GROUP NO 1

Archana More – 9414Greeshma Joag – 9408

Mayuri Mahajan - 9411

NAXALISM AND LTTE

WHAT IS NAXALISM?

The Naxal name comes from the village of Naxalbari in West Bengal. Indian state of West Bengal where the movement originated.

The Naxals are considered far-left radical communists, supportive of Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Their origin can be traced to the split in 1967 of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), leading to the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)

The movement had its centre in West Bengal.

In later years, it spread into less developed areas of rural central and eastern India, such as Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh through the activities of underground groups like the Communist Party of India (Maoist)

Naxalism is growing in the undeveloped areas because of extreme poverty, unemployment and the collapse of the state structure. Government has failed to provide the access of basic human needs to the poor people living in those areas

WHO IS CHARU MUJUMDAR?

Majumdar gave sole importance to secret organization and armed training of its members for the purpose of eliminating the class

Majumdar after had gone underground in 1970, and he was nabbed in Calcutta in July, 1972. The end of his life came in the jail in some days after his arrest

HISTORY AND IDEOLOGY OF THE NAXAL MOVEMENT

The term Naxalism was first coined in 1967. Communist party- ideology-1925 Communist party of India under the influence

of Mao tsetung In 1948, a peasant movement took place in

Telangana These ideological differences led to the split

of the party in 1964, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) also known as CPM was formed.

In 1967, CPM participated in elections and formed a coalition United Front government in West Bengal with Bangla Congress.

Comrade Charu Majumdar launched the Naxalbari uprising against the local landlord.

PRESENT CONTEXT OF NAXAL MOVEMENT AND VIOLENCE

Today, several areas including : - Andhra Pradesh Bihar Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Orissa Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand and West Bengal

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed the view that Left wing extremism (Maoism) is “the gravest internal security threat that our country faces.”

Protectors of peasant- Maoist leader Kishenji

The old tactics of rebels staying away from public attention also seems to be changing. The naxals are increasingly turning towards the media in their efforts to get more public sympathy.

It is estimated that about 2600 people were killed in naxal attacks during the past three years, the majority of which were policemen.

The intelligence reports said that the ISI is using naxal network in India for drug trafficking and pumping fake currency notes in Indian market. In return, naxalites are getting the sophisticated weaponry and the process to make and use spontaneous explosive devices.

Their target is guerrillas who, inspired by Maoism, have been waging a low-intensity war against the Indian state for the past 40 years. Naxals believe that power flows from the barrel of a gun, and their aim is to create a classless society.

GOVERNMENT POLICIES

Naxalism 2009-Operation Green Hunt Initiated with the blessings of Home minister

P.Chidambaram with the objective of cleansing naxalism from the Indian main land.

The central government has recently decided to allocate meager Rs. 2 crore per year to per Naxal-affected district to develop the socio-economic situation.

This is more a social and political problem than a law and order problem

The Home minister made it clear that no talks will be held until the ultras abjure violence

The government has also initiated publicity campaigns in order to garner support from the general public in their efforts to crack down on the naxals

REASONS FOR FAILURE OF NAXALITE MOVEMENT

They wanted to encircle the urban centres with organized peasant forces of the villages

The action of eliminating the so-called class enemies in villages was a wrong principle of political mobilization by individual murder of select few people whose political class- character was never adjudged by their socio-economic conditions, and the properties they possessed.

Very often only by their political affiliation or by the name and colour of the party or parties they directly or indirectly belonged to for a long or a short period of time.

Recruitment in the Naxalite party was never done on proper judgment and scrutiny of the political characters and behaviours of the recruits.

In many cases dreaded criminals too enrolled themselves in the Naxalite party with the objective of getting fire arms and to train themselves in the manufacture and use of fire arms.

MEDIA COVERAGE

MEDIA COVEREGE

continual violent activities of these groups have attracted much media attention

There are two major factors which have contributed to the increased coverage of Naxal news.

First, the number of private media groups has increased in the post Cold War era due to the adoption of a neo-liberal market policy by the central government.

Second, the increased number of media groups has increased competition.

Armed insurgencies led by Naxal groups have been given special attention in both print and television media.

Another reason for the heightened coverage of Naxal activity is the sensitive nature of news.

Particularly the satellite media, has negatively sensationalized the Naxal’s violent activities.

Print media by virtue of its nature could not attract as much audience attention.

According to the media monitoring report, since 2004 to 2007, every year the number of coverage of violent activities by Maoist increased.

The increased coverage and the airing of Maoist leader interviews gave audiences an image of Robin Hood among their cadres and sympathizers

One positive outcome of the naxal threat is the more media coverage on the dispossessed and deprived tribal population of our country

BOOKS AND MOVIES ABOUT NAXALISM A 2005 movie called Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi,

directed by Sudhir Mishra, was set against the backdrop of the Naxalite movement.

In August 2008, Kabeer Kaushik's Chamku, starring Bobby Deol and Priyanka Chopra, explored the story of a boy who is brainwashed to take arms against the state.

The 1998 film Haazar chaurasi ki Maa (based on the novel, Hazar Churashir Maa[17] by Mahasweta Devi) starring Jaya Bachchan gives a very sympathetic portrayal of a Naxalbari militant killed by the state.

Eka Nakshalwadya Cha Janma, (Marathi: The birth of a Naxal), a novel written by Vilas Balkrishna Manohar

WHAT IS LTTE ?

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

Also known as the Tamil Tigers or the Ellalan Force.

Founded in 1976 - Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Seek to establish an independent state for Lankan Tamils.

LTTE is proscribed as a terrorist organization by several countries including USA, Britain, India, Australia and Malaysia.

The LTTE have been accused of engaging in abductions, extortion, conscription, and the use of child soldiers.

On May 5, 1976, the TNT was renamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

LTTE characterized as anti-Buddhist.

WHO IS PRABHAKARAN ? Prabhakaran was born in the

northern Srilanka. In 1972 he joined the student

group TIP, during the standardization debates.

In 1973 Velupillai Prabhakaran founded an organization named Tamil New Tigers (TNT) which was a successor to many initial organizations that protested against the post colonial political direction of the country that pitted the minority Sri Lankan Tamils against the majority Sinhalese people.

In 1975, after becoming heavily involved in the Tamil movement, he carried out his first political murder against the mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah, by shooting him at point blank range while he was about to enter the Hindu temple at Punnelary.

Prabhakarn - responsible for the murder of Rajiv Gandhi

HISTORY AND IDEOLOGY

The Tamils are an ethnic group that lives in southern India and on Sri Lanka.

The LTTE controls sections in the north and east of the island.

Their religion (most are Hindu) and Tamil language set them apart from the four-fifths of Sri Lankans who are Sinhalese—members of a largely Buddhist, Sinhala-speaking ethnic group.

The LTTE have been agitating for a homeland for ethnic Tamils, who feel persecuted by Sri Lanka’s ethnic majority, the Sinhalese.

The LTTE has indicated its willingness to give up its call for a separate state, seeking political and economic autonomy for Tamils within a one-state solution.

The LTTE also continues to be accused of abducting school children and killing political rivals.

The LTTE used suicide as a political and a military tool to spread terror, create mass fear psychosis, and cripple the economy and to disrupt peace.

INDIA'S INVOLVEMENT

In India – Tamil Nadu It is widely believed that India provided the

LTTE and other Tamil guerilla groups with monetary and training support.

1987 - the Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa, an Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF).

Support from India dropped more noticeably in 1991 -after the assassination of a recently ex-Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi.

WHAT KIND OF TERRORIST ATTACKS HAVE THE LTTE UNDERTAKEN?

The LTTE, which have between 7,000 and 15,000 armed combatants (PDF), is notorious for its suicide bombings.

Since the late 1980s - two hundred suicide attacks.

Targets - transit hubs, Buddhist shrines, and office buildings.

HOW DOES THE SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT HANDLE THE LTTE?

The State Department, the government of Sri Lanka cooperated with the United States to implement both the Container Security Initiative and the Megaports program at the port of Colombo.

But the Sri Lankan government has also attracted widespread criticism for its alleged human rights abuses.

WOMEN’S IN LTTE Women are originally used

forLTTE propoganda work Later women began doing

special duty with in LTTE frame work-as human bombs.

LTTE has seprate women brigade named 'MALATHI‘

The liberation tigers recruit child soilders both male and female.

Clara Beyler - “Messengers of Death: female suicide bombers”.

Dr. Rajini Thiranagama - the widespread rapes of the IPKF in 1988 - 1989 in the North.

MEDIA COVEREGE OF LTTE

HOW DOES THE INDIAN MEDIA COVER THE SRI LANKAN CONFLICT?

The spill over effect has not caused Indian media to report the many angles to the conflict from the Indian perspective.

Any kind of reporting on sri-lanka could be largely classified as:- a) The promotion of country’s image as an exotic and historical land. b) War torn neighbour.

Tamil NP- “Prabhakaran is not dead”

English NP -“Prabhakaran Killed”

Different regions/states covered the conflict differently. North - Largely event-based. More political angles

covered. South - The coverage was broad. The

stories/clippings urging support for the Northern Tamil populations.

Some were full of advocacy- ie; the need for a separate Tamil homeland in northern Sri Lanka.

A few stories traced the historical relations between South Indian and Sri Lanka.

Assam - Was more radical in reporting and reporting showed lacked in depth coverage.

Books - 1)Historical Dictionary of Terrorism.

2) The Asian Defence Yearbook 1999-2000 3) World Conflicts: A Comprehensive Guide to

World Strife since 1945 4) India, Sri Lanka and the Tamil Crisis 1976-

1994. 5) The Counter-Insurgent State: Guerrilla Warfare

and State Building in the Twentieth Century. 6) Encyclopedia of World Terrorism 7) The Newest Explosions of Terrorism

Films - ‘Aaniver’, ‘Kutrapathirigai’.

Website - lttepress.com

SOURCES

Notes from the Red Corridor

-By Chandrahas Choudhury

Red Sun: Travels In Naxalite Country

-By Sudeep Chakravarti

CONCLUSION

All other wars that took place till date were with different countries for eg- Israile- palstine or Indo-pak war.

Media has put LTTE and NAXALISM in negative light.

It is one of the terrorist activity.

THANK YOU