NEW DELHI: In a highly idelogical response on Maoists, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat on Friday said ultra-Left in India was nothing but part of "Left-sectarian and anarchist trend".

Stressing the need for "political-idelogical exposure" of Maoists in India, Karat, however, cautioned the government not to treat them as terrorists and even admitted that they had struck a chord among tribals and a section of intelligentsia.

Comparing current violence in West Bengal to the one that swept through the state in the early 1970s, Karat said he was hopeful that it could be dealt with ideologically just the way it was done in the past. He cited election results to show that while CPM lost support among middle classes, it had retained support among tribals. Violence against his party cadre, Karat said, was not a new phenomenon because Marxists mobilised people whom the extremists want to win over.

Giving out a historical perspective on the growth of Maoists in India, Karat said wherever Left has grown, there has been Left-sectarian and anarchist trends. He cited Lenin saying how petty bourgeoisie was drawn to anarchism when it experienced horrors of capitalism.

Karat, who had taken time off from party work in the mid-1980s to study naxalism , said before understanding Maoists it was important to understand their world view. Maoists, he said, saw South Asia on the verge of revolution while West Asia was seen as a focal point of struggle against imperialism.