Passionate About India

Every time Naxalites strike, the state wakes up to the problem of their menace. Yes, it’s true that today, the actions of Naxalites are looking similar to those of terrorists and I have often condemned their actions in the past. And in a democracy, such killings can’t be justified. Yet, let’s get into some facts. In Chattisgarh, more people get killed of hunger and curable diseases than gunfights. That’s actually putting it mildly. Forget hunger and the poor, more state CRPF jawans posted in the region get killed by mosquito bites than by Maoists! Yes, that’s the irony. In the last few years, more have died of malaria than have been killed on duty. These figures do tell a big story. Of course, on one hand it tells the pitiable story of our CRPF jawans. The other side of the story is the story of India’s reality today. The story of how we neglect about 60 percent of our population and condemn them to die of hunger, curable diseases and mosquito bites. That’s roughly about 650 milli...

Although the Naxalite movement today has grown to become one of the biggest threats to our internal security, I would not blame the Naxals completely for this current predicament. And I have my reasons for the same. A movement that started as a class struggle in Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, in the late 60s, has now spread over the entire country. If observed carefully, this movement has strategically spread to those rural hinterlands, which have been completely cut off from any form of economic development. Naxalism has spread like a wildfire in those areas of Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, which are completely cut off from mainstream India. Lack of development coupled with years of negligence and oppression have further added to the Naxalite struggle. So much so that today, thousands of young men and women, mostly tribal, have joined the movement because that is the only recourse left for them to lead a very basic dignified life – a life...