Should Maoist be treated on par with terrorist and anti-nationals?

By Pratibha Sharma

Maoists in India have become the gravest threat to our country. The extent and
magnitude of the Maoists operations are so gigantic that they are affecting the
social, economic and political and even the well being of our country.
No wonder Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist as
the biggest challenge to our national security. Maoist also called Naxals in Indian
context refers to the armed insurgency by the cadres of Bhakpa Male, Tritiya
Prastuti Committee, and People's Liberation Front of India etc.
The followers of Maoism believe that the means of production and resources
existing in the world are concentrated in the hands of exploiters. Hence they like to
overthrow them, even if it means by armed means and should be re-placed by a
system that is to be in the hands of the masses.
In India, Maoists have planned to overthrow the democratic system of governance
by 2050 and replace it by their own system of governance gain complete control
over the country. Maoism has originated in India from West Bengal at a place
called Naxalbari. In the initial days, it was a motley collection of students, farmers
and intellectuals that was led by two leaders Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal.
Initially those who felt dissatisfied and neglected joined this extreme left
bandwagon. But soon Maoists have spread to the other states. Maoist rebels now
control and run a parallel government in as many as 10 states. Over the last few
years, more people have died as a result of Maoist insurgency than due to any
other kind of militant movement in the country.
The Maoists have complete disregard for democracy, laws and human values.
They have been committing crimes like abduction and killings with impunity.
Whether it is abduction and killing of Jharkhand policemen 'Francis Induwar' or the
attack on the convoy of a political party in Bastar, all demonstrate the ruthless
attitude of the Maoists.
According to intelligence agencies estimates, the total number of Maoists cadres
in country could be about 50,000 and the majority of them being below 25. The
Maoist have an annual budget of rupee 10,000 crore. Majority of it comes in form
of extortion (levy), illicit drugs cultivation and covert aid. On an average, Maoists
demand a levy of 15-20% on any government or private funded activity. As a
result, no commercial entity is willing to work in the areas of Maoist dominance.
Hence the affected areas have no roads, factories or even cottage industries. Thus
the people there do not get any jobs and are ultimately forced to join the rank and
file of the Maoists.
Recently, a few splinter groups have broken off from the main Maoist group CPIML and formed their own organizations. These groups are fighting regular turf
wars for dominance and control over their respective areas. In the beginning the
Maoist movement may have been one of some disgruntled elements but now it
has completely evolved into armed insurgent groups.
Maoists from the very beginning have been open to receiving foreign aid and
assistance. It's proved by the recovery of foreign made weapons from them. It also

found out that trainers from countries like China, Philippines, and Ireland have
arrived in our country to provide training in Guerrilla warfare to the Maoists. The
Maoists have also been trying to join hands with the various international
communist insurgent groups such as the Nepali Maoists, FARC, Irish republican
army etc. It has been confirmed that Maoists have links with the Kashmiri
separatists and North-East insurgent groups.
All these instances clearly points that Maoists are anti-national elements and be
dealt accordingly. In dealing with the Maoists, the Indian Penal Code Chapter VI
that deals with offences against the state, S.121 Waging war against government,
S.124-A sedition which has been further supplemented by laws such as National
security Act, should be strictly implemented. A message of deterrence must be
sent to them that no enemies of the nation will be tolerated by the Indian
leadership or the governing elite. However, care should be exercised to avoid
collateral damage and those who have joined the ranks of Maoists forcefully
should be allowed to join the mainstream and lead a normal life.
A carrot and stick policy should be adopted and the disgruntled Maoist cadres
should be won over by a good rehabilitation package. Recruitment drives and
employment counseling camps should be held in the affected areas to rope in
unemployed youths. In the Maoist affected area establishing block offices, primary
and secondary schools, hospitals, village panchayat offices etc should be the
priority. Civil authorities should make sure that beneficial measures such as public
distribution system reach the needy speedily.
Lessons should be learnt from the Andhra Pradesh which was one of the worst
sufferers of Maoist violence. However by adopting a multi-pronged strategy, the
government has succeeded in eliminating the Maoists from that state. The special
police force 'Greyhounds' established by the Andhra Pradesh authorities
succeeded in almost wiping out the Maoists from state.
This was quickly followed by establishing all necessary infrastructure (like roads,
schools, hospitals and beneficiary schemes) to bring about the oppressed and
deprived people on par with the mainstream society. Andhra Pradesh as a result
today is free from clutches of the Maoists.
Maoism didn't take shape in one day; neither will it go away in one day. Fighting
Maoism will take years. If the measures mentioned are implemented rigorously,
the days are not far when India will be free from all these trouble mongering
entities. If India has to race towards its ultimate goal of providing peace and
security to its citizens, then the problem of Maoist insurgency has to be sternly
dealt with.
---By Pratibha Sharma
By Abhishek Dixit
It is the duty of the government to make the things difficult which are wrong, easy
the things which are right for the people. This single line quotation itself narrates
the role of ideal government for its people to maintain the peace, harmony and
peaceful coexistence of the people in the society.
But unfortunately in case of Maoists/naxalites, our governments are completely
failed to provide the remedy of their problems. Rather than making things easy for

them government has made the things difficult for them where they were forced to
take weapon in their hands rather than sitting and talk with the government
representatives. In such scenarios where people are forced to take the weapon to
redress their grievances cannot be termed as terrorists and anti-national.
It was the summer of 1967 where in a small village of West Bengal name
Naxalbari people rose up against the government system and they took the
weapon in their hands and over the time they took much of eastern and central
India in their grip and was declared as terrorists by Government of India .Since
they were following the ideology of Mao (leader of China) and they were trying to
run their own government so they were declared as anti-national or terrorists but
did we try to find out and resolve their problems before they were forced to take up
the arms the answer is "NO".
If we try to analyze the root cause of the problem of Maoists/Naxalites then we
come across two main reasons first is "non implementation of 5th & 9th schedules
by government in the tribal areas and second is the centuries old "caste system".
As per the 5th schedule of our constitution Government will declare the schedule
areas in the country and accordingly provide the rights over the natural resources
in those areas as per the provisions of 9th schedule.
But these provisions are misused for one's own welfare rather than the welfare of
tribal people. Central and state governments gave licenses to private companies
for mining and cutting in these areas as they were considered to be mineral rich
areas of our country where no share was provided to local people and also no
attention was paid to their dilapidated situation because of loss of habitat and
earnings out of these areas on which they were dependent from a long time.
This provided the chances for the growth of local leadership since national/state
leadership was failed to provide solution to their problems.
Second, since most of these people belong to schedule caste and tribes and they
were away from mainstream society for a long time so called "forward" people of
the society could not accommodate these people into the mainstream of the
society and these tribal people felt a sense of separatism. Icing on the cake is
done by repressive policies of government against their rise as a militant
organization.
In Chattisgarh where the local people were feeling like "between devil and deep
blue sea" because on one hand Naxalites were forcing them to help while
government supported "salwa jhadum" was forcing them not to help and in such
situation with so many innocent people were forced to take the weapon as it was
the weapon which was helping these people not the government.
So the people who are rose for their own welfare against the exploitation by
government and local people cannot be termed as terrorists or anti-national
because they have some causes that are not resolved by anything other than
weapon. These people are our own people which if given a chance can contribute
immensely in the growth of our country so in place of treating them as terrorists
government should seriously listen to their problem, redress their issues and
should try to bring them on round table for talk rather than in the battlefield where
only the blood will flow of both the sides rather than any solution will come.

It was well said by Gandhi ji "an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind"
.So the solution resides in talking, resolving issue and providing them a sense of
security on financial front, living front, social front so that these people could also
come in the mainstream of our society and contribute for the betterment of our
country, our society, our people.
--Abhishek Dixit
By Arjun Tyagi
Maoist literally means people who are follower of Maoism and Maoism is actually
the thought of a Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Basically Maoism which was a revolt
of peasants against their exploitation by bourgeoisie .It was a people's war at that
time. The origin of revolutionary Marxism in India ,particularly Maoism ,are typically
traced to 1967 ,when radical left parted from Communist Party of India (Marxist)
and formed Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) which are Maoists of
India.They supported a local peasant uprising in Naxalbari (West Bengal).Thus
CPI(M-L) came to be known as 'Naxalites'.
Maovadi problem has a long history in India. Over the years, it is a movement that
spread in a white colour changed from black to a dark shade. This problem is not
original and not a terrorist movement in the cross border terrorism, it funds the
State of production. This problem originated in the Indian independence. Indian
Maoists dismiss Indian government as a sham. The naxal movement of a noble
nature, "maovadi" took shape as the problem has become tarnished. The causes
of the Maoist movement in India are structural. Economic, political and cultural
dimensions are closely linked.
The first is the economic situation which is exploited by Naxalites and their
extreme left ideology. It seems much like a catch-22 situation. On the one hand,
India has experienced relatively fast economic growth, which has led to increased
levels of national wealth. To facilitate and continue this development, businesses
need more land and natural resources such as minerals. On the other hand, this
economic growth has been uneven among regions, and has widened the disparity
between the rich and the poor.
Proponents of these businesses argue that these regions need economic
development, if they are to catch up with their richer counterparts. The Indian
aboriginals, known as adivasis, live these richly forested lands, which are wanted
for development by businesses. The conflict between economic progress and
aboriginal land rights continues to fuel the Naxalite's activities.
Their strongest bases are in the poorest areas of India. They are concentrated on
the tribal belt such as West Bengal, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh where locals
experience forced acquisition of their land for developmental projects. At the start
this movement was a poor men's voice but today its aptness is doubtful. Today this
conflict between Naxalites and Indian Government has taken a different form.
Today for the rights of tribal people Naxalites or Maoists they are somehow
crossing some limits on humanitarian grounds. That humanitarian ground on which
in the past their movement was based on.
Naxalites or Maoists are brutally killing innocent policemen who are performing
their duty in that area. There is no ground on which these killings can be made

approved. They are destroying infrastructures created by Indian government. All

these activities create instability and insecurity to that area. There are some proof
also that these activities are funded by China to create insecurity in India which act
as a hindrance to development in these remote areas. Countries like China are
supplying arms and ammunition as well as training to them.
Actually Maoists basic demand was getting these poor people at an equal platform
to urban people but the havoc they are creating nowadays is opposite to their so
called actual aim on which their ideology is based. It can be seen from their recent
killing of many congress leaders. What Maoists are doing today is anti national.
Killing innocent people and policemen, destroying infrastructure cannot be
legitimized for the name of revolt of poor people it's totally anti national .Activity
which are creating fear ,insecurity, instability and also they are funded by our
country's adversaries can be called as 'terrorism'.
So they should be treated on par with terrorist and anti nationals but military
response is not the only option of solution .There should be continuous talk with
the local people of the affected area. At last we must remember our country India's
policies nad actions are based on principle of non violence .So any violence of any
type anywhere in our country is an act of terrorism and anti national activity.
--Arjun Tyagi
By Dharmesh Sharma
The recent tragedy in Chhatisgarh, an ambush carried out by naxalites, left two
senior congress leaders and two dozen others dead. The incident once again
sparked the blame game between the Centre and the State. However, a counter
offensive is now impending. In light of such a stance of government, a pertinent
and fundamental question still lingers on, that is whether to treat the Maoists on
par with terrorists. Sometime back, the Prime Minister, in one of his speech
condemned Naxalism and declared it as the most serious National security threat
to India.
Born way back in Naxalbari village of West Bengal, as a resentment against the
local landlords, Naxalism has, since then expanded its foothold in nearly one-third
of the country. The Naxalites are affiliated to Maoist ideologies of revolution
through arms carried out by the peasant class to overthrow the State and establish
a People's Government.
In a functional democracy such as that of India such political objectives seem
highly inconsistent and absurd. The Maoist disbelieves and derecognizes the
State. These cadres of Left Wing Extremism have often sided with the enemies
during testing times of Indo-China war of 1962 and also in 1971. This clearly
reflects their anti nationalistic attitudes. The usual 'Jehadi' terrorists have religion
as their motivation; however both forms of terrorism have waged a war against
India which is tantamount to Sedition. The 'Red Terror' works from within and is
even more complicated and difficult to handle as a direct face off severely affects
civilians.
Most Maoist prone areas are devoid of basic facilities of infrastructure, health and
education, which the people are rightly entitled to, being citizens of India. The fruits
of development are blocked by the Maoists. They are against the developmental

schemes of Government and themselves are involved in fund raising by entering

into nexus with the Capitalist class with whom they stand in ideological
contradictions, reflecting their double standards. They often force people to
camouflage them and even launch an attack against the paramilitary forces. They
coerce the young locals to join their cadres and misguide them, ruining their lives.
Hence, their claim to be the trustees of the people and 'Gandhians with Guns'
sounds more a rhetoric, typical of politicians and not a revolutionaries at all.
The clashes between the paramilitary and Naxalites have often led to civil
casualties adding to the discontent of the people. The innocent and misguided
villagers are made to believe that the State is their enemy. Some stray incidents of
crimes such as rape and coercion by few personnel has given the opportunity to
the Maoists to harp upon which they use it to their advantage. This has lent an ill
repute to the armed forces amongst the locals.
However with no clear cut out political objective, such a struggle is futile and
unsustainable. Also their natural allies like China and Nepal are developing healthy
political relations with India, much to their disadvantage. Also developmental
efforts by the Centre like the Integrated Action Plan scheme in Naxalite prone
areas is underway to take fruits of development to the local citizens and take them
into confidence for any future operations.
Hence, branding Maoists as terrorists would be no mistake given their stand
against Sovereignty and Integrity of India, disbelief in democracy and civil rights,
use of arms and ammunitions, and anti developmental stance