Insurgency versus Democracy: The Violent Clash of Ideas between the Maoists and the Indian State

Abstract

The end objective of the Maoist insurgency is to overthrow the parliamentary and representative democratic system of the Indian state to herald a ‘new democratic order.’ To the Maoists, Indian democracy is reactionary and oppressive and an instrument of exploitation. A violent movement that the Maoists have been waging against the Indian state can also be seen as a clash of ideas on the forms of democracy that the Indian state and the Maoists believe. Around this clash of ideas on democracy, this chapter investigates how an insurgency with an alternative idea of democracy violently clashes with an established democratic Indian state. In investigating the violent clash of ideas, this paper also addresses the common and divergent issues between the Maoists and the Indian state. The issues of culture of violence, impunity in democracy, and the paradox of counter-violence are discussed in the chapter