Left-wing Extremism in Certain Areas

Left-Wing Extremism in certain areas:

The Naxalite movement that is now referred to as the Maoist movement or Left-Wing Extremism has its main support base amongst the landless agricultural labour, Dalits, and tribal communities. It is also spreading into urban centers, especially the blue-collar workers. It succeeds where there is a sense of injustice, exploitation, oppression, and a feeling of neglect by the State. The roots of the Naxalite movement can be traced to the Telangana movement (1946- 51). It was the first serious attempt to promote a peasant struggle by the Indian communists. The movement did gain an initial success but the momentum of the movement ended with the land reforms initiated by the Indian government. Naxalism began as a protest against the feudal order in 1967 at Naxalbari in West Bengal. At an ideological level, the roots may be traced in the writings of Charu Majumdar whose articles were based on the ideology of Marx-Lenin-Mao. This movement lost its momentum in the seventies after the arrest of Muzumdar and the government policies of non-tolerance of the agitation. Later in the 1980s it was revived once again and has eventually taken a militant turn. In 2004, the Naxalite groups, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), and other similar groups joined together to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). This unified CPI (Maoist) party represented a unified organisational network based on the ideological foundations of Marxism-Leninism- Maoism.

The Ministry of Home Affairs observes that efforts are made by Left Wing Extremists to prevent execution and implementation of development works including infrastructure like railways, roads, power, and telecom through violence and terror. The purpose of In 2004, the People’s War (PW), then operating in Andhra Pradesh, and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI), then operating in Bihar and adjoining areas, merged to form the CPI (Maoist) Party. The CPI (Maoist) Party, is the major Left-Wing Extremist outfit that has been included in the Schedule of Terrorist Organisations along with all its formations and front organisations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The CPI (Maoist) philosophy is to use armed insurgency to overthrow the Government.

Maoist operations are based primarily in the rural and under-developed areas of India. Areas that lack communication facilities, are generally forested or have difficult terrain where the security forces cannot operate with impunity, are the areas of operation of the Naxal groups.

Some of their broad tactics are as follows:

1. Use of propaganda slogans
2. Establishment of a mass movement
3. Mobilisation of women, tribals, and minorities into the revolution.
4. Mobilisation of the urban population on mass issues
5. Develop appropriate forms of military organisations

The United Nations reports the recruitment and use of children as young as 6 years of age by armed groups, including the Naxalites. Children were coerced to join children’s units (“Bal Dasta”), where they were trained and used as couriers and informants, to plant improvised explosive devices and in front-line operations against national security forces. The report also noted that the abduction of children, especially girls, by armed groups was a serious concern.