India, Aug. 26 -- In April 2010, Dantewada in Chhattisgarh witnessed one of the deadliest Naxal attacks in Indian history, killing seventy-seven security personnel. The ambush involved IEDs, mortars, AK-47s, self-loading rifles, light machine guns, Sten guns, and grenades. This attack was one of countless attacks in that series.

I was travelling by train that day. Train compartments in India are often like mini parliaments, where strangers freely debate politics and current affairs. The incident shook us to our core, and it became the subject of discussion. While we deplored the Naxal ideology of armed struggle against democracy, we were perplexed by the sophistication of their operations. How do criminals living inside forests acquire a...