How Should the Indian Democracy Address Naxalism? Is the Indian State’s policy vis-à-vis Naxalism only addressing a symptom?

Perhaps one of the most interesting newspaper articles this year was written in a Hindi publication by a journalist named Subhranshu Choudhary. Translated for thesouthasian into English, it was titled “ Who Will Win – Jayashankar or Naxals?”

The core questions it raises are those of development and empowerment. An increasing part of India today is finding itself unable to generate its livelihoods owing to lack of access to markets or to resources (water, land, low input seeds). Agrarian livelihoods are becoming difficult to sustain and is reflected in the increasing migration, as well as in farmer suicides.

At the same time, these large sections are also feeling disempowered. Between the obduracy and corruption of the bureaucracy, the insensitivity of its representatives and the policies of the government, it finds it has no voice. Examples abound including the weavers of Varanasi, the small agrarian communities in Jharkhand, Andhra, tribal communities dispossessed of their lands in Orissa and disempowered of forest rights and other rights in Chattisgarh and MP.

The Naxal movement presents itself as an alternative to a growing section of India and it increasingly looks like a feasible alternative to these sections, an alternative that claims to be more equal, more grass roots based and more sensitive to the needs of the farmers. The increasing role of caste dynamics as well as the oppression of the landless accentuates the attractiveness of Naxal movements.

It is in such a situation that large sections India find themselves. However, neither the mainstream media, nor the government policy makers are willing to see the growing Naxal presence within this context. It is a mere pest (or perhaps more significant than a pest) that must be crushed. In fact, certain sections have even attributed the Naxal movement with being an extension of foreign forces intent on destabilizing India.

Be as it may, as far as this growing community in India is concerned, with no voice or means to reach out to policy makers who are destroying their communities, they find Naxalism an option to empower themselves to live with dignity.

Unless the Indian State and the media recognize this context within which Naxalism is finding space to grow, its policies are in fact pushing more and more communities towards making that choice.

Perhaps, the choice of whether Jayshankar (representing social and civic movements based on nonviolence) will win or the Naxals is really in the hands of the Indian policy makers, the media and perhaps even the middle and upper classes.

-Sanat Mohanty

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Posted by collective at June 25, 2006 09:44 PM