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TAMIL NADU NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL

This Project on Sociology I Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of B.A. LL.B (Hons.)

I Semester

TOPIC:
MAOIST VIOLENCE IN JHARKHAND
SUBMITTED ON: JANUARY 22, 2014

SUBMITTED TO:

SUBMITTED BY:

PROF. KANNAN

KUMAR NISCHAY
ROLL NO

(80)

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acknowledgement
I have been taught the subject of sociology by our Respected Professor,
Prof. Kannan who helped us all through the accomplishment of this
project. I would like to thank my teachers who helped me to gain
resources through various sources through which I could give the final
shape to this project. He not only provided me a platform but also guided
me at all levels.
I would also like to thank my friends and library staff who helped me in
providing the books and certain research papers for the completion of this
project.

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Table of contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Factual Case
1.2 Need for this paper
2. Origin of Maoism in Jharkhand
2.1 brief general background
3. Review of Literature.
3.1 Collect the material.
3.2 Research paper
3.3 Why this paper is different other research papers
3.4 Theory building
4. Profile of what I have done
5. List of massacre and the activities done by the Maoist
6.
7.
8.
9.

till 2013.(in Jharkhand)

What do the Maoists want to achieve.
How the government can reduce this threat.
Conclusion
References

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Introduction

The project titled maoist violence in Jharkhand deals basically with

the maoist activities in Jharkhand. Maoist has been defined as the biggest
internal security threat by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The maoist
have led to an internal war within the country. This research paper would
give a clear cut idea about the maoist activities during the following days
and the reasons for this violence which is spread throughout in India by
their activities.
1.1 Factual case:The Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) 1 and the
Communist Party of India, Marxist Leninist (Peoples War) come within the
united formation, the Communist Party of India (CPI Maoist), in
September 2004. The Maoist movement has been started in India in late
1960, after some section of political workers have their connection off
from Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) because they felt the CPIM
party and other such parties like CPI, RSP, etc. had discredited themselves
with the opportunist politics of placating and compromising with the rich.
The movement has been developed gradually with time. The present
party CPI (Maoist) came into existence in 2004 by merger of number of
fraternal organisation. In their party programme 2, Maoist characterizes the
postcolonial Indian state as a reactionary and autocratic and seeks a
worker peasant alliances to overthrow imperialism, feudalism and
capitalism via an armed revolutionary struggle. The CPI (Maoist) politburo,
which constitutes its ideological leadership, is thus supported by an
underground Peoples Liberation Army.
The CPI (Maoist) is active mostly in eastern and central India where
human development ranks is the least; the area is forest cover and
rugged terrain which help the Maoists to facilitate guerrilla tactics and
protracted low-intensity insurgency, According to the Indian prime
minister, Maoist rebels pose the greatest internal security threat to India
since independence. In reality, Maoist comrades are estimated to be
around 10,000 to 40,000 in a country of nearly 1.2 billion populations; this
no does not include the people who are the supporters of the rebels (non
combats). These thinly spread groups are active chiefly in the area what
1 The outfit was earlier known as the MCC before merger with the Punjab-based
Naxalite group, the Revolutionary Communist Centre of India (Maoist), RCCI (M)
2 http://www.bannedthought.net/India/CPI-Maoist-Docs/Founding/Programmepamphlet.pdf

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journalists and scholars call as the Red Corridor, running from the
Nepalese border through the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal,
Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. In these areas, the elections are
held very frequently and state and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) actively participate in rural development. Since 2005-06, the state
government has deployed paramilitary forces along with the state police
to combat with these Maoists guerrillas but this act of government yield
nothing except violence and bloodshed. Shared sovereignty is thus the
norm, not the exception, as in other insurgent zones in India such as
Kashmir and the north-eastern frontier. This state of affairs also suggests
that the everyday realities of Indian Maoism are somewhat different from
its ideological self-image as a vanguardist revolutionary move. The
unification of the Maoists has led to a new phase of the Naxalite
movement; it has also been influenced by the over helming success of
Maoism in Nepal and activities of several front organizations in the last
few years.3
1.2Need for this paper:There has been an attempt in this research paper to map the
trajectory of Naxalite movement in Jharkhand in keeping in minds about
the current developments, historical experience and complex interplay of
factors that have shaped the course of the movement. The research paper
argues that the course of the Naxalite movement in this State would
depend, to a great extent, on how it manages contradictions emerging out
of complex interplay of the ideological commitment and various factors
that have influenced the behaviour of these groups at the grassroots
level.
From last one decade there has been continues struggle between
the Maoists and paramilitary forces, many lives has been gone many
innocents have been killed but no one cares about this bloodshed. No one
has ever tried to know the reason behind all these activities, and if they
are known then also they are being known by few peoples only. If few
killed are on one side then some has to die from the other side also. This
is the only policy which is being followed from the last decade. This
project has all the reasons behind that violence along with some
3 Statement in Parliament by the Union Minister of State for Home on December
14, 2004. See, Maoist violence claims 518 lives:
Jaiswal,http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID= IEP20041214093514
&Page=P&Title=States Topic=0&. Also see, Annual Report 2003-04, Ministry of
Home Affairs, Government of India, at http://www.mha.nic.in/AR0304-Eng.pdf

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suggested way to tackle this problem. The project also deals with the no
of causalities that has happened in last few year.

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2.

Origin of Maoism in Jharkhand

2.1 Brief general background:The origins of revolutionary Marxism in India, particularly its Maoist
avatar, are typically traced to 1967, when the radical left split from the
CPI (Marxist). In May 1967, the revolutionaries who later formed the new
CPI (Marxist-Leninist, M-L) supported a local peasant uprising in the village
of Naxalbari in the Himalayan foothills of north Bengal. The CPI (M-L) thus
came to be popularly known as Naxalites or simply Naxals. Inspired by
the Revolutionary writings of Mao Zedong, the Naxalites selectively
targeted rich peasants or Kulaks in the countryside and bourgeois
representatives of the comprador state, and endeavoured to mobilize
rural masses to encircle major cities such as Delhi and Kolkata and
eventually seize power. They tapped into widespread disillusionment,
especially among students and intellectuals, with the postcolonial regime
dominated by the Congress party.
By 1970, hundreds of young men and women from the countrys
most prestigious universities had joined the movement to fight for their
peasant and proletarian comrades. Urban middle class and invariably
upper caste activists thus made common cause with the struggles of
subalterns, particularly peasants in eastern and central India, whose
interests had been betrayed by Congress nationalists towards the end of
the anti-colonial movement. From its epicentre in West Bengal, the
Naxalite movement spread initially to the neighbouring states of Bihar and
Orissa, and then, up the northern plains to Uttar Pradesh and Punjab as
well as West wards to Maharashtra and southwards to Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
While there were other naxalite groups opposed to CPI (ML) in
Andhra Pradesh, Naxalbari movement led by CPI (ML) spread to
Srikakulamand North Telangana districts of AP by 1971. The Andhra
Committee split away from CPI-ML, became the Peoples War group (PWG)
led by Kondapalli Seetharamiah in 1976, which formed CPI (ML) Peoples
War group (PWG) in 1980. They decided to persist in armed struggle and
during1980-85, the party formed armed squads (Dalams). It spread its
area of operation to other States. It indulged in attacks on the police,
kidnapping, extortions, killing of civilians and political leaders. Its strength
kept increasing, though ups and downs. Seetharamaiah was expelled from
the party in 1991 due to ideological differences and Muppala Laxman Rao,
also known as Ganapathi, emerged as PWGs leader. Guerrilla Zones were
formed in North Telangana and Dandakaranya. In 1998 CPI (ML) Party

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Unity, based in Jehenabad, Bihar, merged with PWG. Peoples Guerrilla

Army was formed in 2000. PWG had spread their area of activities to
through contiguous forest and hilly areas of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jharkhand. In 2002 Tactical Counter
Offensive was launched by the party by forming striking forces.
Meanwhile, the Dakshin Desh group had broken away from CPI-M in 1968
and became the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) in October 1969. It
indulged in squad activities mainly in forest and mountainous regions of
West Bengal (WB) and spread to undivided Bihar. Later on, it became
Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI). On September 21, 2004 when
PWG merged with MCCI to form Communist Party of India (Maoist) (CPI
Maoist), Muppala Laxman Rao, aka Ganapathi, became it General
Secretary.

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3.

Review of literature

This project has been carried using empirical method data of collection.
The source used is primarily secondary in nature. It makes the use of
abundant literature in form of books renowned authorship, journals of
prestigious institution, newspapers of public credibility and authoritative
internet sources.
3.1 Collect the Material
Material for this project has been collected from various sources. Chiefly,
reliance has been put on Research papers, and Web sources etc. a
detailed list of all the sources from where the material has been collected
is attached at the last of this project.
3.2 Research paper.
Help from various research papers has been taken in building this project.
Such as papers published by Cambridge University press, Orient Journal of
law and social science, times of India article and reports of BBC etc.
3.3 Why this paper is different from other research papers
This project has been carried out extensive review of the present by
studying the literature available. This work has been explained, at length
exact scenario the fatalities caused by the Maoists activities. At last in
conclusion I have come to some suggestion that effective and practical in
nature. Hence in this way this project makes a small but valuable in the
knowledge of this topic.
3.4 Theory building
The condition of Jharkhand before 2000 was horrible as the area was
considered as backward and underdeveloped because of the political and
bureaucratic establishment was dominated by officials who were from the
non-tribal areas of Bihar; they did not care for the tribal. It was then
thought that there must be another government which would look after
the tribals and would listen to their legitimate grievances. But the
successive government have failed and it led to expansion of naxalism.

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Indeed, it seems that the creation of Jharkhand has helped the Naxalites
consolidate their roots in the region. At present, the worst affected
districts are: Chatra, Palamu, Garhwa, Giridih, Latehar, Gumla, Ranchi,
Hazaribagh, Lohardaga and Bokaro. Jharkhand, as the name itself suggest
it is an area which is covered with a dense forest over large parts of the
State, it offers favourable conditions for the Naxalites to operate and build
their bases. The Naxalites have also spread their roots in areas bordering
Orissa and West Bengal and have been responsible, to a substantial
measure, for escalation of Naxalite violence in the neighbouring States.
Taking advantage of poor coordination and weak enforcement of law and
order between two States, the Naxalites commit crime in one State and
slip into the borders of neighbouring states without any resistance.
Annual Fatalities in Naxalite violence in Bihar and Jharkhand4
State

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Jharkha

200

157

117

150

96

94

120

163

217

111

117

127

155

106

40

49

71

78

nd
Bihar

Indeed while overall Maoist has declined dramatically across the

country, the decline in Jharkhand has been the least. According to Union
ministry of Home Affair (MHA) data, total fatalities in Jharkhand declined
by14 percent, from 198 in 2011 to 169 in 2012.
The Communist Party of India, Marxist-Leninist (People's War) and the
Communist Party of India (Maoist) CPI-Maoist Both the groups have been
the most powerful ones, accounting for about 88 percent of the
countrywide Naxalite violence and 90 percent of the resultant deaths5

4 http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/India/Maoist/datasheet....
5 Annual Report 2011-12, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, at
http://www.mha.nic.in/AR01112-Eng.pdf

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Profile of what I have done

Here in this research paper i have given a brief detail about the activities
of Maoists and reasons for doing these activities. The history of these
rebels along with the suggested ways to suppress these rebels is also
given in the papers. Tables and charts are being provide to
Have a better understanding of the paper. Footnotes along with some
books are being given to get accessed to more information where it is
required. It is also mentioned about the source and the URLs from where
the information has been collected so that the reader could be able to
take more informations wherever he requires.

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5. List of massacre and the activities done by the Maoist till

2013.
1. On 2 December 2006 BBC has reported that at least 14 Indian
policemen are killed by the Maoists in a landmine ambush near the
town of Bokaro, which is at least 80 miles from Ranchi, the capital
of the State of Jharkhand. 6 A group of officers died when they were
on a routine patrol when the powerful blast occurred on a dirt road
off a dense forest, M.S. Bhatia, he was the SSP of Ranchi at that
time, and he gave this report to a news channel.
2. On 4 March 2007 Maoist shot dead a member of the parliament
(Sunil Mahato) of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) party
from Jharkhand state.
3. On 16 July 2008 a landmine hit a police van in Malkangiri district,
killing 21 policemen
4. On 22 May 2009 Naxalite guerrillas ambushed a police party, after
luring it into the jungles of Gadchiroli district to investigate a
roadblock, killing 16 policemen.
5. On 10 June 2009 nine policemen including paramilitary jawans and a
CRPF officer were killed in a Naxalite attack while on routine patrol
in what is considered to be a rebel-stronghold area deep in the
Saranda jungle. Sudhir Kumar Jha, superintendent of police said:
"As Naxalites are aware of the topography and knew that the
convoy would have to return through the same spot, they had
planted a powerful can-bomb and ambushed the police vehicle. 7 The
policemen died in a landmine blast that ripped apart their vehicle
while the CRPF inspector, who was part of the convoy on routine
patrol, was shot in the head.
6. On 13 June 2009 Naxalites launched two daylight attacks in and
around a small town close to Bokaro, killing 10 policemen and
injuring several others using landmines and bombs. Two Naxalite
guerrillas were also injured.8 The attack in Phusro town, 45 km from
Bokaro, began around midday when policemen from Bermo police
station were escorting a van carrying a Damodar Valley Corp

6 Maoists' kill 14 Indian police', BBC, 2 December 2006

7 Kumud Jenamani (11 June 2009). "The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Nation |
Cops killed". Calcutta, India: Telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 13 July 2009
8 Divy Khare (13 June 2009). "Naxalites strike again, kills 10 cops in Jharkhand India - NEWS - The Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 July 2009.

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remittance of Rs 14 lakh to the State Bank of India branch located in

the busy market area.
7. On 16 June 2009 4 policemen were killed and 2 others seriously
injured when Maoists ambushed them at Beherakhand in
Palamau district. Reportedly the guerrillas were waiting inside the
deep jungles and started firing indiscriminately as the policemen
went past them, killing four of them on the spot. 9 The security forces
were on a long-range patrolling, when the ultras attacked them near
a village in Manatu area, about 200 km from Ranchi, Deputy
Inspector General of Police gave this report to media at that time.
8. On 23 June 2009 during a 48-hour Bandh orchestrated by the
Naxalites in protest against intensified paramilitary activity in
Langargh a group of motorcycle borne armed Naxal rebels opened
fire at the Lakhisarai district court premises in Bihar and freed four
of their comrades. One of the four rescued was Ghaskar Marandi,
who is the zonal commander of Ranchi 10. On the same day the
Indian government banned the Communist Party of India
(Maoist). Many including the Left Front oppose the ban arguing
that "there is a requirement to bring all such outfits back into the
mainstream politically."11
9. On 6 October 2009 the body of the police man whome they have
kidnapped was found in Jharkhand, was found.12
10.
On 30 April 2010 2 lorry drivers were dragged out from
their truck and shot dead.13
11.
A 16-year old girl who escaped from the Maoist camp
was raped by the Maoists.14
12.
On 18 February 2010 Maoists kidnapped a doctor from
9 "South Asia | Indian police killed by 'Maoist". BBC News. 21 June 2009.
Retrieved 13 July 2009
10 "Lakhisarai : Naxals attack to free comrades | Bihar News". Jai Bihar. 23 June
2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
11 "Associated Press of Pakistan (Pakistans Premier NEWS Agency) - Communist
Party of India (Maoist) declared terrorist organization". App.com.pk. Retrieved 13
July 2009
12 "Maoists kill kidnapped policeman". BBC News. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 25
May 2010
13 Maoist mayhem continues, two fall prey to rebels in Jharkhand. YouTube

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his house and shot him as they supposed him to be an

informer of police. They also threatened the villagers that
they would have to face a similar consequence if they would
be an informer of police.15
13.
On 11th January 2013 Maoist killed 10 jawans in an
insurgent operation which was against them in lathehar
district. After killing them they inserted bomb inside their
abdomen by removing their vital organs like intestine and
spleen to create cavity inside their stomach. The stitching
was done precisely that it was not easy to recognise it. NSG
team was called diffuse the bomb. The cop in whose body the
bomb was inserted, his name was Babulal Patel.16

Incidents of attack on economic targeted by LWE extremist in

Jharkhand from 2008-2012.
2008

2009

2010

2011

Railway

17

13

10

Telephone

10

14

Pole transmission

Panchayatbhawan

Mining

School building

37

exchange

Source: MHA

14 Jharkhand girl raped for fleeing Maoists'camp. News.oneindia.in (1 May 2010).

15 Maoists kill doc for being police informer. Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
(18 February 2010)
16 Maoists plant bomb in CRPF jawan's body - The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com

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6. What do the Maoists want to achieve 17

The Maoists want the following changes.
1. Land to the poor landless labours and destruction of
landlord class.
About 60% of the Indian population is dependent on agriculture.
However the primary input the land is concentrated in the hands of
only few landlords and rich farmers. The elite villagers have been
blocked from using their own land by the corrupt practices of the
politician and the bureaucrats. (Source NSS report). In last four
decades the percentage of household from has increased from 60%
to 80%. The Maoists revolutionary want to change this for equitable
distribution of land.
2. Freedom from moneylenders and traders.
Public rural banks are being closed due to relaxation of government
funds in recent decades. So the villagers are being forced to take
loans from the moneylenders who are generally the landlords. The
landlords give the money to them at high rate of interest and
ultimately the villagers have to work in their farm free of cost. The
BBC news has reported that more than 200,000 farmers have
17 War against Maoists but who are they and what does they want by Rita
khanna .

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committed suicide in India since 1997 under the pressure of such

indebtedness. The Maoists rebels want to change this.
3. End of caste system and eradication of untouchability
It is well known caste system still prevails in India. According to
NCDHR report, on average, 27 atrocities against Dalits take place
every day. The well off landed sections still comes mainly from
upper castes. They use brahminical ideology to keep all other
sections under domination. The Maoists want to break the
stranglehold of upper caste and ensure equal rights for dalits and
adivasis.
4. Freedom from exploitation by foreign multinational and its
local partners.
In the name of development thousands of lands are being to big
business and multinationals. For example in Bastar, Chattisgarh in
the name of Bodh Ghat Dam, tens of thousands of Adivasies are
being forcibely evicted from their land. In Neyamgiri, the land which
is abode of several Dongaria tribes has been multinational Vedanta
group which will completely destroy livelihood of these tribes
affecting more than 20,000 peoples. The state government and the
mainstream parties are mainly supporting these activities. The
Maoists over year has been resisting such plunder.

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7.

How the government can reduce this threat.

A possible reason for this surge in violence in Jharkhand could be
the decision of the Maoist leadership to Strengthen base, while
maintaining a low profile in Chhattisgarh, where security forces are
making inroads in the otherwise impregnable Bastar forests18.
The complexity of the causes of Naxalites problem as well as
its implications both for internal and external reflect a solution that
is multidimensional and calls for synergy between the central
government and the states. In order to comprehensively dissolve
the Naxalite the government should take the help of army but army
will destroy and disengage everything many innocents may die in
their operation and the Naxalite will gain the sympathy of the local
residents and villagers and they will turn more violent. So I think
that in order to overcome this problem the central government and
the states need to cooperate together to solve the internal security
threats and coordinate the implementation of this multi dimensional
approach. Both organisation must complement and support each
others initiatives and strategies.

The government has overall responsibility of mobilising development

but it cannot do without the support of the state. In order to completely
dissolve the Naxalites, the government has to address its root because
this problem has to be dealt in three stages which are as follow.
1. Socio economic development.
The naxalites have their main source of growing is the support
which they get by the poor. These downtrodden people act as the
fuel for growing of these Naxalites. More focus should be put on
these poorer regions economically through initiatives regarding
health education, social welfare and rural and urban development.
Both state and government should ensure that necessary
requirement such as minimum wages, access to land and water
sources initiative must be implemented. If the needs of these
marginalised people are meeting, there will be no discontent to fuel
Naxalites.
2. Dialogue
By opening dialogue, the government can give an opportunity for
the rebels to be a part of political system in a legitimate manner.
They will have to no longer to depend on violence to attain their
18 Naxals/Maoists of Fr. Paul G

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demands. For example in AP concluded that as a result of ceasefire

and dialogue with Maoists in 2004 has reduced the violence to 80
90 %in the region.
3. Military.
This is the main instrument which the government is using to
address the naxalites but as I have explained earlier the use of
military forces alone could make the situation worse. It will make
the people to rally against it the state. It can be used to some
extent to combat against Maoist guerrillas.
4. Governance
In my own opinion to some extent Naxalites insurgency is going on
due to flaw of federal structure because in Jharkhand there is always
political unstablelity. Jharkhand is the state with having the largest
no of time the President rule. This must be avoided by having a
mutual understanding between the parties.

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8.

Conclusion

To conclude, the naxalites problem reflects underlying issue in the

Indian social, economic and political institutions which threatens to
expose India to even more danger from outside forces. While the Naxalite
movement is mainly an internal threat, with globalisation, external and
internal security threats are inextricably linked. There is little evidence,
under the present circumstances, that the present and projected
initiatives by the governments will succeed in neutralising the growing
menace of extremism in these two States. Moreover, the factors that
sustained the movement and pattern of politics remains the same in these
States and if the forces that shaped the course of the Naxalite movement
remain in the control of socio-political and administrative structures of
these States, and Naxalites do not make any positive intervention to alter
them, the recent trends in ideological synergy and resultant upsurge in
violence cannot be interpreted as any fundamental change in the
character of Naxalite groups. The complex and multi faced approach of
solving the naxalite issue also reflects the fact that is the biggest menace
to the Indias security in the future.
At last i would like to say only this that if the problem of these
rebels which Jharkhand and other neighbouring state is facing if is not
solved immediately in the coming near future India is going to face a very
extreme serious threat in all fields of development.

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9.

References
1. Naxalite movement in Bihar and Jharkhand. a journal by Sanjay
Kr. Jha
2. Maoists violence in contemporary India. A journal by Uday
Chandra
3. Naxals/Maoists of Fr. Paul G
4. War against maoist but who are they and what does they want. A
journal by Rita Khanna
5. www.BBC. com/time line of Maoist activity
6. www.newsIndianexpress.com
7. Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com (18 February 2010)