Left-Wing Extremism: Origins, Spread and the Government Response

Origins

Left-wing extremism (LWE), often called Naxalism, began with the Naxalbari uprising (1967) in Darjeeling district, West Bengal. Peasants led by Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal rose against landlords.

Ideology: inspired by Maoism, LWE seeks to overthrow the state through protracted people's war, building base areas in rural regions.

Evolution:

• CPI(ML) was formed in 1969, then splintered into many groups;
• the People's War Group (Andhra Pradesh) and the Maoist Communist Centre (Bihar) were the main strands;
• the two merged in 2004 to form the CPI (Maoist), which was banned under the UAPA in 2009.

Root causes

Socio-economic:

• land alienation of tribals and the poor;
• failure of land reforms;
• displacement by dams, mines and industry without fair rehabilitation;
• forest rights denied, with tribals treated as encroachers;
• poverty, illiteracy and poor health;
• exploitation by moneylenders, contractors and forest officials.

Governance:

• a governance deficit in remote forest areas, where schools, health centres, roads and administration are absent;
• PESA 1996 poorly implemented;
• corruption;
• heavy-handed policing.

Geography: dense forests and hilly terrain, such as Dandakaranya and Abujhmarh, support guerrilla warfare. Inter-state borders are hard to police.

As the Planning Commission's Expert Group (Bandyopadhyay committee, 2008) observed, LWE grows where development and governance are absent. The Prime Minister called it the "single biggest internal security challenge" in 2006.

Spread and decline

The Red Corridor at its peak (around 2010) covered about 180+ districts across states from Andhra Pradesh to Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

Decline:

• violent incidents fell by over 70% from the 2010 peak, and deaths of security forces and civilians fell sharply;
• the number of LWE-affected districts has been reduced; MHA lists were cut several times, to about 38 in 2024 and fewer in 2025;
• most affected districts are now concentrated in Chhattisgarh (Bijapur, Sukma, Narayanpur, Dantewada), plus parts of Jharkhand, Odisha and Maharashtra (Gadchiroli).

The government has announced the goal of eliminating LWE by March 2026. In 2025, security forces reported major operations, including the killing of the CPI (Maoist) general secretary in Abujhmarh in May 2025, along with a wave of surrenders.

Verify the current district count and status, as these change fast.

Major incidents

• the Dantewada ambush (April 2010), in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed, the deadliest;
• the Jhiram Ghati attack (2013), which killed senior Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh;
• the Sukma–Bijapur ambush (April 2021);
• the Dantewada IED blast (April 2023).

Government strategy

The National Policy and Action Plan (2015) takes a multi-pronged approach combining security, development, ensuring the rights and entitlements of local communities, and perception management.

Security measures:

• CAPF deployment, with CRPF in the lead, including CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, raised in 2008);
• state special forces such as Andhra Pradesh's Greyhounds (a model of success) and Chhattisgarh's District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Bastariya battalion, which recruit locally;
• fortified police stations;
• the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme;
• the Special Infrastructure Scheme;
• intelligence sharing;
• forward operating bases in core areas.

SAMADHAN doctrine (2017):

• Smart leadership
• Aggressive strategy
• Motivation and training
• Actionable intelligence
• Dashboard-based KPIs and KRAs
• Harnessing technology
• Action plan for each theatre
• No access to financing

Development measures:

• the Special Central Assistance for the most affected districts;
• Road Requirement Plans (RRP-I and II) and the Road Connectivity Project for LWE areas;
• mobile towers (over 10,000 under the LWE mobile scheme);
• Eklavya Model Residential Schools;
• Skill Development centres (ITIs);
• banking and post office expansion;
• the Aspirational Districts Programme.

Rights-based measures:

• Forest Rights Act 2006;
• PESA;
• land records;
• tribal welfare.

Surrender and rehabilitation policies offer cash incentives, training and housing. Choking finances involves the NIA and ED acting against levies extorted from contractors and mining.

Debate: what has worked?

Combined approach: both security dominance and development have contributed. Roads and towers have penetrated former "liberated zones", and the movement has lost cadres and ideological appeal.

Concerns:

• human rights issues, including Salwa Judum, which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in Nandini Sundar v. State of Chhattisgarh (2011) for arming tribal Special Police Officers;
• fake encounter allegations;
• arrests of activists;
• risks for tribal civilians caught in the crossfire.

Sustainability: lasting peace depends on governance filling the vacuum, with land and forest rights, fair mining royalties to local communities (District Mineral Foundations) and responsive administration.

Common prelims traps

• Naxalbari is in West Bengal (Darjeeling district), and the uprising was in 1967.
• CPI (Maoist) was formed by a 2004 merger and banned in 2009.
• SAMADHAN is the 2017 MHA doctrine. CoBRA is a CRPF unit.
• Salwa Judum was struck down in 2011.

Quick self-test

1. *Why is PESA relevant to LWE?* It empowers gram sabhas over land and resources in Scheduled Areas, addressing the alienation that Maoists exploit.
2. *What does "No access to financing" in SAMADHAN mean?* Cutting extortion and levies, the movement's lifeblood.
3. *Why are locally recruited forces effective?* They know the terrain, the language and the communities.

Practice: Mains question

*"Left-wing extremism is a governance deficit challenge more than a law-and-order problem." Critically examine in the light of the recent decline in Maoist violence. (250 words)*

Key terms

• Protracted people's war: the Maoist strategy of building rural base areas, encircling the cities and seizing power over decades.
• Liberated zone: an area where the state's presence has been driven out and the insurgents run a parallel administration (Janatana Sarkar).
• Urban networks: frontal organisations that support the movement in cities through propaganda, recruitment and legal aid. The term is contested, and arrests in such cases, such as Bhima Koregaon, have drawn civil liberties criticism.
• Levy: extortion from contractors, traders and mining firms, the main source of finance.
• Area domination: sustained security presence that denies insurgents freedom of movement.

Analysis: lessons from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Undivided Andhra Pradesh was once the heart of the People's War Group. It largely eliminated LWE through:

• a specialised, well-paid and well-trained force, the Greyhounds;
• a strong Special Intelligence Branch;
• good police leadership;
• surrender packages;
• sustained development (roads, welfare schemes) in tribal areas.

The cadres moved to the forests of Chhattisgarh, which shows the need for inter-state coordination. Chhattisgarh's later gains came from:

• locally recruited DRG units with knowledge of the language and terrain;
• a dense network of forward camps;
• roads pushed into Abujhmarh.

Analysts warn that if post-conflict governance fails, grievances can revive. The fruits of mining in Bastar must reach local tribals, rights under the FRA and PESA must be honoured, and security operations must avoid alienating civilians.

Practice: additional question

*Evaluate the role of development interventions such as roads and mobile connectivity in countering left-wing extremism. (150 words)*

Answer-writing tip: structure LWE answers as causes, then state response (security, development and rights), then outcomes with data, then remaining challenges and a way forward. Cite the 2015 National Policy, SAMADHAN, PESA and the FRA, and one example of success, such as the Greyhounds or the DRG.