Communist Party of India (Maoist)

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) was founded on 21 September 2004 through the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War (People's War Group) and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI). The high-level bilateral meetings between the two erstwhile parties started in February 2003 Following that, the founding of the unified party was finally announced to the public on 14 October of the same year. In the course of the merger, a provisional central committee was constituted, with the erstwhile People's War Group leader Muppala Lakshmana Rao, alias "Ganapathi", as generaSecretaryry. ==Ideology==

The CPI (Maoist) observes that the Indian state is being "run by a collaboration of imperialists, the comprador bourgeoisie and feudal lords." According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the two factions of the Party adhered to differing strands of communism before their 2004 merger. However, "both organizations shared their belief in the 'annihilation of class enemies' and in extreme violence as a means to secure organizational goals". The People's War Group (PWG) maintained a Marxist–Leninist stance, while the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) took a Maoist stance. After the merger, the PWG secretary of Andhra Pradesh announced that the newly formed CPI-Maoist would follow Marxism–Leninism–Maoism as its "ideological basis guiding its thinking in all spheres of its activities." Included in this ideology is a commitment to "protracted armed struggle" to undermine and to seize power from the state. The CPI (Maoist) claim that they are conducting a "people's war", a strategic approach developed by Mao Zedong during the guerrilla warfare phase of the Chinese Communist Party. Their eventual objective is to install a "people's government" via a New Democratic Revolution. ==Location and prominence==

CPI(Maoist) currently operates in the forest belt around central India in the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha. It is present even in remote regions of Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, as well as in Bihar and the tribal-dominated areas in the borderlands of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Odisha. The CPI (Maoist) aims to consolidate its power in this area and establish a Compact Revolutionary Zone from which to advance the people's war in other parts of India. Recently, the Indian government has claimed that in 2013, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal experienced [ideological] "influence" of "Left Wing Extremism"; while claiming that armed activity by the "Left Wing" extremists was noticed in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal. ==Organisation==

The last General Secretary was Thippiri Tirupathi, who was appointed in September 2025 and resigned in February 2026. His predecessor, Nambala Keshava Rao (alias "Basavaraj") along with 27 other Naxals were killed during a gunfight with Indian security forces in Abujhmarh, Chhattisgarh on 21 May 2025. Rao, in turn, took the post after Muppala Lakshmana Rao, who uses the alias "Ganapathy". The party hierarchy consists of the Regional Bureaus, which look after two or three states each, the State Committees, the Zonal Committees, the District Committees, and the "dalams" (armed squads). Communist writer Jan Myrdal noted that the CPI (Maoist) also organises events like "The Leadership Training Programme" to endure the forces of the state. Politburo As per the communist party policies, the highest decision-making body of the CPI (Maoist) is the Politburo, with thirteen or fourteen members, six of whom were killed or arrested between 2007 and 2010. Shamsher Singh Sheri alias Karam Singh, who died of Cerebral Malaria-Jaundice on 30 October 2005, was a Politburo member. Between 2005 and 2011, the State captured several Politburo members of the party, which includes – Sushil Roy alias "Som", Narayan Sanyal alias "N. Prasad", Pramod Mishra, Amitabh Bagchi, Baccha Prasad Singh, Anukul Chandra Naskar and Akhilesh Yadav. Arvind Ji alias "Deo Kumar Singh", died in a heart attack on 21 March 2018. B. Sudhakar, alias "Kiran", was another Politburo member of CPI (Maoist), but he surrendered in 2019. Akkiraju Haragopal alias "Ramakrishna" died in October 2021 due to illness. Katakam Sudarshan, alias Anand, was a prominent Politburo member until he died in 2023. Ashutosh Tudu are another two of the arrested Politburo members of the party. Among those killed, Cherukuri Rajkumar alias "Azad" were two past members of the CPI (Maoist)'s Politburo. Prashant Bose alias "Kishan-da" was a member of the Politburo until his arrest. In October 2025, a top Politburo member Mallujola Venugopal surrendered to the Maharashtra police. On 22 February 2026, the General Secretery and Politburo member Thippiri Tirupathi surrendered in Telengana. Central Committee The Central Committee of the CPI (Maoist) takes direction from the Politburo, passes information to its members, and has 32 members. During an interview in 2010, Anand told media personnel that out of the 45 members of the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist), 8 have been arrested; the agencies of the Indian government have killed 22. Anuradha Ghandy, who died on 12 April 2008, was an eminent member of CPI (Maoist)'s Central Committee. Kadari Satyanarayan Reddy alias "Kosa", Thippiri Tirupathi alias "Devuji", Malla Raji Reddy and Mallujola Venugopal alias "Bhupati" are another three cadres and Central Committee members of the party. Madvi Hidma is the youngest Central Committee member of the party. As of 22 September 2011, nine of the Central Committee members were jailed, which includes – Moti Lal Soren, Vishnu, Varanasi Subramanyam, Shobha, Misir Besra, Purnendu Sekhar Mukherjee, Vijay Kumar Arya. One more Central Committee member, Ravi Sharma, was also captured later. Ginugu Narsimha Reddy alias Jampanna surrendered to police in December 2017. Varkapur Chandramouli, Patel Sudhakar Reddy, Another member Uday was killed in 2025 by Greyhounds in Andhra Pradesh. In September 2025, Kosa was killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh. and in October 2025, Mallujola Venugopal who is also a politburo member surrendered to Police in Maharashtra and another Central Committee member Pullari Prasad Rao alias Chandranna surrendered in Telegana. Another member and leader of Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee Madvi Hidma was killed in Andhra Pradesh in November 2025. In December 2025, another Central Committee member and Senior leader Ganesh uike alias Paka Hanumanthu was killed in Odisha. In January 2026, another central committee member Pathiram Manjhi alias anal da was killed in Jharkhand by CRPF. On 22 February 2026, two Central Committee members Thippiri Tirupathi and Malla Raja Reddy surrendered in Telengana. Publication division The CPI (Maoist) has a "publication division". B. Sudhakar, alias "Kiran", who was a Politburo member before his surrender, used to work for this division. Anuj Thakur is an arrested member of the CMC of the party. and Chandramouli Estimated strength The military wings of the founding organisations, the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (the military wing of the MCCI) and the People's Guerrilla Army (the military wing of the PWG), also underwent a merger. The name of the unified military organisation is the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), and it is grouped into three sections — the Basic, the Secondary, and the Main squad. During his stay in the guerrilla zones, Jan Myrdal noted that the female cadres of CPI (Maoist) constituted about 40% of its PLGA, and held numerous "command positions"; but currently, the female members comprises 60% of the Maoist cadres, and women commanders heads 20 of the 27 divisions of the guerrilla zones. The analyses, as of September 2013, suggested that the estimated number of PLGA members has decreased from 10,000 − 12,000 But, Gautam Navlakha has suggested that the PLGA has strengthened over the past few years, and has mustered 12 companies and over 25 platoons and a supply platoon in 2013 as compared to 8 companies and 13 platoons of 2008. The People's Militia, which is armed with bows, arrows, and machetes, and is believed to assist the PLGA logistically, is estimated to be around 38,000. Medical units The Maoists had structured "medical units" in the villages of Bastar, and the CPI (Maoist) operates "mobile medical units." Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan, ==Strategy==

Governance tactics The "organising principles" of the Maoists are sketched out from the Chinese Communist Revolution and the Vietnam War. The CPI (Maoist) has organised Dandakaranya into ten divisions, each comprising three area committees; and every Area Committee is composed of several Janatana Sarkars (people's governments). The party says that a Janatana Sarkar is established by the election procedure involving a group of villages, and has nine departments — agriculture, trade and industry, economic, justice, defence, health, public relations, education and culture, and jungle. The Janatana Sarkar provides education up to primary level in the subjects of mathematics, social science, politics, and Hindi, in the "camp schools" using the textbooks published by the party in Gondi. They also use DVDs to educate the children in the streams of science and history. In their efforts to intimidate their political adversaries and consolidate control, the Maoists tax local villagers, extort businesses, abduct and kill "class enemies" such as government officials and police officers, and regulate the flow of aid and goods. against their opponents. These "courts" function in the areas under de facto Maoist control. They have also demolished railroad tracks and school buildings that are often used as temporary camps by security forces. Military strategies and tactics The CPI (Maoist) rejects "engagement" with what it terms as the "prevailing bourgeois democracy" and focuses on capturing political power through protracted armed struggle based on guerrilla warfare. This strategy entails building up bases in rural and remote areas and transforming them first into guerrilla zones, and then into "liberated zones", in addition to encircling cities. The Maoists condemn the accusations that they manage arms through China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. On the subject, Ganapathy says, "Our weapons are mainly country-made. All the modern weapons we have are mainly seized from the government armed forces when we attack them." ==Funding==

Some sources claim that the funding for the Maoists comes from abductions, extortion, and by setting up unofficial administrations to collect taxes in rural areas where the official government appears absent. Poppy cultivation is another suspected source of funding for Maoists in the Ghagra area of Gumla district in Jharkhand and in parts of Gumla, Kishanganj and Purnia districts in Bihar where security forces claim that opium fields are hidden among maize crops. Reports from Debagarh district in Odisha indicate that the Maoists also support hemp cultivation to help fund their activities. ==Legal status==

The party is regarded as a "left-wing extremist entity" and a terrorist outfit by the Indian government. Several of their members have been arrested under the now-defunct Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act. The group is officially banned by the state governments of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh, among others. The party has protested these bans. The Indian government, led by the United Progressive Alliance, banned the CPI (Maoist) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as a terrorist organisation on 22 June 2009. On 22 June 2009, the central home ministry, keeping in mind the growing unlawful activities by the group, banned it under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Earlier, the union home minister, P. Chidambaram had asked the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, to ban the Maoists following the Lalgarh Violence. Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and all its formations and front organisations have been banned by the Government of India. ==Controversies==

Opposition The Party is regarded as a serious security threat by the Indian government. It says it will combine improved policing with socio-economic measures to defuse grievances that fuel the Maoist cause. In 2005, Chhattisgarh State sponsored an anti-Maoist movement called the Salwa Judum. The group, which the BBC alleges is "government backed", an allegation rejected by the Indian government has come under criticism for "perpetrating atrocities and abuse against women", using child soldiers, burning people alive, and the looting of property and destruction of homes. These allegations were rejected by a fact-finding commission of the National Human Rights Commission of India, appointed by the Supreme Court of India, who determined that the Salwa Judum was a spontaneous reaction by tribes against Maoist atrocities perpetrated against them. The camps are guarded by police officers, paramilitary forces and child soldiers However, on 5 July 2011, the Supreme Court of India declared the Salwa Judum illegal and unconstitutional. The court directed the Chhattisgarh government to recover all the firearms given to the militia along with the ammunition and accessories. It also ordered the government to investigate all instances of alleged criminal activities of Salwa Judum. But, the state government did not abide by the Supreme Court's decision. In August 2013, the Supreme Court of India asked the state government to explain that "why its failure to execute the July 2011 order of disbanding the SPOs not considered as contempt of court." In March 2019, a municipal school teacher, Yogendra Meshram, was killed by the Maoists in Korchi, which locals vehemently protested. The Maoist leadership later apologized for the killing, stating it was a mistake and that Meshram was wrongly suspected to be a police informer. ==International connections==

The CPI (Maoist) maintains dialogue with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), which controls most of Nepal in the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA), according to several intelligence sources and think tanks. While under detention in June 2009, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative indicated that the LeT and the CPI (Maoist) had attempted to co-ordinate activities in Jharkhand state. But, Ganapathy has denied any links between CPI (Maoist) and LeT, stating that the allegations are "only mischievous, calculated propaganda by the police officials, bureaucrats and leaders of the reactionary political parties" to malign the Maoists' image with the aim of labeling them as terrorists in order to justify "their brutal terror campaign against Maoists and the people in the areas of armed agrarian struggle." Reports in 2010 indicate that the Communist Party of the Philippines, Southeast Asia's longest-lived communist insurgent group, has been reported to have engaged in training activities for guerrilla warfare with Indian Maoists. The Indian Maoists deny operational links with foreign groups, such as the Nepalese Maoists, but do claim comradeship with them. Some members of the Indian government accept this, while others argue that operational links do exist, with training coming from Sri-Lankan Maoists and small arms from China. China denies any suggestion that it supports foreign Maoist rebels, citing improvements in relations between India and China, including movement towards resolving their border disputes. Maoists in Nepal, India, and the Philippines are less reticent about their shared goals. ==Indian Government's paramilitary offensive against the CPI (Maoist)==

In September 2009, an all-out offensive was launched by the Government of India's paramilitary forces and the state's police forces against the CPI (Maoist) is termed by the Indian media as the "Operation Green Hunt". On 3 January 2013, government issued a statement that it is deploying 10,000 more central paramilitary personnel in Bastar, Odisha and some parts of Jharkhand. On 8 June 2014, the Minister of Home Affairs officially approved the deployment of another 10,000 troops from the paramilitary forces to fight against the Maoists in Chhattisgarh. The count of personnel from State Armed Police Forces involved in counter-Maoism operations in the Red corridor is estimated to number around 200,000. On 30 May 2013, the Indian Air Force's Air Chief Marshal declared that apart from the currently operating MI-17 helicopters, the Indian Force has decided to induce a unit of MI-17V5 helicopters to "provide full support to anti-Naxal operations." In August 2014, the Ministry of Home Affairs had stated that 2,000 personnel from the Nagaland's Indian Reserve Battalions (IRB) were deployed in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations against the Maoists in Bastar. Since the start of the operation, 2,266 Maoist militants have been killed, 10,181 have been arrested, and 9,714 have surrendered. ==Notable attacks==

• On 12 June 2009, at least 29 members of the Indian Police were killed in an ambush attack by Maoist rebels in Rajnandgaon, 90 km (56 mi) from Raipur (India's Chhattisgarh state). • On 15 February 2010, several of the guerrilla commanders of CPI (Maoist), all of whom are believed to be female, killed 24 personnel of the Eastern Frontier Rifles at Silda in West Bengal. and after the Maoist raid at the paramilitary camp, Kishenji addressed the news media saying, "We have not started it (violence) and we will not stop it first. Let us see whether the central government is honest about a solution and we will definitely co–operate.... This is the answer to Chidambaram's 'Operation Green Hunt' and unless the Centre stop this inhuman military operation, we are going to answer the Centre this way only." • On 6 April 2010, the Maoists ambushed and killed 76 paramilitary personnel who fell into a trap laid by the lurking Maoists. The CPI (Maoist) described the incident as a "direct consequence" of the Operation Green Hunt, stating that "We have been surrounded by paramilitary battalions. They are setting fire to the forests and making adivasis (tribals) flee. In this situation, we have no other alternative (but to stage attacks)." • On 25 May 2013, the CPI (Maoist) ambushed a convoy of the Indian National Congress at Bastar, and killed 27 people including Mahendra Karma, Nand Kumar Patel and Vidya Charan Shukla. While regretting the death of a few "innocent Congress [INC] functionaries" during the incident, they hold the Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress' policies which they view as "anti-people" in nature, as directly responsible for the attack. Later, 14 Maoist who had allegedly participated in the ambush were gunned down in Odisha by the Special Operation Group with the assistance of Border Security Force. • On 3 April 2021, twenty-two soldiers were killed in a Maoist ambush on the border of Bijapur and Sukma districts in southern Chhattisgarh. Those killed included 14 Chhattisgarh police officers and seven jawans of the CRPF, including six members of its elite CoBRA unit, specially trained to take on Maoist guerrillas. • On 4 January 2022, CPI (Maoist) attacked former BJP MLA of Manoharpur, Gurucharan Nayak, in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Nayak escaped, but the Maoists slit the throats of his two bodyguards, snatched their AK-47 rifles, and fled. The two bodyguards died in the incident. • On April 26, 2023, 10 policemen and their driver belonging to the District Reserve Guard (DRG) of Chhattisgarh Police were killed in an IED attack by Maoists in Dantewada District, Chhattisgarh. The forces were attacked while returning from counterinsurgency operations in the area. ==See also==