Is It The End of Naxal Era?

One of the strongest sympathizers of Naxalites once termed them the ‘Gandhians with Guns’, but today as their top leaders are being gunned down by the CoBRA commandos, the dreams of a revolutionary overthrow of the government and signals a possible victory to India’s war against its gravest internal security threat.

He waged a bloody war against the state and spent a life mostly in hiding for years with a dream of a red nation, and the expected end did not leave Kishenji alias Koteshwar Rao. He was elusive and media-friendly whose image is nothing beyond a man with a striped scarf around his head and a casually hanging AK-56 over the shoulder who for the outside world was a feared Maoist leader, a brutal killer and a master in guerrilla warfare. He is known for his fast movements and sharp intelligence with which he could escape the dragnet of security forces on several occasions. The Andhra Pradesh born Maoist leaders is credited for building Lalgarh Movement which is now called as the second Naxalbari in India. Kishenji was a member of the Central Committee, Central Military Commission and the Polit Bureau of the CPI Maoist.

As the Kishanji era comes to an end, the movement is left with no strong leadership as its prominent leader Cherukuri Rajkumar, popularly known as Azad, was killed last year. He was said to be the third-in-command of the movement. He was killed in a controversial encounter last year by Andhra Pradesh Police. The second-in-command leader, Shashadhar Mahato was killed in March this year in a gunbattle with the Central Reserve Police Force in West Bengal. His elder brother and one of the prominent leader of the group, Chhatradhar Mahato was arrested earlier. The top most leader and politburo is general secretary and the General Secretary Ganapati is still on the run.

The death of this prominent leader is a serious blow to the Naxalites as reports suggest the movement is on a decline of late. Violence by the Maoist groups and their activities are on a sharp decline in the Left Wing Extremist affected areas, except for Maharashtra and Bihar.

A written statement in the Raja Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home Jitendra Singh said there were 1,925 violent incidents in 2010 which the number is reduced to 1,468 this year. The causalities caused by the Maoist attacks had a steep decrease this year as 49 persons were killed this year compared to 207 in 2010