The Naxalite movement, inspired by Mao Tse-tung thought, erupted in India in May 1967 in the form of peasant occupation of landlords’ land in the Naxalbari bloc of the West Bengal state. Within months, the influence of the movement spread to rural areas of many other states in India. This culminated in another split in India’s communist movement with the launch of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) in April 1969. The movement caught the imagination of idealistic youth and students in many urban areas. The Indian state managed to crush the movement militarily by the mid 1970s. However, it soon resurfaced and developed such a strong base among the tribal communities in India that in 2006, the Indian prime minister characterised it as India’s single biggest internal security threat. It stands in limbo at the moment – it does not have the capability to overthrow the Indian state but has a sufficient military and social base to resist the state’s attempts to crush it.
Singh, Pritam
Faculty of Business\Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics
Year of publication: 2016Date of RADAR deposit: 2017-06-19