The BJP and the ghost of ‘urban Naxals’

The question was straightforward: “What exactly is an urban Naxal?” My reply: “It’s a ghost — both nothing and everything. Open your eyes, and you’ll find nothing. But if you close your eyes, filled with fear, it will linger like a shadow, everywhere.”

“Don’t speak in riddles. Tell me plainly — what is Naxalism? And what is this urban Naxal business?” The question came from a young participant in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Recently, during an election campaign, BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis declared that the ideology and working style of the Bharat Jodo Yatra participants were akin to urban Naxalism. He defined it as “polluting people’s minds, instilling doubt about the nation’s institutions and systems, and creating mistrust that ultimately undermines the country’s unity”.

Just a month earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accused the Congress of being run by urban Naxals. The young man’s question demanded a considered response. “I understand what Naxalism was… but this ‘urban Naxal’ idea is harder to grasp. Let me try,” I said to him.

Naxalism was a sub-current of India’s left-wing movement that emerged in the 1960s and 70s. It has since almost disappeared in its original form. Post-Independence, the Communist Party of India (CPI) was the main vehicle of communist politics. But the 1962 Sino–Indian War caused a split in the CPI. The pro-Soviet faction remained with the original party, while the pro-China faction broke away in 1964 to form the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M).

A few years later, an even more radical offshoot broke away from the CPI(M), giving rise to the Naxalite movement. Named after the village of Naxalbari in North Bengal, where it began, the movement was influenced by the Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s ideology. The Naxalites believed that revolution in India would be driven by organising poor rural farm labourers against landlords.

The Naxalites berated established communist parties for compromising with the system, and believed the only way to overthrow this order was armed revolution. In the 1970s, various Naxalite groups attempted violent uprisings in rural areas. These efforts largely failed, and the government suppressed them with force.

Over time, many Naxalite outfits gave up their violent methods, and instead joined the democratic electoral process or grassroots movements. Today, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) or CPI(ML) is a parliamentary offshoot of the Naxalite movement; it even has two MPs in the Lok Sabha.

In its heyday, the Naxalite movement inspired idealistic youth, writers, poets and artists. But over time, violence, extortion and lawlessness infiltrated the movement, tarnishing its revolutionary ideals. Today, a small faction led by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) still operates underground in parts of Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha and Jharkhand. Their violent methods have been largely rejected by people’s movements, even by outfits influenced by Naxalism, which is now a mere shadow of its former self.

So, who are these urban Naxals? Is it a new faction or ideology?” my young friend asked.

“No, urban Naxal is nothing, really. There’s no outfit or person who identifies as urban Naxal. It’s not an ideology. It’s an insult, a term of abuse flung at people or organisations who question the establishment to discredit them,” I explained.

Take the Bharat Jodo Yatra, for example. It includes Gandhian, socialist, liberal and Ambedkarite organisations that have consistently opposed violent politics and have no connection with the Naxalite movement. Yet, they too are branded with this slur.

The irony is that even the Modi government has admitted in Parliament that ‘urban Naxal’ is not an official term. In replies to questions raised by MPs in Parliament, both minister of state for home Kishan Reddy (on 12 March 2020) and Nityanand Rai (on 9 February 2022) stated that the government does not recognise or use the term ‘urban Naxal’ and has no knowledge of it.

“So, what’s the deal?” my friend pressed, growing impatient. The truth is, the urban Naxal is a figment of the BJP’s imagination, a projection of its own fears. Fear creates ghosts, and this one is no exception. Hindi poet Gorakh Pandey’s famous work Unka Dar (Their Fear) offers a profound explanation of this phenomenon. Written long before the BJP’s rise, it uncannily identifies the source of this fear:

“They are afraid. What are they afraid of?/ Despite all their wealth, weapons, police and armies?/ They are afraid that one day, the unarmed and the poor will stop fearing them.”

This fear haunts them. And that’s why they conjure the ghost of urban Naxals.