Besieged Childhood and Broken Dreams: Failed Promises of the State and Maoist Movement in India

Abstract

Left-wing extremism, with its emphasis on anti-imperialism, absence of hierarchical and discriminatory social relations and people's revolutionary power, has a long history rooted in peasant and working-class movements seeking to eliminate class distinctions. Decolonization wars in many countries were led by left wing guerrillas; ethnic groups fighting for statehood in many countries, have drawn inspiration from the tactics and political philosophy of left-wing revolutionary leaders such as Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Mao Zedong and Vladimir Lenin. The appeal of left wing extremism did not end with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, or with the liberalization agenda of Deng Xiaoping in China in 1979. In 2006, after a decade of armed conflict, left wing extremists (led by the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists) deposed the monarchy and established people's democracy in Nepal. India, a relatively stable democracy with an overwhelmingly diverse population, has always had considerable sections of its people at the margins of socioeconomic and political life. Some people from these marginalized sections have been inspired by left wing revolutionary ideas and have taken up arms against the state. The Telangana peasant revolt of the early 50s, led by the communists in the state of Andhra Pradesh laid foundations of left wing armed revolution. It was brutally crushed although the ideology continued to attract the youth, peasants and intellectuals. In 1968 a peasant revolt in Naxalbari village in north Bengal, led by Charu Mazumdar, became the precursor to the current Maoist Movement. Although the Naxalbari Movement was again crushed by the might of the state power and its leaders were killed or incarcerated, during the last decade, Naxalbari-inspired Maoists have posed serious challenges to state power and democratic governance in India. The current Maoist Movement in India is an all-out war between the State and some of its own citizens and has claimed significant number of lives since the mid-90s. This war is sustained by the neoliberal agenda of the State that has excluded and marginalized many people with its free market developmental ideology. Nehruvian socialism and public sector enterprise were replaced in the early 90s by a massive neo-liberal market driven economy in all sectors.