New book on Naxalism by Abhishek Mohurley
Abhishek Mohurley is a pioneer in Marathi literature with concrete research and a soon to be published book on surrendered Naxalites. He hails from Gadchiroli, the worst Naxalite hit area in India, and with two successful travel startup’s under his belt, Abhishek’s upcoming book has created a storm already within the Naxalite base.
Naxalism in India is one of the biggest problems of the country.
The year was 1967. The place, Naxalbari. The young and fiery ideologies of the Marxist-Leninist movement in India formed the CPI(M-L), envisioning a spontaneous mass upsurge all over India that would create a ‘liberated zone’. The Naxalite movement was born.
Whether be Gadchiroli or Dantewada, the ideology that drives them is the same. When the problem began, GoI mistook the uprising as Law and Order problem, and hence dealt it in the respective fashion. The reason, mobility, and extent of the movement of 1967 weren’t analyzed under the correct lens. Thus, GoI thought that ‘use of force’may settle down the matter. Nothing could have been more away from the solution.
“During the outbreak of the armed clashes in Naxalbari, the then Home Minister Y B Chavan, addressing the Lok Sabha on June 13, 1967, described them as mere “lawlessness”
Now the one-word answer to this question wouldn’t suffice but still “LAND”. This was the ground on which various mixtures of ideologies led to this massive movement. The demand was moral and legitimate. Had the bills like P.E.S.A and M.E.S.A. been passed by our parliamentarians on time I have a strong belief the problem would have diluted and eventually resolved. No sustainable conclusion has ever reached when both parties have weapons in their hand.
After, the independence, India was in need of a monstrous diet of resources. Where were these resources?
Now the anti-people actions of tea gardeners and jotedars in these areas fumed the poor. The ideology came in which actually embossed their suffering in it and was actually so need-customized now, that the poor felt disavowed by the state and accepted by the ideology. Remember that all the regions in which the Naxal movement took hold are ones with alarming levels of poverty. In Telangana, in the districts of Karimnagar, Adilabad and Warangal poverty was 95.8% while in the rest of the state it was between 50 and 60 percent. After independence, the Indian government pursued agricultural policies focused on massively improving output without doing enough to check economic and social disparity. With the commercialization of agriculture, economic disparities widened. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The land reforms reformed the structure but formed the Naxalism
Thus, reasons for which Naxalism surfaced and spread behest in the government policies and lackadaisical attitude of the government towards understanding the issue. In the present time, of course, the onus lies on both the parties to choose a middle path.
The first between the Maharashtrian and Andhra based Naxals and the inner power struggle is beautifully captured in this upcoming book by Abhishek Mohurley.
Abhishek Mohurley was able to fix a long gap between the Naxalites and common man by writing his debut novel in Marathi. The book is scheduled to release in September and carries a journey of a surrendered Naxalite from childhood to the present age. Abhishek and the Naxalite, both narrate the story and bring interesting insights into the prevailing problems. This is one of the first in-depth well researched Marathi book on Naxalism.
