WORLD IN REVIEW
All of this points to a deeper failure. The Naxalite moveback the resistance. This will come at the expense of honest,
ment is the unfortunate precipitate of a nation beginning to
good-faith dialogue between the tribes and the government,
come apart at the seams. In some ways, India seems to be
vital to reaching a long-term solution. In addition, Modi’s
abandoning its roots. Mahatma Ghandi, the iconic Indian
political calling card, his promise to spark India’s sluggish
nationalist and moral father of the nation, was an outspoeconomy through business-friendly policies that emphasize
ken advocate for the destitute and marginalized. Jawaharlal
efficiency and growth, may strengthen the perception that
Nehru, the country’s first prime minister, said in his famous
the Indian Government is the agent of its corporations and
“Tryst With Destiny” speech on the eve of independence
its wealthy, inflaming Naxalite anger to even greater degrees
that “the service of India means the service of the millions
in the short run.
who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance
The future, however, is not hopeless. If Mr. Modi’s
and disease and inequality of opportunity.”
economic reforms are able to return the country to the
Ask any tribesman and they will tell you that reality falls
high growth rates of the mid-2000s, as many hoped when
pathetically short of these noble ideals. Inequality is by no
they voted for him, the Indian Government will have the
means a new problem, nor one unique to India, but the turresources necessary to solve the Naxalite problem at the root:
moil it has brought in the form of Naxalism justifies special
by increasing and improving peace-keeping forces, foregoing
concern. The violence of the Naxalites is inexcusable, but
development projects that might disrupt native populations,
that does not mean it is not understandable. The insurgency
and investing in the well-being of the country’s rural east.
is born out of a sense of dispossession and exploitation, even
Mr. Modi is hardly the ideal Prime Minister to solve the
betrayal. India’s rise, so long awaited, becomes painfully
Naxalite conflict, but it is incumbent on him to do so.
hollow and dehumanizing through
the eyes of those it has passed by.
Growth nearly always brings winners
and losers, but it falls to responsible
governments to mitigate the costs of
development on those that it marginalizes – a task at which India is failing
miserably.
Though the Naxalites are made
up mostly of members of indigenous
forest tribes, they are rising up against
conditions that affect all of rural
India, in which incomes are only
half of what they are in cities, and in
which one quarter of all the world’s
extreme poor reside. India, despite
struggles with caste and communalism, has long drawn strength and
identity from its diverse multitude
of humanity – its vast tapestry of
faith, language, and culture. If trends
A tribal woman shows her ink-marked finger after voting at a polling center during
the seventh phase of India’s general election, in Rangareddy district in the southern
continue, city or village, rich or poor,
Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
will dominate all other categories,
and India will lose a piece of its soul.
The new government has many challenges to confront,
Perhaps, unconsciously, this is what the Naxalites are fightbut dealing with the Naxals will be among the most imporing against.
tant, both materially and for the psyche of the nation. Mr.
This past May, India held general elections and after
Modi’s government must do what it takes to reestablish
the largest democratic exercise in human history, Narendra
control of the Eastern part of the country, protect innocent
Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected prime
civilians, and neutralize the Naxalite threat to security, but
minister. One would hope that the injection of new leaderit must also institute the reforms necessary to bring the
ship might be what it takes to bring some resolution to the
new prosperity of the last decades into these regions, and
Naxalite conflict, however, the prospects do not seem brigh