Naxalbari’s 50th Year: Here’s What Nandini Sundar Has to Say

The Quint caught up with Nandini Sundar, academic and human rights activist, to discuss India’s Naxal movement.

Academic and human rights activist Nandini Sundar talked to The Quint after a seminar on the Naxal movement’s 50th year. (Photo: Indira Basu / The Quint)

Exactly 50 years ago, the Naxal movement in India was initiated by three Communist revolutionaries in the village of Naxalbari in West Bengal. The Naxal movement’s present day narrative has been the topic of much discussion and debate recently, not only because the movement is observing its 50th year, but also because of the sheer number of Naxal attacks that have taken place this year.

The Quint caught up with social anthropologist and human rights activist Nandini Sundar following a seminar on Naxalism at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.

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Sundar has been observing the Naxal movement for nearly 30 years and has been closely involved in development projects related to Adivasis in Chhattisgarh’s Maoist hotbed – the district of Bastar.

In the video, Sundar talks about the exigencies of development in India’s red corridor, where the Adivasis are usually the collateral damage in the war between Naxals and the government machinery. She also explains why the government’s so-called anti-Naxal strategies haven’t worked so far, and gives insight into a potential solution to this internal security threat. Watch the video for more details.

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