Ardy sent us a link to an excellent story in the Christian Science Monitor on the ongoing conflict with the Naxalites in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
The story is by Mark Sappenfield, who is also briefly interviewed by another reporter at the CSM. Sappenfield was recently in Afghanistan, but he found the mood in Chhattisgarh actually much more depressing:
War zones can take their toll on the outlook of civilians caught in the conflict. Staff writer Mark Sappenfield was only in Chhattisgarh, India, for 10 days, yet he struggled with the dark mental climate there. In India, fighting between Maoist insurgents and Indian security forces has gone on for three decades (see story). He found Chhattisgarh more depressing than Afghanistan.
“In Afghanistan, there remains a fierce pride and strength of will, ” says Mark. “Perhaps these qualities cause their fair share of trouble, but they also produce an iron defiance in the face of the most terrible atrocities – an unyielding resolution to be unbowed.”
“In the jungles of Dantewada district I saw a people utterly broken. Whereas Afghans looked you directly in the eye, chin resolute, the people at the refugee camp had all but conceded, slump-shouldered and speaking softly, staring at nothing.” (link)
The depression amongst villagers is caused partly by displacement: the intensifying conflict has resulted in thousands of tribals coming out of the forest (where the Naxalites operate) to live in government-run camps. The camps aren’t run very well (malnutrition is rampant), and life for many of the people living there seems to have drifted into a kind of limbo: they can’t go home until the fighting ends, and there is no sign of that happening anytime soon. Meanwhile, their entire way of life has been disrupted.
Along similar lines, check out this YouTube video by Neil Katz, an independent reporter who went to one of the camps in Chhattisgarh, and put together an informative video story on it [update: see Neil Katz’s blog here]. One of the issues that comes up in both Katz’s YouTube video and the CSM story is the controversial role played by the Salwa Judum, a government-backed “peace” movement composed of tribals against the Naxalites. But it’s possible that some of the actions of the Salwa Judum — particularly the clearing of tribal villages, and the resettlement of tribals in camps — have actually exacerbated the problem. Also, it’s not clear how “peaceful” this peace movement actually is. In the CSM article linked to above, Salwa Judum head Mahendra Karma talks about the organization as a “Gandhian peace movement.” But elsewhere he has called for tribal youth to be trained and armed to fight the Naxalites as a kind of paramilitary force. In my view, this would be a dangerous development.
(Earlier SM post on Maoists/Naxalites here)
Nice post, Amardeep. The Maoist insurgency is one of the more underreported stories from India. This is a threat that has only been expanding.
There were tons of great stories about Salwa Judum in Outlook and Indian Express and the indian press generally in 2005-2006, and everyone saw this coming. Trust the govt morons not to learn from failed experiences with village militia counterinsurgency in Kashmir (and for that matter, from the lessons of Vietnam and Algeria). It’s depressing to see things getting worse.
Speaking of the Naxalite movement, presume y’all have seen Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi?
Both Bihar, U.P and M.P are largely feudal; the early “land to the tiller” movements were hardly successful in these two provinces (M.P being the marginal exception). The state can do little to break the stranglehold of the feudal lords (in in most cases in the local level has in fact been ‘captured’ by these elements). In many respects the insurgency is the only hope that the tribals and the lowest castes have. Of course, the state at the Center (i.e. federal level) can take the moderate position by passing land-reform legislations thereby largely eliminating one basis of maoist support. But this is unlikely to happen, or even if it does at the legislative level, unlikely to be enforced. I think you are looking at a violent revolution in the countryside of these states.
Typo. Excise the “both” in the posting above.
Here’s Neil Katz’s website.
Thanks for covering this Amardeep. Hazaron Khwaishen is an excellent movie centered around the Naxalite movement in 70s Bihar, both for the issues covered and also as a movie itself.
What I found most messed up here is on Pg 3 where he talks about how the villagers are caught between the devil and the sea. If you side with the Govt/Salva Judum you get killed by the Naxals and if you side with the Naxals the Govt harasses you. If you don’t want to get involved, good luck to you!
Interesting story – I knew Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh were large, but didn’t realize the extent of the problem. On the other hand, the CS Monitor article mentions that “…144 people killed in Naxalite-related violence during the first three months of the year…” – that’s less than 600 a year, a relative drop in the bucket in Indian mortality statistics. Not to trivialize the problem, but the government’s approach with Salwa Judum sounds like an overreaction, and they’d be better served by just doing what they should be doing – providing rural India with infrastructure (roads first, water second, etc). That’s how you win “hearts and minds”. But then I guess the US never figured out how to do that either.
PG, yes, but some of the attacks this spring have been particularly brutal. In March, they raided a police station and killed 55 police officers in a single attack.
They’ve also begun to do highly organized raids like this one, catching the military (literally) with their pants down.
Indian Prime minister M. Singh recently said in a speech that the Maoist insurgency is the greatest risk facing India today.
I will find the article and link it if I get a chance.
hate to be pedantic (but at this stage its terminal), but the CISF is not a military organization (it is a para-military organization).
nice post amardeep. Contrary to popular belief the naxals are very active in the southern part of the state. As far as Salwa Judum is concerned, the state might have advertised it as a “Gandhian peace movement”, but its not one by any means. Its disturbing to know that even children are participating in the movement. One of this year’s awardees for the republic day bravery awards for children, Shilpa Janbandhu (15), won the award for her participation in the movement.
I admire her courage and sense of responsibility towards her community, but do we really want children fighting the naxalites? Would she and her family be spared the brunt of naxalite backlash , just because she is a 15 year old girl? I dont think so. Here is a link to an article about the movement
I don’t recall reading articles on the Maoist insurgency in India in Time. Not sure about mags in India. In fact, the insurgency made it to Time’s top ten list of most underreported stories of 2006. Coverage of problems like these is one of the best parts of reading blogs like this one. Thanks, Amardeep.
Preston, thanks for the link. I enjoyed reading about Neil Katz’s dining experiences in Chattisgarh.
Umm… She just attended a Salwa Judum meeting.
Shankar, do you read each and every newspaper/magazine that comes out of India? I have just come back to the US having spent 3 months in Pune, Mahrashtra and I have read atleast 1-2 articles every week on this topic in the local marathi newspapers as well as the indian express. Where the Indian prime minister himself acknowledges publicly that maoist insurgency is the biggest risk facing india right now, how can you say that this has never been talked about? I can surely guarantee you that neither sepia mutiny nor amardeep are the first ones to talk about it…maybe you are the first person to read about this……so dont blame the indian media
Nandini, that’s why I said “Not sure about mags in India.”
However small her contribution/participation might have been, she did get recognised for it on a national level. I guess thats enough to attract attention to her. The question is not about their contribution , but the mere fact that minors are participating in an armed conflict , that too in a state sponsored movement.
That’s the issue. Neither TV Channels nor politicians in Delhi are interested in Chhattisgarh. The situation is such that 200 is the figure of deaths in Naxal-related violence this year, already.
But the media is so obsessed with Mulayam Singh that it would gun for him for each abduction that is counted in Delhi studios. But Raman Singh, the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, is hardly remembered. It is a failed state.
The afghans are a proud, manly, “martial race”; desis in general are not. Whether it is racial or cultural is debatable. Malnutrition probably also plays a role in their broken spirits.
I’ve not got much to comment, but thank you, Amardeep, for posting this.
Prema, do you just make these comments to get off on the reactions?
The truth is that the current dispensation at the centre is shackled (presuming that they have the will) by its own political compulsions. The Naxal problem has to be attacked on both fronts – socio-economic changes and law enforcement, otherwise we will just be left with mouthing platitudes about peace while they take over our villages (something that has already happened in many parts).
The Maoists/Naxalites problem appears to be something that teh government of India is unwilling to face because it means facing the reality of the severe under-devlopment in Maoist dominated areas and failure of the government to provide basics for 2/3 of its citizens.
Add to that the growing links between Maoists in India and in Nepal. Sadly, the Maoists don’t offer much better than the government does to the people they claim to be helping.
Not to trivialize the problem, but the government’s approach with Salwa Judum sounds like an overreaction, and they’d be better served by just doing what they should be doing – providing rural India with infrastructure (roads first, water second, etc).
State administrations have largely failed in most parts of India in bringing basic services to people. It’s of course a lot more acute in remote rural areas. It would have been fine if that (among other things) was what Maoists were fighting for (really, what are they fighting for?). Entire sections of Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, AP and Orissa are or have been terrorised by these groups and state police are either told to look away (as in the case of AP when YSR Reddy first came to power) or are simply no match for naxals (e.g., Orissa). The fatality numbers don’t quite tell the whole story. Jehanabad-style raids have been mounted elsewhere, but don’t get reported widely.
The only problem I have with the Salwa Judum style of counter insurgency operations is, as someone else mentioned, that Salwa Judum ‘cadre’ are lambs to the slaughter. Nothing short of a ruthless nationwide operation is going to bring down the naxals, and that operation will never see the light of the day as long as political outfits have clandestine pacts with naxal leaders.
Actually, Nanda Kishore, the AP state police has now been given a free hand to go after the Naxals. The phase of ‘looking away’ which you referred to, is now over, since this was during the abortive peace talks that YSR Reddy held when he came to power. In any case, the Naxals in AP have been on the backfoot for a long time because most AP administrations have been really diligent in chasing them down. They do occasionally make headlines like that failed attack on Chandrababu Naidu, but for the most part, they just try to avoid getting killed. This, however, is not the case in Orissa/Jharkand, sadly.
Mr.Wise, I agree the situation in is relatively better now, but there are still pockets in Telangana and even in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts where Naxals have strength. YSR’s peace talks were a farce. Crucially, YSR’s political machinations allowed Naxals to regroup when they were being beaten back. Now he’s trying to undo the damage.
Nanda Kishore, you are right about the fact that YSR’s ‘peace talks’ allowed the Naxals to regroup, but perhaps in his defense, you do have to atleast try to talk peace some times. The Naxals have been around for almost 20 years now, and there might be a chance that they are actually interested in peace. I guess he gave it a shot, and the Naxals used this opening to their advantage. And as for the pockets in Telengana, etc that you mentioned, there are other reasons why the Naxals still have some support there.
Most of the people when come to such issues try to gather information from foreign/so called indian intellectual elite sources who have neither have been there or have a just outsider experience. The first thing these Naxalites do after entering into a village is attack on the religious book and enforcing folks to eat nonveg food. There is a strong element of christian misionaries backing the naxalite movement same as they are doing in North- East (Nagaland,Manipur, Mizoram all tribal groups are getting money from christian missionaries for waging war against India). My sincere request for others is to stop buying readymade fake intellectual information from english media, infact this is the sole reason why these problems are still unsolved. We have to solve our problems by helping our state in development and law/order maintenance and nor by putting them under pressure of human rights issues. Where these human rights activists go when naxalites kill people in row. In fact they are killing poor people and not poverty.