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Mao in the Land of Nehru: State and Insurgent Space in India's Hinterlands

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Mao in the Land of Nehru: State and Insurgent Space in India's Hinterlands Mao in the Land of Nehru: State and Insurgent Space in India's Hinterlands by Michael Spacek A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2017 Michael Spacek Abstract This dissertation examines the contemporary Maoist insurgency in the hills and forests of eastern and central India, situating it within longer-term processes of state interaction and expansion in the indigenous-populated region going back to the colonial period. It develops a framework of analysis from Henri Lefebvre’s theories of space, the state and capitalism. The empirical examination of the insurgent zones is then grounded in a conceptualization of the insurgent zones which draws on James C. Scott and Willem van Schendel’s work on Zomia. Specifically, the insurgency in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region and the Chotanagpur Plateau in Jharkhand are seen as a contemporary manifestation of hostility to state expansion in the region dating back to the defeat of the Moghul state by the British East India Company. By drawing attention to the changing interactions between local pre-state spatial practices and an expansionist state geography, we are able to more effectively identify the sources of differing conflict dynamics in two demographically and geographically similar places. State expansion in Chotanagpur has produced a fragmented space in which industrial spaces of hyper-modernity exist alongside special ‘protected’ spaces constituted around a simulacrum of pre-capitalist social and economic relations. In southern Chhattisgarh the state is notable in its absence. Both of these spaces are in the process of being destabilized as a consequence of neo-liberal capitalism and the expansion of natural resource extraction. In Chotanagpur, this has led to the breakdown of fragmented space and the emergence of overlapping networks of power bringing together a variety of local actors including the insurgents. In Bastar, what has emerged is a particularly virulent form of state-making driven by counter-insurgency and rooted in violence and displacement. The dissertation contributes to studies on space, capitalism and conflict in peripheral areas existing on the fringes of historical and contemporary state projects. Specifically, it adds to the literature on India’s Maoist conflict, making the case that we must recognize that contemporary events are, in part, the consequence of longer-term processes of state expansion into a peripheral ‘frontier’ zone. ii Acknowledgements I owe a tremendous intellectual debt to my dissertation committee, who have always shown patience without fearing to challenge and push me intellectually. Chinnaiah Jangam, whose enthusiasm for my work and kindness have been of tremendous comfort while I struggled my way through my dissertation. His knowledge of emancipatory politics in India and large network of contacts among intellectuals and activists in Hyderabad was of inestimable help for my fieldwork. Jeremy Paltiel, whose knowledge of Maoism and communism in Asia and his willingness to identify important gaps in my work has made my dissertation stronger. My knowledge of revolutionary politics in India is much stronger because of his guidance. Most of all, Gopika Solanki, my mentor and ally, who supported my research, while never being afraid to demand more. Her patience truly was inexhaustible. There were times I thought I would not be able to finish this work, but in those moments I knew I could count on her to provide the support and guidance I sorely needed. This project could not have happened without her. To my committee, I am enormously grateful. I would also like to thank the many people in India who took the time to listen to the questions of a foreign PhD student. The conversations I had I will never forget. They made this project more than an abstract, analytical exercise. While there are far too many people to name, I would like to especially thank Xavier Dias who became a friend. Without him, I would have not had the chance to meet nearly as many of the courageous people of Jharkhand fighting for land and justice. Sujatha Muthayya, one of my oldest friends, also made this possible. She opened her house to me while I did my work in Delhi and was, as always, an amazing friend. Similarly, my university friends in Ottawa made the grind of a PhD much easier. I am especially grateful to have had people to talk to and share ideas and, perhaps more importantly, gripes with. For this, I'd like to thank Ajay Parasaram, Harry Nedelcu and Lukas Makovicky Finally, I am also grateful to my friends and family for putting up with this long and occasionally stressful journey. To my wife, Patricia MacDonald, for her iii inestimable help in editing my work and putting up with the challenges of living with a PhD student, and especially my daughter, Annika Neventsel, who, in spite of finding it more than a little ridiculous that her father is a "still in school", always understood. iv Table of Contents Abstract...........................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements........................................................................................................iii Table of Contents............................................................................................................v List of Abbreviations.....................................................................................................vii Chapter 1- Introduction: A Peel of Spring Thunder.............................................................1 Background: Naxalbari...................................................................................................3 Case Studies: Internal Frontier......................................................................................11 Research Value..............................................................................................................17 Conceptual Triad...........................................................................................................20 Chapter Summary..........................................................................................................22 Chapter 2: Literature and Methodology.............................................................................28 The Indian State............................................................................................................28 The Insurgency..............................................................................................................52 Methodological Considerations and Approaches..........................................................62 Data Collection..............................................................................................................68 Chapter 3- Violence, Consciousness and Revolution: The History of Indian Maoist Insurgency..........................................................................................................................75 The Problem of Nationalism: Early Communism in India...........................................77 China's Chairman is Our Chairman: The Emergence of Maoism.................................87 Antecedents and Ideological Formation: The Maoist Movement in Historical Perspective..................................................................................................................109 The Blood of Class Enemies: Insurgent Practice........................................................128 Lal Sarkar: Insurgent State..........................................................................................136 Chapter 4- State and Insurgent Space: Governance and Rebellion in India's Hinterland142 Lefebvre, the State and Insurgency.............................................................................146 State Space in Eastern and Central India....................................................................155 Dialectics of State-Insurgency and the (Re)Configuration of Space..........................168 Chapter 5- Bastar: Bounded Spaces.................................................................................173 Absorption...................................................................................................................176 Colonial Encounters....................................................................................................181 Independence...............................................................................................................193 'Liberalization' and Space............................................................................................197 Insurgency and Insurgent Space..................................................................................208 Architectures of Force and the Ideal State..................................................................221 Dialectic of State/Insurgency......................................................................................254 Chapter 6- Chotanagpur: Fragmented Space...................................................................257 Pre-Colonial and Early Colonial Chotanagpur...........................................................260 Late Colonialism: Land and Coal...............................................................................275 Independence: Developmentalism and Neo-liberalism..............................................289
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