From Naxalbari to Red Corridor: The Rise and Fall of Naxalism in India

The Honourable Minister of Home Affairs, in a bold claim, stated the centre would wipe out Naxalism from India by March 2026. While top Naxal leaders like Hidma and Nambala Keshava Rao are already eliminated, there are a few more miles to go before Naxalism is completely wiped out from India. 

Illustration by The Geostrata

NAXALISM: THE BEGINNING

A group of political insurgents driven by Maoist ideologies is called Naxals, Naxalwadis, or Naxalites. They advocate armed rebellion, and their goal is to overthrow the Indian government and establish a communist regime. While the tree has been cut down, the roots go back to 1967. 

This movement originated from West Bengal, in a village called Naxalbari. Following an uprising in Naxalbari in 1967, the CPI Marxist-Lenin (CPI ML) emerged. On June 28, 1967, Radio Peking reported: 

‘A peal of spring thunder has crashed over the land of India. Revolutionary peasants in the Darjeeling area have risen in rebellion. Under the leadership of a revolutionary group of the Indian Communist Party, a red area of rural revolutionary armed struggle has been established in India.’   

Charu Majumdar was a fan of the Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. He believed India was imperial and semi-colonial, and it was necessary to overthrow the Indian government. And hence the Maoist idea would apply to India. This is also why Naxalwadis are called Maoists. He overemphasised armed action, which also led to a weakened base. 

The top leaders of this movement were Charu Majumdar, Jangal Santhal and Kanu Sanyal. They gathered along with landless labourers, farmers, and called for land redistribution and also started an armed struggle. This movement took the form of a ‘Communist peasant uprising’. 

While initially it was only against the landlords and moneylenders, it eventually became anti-government.

They strategically took this movement to the less developed areas- to Bihar-Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,  Maharashtra, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. This belt was later called the Red Corridor. In the red corridor, the movement was a discontent by farmers and tribals towards agrarian, forest and tribal laws. But eventually, they all followed an ideology that turned the Naxalbari movement into an internal security issue. 

In India, the Naxalite movement emerged into three broad phases:-

THE EARLY PHASE:- 1960s to 1973

‘Bonduker Nol-i, Khomotar Utsa’- which translates to political power grows out of the barrel of a gun- echoed around in Kolkata. During this phase, the Naxalite movement was limited to West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. They used force to seize land from the landlords and also to protect themselves from the police. In 1969, the CPI-ML(Communist Party of India-Marxist, Leninist) was founded under the leadership of Charu Majumdar.  He emerged as a leader in this phase. 

They held their first congress in 1970, and Charu Majumdar was elected as the general secretary. What followed was brutal killings and guerrilla war, but also splits in the CPI-ML. Majumdar was jailed on 16 July 1972 and was found dead on 28 July 1972. The police claimed it was a heart attack, but his followers to date say it was a custodial death. 

There was an increase in the military presence. Slowly and gradually, they caught a lot of leaders and “comrades.” 

The solution for the root cause of Naxalis still wasn’t provided to them. While their means weren’t valid, their reasons were. This time, they grew even more violent. Post-emergency, they grew stronger. 

THE SECOND PHASE:- 1970s-1994

In this phase, the movement spread to Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. They consolidated their groups and started remobilising them. Counterinsurgency operations were expanded with the use of brute force. With this strategy, around 9000 Naxalites surrendered. It was in this phase that the CPI-ML transformed into the People's War Group (PWG), which had a base in Andhra Pradesh. While the PWG was banned by the Andhra Pradesh government, they continued their activities. Concurrently, the MAOIST COMMUNIST CENTRE of INDIA (MCCI) continued its activities in Bihar and carried out attacks on upper-caste landlords. Though it had gotten extremely violent in this phase, Naxalism still wasn’t at its deadliest stage. That was yet to come. 

THE THIRD PHASE:- 2004-2015

This was the deadliest phase of Naxalism. Violence was at its peak. Through the merger of the People's War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre of India, a new group emerged in September 2004 to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). This became the largest left-wing guerrilla warfare group. 

The Union Minister Shivraj Patil tabled the following points in the parliament on the problem of LWE in India:- 

• While the percentage increase in Naxal-related violent incidents was only by 1%( it went from 4 to 5%), the casualties went up by 18%. This basically means that while the incidents were fewer, they were far more deadly.

•  Civilians and security casualties had increased by 11.4%. 

• To prevent youth from joining the Naxal movement, the recruitment guidelines were revised to permit 40% recruitment in the Central Military forces from the border areas. 

Since the merger and the formation of CPI-M, the violence got so intense that the then Prime Minister had to name it as the single most serious internal security issue that the nation faced. By 2010, Naxalwadis were active in 9 states and had strong roots in 7 of them.  Up to 5024 civilians were killed by Maoists to assert their dominance and authority. Most of them were civilians. 

COUNTERING THROUGH OPERATIONS 

While in all these states, the police and CRPF were deployed and they had heightened security, it wasn’t enough. The government established new police stations and strengthened the older ones. They created new intelligence hubs to monitor Maoist movements. Which still wasn’t enough. Major operations taken up were Operation Green Hunt-2009, Operation SAMADHAN 2017, and Operation Black Forest 2025, which killed the topmost Maoist leader, Basavaraju. Additionally, Madhavi Hidma was killed recently in a counter-operation. 

Due to these operations, a large area of Naxal-dominated land was recovered. Violence in the area decreased, too. Developmental projects like building roads, schools, hospitals and welfare schemes could now be reached. 

Today, Naxalism, though not completely eradicated, has some hold in India. The MMC belt is strategically used by Naxalwadis. Surprisingly, they have offered to surrender completely before February 2026. 

The number of LWE areas has dropped drastically, though not completely. The centre and state have both been successful in using pressure tactics, which resulted in surrender and reduced cadre numbers.  Hence, Naxalism is in one of its weakest phases. A few pockets remain, and only then will India have defeated its own worst, dreaded enemy.

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BY RICHA MISHRA

TEAM GEOSTRATA

info@thegeostrata.com