Internal security: insurgencies, terrorism & federal responses
India's post-1947 internal security: Northeast and Punjab insurgencies, Naxalism, Kashmir militancy, terrorism, and the constitutional-legal architecture of federal response.
The four theatres of insurgency
Post-independence India has fought sustained armed challenges to its territorial and constitutional order across four broad theatres, each with distinct causes and trajectories.
The Northeast. The earliest insurgency erupted in the Naga Hills. Angami Zapu Phizo's Naga National Council declared independence on 14 August 1947 and held a plebiscite in 1951. Armed revolt from 1956 prompted the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA). The Shillong Accord (1975) split the movement; the NSCN factions (Isak-Muivah and Khaplang) emerged in 1980 and 1988. Mizoram's insurgency under Laldenga's Mizo National Front began with the 1966 uprising after the 1959 mautam famine; it ended cleanly with the Mizo Accord of 30 June 1986, statehood (1987), and Laldenga becoming Chief Minister—India's most successful counter-insurgency settlement. Assam's anti-foreigner agitation produced the Assam Accord (15 August 1985) and the secessionist ULFA (founded 1979).
Punjab. Sikh militancy crystallised around the Anandpur Sahib Resolution (1973) and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Operation Blue Star (1–8 June 1984) at the Golden Temple precipitated the assassination of Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984 and the anti-Sikh pogrom. The Rajiv–Longowal Accord (24 July 1985) and police operations under K.P.S. Gill restored order by the early 1990s.
Jammu and Kashmir. Cross-border militancy escalated after the disputed 1987 state election, with the JKLF kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed (December 1989) and the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (January 1990). The Kargil conflict (1999) and attacks on the J&K Assembly (2001) and Parliament (13 December 2001) followed.
Left-Wing Extremism (Naxalism). Born at Naxalbari, West Bengal, in May 1967 under Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal, it formed the CPI(ML) in 1969. The merger of the People's War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre created the CPI (Maoist) on 21 September 2004, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called India's 'greatest internal security threat'. The 'Red Corridor' peaked after the Dantewada ambush (6 April 2010) that killed 76 CRPF personnel.
Terrorism beyond insurgency
Urban mass-casualty terrorism marks a distinct strand: the 1993 Bombay serial blasts (12 March), the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks (26–29 November 2008) by Lashkar-e-Taiba, which directly produced the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 and the Multi Agency Centre's revival.