India’s Maoist Revolt: Internal Crisis, External Reach
By Sudeshna Sarkar for ISN
The attack by Maoist guerrillas in India’s tribal heartland Chhattisgarh state on 6 April - described as the deadliest in nearly five decades of communist insurgency – killed 76 security personnel and marked a rise in both the frequency and intensification of the offensives.
Last year, the Maoists carried out 10 major operations in India, killing nearly 200 people. This year, with the ambush in Dantewada district, they have already executed three major attacks in three states, killing at least 110 people.
In February, the outlaws stormed a police camp in West Bengal, the eastern state where the armed uprising first started as an ill-equipped peasant uprising in 1967, killing 24. On 4 April, they planted a landmine in Orissa, one of India’s poorest states adjoining West Bengal, which blew up nearly 10 security personnel.
A statement by Maoist spokesman Gudsa Usendi after the Dantewada massacre also underscored how the Maoist offensives were becoming stronger and better-planned compared to the earlier hit-and-run attacks. The statement said the attack was “meticulously planned” after scouts watched security forces’ movements for nearly six months. About 300 People's Liberation Guerrilla Army combatants took part in the three-hour operation, losing only eight of their fighters, it added. On the other hand, they seized the weapons of the slain security men, including AK-47s, light machine guns and self-loading rifles.
Civilians caught in the middle, again
The Indian government reacted aggressively, ruling out talks with the Maoists and favoring deploying additional forces. Home Minister P Chidambaram has claimed that the federal government will be able to combat the Maoist challenge “in the next two to three years.” Analysts and activists however say that India needs to realize that the Maoist movement is no longer just “an internal security threat,” as dubbed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“The home minister is being foolish,” says Himanshu Kumar, a human rights activist whose Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA), an organization defending tribal rights in Chhattisgarh, was forced to close by police while Kumar himself was charged with abduction. “By advocating a policy of aggression, the state is simply expanding the area of conflict. The violence has already spread to several other states and the home minister will not be able to contain it.”
Since 2005, the VCA has fought over 600 cases of gross human rights violations and killings by security forces in Chhattisgarh. Now Kumar, forced to shift to New Delhi, predicts graver social and economic consequences.
“The violence will increase as the state seeks to retaliate,” Kumar told ISN Security Watch. “Since the Maoists are no longer in Dantewada, it will be the villagers who will bear the brunt of state wrath. More tribals will be forced to flee to the jungles, more tribal houses will be burnt and there will be greater displacement.”
“Civilian casualties will go up,” adds Dr Nihar Nayak of the New Delhi-based Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, an expert on the Maoist insurgency and security implications in South Asia. “The worst affected will be the tribals who will be caught between security forces and the Maoists. When the combing for Maoists starts, they will be treated as Maoist sympathisers by security forces. The Maoists, on the other hand, will regard them as police informers.”
Women and children will be the hardest-hit, Nayak told ISN Security Watch: “Both are being forced to become Maoist cadre. Many women cadre captured by police have said they were sexually molested. With the Maoists targeting schools, children will miss education. Also, development work in villages will stop or slow down due to Maoist opposition as well as the ‘taxes’ they have been levying on the parties contracted to execute government projects.”
Tribals 'steeled' in their resistance
The growing violence will also hit trade, foreign direct investment and the economy, especially as India’s mines remain concentrated in the tribal belt from the east to west that is the epicentre of the red movement.
“For almost two decades, India, with an economic growth of 7 percent, has been letting national as well as multinational companies tap its natural resources to benefit from the transaction,” says Hari Roka, an MP from Nepal who has been observing the Maoist movement in India as well as Nepal. “But the tribals who live in the states rich in natural resources subsist on agriculture and forest produce. The state wants to evict them and hand over their land to the multinationals. But they don’t want to go. That’s the root cause of the violence.”
National Mineral Development Corporation, India’s largest iron ore miner, began prospecting in Chhattisgarh since 1961 and is now negotiating with Tata Steel, the country’s largest private sector steel maker, to start a steel project in Chhattisgarh. ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producer, has announced investments in Orissa and Jharkhand while Korea’s POSCO, the fourth-largest steel maker in the world, has formed a joint venture with India to set up shop in Orissa. However, so far, neither ArcelorMittal nor POSCO has been able to obtain land.
“Most of the mining assets are present in the Maoist belt, which is a threat as more mining can’t take place and new leases can’t be executed,” Santha Sheela Nair, secretary at ministry of mines, external pagetold Bloomberg news agency last month. “[The 6 April] attacks are a setback to India’s efforts to rid the eastern states of left-wing guerrillas and open up regions rich in iron ore, coal, bauxite and manganese to investment,” the report added.
The Maoists' long reach
With the world shrunk to a global village in the 21st century, the international community is becoming increasingly involved in India’s “internal” crisis. The Maoist movement now receives support from peers across the border in South Asia and farther.
“There are increasing linkages between the Maoist parties of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines,” say Nayak. “Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy [who headed the propaganda wing before his arrest in 2009] had visited Nepal frequently to meet the Nepal Maoists. Another arrested Indian Maoist, known as Basanta, told police he had met Nepal Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and other leaders in Nepal as recently as 2009 and had discussed future strategies with them. He also said the Nepal Maoists told him to contact the Maoists in the Philippines. Another Indian Maoist leader Venkateshwar Reddy told police after his arrest that he was in touch with the Bangladesh Maoists to set up bases in three districts along the India-Bangladesh border.”
The fourth conference of the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia was held in Nepal four years ago. It was attended by eight parties – from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. All five countries are members of the same regional grouping, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Only two members of the bloc – Pakistan and the Maldives - have not yet reported a Maoist movement. Afghanistan, the eighth member, though not known to have participated in the inter-country meets, has its Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan that has been expressing support for the Indian and Nepal Maoists through internet-based public platforms.
While Nepal’s Maoist party, which abandoned its armed struggle in 2006 and returned to mainstream politics after contesting and winning an election two years later, denies supporting the Indian Maoists in their anti-state activities, it however admits having ideological sympathy.
“The Indian government should learn a lesson from Nepal [where the Maoist movement changed the country from a traditional Hindu kingdom to a secular federal republic],” says Dinanath Sharma, spokesman of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). “The Maoist violence in India is a protest against state dictatorship. It is the voice of the oppressed whom development and prosperity have passed by," Sharma told ISN Security Watch.
"If the government tries to stifle the voice with violence it will meet the same fate that Nepal’s King Gyanendra did [losing his crown after trying to rule the country with military support].”
The Maoist movement has also been receiving support from Maoist parties in the Philippines, Iran, Turkey, the US, UK, Italy, Peru and Greece. Some of these peer groups have been organising public protests in Europe against “Operation Greenhunt,” India’s anti-Maoist operation, and conducting propaganda campaigns.
Himanshu Kumar says the Maoist movement is universal because the root cause is universal. “It stems from the problems of poverty, injustice and inequality,” he says. “These are universal phenomena and it is very natural that people affected worldwide will eventually come together. But governments do not recognize these issues. Instead, they tend to regard the outcome as a security issue. If you want to see an end to the Maoist movement, you have to seek an end to poverty, injustice and inequality.”
Last year, the Maoists carried out 10 major operations in India, killing nearly 200 people. This year, with the ambush in Dantewada district, they have already executed three major attacks in three states, killing at least 110 people.
In February, the outlaws stormed a police camp in West Bengal, the eastern state where the armed uprising first started as an ill-equipped peasant uprising in 1967, killing 24. On 4 April, they planted a landmine in Orissa, one of India’s poorest states adjoining West Bengal, which blew up nearly 10 security personnel.
A statement by Maoist spokesman Gudsa Usendi after the Dantewada massacre also underscored how the Maoist offensives were becoming stronger and better-planned compared to the earlier hit-and-run attacks. The statement said the attack was “meticulously planned” after scouts watched security forces’ movements for nearly six months. About 300 People's Liberation Guerrilla Army combatants took part in the three-hour operation, losing only eight of their fighters, it added. On the other hand, they seized the weapons of the slain security men, including AK-47s, light machine guns and self-loading rifles.
Civilians caught in the middle, again
The Indian government reacted aggressively, ruling out talks with the Maoists and favoring deploying additional forces. Home Minister P Chidambaram has claimed that the federal government will be able to combat the Maoist challenge “in the next two to three years.” Analysts and activists however say that India needs to realize that the Maoist movement is no longer just “an internal security threat,” as dubbed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“The home minister is being foolish,” says Himanshu Kumar, a human rights activist whose Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA), an organization defending tribal rights in Chhattisgarh, was forced to close by police while Kumar himself was charged with abduction. “By advocating a policy of aggression, the state is simply expanding the area of conflict. The violence has already spread to several other states and the home minister will not be able to contain it.”
Since 2005, the VCA has fought over 600 cases of gross human rights violations and killings by security forces in Chhattisgarh. Now Kumar, forced to shift to New Delhi, predicts graver social and economic consequences.
“The violence will increase as the state seeks to retaliate,” Kumar told ISN Security Watch. “Since the Maoists are no longer in Dantewada, it will be the villagers who will bear the brunt of state wrath. More tribals will be forced to flee to the jungles, more tribal houses will be burnt and there will be greater displacement.”
“Civilian casualties will go up,” adds Dr Nihar Nayak of the New Delhi-based Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, an expert on the Maoist insurgency and security implications in South Asia. “The worst affected will be the tribals who will be caught between security forces and the Maoists. When the combing for Maoists starts, they will be treated as Maoist sympathisers by security forces. The Maoists, on the other hand, will regard them as police informers.”
Women and children will be the hardest-hit, Nayak told ISN Security Watch: “Both are being forced to become Maoist cadre. Many women cadre captured by police have said they were sexually molested. With the Maoists targeting schools, children will miss education. Also, development work in villages will stop or slow down due to Maoist opposition as well as the ‘taxes’ they have been levying on the parties contracted to execute government projects.”
Tribals 'steeled' in their resistance
The growing violence will also hit trade, foreign direct investment and the economy, especially as India’s mines remain concentrated in the tribal belt from the east to west that is the epicentre of the red movement.
“For almost two decades, India, with an economic growth of 7 percent, has been letting national as well as multinational companies tap its natural resources to benefit from the transaction,” says Hari Roka, an MP from Nepal who has been observing the Maoist movement in India as well as Nepal. “But the tribals who live in the states rich in natural resources subsist on agriculture and forest produce. The state wants to evict them and hand over their land to the multinationals. But they don’t want to go. That’s the root cause of the violence.”
National Mineral Development Corporation, India’s largest iron ore miner, began prospecting in Chhattisgarh since 1961 and is now negotiating with Tata Steel, the country’s largest private sector steel maker, to start a steel project in Chhattisgarh. ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producer, has announced investments in Orissa and Jharkhand while Korea’s POSCO, the fourth-largest steel maker in the world, has formed a joint venture with India to set up shop in Orissa. However, so far, neither ArcelorMittal nor POSCO has been able to obtain land.
“Most of the mining assets are present in the Maoist belt, which is a threat as more mining can’t take place and new leases can’t be executed,” Santha Sheela Nair, secretary at ministry of mines, external pagetold Bloomberg news agency last month. “[The 6 April] attacks are a setback to India’s efforts to rid the eastern states of left-wing guerrillas and open up regions rich in iron ore, coal, bauxite and manganese to investment,” the report added.
The Maoists' long reach
With the world shrunk to a global village in the 21st century, the international community is becoming increasingly involved in India’s “internal” crisis. The Maoist movement now receives support from peers across the border in South Asia and farther.
“There are increasing linkages between the Maoist parties of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines,” say Nayak. “Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy [who headed the propaganda wing before his arrest in 2009] had visited Nepal frequently to meet the Nepal Maoists. Another arrested Indian Maoist, known as Basanta, told police he had met Nepal Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and other leaders in Nepal as recently as 2009 and had discussed future strategies with them. He also said the Nepal Maoists told him to contact the Maoists in the Philippines. Another Indian Maoist leader Venkateshwar Reddy told police after his arrest that he was in touch with the Bangladesh Maoists to set up bases in three districts along the India-Bangladesh border.”
The fourth conference of the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia was held in Nepal four years ago. It was attended by eight parties – from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. All five countries are members of the same regional grouping, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Only two members of the bloc – Pakistan and the Maldives - have not yet reported a Maoist movement. Afghanistan, the eighth member, though not known to have participated in the inter-country meets, has its Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan that has been expressing support for the Indian and Nepal Maoists through internet-based public platforms.
While Nepal’s Maoist party, which abandoned its armed struggle in 2006 and returned to mainstream politics after contesting and winning an election two years later, denies supporting the Indian Maoists in their anti-state activities, it however admits having ideological sympathy.
“The Indian government should learn a lesson from Nepal [where the Maoist movement changed the country from a traditional Hindu kingdom to a secular federal republic],” says Dinanath Sharma, spokesman of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). “The Maoist violence in India is a protest against state dictatorship. It is the voice of the oppressed whom development and prosperity have passed by," Sharma told ISN Security Watch.
"If the government tries to stifle the voice with violence it will meet the same fate that Nepal’s King Gyanendra did [losing his crown after trying to rule the country with military support].”
The Maoist movement has also been receiving support from Maoist parties in the Philippines, Iran, Turkey, the US, UK, Italy, Peru and Greece. Some of these peer groups have been organising public protests in Europe against “Operation Greenhunt,” India’s anti-Maoist operation, and conducting propaganda campaigns.
Himanshu Kumar says the Maoist movement is universal because the root cause is universal. “It stems from the problems of poverty, injustice and inequality,” he says. “These are universal phenomena and it is very natural that people affected worldwide will eventually come together. But governments do not recognize these issues. Instead, they tend to regard the outcome as a security issue. If you want to see an end to the Maoist movement, you have to seek an end to poverty, injustice and inequality.”