The Maoists in India

Nirmalangshu Mukherji

Description

The Maoists in India delves deep into the decades long battle between the Indian state and Maoist groups - one of the most intractable insurgencies in the developing world.



Nirmalangshu Mukherji uncovers the devastating impact of neoliberalism on India's tribal population, armed aggression by the State, as well as the impact of the armed struggle by the Maoists. Unlike most accounts, Mukherji takes an honest and unflinching look at each of the Maoists’ interventions and critically examines the ideology and programme proposed by their theoreticians and prominent intellectual sympathisers.



By focussing on the Maoists' political philosophy, the extent of their democracy, as well as the roles of intellectuals, Mukherji reaches conclusions about whether their strategy can help to deliver social justice and liberation for India's poor.
Abbreviations

Glossary of Local Terms

Acknowledgement

Introduction

1. Dark Clouds over Dandakaranya

2. Fragile Democracy

3. Role of Intellectuals

4. Arms over People

5. Forms of Resistance

6. Quest for Peace

Appendix I: Interview with Ganapathy

Appendix II: Sanhati Statement on Operation Green Hunt

Notes

References

Index

Sujets

• Political Science
• Asian
• World
• India

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 06 août 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849647564
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Maoists in India

First published 2012 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by
Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Copyright © Nirmalangshu Mukherji 2012
The right of Nirmalangshu Mukherji to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Contents

Abbreviations
Glossary of Local Terms
Acknowledgements

Introduction
1. Dark Clouds over Dandakaranya
2. Fragile Democracy
3. Role of Intellectuals
4. Arms over People
5. Forms of Resistance
6. Quest for Peace

Appendix I: Interview with Ganapathy
Appendix II: Sanhati Statement against the Government of India’s planned military offensive in adivasi-populated regions
Notes
References
Index

MAPS
1. Map of India with States and Union Territories
2. Map of Chhattisgarh with Districts
Abbreviations

AFSPA
Armed Forces Special Powers Act
AICCCR
All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries
APDR
Association of People for Democratic Rights
APSIB
Andhra Pradesh Special Intelligence Branch
COBRA
Commando Battalion for Resolute Action
CPI
Communist Party of India
CPI (Maoist)
Communist Party of India (Maoist)
CPI (ML)
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)
CPM
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
CPN (M)
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
CRPF
Central Reserve Police Force
FRA
Forest Rights Act
IED
Improvised Explosive Device
JKLF
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front
JTSA
Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association
KAMS
Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Samity (Tribal Women’s Revolutionary Front)
LTTE
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam
MCC
Maoist Communist Center of India
MLM
Marxist-Leninist-Maoist
MOU
Memorandum of Understanding
MRD
Ministry of Rural Development
NAPM
National Alliance of People’s Movements
NBA
Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement)
NDA
National Democratic Alliance
NMDC
National Minerals Development Corporation
NREGA
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
OGH
Operation Green Hunt
PCC
Provisional Central Committee
PCPA
People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities
PESA
Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act
PLGA
People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army
POTA
Prevention of Terrorism Act
PUCL
People’s Union of Civil Liberties
PUDR
People’s Union of Democratic Rights
PWG
People’s War Group
RPC
Revolutionary People’s Committee
RSS
Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (National Self-help Organisation)
RTI
Right to Information Act
SEZ
Special Economic Zone
SPO
Special Police Officer
TMC
Trinamool Congress
UAPA
Unlawful Activities Prevention Act
UPA
Union Progressive Alliance
VHP
Viswa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Forum)
Glossary of Local Terms

adivasis
indigenous people, tribals
akhara
place for ritualistic congregation for body-building, sermons etc.
andolan
literally, churning; wide-spread mass movement
Azad Hind
Free India campaign organised by Subhas Chandra Bose by recruiting Indian soldiers from the British armed forces engaged in WWII
Bajrang Dal
most militant forum of Sangh Parivar , devoted to lord Hanuman , the mythological monkey-devotee of lord Rama
bal sangam
children’s association
bidi
local cigarettes made out of tendu leaf
crore
ten million
crorepati
multimillionaire
daal
lentil soup
dalam
literally, a group; in Maoist parlance, a squad of armed guerrillas
dalit
scheduled caste at the bottom of caste-system
Dandakaranya
forests in East-Central India mentioned in mythologies
Ganesha hindu
deity with elephant’s trunk
gram sabha
village council, typically the lowest tier of panchayat
hindu
believer in hinduism broadly speaking
hindutva
literally, doctrines of hinduism; often identified with communalism
jan adalat
people’s court
janatanam sarkar
people’s government
khap panchayat
forum of upper caste landed gentry in some areas of rural North India who dictate terms for maintenance of ‘social order’ based on ‘ancient customs’
khichri
literally, gruel made out of rice and lentils; odd mixture
kumbhmela
six-yearly major hindu festival on the banks of the Ganges
lakh
a hundred thousand
lingayat
a community in Karnataka devoted to lord Shiva
lokayukta
ombudsman appointed by a provincial government
lokpal
proposed national ombudsman, yet to be passed by parliament
mahua
a variety of forest flower used to make local liquor
panchayat
three-tier system of elected rural self-governance
panchayat pradhan
head of a panchayat , typically at district-level
patwari
village-level land revenue official
poha
cooked cereal made with flaked rice
Rama
mythological hero in Ramayana , a hindu epic with many versions
Ranvir Sena
vigilante group organised by big landlords in Bihar to counter Maoists
rupee
local currency; one US dollar equals roughly 50 rupees
safai karmachari
cleaners and janitors
Salwa Judum
tribal vigilante force organised by Chhattisgarh state
sangh parivar
collection of bodies subscribing to hindutva agenda consisting of BJP, RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal , among others
Santhal
specific indigenous people typically located in Eastern India
sarpanch
village-head, typically the chief of village- panchayat
Shiva
vegetables
subzi
Dravidian language spoken mostly in Andhra Pradesh
telegu
plants bearing tobacco leaves
tendu
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements

Some of the material included here appeared in various anthologies (Habib, 2007; Dec.13, 2006); in journals and newspapers Economic and Political Weekly , Indian Social Science Review , Indian Express , Mainstream , Revolutionary Democracy , and Red Star ; and in online forums ZNet , Outlook , and Kafila . The original items are listed in the references. I have learned much from editorial advice from the concerned editors.
For fairness, I have supported my criticism of Maoists in India with extensive citations from recent Maoist literature – in particular, Ganapathy (2009; 2010a; 2010b) and Azad (2010a; 2010b). These are listed in the references with their site-addresses so that readers can look them up if they so desire. One of these documents (Ganapathy, 2009) is included here, with permission, as an appendix.
I am indebted to many people for helpful discussion and correspondence on the issues covered in this work: Mahtab Alam, Swami Agnivesh, Amiya Bagchi, Sourin Bhattacharya, Akeel Bilgrami, Ramratan Chatterjee, Anuradha Chenoy, Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Noam Chomsky, Subhransu Choudhury, Biswabasu Das, Probal Dasgupta, Amiya Deb, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Anuradha Ghosh, Hiren Gohain, Abhijit Guha, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Javed Iqbal, Ali Javed, Sanjay Kak, Poonam Kaushik, Kavita Krishnan, Rimina Mohapatra, Nivedita Menon, Radhika Menon, Subodh Mitra, Gautam Mody, Bijoy Mukherjee, Aditya Nigam, Pratyush Nilotpal, Rahul Pandita, Prabhat Patnaik, Utsa Patnaik, Justin Podur, Vijay Prashad, Badri Raina, K. N. Ramachandran, Dunu Roy, Rajat Roy, Tapas Ranjan Saha, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, P. K. Shahi, Dilip Simeon, Nandini Sundar, and Vijay Singh, among others. A special word of thanks to Rimina Mohapatra for organising the maps in Chapter 1.
I have also learned much from several incisive reports on the manuscript commissioned by the publisher. David Castle and the editorial team at Pluto Press made many helpful suggestions that, as well as sharpening the argument, made the book more accessible to a wider international audience. Needless to say, not everyone agrees with my evidence, analysis and proposals.
Introduction

The word tribal is used in the title of this book for familiarity. The indigenous people of India are commonly called adivasis , ‘ancient inhabitants’, in many Indian languages; it does not have the covert racist tone that the English word tribal has come to acquire. Gandhi called them girijans , ‘hill people’, which is inaccurate. From now onwards, I will use the word adivasi to denote my topic.
In this work, adivasi s are viewed as (Indian) citizens, period. They are not discussed in terms of their ancient culture, what they worship, and other forms of ‘ethnic’ distinction. There is no separate call to ‘protect’ their unique identity or to ‘preserve’ their special habitat. The ‘sociology’ and ‘anthropology’ of adivasi s are not my topics. Adivasi s are discussed because they are under attack by the Indian state and an insurgent group. Their democratic rights including right to livelihood – which they share with all people independently of ethnic categories – are seriously threatened in the context of an unfolding insurgency launched by the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
A Maoist party may be formally viewed as a communist organisation that subscribes to the doctrines of Marx, Lenin, and Mao ZeDong (MLM). Given their loyalty to these classical doctrines, Maoist parties typically reject both (post-Stalin) Russian and (post-Mao) Chinese forms of communism. 1 Broad