“Amit Shah’s Report Card Shows Why Justifying Maoism is a Red Herring”, Open the magazine, April 01, 2026
“It has been a predictable trope to dismiss police recoveries of banned literature from persons accused of Maoist crimes on the grounds that the published works of Karl Marx or “pamphlets” cannot be evidence of “anti-national” or seditious activity. It was an effective way of belittling investigative agencies and undermining cases against persons who often used the cover of academia or activism to organize funds, legal aide, recruit cadres and, most importantly, provide ideological legitimacy to the Communist Party of India (Maoist)’s violent agenda.
The criticism of police recoveries found ready acceptance in the media in keeping with a fashionable distrust of the “state” and the liberal leanings of many commentators. This suspicion of the “state” predates installation of the Modi government but became sharper and more pronounced thereafter driven by the liberal establishment’s animosity towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader. In the process, a dispassionate survey of “evidence” – whether the “pamphlets” in question make case for an armed overthrow of the state – took a back seat. As did other evidences by way of hard disks, mobiles and witnesses.
Shah draw a line
In his 85-minute speech in Lok Sabha on March 27, home minister Amit Shah spent some time on “urban naxals” as he questioned the justification of the Maoist insurgency on the grounds that it was a result of state failure and a quest for justice. Did the Maoists – there is no other appropriate description – academics in public-funded universities, activists who organized seminars deceptively themed on “human rights,” an international circuit devoted to promoting narratives of “democratic failure” and sundry fellow travelers ever consider the fact that the CPI(Maoist) is committed to a violent overthrow of the state……”
Read full article at openthemagazine.com
