Tribal Participation in India’s Maoist Insurgency: Examining the Role of Economic Development Policies

Abstract

For over four decades, revolutionary Maoist groups have been at war with the government of India. The insurgency began as a tribal uprising in 1967 in Naxalbari, West Bengal. “Naxalites,” or extremist ideologues, utilized Maoist tactics to overthrow the government, began mobilizing adivasis (tribals) and peasants in pockets of eastern India. While the Naxalite movement was virtually eliminated by the early 1970s, it was quickly revived in the central plains of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh’s North Telengana region. New Maoist organizations—the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI [M-L]) People’s War, CPI (M-L) Party Unity, and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC)—mobilized dalits (untouchables) and lower-caste Hindus against perceived upper-caste landlord exploitation. Frequently, Maoists launched violent attacks against their political and economic enemies.