Maoism in India

The maoist problem in India has a long history. It is one of those movements which over the years have changed color from a pristine white to a dark shade of black. The roots of the problem lie not in some terrorist movement and neither is it the product of the state funded cross border terrorism. The roots of this problem lie in the Freedom struggle of India. Back in the heydays of the freedom struggle, the naaxals were a band of outlaws in and around the West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa border. They lived in the jungles and made military style guerrilla attacks on the British sponsored East India Company. They were the cowboys, who much like the Robin Hood of fables, took from the rich and gave to the poor. Their ranks were full of idealists and although they did not have a very literate cross-section within them, they made enough idealistic speeches to please the literate factions of the freedom movement. In fact in a lot of sections of society in India, they are still looked upon as the saviors! But the noble nature of the naxal movement became tarnished as the "maoist" problem took shape. After the freedom movement the various factions of the naxals receded into the jungles where the reach of law was poor. They wanted their own world and the lack of a functional police force in recently freed India - afforded them the opportunity to create ranks of foot soldiers from the rural populations.

As India matured as a country - the police force became more and more corrupt (reasons for that will be explored in a later article). This created a general dissatisfaction among most Indians and more so among the rural populations. Their lot was neglected totally in terms of infrastructure development projects and amenities never reached their homes. Moreover the police personnel became like small dictators - brandishing a vile incarnation of the law. They used the law to ruthlessly oppress and exploit the poor rural populations. This lead to a potent breeding ground for