Maoist insurgency at a crossroads amid ideological rift?

Barely six months before Union Home Minister Amit Shah's 31 March 2026, deadline to wipe out the armed Left-Wing Extremism from Indian soil, the banned CPI-Maoist appears to be battling deep internal divisions. The recent surrender of top Maoist leaders has exposed an ideological split within the organisation, marking one of the most serious internal crises in its five-decade-long insurgency across the Dandakaranya region.

- SHISHIR ROY CHOWDHURY

Two major surrenders in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh have shaken the Maoist hierarchy. In Maharashtra, Sonu, alias Venugopal, surrendered before Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on 15 October, along with 60 cadres. Two days later, Rupesh, alias Satish, a central committee member of the CPI (Maoist), laid down arms in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, along with 210 cadres and 50 weapons. On Saturday, the Maoist Central Committee's spokesperson, Abhay, issued a four-page pamphlet branding both leaders as "traitors". He accused them of abandoning the revolutionary ideology under "right-wing influence" and choosing a life of comfort over struggle. "Those who leave the jungle for a life of luxury are no longer revolutionaries. It is a betrayal of the class struggle," Abhay wrote.