Maoists in Strategy Shift Move From 'Red' to 'Golden' Corridor

NEW DELHI: The kidnapping of 300 villagers by Maoist rebels in Sukma, Chhattisgarh, has refocused attention on armed insurgency in India. At the time of writing, reports indicate that one of the hostages has been killed whilst others were released.

“The rebels killed one villager identified as Sadaram who used to coordinate the construction activities of a bridge. He was killed in a “Jan Adalat” (kangaroo court) held by Maoists. Around 300 tribals returned to their village at around 9 pm”, Sukma district police chief D Sharawan told the Hindustan Times.

The incident has prompted analysts and policymakers to turn their attention to the Maoist threat, with the standard narrative ascertaining that these attacks do not indicate a Maoist resurgence. Maoist violence has been decreasing since 2010 -- the narrative goes. This is indeed true. In 2010, the Maoists claimed 343 lives; in 2011 it was 204; in 2012 109; in 2013, 111; in 2014, 111; and 46 lives have been lost due to Maoist violence in 2015 upto April 15.

However, this attack and other recent incidents of violence, including the killing of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men in Chhattisgarh’s Chintagufa area of Sukma district in December last year, serve as a reminder of the threat to internal security posed by the Maoists in India. The rebels have managed to sustain their operations for close to 40 years and have spread into one-third of the country’s geographical area. In three decades, about 12,000 civilians and 3000 security personnel have been killed by the Maoists, and even though numbers of attacks and deaths have declined since 2010, attributing this reversal to the success of sustained efforts by the security forces needs to be complemented by an analysis of this trend presenting a strategic move by the Maoists who are using this period for recruiting, recuperating, forming new alliances and ways for raising funds and acquiring weapons.

The decline in Maoist violence can be partly attributed to losses suffered in terms of killings and arrests of many in the top ranks of leadership. However, to claim that that this decline is reflective of Maoist presence weakening in their traditional support base is not only simplistic but also not representative of the ground reality.

The Maoists seem to be strengthening internal organizational structures, having set up Regional Bureaus which are divided into zonal and state-level jurisdictions for coordinated political and military mobilization. The “Look North East Policy” seems to have been strengthened by the formation of the Upper Assam Leading Committee and reports of Maoist organisational activities in upper Assam districts, leading to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi requesting that Assam be included in government’s Integrated Action Plan. Further, the Maoists have formed close ties with two vital northeastern insurgent groups - the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

In addition to the northeast, Maoist aspirations in Western India seem to have received a boost, with the agenda of establishing a “Golden Corridor Committee” to connect areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra acquiring a more concrete form. In Central India, too, Maoist influence has been strengthened by the formation of the North Gadchiroli Gondia Balaghat Divisional Committee’ comprising of strategically important areas of Gadchiroli, Gondia and Balaghat in Maharasthra and Madhya Pradesh.

The Maoists are also expanding their activities in the South, with cadres active in the region to establish a forest route from Wayanad district to Mysore district in Karnataka. Intelligence reports further reveal that the Maoists have been stepping up efforts to set up bases on the tri-junction of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

In 2012, the Chattisgarh-Orissa Border (COB) Committee was formed by the Maoists, strengthening the group’s organizational structure in the region. Maoist presence in North India seems to be part of the expansion plan, with Maoist leaders and cadres being arrested in Delhi and Haryana in the last few years. This is in line with the groups’ Urban Perspective Plan (UPP), the expansion of which has seen Maoist activities increase in urban areas such as Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Patna, etc.

While it is true that the Maoists have faced setbacks in their traditional strongholds of Abujmad (Chhattisgarh), Saranda (Jharkhand), and Lalgarh (West Bengal), the decline in guerilla warfare is complemented by efforts to strengthen internal structures and expansion plans aimed at other regions.

There are also reports of Maoist groups in Chattisgarh forming ties with the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). In an attack on 8 January 2013, grenades and ammunition made in Pakistan were recovered. In 2011, Indian intelligence agencies had stated that they had evidence to prove that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had established contact with Maoist groups in India.

Another dimension of the Maoist movement in India that has not received adequate government attention, there have been reports of Maoists in India forming connections internationally, with groups in Philippines, Turkey, Germany, France, Holland and Italy. The CPI(Maoists) are also part of the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA).

It is clear that the relatively low degree of violence from 2011-2013 should not be misinterpreted as the weakening of the Maoist movement in India or the success of the government’s changed strategy. The Maoists seem to be developing a long-term strategy based on strengthening their organizational structure, establishing networks - nationally and internationally, and expanding into other territories. The government’s response will also need a long-term vision, which is being compromised by a simplistic understanding of the decline in Maoist related violence in the past two years.