Vol. 6 | issue 7 | August 2012
governance
security a k verma
Reds are here to stay
The
Maoists present a complex challenge, which has a mix of ideology,
people’s disenchantment with the governing processes and mechanisms, and
a resolute determination on their part
For
some time now, Maoism or Naxalism has been the nation’s No. 1 internal
security problem but an agreed strategy to combat this menace continues
to evade national and state leaderships. The nation has seen the Maoist
movement grow, originating from Naxalbari, a small village in West
Bengal in May 1967, to an ideological campaign that today straddles 13
States. Although it started as an anti-landlord struggle, its focus has
expanded well beyond. Party documents clearly spell out that the
objective is seizure of State power through an armed and violent
struggle, co-opting rural and urban classes, mobilising them against the
State on all available issues–political, economic and social.
The
strategy of the Maoists or Naxalites has evolved from an early
objective of an armed agrarian revolutionary war, encircling the cities
from the countryside to united front tactics. The revised aims are to
establish solidarity between peasants and tribals with the working
classes, develop links with the petty bourgeoisie, the semi- proletariat
and the national bourgeoisie.
The
movement has attracted the well-educated and the well-heeled, who find
themselves intellectually at odds with the stormy tides of consumerism,
materialism and exploitation, the market economy and the power of the
rich. Kobad Gandhy, a Doon School alumni, who became a member of the
CPI-Maoist central committee, is an example of the party striking roots
among the urban milieu. The party has also successfully raised large
funds through extortions and levies which are used for purchase of arms
and ammunition.
There
should be no doubt that the party represents a revolutionary movement,
which from day one has been growing in size, strength and influence.
Geographically, they are creeping into virgin territories. They have
created viable infrastructures in many States. A general mood of
frustration originating from poor governance and widely believed
allegations of high-level corruption has led to an environment from
which the Maoists derive psychological benefits............READ MORE 
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