ABSTRACT
With regard to the Maoists in Warangal, Telangana, this chapter addresses three questions. First, who becomes an armed activist? Second, how are they able to sustain their involvement? Third, how do armed movements in general sustain their organizations over time?
From 51 interviews conducted in 2013–2014 in 20 villages located in several mandals spanning the geography of the district (to compare activists and the movement within and across different structural conditions), the chapter finds that Maoist activity from 1980 to 2013 could best be explained in terms of a dialectic relationship between the individual, territory, and movement. Activists continuously redefined their relationship with the movement as the movement itself adjusted (and responded) to changing economic, social, and political structures. Resilience of activists and armed movement legitimacy, I suggest, is the outcome of this capacity to continuously evolve in relation to one another, by addressing both the broader structural forces and micro-dynamics at the individual, territory and movement levels. These findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of armed movement legitimacy and their sustenance.
