BANISHING THE MAOIST PHOENIX

WHAT originated as a protest over land issues in West Bengal's Naxalbari developed into a highly violent revolutionary insurgency that killed a large number of security personnel, hundreds of civilians, and caused the loss of private and public property worth crores of rupees. By the mid-1970s, the original movement was decimated.

- K V MADHUSUDHANAN

WHAT originated as a protest over land issues in West Bengal's Naxalbari developed into a highly violent revolutionary insurgency that killed a large number of security personnel, hundreds of civilians, and caused the loss of private and public property worth crores of rupees. By the mid-1970s, the original movement was decimated.

But things changed about two decades later. A March 2001 conference of the People's War Group of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), held at a secluded location in Dandakaranya, sought to create a common platform of Maoists and enlist the support of socially-oppressed classes. They sought to create 'liberated' guerrilla zones and a contiguous zone extending from Nepal to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu called the 'red corridor'. From time to time, they also supported the secessionist struggles of Khalistan, the Northeast, Gorkhas, and Kashmir.

Acquiring military power, they unleashed terror across the country, compelling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to concede that, by the second half of the 2000s, the Maoist menace had become the deadliest internal security threat. By 2010 end, they were able to demonstrate to the population of the 'red corridor' that it would be in their interest to toe the Maoist line or face consequences.

The security forces continued breathing down the Maoists' neck, and political and administrative steps slowly made the movement less grievance-driven. The ideology never really mattered to the poor tribal communities, but only to the movement's leaders, mostly from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.