CHAPTER 5

GROWTH AND SPREAD OF LEFT WING TERRORISM

1975 ONWARDS

For power and pulp within CPI (ML) there used to be squabbles among the top leaders of the movement like Satya Narayan Sinha, Vinod Mishra of Bihar, T Nagi Reddy and Kondapalli Seetharemaiah from Andhra Pradesh, Nagbhushan Patnaik from Orissa with the central leadership in the party which was dominated by leaders from Bengal. By 1972 the Central Government (of Congress Party) with the understanding of USSR was able to use CPI (Marxist) to crack down on CIPI (ML) in Bengal. The leaders in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa were also prosecuted for having waged war against the state of India. An ideological split took place in the movement between two factions which went in separate ways and directions to achieve success in their struggle. As a result one faction became CPI (ML) under Charu Majumdar while the other group established Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). The CPI (ML) almost became ineffective with the arrest and death of Charu Mujumdar (in 1972) and abandoning of armed struggle by Kanu Sanyal (in 1977).

Naxalites During Emergency

The party was revived in 1974 in Bihar under the name of CPI (ML), Liberation which took the shape of struggle against the Emergency. The promulgation of emergency in 1975 gave further set back to the Naxalite movement. Due to the strong action stepped up everywhere even those sympathizers who provided shelter earlier no longer did so now. Second, the increased usage of preventive detention under MISA put a lot of activists out of action. Further the implementation of twenty point programme which had its target group the same action of the society which the Naxalites aimed at 79

mobilizing, weaned them away from the movement. However, in some districts of Andhra Pradesh Naxalites activities continued unabated.

Post Emergency Period

With the lifting of emergency there was a steady revival of the Naxalite movement. A significant development which took place in the post-emergency period was the increase in the activities of the Civil Liberties Organisations namely Organisation for Protection of Democratic Rights (OPDR) and Civil Liberties Committee (CLC). This was also the period when front organizations of the Naxalities such as The Radical Students Union (RCS), etc. revived their activities to develop a wider base for the movement.

The appointment of Shah Commission at National level and Bhargava Commission in AP to enquire into alleged police atrocities during the emergency put the police on the defence. The APCLC collected material to substantiate its allegations of false ‘encounter deaths’ and submitted to Bhargava Commission.

A notable development in the post-emergency period was the birth and phenomenal growth of the People’s War Group (PWG) in Andhra Pradesh. The group ever since its inception has dominated the centre stage of Naxalite movement in AP and in its bordering States. The PWG combined its vigorous mass activity with increased militancy and converted north Telangana districts into hunting groups of Naxalites. The extremist violence in AP in 1980 accounted for 21 murders, 19 dacoities and 99 other offences as against 19 murders, 23 dacoities and 65 other offences in 1979.36

Due to the effect of continued indoctrination and inculcation of spirit of defiance of law and authority, Gond tribals gathered in large number of Indervalli (Adilabad) village and indulged in an orgy of violence necessitating

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opening of fire by the police on 20th April 1991 resulting in the death of 13 tribals and injuring 11 to 22. The Government blamed the PWG for this incident.

From 1979 to 1988, MCC focused on Bihar. A Bihar-Bengal Special Area Committee was established. The Preparatory Committee for Revolutionary Peasant Struggles was formed and soon Revolutionary Peasant Councils emerged. On 22 April 1980, Kondapalli Seetharamaiah formed the Peoples War Group (PWG) in Andhra Pradesh. He discarded total annihilation of ‘class enemies’ as the only form of struggle and stressed on floating mass organizations to protract the armed struggle till it is ripe for a ‘civil war’ like situation when seizure of power at the centre becomes easier during external aggression.

Though, with the death of Charu Mazumdar in 1972 while in police custody the central leadership suffered a serious setback, but under provincial leadership many splinter groups were thriving in Punjab, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra. Until 1997, many front organizations to cover their clandestine underground activities were formed as a primary level for recruitment into the hard-core guerrilla fighters. The CPI (ML) Liberation, the CPI (ML) Red Flag, the CPI (ML) Unity Organisation, Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Samiti (MKSS) in Bihar, Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha, Radical Students’ Union (RSU) and Radical Youth League (RYL) in Andhra Pradesh, Indian People’s Front (IPF), All-India Dalit Conference held in Amravati (Maharashtra) in 1983, People’s Democratic Front in Assam which later became Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC), Jan Sanskriti Manch, National Women’s Convention in Calcutta in 1986, All India Central Council of Trade Union (AICCTU), All India Students Association (AISA), Janwadi Mazdoor Kisan Samiti in South Bihar as Jharkhand Mazdoor Kisan Samiti (Jhamkis), forum for Muslims called ‘Inquilabi Muslim Conference’ in Bihar, Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) as an all-India organization of the radical youth, Tribal

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People’s Front, Assam People’s Front, Indian Institute of Marxist Studies, the Progressive Organisation of People in AP were few of the over ground front organizations which were launched during 1987 till 1999 by the erstwhile CPI (ML) which though was never formally dissolved.

The party was revived in 1974 in Bihar under the name of CPI (ML) Liberation which took the shape of struggle against the Emergency. There were further splits with Kondapalli Seetharamaiah (Andhra) and N. Prasad (Bihar) forming their own outfits. While Prasad formed CPI (ML) Unity, Seetharamaiah formed Peoples’ War Group (PWG) in 1980. PWG accused CPI (ML) Unity of imitating CPI (M) as “leftist revisionists”. CPI (ML) Liberation came over ground in securing electoral victory in Bihar in 1989 while PWG continued their armed struggle and gaining ground in Andhra, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. They were responsible for the killing of several public figures like TDP Minister Madhav Reddy, Congress legislator (Andhra) K. Narsa Reddy and Madhya Pradesh Minister Likhiram Kavre. They were also responsible for the attack on TDP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in 2001 (Appexdix ). The merger of PWG with the Bihar-Jharkhand based MCC and re-christening itself as CPI Maoist in September/October 2004 has given it fierce striking power.

At the same time several other splinter Naxalite movements are noticed. In Bihar State itself there were as many as 9 Groups masquerading as CPI (ML) each controlling certain areas, almost like warlord mafia. Details of these can be accessed at http:www.naxalwatch.blogspot.com

Links with Neighbouring Countries

Observers have noticed that this movement had established external links. Sufficient evidence was noticed on the contacts between the Nepali Maoists and

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Indian counterparts. The incident in Madhuban (Bihar) on April 24, 2005 saw the participation of Nepalese cadres. Such reports came after some incidents in Chhattisgarh and Orissa too. The Union Home Ministry had long been reporting about the “Red Liberated Corridor”.

There were indications that the PWG was successful in approaching sympathetic overseas supporters for funds. An outfit named Friends of Indian Revolution (FOIR) had been noticed. There have been talks of PWG-LTTE understanding. Similarly a South Asian organization named Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations (CCOMP) had been noticed since July 2001. It was reported that apart from the Nepalese Maoists and India PWG, there were 10 other organisations that form this group.

Even today in 2015 the Naxalite-Maoists have links with the insurgent organizations active in North East and Myanmar, who have links with China. One cannot rule out the possibility of Naxalite-Maoist links with terrorist organizations, through mechanism of drug smuggling, weapon smuggling, hawala operations and so on.

Period of Heightened Militancy (1987-1991)

Left wing extremism had picked up momentum after 1986 both in terms of incidence of violence and also in the incremental growth in open activities aimed at mass mobilization. The Peoples War Group (PWG) in AP and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) in Bihar have been responsible not only for most of the extremist violence but also for the most sensational and gruesome incidents.

Andhra Pradesh

The PWG stepped up violence in a significant manner in 1987. The nation was shocked and vulnerability of the State Government exposed when the PWG

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kidnapped seven IAS officers on December 27 1987 at Pulimetta village in the East Godavari district and obtained in exchange release of their eight comrades held in custody. Two of the abducted officers included a Principal Secretary of the Government and the district Magistrate of the East Godavari district. Not only did the incident gave national and international publicity to the Naxalites but it came to be viewed as a milestone in the chequered history of Naxalite movement.

This period had also observed a qualitative change in the use of arms for annihilation. While the first phase the Naxalite movement saw the use of traditional weapons such as axes, spears, sickles and small fire arms ; for the first time the Naxalites used ‘landmines’ to ambush police parties in 1987. Further, sophisticated fire arms like AK-47, sten-guns carbines, etc. had also been acquired in substantial numbers.

The Naxalities besides resorting to selective killings of class enemies had resorted to attacks on static targets like railway stations, telephone exchanges, microwave towers, railway tracks, burning of road transport corporation buses, government officers, banks including police stations, these acts of extremists besides exposing the vulnerability of the government has given wide publicity to the Naxalities.

An important feature of the Naxalite strategy in this period had been the increasing kidnappings of political leaders, public servants and policemen. Realizing efficacy of this instrument in getting their comrades released in seven IAS kidnapping case, the extremists resorted to kidnapping frequently in subsequent years. Thus in 1989, 27 persons were kidnapped. This trend continued and reached its climax in 1990 when 251 persons were kidnapped. The State Government succumbed to the pressures and conceded the demands of the Naxalities in most of the cases.

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The overall result of the use of sophisticated weapons, explosives and a new strategy by Naxalities had resulted in a quantum jump in incidents of violence by them. There were 515 acts of violence by Naxalities in 1987 as against 406 in 1986. The State of Andhra Pradesh (301) and Bihar (163) alone accounted for 90% of the total incidents, 24 policemen and 75 others lost their lives in AP and 113 persons were killed in Bihar. There were as many as 50 encounters between the Police and the Naxalities in AP during 1987 in which 29 extremists were killed. People’s War Group (PWG) alone was responsible for 225 incidents in Andhra Pradesh.37

The year 1988 saw substantial increase in the number of extremist incidents. AP accounted for over 60% of the total extremist violence in the country. This trend further picked up in 1989, 1990 and reached its zenith in 1991 when the extremists killed 268 persons. Besides in 108 encounters with the police, 102 extremists lost their lives.

Bihar and Jharkhand

The second most affected state by Naxalite violence has been Bihar. Three districts of central Bihar i.e. Jehanabad, Gaya and Aurangabad are the worst hit by the extremist problems. Although there are a dozen factions of the left wing extremists group. The most dreaded group is the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), which accounts for most of the extremist violence in the state.

The factors which have contributed to the increase in extremist activities in Bihar, inter-alia, include : immense disparity between the rich and poor, rising atrocities on dalits by scores of private armies owned by upper castes like Brihmrishi sena of Bhumihars, Kunwar sena of Rajputs and Azad sena of Brahmins. The restive dalits have stepped behind the banner of radical Naxalite Group, Maoist communist centre which claims to dispense ‘revolutionary justice’ in the countryside. 85

Peoples War Group (PWG) - A Profile

Founded by the legendary Kondapalli Sitaramaiah, the PWG presently is the most formidable of Naxalite groups operating in the country. The group’s main theatre of action is Andhra Pradesh. But over the years it has spread its activities to the forests of Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Orissa. It has also registered its presence in Karnataka. On account of its largest share of left extremist violence and sensational acts like kidnappings of the 7 IAS officers in 1987, laying of frequent ambushes and acts of sabotage, etc., it is not only the most widely known Naxalite group but also causing serious concern to the State Governments affected by its activities.

Objective of the PWG

The main objective of the PWG stated to establish a liberated zone, the Danakarnya consisting of the districts of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Orissa. A map to this effect has been circulated in the Naxalite infested area.

Strategy

The PWG relies mainly on building a chain of liberated pockets in the rural areas before embarking upon attacks on the organized forces of the State. The strategy has been to liberate the villages where the State apparatus is weak, encircle the urban centres and lead the revolution to victory. Tactically they are following the principles of guerrilla warfare.

Organisational Structure

There is a central committee at the highest level with State committees under it. Then there are Divisional and District committees. There are two types of State and district level committees ‘Forest’ committees which oversee the

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activities of armed squads in the guerrilla zones (red areas) and the ‘Plains’ committees with jurisdiction over areas outside ‘guerrilla zones’. Each armed squad of the PWG has 6 to 13 members. It is headed by a Commander. Depending on the need and availability of arms and ammunition are made available to the squad leader by the Divisional committee. The squad leader is required to take approval of the State or regional committee before taking any major action.

The entire ‘guerrilla zone’ under the ‘Forest’ committee was divided into various divisional committees. According to a Dec.1990 organisational report of the PWG, the group had 81 cadres of and above district level, 27 Forest and 29 Plains armed squad, 68 central organizers, 67 couriers and others in the technical apparatus and 621 professional revolutionaries in Andhra Pradesh. The report claimed that armed squads trebled during the past five years and the party extended its activities to all the districts in the State.

PWG – Its Ideology

The founder of PWG had aligned himself with COC but followed an independent line in regard to ‘annihilation theory’ and the rise of mass movements. His views have been more radical than those of other groups. The main thrust of PWG revealed in its assessment of the existing socio-political situation. It accepts that peoples consciousness is uneven due to unevenness in the development of the national economy. It asserts that a countrywide revolutionary situation did exist. Any view expressed to the contrary is seen by the PWG as being reactionary. According to PWG whenever people violate the existing law and take up whatever arms they could and resort to fighting it is nothing but armed struggle. If the struggle was confined to small pockets it only indicated the elementary state of armed struggle.

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According to the PWG’s analysis, given a proletariat leadership all struggles inevitably served the cause of a protracted armed struggle. The PWG views : “The path of the armed struggle is the only correct path of the peoples’ democratic revolution as opposed parliamentary path, the armed form of struggle is not the only form of struggle.” It felt that depending on the level of the political consciousness and preparedness of the people different forms of struggle would arise and all these struggles must be nurtured and led by the party because only then can the people be made to realize through their own experience the inevitability of armed struggle. Unless this was done it would neither be possible to wipe out bourgeois, petty bourgeois and revisionist influence over the masses not establish proletarian hegemony over them, the latter being initially necessary to carry on the armed struggle successfully. The PWG stressed the fact that if on any plea the propagation of the politics of seizure of power was sought either to be undermined or avoided during the course of these other forms of struggles, or if these were sought to be confined to the bonds of legal limitation then “however many such struggles we may conduct all of them would certainly end up in economism and will never reach the state of starting armed struggles.”

Source of Finance

Funds are collected through extortions from rich landlords, forest contractors, excise contractors and other affluent people. It is estimated that Rs.3 crores are collected every year by the Naxalities. To curtail the fund flow from beedi leaf contractors, the AP Govt. nationalized beedi leaf collection. The new excise policy of distributing contracts among large number of people shop-wise is also aimed at this end. However, in the past few years, the PWG has been extorting money from the businessmen and industrialists. The arrest and confession of a PWG activist, Sudhakar Reddy, in Bangalore on April, 22, 1992

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‘that he purchased arms and ammunition worth Rs.1.2 crores for the PWG’ indicates sound financial position of the PWG.

It was in the early years of the 1990s that the Andhra Police raised the Greyhounds, a force specialized in Counter guerrilla operations. The new force was raised by a former Chief Instructor of a specialized agency of the Government of India. The emphasis of the force was in developing expertise in Field craft and Tactics. As the Armed Police cadres inducted into the Greyhounds and the Police officers and men were trained the improvement in counter guerrilla operations were immediately seen. The Greyhounds and the Andhra Police officers and men trained in Guerrilla warfare courses made an immediate impact in anti Naxal operations. The Naxal groups were gradually pushed into Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh and Orissa and the situation normalized in the Telegana region.

Madhya Pradesh - Chhattisgarh

The tribal district of Bastar was a sleepy forest outpost when the Naxals of Andhra Pradesh spilled over into their area after being hard pressed by the newly trained Geryhounds. The Adivasis of this area were subdued into a state of supine submission through years of subjugation. The Peoples Union for Civil Liberties a front organisation of the Naxalites found that through years of degradation, he Adivasis had become meek and submissible and had accepted that they were to be at the mercy of the upper castes forever. Organising the beaten down Adivasis, the Naxalites made them conscious of their rights and soon the meek and submissive Adivasis of Madhya Pradesh were standing up for their rights. The Peoples Union for Civil Liberties punished the corrupt officials, made the tendu leaf contractors to increase the wage rates. Unfortunately, the administration like in all the other states began to harden their stand and increasingly resorted to police action to restrain the Naxal cadres, ignoring the basic issues of rights to the forest of lakhs of Adivasis who were living in the 89

forests for thousands of years. The leftist leadership had by now found a very good sanctuary in the Abujmad forests of south Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district.

Maharashtra

Gadchiroli in Maharashtra has a tribal population of 38 percent. Two thirds of the state is thickly forested and the entire life and culture of the tribals revolves around the forests, but tragically, the tribals were denied access to the forests by a myopic interpretation of the Forest laws. The forest areas of the state should have been administered by the Governor by establishing a Tribal Advisory Council as per the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. No Government made any attempt to appoint a Tribal Advisory Council. The State had no power to administer the forests. It was then that the Naxal cadres from Andhra Pradesh took over matters and managed to get forests cleared for the tribals to live and earn their livelihood from the forests.

There were 113 incidents of Naxal violence in 1990 with 15 deaths. There were several incidents of landmines blasting Police vehicles and resultant casualties. This was basically because of lack of expertise in Counterinsurgency operations. With the deployment of the Indo Tibetan Border Police and the Border Security Force such incidents have drastically reduced. The State and the Centre however has not touched the real issue. This is that the fifth Schedule of the Constitution has not been implemented in Maharashtra. No Government has set up a Tribal Advisory Council and administered the Forest areas. The State Government has been illegally operating all these years and continues to do so. Why does the Government not implement the laws of the land. Further the State is violating another law passed – the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, by which the Tribals living in the forest should elect a Panchayat and this Panchayat, should decide how their forest is to be administered. How long does the Government want to use the Police and Para Military forces to crush the

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Naxalites and the Tribals by continuing their illegal and unlawful administration of the Forests.

Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

Madhya Pradesh was bifurcated in November 2000. Except for a few districts in Madhya Pradesh, it is Chhattisgarh that has become a centre of Naxal operations. In Bastar district, an Additional SP and twenty two Policemen were killed in a land mine explosion on 20 February 2000. The people’s War Group came into Chhattisgarh area when they were hard pressed by the new Armed Police group raised by the Andhra Pradesh Police, the Greyhounds. Trained by a former Chief Instructor of Guerrilla warfare, it is the best force among all Central and Central forces to operate against the Naxal groups. When the PWG group retreated into Chhattisgarh, they found the local Adivasis quite passive and did not succeed too well in arousing them to be trained and fight the oppressive Government. Many refused to go for training to fight the Government and when the PWG began to force them, they fled to the urban areas to avoid training. An enterprising Adivasi who had joined the Congress party then succeeded in organizing them as a Counter Guerrilla force. This was the origin of the Salwa Judum which has since been found to be betraying the triabal cause for equality.

The PWG spread its area of operations to the Bastar region, which includes four districts, Bijapur, Bastar, Dantewada and Kanker. During the year 2003, there were 103 encounters in which 31 police personnel were killed. The Peoples War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre were active in 96 Police stations in 7 districts of the State. On 7 May 2005, the Naxals attacked the offices of the Hindalco Industries in Saridih in Surguja district. On 3 September, 2005, the CRPF hit a landmine at Kupjernala in Bijapur district and lost 22 personnel. In this area, the PWG cadres were found discouraging the Adivasis from worshipping Hindu and Christian Gods. Today after the disastrous ambush

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of five platoons of the CRPF, in Dantewada in 2010, in which 86 personnel were killed, it is the district that has had the maximum casualties of Security personnel. (Please see Appexdix ).

Orissa

Orissa has some of the poorest districts of the country, where the Tribal belt is marked by exploitation of the have-nots. To add to the misery, the governance is poor and the Police ill trained to handle this problem. The PWG was active in Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Koraput and Nabrangpur districts bordering Andhra Pradesh. The MCC operated in Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundergarh, bordering Jharkhand. On 9 August 2001, 230 cadres of the PWG carried out daring coordinated raids on the Kalimela and Motu Police Stations of Malkangiri districts killing 6 Policemen and succeeded in taking away a substantial number of weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. On 5 December 2002, the PWG triggered a landmine and blew up a vehicle of the Orissa Special Armed Police, injuring 18 of their personnel. In the same month, the PWG carried out a series of attacks on houses of rich farmers, private granaries, and some government godowns, looted some 1000 quintals of rice, which they later distributed among poor tribals. In April 2003, the PWG cadres looted some 550 kilograms of explosives from the Sundergarh district of Orissa and moved across into the Saranda forests of West Singhbum district of Jharkand. On 30 July 2003, the PWG triggered a landmine in the Vejingiwada forest in Malakngiri district when a CRPF truck was passing through a forest road killing 5 CRPF and 5 State Police personnel. The PWG conducted a major attack on 7 February 2004, overrunning several government offices including the office of the Superintendent of Police and armory at Koreput.

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Naxalites-Maoists in Karnataka

In Karnataka, the state Home Minister M.P. Prakash claimed on August 25, 2006, that Maoist activities in the State had been contained and their presence was limited to just four districts, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Raichur and Bellary. Ironically, the same night, Maoists attacked the Divisional Forest Office (Wildlife), about 13 km from Sringeri in Chikmagalur District, on the border of the Udupi District. The Police Superintendent of the Anti-Naxalite Force (ANF) Chennaiah said, “Before ransacking the office, the gang pasted bills and pamphlets of Maoist literature and also warned the authorities to remove the nearby Thanikod checkpost”.

The administration appears to underestimate the gravity of the previous incidents in Chikmagalur and is unwilling to declare the District as ‘Maoist- affected’. Some past incidents in the District include :-

 May 17, 2005 : A group of about 15 Maoists killed a Congress party activist, Seshappa Gowda, who was also a member of the Koppa Taluk Panchayat (a local self-government body), at Menasinahadya in the Chikmagalur Disctirct.

 November 6, 2005 : Maoist cadres blew up a forest check post after threatening the guards at Thanikod in the Chikmagalur District.

 November 15, 2005 : A woman Maoist was arrested from the forest area near Sringeri in the Chikmagalur District.

Incidents of intimidation and abduction have also been reported from other Districts, including Udupi and Tumkur, and political mobilization by the Maoists has been widely noticed.

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Former Home Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress Party) speaking in the State Legislative Assembly on July 13 stated that 5,000 families in Bangalore were involved in Maoist activities. Coming from a former Home Minister, who would have had, during his tenure, unlimited access to intelligence feeds, this claim cannot be ignored.

Karnataka has always remained in the Maoist scheme of things, although they suffered a temporary setback in February 2005, when their ‘state committee secretary’, Saket Rajan@’Prem’, was killed in an encounter in Chikmagalur District. However, brushing aside the setback, the Maoists restructured their ‘State Committee’ in Marnataka and appointed Noor Zulfikar alias Sridhar in place of the deceased Prem, in addition to six other members on the new Committee.

Recovered Maoist documents, including the 2001 ‘Social Conditions and Tactics’ survey of selected villages in Karnataka, indicate to an elaborate and detailed strategy of mobilization in the State. Prepared by the erstwhile People’s War Group (PWG) in October 2001, this is an exhaustive study of the “Perspective Area” in the Malnad region (Belgaum, Uttara Kannada, Dharwad, Shimoga, Udupi, Chickmagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Mysore and Chamarajnagar Districts) to “accomplish the transformation of the Perspective Area into a Guerrilla Zone, to organize the people in class struggle, build mass organizations, set up party cells, form militia, establish Special Guerrilla Squads (SGSs) and conduct guerrilla warfare in about a dozen Local Guerrilla Squad (LGS) areas.”

Naxalites-Maoists in Maharashtra

The Maoists in Maharashtra are not just spreading their network in rural environs. An assessment report prepared by the state intelligence department indicates that 57 non-government organizations (NGOs) and social action groups

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in Mumbai have been short-listed after being found to fund and help Maoists. The organizations attuned for medical treatment for Maoists, often in nursing homes in cities. According to State Director General of Police, “We are keeping close tabs on the activities of functionaries belonging to a section of the NGOs. A couple of recent arrests and subsequent interrogation of office-bearers of these groups have made us more aware of the security threat they pose”. Twelve NGOs and social action groups short-listed for funding and helping Maoists have been found to be extremely cash-rich. Funds may have been transferred to guerrilla units inside jungles through “informal money remittance systems”, a senior intelligence officer disclosed.

The Maharashtra State Committee of the Maoists comprises four ‘divisions’ : North Gadchiroli-Gondia Division, Chandrapur Division, Mumbai Divison, and Surat Division. Police reports also add that the Maoists have been building up front organizations in Mumbai and Surat in Gujarat, identifying the potential of these places as economic strongholds. Police officials revealed that “the Maoists are actually conducting a sort of preliminary survey in Mumbai, Surat and other areas to begin their systematic infiltration in urban areas. In fact, they are making front organizations to facilitate their goals of creating a space for them in these major urban areas.” This is entirely consistent with the projections of the 2004 “Urban Perspective Document” which identified two principal “industrial concentrations” as targets of Maoist expansion : the Bhilai- Ranch-Dhanbad-Calcutta belt in the East, and the Mumbai-Pune-Surat- Ahmedabad-Surat belt in the West.

Similarly, in Maharashtra, Gondia District is witnessing increasing Maoist mobilization and consolidation, due to operations carried out by security forces in the neighbouring Gadchiroli District. In November 2005, Maoists pasted posters in many villages of Deori tehsil of Gondia, announcing a recruitment drive. In the Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary, Maoists set ablaze a protection hut at

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Tippat in January and at Mangezara on February 24, 2006. Over the past months, they have become active in the sanctuary and have threatened forest department employees against moving in the forest. They have also instructed villagers around Nagzira to venture out during the night. The sanctuary is convenient for Maoist to sneak into Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, three Maoist squads or dalams, the Paraswada, Tanda and Malajkhand dalam have been active in four Disctircts- Balaghat, Dindori, Mandala and Sidhi. According to State Police records, violent Maoist activities have been taking place in Madhya Pradesh since 1990 and, at least 33 police personnel, 37 civilians and five government servants have been killed, while the police have shot dead 12 Maoists in 53 shootouts between 1990 and June 2009.

In Uttar Pradesh, although the casualties in Maoist violence over the past years have been low, Maoist presence in the eastern Districts bordering Bihar is a cause of serious concern. Twenty-six villages of the Gorakhpur Division have been identified as Naxalite-affected, twenty-five of these in Deoria District and one in Kushinagar District. After a survey, a list of 680 Maoist-affected villages across the State was handed over to the State Government. In addition to the 26 in Gorakhpur Division, there are 226 villages in Chandauli, 88 in Mirzapur, 254 in Sonbhadra, 33 in Ghazipur, 54 in Ballia and two in Mau District, which are reportedly Maoist affected.

Carved out from Uttar Pradesh, the mountainous State of Uttaranchal has remained vulnerable due to its difficult and sparsely populated terrain and porous border with Nepal. The State administration, in recent times, has been concerned over the mushrooming of Left Wing organizations in the three border Districts of Pithoragarh, Udham Singh Nagar and Champawat. District magistrates and senior police officials in these areas have been asked to visit villages once a

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month along with officials of other departments, to discuss problems faced by people in an effort to counter mobilization by Left Wing Extremists.

Naxalites-Maoists In Haryana

Closer to the nation’s capital city, intelligence agencies have warned of the mushrooming of various Maoist front organizations in Jind, Kaithal, Kuruksheta, Yamunanagar, Hisar, Rohtak and Sonepat Districts of Haryana, in the recent past. While speaking to reporters in Jind, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda stated that the Maoists would not be allowed to grow their roots in the State, but police officials are of the opinion that Maoists appear to have chosen to take advantage of caste conflicts in the State as a part of their strategy of consolidation in Haryana. The backward caste communities, dalits and other oppressed communities have been chosen because the middle class in Haryana is reasonably strong and the number of landless and poor is comparatively smaller than States, such as Andhra, Bihar and Orissa. Besides raking up local caste conflicts, they have also staged plays about revolutionaries, to exploit the sentiments of the youth. The August 31, 2005, incident at Gohana where dalit houses were set on fire by upper caste jats was seen as an opportunity for these outfits to make attempts to spread their influence, according to intelligence sources.

In the meantime, the Maoist threat appears to have overtaken all other insurgencies in the country on available objective parameters – geographical spread and number of fatalities. At least 165 districts in 14 States, out of 602 districts in the country, were affected by various levels of Maoist mobilization and violence by the end of year 2005. Terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir affects 12 districts, while the combined influence of the multiple insurgencies in India’s North East afflicts, in various measures, 51 Districts in India’s North East. Over the past years, moreover, while fatalities in various other insurgencies have

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tended to decline consistently (with the exception of Manipur) fatalities because of the Maoist conflict have continuously been augmented. It is useful, in this context, to compare the trajectory of fatalities in the Pakistan-backed ‘jihad’ in Jammu and Kashmir, unambiguously India’s worst problem in terms of fatalities till last year, with the Maoist toll.

It is useful to recognize, within this context, that the threat of the Maoists is “not limited to the areas of immediate violence, nor does this threat vanish if violence is not manifested at a particular location for a specific period of time. It is in the complex processes of political activity, mass mobilization, arms training and military consolidation that the Maoist potential has to be estimated”.

Jammu and Kashmir – Terrorism - Maoism

There are close links between terrorist organisations and Maoist in J&K through communist thought process. Worse, while the 200 fatalities upto March end in 2006 in J&K include 135 terrorists (67.5 per cent), the 742 Maoist-related fatalities upto end of 2006 include only 348 ‘Naxalites’ (44 per cent). Current trends, not only in violence, but in their supportive activities of political mobilization, recruitment and training, suggest that the fatalities in the Maoist- related conflict will surge will ahead of the conflict in J&K in the current year, unless there are dramatic shifts in the strategic context.

Communist Party of India (Maoist) 2004

The most important development after the formation of CCOMPOSA, an international body uniting the Communists of the world in 2001 is the merger of the PWG and the MCC in India to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on 20 September 2004, somewhere in the projected ‘liberated zone’. Officially, the merger was announced on October 14, 2004, by the PWG Andhra Pradesh

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‘state secretary’, Ramakrishna, at a news conference in Hyderabad, on the eve of peace talks between the PWG and the State Government.

Ideology

Both organizations shared their belief in the ‘annihilation of class enemies’ and in extreme violence as a means to secure organizational goals. However, significant ideological divisions did exist in the past, with the PWG adhering to a Marxist-Leninist ‘line’, while the MCC embraced Maoism. These differences have now been ironed over, with Maoism prevailing, in the words of PWG Andhra Pradesh State ‘Secretary’, as “the higher stage of the M-L (Marxist-Leninist) philosophy. Marxism-Leninism-Maoism will be the ideological basis guiding its (CPI-Maoist’s) thinking in all spheres of its activities.” The new entity has reaffirmed its commitment to the classical Maoist strategy of ‘protracted armed struggle’, which defines its objectives not in terms of the seizure of lands, crops, or other immediate goals, but the seizure of power. Within this perspective, participation in elections and engagement with the prevailing ‘bourgeois democracy’ are rejected, and all efforts and attention is firmly focused on ‘revolutionary activities’ to undermine the state and seize power.

Objectives

According to a CPI (Maoist) press release issued by Muppala Lakshman Rao alias Ganapathi, the ‘General Secretary’ of the Party, the unity was aimed at furthering the cause of “revolution” in India. The new party also pledged to work in close collaboration with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). As part of its strategy, the CPI-Maoist would fiercely oppose the Central Government run by the Congress and its mainstream communist allies, the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the CPI (Marxist). Ganapathi also announced the formation of a

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‘People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army’ and extended support to ‘revolutionary struggles’ in Nepal, Peru, the Philippines, Turkey and ‘other places’.

The CPI-Maoist intends to carry on the new “democratic revolution, which would remain directed against imperialism, feudalism and comprador bureaucratic capitalism.” The new party believes that the merger would cause “Fear among the ruling classes” and would fulfill “the aspirations of the masses” for a strong revolutionary party that would father in a “new democratic society” by advancing towards socialism and communism.

In a press statement dated October 14, 2004, General Secretaries of the Central Committee of the two outfits, Kishan of the MCC and Ganapathi of the PWG, declared that :-

 “The immediate aim and programme of the Maoist party is to carry on and complete the already ongoing and advancing New Democratic Revolution in India as a part of the world proletarian revolution by overthrowing the semi-colonial, semi-feudal system under the neo-colonial form of indirect rule, exploitation and control…. This revolution will be carried out and completed through armed agrarian revolutionary war, i.e. protracted people’s war with the armed seizure of power remaining as its central and principal task, encircling the cities from the countryside and thereby finally capturing them. Hence the countryside as well as the Protracted People’s War will remain as the “center of gravity” of the party’s work, while urban work will be complimentary to it.”

 “With great determination we will strive to advance and expand the guerrilla war to establish “Base Areas in the strategic areas” ; we will refine and develop our tactics to rebuild, consolidate and 100

expand the revolutionary movement in the vast plains of India, to advance the People’s War to drown the enemy in the great ocean of the class struggles of the cast masses”. Mupalla Laxmana Rao@Ganapathy in interview on October 14, 2004.

This Maoist vision, articulated by the ‘General Secretary’ of the CPI (Maoist), remains intact and is in active operation. The dream of “expanding into the cast plains of India”, follows a strategic framework located in Mao Tse Tung’s larger scheme of ‘Protracted War’. The first step in the war is devoted to organisation, consolidation and preservation of ‘regional base areas’ situated in isolated and difficult terrain. Such organizational restructuring in varied forms, is now increasingly visible in areas that hitherto remained at the margins of Maoist influence or that were completely devoid of such influence.

Documents and Literature

The five documents drafted by the Central Committee are discussed below :-

 Hold High the Bright Red Banner of Marxism-Leninism- Maoism : This document shows how Mao Tse Tung developed Marxism-Leninism to a qualitatively new and third higher stage in the fields of philosophy, political economy, military science and scientific socialism.

 The Party Programme : In this, the CPI (Maoist) points out that in India the ruling classes, subservient to imperialism, have transformed the country into a prison-house of nationalities under the so called slogan of ‘unity and integrity’ of the country. While claiming that ‘It is in such a context that the ongoing nationality struggles in various parts of the country today are advancing by assuming various forms including armed struggle.’ ‘The 101

Programme’ unequivocally supports secessionist and insurgency movements in the North East region, Jammu and Kashmir, Khalistan and prefers to call these as ‘nationalities struggles’.

 ‘Strategy and Tactics of the Indian Revolution’ state that a concrete class analysis of Indian society reveals that the character of Indian society is semi-colonial and semi-feudal. This determines that the Indian revolution would have to pass through two stages. The task of first stage is to change the semi-colonial and semi- feudal society into an independent new democratic society. To carry on and advance the people’s war, an immediate task of the present stage of the revolution would be to arouse and organize the people, in a planned for agrarian revolutionary guerrilla war in the countryside, specially in the remote countryside which is most favourable for the building up of the guerrilla war, the people’s army and the base areas, and to build up the people’s army and the rural red base areas through guerrilla warfare.

 The Political Resolution on the International and Domestic Situation : The ‘Political Resolution’ deals with both the international and the domestic situation. At the international level, it states that the present day world is under great disorder, turbulence and instability, rarely witnessed after World War II. On the internal scenario, it states that the ‘imperialist offensive’ around the world is also clearly reflected in India.

 The Party Constitution : The CPI (Maoist) put forward a new Constitution based on the “Bolshevik principles of democratic centralism, with the core comprising of professional revolutionaries.” According to the document : A wide network of

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part timers will facilitate the Party to penetrate deep into the masses. It will remain underground for the entire period of the New Democratic Revolution and its members will comprise the cream of society – principled, selfless, courageous, dedicated, modest, hard working and fully committed to the cause of the Indian revolution and to socialism and communism. All members will put the interests of the Party and the people above their own personal interests. It will continuously view itself and its members self-critically in order to correct non-proletarian tendencies that inevitably enter the Party and seek to corrupt it from within. The ideological basis of the Party is Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.

Leadership, Cadre and Command Structure

While declaring the formation of the CPI-Maoist on October 14, 2004, the Andhra Pradesh ‘state secretary’ had also informed that the ‘general secretary’ of the PWG ‘central committee’, Muppala Laxman Rao alias Ganapathi, has been elected ‘general secretary’ of the new outfit. Although no further information with regard to the organizational structure has been declared or ascertained, reports indicate that the structure within the new outfit retains all the hierarchies that were present in the erstwhile outfits, including a Central Committee, Regional Bureaus, Zonal or State Committee, District or Division Committees and Squad Area Committees.

The two guerrilla armies of the PWG and the MCC - the People’s Guerrilla Army (PGA) and the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) respectively – have also merged under the agreement. The new armed force reportedly operates under the name of PLGA since December 2, 2004. Available reports indicate that the CPI- Maoist is currently strengthening the formations of all three forces of the PLGA – the Basic, Secondary and Main forces.

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Regional Bureaus of CPI (Maoist)

The whole country has been divided into five Regional Bureaus to suit their strategy. Those are as below :-

 North Regional Bureau comprising Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.

 South Western Regional Bureau covering Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

 Orissa and Chhattisgarh Regional Bureau.

 Eastern Regional Bureau covering Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand and the Coastal Belt.

 Central Regional Bureau covering Andhra Pradesh, NTSZC, Dandakaranya SZC, AOBSZC.

Significantly, the CPI-Maoist has established “Regional Bureaus across a mass of nearly two-thirds of the country’s territory, and these regions are further sub-divided into state, special zonal and special area committee jurisdictions, where the processes of mobilization have been defined and allocated to local leaders. This structure of organisation substantially reflects current Maoist plans, but does not exhaust their perspectives or ambitions. There is further evidence of preliminary activity for the extension of operations to new areas including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya, beyond what is reflected in the scope of the regional, zonal and state committees.” Maoists have also articulated a new strategy to target urban centres in their “Urban Perspective Document”, drawing up guidelines for ”working in towns and cities”, and for the revival of a mobilization effort targeting students and the urban unemployed. Two principal ‘industrial belts’

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have been identified as targets for urban mobilization : Bhilai-Ranchi-Dhanbad- Calcutta and Mumbai-Pune-Surat-Ahmedabad. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) on December 5, 2006, that Maoists were now planning to target important installations in major cities of India. Patil said “Like forests provide safe hideouts to Naxalites in tribal areas, the cities also provide them cover. Taking advantage of this, they plan to target major installations in cities.”

According to official sources, the merger will have serious implications in all States facing the Maoist threat, and will increase the ‘firepower’, ‘battle ability’ and levels of modernisation of the two groups. The PWG is estimated to have 5000 armed cadres and around 4500 firearms, including a large number of rifles of AK variety, light machine guns, self-loading rifles, carbines, 303s, grenades, revolvers, pistols, and landmines technologies. The PWG also has a technical squad, which manufactures 12-bore guns and its ammunitions, repairs all kinds of weapons and assembles grenades. They have now acquired modern weapons, equipment and communications.

Areas of Operation

Following the merger, the outfit, according to current estimates is active in 165 districts of 14 States that include Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal, Haryana and Kerala. The outfit has also been making attempts to establish and expand its presence in several other States such as Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

The MCC’s current areas of influence extend over Bihar and Jharkhand, with some sway in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttaranchal and a few pockets of Madhya Pradesh. The PWG’s areas of

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dominance include Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

The merger now makes the CPI (Maoist) a pan-Indian revolutionary group, and brings the Maoists closer to their objective of ‘liberating’ their proposed Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ), which extends from Nepal through Bihar in the North to Dandakaranya region (forest areas of Central India) and Andhra Pradesh in the South which has been shown as ‘Red Corridor’ in the Map in page 9. The intention is to have a continuous stretch of territory under their influence and control, with the ultimate goal of eventually “liberating” the entire zone. Large parts of this territory have already been brought under the extremist influence with ony some link-ups, now necessary in the remaining pockets to make the CRZ a reality. Once achieved, the CRZ will virtually drive a wedge through the vital areas of the country, and would help crystallize linkages with other Maoist groups operating in South Asia, including the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN_M) and the Communist Party of Bhutan-Maoist (CPB-M).

Red Corridor in India

As per the Intelligence reports, MCC and PWG have established close links with LTTE, Islamic Terrorist groups, Nepali Maoists and Pakistan’s Inter- Service Intelligence to receive arms and training and co-operate in destabilizing the internal security in India. The Maoists appear to have been successful in their bid to carve out a corridor through contiguous areas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal up to Nepal called Red Corridor.

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Although, the State of Andhra Pradesh registers a Maoist presence in all 23 of its Districts, focused counter-insurgency operations over the past few months have forced the Maoists to scurry into those areas where their presence was traditionally marginal. With the police making inroads in the ‘heartland’ Telangana Districts – Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam – and the Nallamala Forest area stretching across parts of Guntur, Prakasam, Kurnool and Nalgonda Districts, the Maoists are now trying to shift their bases to the Nellore District as well as some of the North coastal Districts bordering Orissa, including Srikakulam, Vishakapatnam, Vizianagaram and East Godavari (AOBSZC) as shown in Map.

In Nellore, the relatively insignificant Maoist faction, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Janashakti for short, has been operating from

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the Rapur Forest area. The District provides good road, rail and sea connectivity, besides its proximity to Tamil Nadu. Police have been alerted on reports of Maoist cadres being active in remote villages of the Sitarampuram mandal (Block), which borders the Nellore, Kadapa and Prakasam Districts, and some cadres have stayed in certain villages of the Rapur, Venkatagiri, Pattapupalem and Allur mandals.

There are a large number of Naxalite-Maoist groups are in India, which are totally Maoists or they are highly connected and strongly influenced by Maoism. These can be grouped into three categories based on their commitment and involvement in violence the first category being most violent, secondly adopting the electoral path and third category remaining ambivalent.

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ORGANISATION

At the other end of the spectrum are the parties that seem to have effectively abandoned the whole idea of people’s war or armed revolution, and now focus on reformist struggle. The most prominent party in this category is CPI (M-L) Liberation. It has more than 5000 full time members and claims a

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total membership of over 2.5 lakhs. The Party is strongest in Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand, though it has units in many other states like West Bengal.

In between these two extremes there are a large number of ambivalent parties which favour what they call the “mass revolutionary line” or “Mao’s mass line”. Most of these parties favour people’s war at some point, but they think that the ground is not yet prepared for it. Some of the “mass revolutionary line” parties are :-

 Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist).

 Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India.

 CPI (ML) New Democracy. This party has full conviction in destructive tendency, use of force, violence and learning towards guerrilla warfare.

 Communist Party Re-organisation Centre of India (M-L).

As mentioned earlier the Naxalites, Maoist have established a Red Corridor starting from Nepal to Kerala ; Himalaya to Indian Ocean.

Naxalites, Maoist have a Central Committee comprising of 21 members. A Politburo, and five Regional Bureaus. North Bureau, Eastern Bureau, Central Bureau, Western Bureau, Orissa and Chhattisgarh Bureau and Southern Bureau. The regional bureaus provide the Extremists ideological support, training, guidance as the prevalent condition and environment in the region. The “Armed Wings” are based on Zonal Committees, each committee having division and dalam. At village level they have sangam. The organization is on similar lines as was in China at the start of Revolution.

The modus operandi of various groups vary as per the area of operations and activities. Naxalites active in Jharkhand-Bihar need not have anything in

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common with those active and operating in Gadchiroli region and in Viderbha region of Maharashtra. The major activities and thrust areas are :-

 Winning hears and minds of local population. Philanthropic activities.

 Shaping public opinion through print and electronic media, social media, and NGOs. They have now infiltrated in Universities and Colleges also. School students of class 10th, 11th and 12th standard are the new targets.

 Indoctrination of Naxalite, Maoist, Cadre, armed cadres and youth.

 Extortion and Kidnapping.

 Surprise attacks on Police Force and Security Forces, Government officials and so on.

 Destructive attacks on Government buildings, radio stations, police stations etc.

A total of 39 Naxalite groups are known to exist. The People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army and the People’s Guerrilla Army have been merged into a unified military organization called the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army.

The current Naxalite strength is estimated to be 15,000 fighters, with an access to about 6,500 firearms. The Naxalite groups also recruit child soldiers. Their bid to carve out a corridor has shown a series of splits and mergers taking place between more than 100 groups and parties with communist ideologies. The synergy achieved by these mergers is slowly but surely posing a grave challenge to the state law and order machinery.

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Today, the CPI (Maoist) spearheads the Naxal violence in the country, accounting for about 91 per cent of the countrywide violence and 23 per cent of resultant deaths. The fatalities had increased from 717 in 2009 to 742 in 2010 with Chhattisgarh being most severely hit accounting for more than 50% of all the deaths. Furthermore, the formation of CPI (Maoist) has resulted in :-

 An expanded area of influence.  Improved finances and flow of arms.  Easy inter-state movement of the naxal.  Spread of the movement to over 165 districts in 14 states.  A cadre strength of 9000, to include 2000 hard core naxals and  Holdings of upto 6500 weapons from AK-47, SLR, pistols to country made weapons.

With the grim present situation that we have seen, the ramifications that naxalism possesses in indeed scary.

Current Ramifications

The spatial spread of naxalism is of growing concern. A disturbing, if not frightening, pattern emerges if, on the larger canvas, one were to look at the districts currently under the influence of the Naxalites, or being targeted. They might soon gain a continuous presence along the length and breadth of the country and thus carve out a north-south and east-west corridor. It is in the intersection of these two corridors and Bastar in Chhattisgarh, that the Maoist central leadership is said to be in hiding.

Naxalites, today, exercise dominance over a huge spread of the country’s territory, carry out attacks on security forces and symbols of governance at will. Chhattisgarh has now emerged as one of the principal centers of a coordinated movement of left wing extremism. The movement has demonstrated the intent

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and potential to spread across the length and breadth of the country, constituting what Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had rightly remarked the “single biggest internal security challenge.”

The Maoist threat appears to have overtaken all other insurgencies in the country - at least from the geographical spread point of view.

Militarisation and Consolidation

The merger of MCC (I) and PWG to form the CPI (Maoist) has resulted in the consolidation of their military and political wings and consequently in the emergence of a potent threat to internal security. Like LTTE in Sri Lanka, it is following the policy of coercion and elimination. It is forcing the other 37 LWE groups to either join CPI (Maoist) or be prepared to be eliminated, in this process ; it has killed large number of the cadres of other groups.

 The first is that they now have a larger footprint. CPI (Maoists) has now emerged as the dominant LWE group with its influence extending over a large part of the country. It has made the other LWE groups irrelevant and is recognized as the sole representative of the poor and landless classes.

 As a dominant group, it will have a far greater bargaining power with the Governments in States and Centre and thus legitimize its existence, policies and representation.

 It is estimated that the merger would increase the credible military wing cadre strength from 7,000 to approx 14000. Even if 25% of these are capable of armed struggle, then also the strength goes upto 3500 which is much larger than the total No of terrorist operating at any one time in J&K.

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 The merger would have great impact on financial strength of the organization taking it from Rs.200 crores to nearly Rs.700 crores annually, enabling it to acquire more sophisticated weapons and ammunition from arms market in South East Asia and African countries.

 The LWE are trying desperately to find a voice in international forums so as to get worldwide recognition and acceptance. It has found a platform in “World Social Forum” the organization which oppose WTO, globalization, MNC and capitalism.

The increased trend of specifically targeting security forces has had a serious impact on the functioning of the state police and the CPO’s. Moreover, the Maoists’ lethal capabilities and daring attacks on the security forces have grown enormously. They now field sophisticated weapons like the AK 47 rifles, SLRs and rocket launchers. They have also “demonstrated” their skills at manufacturing and successfully exploding improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Mercifully, they have yet not gained access to the deadly RDX.

Arms and Ammunition

Maoist cadres and people’s militia are armed with various types of weapons. When the rebels launched their campaign of violence in 1967 they used farm implements. Over the years, their arsenal has seen a phenomenal rise in its numbers and sophistication. Presently, the Maoist arsenal consists of country made guns, Single barrel guns, Double barrel guns, 7.62 mm SLRs, Light Machine guns and AK series rifles. They are also reported to have snatched an unspecified number of 5.56 mm INSAS rifles from the security forces in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Also from hurling crude bombs the Maoist have graduated to successfully setting off improvised explosive devices (IEDs)

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landmines and claymore mines with high precision and great lethality. Lately, the Maoists have also been using improvised crude rocket launchers. The designs of a rocket launcher were recovered for the first time in the country from an arms dump. Since 2003 on at least a dozen occasions the Maoists have fielded rocket launchers with partial success in Andhra Pradesh. For sometime now the Moist have also been using sophisticated communication sets of foreign origin, some of which are said to be capable of communicating upto a distance of 150 kilometers.

Modus Operandi and Tactics

The Naxalite leadership has ushered in strategic and tactical changes in the functioning of its cadre. It has shifted its local guerrilla squads (LGSs) deep into the forest and brought in three-member teams of armed cadres to function in the plains and the semi-forest areas. Two or more LGSs have been clubbed together with members of special guerrilla squads (SGS). These teams are to move together in platoon formations, mostly in the forests. Two or three member squads have been introduced to take up organizational activity in their place. The one-plus-two (OPT) formations, as the Maoists call them, are practically invisible. Their members wear plain clothes and carry easily concealed small weapons. Cadres hailing from one district are ‘posted’ to some other district to avoid detection. The new strategy contrasts sharply with the movement of cadres in other naxal-affected States where LGSs continue to function. These squads consist of four to five armed cadres each. They are the most functional units as they are responsible for the organizational and military activities in the plains and in semi-forest areas. The obvious reason for bringing about the change was that the LGS members were increasingly becoming easy police targets, since they were easily identifiable by their olive fatigues and weapons. While the forest terrain offered them protection, they were literally sitting ducks in the plains and the semi-forest areas. With the police mounting pressure, LGSs were

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forced to accord top priority to self-defence while relegating “organizational responsibilities of uniting people on local issues” to the background. Maoists believe this lack of political activity led to a situation in which people became passive spectators.

International Connectivity, Linkages and Ramifications

Despite the efforts to resolve the 48 years long Naxal movement in India, the violence has not only been continuing but the lethality of attacks, level of violence, use of new technology and mechanism is on increase. The gradual and perceptible increase of violence should be a cause of concern to Indian Government, State Governments and the people of India. Intelligence reports that the Naxalite, Maoist groups in India have established linkage with many groups within and outside India.

All the terrorist, insurgent groups fighting in India have external linkages and connections. They get outsiders support of different kind. NSCN, ULFA, PLA operating in North East have links with China and Pakistan. Terrorist groups in J&K have total dependence on Pakistan. The common ideological linkages and aspiration to fight against the Indian state have helped them to share information, develop linkages and provide logistic support.

The most dangerous link has been with Maoists, in Nepal and anti India elements in Bangladesh. Naxalites received weapons, equipment, communication facilities and even money. Yet another dangerous trend is the links terrorist organizations operating from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Middle East. If not controlled now we may find “human bomb tendency” and dangerously equipped, indoctrinated youth contorted and transformed in to human robots and human bombs.

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Member of RIM (Revolutionary International Movement). Revolutionary International Movement or RIM is an organization which encourages and supports the Maoist groups across the world. This is a US based group which carries out ideological campaign. A Turkish Left Wing Extremist group maintains the website and publishes journals and literature for international consumption. The CPI (Maoist) is a member of the RIM and is listed on its website thus offering it an opportunity to access the world and be known in international forum.

Linkages with Left Wing Philippine Groups. A few media and intelligence reports from South East Asia stated that the Naxalites in India had developed links with the Left Wing Extremist of Philippines and through them with other groups of South East Asia.

These linkages have lead to the formation of a fearsome organization and a large number of groups which are operating in the country with impunity. The first category comprises of those parties which are already engaged in armed struggle, or support the idea of participating in armed struggle either immediately, or else after short-term preparations are complete. This category includes the following five groups :-

CPI (ML) Peoples’ War Group.

CPI Maoist Communist Center (I).

CPI Janashakti (Rajanna Group).

CPI (M-L) Naxalbari and the Passive Spectators.

Dandakaryna and Abhujmadh and International Links

The heart of this so called Dandakaryna area is the thickly forested area of ‘Abhujmadh’ which is approximately 10,000 square kilometers, falls in 117

Chhattisgarh and the remainder is contiguous area i Maharashtra. This entire area of Abhujmadh till date has not been surveyed either by Survey of India or through revenue survey. Nearly 20,000 tribal families live in this area, in 237 villages in a most primitive manner with virtually no basic amenities. There are no roads and tracks in this area. It is reliably learnt that more than a dozen training and logistic camps belonging to both the major Naxalite groups i.e. PWG and MCC are located inside. Abhujmadh area is extensively used by Naxalites for their Central Committee and Politburo meetings and is really the ‘never centre’ of all Naxalite activities. This area of Abhujmadh needs to be sanitized at the earliest, then surveyed and opened by launching aggressive developmental activities and brought under control through effective governance. This effort is beyond the reach of the State Government and would require specialized forces, equipment and air effort to have any chance of success where even the British Empire did not dare to extend their administration, who only went to the extent of declaring this in one of their Gazetteers, an area suitable for settling ‘Refugees’. There have been several intelligence and police reports that people of foreign origin have been frequenting the area of Abhujmad often. Due to difficult terrain and no communications this can be a suitable sanctuary and safe heaven for foreign terrorist in future. (please refer to Appendix “Rediff News” “detailed analysis of Naxalite upsurge and actions needed”).

Urban Perspective of Naxalites - Maoists

The Ninth Party saw the merger of CPI (ML) and the PWG. Detailed study and indepth analysis of the proceedings and report dealing with perspective, strategy and tactics document produced after the “Ninth Congress” held in 2001 explains the importance of urban movement, urban work as per the strategy of “Indian Revolution”.39. Few details are given below :-

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 “Work in the urban areas has a special importance in our revolutionary work… in our revolution which follows the line of protracted people’s war. The liberation of urban areas, will be possible only in the last stage of revolution”. There is a need to concentrate on building urban revolutionary movement from the beginning. We should not forget the dialectical relationship between the development of the urban movement and the development of the people’s war.

 “Thus the Congress decided on time-bound programme for preparing policy and guidelines for urban work particularly working class work. This should include a review of our understanding and practice with regard to revolutionary trade unions, mini-guerrilla squads, self-defence squads, and worker’s magazine among other things”.

 “Since 1947, India’s four major metropolitan cities, which have served as regional capitals, have dominated the process of urbanization in the country. Delhi continues to maintain as administrative capital and also rapid industrialization in surrounding area. Mumbai is financial capital”. The main investment will be centred in and around few areas of growing urbanization. The main such areas are :

• Ahamdabad - Pune Corridor • Delhi Region • Banglore • Chennai • Coimbatore – Erode Belt • Hyderabad • Kolkata 119

• Industrial Cities of Central India • Cities of Genetic Plain

“The above trend and pattern of urban growth has to be taken into account while drawing up perspective plan for urban work and revolution”. Following needs to be considered :-

 Class composition and structure of cities.  Changes of work force.  Division or stagnation of cities.  Ghettoisation

Policy and Guidelines for Urban Revolution

The report published after the ninth Congress has the guidelines for Urban Revolution:

 Strategic Approach in Urban Work.  Role of Urban Work within the Political Strategy.  Role of Urban Work within Military Strategy. (Page 8 – S&T)  Long-Term Approach.

• Mobilisation and organisation the basic masses and build the party on that basis. • Build the United Front. • Military Task. • Mass Mobilization and Party Building.

 Secret Revolutionary Mass Organisation.  Open Revolutionary Mass Organisation.  Fractional Work.  Party-Formed Cover-Mass Organisations.

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 Legal Democratic Organisation.  Activist Group (Human Right Groups).  Political Education.  Worker-Peasant Alliance.  Unity of the Urban Exploited Classes.  There is a need to organize and strengthen fronts :-

• Fronts against repression. • Front against globalization. • United Front against Hindu Fastist Forces.

 Open Self Defence Terms.  Secret Self Defence Squads.  Urban Militia.  Help to the Rural Armed Struggle.  Infiltrate in key Industries.  Infiltration in to Government Offices, Organizations and Police as well as Intelligence organizations.

Review of Understanding, Perspective, Practices

Ninth Congress report also states, “Following the Naxalbari upsurge and the time of Eight (First) Congress of our party in 1970, we had considerable impact and influence in a number of cities. We were powerful force in Kolkata at that time the largest city of in the country. The revolutionaries were inspired workers in various industrial centres, in particular Kolkata, Durgapur, Comibatore, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad.”

“However due to the wrong understanding regarding mass organizations and mass struggles prevailing in our party at that time we could not preserve and develop our influence. Our policy was that “it is not our task to organize trade unions or to bring them under control, or to bother ourselves about the trade 121

union elections. Our task is to build secret party organizations among the workers”. Similarly wrong understanding of laying stress on Urban Guerrilla Warfare, when there was no condition for it, led to setback of our city work”.

Immediate Tasks

The Congress set out the priority for future actions :-

 Introduce Urban and Working Class Specialisation in the Higher Committee.

 Draw up All-India and State-level Perspective - Plans.

 Reorient and Reorganise the Urban Organisation with a Long- Term Strategic Approach.

 Widely Mobilise the Urban Masses, particularly the working class.

 Recruit and Develop Party Leadership form the working class.

 Reorganise the Tech-Mechanisation in the cities.

 Prepare the Self Defence Organs of the Urban Movement.

 Build Unite Front in Urban Areas.

The above doctrine, strategy, adopted during 9th Congress, clearly spell out the future plans of Left Wing Extremists and the challenges to India. India needs to be prepared to meet the futuristic challenges effectively. Merger of MCC, PWG and CPI (M-L) have given a “Pan-India Orientation” to Left Wing Extremism in the form of CPI (Maoist). The spread of Left Wing Extremism, Maoists has been dramatic and alarming thereafter. The spatial spread of Maoist- Naxalites assessed variously by different state agencies and media. General the

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Ministry of Home Affairs of Government of India has tended to play down the extent and spread of the Naxalites, Maoists. Upper estimates put the number of districts affected (in 2014) at 232 out of India’s 601 districts. However, some 60 districts are seriously affected in the State of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Maharashtra. Of these 18 districts in Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Maharashtra are most critical.

The Maoist Influence on Indian Army, Police and Security Forces Personnel

The study team of Centre for Land Warfare, New Delhi during its field trip to Jharkhand and Bihar, observed the tensions and concern among the ex- servicemen and the serving soldiers with respect to Naxal violence and atrocities. There have been instances where the Maoists forced these people residing in remote villages to act as guides to take them to their desired destination and also to meet their administrative requirements like provision of food and shelter. The interaction revealed that the soldiers had even paid money to buy peace and safety for themselves and their families residing in the villages. One of the serving soldiers of Jharkhand with whom the team interacted had paid rupees Rs.7,000 and Rs.11,000 on different occasions while he was on leave. In certain cases, the serving/ex-servicemen, including officers of the affected areas are not being allowed to sell their land of which they are the rightful owners. One retired officer wanted to sell his land in Patna district ; however, no one was willing to buy due to fear of the Naxals’ wrath. Most remote villages in Naxal affected areas do not have a police presence. The police infrequently visit the villages, but only during the day. By night, the Naxals roam. The serving and retired service personnel of these villages are also subjected to the same kind of pressures and fears. In the case of serving personnel, the fear is more as their families are staying along.38

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The documents of the Maoists advocate penetration into the armed forces. They are making efforts to attract personnel of the Army, and central and state police forces towards their cause to create disunity among the armed forces. The Maoist documents state that “party members working in the armed forces (enemies) have to maintain the utmost secrecy.” This suggests some presence of Maoist elements in the forces. However, the possibility of the hard core getting into the officer cadre is unlikely due to the well laid out selection procedures. As the Army draws a large cadre of its troops from these Naxal affected areas, the possibility of Naxal sympathizers getting into the Army cannot be ruled out. It is not possible to determine how many sympathizers have already been enrolled, but it would be prudent to assume that some at least who have a leaning towards the Naxals have been enrolled in the military forces. However, the induction of sympathizers into the Army is unlikely to have much of an impact. On the contrary, the Naxals are more likely to lose their sympathizers once they are groomed into the Army ethos.

Moving Towards Forming a People’s Liberation Army

Maoist strategy focuses on building guerrilla forces along with people’s militia, with utmost importance being given to secrete armed activities. As the people’s army is required to be subservient to the party, its military strategy follows the political line. The attempt now is to convert the PLGA to a PLA. With this in view, efforts are on to establish battalions, brigades and divisions, along with fire support. To develop into a PLA, they have to recruit and train their cadre into a well knit disciplined force, impart politico-military training, acquire better and sophisticated weapons and ensure uninterrupted ammunition supply. Attempts are being made to acquire weapons and ammunition through their links with the northeast insurgent groups and from Nepal. Evidently, weapons looted from the police are not enough to cater to their requirements of expanding their presence in newer areas. In West Bengal, they have expanded

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their presence. Besides the three districts of Jungal Mahal, they now have a prominent presence in Birabhum, East Midnapur, Nadia and Murshidabad and have struck roots in North and South 24_Parganas. Media reports also indicate their increasing presence in the rural suburbs of urban centres, industrial hubs, and parts of northeast India and even in Punjab. This is a matter of great concern. In these areas they talk of organizing mini squads and special action teams with weapons, and working in absolute secrecy. It would, hence, be naïve to assume that the Maoists would remain confined to the rural areas. Expansion would require an increase in military capability which explains why the Maoists are trying to upgrade from the PLGA to a PLA. They are conscious of the difficult road ahead, especially in view of the emphasis the government is laying on development, improving governance mechanisms, use of force as also other actions aimed at conflict resolution.

Assessment

Having studied and analysed all aspects of the dangerous spread of Naxalites-Maoists from 1975 till 2015 and considering all these ramifications, the Left Wing Extremism and Violence is likely to increase with an enhanced area of influence specially in urban areas in the near future and will pose a more serious threat than Terrorism, Insurgency, Proxy War, in Jammu and Kashmir and North East. The growth of the Naxals, Maoist up to 2020 will be significant and dangerous. Maoist would be stronger in the traditional areas and would strive for a hold in other states. Regular clashes, attacks, raids between Maoists and Police Forces would continue to take place with increased Lethality of Maoist. Maoists will gradually graduate towards “Techno Terrorism” and “Psychological Terrorism”. The philosophy of violence will be “kill one and terorise 1000”, as is being followed by Al Qaida, Taliban, ISIS and Boko Haram.

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Mostly the Maoists would have greater influence in states of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar. “Jungle Mafia” Sandal Wood Smugglers, Wild Life destroyers will also tend to work under the protection of Maoists, Naxalites in Telangana and Seemandhra states. New Veerappans duly supported by corrupt and criminals in the garb of the so called politicians will emerge. There is a likely hood of greater violence between Smugglers Lobby and State Police.

The new thrust will be a shift from the strategy and tactics of “How many killed to How Quickly killed”. There will also be shift from “Survival of fittest to Survival of Fastest”.

The nature of unstable coalition government and political setups along with the ever-changing policies would undermine faith in the political system and strengthen the cause of Naxals. This would prompt the youth of the nation to join hands with the Naxalites and the menace of Naxalism will continue to grow. The Government would be grappling to devise a coherent and uniform policy to deal with this menace. There would be serious contemplations whether to deploy army in the affected states or to carry on with reorganized and rearmed state police forces. The word ‘Naxalisation’ would certainly find its place in the latest edition of the Oxford dictionary on similar lines as that of ‘Talibanisation’. Law and order in the affected states would be in a total state of disarray and Left Wing Extremism would surely be on course to engulf more than two thirds of the nation under its influence, thereby confronting us with a Kashmir and North East like situation, albeit, of a much bigger magnitude. A time has came and situation has emerged, that everything cannot be hidden under the carpet under the garb of “Law and Order” is a state subject. There is a very thin line between Law and Order, Violence and uncontrollable situation. They merge into each other.

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Based on the discussion in the proceeding chapters of this thesis, it would be realized, that Left Wing Extremism has grown from an indigenous peasant movement to an elaborate network of well organized armed struggle spanning across international borders. Having roots right through the length of the country over flowing into neighbouring countires Naxalites-Maoist are the next biggest challenge and threat to Indian Union. Statements made by the following prominent leaders prove the point.

 “It is a war thrust upon us”. Government machinery has failed. Shri DD Thakur, the Governor of Assam had stated on Door Darshan’s Guwahati Station in his address to people of Assam about the violence and revolt instigated by ULFA.

 “It is a war thrust upon us”. Shri VP Singh, the Prime Minister of India had stated about terrorist violence in Punjab.

 “It is a war (Proxy War, Trnas Border Terrorism) thrust upon us”. Shri L.K. Advani, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India had stated about “Terrorism in J&K, at many official functions and in Parliament during “debate on situation in J&K”.

 “It is a war thrust upon us in North East”. Shri Venkatraman the President of India had stated while addressing Governor’s Conference at New Delhi.

 “It is a war thrust upon us”. Shree P. Chidambaram the Home Minister of India had stated after his visit to Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, as a result of killing of 75 CRPF soldiers by Naxalites in an ambush. He had further stated that “it is a war, there are bound to be temporary reverses and one should not be over awed by it to loose sight of final goal”.

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Naxalism, Maoism, Left Wing Extremism is a war thrust upon us. It is a part of Fourth generation war, asymmetric war. Though it described as People’s War launched by People’s Army, it is a “slow density – high visibility war”. It is a low cost, no cost option. By making small investment in terms of weapons, equipment, training, finance our adversary has thrust heavy cost, heavy loss of our valuable human resource, human lives, heavy loss on our infrastructure and most important of all heavy loss of credibility of Government (both Central as well as States) to protect our people, our forces and our interests. We may be able to recover other losses but once “credibility is lost, it is very difficult to retrieve it”. Credibility cannot be seen, it is to be felt, it is to be proved through capable and credible mechanism and it must be generated among the people of Naxalite, Maoists infested states. How can a war of 21st Century be tough by mechanism of maintenance of Law and Order with the concepts, outlook, attitude and fighting tactics of 19th or 20th Century.

The final chapter of this thesis deals with Challenges of Naxalite Problem and Suggested Mechanism and Means to Combat the Left Wing Extremism.

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