tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15324170.post4420634360588616077..comments2023-11-05T02:43:12.011-05:00Comments on Qalandar: Red Star RisingQalandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08822440676942755461noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15324170.post-72978481824694779282009-04-30T17:19:00.000-04:002009-04-30T17:19:00.000-04:00I agree about the need for addressing the concerns...I agree about the need for addressing the concerns of the adviasi communities who have been shamefully neglected by the central govts and actually oppressed by the state govts. But I can't see Naxalism as a serious threat to India - it doesn't exist as a coherent force outside the adivasi belt of Chotanagpur and in Bihar where it mobilised the Dalits and the MBCs the movement got split up into factions some of which have just become as predatory as the caste senas. In large parts of the country like UP it simply doesn't exist and there is little chance of it making headway into the more prosperous agricultural tracts never mind the mofussil towns and metros.<br /><br />the forest-based adivasis are a special case as once mobilised to fight and convinced of their cause; they will do so until they are either annhilated or told to stop by their leaders - who btw are almost entirely upper caste individuals with their social origins in the urban intellegentsia, especially at the higher cadre level. They will form a kernel of resistance to the state but ultimately by themselves will be no match for state power. It is no accident that it is those states that have weak goverance structures and police forces like Bihar, MP, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh that are affected by this; other states were state repression was more effectively and brutally employed like Punjab, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu destroyed the Naxalites.<br /><br />Only if they can make a broader alliances with other social and political formations will the be a serious threat but this seems unlikely.Conrad Barwanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15324170.post-50518352549408627792009-04-25T12:35:00.000-04:002009-04-25T12:35:00.000-04:00Thanks, Qalandar. I have been thinking about this ...Thanks, Qalandar. I have been thinking about this lately (particularly what ideologically constitutes "Naxalism" and/or "Maoism" in India today) and you have once again succintly nuanced the situation. <br /><br />And thus we have "the tribal" defined for us:<br /><br />"So you feel Salwa Judum was an achievement...<br /><br />Definitely, it is a success. But it is a success on an immediate level and can't be a sustainable strategy. A tribal can't live in shelter camps forever. He likes to be free and go to the markets, do cock fights, drink his toddy."<br /><br />yikes . . .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15324170.post-16203011917207076342009-04-23T10:52:00.000-04:002009-04-23T10:52:00.000-04:00Qalandar,
Couldn't agree more that the Naxalite m...Qalandar,<br /><br />Couldn't agree more that the Naxalite movement is a far more fundamental threat to the(idea of the) Indian state than is urban terror - the post Babri spike in it notwithstanding. <br />Your point about "adivasis" is central to this. I can't help feeling that until we see "them" as "us" (the lack of which identification is one reason the media focus is on the Mumbai attacks) and equally equal, there's not going to be a solution.Preyas Hathihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06680109457042414613noreply@blogger.com