Explained | Diminishing left-wing extremism rears its head

Naxalites or left-wing extremists (LWEs) carried out one of the deadliest attacks in recent times on security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur on April 3, 2021. Twenty-two security personnel were martyred and 31 reported to have been injured. About 12 naxals were killed and 16 were injured in the encounter with the security forces.

While incidents of overall left-wing extremism have come down over the years, as data suggests, incidents inflicting serious damage or losses continue to be reported. On March 23, five security personnel lost their lives in IED blasts while returning from an anti-naxal operation. In March 2018, an IED blast in Sukma led to the loss of nine CRPF personnel.

“I bow to the sacrifices of our brave security personnel martyred while fighting Maoists in Chhattisgarh,” Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in response to the April 3 attack. “The nation will never forget their valour. My condolences are with their families. We will continue our fight against these enemies of peace & progress. May (the) injured recover soon.”

Moneycontrol looked at the past records of left-wing extremist violence in affected states. Data show that incidents reported over the last decade, ending 2020, have reduced by 70 percent. Likewise, the number of deaths, including civilians and security forces, in these incidents have also come down significantly.

As many as 665 incidents related to LWE violence/attacks were reported from across 10 states, in which 140 civilians, 43 security forces and 103 naxalites were killed. Chhattisgarh is the worst-affected state, reporting 315 or 47 percent of the incidents last year and 61 percent of the deaths (civilians and security forces). Jharkhand is the second-most affected state, accounting for 30 percent of the incidents and 21 percent of the total deaths.

Over the last decade, more than 4,000 (civilians and security personnel) deaths have been reported across the country due to LWE violence. Most of the civilians killed are tribals, often branded as police informers, according to the MHA. “In fact, tribals and the economically underprivileged sections, whose cause the Maoists claim to espouse, have been the biggest victims of the so-called ‘protracted peoples war’ of the CPI (Maoist) against the Indian state,” it states.

As many as 473 LWEs have been killed over the last three years to 2020, and 4,319 have been arrested. There has been a significant decline in LWE violence as well as the geographical spread in the last six years, MHA’s annual report highlights. Districts reporting violence have come down from 76 in 2013 to 53 in 2020. There are 30 most affected districts, of which 13 are in Jharkhand and eight in Chhattisgarh.

The LWE groups hold their allegiance to the Maoist ideology. The movement traces its roots to a small-scale peasant rebellion in a place called Naxalbari in 1967.

In 2004, extremist outfits -- the People’s War (PW), operating in Andhra Pradesh, and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI), in Bihar and adjoining areas, merged to form the CPI (Maoist). Today, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) is the largest and the most violent group in the country, with several off-shoots. All its front organisations and formations have been banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Various developmental measures by the central government has resulted in large LWE cadres shunning the path of violence and returning to the mainstream. “The overall improvement in the LWE scenario can be attributed to greater presence and increased capacity of the security forces across LWE-affected states, better operational strategy and better monitoring of development schemes in affected areas,” states the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) Annual Report 2019-20.

“Amidst increasing reverses, the CPI (Maoist) has been making efforts to expand to new areas along inter-state borders without any significant success,” the annual report states. The naxalites are “planning to expand their area of activities and carve out a base for themselves in the tri-junction of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu,” noted another official document.

Cost of LWE on development

Over the decade ending 2019, Maoists have carried out more than 1,500 attacks on economic infrastructure. However, these have seen a decline over the years.

It is reported that LWE aims to keep locals in their strongholds, away from the mainstream. Schools are attacked as education encourages the spirit of enquiry and provides skills for alternative sources of livelihood. They also inflict damage to infrastructure such as roads and telecom networks to cut off people’s interaction with the mainstream developments in the country.

The central government has taken several steps towards development and capacity building in LWE-affected areas. Under the Special Central Assistance scheme, Rs 2,541.24 crore have been released to the affected states till date to support public infrastructure and services.

The security-related expenditure funds are provided to states on reimbursement claims submitted by them on expenditure incurred for operational purposes and capacity building in LWE-affected districts, the government informed the Lok Sabha, sharing the above data on March 23.