Maoism in India : reincarnation of ultra-left wing extremism in the twenty-first century

265 Pages·2010·1.701 MB·English

by  Bidyut Chakrabarty, Rajat Kumar Kujur

Maoism in India
The rise of Maoism as one of the organized political movements in India is the out-
come of a historical situation. Both colonialism and the failure of the Indian state to
implement land reforms more stringently in the aftermath of independence resulted
in terrible sufferings of the marginalized, land-dependent sections of society.
Through historical analysis, this book assesses the ideological articulation of the
contemporary ultra-left movement in India, including Maoism which is gradually
expanding in India. The authors provide answers to the following issues: Is Maoism
reflective of the growing disenchantment of the people in the affected areas with
the state? Is it a comment on ‘the distorted development planning’ pursued by
the Indian state? Is this an outcome of the processes of the ‘deepening of demo-
cracy’ in India? Using Orissa as a case study, the book raises questions on India’s
development strategy. The authors argue that Maoism provides critical inputs for
an alternative paradigm of development, relevant for ‘transitional societies’ and
that it is still a powerful ideology for the poorer parts of the world, although its
ideological appeal has declined internationally.
Bidyut Chakrabarty is Professor in Political Science at the University of Delhi,
India.
Rajat Kumar Kujur is Lecturer in Political Science at G.M. College, Sambalpur,
Orissa, India.
Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series
1 Pakistan 7 Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh
Social and cultural A complex web
transformations in a Muslim Ali Riaz
nation
Mohammad A. Qadeer 8 Regionalism in South Asia
Negotiating cooperation,
2 Labor, Democratization and institutional structures
Development in India and Kishore C. Dash
Pakistan
Christopher Candland 9 Federalism, Nationalism and
Development
3 China–India Relations India and the Punjab economy
Contemporary dynamics Pritam Singh
Amardeep Athwal
10 Human Development and Social
4 Madrasas in South Asia Power
Teaching terror? Perspectives from South Asia
Jamal Malik Ananya Mukherjee Reed
5 Labor, Globalization and the 11 The South Asian Diaspora
State Transnational networks and
Workers, women and migrants changing identities
confront neoliberalism Edited by Rajesh Rai and
Edited by Debdas Banerjee and Peter Reeves
Michael Goldfield
12 Pakistan–Japan Relations
6 Indian Literature and Popular Continuity and change in
Cinema economic relations and security
Recasting classics interests
Edited by Heidi R.M. Pauwels Ahmad Rashid Malik
13 Himalayan Frontiers of 18 Water Policy Processes in India
India Discourses of power and
Historical, geo-political and resistance
strategic perspectives Vandana Asthana
K. Warikoo
19 Minority Governments in India
14 India’s Open-Economy The puzzle of elusive majorities
Policy Csaba Nikolenyi
Globalism, rivalry, continuity
Jalal Alamgir 20 The Maoist Insurgency in Nepal
Revolution in the twenty-first
15 The Separatist Conflict in Sri century
Lanka Edited by Mahendra Lawoti and
Terrorism, ethnicity, political Anup K. Pahari
economy
Asoka Bandarage 21 Global Capital and Peripheral
Labour
16 India’s Energy Security The history and political economy
Edited by Ligia Noronha and of plantation workers in India
Anant Sudarshan K. Ravi Raman
17 Globalization and the Middle 22 Maoism in India
Classes in India Reincarnation of ultra-left wing
The social and cultural impact of extremism in the twenty-first
neoliberal reforms century
Ruchira Ganguly-Scrase and Bidyut Chakrabarty and Rajat
Timothy J. Scrase Kumar Kujur

Maoism in India
Reincarnation of ultra-left wing extremism
in the twenty-first century
Bidyut Chakrabarty and
Rajat Kumar Kujur
First published 2010
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2010 Bidyut Chakrabarty and Rajat Kumar Kujur
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data
Chakrabarty, Bidyut, 1958–
Maoism in India: reincarnation of ultra-left wing extremism in the 21st
century / Bidyut Chakrabarty and Rajat Kumar Kujur.
p. cm. — (Routledge contemporary South Asia series; 22)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Left-wing extremists—India—Case studies. 2. Communism—
India—Case studies. 3. Left-wing extremists—India—Orissa. 4.
Communism—India—Orissa. 5. Orissa (India)—Social conditions—21st
century. 6. Orissa (India)—Politics and government—21st century, I. Kujur,
Rajat Kumar. II. Title.
HN690.Z9R317 2009
335.43’450954—dc22 2009018171
ISBN 0-203-86648-7 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-54486-6 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-86648-7 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-54486-3 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-86648-1 (ebk)
Dedicated to those who though abhor ‘violence of the strong and
meek alike’, believe in ‘sacrifice’, ‘justice’ and ‘compassion’

Contents
List of tables xii
Preface and acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
1 Maoism, governance and the red corridor 17
Three important questions 18
Political economy of India as a nation state 19
Planning for development: a panacea or failure? 21
Changing economic horizon 25
Economic reforms and Special Economic Zones (SEZ) 26
Historical continuity 26
The geographic expanse 27
Ramification of ultra-left wing extremism 28
Ideology and its articulation 29
The government responses 30
Orissa as a case study 32
Concluding observations 33
2 Genesis of Maoism in India 38
Roots of Maoism 39
A prelude to the growth of the Naxalite movement in India 40
Assessment of past movements 41
The Naxalbari movement (1969–1972): a review 42
The Naxalbari movement after Charu Majumdar 46
New threads in continuation with the past 47
Communist Party of India ( Marxist-Leninist) Liberation 48
Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) 53
Concluding observations 57