In popular perception, Maoists mainly operate in districts with a large tribal population. Smita Gaikwad, a former army officer who is now a research scholar with Mumbai-based thinktank Forum for Integrated National Security (FINS), disagrees in a conversation with Sugandha Indulkar:

Why do you believe urban centres are the next big battlefield?

This is a reality with concrete evidence. Maoists reside in urban areas. In fact, youth from urban/ semi-urban areas had started Maoist movement in India. Maoism cannot survive without urban leadership and logistical support. In November 2013, MHA (home ministry) filed an affidavit in Supreme Court acknowledging that “the ‘frontal’ organisations of CPI (Maoist), operating under the pretext of human rights NGOs, have kept the Maoist movement alive and are more dangerous than armed cadres.” CPI (ML) People’s War and MCCI (Maoist Communist Centre of India) merged into a single party, the CPI (Maoist), on September 21, 2004.

After this merger they drafted five basic strategy documents for CPI (Maoist) party. One document includes: ‘Urban perspective: Our work in urban areas’. In this document you will find their urban plan discussed in an elaborate manner. Similarly, in their document titled: ‘Strategy and tactics of Indian revolution’, they mention that their party, which comprises armed cadre, and united front of mass organisations in urban areas are their ‘weapons’. It is important to note that they describe urban mass organisations as ‘weapons’ to overthrow democracy.

How do we combat Maoists without undermining people who are genuine and only want constitutional rights enforced?

The only way to combat urban Maoists is through legal action. As security agencies generally have concrete inputs, identifying and isolating the urban Maoist cadre from genuine democratic social activists and taking necessary legal actions is possible. The case of convicted Maoist prof GN Saibaba is the best example. They do not believe in constitutional democracy. They then tie up with a lot of terror outfits, pose a threat to life and freedom of many people across the nation. They indulge in a lot of criminal activities as well.

Maoists strategically penetrate existing NGOs, human rights organisations and other social or political organisations and steer these organisations to align with their Maoist agenda. Similarly, apart from their secret organisations, they also float various organisations which fit in the democratic framework and work to implement Maoist strategies.

Is Maoism in tribal areas only a symptom of governance weaknesses?

The socio-economic situation or governance weakness in tribal areas made the work of Maoists easy in in the 1970s and 80s. Maoism hasn’t sprung from governance weaknesses alone, it is a bigger problem. CPI (Maoist) is a banned terrorist organisation.

If we refer to statistics from START (Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism) and South Asian terrorism portal, CPI (Maoist) has figured in top five terrorist groups globally for many years. They have been exploiting weakness of the government to further their cause of overthrowing democracy. Their aim is ‘political power through the barrel of the gun’ and not through electoral process. Experts say that it is a classical model of fourth generation warfare (4GW) – where the enemy is invisible, and the battle is for the control of civil society through subversion.

Do you believe that foreign nations help Maoists?

I do not have any evidence to prove this. But when we interviewed a surrendered Maoist in Bastar – who was involved in the Sukma blast where nine CRPF jawans were killed – we came to know that after that operation they had received calls from different countries. This shows they do have international links.

Will killing tribal Maoists while allowing urban Maoists to go on with their activities help?

Tribals have been used as cannon fodder by Maoist leadership. They hardly have representation in the central committee. During encounters, tribal foot soldiers are pushed in front while higher Maoist leadership stays away from encounter sites. Higher Maoist leadership is also responsible for a large number of tribal killings.

Maoism survives and thrives on three weapons that they mention in their party documents: Leadership from intellectual class in urban areas, armed cadre in forests and united fronts of mass organisations. Out of these three weapons, two come from urban areas. It is as necessary to stop Maoist urban activities as those in forests.

How is it to be done?

The first and most important thing is that society should accept that a problem of urban Maoism exists. Second, proper investigations in cases of urban Maoists can help in improving the conviction rate of judicial cases of urban Maoism. Third, Maoists are penetrating organisations working for special sections of the society such as Dalits, women, minorities, tribals, et al. Maoists prey upon the vulnerability of such people. Focussed efforts in solving problems of these sections can prevent that from happening.