India's Maoists: A doomed revolution?
It is India's most bloody, intractable and shadowy war in recent history.
Today 223 districts - India has 636 districts - in 20 states are "Maoist affected", up from 55 districts in nine states six years ago. Ninety of the affected districts, according to the government, are experiencing "consistent violence". PM Manmohan Singh calls it the country's "greatest internal security challenge".
As Maoist activity has expanded over a vast swathe of mineral-rich jungles and countryside where most of India's tribespeople - its poorest of the poor - live, the cost of the conflict has been huge.
The government says 3,457 civilians were killed in 11,642 incidents of rebel-related violence between 2003 and 2009. Nearly 1,300 security forces and 1,350 rebels have died in the war, it says.
As the toll rises, the conflict provokes a sharply polarised debate.
On the one side are the city-bred romantic revolutionaries. One perceptive analyst calls them a "Maoist-aligned intelligentsia vicariously playing out their revolutionary fantasies through the lives of the adivasis [tribespeople], while the people dying in battle are almost all adivasis". They protest against the government's plans to smoke out the rebels.
On the other, are supporters of strong state action who believe the security forces should annihilate the rebels and wrest back areas under their control. Collateral damage, they believe, is par for the course.
So India's Maoist rebels, in the words of another commentator, are either "romanticised, eulogised [or] demonised". It depends on which side you are on.
It is time to ask some basic questions.
What do the Maoists want?
They want to establish a "communist society" by overthrowing the country's "semi-colonial, semi-feudal" form of rule through an armed struggle. The say they are fighting for the rights of the neglected tribespeople, an unquestionably laudable goal in a vastly iniquitous land.
So are they revolutionary Marxists? Are they anarchists? Or are they India's equivalent of historian Eric Hobsbawm's "social bandits", peasant Robin Hood outlaws? It is difficult to say.
Who is suffering the most in the seemingly unending war?
The same tribespeople for whom the Maoists say they have picked up the cudgels.
They are caught in the crossfire between the rebels and security forces. They are hounded by state-sponsored militias hunting for rebel sympathisers. (In Chhattisgarh, the rebel heartland, nearly 50,000 villagers have been forced from their villages by a state-sponsored militia and are now lodged in some 20 camps.)
The rebels end up killing poorly paid, poorly armed policemen, small businessmen and low level political workers. Analysts find it odd that their "class enemies" do not include big businessmen and companies, presumably because many of them cough up protection money.
What has been the track record of India's Maoists?
Not very inspiring, say most commentators, apart from a few exceptions of getting a fairer deal for the poor by intimidating the state. 
They point out that the Maoists never questioned the partition of India. In 1971, during the war with Pakistan, they supported the Pakistani president Yahya Khan and even advised revolutionaries in East Pakistan - now Bangladesh - to defend Pakistan. Analysts say the rebels were taking their cues from China.
Another criticism is that the rebels have never really tackled or taken on the rising tide of communalism that swept the country in the 1980s and 1990s. They have shown little interest in taking a stand against Hindu or Muslim fundamentalism.
Are the rebels the only ones fighting for India's poor?
No way. There are hundreds of civil society movements working tirelessly - Medha Patkar's movement against people displaced by dam projects is a stand-out example.
But the rebels succeed in grabbing attention, many believe, because they practice violence.
"Violence [has] the potential to make news and attract attention... satyagrahas [passive resistance], non-violent actions and human chains have been made completely ineffective and delegitimised by the state and the media," says political scientist Aditya Nigam.
So what do the Maoists end up doing?
Operating in a binary world of "either you are with us or against us" - eerily reminiscent of a recent "war on terror" - the rebels, many analysts say, have taken an awkward, simplistic position on how people behave and society operates.
"We are not yet in a completely Orwellian universe. Some things are neither Hindu nor Muslim, neither proletarian nor bourgeois. There is no war to end all wars, no ultimate death penalty that will put an end to all death penalties," says independent scholar Dilip Simeon.
"Hindu Rashtra [Hindu polity] is not the final solution to the so-called 'minority problem', nor is the 'people's war' the final answer to class exploitation."
In the absence of such understanding, the bloody war grinds on, reaping its grim harvest.
Do the deaths of tribespeople, policemen, rebels, traders and political workers have any meaning? Does the displacement of tens of thousands of people suspected to be sympathising with the rebels make any sense? Or are some right to view these as wasteful deaths and futile displacements?
It is the Maoists' apparent indifference to life that worries Dilip Simeon. "The indifference," he says, "is the mark of nihilism that has overtaken the revolutionary spirit." That is why Maoism in India, many believe, will remain a doomed revolution.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~16~RS~)
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i come from a Maoist affected place and i can say is that these people are no different from Taliban.Almost 90% of their victims are poor tribal.India is a very powerful country and they know they will never succeed in their objectives, so why are they still indulging in violence? it is because their financier(ie the one India fought in 1962) wants them to fight so that India continues to remain embroiled in it's internal trouble and poses no challenge to china
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There are some inherent problems in such types of clear-the-decks kind of journalism. All the nuanced and civilized notions are first stated. All the extreme positions are dismissed and quotations are provided from a broad spectrum of sane sounding people. This no longer impresses. After 62 years of independence from British Rule, India leads the world in systematic increase of poverty, by the government's own admission. In terms of hygeine and sanitary living conditions, India leads the world in death from diahrrea. In terms of Human Development Index India is in the Sub Sahara level of attainment. Around 120 in rank.
The Maoists are concentrating in the tribal areas, BECAUSE every damn movement in India has ignored them except for the environmentally conscious movements. It also happens that since the neo-liberal onslaught on India's economy, it is the tribal areas that have been ""discovered"" by India's rising nouveau riche, to exploit the ore, the riches, the rivers, the air...you name it. India's factories and industrial centers already have hordes of organizations working for the welfare of the working class for over one hundred years.
The Maoist movement will not result in a Maoist revolution that will result in red flags all over Delhi. It is kind of assinine and infantile to leap frog into that fantasy. It will simply be the harbinger of a popular insurrection for democratic reform. And eventually, all the movements will join together in a common front. Even those who are so apostolic in their new found devotion to non-violence. The Maoist violence gets top billing in the media. When the President of an Adivasi (tribal) association against Police atrocities gets dragged out of his hut and killed in front of his relatives and declared shot in armed encounter, the press is too scared to comment on it. Because,as you know, even civil rights activists are now being accused of maoism! So these broad sweeping brushes of inane conversation pieces that do not confront the reality that is India, but only demonstrates a flair for staid journalism, does not get us from point A to Point B.
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It is a joke to call the Maoist violence "revolution ".And the dreams of the Maoists for capturing power in this vast,diverse,and hugely populated country is just that-dreams.Look at Nepal.They are still trying to subjugate that tiny country despite years of effort with considerable foreign help.The weak profile of the Indian Maoists is boosted greatly by the Indian leftist parties and the leftist media outlets as well as leftist activists who find a meal ticket in supporting these criminals.
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SHOULD THE AIR FORCE RETALIATE IF NAXALS OR MAOISTS FIRE AT JETS?
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The Government is ready to DEBATE this in the media.It acts like an Effeminate Lad when trying to fight the Maoists.This country needs a Leader who is bold and brash to such peevish rebellions and yet, respects free speech and democracy for a healthy civil society.
The communists have essentially wrecked the eastern states of this country.From W.Bengal to Orissa to Jharkand,The Communists are using the Poverty/Exploitation card to keep away foreign investment in their states or have been subdued by rivals like in Nandigram.Its a pity that these states have the largest mineral wealth in this country, and yet gross mismanagement,favoritism,swindling of money,thereby marginalizing the local community has led to a sense of raw indignation.
Orissa with a rich Kalinga history has been reduced to a one of the most backward states with poigant stories of destuteness and penury.Why did these states not cope with Gujarat,Maharashtra or the burgeoning South.
THE PROBLEM:
Why should such cabals mature into a full scale army to challenge our Democracy?
Its because the COMMAN MAN has been totally kicked downstairs in this country.Forget the villages..In our cities the bulk of population in menial jobs has migrated from the villages.A poor commoner has the enterprising spirit to set up a tea stall or a fast food pallet become a vegetable vendor or a Rickshaw wala.Each one of them is extorted for money by the police.The policeman finds a way to question the place of the tea stall and asks for a monthy sum.The vegetable vendor is told that setting up a vegetable market near a main road would require some kickback as it is illegal.The Rickshawwala is treated like an animal if he enters a mainroad.One of the vendors told me with disgust:
"Jab desh ka Fauji marta hai ,toh dukh hota hai,lekin jab police wala naxaliyon se marta toh mast kushi hoti hai"
(Whena soldier dies for the Country ,he becomes a martyr and we feel for him,but if a policeman is killed by naxlas we feel contented)
I don't condone attacks on the police and neither label the whole police force corrupt.But should the police force not be a relatively independent
body with teeth to act without political influence? The Government should
encourage the media with tax incentives,the more corrupt government/police officials it exposes.
Is not the maoist violence, a direct precedent on How successive state governments have failed to create a cohesive policy to empower the people.Has it not demonstrated the self interest groups taking control of the resources of the region's poor,annexing land and turning a blind eye to the local community?
THE SOLUTION:
For the last thousand years,the tribes of India were fairly closed to the world.Abundance of forests ensured a simple livelihood.But today,the numerous tribes of India need help.These people need assistance to change from a primordial way of life join the workforce of the new India.They should be supported with free education ,health care initiatives and vocational training to feel inclusive in our society.
The Government should impose PRESIDENT's rule in these states and send the communists to oblivion,bags packing.Then it should fight the Maoists till the finish in guerrilla warfare with sensitivity to civilian casualties.This will send a strong message to any insurgency that sedition deserves CONDIGN COMEUPPANCE.Dismissing the State governments would be rebuke to their botched rule.
It is also a viable option to split the tax revenue and direct it for the revival of the eastern states.It will send a social message that WE TAKE THE TRIBES OF INDIA seriously and won't let them down.
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I read EternalIndia's comment above and think that this person is right on, in several fronts. And dead on with his decription of the Effeminate Lad in this picture. Not the EternalIndia needs my yes, but his piece struck several chords.
For the idiots in South and North Block who cannot see this as clearly as the analysis above, I have no words. I guess Parkinson was right when he said that people rise to their level of incompetence. IMO India needs to charge sheet hordes of central government employees who are useless.
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Poverty and feelings of being powerless tend to blur the lines between the promise of a better future and the reality of daily poverty. With the very poor, life ends from lack of food, medical care and no hope. Change these things and the revolution will end. When the material success of India is promoted and the poor see Bollywood movies and urban living they ask: what about us? It is a good question. Mumbai was shocked by the killings by terrorist and people demanded action but in these far off areas there is not the same concern.
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Thinking that there is some wisdom in trevorselvam's analysis of the article and nuggets there for Mr. Biswas to note. In terms of writing style the Biswas articles tend to be frustrating to read for the reasons shared by trevorselvam. While I agree with most of trevorselvam note, I may add that yes red flags of revolution won't show up at every nook and corner of New Delhi, the soft peddling of such an issue by Central Government will create yet another bleeding cyst on India's economy, and psyche. I believe too many of these cysts are already hurting India as a business and trade magnet. In a global economy, that does not bode well.
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I suppose Maoism at least makes a refreshing change from Islamic fundamentalism. Caledonian Comment
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What the government of India needs to do is reach some kind of accomodation with the Maoists and work out a viable solution.Moreover,the leaders of India should just ignore all their right-wing fanatics and join the Maoists in finding solutions to help the poor and maybe,put the country on a paar with Japan and China.All the right-wing fanatics want to do is kill as many Maoists as possible and feather their own nests.
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Anybody complaining about right-wing fanatics in a Congress run country is living in a nightmare of their OWN creation. What ring-wing fanatics are there who have the ability to steer the conversation one way or the other? They don't have any large media outlets or seats in parliament. India is not America.
On the other hand, anybody who thinks violence will not (at least partly) be used to solve this problem will have a very hard time in the future when the Naxalite renege on the latest ceasefire and are put down by police or army forces.
There has to be a substantial amount of development if the government is hoping to solve the problem. Of those fighting, there is an ideological core that is similar to Islamic fundamentalists - they cannot be persuaded, reasoned with, or talked to. But the majority of those fighting are doing it for very simple reasons - food, water, shelter, education.
Now that the Naxalites are here, the floodgates have been opened. In 100 years, India will still have problems with Naxalites in those areas where there is little to no development.
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india remains vulnerable because the congress party has ruled India for over 90pct of the time. the congress party has pretty much mimicked the british divide and rule policy that has generated many centrifugal forces that threaten country's integrity. to make matters worse, congress has been an utter failure on foreign policy front on issues upon issues. it could never win any support in usa or western europe despite best of the prospects. bjp came to power just once and it build bridges with usa, paving the way for co-operations on all sorts of fronts, including nuke power. it is india's fate - i am sure the result of some great sins of past that must be of himalayan proportions that we are beset with the unremiting curse of the extremely corrupt and inept congress party - that it can rid itself of thick skinned corrupt and totally inept congress party. there is no excuse at all for india to remain so poor. india is not poor for want of resources or skilled manpower or for want of trying. it is only because of extremely corrupt and inept gandhis of congress who just won't go away from people's lives and who frustrate the best of the propsect. all resourceful countries have risen from the rubbles of ww2 and made it into modernity. why can't india? simple: corrupt gandhis and their congress. their corruption has percolated down into indian media that spares no opportunity to erode the sound civilizational base of the hindu country that india is. god knows what masters they serve but one thing is for sure they are enemies of mainstream india, thriving on chaos.
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When putting blame on Maoists, people overlook the make up of the ruling class and demography in India. West Bengal is a good example. The upper castes, collectively known as Bhadra lok in the state, comprise 2/3 of the ruling CPM's cabinet. Brahmins alone comprise 50% of all ministers including the chief minister. Never mind that the upper constitute less than 10% of W Bengal's population. There is no representation of tribals.
The opposition parties have nothing better to offer.
Clearly democracy has failed. If the tribals, branded as Maoists by the media and the government, wants to overthrow this ruling establishment, then I don't see anything wrong.
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Maoist Violance cannot be justified, But Authorities stay back from their responsibilities to understand the real issues. Maoist fight is for the denied rights which they deserve. Millions are pumped from Govt. reserves for the salvation of Adivasis. But a few reach them and the major part are consumed by other heads. Still people die in Adivasi Village of hunger and malnutrition, where as the majority run for medicine to control their obessity and related deseases. Is the term Democracy mean that the healthier, educated, beutiful people grab the food of weak, uneducated and hungry people. A mojor attention is needed from Govt.side to understand the issues of the suppressed other wise the outbreak can be severe beyond our expectations. In the state of Kerala Adivasis fight for the land to live and as a contrary Leaders of political parties own acres of illegal land, where. Judicial solutions are getting dragged for decades. The so called Communist party themselves are exploting the Adivasis. Party used to collect them on Truck to shout against American imperialism. A group of Adivasis who don't know who are their local representatives in Panchayats or Assembly or in Parliament repeat the slogans raised by Communist leaders against America and to their leaders. Thus communist party in India itself is exploting the Adivasis ignorance. It's still a mystery who will take initiative to end the sufferings of our Country men who are called as Adivasis or tribals. Better Arundhathi Roy or Medha Patkar start talks on this with Leaders who are liberal in giving than grabbing the rights.
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These Maoists are at best organized criminals who have managed to extort taxes from remote tribals where the government is not able to reach. They must be appreciated for doing one good thing - branding themselves as "Maoists". Any sensible person who attempts to find about Mao will automatically withdraw their support to these people. Maoists will never enjoy the popular support neither at the rural level nor at the urban level. Even the motherland of Maoism has abandoned this ideology, I wonder why these idiots continue to cling on to this. Maoism will be a good "exercise" for India - it will result in the strengthening of the state police.
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Great thumbnail picture on the home page for this article again Mr. Biswas.
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Only a fool or a sick perverse mind would say that there is anyway to fight terrorism except all or nothing. And Journalists aren't fools.
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Nothing is straightforward in the huge Indian juggernaut!
Because govts have continued to neglect the remote tribal areas, the Maoist ideology has gained stronghold. This is not new to India or the world- neglected areas have always mobilised to challenge the govts- take the Naxalbari of the 70's, or even the recent separatist demands for the Telangana state.
The current impasse, in my view, is more because the govt is in too much of a hurry to bulldoze into those tribal areas for mining and other industries.
In that respect it is not surprising that while a hog-headed Home Minister is hammering away at the Maoists, Vedanta (a UK based mining company) is bringing out full-page adverts in leading English dailies to showcase its claimed mining successes in another tribal place- Kalahandi! We shouldn't forget that Mr Home Minister has been closely associated with Vedanta in the past- allegedly he has been on the company's board and has represented the company in court cases.
To top it, when the civil society asks the govt to declassify the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) it has with the industry for these tribal areas- they get a blank!
In the case of Nandigram we have seen how the govt fraudulently acquired land from many farmers at peanut costs- who kept thinking it was being acquired for a govt project- only to later find out that it was acquired as a gift for the Tatas. Some farmers who had refused land to the govt were later compensated directly by the Tatas rather handsomely- creating hostility and later violence. Obviously, if people are paid differently for the loss of similar amounts of land, they will react!
Now, the violence! That is unacceptable and most right-thinking people will say that the Maoists must stop it right now, and so say I.
Yet, the govt is NOT stopping its own violence! If the govt is dealing with armed rebels and points a gun at them, and declares that they are "at war" with the Maoists- it is anybody's guess how those rebels will react. It must be pointed out that in many cases when these rebels have kidnapped trains/ civilians - they have released them later without any harm. They seem to treat govt police/ forces/ employees with more cruelty. Again, it looks like the Maoists are also treating this like a real "war"- killing anyone who is guilty by association with the govt.
Unfortunately, govts have been turning a blind eye to intervention through civil means. When the likes of Ms Patkar try to intervene in the Narmada dam project, the govt kept ignoring demands for compensation- despite the Supreme Courts order that compensation must be paid before any work proceeds. In the case of the Bhopal Gas tragedy, the govt has refused to push for more compensation from the criminal Chemicals company.
In short, when the govts fail people, when the systems of justice fail people- they are left with they themselves- and any arms they can gather. They no more want to believe in the law of the land that disowned them!
MY LAST WORDS: The Maoists are not a foreign force. They are the people of India. Talk to them, if not directly, then through their sympathisers, through intellectuals, or any other means. Do not try to follow Sri Lanka's example, 'cos India is not Sri Lanka. The Indian Civil Society will bite back at the govt if they see the tribals being trampled upon.
Gandhi's beautiful words: Poverty is the worst form of violence. and the govt of India is guilty of it!
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When was the last time a democratic nation (even a flawed one) has gone through a "revolution" from within that the so-called Maoists dream of carrying out? This reader cannot think of one.
Of course, as one reader has pointed out, India is flawed. "India Shining" notwithstanding, if the poverty (perhaps almost solely due to low esteem for rule of law) is not eradicated to a significant extent, this kind of movements will occur in a regular manner. Maoists (or Naxalites) have been around for at least forty years.
To this reader, the only way to out of poverty is to enforce rule of law throughout. The police have to practice it, politicians have to practice it, judiciary has to practice it and general population has to practice it. Of course, it is easier said than done. Even so, there is not other choice. In all nations where there is wealth (the effect), there is rule of law (the cause).
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maoism (or communism) per se isnt a bad ideology, neither is capitalism or socialsm, it depends on functionality and not on unrelenting uncompromise, indian maoism is more of stubborness and less of a revolution (violence makes it more demeaning), not that the government holds any ground, its popular with the poor and the people in power know this and they make it sure that a huge section continues to stay poor, if there is an america and a europe there is also a china and an emerging venezuela, the problem is with the ruling class, i have no symapthy for the narrow-minded maoists and have no symapthy for our ineffective (to say effeminate is an insult to the women power) governemnt, we are a nation marred with poor post-independence leaders with no education, no class and no charisma, a nation full of madhu kodas, mulayam yadavs, mayawatis, lalu yadavs etc will never see the sun in its full light...
congress ignored india for a majority of their rule and now they are trying to talk sense, as if that can neuter matters, a nation teething with anarchy, corruption, red-tapism and with no polticial discipline shoudklnt expect any better, but i still maintain optimism...
solutions are many to the every problem but the mother of all problems is implementation...
who will guarantee that the lords who rule resources in india (coal, petrol, water, forest and land etc) willnt behave like mafias even if the maoists are gone...
till the governemnt doesnt reprimand itself i dont see any good happening and we will have to be content with the shock-absorber india is...
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trevorselvam, shilpy, eternalindia, indiablogger, zadoo and all...
thank you so much for providing this much insight...
how i hope our posts, disgust for mayhem and love for our motherland can be heard by someone, i want to make a difference and i even know how but i am so usnure, the rot that has engulfed india, i fear might one day engulf me too and make me incompetent and useless and all my dreams of doing good for society and my nation and humanity will come to nil...
why dont some people have heart, why do some people forget their responsibilities, why is power only held by those who abuse it, or is it that everyone who gets to yield power ultimately abuses it, is there any optimism, what will happen to our beautiful nation, are we destinied to have these rotten people as our leaders, how long will this pain continue in our hearts????
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@manish: thanks for recalling this: gandhi's beautiful words: poverty is the worst form of violence. and the govt of India is guilty of it!
so true but the ones who should hear and understand it are long hearing-impaired and thats the sad part...
and though maoist revolution is no solution to poverty, we have many a core problems including mafia, illiteracy, poor and unresearched civil policies, it has to do with the general personality of some people in power, we have lived in submission for years and there are people who still try to mainatin this course and havent come out of their trance...
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I think the best solution will be to give them independence .
Just give independece to these people and people of Kashmir because sooner we decide the cheaper it will be for India. We are already suffering from many problems.
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1. At 1:12pm on 15 Mar 2010, abhishek wrote:
i come from a Maoist affected place and i can say is that these people are no different from Taliban. Almost 90% of their victims are poor tribal. India is a very powerful country and they know they will never succeed in their objectives, so why are they still indulging in violence? it is because their financier(ie the one India fought in 1962) wants them to fight so that India continues to remain embroiled in it's internal trouble and poses no challenge to china
I really feel for you, buddy. I was there in 1962 (USAF) and know how hard life is for you. China fears India for obvious reasons but many western fat cats fear a future alliance of India and China. That would spell the end of the gravy train for many of them...or that was my take on it back then.
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The problem of any extremist movement arises from the systemic blockage of civic protests, opposition via non-violent and truly democratic ways. Indian system has done that since independence. As you mentioned that any non-violent movement like that by Medha Patker failed to grab attention, neither successful to achieve its goals, to stop construction of the dam.
Indian society is basically a feudal society. We all know that any violent movement will never be successful in a country like India. But that's the ONLY way to vent out total frustration by common people. Naxal movement was not successful in Bengal in 1970s, but it ruined many of the good aspects of Bengali society (education, industry, culture etc). The same happened to Punjab's Khalistan movement or will happen any other violent movement (be it in JK or NE states). Before Khalistan movement Punjab and Punjabis were the epitome of honesty and patriotism. Now they are one of the most corrupt societies in the country.
Such movements will cause many people to die, huge loss of property (both public and private) and most importantly the loss of few generations of aspirations and some good values of that society. But you can NEVER stop such violent movements, now or in future unless you root out total corruption (mainly at the top level of policy making) and lack of unbiased law implementation.
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IT IS THE ECONOMIC DISPARITY AND THE FEELING OF BEING MARGINALISED BY THE PEOPLE IN POWER THAT HAS CREATED THIS. RECTIFY IT AND THINGS WILL IMPROVE.
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@ vivek : Appreciative of your concern to the future of our country and your patriotism.
India is a Cauldron of innumerable surprises. It metamorphoses into some thing as intriguing anew to Indians itself who discover new perspectives on it everyday.You need not fret or be apprehensive on its fate.
Indeed our country faces numerous challenges,but lest we forger we have faced challenges and have overcome.Whenever our nation's soul was threatened great men and women have stood to defend it.
I would end by quoting the verse of the Ramayana:
जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी
-"Mother and the motherland are superior to the Heaven." (loose translation)
I am confident India will be a success.It will set an example for high values ,technological achievement,culture,religion,vibrancy and prosperity.
Jai Hind.
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why blame Maoists ?they are better than the political dynasty centered politicians and their allies.Maoists never killed many innocents as the political criminals did,or the police officers who fovoured and assisted the political criminals.Maoists are in south asia,and in india people are helping and supporting them much more than before because people lost faith in the govt.to make the govt better no strong opposition,and the govt do anything to be in power. 62 years after freedom,the low casts and the poor are not treated like indians.so first consider the poor and low casts as indians,then boast about the growing india.
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Indian politicians need to take care of real issues, not let unrest fester like this.
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The Indian politicians should find a way to settle a peace deal with the Maoists and then replace the self serving,corrupt and incompetent fools with them.The Maoists will do a far better job helping the poor
and building up the country then these self serving Elitists will.
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On wider issue, there is a sense of unquestioned patriotism among the general public. It is the notion of supporting the Government, Army and Police irrespective of the issue in hand. Questioning the government action is equated to questioning soverignity of the country.
Except in the intellectual sections and centre-left media, no one speaks about the root causes of the issue. The exploitation of the tribals, loss of land, rivers and habitat are hardly mentioned.
If you are not someone popular, Hunger strikes and protest marches are just a waste of time. Violence is the only option left for the tribals.
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It is hard to understand the logic of these naxals. If they are really angry about underdevelopment in tribal and rural areas, what do they plan to gain by fighting against the government? Are they under the impression that they will be able to frighten the states and the union into subission and then these governments will take up development works in the rural hinterlands. Do they believe India's politicians are so gullible or so easily scared that they will accede to their demands. Steeped in corruption and lawlessness since 50 years, the politicians themselves will corrupt the naxals and use them for their own purposes, which is to gain vote share. I believe the same has happened and maybe although the movement was started with noble intentions, it has degenerated into a political game. Rather than attracting investment, the naxals have only succeeded in alienating these rural areas even further. They have become smart and have taken the advantage of lawlessnesses in these areas to impose their own proxy rule and are now sustaining themselves by exploiting the same tribals and ruralfolk who they claim to fight for. They have even succeeded in misguiding these simple folk to fight alongside them against the government using propoganda. It is also quite possible that some neighboring countries have assisted them in destabalizing the country. Now Maoism has simply become an identity for them and their only objective as far as i can see is to preserve their rule over the areas they control and also try their level best to destabilize the country and thereby keep themselves occupied and ensure survival. The whole movement has gone the isamic terrorism way and is simply an excuse to inflict violence on the country. This is quite evidenced by the fact that they do not want to talk to the government or promote peace.
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This shows the importance of a strong centralized government, and highlights the difference between India and China. When the red Chinese swept into power decades ago, it quickly subdued all civil war remnants, warlords, bandits, ethnic rebels, and separatists such as now that there is no organized armed resistance to Government rule today. Where as in India, there is still so much violence and lawlessness and so many rebel and warlord groups. Until India secures its own territories, it will never be more than a regional power. It won't be able to become the model for a populous developing democracy that western nations wants it to be.
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What bothers me most is the life of common people along with those who are indeed given the responsibility to check the attack. It's terrible!!! I belongs to the area where the problem is sustaining and yet emerging as scary over days. I would refrain myself commenting on the politicians as well as the administration based on the fact that they feel it from a well secured position. Rather, my sincere request is to stabilize the area by any mean.
I have a small question: If the country or state is not able to solve such kind of problems, then how do they will maintain the sovereignty of the country when it comes to the security of the country and its people?
I sincerely hope that things need to be resolved at earliest without damaging the life of people and security forces. There may not be no debate why are doing so, rather it's the time to resolve the problem.
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To those who are ranting against the Maoists and baying for their blood, I ask one simple question: do you really believe that by eliminating them you can bring peace and prosperity to Adivasi India? Some of you call the Maoists cowards, criminals, taliban, etc, but you cannot explain why our Great Indian State failed to inspire confidence among a huge bulk of its own population- comprising of the landless rural poor, the jobless urban poor, Adivasis and religious and ethnic minorities.
If we indeed destroy the Maoists, what will happen? The discontent will remain, it may even aggravate, because in the absence of the Maoists the shameless exploitation of Adivasis will only intensify. And this discontent will eventually express itself as criminalization and lumpenization of the Adivasi society. It may even lead to a communal polarization: Adivasi vs non-Adivasi. At that point you will realise the true meaning of the word: "taliban".
To avoid such a catastrophy what we need to do is to at least try and communicate with the Maoists, since they at least have an ideology and a programme (even if we may not agree with them). When an entire community gets criminalized, who would you talk to?
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The problem is independent India ignored the rural poverty and its feudalistic and exploitive attitude towards marginalised tribes man and farmers lead to this civil war. 100% responsibility of this mess belongs to the failed state policies.
Now Indian home minister Mr Chidambaram(who used to work as a lawer for Vedantha, the notorious mining company)using the language of an old fashioned deaf ignorant tyrant!! Chindamabaram's place in history will not be different than Mr George Bush if he continue to be a deaf prick and keep fuelling the death of innocent Indian jawans and hundreds of Indian tribesman.
Nobody agree with the Maoists for their brutal violence. But I hope no one disagree that they are still Indian citizens!! Many sensible Indians already commented on this issue that the state should stop its violence against tribesman and it’s wiping out policy in order to prepare an easy ground for the mining companies. Instead of listening to them merely branded them Maoist sympathisers.
Now the entire 'sophisticated' media anchors and urban folks crying to send missiles to the jungle to finish the 'uncivilized barbarians' from booming modern India. Indian greed and arrogance reached its peak. But don’t think every urban Indian behind you for this brutality and insensitive actions.
There are still enough room for a talk with these people if our government is ready to admit that it made mistakes on the ground level allowing the fatty feudal lords and bureaucrats to exploit its most marginalised citizens, the tribal’s. Re think about its development strategy which was copied from West where people predominantly live only in cities. We live in a modern world and we know that we need resources and development to keep up with rest of the world. But it should not be through the exploitation of these poor marginalised people. We need a new India which is ready to accommodate its entire citizen’s regardless to their class, religion, language and caste. But I don’t think Chidambaram’s contemporary India is on right track.
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We all know that Indian press is all controlled by rich industrialists and aristocrats class and you are a product of this class. You may not be fully free to write impartially for the rights of these poor people in the so called free press in India. Please show some integrity and impartiality when bloging at BBC online and tell the world the real plight of these poor people and what they aew fighting for not criminalise or demonetise them.
These tribal people may be mislead and exploited by India's neighbours to some extent. World knows only hunger and poverty is the main cause and purpose of their struggle here.This could should not be labelled a criminal act in any system of a decent society.
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