EVOLUTION OF LEFT WING EXTREMISM SPLIT IN CPI After India-China War of 1962, the Communist Party of India split into two groups by 1964. The group, which held the view that India was the aggressor, separated from CPI and came to be known as C.P.I (Marxists). In 1967, groups of persons broke away from CPI (M) with the object of subverting the Constitution and over-throwing the legally established Government by creating conditions of anarchy, lawlessness and disorder. These groups, pinning their faith in the Chinese example and accepting Mao and his teachings as guidance, denounced the Parliamentary system and proclaimed their object to capture political power by violent means. NAXALBARI MOVEMENT Among those who believed in the path of violence, S/Sri Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal launched a violent uprising in Naxalbari of West Bengal in 1967. This movement, which later spread to the other areas in the country came to be known as Naxalite movement. These extremist and their followers who broke away from CPI (M) formed an All India Co- ordination Committee of the Communist Revolutionaries in 1967 with the object of overthrowing the lawfully constituted Government by armed revolution and to annihilate the alleged class enemies namely the money- lenders, informants, Police and Military personnel and landed gentry, etc. Between 19th April 1969 and 22nd April 1969, the All India Co- ordination Committee of the Communist Revolutionaries was converted into and All India Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) and on 01.05.1969 formation of the new party was announced by Sri Kanu Sanyal with the following objectives: (1) State Power could be seized only through armed revolution, (2) that political power stems from the barrel of the gun, and (3) formation of this Party would usher in a revolution, over-throwing the present Government. SRIKAKULAM MOVEMENT A band of devoted revolutionaries led by Vempatapu Satyanarayana, Adibhatla Kailasam, Chowdary Tejeshwara Rao built up a powerful tribal movement in the agency areas of Srikakulam by exploiting the economic and social degradation to which the tribal was subjected to by the plainsmen and started committing offences, another group led by T.Nagi Reddy and Chandra Pulla Reddy who broke away from Charu Mazumdar on account of tactical differences organised an equally strong and entrenched peasant movement in the Godavari valley region of Telangana during 1970-71, rekindling and reviving the dormant spirit of Telangana Armed Struggle and stated committing offences. In the year 1972 after the death of Charu Mazumdar, the CPI (ML) was split into various groups due to differences among the leadership. About 45 extremist groups functioned all over the country. Some groups relied exclusively upon armed struggle while others participated in democratic processes also. Extremist violence reached a peak in1969 and thereafter registered a steady decline year after year till 1974. Due to imposition of emergency the movement lost its strength and by the beginning of 1977 most of the major extremist groups to made a tactical retreat suspending the policy of armed struggle whose main content was the annihilation of class enemies and instead opting for mass line tactics to build up popular base and support through an aggressive ideological propaganda and militant agitations on immediate issues of mass concern. However, the lifting of Emergency and the consequent ban on Extremist parties rapidly transformed the situation. They strengthened their organisational apparatus and stepped up violent activities. Consequently, the graph of Extremist violence has maintained a rising trend from 1979. Formation of CPI (ML) PWG: On 22nd April 1980 Kondapalli Setaramaiah @ Krishna Murthy @ KS formed the CPI (ML) PWG. The sole objective of PWG is overthrowing the lawfully established Govt. through Protracted Armed Struggle. The PWG gained in strength by mid 80’s and indoctrinated number of youth into the 2 party thereby becoming the most dominant group in terms of its manpower, weaponry, striking power, finances, party network and spread. It has slowly developed its network and politico-organizational structure in States like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Orissa and West Bengal posing a serious threat to internal security. PWG doesn’t believe in Parliamentary democracy and wants to capture political power by over throwing the lawfully established Govt. through protracted armed struggle and area wise seizure of power while building up bases in rural and remote areas which will be eventually transformed into Guerrilla Zones and later into liberated areas, which ultimately extend, surround and encircle urban centres of power. The formation of the PWG in the year 1980 saw a sudden spurt in the level of violence. Since 1985 the PW began resorting to attacks on policemen, ambushing police parties, snatching weapons and killing political leaders, etc. The PWG during this period also began resorting to kidnappings for the first time for release of their arrested cadres. It led to the state undertaking firm measures in response to contain and curb the activities of the PWG on one hand and at the same time step up developmental activities in the rural areas. After 1989 taking advantage of liberal policy of the government, the PWG openly organised large meetings in public places with arms. They used this liberal period for recruiting cadres, expanding their network, collecting huge party funds and large scale activities of the front and mass organisations. The People’s War Group floated a number of front organisations to carry forward its revolutionary ideology to various sections of the society and to recruit cadres from students, youth, women etc. Similarly during this liberal period the PW also stepped up killing of policemen. With the intensity of PW activities and scale of violence going out of hand, the Government was compelled to impose a ban on the PW and its front organisations on 20th May 1992. Six front organisations of People’s War viz., 1) Radical Students Union (RSU), 2) Radical Youth League (RYL), 3) Singareni Karmika Samakhya (SIKASA), 4) Viplava Karmika Samakhya (VIKASA), 5) Andhra Pradesh Rythu Coolie Sangam (APRCS) and 6) All India 3 Revolutionary Student Federation (AIRSF) were banned by the Govt under the APPS Act in the year 1992.The imposition of ban to check the criminal and illegal activities of PW had a good impact. Formation of CPI (ML) PW: In August, 1998 CPI (ML) (PWG) and CPI (ML) (Party Unity) of Bihar merged into a single united party called CPI (ML) People’s War. The party spread its activities to 16 states in the country and also established international links over the years. At the apex of the unified PW organisation was the Central Committee under which ten State Committees viz., 1) AP State Committee, 2) North Telangana Special Zonal Committee, 3) Maharashtra State Committee, 4) Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, 5) Tamilnadu State Committee, 6) Karnataka State Committee, 7) West Bengal State Committee, 8) Bihar State Committee, 9) Punjab State Committee and 10) Delhi-Haryana State Committee functioned. The PW in its effort to seek a reprieve in a tactical maneuver, also simultaneously attempted the other strategy of engaging the Government to come forward for “Talks”, which gained momentum by the later half of 2001. They felt it would also be an excellent opportunity for them, as whatever may be the outcome, it would gain them legitimacy and score over the Government. The talk process began by middle of Feb 2002 and ended by July 2002, as the PW designs got exposed with the seizure of documents and outmaneuvering by the State. On the failure of the talks, the PW announced the Second Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC), which was indulged in till the end of 2002. Formation of CPI (Maoist): The CPI (Maoist) was formed with the merger of CPI (ML) PW and MCCI on 21.09.2004. “The philosophy of CPI (Maoist) is the same as the philosophy of erstwhile PWG/PW. It does not believe in the parliamentary democracy and professes that Power flows through the barrel of the gun. The party wants to usher in New Democratic Revolution (NDR); to 4 capture political power by overthrowing lawfully & popularly established Govt through protracted mass armed struggle; to build bases in rural and remote areas which will eventually be transformed into guerrilla zones and base areas and later into liberated areas; and to expand the liberated areas in order to encircle urban areas to facilitate seizure of power”. The merger of CPI (ML) PW and MCCI also strengthened the movement and increased its capacity to commit violence besides extending the geographic spread of influence to the combined affected areas of the two erstwhile constituent groups. Apart from assuming an All India character, the movement gained substantial capacity to commit violence across the country with the formation of PLGA by merger of PGA of CPI (ML) PW and PLGA of MCCI. The Maoist party while maintaining affiliation with Co- ordination Centre of Maoist Parties of South Asia (CCOMPOSA) as well as Revolutionary International Movement (RIM), more actively conduct and participate in joint programmes with Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPNM), Communist Party of Philippines (CPP), Communist Party of Turkey Marxist and Leninist (TKP/ML) and other like minded Maoist parties of the World. The CPI (Maoist) has a well-defined organizational structure politically and militarily. The party has a Central Committee and Politburo at the apex level. Top 6 members of Central Committee constitute Politburo of the party. Below the Central Committee, Regional Bureaus, State/Special Zonal Committees, Regional Committees, Area Committees, Local Organising Squads and village cells operate. Militarily the party has Central Military Commission which commands and controls the functioning of Regional Commands, State Military Commissions, Sub-Zonal Military Commands, Action Teams, etc.