By David Axe
Brute force may not be enough to beat the Naxalites, David Axe reports. More focus on development might yield better results.
On the early morning of April 6, the 81 troopers from the Indian Central Reserve Police Force were exhausted. For three days straight, they and a single district policeman had patrolled the thick forests of Chhattisgarh, a state in rural western India. They were on the lookout for fighters from the Naxals, an armed group originating in West Bengal that had split off from the Communist Party of India in 1967. Forty-three years on, senior officials in New Delhi consider the Naxals India’s most serious internal threat.
Just 2 days earlier, the Naxals had killed 11 Indian Special Forces soldiers in a bomb attack. In February, 24 government troops died in a pitched battle with Naxals.
The CRPF troopers, known as ‘jawans,’ were resting from their patrol in Chhattisgarh when a large Naxal force hidden among the trees opened fire; a bomb blast destroyed one of the jawans’ vehicles. The Naxal group numbered up to a thousand fighters, according to the government.
Gunfire peppered the weary, confused CRPF troopers. After just minutes, 72 jawans and the sole district policeman lay dead. When a government helicopter rotored in to retrieve eight survivors, it too came under fire.
Something had gone ‘drastically wrong’ to have allowed the Naxals such a complete and bloody victory, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said in the aftermath of the attack. ‘The casualties are very high and I am deeply shocked at the loss of lives.’
The April attack underscored the seemingly growing danger posed by India’s Maoists and highlighted the government’s lack of preparedness. The Naxals have efficiently adopted tactics and weapons from battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Indian forces remain hamstrung by the government’s state-based approach to internal security and the inability of states to effectively share ideas.
More broadly, the Naxals’ apparently growing strength speaks to the inability of the Indian government, at both federal and state levels, to offer residents of impoverished western states an alternative to rebellion. The Naxals don’t exist in a vacuum; they are the products of the inequality and failed governance that plague rural India, and which underpins many of the world’s insurgencies. Where India has succeeded in suppressing the Maoists, this limited success has hinged on progressive economic policies bolstered by sustained police efforts.
Naxal Origins
Communism has been a powerful political force in India since the 1920s. Over time, there emerged two major communist parties: one rooted in Chinese communism and the other in the Russian brand of the ideology. The Naxals were a ‘splinter offshoot’ of the pro-Chinese party, according to Teresita Schaffer, an analyst from the Center for Strategic and International Studies based in Washington, D.C. ‘These guys split off from the pro-Chinese crowd because they [the formal party members] were not radical enough.’
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A K SAXENA (A retired civil servant)
THE DIPLOMAT Blogs
India’s Greatest Threat?
May 28, 2010
The ideas contributed in the article reflect the common perception. These form part of college text books on Sociology.The root cause lies in implementation of developmental schemes already in force.These do not take off due to lack of political Will.The naxalites/Maoists’ main grievance is their exploitation by the society, economic disparity,poverty and discrimination in all departments of living.
A K SAXENA (A retired civil servant)
aksaxena@nic.in
Yang tsup
there are credible info that communist movement had support from China.
ABose
“Chhattisgarh, a state in rural western India” – how is this state in Western India..
A Mukherjee
Follow the money trail and see where it leads to. That will be interesting. To wage a war against the Indian state these fellows need a lot of funds. I suspect it could be from Beijing.
Zack
And your proof is….? Sorry, but conspiracy theories have no basis in proper diplomatic scholarship
T Rama Bhat
Mr.A Mukherjee has only said that he suspects that the money trail COULD lead to China. Voicing a suspicion, is not the same as floating a conspiracy theory.
I hope the authorities are on the job of trailing the source of funds. The number of firearms naxalites have, the salaries they pay their members, etc. requires a lot of money. Surely it’s nobody’s argument that the destitute tribals are capable of funding them.
The problem has reached a stage where no official or contractor will participate in any development work (even if the government wakes from slumber now) unless the naxalites are curbed. Development work cannot precede or move in tandem with armed government action now.
Christian
India hindu brainwashed fanatics will point at China for all India’s troubles. The Naxalites are rising up against the Indian government because of the Hindu caste discrimination which forces on them a pathetic life of servitude and slavery with no hope. India is a sham democracy and a failed state….period!
Amused
Yes, Christian, India is a failed state just because you say so, period! After all, “me say it so me must be right”.
Sam
@Christian. Sounds like you are unable to handle the fact that a billion Hindus can grow a country at 8-9% a year for the foreseeable future after the Brits stole everything they could get their hands on for 200 years! This too in an open multi-religious, multi lingual democracy with all its craziness and daily ups and downs. Can’t hack it huh buddy? Well get used to it, it ain’t failing anytime soon.
Ibtakhar Ahmad
Today, Naxalism is a big threat as they began targeting trains. The government should solve this problem very seriously.
Ankit
I am sorry but whoever wrote this article has zero knowledge of the matter or about India and the Naxal problem. All descriptions are inaccurate, even the Dantewada incident is described wrong. Please hire people who actually know about what they write.
Preethi Sundaram
Andhra Pradesh is in South India not Eastern India as the article states.