Conditions responsible for the growth of the Naxalite Movement in India:
a. A peasant uprising took place in the Naxalbari police station area of
Darjeeling hills district in West Bengal in 1967. This movement spread
very fast to several states under the leadership of the local cadres of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist) and was known as the Naxalite
Movement. A new party known as the CPI-ML was formed under the
leadership of Charu Majumdar. This party argued that Indian democracy
was a deception and planned to follow a strategy of protracted guerrilla
warfare to create a revolution. The Naxalite Movement has used force to
snatch land from the prosperous landowners and distributed the same
among the landless and the poor. To achieve their goals, the Naxalites
used violent means.
b. At present, there are about 75 districts in nine states which are severely
affected by Naxalite violence. Most of these areas are backward and
inhabited by Adivasis. In these areas, the share croppers, under-tenants
and small cultivators are denied their basic rights. They are hit by forced
labour, expropriation of resources by outsiders and rampant exploitation
by moneylenders.
2. Ways and means to crush the Naxalite Movement:
a. The West Bengal government’s strong methods and preventive detention
technique to crush the movement remained unsuccessful.
b. Various governments had taken stern measures to crush the Naxalite
Movement. So far, thousands of people have lost their lives in the
unabated violence by the Naxalites and the anti-Naxalite violence by the
government.