Know about the Maoists in India, waging armed struggle

New Delhi: The Maoists in India derive their origin from the Naxalites of Sixties - the CPI(Marxist-Leninist) founded by the late Charu Majumdar in Naxalbari, north Bengal. The movement had a violent end with the Naxalites beheading rich farmers and indulging in individual killings, and the Indian State reacting with a strong hand with the use of armed personnel. Thousands of youths went missing in West Bengal, and the Naxalites went to Andhra Pradesh to regroup under the leadership of Kondapalli Seetharamaiah. It named itself as People's War Group. On October 14, 2004, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War (People's War Group), and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) merged to become CPI(Maoist). The highest decision making body of CPI(Maoist) is the Politburo, which has thirteen or fourteen members, six of whom were killed or arrested between 2007 and 2010. Prashant Bose alias "Kishan-da" and Katakam Sudarshan alias Anand] are the two most prominent politburo members. Sudhakar alias "Kiran" is another Politburo member. Between 2005 to 2011, several Politburo members including Sushil Roy, Narayan Sanyal, Pramod Mishra, Amitabh Bagchi,Kobad Ghandy, Baccha Prasad Singh and Akhilesh Yadav were arrested. Among those killed included Cherukuri Rajkumar alias "Azad" and Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias "Kishenji". Over the years Maoists have killed several policemen, civilians and political leaders. Maoists hold sway over a vast territory that includes part of Odisha, Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Bihar.Maoists claim they are fighting against the government for the rights of tribals and rural poor neglected by governments for decades.They also raise issues relating to land ownership and equitable distribution of resources. Their sole aim is to overthrow the Indian government through armed struggle.They are active mostly in eastern and central India, where human development levels rank among the lowest in the world, forest cover and rugged terrain facilitate guerrilla tactics and protracted low-intensity insurgency, and tribal and lower caste groups are preponderant. There are varied estimates about the number of Maoists ranging from 9,000 to 20,000, with women comprising nearly 40 per cent. Maoists are said to get most of their weapons by raiding police bases.Various mainstream political parties have been using the Maoists for their political gains during elections, and then discarding them. Whether it is Andhra Pradesh, or Odisha, or Jharkhand, or Bihar, political parties have been using the Maoists for their own selfish ends.