Kobad Ghandy
On May 19th of this year the Indian Government launched Operation Kagar as the final push against an already weakened revolutionary (Naxalite) movement. It was a multi-pronged attack involving) the joint District Reserve Guard (DRG) teams of Chhattisgarh Police, supported by the Special Task Force (STF) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The writing was on the wall. At that stage the Naxalites approached civil society groups asking them to intervene and initiate ‘peace talks’. They failed to realise that any government only comes for talks when the revolutionaries speak from a position of strength. Least of all they could expect a fascistic government to come forward for talks when the movement was in decline. Such a call only whetted the appetite of the government to go in for the kill. They had all the time to prepare, utilising to their advantage the summer season when the forest cover is thin and the ability of the naxals to manoeuvre are limited. It had to be completed before the monsoon started.
As per a report in the media “ Operation Kagar is a part of the Modi government’s multi-pronged strategy combining aggressive military operations, enhanced coordination between Central and State forces, and development efforts to address the root causes of Naxalism. Under this operation, around 1 lakh para-military troops, including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its elite CoBRA units, District Reserve Guards DRG), and state police have been deployed in the left-wing terrorism affected areas. These security personnel are equipped with modern technology like drones for information gathering, AI for intelligence gathering, and satellite imagery, among others.” It was an allout offensive where the revolutionaries had little chance of survival. Retreat too in this month was difficult. Around four helicopters, 20 drones equipped with satellite imagery tech and maps by NTRO, and many other equipment were being used in the recent operations. Since the launch of Operation Kagar, Maoists have issued two appeals for peace talks. In a letter released around mid-May by the CPI (Maoist) Central Committee, the group confirmed losing at least 26 cadres over the past month during operations in the Karregutta hills.
With no response from the Centre and the Chhattisgarh government to their peace talk proposals, as far back as mid-May, Maoists had turned to civil society, urging them to convince Union Home Minister Amit Shah to declare a ceasefire for peace negotiations. But peace talks only take place when one is in a position of strength, not by pleading from a position of weakness. The Govt responded with an increased offensive, pushing the naxals to the wall. The fascist Amit Shah claimed on (Oct “16) that 258 Naxals had further Surrendered In Last Two Days. But he does not mention a single word on the root causes of the problem and what he will do to bring development to the region and improve the peoples’ life styles.
SURRENDER EPISODE
Now switch to the current month, October 2025. Much of the ruling classes are gloating over the surrender of Sonu, a politburo member, and others as though it is the end of the revolutionary movement. No doubt the losses have been significant but the root causes for the discontent remain as acute as before. And as long as these are not eradicated the revolutionary movement will arise again and again – even from the depths of despair – like a hydra headed monster grabbing the ruling elites by their necks. And if pushed to the wall they could become even more desperate giving the elites sleepless nights. As long as the resistance is controlled and planned most need not fear – only the top big business houses and the big landed classes and their political and bureaucratic representatives together with their tails need tremble. Already media are reporting that two senior leaders – Devji and Hidma – are still at large. Both being from he basic classes – Devji a dalit and Hidma an advasi – the movement will probably gain deeper roots amongst the oppressed masses. So far the leadership had been confined to the male upper castes.
OPERATION KAGAR & MINING CONCESSIONS
Since its inception in January 2024, Operation Kagar gave an unprecedented intensity to the anti-Naxal efforts, especially in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar, with remarkable results. In the year 2024 alone, 287 Maoist were killed, thousands were arrested, and around 837 surrendered. Notably, security forces had gunned down over 150 Naxals in 2025 in Chhattisgarh alone. Similar operations were carried out in Jharkhand even before the present offensive. With the Maoists on the backfoot the government launched its offensive this month when the movement was anyhow in a weakened position with no retreat alternative.
This government had no compunctions against slaughtering their own people – the important thing was to keep these regions free for the huge mining concessions and the massive loot of our natural resources by mining firms and the government. Never before in the history of free India has a government acted so ruthlessly against its own people – probably even worse than that of the British.
It was also necessary to keep the state free for the loot of just one Business man. To the present regime Adani is more important than the people of our country. Adani plans huge investments in Chhattisgarh. He is planning a coal mining and power project in the Hasdeo area of Chhattisgarh. The Adani Hasdeo coal mine was met with a lot of controversies. There were a lot of people who believed that the project brought about significant harm to the surrounding areas. Then there are to other Adani projects with an overall investment of Rs. 25,200 crore which consisted of a coal-to-poly generation project and a rice bran solvent extraction plant and refinery. This included a Coal to Urea, Coal to SNG Plant and Coal based Thermal Power Plant generating a mere 5,000 jobs at the maximum. And knowing the ruthlessness of this man it will mostly be of temporary and contract labour. While he would make huge profits and get major concessions from the central and state government which are basically in his pocket, the people of the state will suffer at the hands of this mafia don.
No wonder the government acted so ruthlessly against the struggling people of the state. Operation Kagar seeks to eradicate Naxalism in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra (Gadchiroli), Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana as well as installing new camps as part of the military offensive by security forces.
It must be recalled that until 2015, around 106 districts in 10 states were marked naxal-affected. By 2024, this number came down to 38 and then to 18. Of these, 12 were most naxal-affected, however, this number has further dropped to just 6. These 6 “most affected districts” include Bijapur, Kanker, Narayanpur, and Sukma in Chhattisgarh, West Singhbhum in Jharkhand and Gadhchiroli in Maharashta.
The rapid destruction of the revolutionary movement in the last year is primarily due to the establishment of new security camps in the insurgency-affected core areas and development-oriented works such as expansion of roads, transport facilities, water, electricity and other welfare schemes of the government reaching the villagers. It was a two-pronged attack – military offensive against the tribals and local populace combined with development projects.
If the government is asked why there is no development in other even more backward regions and just where people are resisting – they have no answer. Reports say that the security forces have established over 302 new Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), and 612 fortified police stations in recent years to curb security vacuums and secure reclaimed areas.
According to police reports : Targeting the last remaining Maoist strongholds, over 20,000 security personnel from Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra have been eliminating Naxalites this month well before the present onslaught. How much of this is funded by Adani/Ambani is a well kept secret of the government; but it is they and other mining projects who stand to gain from this operation.
The security forces, including DRG, Bastar Fighters, Special Task Force (STF), alongside CRPF’s CoBRA units, are reported to have encircled the left-wing revolutionaries in Bijapur’s dense forests as early as the beginning of the month. Using advanced surveillance, the forces are ensuring that the Maoists are only tracked but also prevented from escaping with the objective of killing them. All appeals for peace talks were thwarted time and again. The government acted more viciously than if they were fighting a foreign country. The govt should realise that they are unleashing a war against their own people and not any Pakistanis. But this is of no significance to them as long as Adani and his other business cohorts get a safe haven for their loot.
Meanwhile many parties have strongly condemned the government action. D. Raja of the CPI has stated (as quoted in The Hindu): the CPI on Wednesday (May 21, 2025) demanded an independent judicial probe into the killing of 27 Maoists, including top Maoist leader Nambala Keshav Rao. Its leader, general secretary D. Raja, said “I strongly condemn the cold-blooded killing of a senior Maoist leader along with several Adivasis in Chhattisgarh. It is yet another instance of extrajudicial action carried out under the guise of counterinsurgency operations.” He added: the killing of the Maoist leader “instead of lawfully arresting him” raises serious concerns about the State’s commitment to democratic norms. On the other hand, “the CPI(M) Polit Bureau in a statement said that the government must ensure that no innocent lives are lost.” It added that “The government has to ensure that the lives of innocent adivasis are not lost in the crossfire between the government forces and Maoists.” But the CPM has to explain what if the Maoists are themselves adivasis………. defacto the CPM supports the killing without saying so in so many words…. In other words extrajudicial killing of Maoists are legitimate, but not adivasis who support them – typical CPM talking in forked tongues.
While the Telengana govt agreed to peace talks there was no response from the Cente and the Chhattisgarh government. The Maoists then turned to civil society groups to convince he Home Minister. The response was with the gun. Meanwhile, BRS’s KCR, Communist Party, leftist groups invoke ‘democracy’ and ‘peace’ to deter the Centre from finishing the Naxals once and for all. But the rulers must realise the root cause of naxalism is the extreme poverty of the masses and the vulgar disparity between the extreme wealthy and the poor – probably the worst in the world. And this is impossible to determine as the bulk of their wealth is in black money and stocked in tax havens abroad.
STATE OF THE COUNTRY
Just take a short glimpse at the state of affairs in the country – that too nearly 80 years after independence – this will give an idea as to the cause of the discontent:
Though we brag about having one of the highest growth rates in the world – Growth is expected to reach 6.3 percent in FY25/26 according to the World Bank’s latest report – other real data is depressing: According to the UN’s Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2024: India still has the highest number of people living in poverty – 234 million; compared to Pakistan’s 93 million; Ethiopia’s 86 million and Nigeria’s 74 million. Though the figures may not be comparable, (India’s current population is 1,466 million or about 147 crore) just the quantum of those living in sub human conditions is staggering. In the Global Hunger Index India is ranked 105 out of 127 countries. According to the UNDP Global Poverty Index, as of 2024, 1.1 billion worldwide live in extreme poverty (multi-dimensional poverty); with India in the top position.
According to the World Population Review (2025) India has about 2 million homeless people – that is those veritably living off the streets. In addition, about 78 million people in India live in slums and tenements – 17% of the world’s slum dwellers reside in India.
The list of impoverishments could go on an on. But that is not the main factor: India is home to some of the richest in the world and the gap is growing with each passing day.
Over 2 lakh people earn more than Rs.1 crore annually; while the average household income is less than Rs.10,000. A total of 350 billionaires had a wealth of Rs 167 lakh crores as of Nov 2024. With Mukesh Ambani at Rs. 10 lakh crores and Adani at over Rs.8 lakh crores. And this is only the declared incomes; if one considers the black income, it would be at least three times these figures. (As per estimates of some economists, the black economy of India is estimated to be at 62% of the GDP or Rs.93 lakh crores; this too would be a conservative figure). The bulk of this would go to the top billionaires; magnifying the gap considerably.
In other words, the total wealth of the billionaires would be a minimum of Rs 250 lakh crores – ie 350 families with a wealth of about 250 lakh crores; or each family with Rs 7,000 crore. Compare this to a per capita income of India at a mere Rs 1 lakh annually or about Rs.8,000 monthly. (And the per capita income is an average which includes that of the top billionaires). The bottom half of the Indian population owns “almost nothing” of the national wealth, claimed a report authored by senior economists including France’s Thomas Piketty. The top 10% earn about 20 times more than the bottom 50%. Further in the same report in Money Control (December 07, 2021) it says: “While the top 1 percent of the population hold 22 percent of total national income, the bottom half’s share has gone down to 13 percent”.
RADICAL REVOLT WILL RISE AGAIN AND AGAIN
As long as such a situation continues to exist there will be discontent in the country. The martyrdom of his very brother, Kishanji, and hundreds of others, will not go in vain. If the rapacious government and their corporate bosses continue in this vein people are bound to revolt. But if replaced by a peoples’ government which seizes the ill-gotten wealth of a handful of the big businesses houses and their agents in the governments, bureaucracy and political parties, it could raise lakhs of crores which could be invested in agriculture and small-scale industries setting India on the path of true rapid development instead of wallowing in backwardness for nearly a century.
Just seizing the wealth of India’s 200 billionaires would give it $ 941 billion (Rs. 80 lakh crores). And this is only the white (declared) money. If one included the black money the figure would likely be more around Rs. 200 lakh crores. And if to this is added the wealth of the imperialists the amount would be mind-boggling (FII investment amounted to $1 trillion while FDI investment in just the last decade was $500 billion).
While these massive investments result is a huge drain of the country’s wealth in the form of interest and other payments, if this vast sum was confiscated, amounting to nearly $ 3 trillion (billionaire wealth+FDI+FII) and re-invested as outlined above ie. in agriculture and SSIs, imagine India’s huge growth potential. In just a few years India would turn from a backward country into a developed one just as China has shown it can be done.
WEAKNESS in the WORLD REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
So, the killing of a few revolutionaries like Kishanji, Basavarju, etc, or pushing some to leave activism, while protecting the ill-gotten wealth (white and Black) of the big corporates, imperialists and ultra-rich (inclusive of politicians, black-marketeers, etc) will only perpetuate India’s continued backwardness. While the bulk will continue to live in poverty a handful of vultures will thrive. Such a situation is unsustainable.
The weakness in the Maoist movement in India is partially linked to the weakness of the revolutionary movements around the world which peaked in the 1960s and 1970s when China was still the revolutionary centre for the world. But with the reversal in China and collapse of various armed struggles throughout the world (like Peru etc) the revolutionary communist movements worldwide faced setbacks and demoralisation. Many turned to left extremism (like Peru) and slogan-mongering (like Gonzalo Thought) and died a natural death. On the other hand, the revisionist parties got a new lease of life due to the folly of the ultra-leftists. Overall, the 1970s and 1980s onwards saw a severe decline and defacto collapse. Pockets continued in countries like Ijdia and Turkey but they were isolated forces. Most recently Turkey too has liquidated its Party – the TKPML.
ACUTE DISPARITIES WORLDWIDE
But worldwide conditions continue to deteriorate and the gap between the poor and billionaire club continues to grow. The world’s super-rich club has reached a record high, with 15 members now holding fortunes over $100 billion. Their combined net worth has surged 13% this year (2024) to $2.2 trillion, outpacing inflation and the stock market. Among them are new entrants like L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and Dell founder Michael Dell, while old names like Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and Indian tycoon Gautam Adani have also rejoined the elite group. Leading the pack are Bernard Arnault, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk, with Arnault holding the title of the wealthiest person.
On the other hand, today, almost 700 million people (8.5 percent of the global population) live in extreme poverty – on less than $2.15 per day. Progress has stalled amid low growth, setbacks due to COVID-19, and increased fragility. Poverty rates in low-income countries are higher than before the pandemic. Around 3.5 billion people (44 percent of the global population) remain poor
No wonder too in India too there has been a boom in the billionaire club. India’s billionaire count jumped from 70 to 284 in a decade. That is a fourfold jump in the over 10 years of Modi rule. The combined wealth of Indian billionaires is estimated at $ 950 billion (roughly Rs 63 lakh crore), ranking the country third globally. The richest 1% of India’s population owned more than 40.5% of the country’s total wealth in 2021, while the bottom 50% of the population only accounted for around 3% of it. And the gap keeps growing.
ROOT CAUSE OF NAXALISM
And the gap keeps growing. It is this model of growth that fuels issues like Naxalism and other radical movements of the people. As long as only the ultra-rich thrive and the rest of the population live in acute poverty; no military operations can stem the tide of peoples’ anger. The model of development needs to be made more equitable for sustainable growth.
The Naxals and others were fighting against the current model of development and that is why the military operation on May 21st killing Maoist top leader Basavaraju and 26 others in a fake encounter alleged by various human rights organisations or the more recent surrenders will not kill the resistance. In fact it can be pushed to more extremes. If the government does not follow the laws of its own making, then how does it expect others to do so. There needs to be a judicial probe by independent observers into the supposed encounters and if found guilty the culprits should be charged with murder. But instead of that the government is pushing others to surrender by increasing military operations against the people of their on country.
ROOTS OF THE ROSE FLOWER REMAIN HOWEVER MANY ROSES ARE SQUASHED
It is in this scenario that one has to view the desperate attempts of the naxalites and other revolutionary forces to stay alive and assertive. But all phases pass. The seeds are being planted today which are bound to bloom in the years to come. Efforts today may seem insignificant today, but it will be these drops that will once become an ocean. So the efforts of the progressive forces all over the country will one day bare fruits.
Thousands more are bound to rise up to destroy these demons that are sucking our country and people dry; they comprise a miniscule of our population though they possess a huge army of personnel and weapons to defend themselves (this too at huge cost to the economy, as this section consumes but produces little acting as a leach on the country’s body politic). In fact these rulers are scum of our society – corrupt to the core, manipulative worse than a snake, ruthless, devious, oppressive and exploitative et al – the world and country would be better without them. They no doubt have one talent – Brahminical cunning to continue their rule and fool the people with fake pretences. Doing away with this small elite will not only free our country of cum but will also save lakhs of crores of rupees what can be used for countrys’ development and progress. Within a year or two our country can be converted into one of the most developed countries of the world. For this just a few steps : seize the ill gotten wealth of the foreign interests, big corporates, big land mafia, black musketeers and their corrupt tails; dismantle the huge steel frame of the bureaucracy, police and army and replace it with a lean and clean structure, and reinvest the amounts thus acquired to develop agriculture and the small scale sector and promote further indigenous industries to meet the growing purchasing power of the masses. With just these small steps India can witness a miracle as unlike most other countries we are self-reliant in nearly everything – huge land mass, excellent river systems (no doubt destroyed by the present dispensation, but easily revived), vast sea accessibility on three sides of the country, and most important we have a huge work force, a lot of them educated and trained.
