MAOISM IN INDIA

• India's "greatest internal security challenge".
• Prevailing in almost 23 states of India
• The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of indigenous tribes
• The Maoists' military leader is Koteshwar Rao, otherwise known as Kishenji
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Six years ago, the Prime Minister of India had declared that Maoism was the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country. On 6 April 2010, 76 CRPF men were ambushed and killed by Maoists in the forests of Dantewada, state of Chhattisgarh.

Several decades later it had become, in the words of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India's "greatest internal security challenge".

Maoists are also known as "Naxalites" because of the violent left-wing uprising in 1967, which began in the West Bengal village of Naxalbari.

This spans the states of Jharkand, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh and also reaches into Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka.

The Maoists and affiliated groups are active in more than a third of India's 600-odd districts, the authorities say.

And more than 6,000 people have died in the rebels' long fight for communist rule in these states.

The Maoists' military leader is Koteshwar Rao, otherwise known as Kishenji

The term Maoism comes from Mao Zedong of China who formulated a variant of the Marxist-Leninist communism in China. The main principle of Maoism is the armed revolt of the farmers against the ruling class. It is also known as the People’s War wherein masses of the lower classes resort to guerilla warfare against the ruling parties and the government.

The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of indigenous tribes people and the rural poor who they say have been neglected by governments for decades.

Maoists claim to represent local concerns over land ownership and equitable distribution of resources.

Ultimately they say they want to establish a "communist society" by overthrowing India's "semi-colonial, semi-feudal" form of rule through armed struggle.

In post independent India, the government brought thousands of acres of land under development. This acquisition of land left thousands of tribal communities homeless. According to Dr. Walter Fernandez an estimated 60 million people were displaced between 1947 and 2004. These tribal people did not get adequate compensation and were deprived of their livelihood since they depended on the forests for sustenance.

In 1967 in the Naxalbari village in West Bengal, tribals and peasants organized the first armed struggle against the government. Led by Charu Majumdar who was influenced by Maoist thought, the movement became known as the Naxalite movement.

Today, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) is the political party representing the principles of Maoism. Its aim is to overthrow the government of India. The Maoist movement has infested almost the whole country in the past 40 years. It is now present in 23 of the 28 states. Every year, the Maoists are killing more people in order to fulfill their aims.

The government of India has banned the CPI (Maoist) party by labeling it as a terrorist organization and is constantly exploring military options to put an end to Maoism. This is because the Maoist organization is being funded chiefly through extortion, looting, abductions and poppy cultivation.

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