Why in news?

Nearly six decades after the Naxalbari uprising, India’s Maoist insurgency is witnessing deep internal rifts and sustained government pressure. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has pledged to end the insurgency by March next year, intensifying state action.

Amid this backdrop, CPI (Maoist) ideological head Mallojula Venugopal Rao has twice urged the group to consider ending armed struggle to save the party. While Rao insists he has support from senior cadres and grassroots members, other leaders strongly rejected his stance, reaffirming commitment to armed rebellion.

The contrasting positions highlight a weakening movement at odds over whether to persist with armed conflict or adapt to survive.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Decline of the Maoist Movement
• The Possible End of the Maoist Insurgency
• Maoist Insurgency: From Naxalbari to Decline (1967–2025)

Decline of the Maoist Movement

• The Maoist movement has been severely weakened by continuous operations of central armed forces and elite state police units.
• Top leaders like former General Secretary Nambala Keshav Rao (Basvaraj) and several Central Committee members have been killed this year, alongside many cadres.
• Maoist strongholds are now restricted to small pockets in Bastar, Dandakaranya, and the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, with dwindling supplies of arms and ammunition.
• Shrinking Recruitment Base
  • Recruitment challenges have deepened the crisis. Non-tribal recruits disappeared over a decade ago, and even tribal youth today are reluctant to join.
  • The growing impact of government welfare schemes, free education, and digital connectivity has reduced the appeal of the Maoist cause.
  • Young people, exposed to modern opportunities, are disinterested in the harsh, uncertain life of a guerrilla fighter.
• Aging Leadership and Surrenders
  • Most surviving Maoist leaders are now elderly and battling serious illnesses.
  • Many find surrendering attractive, given the government’s rehabilitation packages.
  • Several leaders’ wives and partners have already surrendered, reinforcing the trend toward disengagement from armed struggle.
• Ideological Disconnect
  • The inability of Maoist ideology to adapt to social and material changes in its former bastions has eroded its resonance.
  • As tribal communities integrate into mainstream opportunities, the once formidable insurgency now appears to be in irreversible decline.

The Possible End of the Maoist Insurgency

• Despite recent surrender offers from senior Maoist leaders, both the Centre and state governments remain skeptical.
• Past attempts at peace — notably the 2004 talks with Andhra Pradesh under Y. S. Rajashekara Reddy — collapsed quickly due to mistrust, leading to a renewed surge in violence.
• Officials caution that peace overtures may simply be a tactic to buy time and regroup, given the Maoist ideology’s deep commitment to armed struggle.
• Some security officials, however, note a shift in perspective among senior leaders who fear complete annihilation of the movement if current crackdowns continue.
• They believe surrendering and joining the mainstream may now be the only viable path to preserve remnants of the party and its ideology.

Maoist Insurgency: From Naxalbari to Decline (1967–2025)

• The Maoist-Naxal movement began in Naxalbari, West Bengal, on May 18, 1967, when armed peasants attacked landlords and seized land.
• Its ideologue, Charu Mazumdar, framed the “Historic Eight Documents,” calling the Indian state bourgeois and urging a protracted revolutionary war on the model of Mao and Castro.
• The uprising split CPI(M), leading Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal to form CPI(ML) in 1969.
  • CPI(M) had opposed armed struggle.
• However, a strong government crackdown saw leaders killed, arrested, or underground. Mazumdar died in police custody in 1972.
• Spread Beyond Bengal
  • Though it weakened in Bengal, the movement spread to Andhra Pradesh, Srikakulam, and later across central India — Maharashtra, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and parts of Bengal.
  • The leadership became Telugu-dominated, mobilising youth and students, particularly from Warangal’s Regional Engineering College in the 1970s, where many went underground to join the armed struggle.
• Organisational Growth (1980s–2000s)
  • In 1980, Kondapalli Seetaramaiah founded CPI(ML) People’s War, strengthening guerrilla warfare tactics.
  • The Maoists engaged in armed violence, extortion, destruction of infrastructure, and forced recruitment, including of children.
  • The insurgency peaked in the 2000s, with the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (2000) and the formation of CPI(Maoist) in 2004 after merging factions like People’s War and the Maoist Communist Centre.
  • By the late 2000s, left-wing extremism affected nearly 180 districts across 92,000 sq km.
• Government Counter-Offensive and Decline
  • Government strategy combining security operations, development, and community engagement steadily weakened the insurgency.
  • By April 2024, only 38 districts remained affected, of which six were deemed districts of concern.
  • According to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in 2025 alone, 270 Naxalites were killed, 680 arrested, and 1,225 surrendered.
• The Road Ahead
  • After nearly six decades, the Maoist insurgency stands at a crossroads.
  • Once widespread and feared, it is now confined to shrinking strongholds, weakened leadership, and declining recruitment, marking what could be its final chapter.