History of LWE Movement in India

Published: 18th Oct, 2019

The Naxalite movement began from the small village of Naxalbari situated at the tri-junction of India, Nepal and then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), where in 1967, a group of tribals picked up arms against the oppression of the landlord.
However, initially, the movement was restricted only to the three police station areas of Naxalbari, Khoribari and Phasidewa in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal.
Later, over the decades that followed, the movement assumed alarming proportions, threatening peace and security over a vast stretch of land spread across 10 states, described as ‘Red Corridor’.
The Chinese Communist Party welcomed the formation of CPI-ML in India, as it encouraged it in other countries like UK, Albania and Sri Lanka, where it accorded recognition to Indian CPI-ML. Since then a steady rise in the communist movement drawing inspiration largely from the Maoist ideology was observed.
This party, due to its violent activities made its presence felt amongst other political parties. The rise of CPI-ML made the government conscious of the fact, that it was not only a law and order threat, but that its agenda was more sinister, challenging the very existence of the democratic structure of India.