The Monitor is doing a three part series on India that I’m reading. Today’s article made a casual reference to a Maoist insurgency and the 2004 elections. I kind of had a “Bwah?” moment while reading that. I knew nothing of a serious Moaist insurgency in India. So, I decided to dig around a bit to see what I could find. Foreign Policy‘s blog lists this as one of the top ten stories you missed in 2005. Yep. I definitely missed it. The Times has a pretty good article in their April 13th edition about it. It’s very interesting stuff. Some of the ethnic, class and economic development stuff at play here does remind me a bit of the Andes in previous decades. As do some of the tactics by both the Maoist and anti-Maoists.

I’d never really given much thought to the notion that India, like Argentina or Brazil, might find itself poised to be a world power, but just fall apart through internal strife and organizational contradictions within the society.

Of course, if anyone really needs a Maoist insurgency, it’s China.

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