Formation and early years (late 1960s to 1970s) In 1967, a faction of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist) led by
Charu Majumdar,
Kanu Sanyal, and
Jangal Santhal called the "Siliguri group" wanted a
protracted people's war in India similar to the
Chinese Communist Revolution and Majumdar wrote the
Historic Eight Documents which became the foundation of the
Naxalite movement. The party was part of a
coalition government in West Bengal. Majumdar believed that the party would support his doctrine with other leaders like land minister
Hare Krishna Konar who had been supporting his rhetoric suggesting that "the militant confiscation of land was integral to the party's programme." However, the party did not approve of the armed uprising, which led to internal conflict with the sympathizers of the group. In March 1967, a few peasant workers seized a plot of land from its
jotedar (aristocrat). In May 1967, the Siliguri Kishan Sabha, of which Santhal was the president, declared their support for the movement initiated by Sanyal and their readiness to adopt an armed struggle to redistribute land to the landless. The group advocated to initiate an armed struggle. In
Naxalbari in
West Bengal, the peasants fought when a
sharecropper of
tribal background, who had been given land by the courts under the tenancy laws, was attacked by the previous landlord's men. When the police arrived, they were ambushed by a group led by Santhal, and in the ensuing fight, 11 people including a
police inspector were killed. In November 1967, a group led by
Sushital Ray Chowdhury organised the
All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR). The uprising led to the formation of
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (CPI-ML) in April 1969, which was announced by Sanyal at a mass meeting in
Calcutta. It inspired similar movements in states like
Odisha,
Madhya Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh and
Kerala. In 1971, Satyanarayan Singh revolted against the leadership and split the CPI-ML into two, forming a separate
provisional committee. The Naxalites gained presence among the radical sections of the student groups in Calcutta. Students left school to join the Naxalites and Majumdar declared that the revolutionary warfare was to take place not only in the rural areas as before, but now everywhere and spontaneously. He also declared an "annihilation line" and issued a dictum to assassinate individual "class enemies" such as landlords, businessmen, teachers, police officers, politicians and others. In response, the
Government of West Bengal instituted countermeasures against the Naxalites. The insurgents clashed with the
West Bengal Police and CPI-M cadres. With the public rejection of Majumdar's calls for extrajudicial killings, Naxalites alleged human rights violations by the state government, which responded that "the state was effectively fighting a civil war and that democratic pleasantries had no place in a war, especially when the opponent did not fight within the norms of democracy and civility". In July 1972, Majumdar was arrested by the West Bengal Police and he later died in police custody. After his death, the CPI-ML split into further factions such as the
Mahadev Mukherjee faction and the
CPI-ML Liberation in 1972. By 1973, the main leaders of the Naxalites were either eliminated or arrested. As a result of both external repression and a failure to maintain internal unity, the movement degenerated into extreme sectarianism and the original party fractured into more than 40 separate small groups.
Further growth and government action (1980s to late 1990s) The late 1970s saw the spread of
Naxalism to other states of India. Though the first wave of insurgent violence ended badly, it did not eliminate the movement altogether. The insurgency arose in
South India in the early 1980s and on 22 April 1980, the
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War, commonly called as People's War Group (PWG) was founded by
Kondapalli Seetharamaiah. He sought a more efficient structure in attacks and followed the principles of Majumdar. The insurgents kidnapped landlords and forced them to confess to crimes, apologize to villagers, and repay forced bribes. By the early 1980s, the insurgents had established a stronghold and sanctuary along the Andhra Pradesh–Orissa border. In 1985, the Naxalites began ambushing police forces and killed N.Yadagiri Reddy, a sub-inspector of police in
Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh. In response, a special task force called the
Greyhounds was formed by the
Government of Andhra Pradesh. The governments of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa quelled down the rebels with a variety of
counterinsurgency measures. The states established special laws that enabled police to capture and detain Naxalite cadres, fighters and presumed supporters. They invited additional central paramilitary forces, set up organisations to attract youth away from the Naxalites, started rehabilitation programs for those who surrendered. In the 1990s, several
incidents of mass murders happened in
Bihar wherein Maoists killed members of the land-owning
Bhumihar community, who then retaliated through militias.
Peak of insurgency (2000s) On 2 December 2000, the armed wing of the Maoists called the
People's Liberation Guerrilla Army was founded and mostly equipped with
small arms. In response, the Andhra Pradesh government embarked on a rapid modernisation of its police force and up-gradation of its technical and operational capabilities to fight the insurgents and about 246 insurgents were killed during the year. In January 2005, peace talks between the Andhra Pradesh government and the Maoists broke down after the government had not agreed to the release of prisoners and to redistribution of land. The Maoists orchestrated several attacks on government facilities across various states. They freed prisoners after attacks on prisons and stole weapons from government facilities. They also attacked anti-Maoist protesters, took hostages and killed those who opposed them. Police men and security forces were targeted in ambushes using automatic weapons and
improvised explosive devices. In 2007, the Maoists killed
Member of Parliament Sunil Mahato in
Jharkhand and a local leader in Andhra Pradesh. They were also involved in local protests against the establishment of
Special Economic Zones and killed tribal youths of counter militia organisations. In 2008, Naxal attacks increased in Orissa, which inflicted multiple casualties on the security forces. On average, 700 people were killed in the conflict every year from 2005 to 2008.
Counter-action and decline (2010s–present) In 2009, the Indian government launched a massive military offensive, code named
Operation Green Hunt and planned to deploy nearly 50,000 soldiers over two years, with the objectives of eliminating Naxal insurgents and bringing stability to the regions. The Maoists targeted security personnel involved in the operations against them with major attacks such as the
Silda camp attack,
Dantewada ambush and
2010 Dantewada bus bombing. They also killed civilians suspected of helping the government and those who were involved in building public infrastructure. Naxalites carried out a series of attacks, including shootings and bombings across Indian states and the security forces retaliated in response. Naxalites were also suspected of attempted
train derailments. In early 2010s,
Karnataka was removed from the list of Naxal-affected states. The
Government of Madhya Pradesh claimed that the Naxal insurgency has reduced in the state and attributed its success to the rural development schemes. In July 2011, the central government announced that the number of Naxal-affected areas were reduced to 83 districts across nine states. Senior Maoist leaders were killed by the security forces, and many were arrested. In early 2012, the Naxalites kidnapped foreign nationals and a
Member of the Legislative Assembly in Odisha to force the government to release its cadres held as prisoners. In May 2013,
a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh resulted in the deaths of 24
Indian National Congress leaders including the former state minister
Mahendra Karma and the Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel. In the later 2010s, while the Maoists continued to carry out planned attacks such as the
2014 Chhattisgarh attack, the
2017 Sukma attack and the
2018 Sukma attack, the security forces were able to retaliate in response. The security forces engaged in multiple gun battles which resulted in more than 1000 Maoists being killed in the late 2010s. In September 2018, the Naxalites killed Member of
Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former member Siveri Soma in
Araku Valley. The
Kerala Police eliminated the presence of Maoists in
Kerala in 2019. Sporadic attacks such as the
2021 Sukma–Bijapur attack and
2023 Dantewada bombing on security personnel and civilians continued into the 2020s. The anti-insurgency operations also intensified with higher success rate resulting in the death or capture of several insurgent leaders. The Naxal influence reduced to about 70 districts in 2021 of which only 25 were most affected from a high of 180 districts in the late 2000s. the Maoist activity have relatively suppressed due to the increase in anti-terror operations conducted by the security forces in 2024. Operations like the
2024 Kanker clash and the
2024 Abujhmarh clash resulted in a great loss of personnel and material for the Maoists. Sparse Naxal attacks continued into 2025 such as the
IED attack in Bijapur District that killed nine policemen, In April–May 2025, the Indian authorities conducted a 21-day anti-Maoist operation named
Operation Black Forest (Operation Kagar) in the Karregutta Hills region in the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, that resulted in the deaths of 31 insurgents and three security personnel. On 21 May,
Nambala Keshava Rao, the general secretary of CPI (Maoist), was killed alongside 26 other Naxals. From 2015 to 2025, over 10,000 Naxals have surrendered to the government and security forces. India convinced Naxals to surrender through promises of housing and monetary compensation, though other Naxals faced "extremely brutal" attacks. In February 2026, Deputy Chief Minister
Vijay Sharma stated that the insurgency was in its "final phase". Minister of Home Affairs
Amit Shah vowed that the insurgency would cease by the end of the following month. On March 30, 2026, India declared victory in the insurgency. Vijay Sharma stated that all Naxal insurgents had been killed or surrendered, other than two commanders at large. Ashutosh Sharma writing for The Hindu stated that the Modi Government had begun to reframe "Maoism itself by equating dissent with insurgency, thus extending the crackdown from jungles to cities." == Red corridor ==