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Naxal Issues in India Present Trends

Dr. Sanjay Kumar

Associate Professor
Department of Defence Studies
Meerut College, Meerut
Email: aridssmeerut2011@[Link]

Abstract
The present paper seeks to examine the emerging challenges Reference to this paper
of Naxalism to India’s internal security. In doing so, it highlights the
should be made as follows:
origin, causes, and trends of Naxalism. The famous Maoist philosophy
that “power grows through the barrel of a gun” is the motivating force Received: 16.04.2019
for the Naxalites to capture power in India and to do socio-economic Approved: 25.09.2020
justice to the people of tribal areas of the central region which have
been neglected ever since the British rule in India. This Naxalite affected
area in India is known as “Red Corridor” which spreads from Bihar to Dr. Sanjay Kumar
Tamil Nadu involving 11 provinces of India and nearly 90 districts of Naxal Issues in
these states. Worst affected states are Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh,
West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh. However, India Present Trends
few districts of M.P, U.P, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka are also
affected. The Naxalite Movement has some minor influence in Punjab, Article No. 18
Haryana and New Delhi also. Despite best efforts, it could not be RJPSS Sept. 2020,
controlled and found its way in other areas too.
Vol. XLV No. 2,
pp. 148-162

Online available at:

[Link]
rjpss-
2020-vol-xlv-no-2/
[Link]
rjpss.2020.v45i01.018

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Introduction
Terrorism as a form of violence and threat of violence to control the people
is an idea older than history, but, use of word terror in a present form of political
violence goes back only to the French Revo lution of the 1790s. The French
revolutionaries were suppressed by the state forces by using terror tactics. Terrorism
today is usually associated with political violence perpetrated by independent groups
that emerged from within the masses. These unsatisfied non-state groups indulged
in political violence are identified by the state machinery as terrorist/insurgent groups.
In comparison with the terror activities of the non-state actors, the state-
sponsored terrorism was at its peak during the entire period of the first half of the
20th century. In one of his studies, Rummel (1996) estimates that about 170 million
people were killed by government forces in the 20th Century, not including 34 million
dead in battle.1Most of the people were killed by their state forces to suppress any
kind of revolt against the state. History reveals that autocratic leaders like Stalin
(42 million), Mao (37million), and Hitler (20 million) were some of the main killers
of the 20th century.2 Contrary to this, killing by non-state groups is minuscule.
According to one of the rough estimates 5 lakh, people were killed in the 20th century
by the non-state actors which include people killed by terrorists, insurgents, and
guerillas. State-sponsored killing is thus greater by a ratio of about 260 to 1.
Although the ratio of killing in much smaller, but, it is necessary to identify
the major causes which motivate the citizens to use terror tactics against their
respective governments in order to achieve political objectives both at local and
global levels. Some of the scholars suggested that terrorists are anti-social elements
with some kind of psychological disorders and they are socially and morally deficient.
They have no hesitation in creating any type of violence in society. Some of them
felt those terrorists are basically socially, economically, and culturally deprived
frustrating parts of society. Terrorists have required a little dose of political
indoctrination to motivate them for adopting terror tactics against the ruling class.
They can easily kill and individual or group of people at any time and situation.
They are intelligent enough to use modern technology to create terror amongst the
masses.
During the later half of the 20th Century, several groups of terrorists emerged
at the global level. Most of them are germinated in the economically weak and
politically unstable countries. Most of these countries are ill-governed and the
majority of their population are ill-treated by the government machineries. India is
one of them. It is unfortunate that the partition of the country was done on religious

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lines, without taking into consideration its multiple identities, instead of bringing the
communal tensions down, in fact, worsened the situation. The two-nation theory
created Pakistan, and it still rigorously maintained to survive on this theory. Pakistan
finds it difficult to accept the reality that India continues to be a democratic, plural,
multi-religious society and that India today has more Muslim citizens than Pakistan.
The management of internal security, therefore, assumes great importance.
Unfortunately, the rise of contentious politics based on sectarian, ethnic, linguistic, or
other divisive criteria, is primarily responsible for the many communal and secessionist
movements flourishing in India. The presence of hostile neighbors enables internal
conflicts to get external support, which includes money, arms, and sanctuaries. The
vested interests exploit these conditions to pursue their own agenda.
Since independence, India has failed to provide the desired impetus,
motivation, and dynamism to its main functionaries to think about India and its people.
The politico-administrative lethargy has led to the decline of vital institutions of
governance. Dreams of our freedom fighters for building a modern industrial society
with a strong democratic but centralized state as its pivot has obviously come to an
end. The task of creating a common national identity around the core values of
democracy, secularism, economic well being, and social justice has failed. The entire
country has now been divided into a wide spectrum of localized groups based on
caste, ethnicity, language, or religion. If not the paradigm as a whole, at least the
state in its intended functions, its role and legitimacy has been put into question. The
future seems to hold not only growing inequalities and conflicts, but the geo-political
map of South Asia may also even be redrawn3.
Consequently, it is very difficult to conceptualize India’s security without
considering the dynamics of the entire South Asian politics. India’s security is
influenced by events in South Asia due to historical, geographical, and demographic
imperatives. The subcontinent is characterized by extreme diversity in practically
every respect. The biggest challenge for the South Asian countries has been the
national consolidation into their new identities, which generated its own external and
domestic dynamics due to the plural nature of their societies. At the domestic front,
in terms of population, they vary from 1 million to more than 1 billion; in per capita
income from one of the poorest in the world (Nepal) to the emerging global power
(India). Similarly, in the ethnic and cultural aspects: from rather a homogeneous
Bangladesh the very heterogeneous India, Nepal, or Sri Lanka. In terms of the
ideological foundation of the state, the region comprises from Buddhist Bhutan, Islamic
Pakistan, and Hinduism Nepal over semi-secular Sri Lanka to secular India.4 In

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terms of a system of governance, the region varies from centralized unitary states to
federal systems, from Kingdom with substantial royal power, military regimes to
multi-party democracies.
South Asia comprises of eight independent states, with over one-sixth of the
world’s population and numerous ethnic, religious and linguistic groups, is the theatre
of ethnic and religious violence which is transnational in its nature and implications.
The ethnic, religious, and linguistic overlap has not only affected internal political
developments in each state but also inter-state relationships. The boundaries between
India and its neighborhoodare easily accessible in some places; therefore social tensions
are bound to have a trans-border impact. The uneven economic development in the
region along with the traditional linkages of friendship and interaction amongst people
have now become has now become a major cause for aiding and abetting subversion,
terrorism, and insurgencies all along the Indian borders. The regional geopolitical
environment is likely to remain disturbed, which in conjunction with structural political
and security confrontations within South Asia5 will continue to influence our internal
security. Social tensions particularly in the ethnic and religious field due to its trans-
border character will continue to be the main areas of exploitation by our traditional
adversaries. Muslim fundamentalism and demographic influx are its major
manifestations. The need to turn the proximity between South Asian neighbors into a
viable economic and security relationship for mutual benefit cannot be
overemphasized.
Due to its geographic proximity with the other Asian regions, South Asia is
not like other peninsula confined to a region. The Northern ranges link it with the
“heartlands” of Central Asia and China, while the Southern Peninsula touches the
Indian Ocean and places it in a position to oversee the sea routes from Malacca
straits to South Atlantic around the South African rim. In the west, it rests on the
Middle East, with which it has historic trade and cultural ties and in the East, it
adjoins Yunnan province of China and Myanmar, a natural bridge to South East Asia,
with close demographic and cultural ties with India’s North East.6India’s land borders
extend to 15,000 km, the coastline is almost 7700km with about 3 million [Link] of the
exclusive economic zone (EEZ). India has land borders with seven countries the
major ones being, Bangladesh (4096 km), China (3439 km), Pakistan (3325 km), and
Myanmar (1643 km) and maritime borders with five countries.7India has more than
600 islands, which include the Andaman-Nicobar Group in the Bay of Bengal, and
the Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea, some of these island’s territories are
more than 1300 km away and are close to the ASEAN region.8

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India’s security is vulnerable to threats, tensions, and conflicts originating
both from domestic and external sources. The analysis of the internal security problems
of India should be examined with this background. The independent India inherited a
multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-religious society. Therefore, our internal security
scenario will continue to be complex and varied. While all the problems will intrinsically
rest on domestic roots, but, external factors will also play a major role in further
aggravating these problems because external forces will easily get the support of
dissent forces to exacerbate security concerns. Threats due to terrorism, economic
and social disparities, narcotics and drugs, small arms proliferation, voids in energy
requirement, and information warfare loom large on the horizon. Maintenance of
internal security will thus be one of the biggest challenges facing the country.
During the entire colonial era, Britishers had exploited the weaknesses of
society to divide it into communal and religious lines. The basis, on which the partition
was conceived and operationalized, was bound to have consequences like those
which were witnessed in many parts of the country after independence. Therefore,
India was perhaps the first country of its kind, which faced both an external aggression
as well as internal disturbances from the day of its birth. Thus, the concept of internal
security came into being simultaneous with the birth of this Nation. On the eve of
independence, based on the colonial experience, the political leadership of India
decided to integrate the fragmented society with grass-root economic development
along with nation-building through cultural and social interaction based on secularism,
as these linkages were considered durable and stronger rather than political
assimilation. Unfortunately, they have failed in both counts.
The biggest challenge before the Indian leadership was to provide a strong
and long-lasting notion of a nation after consolidating its territory and people. While
they have succeeded largely but there are failures in this regard. The biggest failure
of the Indian leadership in the post-independence period was that they have failed to
maintain the tempo of the Nationalist feelings amongst its citizens on the level they
had generated during the freedom struggle. As a result, in several areas, there is a
conflict situation to a point of violence and the contesting groups have become the
objectives of security. In simple terms, a sense of insecurity exists between these
groups, and the state and terrorism, insurgency, and violence are only its physical
symbols. Similarly, issues of ethnonationalism and identity are the outcome of our
failure to integrate diverse segments of Indian society. They have also failed to
integrate people residing in different regions of independent India as a society closely

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bonded with the principle of ‘multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, multi-caste and multi-religious
society’.
Frustration and anti-nationalist feelings in the various communities of our
country are mainly developed due to uneven economic development and unfulfilled
aspirations of people, which create a sense of insecurity and deprivation. This may
be partially due to bad governance, faulty economic planning, and widespread illiteracy,
resulting in what is perceived to be uneven economic well being. If there is just and
equitable distribution of economic and developmental benefits people feel satisfied.
It is the absence of this satisfaction that drives affected groups to assert themselves
and the main target is the government both local and central. In such a state of
confrontation, the articulation of group interests in itself results in political exploitation
of the communities both by internal and external forces. Since most of such
communities are rural and land resource-based, any pressure on the land due to
population growth or migration further increases the economic pressure. Educated
unemployed further add to the economic and social pressures. The sum total of it is
the mobilization of the society in the shape of ethnonationalism9.
India’s problem of ethnicity, religion, migration, and castes is not new but in
the past few decades, these have clearly worsened. This has impacted adversely on
the nation and led to a host of new problems. Ethnicity has lately gained a great deal
of prominence in the politics of South Asia and this phenomenon is hardly peculiar to
India. The “Pakhtoonistan movement” in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan,
the “ethnic conflict” in Sri Lanka between the dominant Sinhalese-Buddhist elite and
minority Tamils, the “low-intensity ethnic rumblings” between the Drupkas and the
Napalese in Bhutan, and Maoist movement in Nepal, are all a part of sub-terrain and
ethnic upheavals common to the region which find ethos in India as well.
With the ‘Golden Crescent’, and the ‘Golden Triangle’ in India’s neighborhood,
drug trafficking poses yet another threat to our security. Drug syndicates are generating
huge funds, a part of which is being used to give financial support to some of these
subversive groups10. The intelligence agencies like the ISI are recruiting a number
of ‘carriers’ in drug trafficking as their agents. These agencies provide legal immunity
for their criminal activities in their own country in addition to giving them financial
and logistical support. Internal security challenges are not confined to any one area,
but the North-East, Jammu and Kashmir, and the areas afflicted by Left extremism
deserve special mention.

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RISE OF NAXALISM IN INDIA
Maoist (Naxalite) movements have gripped a large part of India and presently
pose one of the most serious threats to our internal security. The movement was
started and gradually progressed on the imported “ideology” and the “methodology”,
the basic causes are indigenous. There is a wide-spread perception that the lack of
“land reforms” and the methodology of redressal of genuine grievances was the
main cause for the poor people to raise their arms against the government. A majority
of India’s small farmers have still been facing severe economic problems due to
various factors, including globalization, credit crunch (compounded by usurious money-
lenders), non-inclusive economic progress, etc. In this prevailing situation, it would
not be difficult for the Maoists to project themselves as the sole protectors of the
poor farmer’s interests.
After two decades of India’s independence, the Naxalite movement was
started from a small village Naxalbari situated at the tri-junction of India, Nepal,
and what was then East Pakistan, where tribals took up arms against the oppression
of the landlords in 1967. They were forced to use the Maoist tactics of violence to
fulfill their dreams and expectations from independent India. The Santhal tribals of
Naxalbari, armed with bows and arrows, forcibly occupied the land of the kulaks
and plowed them to establish their ownership. They were organized raids against
grain holders. In many cases, the entire stocks were lifted and distributed or sold
locally at cheaper rates. Between March and May 1967, nearly a hundred incidents
were reported to the police. The situation progressively deteriorated. After some
dithering, the West Bengal government ordered the police to take action. The
movement was squashed, but “ Naxalbari exploded many a myth” 11.
The Naxalites, following Mao’s dictum that “if there is to be a revolution,
there must be a revolutionary party”, formed, on April 22, 1969, the Communist
Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). It was declared that “the first and foremost task
of our Party is to rouse the peasant masses in the countryside to wage guerilla war,
unfold agrarian revolution, build the rural base, use the countryside to encircle the
cities and finally to capture the cities and to liberate the whole country”12. The
Chinese Communist Party along with the Marxist-Leninist groups of other countries
like the UK, Albania, and Sri Lanka welcomed the formation of the CPI(ML) and
extended their recognition.
The Maoist philosophy of revolution was based on creating terror by inflicting
violence in society. According to the authoritative “Black Book of Communism,” an
estimated 65 million Chinese died as a result of Mao’s repeated, merciless attempts

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to create a new “socialist” China. Anyone who got in his way was done away with
— by execution, imprisonment or forced famine. The support of Communist China
to the Naxalite movement clearly indicates that they will exploit the agony of Indian
landless farmers for fomenting violence in India similar to the Chinese great cultural
movement.
The Maoist ideology of people’s war emphasized the advancement of social
and economic life by establishing a classless society through the armed revolution.
It was rooted in the anti-imperialist struggle and supported the armed revolution in
order to achieve political transformation. Naxalism is actually based on the principles
of Maoism to achieve a similar transformation in India. The Naxalite movement
was at a peak from about the middle of 1970 to the middle of 1971 with the epicenter
at West Bengal. Gradually, it spread into less developed areas of rural central and
eastern India, such as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh through
the activities of underground groups like the Communist Party of India (Maoist). It
is estimated that there were a total of about 4,000 incidents in the country from the
middle of 1970 to the middle of 1971. The bulk of these was from West Bengal
(3,500) followed by Bihar (220) and Andhra Pradesh (70).
Initially, it was viewed as a “higher form of class struggle and the beginning
of guerilla war”. Naxalite leader Charu Majumdar’s assessment was that “every
corner of India is like a volcano” about to erupt, that “there is the possibility of a
tremendous upsurge in India”, and he, therefore, called upon the cadres to start as
many points of armed struggle as possible. “expand anywhere and everywhere”
was his message. Influenced by the Charu,s assessment, the CPI (Maoist), the major
Left Wing Extremist Organization responsible for the expansion of the Naxalite
movement in India had started expansion plan at the economically backward areas
of entire India as they had organized cadre since 1930, especially in West Bengal
area and they had the experience of various mass struggles, most prominently the
Tebhanga movement13. The movement was further strengthened when the Beijing
leadership acknowledged the ‘spring-thunder’ of ‘revolutionary struggle’ in the
region. Influenced by the communist ideology a large number of unemployed youths
were attracted to the Naxalbari Movement. Hundreds of students of the urban areas
were also attracted to this movement, who were influenced by the speeches delivered
by the Naxal leaders, on the lines of China’s Red Guards.
The West Bengal government was surprised by the violent incidents that
took place between March and May 1967. With the influx of mass migration from
East Pakistan during 1970, the situation was more complicated and required immediate

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action. The government had asked the police and army to suppress the movement as
early as possible. The Indian government had organized joint operations by the army
and the police in the bordering districts of West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to suppress
the Naxalite violence. The operations were conducted between July 1 to August 15,
1971, under code-name ‘ Operation Steeplechase’. The operational strategy of the
Security Forces was to encircle large areas as far as possible and enforce blockade
so that no one can either enter or exit. The Army formed the outer ring and the
CRPF the inner ring. The local police, which was generally accompanied by a
magistrate, carried out a thorough search of the area. Suspected Naxalites were
arrested, weapons, ammunition and explosives seized. These operations covered
Midnapur, Purulia, Burdwan and Birbhum districts of West Bengal; Singhbhum,
Dhanbad and Santhal Parganas of Bihar, and Mayurbhanj of Orissa14. The counter-
insurgency operations were successfully completed with the arrest of Charu
Mazumdar and other leaders by the West Bengal Police in July 1972. A few days
later, he died. Charu’s death marked the end of the first phase in the Naxalite
movement. The period following his death witnessed divisions and fragmentations in
the movement.
Although they had succeeded in suppressing the violent movement but the
seeds of the Naxalite movement was germinated in the West Bengal along with the
other underdeveloped states. With the outside help, it was growing silently in most of
the tribal regions of India. The Naxalite movement during the post-Charu Mazumdar
was characterized by a number of splits and infighting between some of the major
groups. Even Kanu Sanyal, one of the founders of the movement, could not able to
maintain unity in several factions. He was forced by the rival groups to give up the
path of “dedicated armed struggle” by 1977 and accepted parliamentary practice as
a form of revolutionary activity. The infighting between them was started during
1974 when an influential group of the CPI (ML), led by Jauhar (Subrata Dutt),
Nagbhushan Pattnaik, and Vinod Mishra, launched a major initiative, with the code
name ‘course-correction’. This group renamed itself the CPI (M-L) Liberation in1974,
and in 1976, during the Emergency, adopted a new line that called for the continuation
of armed guerilla struggles along with efforts to form a broad anti-Congress
democratic front, consisting even non-communist political parties15. The group
suggested that instead of conducting pure military armed struggle, there should be
greater emphasis on mass peasant political movements based on the Indian zed

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version of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism philosophy. They believed that instead of
violent protests, political movements will provide a greater impact on government
machinery.
During the Janata Government, most of the Naxalite leaders were expecting
wide-ranging reforms in the economic policy of India which was semi-feudal in
nature and evidenced by several facts such as excessive dependence on agriculture
for livelihood, ineffective implementation of land reform laws, the concentration of
land ownership in an even smaller number of hands, high rent, eviction of tenants,
high rate of interest charged by money lenders and social oppression of scheduled
castes which is ‘reminiscent of the middle ages’.16 But, the new economic policy of
India implemented by the newly formed Janata government was not able to transform
the basic tenets of the economic policy. They were trying to get the desired results at
the cost of the poor. Large tracts of land in the forests and agricultural lands of
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, etc. were being taken over by the
government and given to giant multinationals and national conglomerates for setting
up industries or mining activities. This results in forced evictions from lands that are
fertile and fruit-bearing for farmers in a predominantly agrarian economy, and hence
this eviction not only leaves them landless but also without the means to obtain a
steady income and livelihood17. Statistics suggest that at least forty percent of the
forced evictions in the last sixty years have been of ‘Adivasis’ to build dams for the
country’s supply of power and irrigation and for ‘development’, where the dispossessed
never get a share in it18. Due to the lack of effective government policy to provide
the basic necessities of life, as promised in the policies, an additional burden was
placed by these forceful evictions, which was worked as a catalyst to raise the
levels of frustration among the people of these regions.
The second face of Naxalism started taking shape after the reestablishment
of Congress’s government after the fall of the Janata government. During this period,
Pakistan supported terrorism and Chinese indoctrinated Naxalism had got suitable
breeding ground in India. The frustrated population had supported these movements
to grow. Both these movements had also received operational tactics and required
armaments to operationalize these tactical movements from outside India. As a result,
their movements were more successful then the countermeasures taken by the Indian
government. In November 1995, the People’s War Group (PWG) had organized an
All India Special Conference in some unknown part of Dandakaranya. The ‘Party
Programme’ as adopted in the Conference reads, “India is a semi-feudal, semi-
colonial society; here the New Democratic Revolution (NDR) has to be completed
victoriously paving the way to the Socialist Revolution and to advance towards the

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ultimate goal of Communism. The Indian people are weighed down by three big
mountains: feudalism, imperialism, and comprador bureaucrat capital; these are the
targets to be overthrown in the present stage of NDR”19.
With the experience of the first phase, the government considered Naxalism
to be only a law and order problem and not a social movement, hence, the response
was in the form of a counterforce mechanism rather than social security mechanism.
This policy was failed and unable to counter the forward movement of Naxalism. In
a Status Paper tabled in the Parliament in 2006 by the Planning Commission of
India, had suggested security and development strategy for dealing with the ‘problem
of Naxalism’. But, due to the inappropriate attitude and policies of the state
governments this strategy had worked as a catalyst for the Naxalism to grow at a
much faster pace both in terms of the number of incidents and related deaths. Recent
incident of May 25 in which heavily-armed Maoists had ambushed a convoy of
Congress leaders in the state’s Bastar district, killing several people including state
Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, former Union Minister VC Shukla,
senior leader Mahendra Karma and ex-MLA Uday Mudliyar and injuring 35 others
had forced the government to realize that Naxalism is not only a security-centric
problem but it is a social movement also, therefore, to tackle this problem they need
a broader strategy both at the micro and macro levels.
Counter Strategy
As the Naxalism influenced by the Communist ideology, they always reject
the parliamentary system of governance and trying to bring about a fundamental
change like the existing Indian governance system. For this, they have adopted the
strategy of protracted armed struggle through building a base in rural and remote
areas and transforming them first into guerrilla zones and then liberated zones, besides
area-wise seizures and encirclement of cities and finally, the seizure of political
power and achievement of nation-wise victory20.
Today around 200 districts in 16 states are experiencing Naxalism related
violence. The complexity of the causes of the rise of the Naxalite movement and its
implications both for internal and external security required an in-depth understanding
of the situation and needs synergy between the central governments and the affected
states to successfully tackle this problem. In order to comprehensively deal with
this threat, the government has to address its core issues. Socio-economic alienation
and dissatisfaction with the widening economic and political inequality will not be
solved by military force alone, which seems to be the main instrument employed by
the government. The problem required multi-dimensional solutions which include
social and economic development, multi-lateral dialogue, and use of force.
The unregulated spread of Naxal related violence indicates that they are
getting close cooperation and support of the people. In this context, we need to take

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cognizance of what Mao Tse Tung said about Guerrilla fighters. He said, “The
Guerrilla is like fish in the ocean and the ocean is like the people’s support; the ‘fish’
can survive only so long as there is for them the support of the people”. Therefore,
it is necessary for the government of India to effectively evolve a policy that can
alienate Naxalites from the common men.
Firstly, as the Naxalites are germinated from the marginalized and the poor,
a larger percentage of the national budget must be allocated for meeting the
requirements of these affected regions. The administration should concentrate on
the overall development of these neglected regions through initiatives related to
health, education, social welfare, and rural and urban development. Both state and
central government must ensure that the initiatives taken for the development of
these neglected areas are implemented in true sense. If the socio-economic needs
of these marginalized people are addressed seriously, there will be no discontent to
fuel the Naxalite’s movements and the government will get some success in alienating
masses from the movement.
Secondly, the government should initiate sincere efforts for starting a wide-
ranging dialogue with these alienated villagers/tribals, the Naxalites, and state leaders.
The popularity of Naxalites with the Adivasis is a reflection of the fact that the
government has been unaware or “unapologetically indifferent to their plight”. By
communicating and starting a dialogue between these stakeholders, the government
will be able to alienate common men from Naxalite groups. By opening dialogue,
the government can give opportunity for the rebels to join the mainstream by showing
them that solutions can be created together with the government, by being part of
the political system in a legitimate way. For example, the former director-general
of AP concluded that as a result of the ceasefire and dialogue with Maoists in 2004,
the violence in the state decreased by 80-90 percent in the region.21
Thirdly, the government is increasingly using force to control the Naxalism.
The overdose of use of force is not only forcing them to increase their strength from
outside help but also helping them to gain the sympathy of local people as in most of
the counter operations several innocent people have also suffered injuries and even
died. The excessive use of force also motivated the Naxalites to establish relations
with other terrorist groups for getting the latest technologically advanced weapons
and other gadgets that are more lethal and advanced than used by the armed forces.

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The unchecked growing Naxalite insurgency also reflects a flaw in the federal
structure. It clearly reflects that the central government is unable to implement a
coherent national strategy to address the threat. The central government has the
overall responsibility of mobilizing development, but it cannot do so without the
support of the states. The central government and the states need to cooperate
together to solve the internal security threats and coordinate the implementation of
this multi-dimensional approach. Both organizations must complement and support
each other’s initiatives and strategies.
Some recently announced relief measures, including the “revolutionary” farm loan
waiver scheme, are very welcome steps, but they should be the beginning and not
the end of the many measures necessary to retrieve the poor farmers from the potential
embrace of the Maoists. The perception of imbalanced subsidies, which is also a
major source of alienation, needs to be overcome by introducing a more rational
system.
To conclude, the Naxalite problem reflects underlying issues in the Indian
social, economic, and political institutions which threaten to expose India to even
more danger from outside forces. While the Naxalite movement is mainly an internal
threat, with globalization, external and internal security threats are inextricably linked.
The complex and multi-faceted approach to solving the Naxalite issue also reflects
the fact that this is the biggest menace to India’s security in the future.
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Dr. Sanjay Kumar
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