A militant peasant movement in the Naxalbari area of West Bengal erupted into armed clashes, widely treated as the starting point of the Naxalite movement and the long-running Maoist insurgency in India.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (CPI(ML)) was declared founded at a mass meeting in Calcutta, crystallizing a key organizational vehicle for the early “Naxalite” current and its strategy of armed revolution.
The Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) took shape as a significant armed Maoist organization outside CPI(ML), later becoming one of the two principal groups that merged to form CPI (Maoist).
Kondapalli Seetharamaiah founded the People’s War Group (PWG) in Andhra Pradesh, a major Naxalite organization that expanded across multiple states and later merged into CPI (Maoist).
The People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) was founded as a Maoist armed wing (originating under CPI(ML) People’s War), later serving as the armed wing of CPI (Maoist).
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) was founded through the merger of the People’s War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre of India, creating the principal armed Maoist organization in the insurgency’s later phases.
Salwa Judum emerged as a state-backed anti-insurgency vigilante movement in Chhattisgarh, becoming a major and controversial element of counterinsurgency and displacement dynamics in Bastar-region districts.
Maoists ambushed a boat carrying Greyhounds commandos and police on the Balimela reservoir in Odisha, sinking it and killing 38—one of the deadliest Maoist attacks on security forces up to that time.
Indian media began using the term “Operation Green Hunt” for intensified multi-state counterinsurgency operations in the Red Corridor; sources note the government does not officially use the label, but it became a widely recognized descriptor for the offensive phase.
CPI (Maoist) cadres ambushed security forces near Chintalnar in Dantewada district, Chhattisgarh, killing 76 CRPF personnel in what is often described as the deadliest Maoist attack on Indian security forces.
India’s Supreme Court declared Salwa Judum unconstitutional/illegal and ordered its disbandment, a landmark ruling that reshaped how auxiliary forces and vigilante models were treated in counterinsurgency policy and law.
Senior CPI (Maoist) figure Koteswara Rao (“Kishenji”) was killed in a security operation in West Bengal, a high-profile leadership loss amid intensified counterinsurgency pressure.
Maoists attacked a convoy linked to the Indian National Congress in Chhattisgarh’s Darbha Valley (Jhiram Ghati), killing dozens including prominent leader Mahendra Karma, and underscoring insurgents’ capacity for mass-casualty political targeting.
CPI (Maoist) carried out a major ambush in Sukma district, Chhattisgarh, killing 25 CRPF personnel (26 total security deaths reported in some accounts) in one of the deadliest attacks since 2010.
During an anti-insurgency operation near the Sukma–Bijapur border in Chhattisgarh, Maoists ambushed security forces, killing 22 personnel in a large engagement that highlighted continued insurgent strength in Bastar-region forests.
Security forces killed at least 29 Maoists in an encounter in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, one of the deadliest recent setbacks for insurgents and part of intensified operations during the 2024 election period.
Top CPI (Maoist) leader Nambala Keshav Rao (“Basavaraju”) was killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmarh area, representing a major leadership decapitation for the insurgency.
India’s Home Ministry publicly reported that Left Wing Extremism-affected districts had sharply contracted from earlier highs (often cited as 2013), indicating a significant reduction in geographic spread even as violence persisted in residual pockets.
Naxalite–Maoist Insurgency in India (1967–present)
