IPCS Special Report 25 June 2006 LEFT EXTREMISM IN INDIA NAXAL MOVEMENT IN CHATTISGARH & ORISSA Rajat Kumar Kujur Research Scholar, JNU I INTRODUCTION CHATTISGARH One of the striking features of the THE NAXAL WAR ZONE Naxal movement is that right from its inception it has remained a point of Chattisgarh, which is a part of the attention for academicians, journalists Dandakaranya region, has been a and, of course, politicians. However, centre of Maoist activities since the for some reason or the other, early days of the People’s War. It was contemporary research on Naxalism none other than the founding father of has so far been focused on West People’s War (PW), K. Seetharamaiah, Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and, to some who envisaged the idea of establishing extent, Bihar, at the expense of a guerrilla zone in Dandakaranya. other areas where the movement Particularly Bastar, for its typical geo- also has a strong presence. political situation and socio-economic However, as Naxalism or the condition, soon found a prominent Naxal movement is a complex place in the Maoist road map. Way problem, it is necessary to look at back in 1979, a six member squad with the problem at specific levels in five more squads in the following year different regions. It is in this was sent here to build up context a primary research on the revolutionary consciousness. 1 Naxal Movement in the However, the naxal presence in the neighbouring states of region was felt only during the late 90s Chattisgarh and Orissa, where the when they successfully established a Naxal movement is placed at two strong guerrilla network in Bastar and different levels, is of considerable Surguja. By 1995, the mass academic interest. This article is an organisations in the Dandakaranya attempt to explain the growth of the had swelled to a membership of 60,000 Naxal movement in the poor and and today the membership is over one underdeveloped regions of these two hundred and fifty thousand.2 As of states. The focus of this paper is on now the Naxals have consolidated the organizational growth of the movement and the phenomenal increase in violence in the naxal brand 1 Out of the Red, April 16,2006, of politics. Government initiatives and http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/24 programmes will find a special 88.html 2 mention in the pa per. Sudhakar, A Saga of Twenty five years of Glorious Struggle, People’s March, January 2006. INSTITUTE OF PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDES B-7/3, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi 91-11-4100 1900 (Tel); 91-11-4165 2560 (Fax) Website: www.ipcs.org IPCS Special Report 25 June 2006 their position in nine out of the sixteen the naxals have another important districts of Chattisgarh i.e. Kanker, frontal organization in the name of Dantewada, Bastar, Surguja, Sanghams, and while dalams are Balrampur, Rajnandgaon, Koriya, responsible for armed operations, Kawardha and Jashpur and they are sanghams are responsible for also known to be extending their spreading the Maoist agenda and influence rapidly in four other holding Jan Adalats. The districts. In July 2005, the Director Dandakaranya Adivasi Mazdoor General of Police, Chhattisgarh, Mr Kisan Sangh (DAKMS) and the O.P. Rathore, said that more than Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sanghatan 40,000 square miles spread over 10 out (KAMS) are two specific naxal front of the 16 districts of the state was organisations who are entrusted with under the operational sphere of the the task of looking into all disputes Naxalites.3 whether it is a village dispute, a family dispute, a marriage dispute, a caste THE ORGANIZATIONAL dispute or something related to tribal STRUCTURE customs or community affairs.6 The After the formation of the Communist People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army, Party of India (Maoist) in 2004, the Krantikari Kisan Committee, the Chattisgarh was placed under the Mahila Mukti Manch, the Chetana 'Dandakaranya Special Zone Natya Manch, the Revolutionary Committee’, under which there are People’s Committee, the Jungle five divisional committees. Kosa, who Bachao Committee and the Maoist originally hails from Andhra Pradesh, Vikas, are the other important frontal is the Secretary of the Zonal organizations of the CPI (Maoist) Committee and also a member of the functioning in Chattisgarh. The naxals CPI (Maoist), Central Committee. The have also aggressively formed second man in the command structure people’s militia in the form of Gram is Atayu. Ganesh Uyike, one of the Raksha Dal (GRD) and Area Raksha five divisional secretaries, and Dal (ARD). Sanjeev, a Divisional Committee member of the CPI (Maoist), are two DEMOCRATIC MISGOVERNANCE other important naxal leaders who are & THE POLITICS OF VIOLENCE calling shots these days. There are 70 Chattisgarh, a predominantly tribal Local guerrilla squads (LGSs) and 30 State, has about 35 big and small tribes military dalams functioning under the and is endowed with rich mineral and Dandakaranya Zonal Committee.4 forest resources. The scheduled tribes Recently the CPI (Maoist) raised an all are concentrated in the southern, women battalion in the Dandakaranya northern and the north-eastern region, named as the ‘National Park districts of the State. The highest dalam’, which is headed by Ms. concentration is in the erstwhile Bastar Nirmal Ekka, who claims to be a district. The new district of Dantewara medical graduate.5 Other than dalams, has 79 per cent tribals followed by 3 Raipur mulls arming tribals against Naxals, http://www.centralchronicle.com/20060201/01 The Asian Age, 22 July 2005 02303.htm 4 Data based on the information provided by 6 30 years of Naxalbari, local officials. http://www.peoplesmarch.com/publications/30 5 Eagle's Eye: Women Naxals head guerrilla %20years/part5.htm squads, 2 LEFT EXTREMISM IN INDIA Bastar (67 per cent) Jashpur (65 per reckon with in the tribal heartland of cent), Surguja (57 per cent) and Kanker Chattisgarh. Slowly but steadily the (56 per cent).7 However, during the naxals spread the message of past few decades, the demographic revolution among the tribals by profile of tribal dominated areas has targeting the failed system of undergone several changes. Large- governance. scale intrusion of non-tribals in tribal areas is mostly responsible for the It is alleged that when Chattisgarh creation of a faulty developmental was a part of Madhya Pradesh, it was model where tribals are denied their consistently treated unfairly. Bastar, in share in development. As observed by particular was infamous among the ‘People’s Union for Civil Liberties’, government officials as the place for in one of its reports titled ‘Bastar : An punishment posting because of its Investigation into an Encounter’, June inaccessibility and lack of basic 1985;, “A lopsided socioeconomic infrastructures. For this Bastar soon development of the district caused by became the den of corrupt and inept indirect exploitation through officials, who totally destroyed the environmental destruction and direct credibility of the government amongst exploitation through cheating and masses. Moreover, this is not a claim duping, has provided an ideal setting made by the naxals alone, even the for the Naxalites to take root in the present leadership in Chattisgarh area”8. never misses an opportunity to shift the blame upon the previous It is a painful reality that these naxal governments of Madhya Pradesh, for infested regions of Chattisgarh, once a today’s sorry state of affairs. “When part of Madhya Pradesh, has been Chattisgarh was part of Madhya deprived of credible governance since Pradesh, the region was treated as a days immemorial. For long, people of colony and was never a priority for this area have been forced to live good governance, because of which under abject poverty, rampant Naxalite movements have gained corruption and exploitation. It was in momentum here”, says Brij Mohan these conditions that guerrillas from Agrawal, former Home Minister of the the neighbouring Telengana region state.9 ventured into the dense forests of Chattisgarh in 1979-80. It took them Expectations were high when the new nearly a decade to consolidate their state of Chattisgarh was carved out of position and by 1990 the erstwhile Madhya Pradesh in 2000. However, People’s War (PW) was a force to the experience of the past few years suggests that the situation has deteriorated. See Table 1 7 Pib.nic.in/feature/feyr2001/fjun2001/f0806200 12.html 8 Subhash Gatade “The Naxalite Left at the Beginning of the Millennium” 9 Naxals push Chhattisgarh into crisis, http://www.massline.info/India/Gatade.htm http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/may/24spec 2.htm 3 INSTITUTE OF PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDES B-7/3, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi 91-11-4100 1900 (Tel); 91-11-4165 2560 (Fax) IPCS Special Report 25 June 2006 Table 1 Mineral revenue to state - Rs 3945 crore (in Health 2000) · 10 out of 16 districts do not have a · Persons below Poverty line - 39% district hospital. · One Primary Health Centre caters to Source: Shubhranshu Choudhary, Reality an average of 40,000 people (one bed Check: Some facts About Chhattisgarh, for 3316 people) http://36garh.notlong.com · Infant Mortality 86 (All India 71) · 4.45 % of the state budget goes to Even though the majority of the Health population of the state is predominantly dependent on Workforce agriculture and forest, the irony is that · 90% of the workers work in the rural farm sector. the state government has so far paid · The Per Capita Income for Males is Rs greater importance to the mineral 6000-9000, and for female Rs 2000- Rs based industry and coal based power 4000/ year. projects. “These projects were permitted without application of Electricity mind, in violation of all environmental · 68% of the households do not have norms and in an open LOOT of our electricity connection natural resources, which otherwise should be treated as a Fixed Deposit Water Security for generations to come by · 49% of the households do not have 10 access to drinking water at home using them wisely.” · Only 19% of the agricultural land is irrigated.