribal social structure and identity, then start alienating the latter.

6.6 Geographical Location

The fact that the Maoist movements are concentrated in a specific geo-political space for more than
four decades raises serious questions about close connection between Maoism and hilly terrain or
Jungle that are inaccessibility (Banerjee 2006). In the 1980s and 1990s, state repression in the
plains drove the Maoists in search of forested and hilly tracts better suited for guerrilla warfare.
Their concentration in the central and eastern Adivasi-dominated belts is not due to their
“premeditated strategy to align themselves with the historical struggle of the Adivasis”, but

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“because of the coincidence of territorial demand of guerrilla tactics” (Ismail and Shah 2015: 116).
It is also a coincidence that marginalised population live in these hilly terrains where there is no
semblance of any government. But the continuous forest terrain of the states like Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, and West
Bengal have allowed the Maoist/Naxals a free space to conduct arms training, hide themselves and
carry out guerrilla warfare. In certain parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, they have also taken
advantage of Nepal border to organise their guerrilla activities. The remote areas of Sonbhadra,
Chandauli and Mirzapur districts of Uttar Pradesh - are all considered the hotbed of Maoist activity.
The Maoists have been able to make use of such geographical location to run a parallel
administration (South Asia Terrorism Portal 2013). Harriss (2010: 26), therefore, argues that ‘the
essential reason for the strength of the Maoists in the hilly, forested tracts of eastern and central
India is that this terrain, in India and elsewhere in the world, mostly favours guerrilla insurgency’.
It is equally a major challenge for the police force during combing operations. Instead of spreading
the armed struggle all over India, the Maoist leadership concentrated on the forests and
mountainous areas “as these are the strategic areas where base areas can be set up" (Banerjee
2006).

Self-Check Exercise 2

Q.1. Why do tribal youths join Maoist movements in large number?

Educated tribal youth are the first to perceive exploitation, discrimination, under-development and
aspire for a better system and thereby forming the core of any protest activity. Alternately, the
Maoist enabled them to participate in a new type of modernity. The young cadres started asserting
their rights over the traditional authority of the village elders. The early youth activists of the Naxal
movement were influenced by romantic ideals of revolution. The sense of disillusionment and the
fiery idealism of youth directed them to Naxalist ideology.

Q. 2. How does the state promote armed conflict and insurgency?

The state is equally to be blamed like the Maoists for the rise of armed conflict and insurgency.
The state normally does not take the justified demands of tribals or dalits seriously unless the
movement takes a violent character. It is also a documented fact that violence from the Maoist
normally comes at a much later stage. But the state utilise such threat to justify the rise of security
centric state and even to crush popular democratic uprising. The issues of intolerance on the part
of the state machinery to give redressal to people’s demands and that of near-absence of
governance and democratic principle have important bearing upon the growth of Maoist
movement. It is an irony that the state starts confidence building measures only after it is
destroyed. Ironically, ‘cleansing operations’ by the state in the name of ‘Greyhounds’ (Andhra
Pradesh), ‘Operation Green Hunt’ (Dandakaranya), or Salwa Judum (Chhattisgarh) have rather
allowed the Maoists intellectuals and activists to gain fresh support and followers. This is
because, when the state attacks and the economic lives of adivasi and dalits are further disrupted,
enrolment for the militia increases sharply.

7. Conclusion

This discussion so far may allow us to conclude that the growth and sustenance of Maoism have been
influenced by various structural processes and discursive conditions. Since 1967, the Naxal/Maoist
movements have surfaced again and again despite retreating to subterranean levels. This because of
the combined forces of developmental (necessary) and sociological (sufficient) issues. The number of

Name of Paper: Social Movements

Sociology
Name of Module: Maoist Movements in India: Issues and Challenges
 11 | P a g e

districts affected by Naxalism was 50 in 1990, but today it is 270. It is true that the poor tribals or
dalits do not always support the Maoists for ideological/political reasons. The agenda of the tribal and
the Maoists are not the same and hence the victory of the one would not mean the emancipation of the
other. But, in a country like India, anti-state movements have their potential to crop up under different
conditions even though at a particular context its strength and intensity may become less. A situation
of conflict that generates between the ‘powerless’ and the ‘powerful’, cannot be resolved without
looking into the structural and discursive issues. Hence, the state should realise the limits of its
counter-insurgency operation by treating such issues merely as a ‘law and order problem’. Given the
complexity of the situation, we also need to debate whether anti-state movements are really a ‘threat’
to our democracy or not. Often, ‘anti-state’ stand of a violent group is only a strategy to draw the
attention of the ‘deaf and dumb’ state. Since the possibilities of collective action in any movement are
‘indefinite’, and often they develop in sequence over a period of time, it is up to the state and other
stakeholders to presume such ‘situationally contingent’ initiatives in advance and take corrective
action.

Name of Paper: Social Movements

Sociology
Name of Module: Maoist Movements in India: Issues and Challenges