Anti-‘anti-witchcraft’ and the Maoist insurgency in rural Maharashtra, India

Dealing effectively with malignant mystical attack is an important concern in central India. This paper examines the ways in which the connections and conflicts between the Maoist movement, the police, and marginalised villagers in the state of Maharashtra, India, has led to a crisis in the identification of malfeasants such as witches. In response to the presence of the Maoist insurgency, state actors have become more involved in people’s lives than ever before. Police and others attempt to regulate activities such as witch-detecting and ghost-finding, which they regard as evidence of ‘backwardness’. In many respects of course, the Maoist movement is itself a commentary on ‘backwardness’. The paper therefore offers an insight into the lives of people involved in and affected by the circulation of this concept and the forms of transformation that result.