[Nethra K Putti]

NAXALISM - BIGGEST THREAT TO INDIA

The naxalite groups, which are functioning in the name of CPI (Maoist) belong to stream of deviated Marxist. their method & politics rely on anarchic violence directed at individuals & ordinary people. they work in remote tribal areas because it allows them to use these as shelters from conducting their act of individual violence. they are deviod of politics based on th people. these groups have not brought about any social transformation or change in the lives of the oppressed people. the wretched plight of the tribal people in the forest area & the failure of the state to deliver even the minimum needs, some of these groups have exploited the situation to gain a foothold & recruit cadres by terrorising them.

HISTORY OF NAXALISM IN INDIA

The movement began a violent peasent resistence to landlords at Naxalbari Village in May 1967 on the basis of the land-to-the-tiller slogan. The leaders of Naxalbari uprising were Charu Mazumdar, Kanu Sanyal & Jangal Santhal. it acquired a large appeal in about 2 months on account of the open support it evinced from sections of the states units of the CPI(M) in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh & Jammu & Kashmir.


These units had a formal meeting in November 1967. this meeting had to the information of the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) in May 1968. one of the 1st decisions of the body was to adhere steadfastly to armed struggle & not participate in elections. but to differences over how armed struggle should be advanced led to the exclusion of a section of activists, led by T.Nagi Reddy & Kanhai Chatterjee. the parent organization AICCCR formed the communist party of India ( Marxist Leninist) in May 1969 & chatterjee followed the suit in October of the same year with the Maoist Communist Centre.

Futhur, the death of Charu Mazumdar, who was associated with CPI (M-L) was marked by a numbe of splits it was brought about by personalised & narrow perceptions about the Maoist ervolutionary line & attempts at course correction by some of the major groups. After course the correction whic was launched in 1974, CPI(M-L) during 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. later on there was furthur split in CPI(m-l) , then K.Seetharamiah & N.Prasad formed people's War Group & unity organisation respectively.

The PWG's merger with Bihar & Jharkhand based MCC October 2005, leading to their formation of CPI (M) has given it incisive form impelling the central & state governments to address the problems of growing left extremism with greater attention.

MAJOR PROBLEMS

Land is the vital issue for these Maoist since the movement launched in Naxalbari village was for land. LAnd reforms & its judicious distribution has not been implemented in many of the affected states, particularly Andhra, Orissa & Chattisgarh.

Another problem in tackling this menance is that these naxal groups are not coming to the table for talks & their ideology is steeped in armed revolution. they want to transmute the social structure through the barrel of the gun. furthur they are getting moral & material support from farflung centres. they have links with LTTE, a terrorist organisation operationg in SriLanka. right since the inception of this movement China is furnishing tacit support to it.

Added to this they operate forest ares & in many cases from inaccessible terrain. this has ostensibly posed a major hurdle in dealing with the problem since security forces to not reach to the affected & afflicted sopts duly & easily.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?

The breeding ground for this naxal movement is soaked in socia-economic inequality. these destitue & needy people are to the core of this movement. the callousness of poverty, rural indebtedness, unemployment, inequality growth & exploitation has formed the generating ground for naxalists. these problems are to be addressed too.

There should be government measuers to win the hearts of the common people & wean them away from the path of naxalism. On September 19, 2005 , the Union Governement & the states affected by naxalite menace agreed to make teh inter-state joint task forces functional 'very quickly' to facilitate coordinated operations. teh decison came first in the meeting of Standing Committee of Chief Ministers of teh affected states at New Delhi , presided over by the Union Home Minister Sivraj Patil.

[ganeshvs71]

Further relevant links:

Finding A New Haven: Growing Tentacles of Naxalism in India (SSPC, New Delhi)

Naxalism: biggest threat to India-India-The Times of India

Naxalite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Asian Centre for Human Rights