Naxalism

Mao mayhem 
The year 2009 was marked by many political developments – some expected, others unforeseen. Coming back of UPA for the second term was an expected event, of course, thanks to NREGA. But the rise of Maoists, who have occupied a lot of mainstream discourse and media pages for the past few months, was not a part of the forecast by anyone. It is claimed that Maoist control 182 districts out of 604 districts in the country and the Prime Minister has termed this as a state of civil war. 

The Maoist menace started during the general elections when at several places they gave a call for poll boycott, as they do not believe in parliamentary democracy. The threat did not seem vary dangerous that time. But since then the Maoists, under leadership of Communist Party of India (Maoist), with People’s War Group and Maoist Communist Centre, have been on a rise. The whole of tribal belt comprising states of West Bengal, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh is witnessing an armed resistance. Trains are being stopped, policemen being killed and political opponents being murdered.  

In sporadic violence at various places, hundereds of people have been killed by the extremists. On November 5 a guest house in Orissa and a road bridge in Chhattisgarh were torched. A villager was killed on November 2. Rajdhani Express was stopped in West Medinipur. 

The Indian state has retaliated by sending in Armed Forces like Army and CRPF to combat this resistance. A lot of violence erupted as a reaction to the arrest of Chhatradhar Mahato, a leading Maoist leader. A gun battle is on in several places in these states. Home minister P Chidambaram seems to be determined to uproot the Maoists for once and all. The Air Force is already supposed to have done a survey of the entire area to go for air strikes if need be. But if the Indian government is seriously going to launch an air attack, it is strange indeed, as no party goes into a war after disclosing its strategy beforehand! The government has asked the Maoists to come for a dialogue, but stop violence first.  

Meanwhile, many social activists and civil society groups have come out in support of the Maoists. Author and Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy has asked the government to hold talks with the rebels “unconditionally”. Aruna Roy, the force behind RTI, spoke to the Wall Street Journal, saying, “The state will fail if the Army and Air Force are used to crack down against the Maoists.” 

Genesis
At this juncture it is imperative to think why have Maoists taken up arms against the Indian state and if it is really a people’s war that they are waging. It is true that wherever Maoists are rebelling today, these are the places where fruits of development have not reached at all. The tribal belt has been the worst hit – the forest land is taken at some pittance for the sake of big industry, there is no proper health care or education system, no employment opportunities, and so on and so forth. But taking road of violence does not solve the problem either. Who are those people who get killed? They are common citizens of the country! They are also the ones who have not tasted development.  

The only solution to the problem is a political solution and not a military solution from either side. The PM seems to have realised it and has said that he is working on development of backward regions of the country.