The CPI-Maoist was formed in 2004 after the merger of wo already banned outfits CPI-ML and MCC.
Getting ready for launching a decisive battle against the Left-wing extremists across eight major states, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has declared the CPI-Maoist, the unified organisation of motley Left-wing extremist groups, as a terrorist outfit.
The home ministry moved fast on banning the CPI-Maoist under the Unlawful Activities Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2008, after the West Bengal and some other states governments continued to dither on banning these groups.
The ban on the CPI-Maoist comes in the wake of rising violence unleashed by the Left-wing groups in the country’s eastern and central region, including the recent one witnessed in West Bengal’s tribal belt of Lalgarh, where extremists had virtually taken control of villages.
Lalgarh saw a stand-off between the entrenched insurgents and the security forces for four days together before the forces reclaimed it.
Many Naxal-affected states like Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Jharkahand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have already declared various Left-wing outfits unlawful. The Union home ministry, which plans a major offensive against the extremist outfits across eight states in near future, has included the CPI-Maoist in the list of banned organisations.
The MHA’s list of banned organisations also includes Al Qaida, Hizbul Mujahideen and various pan-Islamic organisations.
In fact, the ban on Maoists is not new since the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), People’s War Group (PWG), Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and all their front organisations, which have been amalgamated into a single entity called the CPI-Maoist, are already in the MHA’s list of 32 banned organisations.
However, MHA sources said that though the CPI-Maoist had been formed in September 2004, the Left-wing groups continued to dodge the law while continuing to operate under their earlier banners in some states.
However, the MHA has finally concluded that the CPI-Maoist was the main organisation controlling Naxal operations in most of the states and it needs to be banned all over the country.
According to A K Doval, former chief of the Intelligence Bureau, banning an organisation helps security forces dismantle its support base and over-ground infrastructure.
He, however, said that the ban on the Maoist groups would prove useful only if the Centre has done it with enough preparations and not in a huff.
