Whither the Naxal comrades?

On 21 September 2004, addressing the chief ministers of extremism-affected states in Hyderabad, India's Home Minister Shivraj Patil conceded that Left extremism led by Naxalites was expanding rapidly in the country. 125 districts in 12 of India's 28 states were affected, he said, though in varying degrees, and another 24 districts were being 'targeted'. An Intelligence Bureau report placed at that same meeting warned that a merger was in the offing between the two largest Maoist groups, People's War Group (CPI-ML) active in Andhra Pradesh, and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) energetic in the Bihar-Jharkhand region. The union, said the Bureau, would give a fillip to Naxalism which had already shown signs of revival in recent years.

As became clear later, the People's War group and the MCC had merged on the very same day that the chief ministers were gathered in Hyderabad to consider the collective threat of left extremism to the Indian state and establishment. A press statement signed jointly by the erstwhile general secretaries of the two outfits read, "On September 21, 2004, amidst the thick forests in some part of India, the formation of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) was declared at a public meeting before an assembly of people's guerrilla fighters, party activists and activists of mass organisation." The Indian revolution to overthrow the Indian state would be carried out through protracted people's war, said the statement, with "the armed struggle for seizure of power remaining as its central and principal task". The countryside would remain the centre of gravity of the party's work, "while urban work will be complementary to it."