Left Wing Extremism And Causes

The left extremist outburst, later known as the Naxalite movement, started in March 1967 in the three police station areas (Naxalbari, Khoribari and Phansidewa) of Darjeeling district in West Bengal. The ‘Naxalbari phase’ of the movement (1967-68) gathered momentum during May-June 1967 but was brought under control by July-August 1967. 

Today, the left extremist movement is a complex web that covers many States. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, ‘at present, 76 districts in the nine States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are afflicted with ultra-left extremism forming an almost continuous Naxal Corridor.

The ‘Nature’ of the Movement

Barring a phase in the late 1960s and early 1970s’ the left extremist movement has been largely agrarian in the sense that it seeks to mobilize discontent and misgovernance in the rural areas to achieve its objectives. Some of the major features of the left extremist movement include the following; 

• It has emerged as the greatest challenge to internal security. 

• It has gained people’s confidence, grown in strength particularly in forest and tribal areas, by mobilising dispossessed and marginalised sections. 

• It creates conditions for non-functioning of the government and actively seeks disruption of development activities as a means to achieve its objective of ‘wresting control’. 

• It spreads fear among the law-abiding citizens.

Causes for Spread of Left Extremism : A summary of causes extracted from that Report is as under: 

Land Related Factors 

• Evasion of land ceiling laws. 

• Existence of special land tenures (enjoying exemptions under ceiling laws). 

• Encroachment and occupation of Government and Community lands (even the water-bodies) by powerful sections of society. 

• Lack of title to public land cultivated by the landless poor. 

• Poor implementation of laws prohibiting transfer of tribal land to non-tribals in the Fifth Schedule areas. 

• Non-regularisation of traditional land rights. 

Displacement and Forced Evictions 

• Eviction from lands traditionally used by tribals. 

• Displacements caused by irrigation and power projects without adequate arrangements for rehabilitation. 

• Large scale land acquisition for ‘public purposes’ without appropriate compensation or rehabilitation. 

Livelihood Related Causes 

• Lack of food security – corruption in the Public Distribution System (which are often non-functional).

• Disruption of traditional occupations and lack of alternative work opportunities. 

• Deprivation of traditional rights in common property resources. 

Social Exclusion 

• Denial of dignity. 

• Continued practice, in some areas, of untouchability in various forms. 

• Poor implementation of special laws on prevention of atrocities, protection of civil rights and abolition of bonded labour etc. 

Governance Related Factors 

• Corruption and poor provision/non-provision of essential public services including primary health care and education. 

• Incompetent, ill trained and poorly motivated public personnel who are mostly absent from their place of posting. 

• Misuse of powers by the police and violations of the norms of law. 

• Perversion of electoral politics and unsatisfactory working of local government institutions.