The proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist) or CPI (Maoist) has admitted to heavy losses amid intensified anti-insurgency operations and called for a flexible guerrilla war by mobilising the broad masses in class struggle to counter the campaign against Left-wing insurgents. The government has set a target of eliminating Maoism from the country by next year.
The CPI (Maoist)’s Central Committee has circulated a 22-page document dated June 23 among the cadres and sympathisers, acknowledging the killing of 357 Maoists over the last year. The document was issued to reiterate the changed strategy after the committee held discussions following the killing of Maoist chief Nambala Kesava Rao alias Basvaraju on May 20 in Chhattisgarh.
Basvaraju’s killing inside a dense forest marked the most significant success against the Left-wing insurgency in years. As the general secretary of the CPI (Maoist), he was the backbone of the insurgency in central India and was accused of masterminding attacks, including an ambush that left 76 security personnel dead in 2010.
The Maoist movement began in India in 1967 in West Bengal’s Naxalbari village before spreading to what is now Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. It has been described as the biggest threat to India’s internal security and has suffered setbacks, but retained the capacity to launch attacks.
The Maoist document, a copy of which HT has seen, said the 357 Maoists killed included 136 women. It said four of them died of ill health and improper treatment, one in an accident, 80 in “fake encounters”, and 269 in encirclement attacks. The document said four of those killed were members of the Central Committee, including Basvaraju, 16 state committee rank leaders, 17 of People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) members, six from people’s organisational wings, and 34 common people. “The details of 36 people are not available,” the document said.
{{/usCountry}}The Maoist document, a copy of which HT has seen, said the 357 Maoists killed included 136 women. It said four of them died of ill health and improper treatment, one in an accident, 80 in “fake encounters”, and 269 in encirclement attacks. The document said four of those killed were members of the Central Committee, including Basvaraju, 16 state committee rank leaders, 17 of People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) members, six from people’s organisational wings, and 34 common people. “The details of 36 people are not available,” the document said.
{{/usCountry}}As per police records, 217 Maoists were killed in 2024. By mid-2025, the number rose to 460. Around 20,000 security forces have been deployed in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra for anti-Maoist operations.
The Maoist document analysed the reasons for the debacle and blamed improper implementation of the committee’s secret method of functioning, the rules of guerrilla war, and the tactics.
“The guerrilla war goes as per the tactics like ‘breeze’ and ‘flowing water.’ Like the breeze is to be in constant mobility instead of staying in one place. The meaning of flowing like water is to not climb the hills that come in its way, not to fight decisive wars with the enemy that is many times stronger like water flowing from slopes, but to implement tactics to save its strength,” the document said.
It reiterated the Central Committee and Politburo circulars released in February and August 2004 that the Maoists must spread out into wider areas, not confining themselves to small ones. “We must be decentralised, class struggle must be made in coordination of legal-illegal, open-secret forms of struggle and organisation,” the document said.
It added the attempts of the government to eliminate the movement before March 31, 2026, should be defeated by strictly following the tactics of the central committee and Politburo, including strengthening the party and protecting the PLGA.
The document details how the guerrilla units were counter-attacking the security forces using booby traps and IEDs, ambushing them through small and decentralised actions. “In the past one year, PLGA forces eliminated 75 enemy armed forces, and injured 130...seized a few weapons in the booby trap/IED warfare and through breaking the enemy encirclement,” it said.
Additional director general (anti-Maoist operations) Vivekanand Sinha said the Maoists have suffered maximum loss in Chhattisgarh and that the security forces were aware of the new, refined rebel strategy to survive the operations.
“Facing a financial crisis, they have been pushed onto the back foot. Their formations have weakened, and they are now blending in with local villagers. They have become highly suspicious of everyone, which has unfortunately led to a rise in the killing of civilians,” he said.
The Maoists in Bastar, the hotspot of Maoism in India, have reconstituted their battalions into smaller units and pushed them into inaccessible areas in and around the inhospitable terrain of the Indravati National Park. Other rebels have abandoned military attire and are now living with villagers.
An intelligence officer said the increased killing of Maoist cadres and leaders prompted the CPI (Maoist) Politburo to hold internal discussions and issue a circular about a month ago, saying the time was unfavourable for rebellion. “...as a result, all cadres were instructed to go underground, and even large formations were to be broken into small units to avoid detection,” said the officer.
A second intelligence officer said they have used more IEDs to target security forces.
The CPI (Maoist) said it was mounting pressure on the government through civil society groups in 9-10 states to stop anti-insurgent operations. The central committee called upon the party cadre and people to observe “Martyrs’ Week” from July 28 to August 3 in their influence areas across India.