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"People’s War" and state response : the Naxalite movement in Telengana, India (1970-93)

University of British Columbia

This thesis is a study of the interaction between the emergence and development of a radical peasant movement—the naxalite movement— in Telengana, India and the state response during 1970-93. The thesis contends that the movement has essentially been a violent expression of a socio-economic problem that has been endemic in rural India. It has resulted from the existence of glaring inequalities in wealth and social status between the rural rich and poor which have developed under specific historical influences during the modernization process. In the post-independence period governmental policies, ostensibly aimed at development, far from correcting the problem, have led to further uneven distribution of economic and political benefits. Throughout the period, the ideological and organizational influence of the communist parties has provided the necessary basis for mobilizing forces against the state. The state has responded to the movement through policies of both persuasion and coercion, although the latter have been more visible and dominant. The Indian state (both at the centre and state levels), with its commitment to liberal democracy on the one hand and Gandhism and socialism on the other, has been put on the defensive for its unconscionable neglect of agrarian socioeconomic reforms, its overall failure to bring about social justice and its disregard of human rights and civil liberties. The thesis tries to bring out the theoretical significance and the dynamics of the peasant struggle as well as the dilemmas inherent in the state response.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-01-28

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/3955

Political Science

University of British Columbia

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