Alpa Shah’s Nightwatch: A Journey into India’s Naxal Heartlands is the latest in a barrage of books on the Naxalites (at least 50 since 2007 by Shah’s own count in her Bibliographic essay at the end of the book), the impetus of which is somewhat dubious. The Indian government (specifically Manmohan Singh, which shows no real difference in how the Congress and the BJP or any major party sees them) has deemed the Naxalites the nation’s “largest internal security threat” which