Abstract
The Indian state has been waging a war on adivasis, the aboriginal people who make up about eight percent of India’s population, in Bastar in the state of Chhattisgarh. Bastar is one of the mineral rich regions in the country. To tap into the mineral wealth, the transnational corporations as well as big Indian corporations have signed hundreds of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the government of Chhattisgarh. To execute these MoUs and extract resources, the state has been attempting to remove the adivasis from their land. But, adivasis are not alone; the Maoist revolutionaries are with them. They are resisting together the Indian state’s plans of dispossession and raising a historic slogan “Jal, jangal, jameen” (adivasi rights over water, forest, and land), izzat (self-respect) and adhikar (political power). India’s war on adivasis can only be understood by situating it in the context of neoliberal extractivism and its relationship with transnational corporations, the Indian capitalist class, and the state apparatus. Extractivism is an age-old process that the colonial power used for the expropriation and exploitation of marginalized people and their resources. Although extractive methods and dynamics have changed in the neoliberal age, what remain intact are the ruthless plunder, violence, and the enclosure of the commons. Drawing insights from Nandini Sundar’s, The Burning Forest: India’s War in Bastar (2016), this chapter critically examines the motives and methods of the Indian state’s war on adivasis, alongside the indomitable resistance of adivasi-Maoists.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Liberation, May 1968. Quoted in Samantha Banerjee, India’s Simmering Revolution: The Naxalite Uprising (London: Zed Books, 1984), p. 98.
- 2.
For a detailed account of the history of the movement, see Sankar Ghosh, The Disinherited State. A Study of West Bengal, 1967–1970 (Kolkata: Orient Longman, 1971); Mohan Ram, Maoism in India (Delhi: Vikas, 1971); Bhabani Sen Gupta, Communism in Indian Politics (New York: Columbia University Press, 1972); Biplap Dasgupta, The Naxalite Movement (Bombay: Allied Publishers, 1974); Asish Kumar Roy, The Spring Thunder and After (Kolkata: Minerva, 1975); Rabindra Ray, The Naxalites and Their Ideology (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1988); Pradip Basu (ed.), Discourses on Naxalite Movement, 1967–2009: Insights into Radical Left Politics (Kolkata: Setu Prakashani, 2010); N. Venugopal, Understanding Maoists: Notes of a Participant Observer from Andhra Pradesh (Kolkata: Setu Prakashani, 2013); Banerjee, India’s Simmering Revolution: The Naxalite Uprising.
- 3.
Nandini Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar (New Delhi: Juggernaut Books, 2016).
- 4.
Vivek Chibber, “On the Decline of Class Analysis in South Asian Studies,” Critical Asian Studies 38 (4) (2006), pp. 357–387.
- 5.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar.
- 6.
Roy, The Spring Thunder and After.
- 7.
Chibber, “On the Decline of Class Analysis in South Asian Studies,” p. 379.
- 8.
See Alpa Shah and Dhruv Jain, “Naxalbari at its Golden Jubilee: Fifty Recent Books on the Maoist Movement in India,” Modern Asian Studies Journal (2017); John Harris, “What Is Going on in India’s “Red Corridor”? Questions about India’s Maoist Insurgency—Literature Review.” Pacific Affairs 84 (2) (2011).
- 9.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar.
- 10.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. xv.
- 11.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. xv.
- 12.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 53.
- 13.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 54.
- 14.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 54.
- 15.
People’s War, No. 9 (September 2014). Theoretical Organ of the Central Committee of the CPI (M). http://www.bannedthought.net/India/People’sWar-CPI(Maoist)/PWSPL-9E_Final.pdf.
- 16.
Jan Myrdal, Red Star Over India (Kolkata: Setu Prakashani, 2012).
- 17.
Arundhati Roy, Broken Republic: Three Essays (New Delhi: Penguin Group, 2011).
- 18.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 75.
- 19.
Gautam Navlakha and Aish Gupta, “The Real Divide in Bastar,” Economic and Political Weekly, 44 (33) (2009), p. 23.
- 20.
Alpa Shah, “Eco-incarceration: ‘Walking with the Comrades’,” Economic and Political Weekly 47 (21) (2012).
- 21.
Alpa Shah, “The Tensions over Liberal Citizenship in a Marxist Revolutionary Situation: The Maoists in India,” Critique of Anthropology, 33 (1) (2013), p. 493.
- 22.
See James C. Scott, The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1976).
- 23.
Shah, “The Tensions over Liberal Citizenship in a Marxist Revolutionary Situation: The Maoists in India,” p. 499 (emphasis added).
- 24.
Shah, “The Tensions over Liberal Citizenship in a Marxist Revolutionary Situation: The Maoists in India,” p. 500.
- 25.
Nandini Sundar, “Reflections on Civil Liberties, Citizenship, Adivasi Agency and Maoism: A Response to Alpa Shah,” Critique of Anthropology, 33 (3) (2013), p. 365.
- 26.
Tse-tung, Mao. 1968 [1927]. Notes on Mao Tse-Tung’s “Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan.” Peking: Foreign Language Press.
- 27.
Sundar, “Reflections on Civil Liberties, Citizenship, Adivasi Agency and Maoism: A Response to Alpa Shah,” p. 365.
- 28.
Sundar, “Reflections on Civil Liberties, Citizenship, Adivasi Agency and Maoism: A Response to Alpa Shah,” p. 362.
- 29.
Alpa Shah, “Humaneness and Contradictions: India’s Maoist-inspired Naxalites,” Economic and Political Weekly 52 (21) (2017).
- 30.
Azad, Maoists in India: Writings and Interviews (Hyderabad: Charita Impressions, 2010).
- 31.
For a detailed account of this transformation, see Paani, Janatana Raajyam (People’s State) (Hyderabad: Virasam Publications, 2015).
- 32.
Paani, Janatana Raajyam (People’s State).
- 33.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 74.
- 34.
Paani, Janatana Raajyam (People’s State), p. 73.
- 35.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar; Paani, Janatana Raajyam (People’s State); Myrdal, Red Star Over India.
- 36.
V. I. Lenin, What Is To Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement (New York: International Publishers, 1988 [1902]); Paani, Janatana Raajyam (People’s State).
- 37.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 81.
- 38.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 86.
- 39.
See R. Nagaraj and Motiram Sripad (eds.). The Political Economy of Contemporary India (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
- 40.
Vrinda Grover, “The Adivasi Undertrial, a Prisoner of War: A Study of Undertrial Detainees in South Chattisgarh.” In Deepak Mehta and Rahul Roy (eds.), Contesting Justice in South Asia (New Delhi: Sage India, 2018).
- 41.
Arundhati Roy, Broken Republic: Three Essays (New Delhi: Penguin Group, 2011).
- 42.
Roy, Broken Republic: Three Essays; Paani, Janatana Raajyam (People’s State).
- 43.
Robert Weil, “Is the Torch Passing? The Maoist Revolution in India,” Socialism and Democracy 25 (3) (2011), p. 6.
- 44.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 124.
- 45.
People’s March, Vol. 8, No.7 (July 2007). http://www.bannedthought.net/India/PeoplesMarch/2007/PM2007-07.pdf.
- 46.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 125.
- 47.
Suhas Chakma (ed.). India’s Child Soldiers (New Delhi: Asian Center for Human Rights, 2013).
- 48.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 197.
- 49.
The Supreme Court of India, Nandini Sundar and Others Vs. State of Chhattisgarh, Writ Petition (Civil) No 250 of 2017, p. 4.
- 50.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar.
- 51.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 288.
- 52.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 290.
- 53.
See, for example, K. Balagopal, “Maoist Movement in Andhra Pradesh,” Economic and Political Weekly 26 (2006), pp. 3183–3187.
- 54.
Azad, Maoists in India: Writings and Interviews (Hyderabad: Charita Impressions, 2006), p. 6.
- 55.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 242.
- 56.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 240.
- 57.
See, for example, Samanta Banerjee, India’s Simmering Revolution: The Naxalite Uprising (London: Zed Books, 1984).
- 58.
Azad, Maoists in India: Writings and Interviews, p. 2.
- 59.
Azad, Maoists in India: Writings and Interviews, p. 46.
- 60.
Sundar, The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar, p. 349.
- 61.
Henry Veltmeyer and James Petras, The New Extractivism (London: Zed Books, 2014).
- 62.
Veltmeyer and Petras, The New Extractivism.
- 63.
Louis Althusser, Philosophy of the Encounter. Later Writings, 1978–1987 (London: Verso, 2006), p. 125 (emphasis in the original).
- 64.
Karl Marx, Capital, Vol.1 (London: Penguin Books, 1990), p. 885.
- 65.
Dee Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 2009).
References
Azad. 2010. Maoists in India: Writings and Interviews. Hyderabad: Charita Impressions.
Balagopal, K. 2006. Maoist Movement in Andhra Pradesh. Economic and Political Weekly 26: 3183–3187.
Banerjee, Samanta. 1984. India’s Simmering Revolution: The Naxalite Uprising. London: Zed Books.
Basu, Pradip, ed. 2010. Discourses on Naxalite Movement, 1967–2009: Insights into Radical Left Politics. Kolkata: Setu Prakashani.
Brown, Dee. 2009. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. New York: Sterling Publishing Co.
Chakma, Suhas, ed. 2013. India’s Child Soldiers. New Delhi: Asian Center for Human Rights.
Chibber, Vivek. 2006. On the Decline of Class Analysis in South Asian Studies. Critical Asian Studies 38 (4): 357–387.
Dasgupta, Biplap. 1974. The Naxalite Movement. Bombay: Allied Publishers.
Ghosh, Sankar. 1971. The Disinherited State. A Study of West Bengal, 1967–1970. Kolkata: Orient Longman.
Gilbert, Hila. 1968. “Big Bat” Pourier. Sheridan, Wyoming: Mills Company.
Grover, Vrinda. 2018. The Adivasi Undertrial, a Prisoner of War: A Study of Undertrial Detainees in South Chattisgarh. In Contesting Justice in South Asia, ed. Deepak Mehta and Rahul Roy. New Delhi: Sage Publishing India.
Gupta, Bhabani Sen. 1972. Communism in Indian Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.
Harris, John. 2011. What Is Going on in India’s ‘Red Corridor’? Questions About India’s Maoist Insurgency—Literature Review. Pacific Affairs 84 (2): 309–327.
Kumbamu, Ashok. 2010. Farewell to Imperialism? A Critical Sociological Study of Empire. In Imperialism, Crisis and Class Struggle: The Enduring Verities and Contemporary Face of Capitalism. Essays in Honour of James Petras, ed. Henry Veltmeyer. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers.
Lahiri-Dutt, Kuntala, ed. 2014. The Coal Nation: Histories, Ecologies and Politics of Coal in India. London: Ashgate.
Lave, R. 2012. Neoliberalism and the Production of Environmental Knowledge. Environment and Society: Advances in Research 3: 19–38.
Loeb, Paul Rogat, ed. 2004. The Impossible Will Take a Little While. A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear. New York: Basic Books.
Myrdal, Jan. 2012. Red Star Over India. Kolkata: Setu Prakashani.
Nagaraj, R., and Sripad Motiram, eds. 2017. The Political Economy of Contemporary India. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press.
Navlakha, Gautam, and Aish Gupta. 2009. The Real Divide in Bastar. Economic and Political Weekly 44 (33): 20–23.
Paani. 2015. Janatana Raajyam (People’s State). Hyderabad: Virasam Publications.
Peck, Jamie. 2004. Geography and Public Policy: Constructions of Neoliberalism. Progress in Human Geography 28: 392–405.
People’s March. 2007. Vol. 8, No.7. July. http://www.bannedthought.net/India/PeoplesMarch/2007/PM2007-07.pdf.
People’s War. No. 9. 2014. Theoretical Organ of the Central Committee of the CPI (M). September. http://www.bannedthought.net/India/People’sWar-CPI(Maoist)/PWSPL-9E_Final.pdf.
Ram, Mohan. 1971. Maoism in India. Delhi: Vikas.
Ray, Rabindra. 1988. The Naxalites and Their Ideology. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Roy, Asish Kumar. 1975. The Spring Thunder and After. Kolkata: Minerva.
Roy, Arundhati. 2011. Broken Republic: Three Essays. New Delhi: Penguin Group.
Scott, James C. 1976. The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Shah, Alpa. 2012. Eco-incarceration: ‘Walking with the COMRADES’. Economic and Political Weekly 47 (21): 32–34.
———. 2013. The Tensions over Liberal Citizenship in a Marxist Revolutionary Situation: The Maoists in India. Critique of Anthropology 33 (1): 91–109.
———. 2017. Humaneness and Contradictions: India’s Maoist-Inspired Naxalites. Economic and Political Weekly 52 (21): 52–56.
Shah, Alpa, and Dhruv Jain. 2017. Naxalbari at Its Golden Jubilee: Fifty Recent Books on the Maoist Movement in India. Modern Asian Studies Journal 51 (4): 1165–1219.
Sundar, Nandini. 2013. Reflections on Civil Liberties, Citizenship, Adivasi Agency and Maoism: A Response to Alpa Shah. Critique of Anthropology 33 (3): 361–368.
———. 2016. The Burning Forest. India’s War in Bastar. New Delhi: Juggernaut Books.
The Supreme Court of India. Dairy number: 14030/2007; Case no: W.P.(C) No.-000250-000250/2007; Judgment date: July 5, 2011. http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/jonew/judis/38160.pdf.
Tse-tung, Mao. 1968 [1927]. Notes on Mao Tse-Tung’s “Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan.” Peking: Foreign Language Press.
Veltmeyer, Henry, and James Petras. 2014. The New Extractivism. London: Zed Books.
Venugopal, N. 2013. Understanding Maoists: Notes of a Participant Observer from Andhra Pradesh. Kolkata: Setu Prakashani.
Weil, Robert. 2011. Is the Torch Passing? The Maoist Revolution in India. Socialism and Democracy 25 (3): 1–81.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kumbamu, A. (2019). The Naxalite Movement, the Oppressive State, and the Revolutionary Struggle in India. In: Berberoglu, B. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Social Movements, Revolution, and Social Transformation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92354-3_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92354-3_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92353-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92354-3
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)