Naxalism and Maoism: Symptoms or Disease?

What started in 1967 with an uprising in a tiny village in West Bengal has today become one of the biggest law and order problems in India. Manmohan Singh called Naxalites and Maoists the "biggest internal security threat" in India in 2006. His words still hold true today. It was just in April that over 20 jawans lost their lives in a face-off in Sukma following an unprecedented attack. The total death toll on both sides has crossed 14,000. The question, however, remains, is this movement a symptom of a deeper issue or simply a menace that needs to be eradicated?

A cause that has terrorised the nation

First, let's understand who Naxals and Maoists are. To begin with, let's not get confused between the two words which are often used interchangeably. Naxalites (the term Naxal comes from the name of the Naxalbari village where the revolt began) are far-left extremists who want to overthrow the government through armed struggle and establish a communist rule. They are Indian in origin but subscribe to the ideology of Mao Zedong (Chinese Communist leader) who advocated for the same cause but only with the difference that he wanted the peasants to lead this revolution. 

Now, those who subscribe to Mao's ideologies are Maoists. So, what's the difference?

Mao-the artist of the peasants' rule

To put it simply, all Naxals are Maoists, but all Maoists are not Naxalites. Maoists can be used to refer to anyone in the world that subscribes to these beliefs that stemmed in China.

Before getting into the causes of the uprising, lets look at why these areas in particular are affected especially in the current scenario.

The fight in Naxalbari in 1967 was about who had the right to farm produce. The Maoists say the essence of their people's war remains the same-only farm produce has been replaced with minerals and the landlord with mining corporations.

While the ranks of civil rights activists and Maoist watchers in India are divided over the Maoists' choice of using violent means, there is almost no disagreement that their cause is rooted in push back against unscrupulous exploitation of forest lands and the displacement of tribal populations for the sake of mineral ore.  

As the mining industry boomed in India, large tracts of land had to get cleared out, especially in the rich areas of Orissa, Jharkhand and Chatthisgarh to make way for mining of precious metals. Incidentally, it is there areas that have become hot beds of Naxal violence. This is primarily because a bulk of the people displaced from these areas were tribals or adviasis who had to surrender their livelihood. The government, to appease the money-hungry mining corporations, has had nothing but a military approach to the situation worsening it even further. 

An analysis of the causes that these segments are fighting for would reveal that the entire situation is indicative of something much deeper. They point to very glaring flaws in our system of governance that has deprived them for decades. 

Some of these causes that sparked the violence are:

• Government neglect: Lawmakers had enshrined our Constitution with the Fifth and Ninth Schedule to solely cater to the scheduled castes and tribes. It would bring them land that belonged through them via land ceiling laws and also institute a tribal advisory council in each district to administer duties. None of these ever came to fruition. 
• Mismanagement of forests: Monopolization of forest areas and lack of concern for people inhabiting those regions before clearing them out has further instigated Naxalites to take up arms. 
• Absence of industrialization and lack of land reforms: The half-hearted implementation of land reforms has not yielded positive results. At the same time, poor industralization in these areas has worsened the situation of employment. 

These are just some of the many causes that have sparked the revolution but the fact remains that Naxalism is a brain child of the exploitative relationship between landlords and vulnerable landless peasants. Brainwashing them with Maoist ideologies has been the main form of retaliation to an unjust system. 

However, have they gone about it the right way? 

There is an entire belt in India called the 'Red Corridor' where Naxal-Maoist activities upset life. These areas are very vulnerable and hard to govern. While the number of districts has come down, the problem still persists. 

The Red Corridor

In fact, one of the biggest criticisms of Naxalism remains the question of violence that is associated with it. Killing of army men, civilians, abducting children, making them kill, brainwashing the youth to take up armed rebellion, exploiting the already exploited, impeding government construction of roads, resorting to guerrilla warfare--these are just some of the ways in which the movement has lost its way. What started with a completely justifiable reason has snowballed into a menace that needs the involvement of forced which is why even the Army has been begrudgingly roped in. 

The Naxals have a lot to their advantage that supports their fight. Local support, funding through extortion, superior knowledge of topography, using tribals as human shields, poor quality of roads, help from international groups--all work in their favour and keep the revolution going. Hence, the violence has not stopped despite having declined over the years. Clearly, we need a more viable solution to this entire situation.

Naxalism has seeped deep into tribal villages where governance has little to no effect

The point here is that while Naxalism and Maoism are indeed diseases that need to be eradicated, they are also symptoms of all that is wrong in the way things have been administered. Between them and the government, it is the poor tribals that suffer the most and this entire movement is most unjust to them.

Hence, the only cure, I think, is to treat it where it began.