WORLD IN REVIEW
East of Mumbai
Naxalism and the Future of India
O
staff writer
DANIEL EPSTEIN
it is easy to believe.
However, the view looks different from Jeerum Nullah, a poor, rural town in the state of Chhattisgarh. On
March 11, 2014, the village was raided by a convoy of 200
Naxalite insurgents, mostly tribal militants subscribing
to Maoist political philosophy, who, after claiming the
lives of 16, retreated back to the forest with replenished
stocks of arms and ammunition. Such attacks are becoming more common in recent years in the eastern part of
the country – the so-called “red corridor” - of which the
Naxals control a significant portion. Their beliefs, which
condemn the political and corporate leadership of India
for the displacement of indigenous peoples and the destruction of ancient agrarian social systems, as well as their
relative success in exerting influence over the country’s
eastern region, shake the pillars of the rising India narrative.
Indeed, the Naxalite insurgency amounts
to an existential crisis for t H