Red

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Vol. 2. Issue 27. Maoism

Who are the Naxalites?

Get to know about the Indian Che Guevera Read what Swaminathan Aiyar and Gaurav Navlakha have to say about Maoism. Also catch up with the paper on Maoism by ET Bureau.

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1964 Communist Party Marxist (CPM) splits from united Communist Party of India and decides to participate in elections, postponing struggle over revolutionary policies to a day when revolutionary situation prevailed in the country.

1965-66 Communist leader Charu Majumdar wrote various articles based on Marxism-LeninismMao Tsetung Thought during the period, which later came to be known as ‘Historic Eight Documents’ and formed the basis of naxalite movement. · First civil liberties organisation was formed with Telugu poet Sri Sri as president following mass arrests of communists during Indo-China war.

1967 CPM participates in polls and forms a coalition United Front government in West Bengal with Bangla Congress. This leads to schism in the party with younger

cadres, including the “visionary” Majumdar, accusing CPM of betraying the revolution.

Naxalbari Uprising (25th May): The rebel cadres led by Charu Majumdar launch a peasants’ uprising at Naxalbari in Darjeeling district of West Bengal after a tribal youth, who had a judicial order to plough his land, was attacked by “goons” of local landlords on March 2. Tribals retaliated and started forcefully capturing back their lands. The CPI (M)led United Front government cracked down on the uprising and in 72 days of the “rebellion” a police sub-inspector and nine tribals were killed.

The Congress govt at the Centre supported the crackdown. The incident echoed throughout India and naxalism was born.

• The ideology of naxalism soon assumed larger dimension and entire state units of CPI (M) in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and some sections in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh joined the struggle.

July-Nov: Revolutionary communist organs ‘Liberation’and ‘Deshbrati’ (Bengali) besides ‘Lokyudh’ (Hindi) were started.

Nov 12-13: Comrades from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Orissa and West Bengal met and set up All India Coordination Committee of Revolutionaries (AICCR) in the CPI (M).

1968 May 14 AICCR renamed All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) with Comrade S Roy Chowdhury as its convenor. The renamed body decides to boycott elections.

Within AICCCR certain fundamental differences lead to the exclusion of a section of Andhra comrades led

by Comrade T N Reddy.

1969 April 22 As per the AICCCR’s February decision, a new party CPI (ML) was launched on the birth

anniversary of Lenin.

Charu Majumdar was elected as the Secretary of Central Organising Committee. AICCR dissolved itself.

May 1: Declaration of the party formation by Comrade Kanu Sanyal at a massive meeting on Shahid Minar ground, Calcutta. CPI (M) tries to disrupt the meeting resulting in armed clash between CPI (M) and CPI (ML) cadres for the first time.

• By this time primary guerrilla zone appear at Debra-gopiballavpur (WB), Musal in Bihar, Lakhimpur Kheri in UP and most importantly Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh.

May 26-27 Andhra police kill Comrade Panchadri Krishnamurty and six other revolutionaries during a crackdown on Srikakulam struggle in Andhra Pradesh sparking wide protests.

Oct 20 Maoist Communist Centre was formed under Chatterjee’s leadership.

1970 April 27: Premises of Deshabrati Prakashan, which published Liberation and its sister journals, were raided. CPI (ML) goes underground.

May 11: The first CPI (ML) congress is held in Calcutta under strict underground conditions. Comrade Charu Majumdar is elected the party general secretary.

July 10: Comrades Vempatapu Satyanarayana and Adibatla Kailasam, leaders of Srikakulam uprising are killed in police encounter during the crackdown.

Comrade Appu, founder of the Party in Tamil Nadu was also killed around September-October.

The Srikakulam movement in continued in Andhra Pradesh till 1975.

• Leading lights of literary world of Telugu like Sri Sri, R V Shastri, Khtuba Rao K V Ramana Reddy, Cherabanda Raju Varavara Rao, C Vijaylakshmi with others joined hands to form VIRASAM (Viplava Rachayithala Sangam) or Revolutionary Writers Association.

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• Artistes from Hyderabad inspired by Srikakulam struggle and the songs of Subharao Panigrahi form a group — Art Lovers – comprising the famous film producer Narasinga Rao and the now legendary Gaddar.

(The Call), a political magazine was launched in Andhra Pradesh.

• Kondapalli Seetharamaiah reorganises the AP State Committee of Communist Revolutionaries following arrest of the twelve member AP State Committee.

1971 In the background of Bangladesh war, the Army tries to crush the ultra-left movement in West Bengal. Uprising in Birbhum marks the high point of this year.

• Art Lovers change its name to Jana Natya Mandali (JNM) late this year. It joins Communists and start propagating revolutionary ideas through its songs, dances and plays. It functioned till 1984.

1972 July Charu Majumdar is arrested in Calcutta on July 16. He dies in Lal Bazar police lock-up on July 28. Revolutionary struggle suffers serious debacle. CPI (ML)’s central authority collapses.

August: ‘Pilupu’

1973 Fresh guerrilla struggles backed by mass activism emerge in parts of central Bihar and Telangana, now a part of Andhra Pradesh.

1974 July 28 The Central Organising Committee of CPI (ML) was reconstituted at Durgapur meeting in West Bengal. Comrade Jauhar (Subrata Dutt) was elected general secretary. Jauhar reorganises CPI (ML) and renames it as CPI (ML) Liberation.

Seetharamaiah representing Telangana region, Appalasuri (coastal AP) and Mahadevan (Rayalseema).

October 12: Radical students union was formed in Andhra Pradesh. It faced brutal suppression but surged again after emergency was lifted.

1975 Following declaration of emergency on June 25 and the following repression on ultraleftists and others, the Central Organising Committee in its September meeting decided to withdraw a “common self-critical review” and instead produce a tactical line ‘Road to Revolution’.

But it did not unity among the cadres.

Armed struggles were reported from Bhojpur and Naxalbari.

1976 March: Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLP) was formed again with Sri Sri as president.

August: Andhra Pradesh state committee was reconstituted with Kondapalli

CPI (ML) holds its second Congress on February 26-27 in the countryside of Gaya, in Bihar. It resolves to continue with armed guerilla struggles and work for an antiCongress United Front.

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1978

Amidst an upsurge of ultra-leftists’ armed actions and mass activism, CPI (ML) decides to launch a rectification campaign.

The party organisation spreads to AP and Kerala.

Rectification movements (CPI ML and fragments) limits pure military viewpoint and stresses mass peasant struggles to Indianise the MarxismLeninism and Mao thought.

• CPI (ML) (Unity Organisation) is formed in Bihar under N Prasad’s leadership (focusing on JehanabadPalamu of Bihar). A peasant organisation – the Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Samiti (MKSS) is formed.

February: Revolutionaries organise Telangana Regional Conference in Andhra Pradesh and seeds of a peasant movement are sown in Karimnagar and Adilabad districts of the state. The conference decided to hold political classes to train new cadres and to send “squads” into forest for launching armed struggle. Eight districts of Telangana, excluding Hyderabad, were divided into two regions and two regional committees were elected.

May: Bihar and West Bengal representatives of Central Organising Committee resign at a meeting. Andhra Pradesh representative fails to attend the meet due to the arrest of Kondapalli Seetharamaiah. The Central Organising Committee is dissolved.

• ‘Go To Village Campaigns’ are launched by Andhra Pradesh Party of revolutionaries to propagate politics of agrarian revolution and building of Radical Youth League units in Andhra Pradesh villages. It later helped in triggering historic peasant struggles of Karimnagar and Adilabad.

Sept 7 The famous Jagityal march is organised in Andhra Pradesh, in which thousands of people take part.

Oct 20 Andhra Government declares Sarcilla and

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Jagityal ‘disturbed areas’ giving police “draconian” powers.

1979 From April to June, Village Campaign was for the first time organised jointly

by RSU and RYL in Andhra Pradesh. The two organisations also expressed solidarity with National Movement of Assam.

Between 1979 to 1988, MCC focused on Bihar.

A Bihar-Bengal Special Area Committee was established. The Preparatory Committee for Revolutionary Peasant Struggles was formed and soon Revolutionary Peasant Councils emerged. Two founding members of MCC passed awayAmulya Sen in March 1981 and Kanhai Chatterjee in July 1982.

1980 April 22: Kondapalli Seetharamaiah forms the Peoples War Group in Andhra Pradesh.

He discards total annihilation of “class enemies” as the only form of struggle and stresses on floating mass organisations.

• Mass peasant movement spreads in Central Bihar.

moved failed. The M-L movement begins to polarise between the Marxist-Leninist line of CPI (ML) (Liberation) and the line of CPI (ML) (People’s War).

• First state level rally is held in Patna under the banner of Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha beginning a new phase of mass political activism in the state.

1982 • CPI (ML) puts forward the idea of broad Democratic Front as the national alternative.

It was part of a process to reorganise a centre for All-India revolution after it ceased to exist in 1972.

• The central committee was formed by merging AP and Tamil Nadu State Committees and Maharashtra group of the CPI (ML).

Unity Organisation did not join. The tactical adopted by the committee upheld the legacy of Naxalbari while agreeing for rectifying the “left” errors.

• CPI (ML) Red Flag is formed led by K N Ramachandran.

Indian People’s Front (IPF) is launched in Delhi at a national conference of CPI (ML) (Liberation). At the end of the year the third Congress of CPI (ML) is organised at Giridih (Bihar), which decides to take part in elections.

1983 Peasant movement in Assam shows signs of revival after allegedly “forced” Assembly elections. IPF plays a crucial role in this regard.

• An all-India dalit conference is held in Amravati (Maharashtra) to facilitate interaction with Ambedkarite groups.

1985 People’s Democratic Front is launched in Karbi Anglong district of Assam to provide a “revolutionary democratic orientation to the tribal people’s aspirations for autonomy”.

• PDF wins a seat in Assam Assembly elections bring about the first entry of CPI (ML) cadre in the legislative arena.

• Jan Sanskriti Manch is formed at a conference of cultural activists from Hindi belt at Delhi.

1989 1986 • Bihar govt bans PWG and MCC April 5-7 CPI (ML) organises a national women’s convention in Calcutta to promote cooperation and critical interaction between communist women’s organisations and upcoming feminist and autonomous women’s groups.

April 19 More than a dozen “landless labourers” are killed in police firing at Arwal in Jehanabad district of Bihar.

1984 1981 CPI (ML) organises a unity meet of 13 Marxist-Leninist factions in a bid to form a single formation to act as the leading core of the proposed Democratic Front.

However, the unity

CPI (ML) and other revolutionaries try to woo Sikhs towards joining peasant movement following Operation Bluestar in June and country-wide anti-Sikh riots.

Hazaribagh in Bihar from January 1 to 5.

The Congress “rectifies” old errors of judgement in the party’s assessment of Soviet Union. It reiterates the basic principles of revolutionary communism – defence of Marxism, absolute political independence of the Communist Party and primacy of revolutionary peasant struggles in democratic revolution.

• CPI (ML) ND is formed in Bihar by Comrade Yatendra Kumar.

1987 PDF gets transformed into Autonomous State Demand Committee.

1988 CPI (ML) holds its fourth Congress at

May: The founding conference of All India Central Council of Trade Union (AICCTU) is held in Madras. Key resolutions are passed at this meet.

November: More than a dozen “left supporters” are shot dead by landlords in Ara Lok Sabha constituency of Bhojpur district in Bihar on the eve of polls.

• CPI (ML) (Liberation) records its first electoral victory under Indian People’s Front banner.

Ara sends the first “Naxalite” member to Parliament.

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1990

1992

1995

In February Assembly election, IPF wins seven seats and finishes second in another fourteen. In Assam too, a four-member ASDC legislators’ group enters the Assembly. Special all-India Conference is held in Delhi on July 22-24 to restructure the party.

• Andhra Pradesh bans People’s War Group • CPI(ML) reorganises the erstwhile Janwadi Mazdoor Kisan Samiti in South Bihar as Jharkhand Mazdoor Kisan Samiti (Jhamkis).

• A six-member CPI (ML) group is formed in Bihar Assembly. Two CPI (ML) nominees win from Siwan indicating the expansion of party’s influence in north Bihar.

May: N T Ramarao relaxes ban on Peoples War Group in Andhra Pradesh for three months. PWG goes in for massive recruitment drive in the state.

July: CPI (ML) organises All India Organisation Plenum at Diphu to streamline party’s organisational network.

August 9-11 All India Students Association (AISA) is launched at Allahabad.

It opposes VP Singh’s implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations.

Oct 8: First all-India IPF rally is held in Delhi. CPI (ML) (Liberation) claims it to be the first-ever massive mobilisation of rural poor in the capital.

• CPI (ML) S R Bhaijee group and CPI (ML) Unity Initiative are formed in Bihar. The former is still active in east and west Champaran.

• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chenna Reddy lifts all curbs on naxal groups. Naxalites operate freely for about a year but observers say it corrupted them and adversely affected the movement.

1991 In the May Lok Sabha elections, Indian People’s Front loses Ara seat but CPI (ML) retains its presence in Parliament through ASDC MP.

1993 • AISA registers impressive victories in Allahabad, Varanasi and Nainital university elections in Uttar Pradesh besides in the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

• CPI (ML) launches a new forum for Muslims called ‘Inquilabi Muslim Conference’ in Bihar.

• Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) is launched as an all-India organisation of the radical youth.

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1996

February: All India Progressive Women’s Association is launched at national women’s conference at New Delhi.

• Indian People’s Front is dissolved and fresh attempts are initiated to forge a united front of various sections of Leftists and Socialists with an anti-imperialist agenda.

• Interactions among various Communists and Left parties intensify in India and abroad to revive the movement drawing lessons from Soviet collapse.

• Five members of ASDC make it to Assam assembly.

An ASDC member is re-elected to Lok Sabha. Another ASDC member is elected to Rajya Sabha. ASDC retains its majority in Karbi Anglong District Council and also unseats the Congress in the neighbouring North Cachhar Hills district in Assam.

• CPI(ML) takes initiative to form a Tribal People’s Front and then Assam People’s Front • CPI (ML) joins hands with CPI and Marxist Coordination Committee led by Comrade A Roy to strengthen Left movement.

• CPI (ML) initiates

the Indian Institute of Marxist Studies. Armed clashes between ultraleftists and upper caste private armies (like Ranvir Sena) escalate in Bihar.

• The Progressive Organisation of People, affiliated to revolutionary left movement, launches a temple entry movement for lower castes in Gudipadu near Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. It emerges successful.

1997 CPI (ML) organises a massive ‘Halla Bol’ rally in Patna. A left supported Bihar bandh is organised as part of “Oust Laloo Campaign” in view of the Rs 950-crore fodder scam.

1999 • CPI (ML) Party Unity merges with Peoples War. • Naxalites launch major strikes. CPI (ML) PW kills six in Jehanabad on February 14. MCC kills 34 upper caste in Senai village of Jehanabad.

Dec 16 PWG hacks to death Madhya Pradesh Transport Minister Likhiram Kavre in his village in Blalaghat district to avenge the killing of three top PWG leaders in police encounter on Dec 2.

2000 • PWG continues with its revenge attacks.

Blasts house of ruling Telugu Desam Party MP G Sukhender Reddy in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh in January. In February it blows up a Madhya Pradesh police vehicle killing 23 cops, including an ASP. It destroys property worth Rs 5 crore besides killing 10 persons in AP in the same month.

Dec 2: PWG launches People’s Guerrilla Army to counter security forces offensive.

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The Naxalites are left-wing extremists who take their name from Naxalbari, a village in the state of West Bengal where they first staged an uprising in 1967. India nearly wiped out the movement during counterinsurgency efforts in the 1970s that left the group broken into smaller factions, including the People’s War Group and Maoist Communist Center. In 2004, these two groups aligned to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The group, now made up of a loose coalition of factions, challenges state power with violence to support its stated goal of helping the landless poor, tribal people, and lower castes.

Stephen P. Cohen, a South Asia expert at the Brookings Institution, says the unequal distribution of wealth gained from India’s burgeoning economy has fed the movement. “Indian society has educated young men and young women to the point where they no longer fit into traditional society, but modern society has not been able to incorporate them,” says Cohen. While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has acknowledged poverty in Naxalite strongholds as a root problem, distribution of development funds remains a challenge. “The problem is the delivery system,” says Chadda. “They’re throwing money at it but the delivery system is corrupt.”

Start the journey by exposing yourself to the piece of information

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Do the Naxalites pose a major threat to Indian security?

In April 2006, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the Naxalite threat the “bigges internal security challenge ever faced by our country.”

The Naxalite forces, estimated at between ten and twenty thousand strong, wage a campaign of violence and kidnapping against Indian security personnel and vigilante groups. Clashes between the Maoists and the government have forced thousands of villagers to seek refuge in temporary government shelters or in Naxalite forest camps.

Although more than 740 people died in Naxalite-related violence in 2006, almost twice as many lives were claimed in relation to the territorial dispute over Kashmir, with more than 1,100 people killed in the state of Jammu and Kashmir as well as nearly two hundred deaths in the July 2006 Mumbai train bombings linked to Kashmiri extremists.

Are Naxalites involved in the Kashmir conflict?

Where do the Naxalites operate?

The 2004 realignment of Naxalite factions has resulted in a of activity running from the border with Nepal through thirteen of India’s twenty-eight states. The swath passes through the woods and jungles of central India, where the group takes refuge and recruits from the region’s impoverished population. The states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Orissa have witnessed high levels of Naxalite activity, but Chhattisgarh witnessed the most Maoist-related violence in 2006 with more than 360 deaths. In Chhattisgarh—a state that contains a large tribal population, suffers from some of the nation’s worst poverty, and is plagued by unequal development—the Naxalites have successfully spread their revolutionary message “by targeting the according to a 2006 report by the New Delhi-based Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies.

How do the Naxalites operate?

The Naxalites recruit and, in some cases, coerce new fighters to join their armed struggle. Their followers use small arms and homemade explosives, including landmines, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

They raise funds through extortion or by setting up parallel administrations to collect taxes in rural areas where local governments and the Indian state appear absent.

The Kashmir conflict is a separate extremist movement. Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between the nuclear states of Pakistan and India. The two nations began a peace process in 2004 to resolve their differences, including the issue of Kashmir, which subsequent terrorist attacks have failed to derail. Groups active in Kashmir and listed by the State Department as terrorist organizations include Lashkar-eTaiba, Harakat ul-Mujahadeen, and Jaish-eMuhammed. The group suspected of playing the central role in terrorist attacks on Indian soil since 9/11 is Lashkar-e-Taiba.

How does India combat extremist groups?

In spite of ongoing insurgencies and terrorist threats in India, experts credit New Delhi’s historical stance for effectively dealing with extremists through a combination of deploying heavy military force and addressing grievances through negotiations.

The Brookings Institution’s Cohen describes the process as: “You hit them over the head and then you teach them how to play the piano.” The ongoing problem of insurgencies in India relates to “protracted and resilient movements,” that New Delhi manages through its “willingness to sit at a table and talk with them,” says Gunaratna.

But domestic and international human rights groups protest the Indian state’s often heavy-handed approach. Human Rights Watch

reports that Indian security forces operating in Kashmir abuse state laws allowing lethal force and details multiple cases where police or the military killed innocent civilians.

The report calls torture in India and quotes an Indian lawyer who calls the practice “routine” but says “most people are so glad to be out of interrogation alive, they don’t really complain.” Amnesty International documented similar abuses of power by security personnel in the northeastern state of Assam. The New Delhi-based Asian Center for Human Rights says security forces and a state-backed paramilitary group killed 330 people during 2006 anti-Naxalite campaigns.

Does India have an antiterror law?

No. When Singh took control of Indian parliament in 2004, one of his government’s first actions was to repeal the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act. Passed in 2002, the law was lambasted by human rights groups, who said its vague language gave police the freedom to harass religious and ethnic minorities. “ There is a tradition in South Asia: You train the groups in your neighboring countries,” says Gunaratna.

Singh’s government has not enacted a revised law to replace it, but the government can ban extremist groups for criminal activities under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, passed in 1967 andamended in 2004. A South Asia Analysis Group report on India’s efforts to combat terrorism says, “The weakest link of India’s counterterrorism capability is deterrence through. Are extremist groups in India subject to foreign influence?

Yes. Foreign terrorist groups infiltrate India to stage attacks. “There is a tradition in South Asia: You train the groups in your neighboring countries,” says Gunaratna.

He points out that India itself participated in this “tradition” when it helped train the Sri Lankan extremist Tamil Tigers during the 1980s who later allegedly orchestrated the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in a 1991 suicide attack. Extremists in India also receive training in other countries.

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Walking with comrades

The terse, typewritten note slipped under my door in a sealed envelope confirmed my appointment with India’s Gravest Internal Security Threat. I’d been waiting for months to hear from them.

Stance

Read what Swaminathan and Amresh have to say about Maoism. Also catch up with the paper on Maoism by ET Bureau.

Whisper

Capture the essence of Nepal Maoists and their life, through Seamus Murphy’s lens.

A photo essay, which took birth from his work done in May, 2001.

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The Final Battle

He was the poster boy of revolution. In Odisha, they called him Che Guevara.

Tickets were offered to him by political parties, but he said he had gone off too far to be in the mainstream.

Encounter

For this issue, we have the golden opportunity to share the experiences and stories by a civil liberties activist, an economic and political weekly. And discover the paper presented in the International Meeting of Maoist Parties and Organisations. Turn the page to unravel these interesting pages.

Hustle & Bustle

Give a perfect end to your journey through the magazine. Update yourself with the recent activities of our comrades.

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Editor: Mr. Ashok Srivastava Researcher: Nidhi Singh Rathore Anupriya Khare Nandini Sahani Legal Advisor: Kriti Sinha Featured Essay: Arundhati Roy Rahul Pandita Stance: Swaminathan Aiyar Amresh Misra Economic Times Whisper: Seamus Murphy Encounter: CPI(M) speeches and documents Gautam Navlakha

Contributors’ contact info: Arundhati Roy. roy.dhati@gmail.com Swaminathan Aiyar. swaminathan@yahoo.in Economic Times. economictimes.com Amresh Misra. misra_amresh@gmail.com Seamus Murphy. seamusmurphy.com Rahul Pandita. sanitysucks@gmail.com Gautam Navlakha. roy.dhati@gmail.com Contact us: C-101, C Hostel National Institute of Design Paldi, Ahmedabad.

380 007 +91 99136 41441 Send us your feedback on:

feedback@thered.in

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The

kidnap of a District Collector in Chhattisgarh even as the Odisha hostage crisis remains unresolved suggests the Maoists are looking

at soft ways of escalating their ongoing war against the Indian state. This targeting of non-combatants, even if they are officials or representatives of the state, must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. That it directly refutes the Maoist claim to be battling for a higher purpose is also something that needs emphasising. Just as states undermine their democratic credentials by adopting extreme or authoritarian methods in fighting insurgents or terrorists, the use of anti-people means by those who claim to be fighting on behalf of “the people” robs their cause of any legitimacy. Of course, for the Central and State governments involved, the latest kidnapping highlights a key dilemma: every effort must be made to secure the release of the hostages, including negotiations, but care must be taken not to send a signal to the Maoists, or indeed other extremist groups, that abductions pay. The principle of never negotiating with hostage takers is a fine one in principle; in practice, however, it is always difficult to implement when specific situations arise. Governments need to have room to manoeuvre in dealing with such crises and neither the media, nor the courts, should do anything that ends up tying the executive’s hands.

The Maoists are clearly expanding and deepening their footprint across a significant, largely contiguous, geographical area. They have terrain advantages, and would seem to have some element of sporadic ground support. To meet what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a few years ago rightly identified as the most serious threat currently facing India, the Centre needs to have a well thought out strategy. This is not a challenge that can be overcome by brute force. Counter-insurgency tactics that involve the use of civilian vigilantes and “Special Police Officers” have proved to be counter-productive. They have also led to large-scale rights violations in Chhattisgarh and elsewhere. The security forces need better training and resources. Better intelligence gathering is also required. The need to ensure better coordination between the Centre and the States concerned cannot be over-emphasised. If indeed the current hostage situations are resolved through negotiation, the Centre ought to give some thought to the merits of a wider dialogue with the Maoists. Neither the government nor the left-wing extremist is in a position to overwhelm the other. Political wisdom lies in bringing about a negotiated end to a conflict that that has held the whole of the ‘Dandakaraya’ region hostage for years.

Mr. A. Srivastava Editor-in-chief

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September 01, 2012. Abuse. Vol 2. Issue 31

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T

he terse, typewritten note slipped under my door in a sealed envelope confirmed my appointment with India’s Gravest Internal Security Threat. I’d been waiting for months to hear from them. I had to be at the Ma Danteshwari mandir in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, at any of four given times on two given days. That was to take care of bad weather, punctures, blockades, transport strikes and sheer bad luck.

The note said: “Writer should have camera, tika and coconut.

Meeter will have cap, Hindi Outlook magazine and bananas.

Password: Namashkar Guruji.”

Namashkar Guruji. I wondered whether the Meeter and Greeter would be expecting a man. And whether I should get myself a moustache.

There are many ways to describe Dantewada. It’s an oxymoron. It’s a border town smack in the heart of India. It’s the epicentre of a war. It’s an upside down, inside out town.

Red Shadow: Centenary celebrations of the adivasi uprising in Bastar; Sten gun at hand. In Dantewada, the police wear plain clothes and the rebels wear uniforms. The jail superintendent is in jail. The prisoners are free (three hundred of them escaped from the old town jail two years ago). Women who have been raped are in police custody. The rapists give speeches in the bazaar.

Across the Indravati river, in the area controlled by the Maoists, is the place the police call ‘Pakistan’. There the villages are empty, but the forest is full of people. Children who ought to be in school run wild. In the lovely forest villages, the concrete school buildings have either been blown up and lie in a heap, or they are full of policemen.

The deadly war that is unfolding in the jungle is a war that the Government of India is both proud and shy of.

Operation Green Hunt has been proclaimed as well as denied.

P. Chidambaram, India’s home minister (and CEO of the war), says it does not exist, that it’s a media creation. And yet substantial funds have been allocated to it and tens of thousands of troops are being mobilised for it. Though the theatre of war is in the jungles of Central India, it will have serious consequences for us all.

If ghosts are the lingering spirits of someone, or something, that has ceased to exist, then perhaps the new four-lane

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they have re-emerged, more organised, more determined and more influential than ever. Today once again the insurrection has spread through the mineral-rich forests of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal—homeland to millions of India’s tribal people, dreamland to the corporate world.

highway crashing through the forest is the opposite of a ghost. Perhaps it is the harbinger of what is still to come. The antagonists in the forest are disparate and unequal in almost every way. On one side is a massive paramilitary force armed with the money, the firepower, the media, and the hubris of an emerging Superpower. On the other, ordinary villagers armed with traditional weapons, backed by a superbly organised, hugely motivated Maoist guerrilla fighting force with an extraordinary and violent history of armed rebellion. The Maoists and the paramilitary are old adversaries and have fought older avatars of each other several times before: Telangana in the ’50s; West Bengal, Bihar, Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh in the late ’60s and ’70s; and then again in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra from the ’80s all the way through to the present. They are familiar with each other’s tactics, and have studied each other’s combat manuals closely. Each time, it seemed as though the Maoists (or their previous avatars) had been not just defeated, but literally, physically exterminated. Each time,

It’s easier on the liberal conscience to believe that the war in the forests is a war between the Government of India and the Maoists, who call elections a sham, Parliament a pigsty and have openly declared their intention to overthrow the Indian State. It’s convenient to forget that tribal people in Central India have a history of resistance that predates Mao by centuries.

(That’s a truism of course.

If they didn’t, they wouldn’t exist.) The Ho, the Oraon, the Kols, the Santhals, the Mundas and the Gonds have all rebelled several times, against the British, against zamindars and moneylenders.

The rebellions were cruelly crushed, many thousands killed, but the people were never conquered.

Even after Independence, tribal people were at the heart of the first uprising that could be described as Maoist, in Naxalbari village in West Bengal (where the word Naxalite—now used interchangeably with ‘Maoist’— originates).

Since then, Naxalite politics has been inextricably entwined with tribal uprisings, which says as much about the tribals as it does about the Naxalites.

Staying Put: People of Kudur village protest the Bodhghat dam: ‘It does not belong to the capitalists, Bastar is OUrs’y This legacy of rebellion has

left behind a furious people who have been deliberately isolated and marginalised by the Indian government.

The Indian Constitution, the moral underpinning of Indian democracy, was adopted

by Parliament in 1950. It was a tragic day for tribal people. The Constitution ratified colonial policy and made the State custodian of tribal homelands. Overnight, it turned the entire tribal population into squatters on their own land. It denied them their traditional rights to forest produce, it criminalised a whole way of life. In exchange for the right to vote, it snatched away their right to livelihood and dignity.

Having dispossessed them and pushed them into a downward spiral of indigence, in a cruel sleight of hand, the government began to use their own penury against them. Each time it needed to displace a large population—for dams, irrigation projects, mines—it talked of “bringing tribals into the mainstream” or of giving them “the fruits of modern development”. Of the tens of millions of internally displaced people (more than 30 million by big dams alone), refugees of India’s ‘progress’, the great majority are tribal people. When the government begins to talk of tribal welfare, it’s time to worry.

The most recent expression of concern has come from home minister P. Chidambaram who says he doesn’t want tribal people living in “museum cultures”.

The well-being of tribal people didn’t seem to be such a priority during his

career as a corporate lawyer, representing the interests of several major mining companies. So it might be an idea to enquire into the basis for his new anxiety.

The Day of the Bhumkal: Face to face with “India’s greatest Security Threat”.

Over the past five years or so, the governments of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal have signed hundreds of MoUs with corporate houses, worth several billion dollars, all of them secret, for steel plants, sponge-iron factories, power plants, aluminium refineries, dams and mines. In order for the MoUs to translate into real money, tribal people must be moved.

Therefore, this war.

When a country that calls itself a democracy openly declares war within its borders, what does that war look like? Does the resistance stand a chance?

Should it? Who are the Maoists? Are they just violent nihilists foisting an outdated ideology on tribal people, goading them into a hopeless insurrection? What lessons have they learned from their past experience?

Is armed struggle intrinsically undemocratic?

Is the Sandwich Theory—of ‘ordinary’ tribals being caught in the crossfire between the State and the Maoists—an accurate one?

Are ‘Maoists’ and ‘Tribals’ two entirely discrete categories as is being made out? Do their interests converge?

Have they learned anything from each other? Have they changed each other?

The day before I left, my mother called, sounding sleepy. “I’ve been thinking,” she said, with a mother’s weird instinct, “what this country needs is revolution.”

An article on the internet says that Israel’s Mossad is training 30 high-ranking Indian police officers in the techniques of targeted assassinations, to render the Maoist organisation “headless”. There’s talk in the press about the new hardware that has been bought from Israel: laser range-finders, thermal imaging equipment and unmanned drones, so popular with the US army. Perfect weapons to use against the poor.

The drive from Raipur to Dantewada takes about 10 hours through areas known to be ‘Maoist-infested’. These are not careless words.

‘Infest/infestation’ implies disease/pests. Diseases must be cured. Pests must be exterminated. Maoists must be wiped out. In these creeping, innocuous ways, the language of genocide has entered our vocabulary.

To protect the highway, security forces have ‘secured’ a narrow bandwidth of forest on either side. Further in, it’s the raj of the ‘Dada log’. The Brothers. The Comrades.

On the outskirts of Raipur, a massive billboard advertises Vedanta (the company our home minister once worked with) Cancer Hospital. In Orissa, where it is mining bauxite, Vedanta is financing a university. In these

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Top image: Teenagers on their way to be a part of their fellow comrades.

creeping, innocuous ways, mining corporations enter our imaginations: the Gentle Giants Who Really Care.

It’s called CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility. It allows mining companies to be like the legendary actor and former chief minister NTR, who liked to play all the parts in Telugu mythologicals—the good guys and the bad guys, all at once, in the same movie. This CSR masks the outrageous economics that underpins

the mining sector in India.

For example, according to the recent Lokayukta report for Karnataka, for every tonne of iron ore mined by a private company, the government gets a royalty of Rs 27 and the mining company makes Rs 5,000. In the bauxite and aluminium sector, the figures are even worse. We’re talking about daylight robbery to the tune of billions of dollars.

Enough to buy elections, governments, judges, newspapers, TV channels,

NGOs and aid agencies.

What’s the occasional cancer hospital here or there?I don’t remember seeing Vedanta’s name on the long list of MoUs signed by the Chhattisgarh government.

But I’m twisted enough to suspect that if there’s a cancer hospital, there must be a flat-topped bauxite mountain somewhere.

We pass Kanker, famous for its Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College run

by Brigadier B.K. Ponwar, Rumpelstiltskin of this

war, charged with the task of turning corrupt, sloppy policemen (straw) into jungle commandos (gold).

“Fight a guerrilla like a guerrilla”, the motto of the warfare training school, is painted on the rocks. The men are taught to run, slither, jump on and off air-borne helicopters, ride horses (for some reason), eat snakes and live off the jungle. The brigadier takes great pride in training street dogs to fight ‘terrorists’.

Eight hundred policemen

walking with the comrades hoardings of Rahul Gandhi asking people to join the Youth Congress. He’s been to Bastar twice in recent months but hasn’t said anything much about the war. It’s probably too messy for the People’s Prince to meddle in at this point. His media managers must have put their foot down. The fact that the Salwa Judum—the dreaded, governmentsponsored vigilante group responsible for rapes, killings, for burning down villages and driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes—is led by Mahendra Karma, a Congress MLA, does not get much play in the carefully orchestrated publicity around Rahul Gandhi. I arrived at the Ma Danteshwari mandir well in time for my appointment (first day, first show). I had my camera, my small coconut and a powdery red tika on my forehead. I wondered if someone was watching me and having a laugh. Within minutes a young boy approached me.

He had a cap and a backpack schoolbag. Chipped red nailpolish on his fingernails. No HindiOutlook, no bananas.

“Are you the one who’s going in?” he asked me. No Namashkar Guruji. I did not know what to say. He took out a soggy note from his pocket and handed it to me.

It said, “Outlook nahin mila (couldn’t find Outlook).”

“And the bananas?”

“I ate them,” he said, “I got hungry.”

graduate from the warfare training school every six weeks. Twenty similar schools are being planned all over India. The police force is gradually being turned into an army. (In Kashmir, it’s the other way around. The army is being turned into a bloated, administrative police force.)

Upside down. Inside out.

Either way, the Enemy is the People.

It’s late. Jagdalpur is asleep, except for the many

He really was a security threat.

His backpack said Charlie Brown—Not your ordinary blockhead. He said his name was Mangtu. I soon learned that Dandakaranya, the forest I was about to enter, was full of people who had many names and fluid identities. It was like balm to me, that idea. How lovely not to be stuck with yourself, to become someone else for a while.

We walked to the bus

stand, only a few minutes away from the temple.

It was already crowded.

Things happened quickly.

There were two men on motorbikes. There was no conversation—just a glance of acknowledgment, a shifting of body weight, the revving of engines. I had no idea where we were going.

We passed the house of the Superintendent of Police (SP), which I recognised from my last visit. He was a candid man, the SP: “See Ma’am, frankly speaking this problem can’t be solved by us police or military. The problem with these tribals is they don’t understand greed.

Unless they become greedy, there’s no hope for us. I have told my boss, remove the force and instead put a TV in every home. Everything will be automatically sorted out.”

In no time at all we were riding out of town. No tail.

It was a long ride, three hours by my watch. It ended abruptly in the middle of nowhere, on an empty road with forest on either side.

Mangtu got off. I did too.

The bikes left, and I picked up my backpack and followed the small internal security threat into the forest. It was a beautiful day. The forest floor was a carpet of gold.

In a while we emerged on the white, sandy banks of a broad flat river. It was obviously monsoon-fed, so now it was more or less a sand flat, at the centre a stream, ankle deep, easy to wade across. Across was ‘Pakistan’. “Out there, ma’am,” the candid SP had said to me, “my boys shoot to kill.” I remembered that as we began to cross. I saw us in a policeman’s riflesights—tiny figures in a landscape, easy to pick off.

But Mangtu seemed quite unconcerned, and I took my cue from him.

Waiting for us on the other bank, in a lime-green shirt that said Horlicks!, was Chandu. A slightly older security threat. Maybe twenty. He had a lovely

smile, a cycle, a jerry can with boiled water and many packets of glucose biscuits for me, from the Party.

We caught our breath and began to walk again. The cycle, it turned out, was a red herring. The route was almost entirely noncycleable. We climbed steep hills and clambered down rocky paths along some pretty precarious ledges.

When he couldn’t wheel it, Chandu lifted the cycle and carried it over his head as though it weighed nothing.

I began to wonder about his bemused village boy air.

I discovered (much later) that he could handle every kind of weapon, “except for an LMG”, he informed me cheerfully. Three beautiful, sozzled men with flowers in their turbans walked with us for about half an hour, before our paths diverged.

At sunset, their shoulder bags began to crow. They had roosters in them, which they had taken to market but hadn’t managed to sell.

Chandu seems to be able to see in the dark. I have to use my torch. The crickets start up and soon there’s an orchestra, a dome of sound over us. I long to look up at the night sky, but I dare not. I have to keep my eyes on the ground. One step at a time. Concentrate.

I hear dogs. But I can’t tell how far away they are. The

terrain flattens out. I steal a look at the sky. It makes me ecstatic. I hope we’re going to stop soon. “Soon,” Chandu says. It turns out to be more than an hour. I see silhouettes of enormous trees. We arrive.

The village seems spacious, the houses far away from each other. The house we enter is beautiful. There’s a fire, some people sitting around. More people outside, in the dark. I can’t tell how many. I can just about make them out. A murmur goes around. Lal Salaam Kaamraid(Red Salute, Comrade). Lal Salaam, I say.

I’m beyond tired. The lady of the house calls me inside and gives me chicken curry cooked in green beans and some red rice. Fabulous. Her baby is asleep next to me, her silver anklets gleam in the firelight.

After dinner, I unzip my sleeping bag. It’s a strange intrusive sound, the big zip. Someone puts on the radio. BBC Hindi service. The Church of England has withdrawn its funds from Vedanta’s Niyamgiri project, citing environmental degradation and rights violations of the Dongria Kondh tribe. I can hear cowbells, snuffling, shuffling, cattle-farting. All’s well with the world.

My eyes close.

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In the 1990s, only 15 of India’s 630 districts suffered from Maoist incidents, but today over 200 districts are affected. Despite big increases in anti-terrorism outlays, Maoists have become much stronger in most states. The big exception is Andhra Pradesh, where Maoist incidents fell from 576 in 2005 to 62 in 2009, Maoist killings from 211 to 17, and police deaths from 25 to zero.Andhra Pradesh has had a specialized anti-Maoist force, Greyhounds, since the 1980s. But for decades politicians avoided cracking down: they opted for peace talks with the Maoists, which the latter used to regroup and re-arm.

In the 1990s the Maoists expanded stridently , controlling large areas in the northern districts and Srisailam forest belt. The houses and relatives of MLAs were attacked with impunity, and in some places, none dared campaign during elections.

What has changed in the last five years?

State economic advisor Somayajulu claims that economic development and welfare have transformed the situation.

Massive irrigation , construction and welfare programmes have created so much employment and income that Maoism has lost its attraction for once-unemployed youths.

The casual labour wage in the state is now well above the minimum wage of Rs 120 per day, which itself has doubled in five years. Welfare schemes,

notably rice at Rs 2 per kilo, have provided safety nets. So, says Somayajulu, economic progress and welfare have spearheaded the state’s success against Maoism.

Chief minister Rosiah disagrees. Yes, higher wages and employment have helped, he says, but purposive police action has been the key.

He fears that a newly created Telangana state will have smaller police and economic resources and lack the strength to combat the Maoists, who have taken refuge across the state border in Chhattisgarh.

Top police officers offer several reasons for their success. First, an additional 37,000 police posts were sanctioned, though these have only partially been filled.

Second, much better training gave the state’s

police training academy a reputation for quality.

Third, a dense network of roads, police stations, schools and sundry government offices were created in the northern forest belt adjoining Chhattisgarh. Public works created jobs and ration shops offered cheap rice. The Maoists had earlier occupied areas virtually vacated by the state. The state now reoccupied these areas.

New technology greatly helped improve police communications. The police could now intercept messages between Maoists. Modern arms and additional jeeps, motorcycles and trucks, operating on newly created road networks, gave the police unprecedented mobility and ability to find and attack Maoists.

Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar (born 12 October 1942) is a prominent Indian journalist and columnist. He is consulting editor for the Economic Times and writes regularly for the Economic Times and The Times of India. An alumnus of The Doon School and St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, he earned a master’s degree in economics from Magdalen College, Oxford at the University of Oxford. He has frequently been a consultant to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

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There is no doubt that Maoist violence needs to be combatted, but force alone will not do.

This article was published on October 8, 2009, a compliation by ET Bureau. It is a part of the well known Indian daily, The Economic Times. It’s an English-language Indian daily newspaper published by the Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.. It is the world’s second most widely read Englishlanguage business newspaper, after the Wall Street Journal.

The Economic Times was started in 1961. It is the most popular and widely read financial daily in India, read by more than 8 lakh (800,000) people.

The Economic Times is published simultaneously from 12 cities—Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Chandigarh, and Pune. Its main content is based on the Indian economy, International finance, share prices, prices of commodities as well as other matters related to finance.

It’s current editors from 2010 to present: Rahul Joshi and Rohit Saran

We condemn the beheading of a Jharkhand police inspector held hostage by Maoists.

This is bloodyminded thuggery, not class struggle. Such acts tend to discredit all forms of agrarian resistance to exploitation — the latest Human Development Report underlines India’s rural distress — and strengthen the votaries of violent state reprisal against Maoists.

But rage and revenge cannot tackle the wider social malaise that creates ready recruits for the wrong-headed ideology of Maoism; nor can they guide the response of a democratic polity to actions that challenge democracy itself. Democracy and its intrinsic imperative to respect the rule of law abhor not just Maoist excess but also the calls to quell Maoism with

counter-violence and to bring within the ‘antiMaoist sweep’ sundry intellectuals, human rights activists, and those working with tribal/ indigenous people.

more suffering for the regions inhabited by the poorest of India’s poor?

Or that land-grabbers will not free-ride anti-Maoist operations to corner rich natural resources?

This paper has for long argued that dealing with Maoism solely as a law-and-order issue is, if not part of the problem itself, wholly counter-productive.

Even the prime minister echoed that view at a recent conference of top police officers. He called for a nuanced strategy to tackle left-wing extremism, observing that Maoism retains influence among significant sections of civil society. Yet, the government seems to have formulated a plan to initiate large-scale military action in various Maoist-affected states.

Is it ensured that such action will not involve

There is no doubt that Maoist violence needs to be combatted, but force alone will not do. We also need an attendant political programme that delivers inclusive development, which can mitigate the underlying causes that have enabled Maoism to take root and spread.

Visibly, Maoists represent a crisis of sovereignty of the state, but they also reflect failure of Indian democracy in the affected regions. The Maoists, with their unyielding dogma and total reliance on violence (quite unlike their Nepali counterparts) are still a political challenge. We are yet to see a response to that.

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Welcome to the new right wing India. Here, well identified, notorious mafia dons—with several murder cases on their head—can live openly like kings inside prison cells. They are served the best of food and alcohol; they organize nautch girl parties; they sleep with high-profile escort girls; their writ runs on even the prison guards; they sodomize young boys; they even dictate transfers/ promotions/appointments of police personnel and bureaucrats; they offer contract killings (suparis); they settle property and other disputes; they make calls to politicians and business leaders

Amaresh Misra is an independent historian, author and novelist. Currently resident in Delhi, he is also a freelance journalist, political commentator, columnist on foreign policy, an anti-fascist, civil/minority/Dalit-Adivasi rights activist, and a film critic.

He is a recipient of several anticommunal awards, and has lectured widely in Indian and American universities on the nationalist war of 1857, medieval and modern Indian history, vicissitudes of contemporary Indian politics and the battle for secularism in the Indian subcontinent. Presently, he is working on a new novel, a new book on Indian cinema, and a biography of Emperor Akbar. He is also Convener, Anti Communal Front, Uttar Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee.

Here (in right wing India), you can also have armed extremists and criminals—who have killed thousands of innocent men, women and children with casual bursts of AK-47/56 fire—live comfortably in designated camps in the north-east—under well-defined `ceasefire’ agreements with the Indian state.

Despite restrictions on movement imposed on them—enforced by the Indian army—these militant elements often go on `hunting trips’ where no line of control is respected. They have the unofficial mandate to kill, maim and torture whoever comes in their path.

Indian state seems to enjoy a cosy arrangement with all Mafia-criminal-militant elements—they are useful politically No such quarter is given to Maoists.

In the medieval era, besides royal recognition, Mughals gave Adivasis land, forest and kinship rights. Adivasis fought tenaciously for Bahadur Shah Zafar and Indian independence in 1857. Then, the British enslaved and dehumanized them, terming many officially as criminal tribes.

Independent India used them for votes—but, after 1991, thought it better to hand over Adivasi-woodland areas rich in minerals, to upstart-criminal/Mafia individuals and ruthless miners (Reddy brothers of Karnataka) as well as to corporate and foreign entities like Tata, Jindals, Mittals, Infosys, Birlas, Vedanta and POSCO In the Indian polity, after Muslims, Adivasis bear the most tortured body-soul of all.

Read the story of Anup Oraon, a 10 year old Adivasi boy whose father Paulus Oraon was picked up by the Odisha (Orissa) Police in 2009 at a village in Sundargarh—Odisha’s mineral rich district—for being a Maoist In Paulus Oraon’s village, the Odisha police also tied several Adivasis with ropes to trees and left them without food and water for hours on end. Minors were beaten black and blue. Women were molested. Old men were tortured. More than 30 Adivasis—all daily wage earners—were picked up; the incident left the village so traumatised that the food intake of 45 children left in the village after the arrest of nearly all the men, went down.

Everyone knows about Binayak Sen—in the Sundargarh-Odisha case, Nicholas Barla, an Indian human rights lawyer, who spoke against the oppression, was abused, threatened and harassed by top cops.

In 2006, 14 Adivasis, protesting against Tata Steel in Odisha, were gunned down by the Police at Kalinga Nagar. Later, they were dubbed as Maoists. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) discovered that in the Kalinga Nagar case cops were involved in “intimidating....Adivasis.... filing false cases against them...and...denying...due compensation for the land they were forced to give up for Vedanta....the commission found that false police cases like....loot and illegal possession of arms were registered against the Adivasis who protested against the company...in one such case....32 Adivasis were thrown into jail in May, 2006 on a variety of charges....the superintendent of Police and company officials forced them to sign land transfer agreements with Vedanta inside Bhawani Patna jail with the jailer attesting the signatures...”

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Jharkhand Government to arbitrate in the matter! Quoting from the article the link to which appears at the end of this sentence, has anyone heard of a lion being asked to settle a dispute between a lion and a lamb Abhay Sahoo, the leader of the anti-POSCO movement in Odisha, has been jailed. He is facing more than 50 cases, most of them fabricated. 800 activists of the anti-POSCO movement have been jailed on 200 or more fabricated charges The NHRC also accepted “that a number of complaints have been filed....regarding the human rights violation during the establishment of industries by Vedanta, POSCO and Tata... the irony is no action has been taken against these corporate giants for violating laws and terrorising the Adivasis but the innocent villagers were victimised by the State instead Police forcing Indian citizens to sign off their land at gun point? Tatas and Birlas— the latter carrying the legacy of supporting Mahatama Gandhi and the Indian freedom struggle—behaving like General Dyer of Jallianwala Bagh massacre fame? Is this India? Is this real? Ratan Tata and Aditya or Kumarmangalam Birla—do they know that in Chattisgarh, Soni Sori, a school teacher, was picked up by the State Police in October 2011 and that stones, pebbles and batons were inserted in her vagina and rectum?

And that in contravention of all legal norms, Rekha Parganiha, her lawyer, was arrested on 4th March 2012, on incredible, mindnumbing charges of possessing books written

by Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Bhagat Singh and Bertolt Brecht?

Besides Odisha, such incidents are common in Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bundelkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. In Jharkhand, a shocking case where the BJP led government forcibly acquired Adivasi land to build institutes of education and a National University for Research and Studies in Law (NURSL) has come to light.

Here, even the judiciary seems to have cheated the Adivasis. For, Justice Prakash Tatia, the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court, is also the Chancellor of the NURSL—and he is being asked by the

On 6th July 2011, Meena Khalko of Kharka village in Chattisgarh—ruled again by a BJP government—was raped and killed allegedly by the local Police. Chattisgarh officials justified her sexual violation and murder by claiming that she was a Naxalite gunned down in an encounter! Several fact finding teams rubbished the claims of the Police. The way the Chattisgarh Government, RSS leaders, and the Police blamed Meena’s character for her rape is nauseating. A Congress women activist—not into raising— in fact ignoring—hardboiled issues—threw up in front of this author—not after reading Meena’s rape—but on hearing the justification—made by Chattisgarh officials and BJP-RSS leaders.

In West Bengal, Mamata Bannerjee defeated a Left Front Government on the plank of providing justice to Adivasis. She took active help from Maoists. She could not have come to power in 2011 without the anti-corporate, peasant uprisings organized by Maoists in Nandigram, Lalgarh and Singur. Only Maoists had the balls and the fire power to beat back the might of armed Left Front/CPM cadre. But the first thing she did after becoming West Bengal’s Chief Minister was to have Kishenji, the Maoist commander of the peasant risings, killed, allegedly, in a brutal manner.

Thousands of Adivasis are languishing—often without even a charge-sheet against them— in jails. They are treated like slaves, worse than petty criminals.

Currently, Maoist prisoners are on hunger strike in Jharkhand and Maharashtra demanding political prisoner status. The antiMaoist atrocities described in this article are just the tip of the iceberg.

On 28th July, 2012, 17 `Maoist’ Adivasis

were gunned down by CRPF men in Bijapur, Chattisgarh. A fact finding team of Coordination of Democratic Rights Organization (CDRO) discovered that the CRPF version is false—Adivasis were not Maoists—they were not armed and were settling some local dispute in a meeting when the CRPF men started firing. Readers can view a shocking video that totally demolishes the tall claims of killing `heavily armed’ Maoists, made by the CRPF and the Chattisgarh Government.

It really hurts when the English electronic media starts talking in the language of security forces. After all, the new Indian media of the 2000s has done credible work in terms of laying bare the truth before the Indian public. Why then do we see anchors saying “Oh—so now all Maoists will demand the status of political prisoners—then terrorists will demand the same—this is a dangerous precedent!”

Media’s job is to report and at best, allow different opinions to be expressed on any given platform. Echoing the language of security forces should be the last thing on the mind of a fair media person, especially when it comes to a complex, specific, internal problem like Indian Maoism. For people involved in political movements (and the Kolkata High Court is very specific that Maoists are political activists free from individual greed with no personal axe to grind against anyone) demanding status of political prisoners is a minimum human/ democratic right.

As a student leader, this author went to jail as a `political prisoner’. Unlike the Mafia Dons, he did not get the badshaah type treatment. Things were as bad, inhuman and smelly—only, he did not get beaten up or sodomized daily. Sometimes, if he was lucky, he could hear a little known rugged, Urdu lullaby at night from a Muslim prisoner serving a life term—a lullaby that sums up the dual standards adopted by Indian elites when it comes to political rights of Muslims and Maoists.

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A new beginning to change the face of their country.

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Festivity all around, making the violence seem minuscule.

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No one knows better than us about our needs...

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A comrade taking a break at a tea stall in a village.

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A new wave... rising for redefinition

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Seamus Murphy began photographing Afghanistan in 1994, and his new book A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan, is a classic on the rise of the Taliban and the impact of U.S. invasion. For two decades, he has worked extensively in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America and most recently America on an ongoing project during what he calls “a nervous and auspicious time.” His accolades include six World Press Photo Awards. Murphy blends humour and irony with deep insight. “Photography,” he says,“is part history, part magic.”

This photo essay is developed from his work done in May 2001, on Nepali Maoists.

He tried to capture not just the essence of uprising, but their valuable lives too. He tried to capture beautiful emotions flowing around him.

you can’t define them with their features.

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H

e was the poster boy of revolution. In Odisha, they called him Che Guevara. Tickets were offered to him by political parties, but he said he had gone off too far to be in the mainstream.

Odisha’s deputy leader of the opposition once called him the “voice of 57 per cent in Odisha, who have only Rs 12 to spend per day”.

But today, Maoist commander Sabyasachi Panda is a lonely man.

Expelled by his own party he helped grow substantially in Odisha, Panda today feels like an “old dog” his erstwhile party wants to eliminate. In a way, Panda’s expulsion was a face-saving act by the CPI (Maoist). Days before the party announced his expulsion, 43-year-old Panda had written a long letter. You could say it was his resignation letter.

In fact, he wrote two letters—the first, a threepage letter addressed to party comrades in general.

The second is a longer one, 16 pages in Panda’s own hand. It is addressed to the Maoist supreme commander Ganapathi and two senior leaders currently in jail—Narayan Sanyal (Vijay Dada) and Amitabha Bagchi (Sumit Dada).

While Ganapathi has undoubtedly received it, it could not be ascertained whether the other two have. The Maoist courier (identified as Pravakar) carrying Panda’s letter is believed to have been intercepted by security agencies in Kolkata.

Sources in the CPI (Maoist) made the letter available to Open. Panda opens his heart out in the letter and raises

serious questions over the functioning of the leadership of the CPI (Maoist). The letter also brings to the fore issues the Maoist leadership has been brushing aside as “enemy propaganda”, but with one of their own raising the stink (that too not under arrest), that won’t wash. Panda’s stunning revelations are bound to create ripples within the Maoist leadership.

A mathematics graduate from Puri’s Samant Chandra Shekhar government college, Panda’s father was a

freedom fighter who later joined the CPM and won state elections three times from Ranapur, his home constituency. When the BJD (Biju Janata Dal) was formed, he crossed over. Sabyasachi’s elder brother Siddharth also joined the BJD. Panda worked with the CPM for some time and then with the CPI(ML)Liberation. He was also close to the leadership of the erstwhile Maoist organisation, Party Unity (PU). In 1998, PU merged with the biggest Maoist party, CPI(ML) -People’s War, to form the People’s War Group (PWG). Panda joined the PWG the same year.

It was in 2008 that Panda came into the limelight

after the assassination of popular Hindu leader, Swami Laxmanand Saraswati, in Kandhamal district. Though he was made secretary of the Odisha State Organising Committee soon after, it was also around this time that serious differences cropped up between him and some of the Central Committee members [the highest decision-making body of the CPI (Maoist)]. It was believed that the Maoist leadership was not happy with the outcome of Saraswati’s assassination.

Panda had hoped that the ensuing riots (against

Christians) would swell the Maoist ranks. But excellent coordination between the then district collector and district police chief ensured that about 3,000 men who had signed up for recruitment ditched them at the last moment.

took two Italian tourists hostage. Then he declared a ceasefire with the Odisha government.

To embarrass him, the Maoists’ Andhra-Orissa Border Special Zone Committee (AOBSZC) abducted a BJD MLA around the same time.

From then on, it has been open season between Panda and the Maoist leadership.

‘Dear comrade GS (Ganapathi Sir, as Ganapathi is called by his cadre), Vijay Dada and Sumit Dada… with much sorrow I am writing this letter to you. After

some developments of debatable questions in our state, I have no way but to write the letter,’ Panda writes at the very beginning.

‘Leaders are thinking [of] them[selves] as masters and cadres have no courage to oppose Over the past few years, the leaders’ mistakes,’ he Panda had senior leader writes. At various points Kishenji watching over in his letter, Panda clearly him. But after his death in refers to his repeated an encounter in November clashes with a Central 2011, all guns turned Committee member towards Panda. A month Manoj, alias Bhaskar later, in December, Maoists (Modem Balakrishnan) held a state-level special and BR (Basavraj, party plenum in Odisha. Right name of Nambala Keshava after the plenum, Panda is Rao, in charge of the believed to have stopped Maoists’ Central Military communicating with the Commission). He quotes central leadership.

Balakrishnan as saying: “In communist party for In March this year, Panda faults of a party member acted on his own and we may suspend/ expel

and if need kill him/her”.

Panda refers to a Maoist unit being sent to his area of operation after he had abducted the two Italian tourists. His fear is that the 25-member squad, perhaps led by one Suresh, may have been sent with ‘bad intention’.

‘They (some CC members like Balakrishnan) want to politically eliminate me, if they cannot do it physically. They want to take some important contacts and other things from me, which they are not able to create but are much needed in war,’ he writes. ‘Kill the dog after

it becomes old—which is exploiter ideology?’

He refers to what he calls the ‘superiority complex’ of the PWG cadre (essentially Telugu) and their disregard of members of other factions like the PU or the MCC [which merged with the PWG in 2004 to become CPI (Maoist)].

He refers to certain comments made by BR about Narayan Sanyal and Amitabha Bagchi (both from the PU).

‘After arrest of Vijay Dada and Sumit Dada, Comrade BR and Bhaskar (Balakrishnan) had tried to convince me that the [guidance] of Vijay Dada and erstwhile PU leaders in organisational matters and their approach on

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democracy, similar to that of [the] fascist RSS organisation, prevailed in this party.’

He also accuses the AOB committee of only demanding the release of Telugu cadre in exchange of Malkangiri Collector, R Vineel Krishna (kidnapped in February 2011). ‘They had given false answers that they demanded for Ganonath Patro and Tapan Mishra of Narayanpatna movement,’ he writes.

women cadres was not correct.’ Panda writes how BR did not even spare Kishenji. He quotes BR as saying that he (Kishenji) is not doing anything, not killing a single police[man] and giving statements. ‘As if killing [the] police is [the] only job for [a] revolutionary,’ Panda rants in his letter.

Panda comes down heavily on the practice of ‘unnecessary class annihilations’. ‘Beating and burning or eliminating someone by simply stamping him/ her [an] informer is not the solution,’ he writes.

He gives the example of five or six villagers from Sambalpur who were killed by the party in 2004 after being dubbed

informers. ‘I alone opposed this… BR had given wrong information by saying that there was a Salwa Judum campaign in Sambalpur.’

‘Fabricated’ is how Panda describes ‘complaints’ against BJD MLA Jagabandhu Majhi, who was killed by a Chhattisgarh Maoist squad in 2011. ‘Out of fear he (Majhi) contacted me and wanted to surrender. But he feared to do that in front of AOB or Chhattisgarh comrades.

I had reported this to CCMs (Central Committee members) long before.

But without any response, he was simply killed… he was in a wheelchair, a handicapped person.’

‘We are too weak in [the] trade union movement despite our repeated views on this. But we had killed one CITU leader, Thamaso Munda, [on the] Odisha-Jharkhand border and demolished the TU (trade union) office. We can stamp anybody [an] informer and kill him… without responsibility to convince people [of] our action! This is our revolutionary birthright!

But why will we demolish the TU office, the office of common workers?’ he asks.

Panda’s biggest grudge is what he sees as the hegemony of the Telugu-dominated AOB leadership. ‘Our AOB leaders are always for their superiority and

[have] tried to keep [the] Odisha committee as subordinates… politically they never think about Odisha, its people’s condition and political acceptance.’ At another point he writes, ‘The local cadres who had been working with us to build [the] BSD (Basadhara Division, consisting of Raygada, Gajapathi, Kandhamal areas, where Panda was sent in 2006) movement were not promoted as needed. The so-called PR certificate was issued as per the mercy of leaders like Bhaskar (SZCM) of AOB.’ He goes on: ‘Actually in the name of promotion, rule one type of feudal

In a section called ‘Cultural Sectarianism’, Panda recounts how Telugu food habits are forced upon other cadres, which, he says, is responsible for many members quitting. ‘One Telugu DVCM (Divisional Committee Member) Basant said pakhal (watery rice, an Oriya dish) is the food of buffaloes.’

‘Basant had advised in 2003 that if you will not take mirchi (Telugu cadre relish chillies and tamarind), then you cannot become [a] revolutionary,’ Panda writes. ‘You can take as much mirchi and tamarind you like, but you are not allowed to mix sugar in your tamarind water, or you cannot eat onion as substitute. If you eat, then you have to listen to cultural imperialists.’

‘I had asked for sugar to add in tamarind water every day. I had also advised other cadres to ask [for] sugar… seeing this, the in-charge comrade told me: you’ll suffer from sakar bimari (diabetes) if you take sugar every day. I replied: yes, comrade, we will have sakar bimari, but you’ll have karom bimari (ulcers).’

Panda also defends his

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The Final Battle insistence on using Margo soap cakes instead of the usual Lifebuoy bar used by Maoist cadres.

‘We are writing… about imperialist assault on local products, but we are not ready to use local products. If you buy Margo soap for squad members instead of the Maoist brand Lifebuoy, then CCM like BR will comment on that.’

Coming down heavily on the practice of shaving private parts (he says it is prevalent among Telugu cadre), he writes: ‘Women cadres are regularly advised to do so. And it is also said that all should bathe without clothes. What is the relation [between] revolution [and] such stupid theories, I could not understand.’

Panda also raises questions over financial irregularities within the party. ‘So many DK (Dandakaranya region) cadres and main force activists are expending as per their wish and giving round accounts… by saying that all 10 thousands we have done expenditure… I have marked the financial anarchy in this party from [the] very beginning,’ he writes. ‘A Bengali comrade, Ashok, did not give accounts of 15 lakhs… had not the best cadre of AOB, Binoy, accumulated money from different sources before he fully surrendered?’

Sometimes, Panda directly addresses his opponents as ‘sectarian comrades’. ‘You have fewer sources of A&A (arms and ammunition) and explosives. The same explosives you have been taking through

So many Dandakaranya region cadres and main force activists are expending as per their wish and giving round accounts by saying that all 10 thousands we have done expenditure.

I have marked the financial anarchy in this party from the very beginning. me in quintals have separate rates in separate sources… from [Rs] 200 to 1200/kg. And someone can give the highest rate in account.’

Panda accuses his ‘sectarian friends’ of distributing pamphlets against Christianity in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district (AOB) to strengthen the party’s hold on the Sora tribe.

‘As per the new theory of these CCMs, Christianity is the main obstacle [to] building [a] revolutionary organisation and people’s power and hence we have to target it… CCM Manoj (Balakrishnan) said because Christianity is an organised religion, it is from village to Rome.’ Panda draws a very bleak picture of the party’s preparedness in cities. ‘Our party has no members in the city, they have no legal ID, no cover… there is no collective planning for cover, ID etc.’ He also indicates that some information about urban bases may actually have been leaked by insiders.

‘If you discuss plans before committees, there is no guarantee that this will not go to [the] enemy in [a] few days… some CCMs are not in a position to keep secrets about comrades in cities… all information is going to [the] enemy.’

Panda writes in detail about the ‘shortcomings’ of the Nayagarh raid (of February 2008, in which Maoists raided a police training school and armoury and looted a huge cache of weapons).

He says he had asked for six vehicles with six drivers and a minimum of 300 people for the attack.

But only 160 guerillas could be arranged. One driver apparently returned because Panda’s team could not arrange a hotel room with a TV for him. “In doubt and due to lack of proper class education, our forces killed as many as 14 common policemen; those who were not retaliating and mostly had sympathies for our movement,” he writes.

In his final assault, Panda writes that in spite of having worked with tribals for 30 years, the CPI (Maoist) has not developed a concrete model for development of tribal zones. ‘Your janatana sarkar (people’s government) is not the tribal autonomy body or it is not governed by traditional tribal rules, not even partially… what type of tribal autonomy do you want to give after [the] revolution?’ he asks.

‘You have no alternate agricultural, industrial, medical, educational policies,’ he says.

‘They (tribals) have to hope for one good heaven only after their death. As we cannot think [of] a better tribal autonomy as we have promised, we are taking the help of such theories of wrong class lookout to exercise our authority over the backward tribes by using the tiny and non-antagonistic contradictions among them,’ he writes.

‘While I write the letter to GS, some Maoists

have been killing people without proper investigation… I would like to open the matter before the people with a commitment [to] real democracy. But all this should be done before the sectarian friends can kill me,’ he writes.

Sabyasachi Panda has fired his last shot. His wife, Subashree, has been sending feelers to the state government to show leniency to pave the way for his surrender.

On his part, Panda has already announced the formation of his own Odisha Maovadi Party.

His close associates say that Panda would not like to be seen as a betrayer of the revolution. But his erstwhile party sees him as just that.

While announcing his expulsion, the CPI (Maoist) said Panda had ‘betrayed the party and revolution and the great cause of the toiling masses, particularly of the oppressed masses of Odisha and proved himself to be a renegade.’

Only history can judge.

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“Maoists are good human beings with a lot of dedication and commitment for the country... they could do what others cannot.�

- Sri Sri Ravishankar

The ideological basis for the ICM can only be Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Today there is a tendency among some Maoist Parties to add some suffix to this in the form of a ‘thought’, ‘guiding thought of the party’, ‘path’, etc in the name of development of MLM. Also in the Approach Paper, the CPN(Maoist) says we must focus on the “defense, application and development of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism”. So, as suggested, then let us look into this deeply.

Firstly there can be no defence of the ideology without its application. If it is not in the concrete application of MLM the so-called defence will only result in abstract slogan-mongering. So we see many a group, in India, who claim to be staunch ‘defenders’ of MLM but their practice is in no way linked to the revolutionary theory of MLM. Worse still, there are groups that have little or no practice except bringing out some literature; this often results in dogmatic slogan-mongering. None of these can be said to ‘defend’ MLM. So, as Marxists any real defence of MLM has to be linked to its application. The history of the ICM has seen all sorts and assortments of revisionists who swear by Marx, Lenin and now even Mao, but their practice has been shown to be reformist or revisionist.

Now having seen the relationship between the first two let us turn to that between these and the question of development.

In the natural sciences a theory is developed only after enormous amount of experimentation and also after it has been proved and tested through application. Even after mere experimentation it is not accepted as a development, even though the results achieved may be positive. This is a process applied in physics, chemistry, medicine or any other sphere of the natural sciences. The process is accepted and taken for granted and in fact if anyone tries to get acclamation just after a couple of successful experiments he/she will be the subject of ridicule.

Central Committee, CPI(Maoist) An excerpt from the paper presented by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on the Occasion of the International Meeting of Maoist Parties & Organisations Held From December 26, 2006

Correct ideas develop in the course of class struggle, the struggle for production and scientific experiment. Only if in this process the existing laws governing society are further developed or new laws discovered, that have a universal significance, can we say that the science of Marxism has been further developed.

Now let us turn to the science of society or Marxism. Here too the same law would apply. It was Marx and Engels who discovered the laws governing the development of society and this came to be known as Marxism only after they were seen to be correct in the crucible of practice, long after their writings appeared and put into practice. Then it was Lenin who further developed Marxist understanding of society in the era of imperialism and also the theories of the strategy and tactics of the proletariat to achieve revolutionary change.

Also the elementary principles of socialist construction were postulated by Lenin and then Stalin. The victory of the revolution in the USSR and the development of socialism (notwithstanding all the limitations as the first ever experience and due to the massive imperialist/fascist attacks) established the teachings of Lenin and much of Stalin and so this came to be known as Leninism.

Mao further developed the understanding of Marxism-Leninism particularly as applied to backward countries in the era of imperialism, and more particularly developed on a much more scientific basis the laws governing socialist construction in the GPCR. This developed into Maoism (earlier called Mao Tse-tung Thought).

Through these one-and-a-half centuries of communism there have been great communists with enormous writings —

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Rosa Luxemburg, William Liebnecht and numerous stalwarts of that period in Europe and Russia, Ho Chi Minh, Kaypakkaya, Charu Majumdar, Kanhai Chatterjee, and a host of other leaders — but no one even sought to give their writings a universal significance by attaching a suffix to it. All of them creatively applied the Marxist principles to the practice of revolution in their countries.

If in the process new laws are discovered and these are proved to be correct while applying them in the practice of revolution, only then do they achieve a universal significance and can be seen as a development in the theory. Every successful application is not a development. And though all development (so also in the realm of ideas) will witness quantitative evolution before resulting in a qualitative leap, giving the labels ‘thought’, ‘path’ for this evolutionary process of development, is unnecessary. Besides, as the experience of Peru has shown, this was premature, notwithstanding the great contributions by comrade Gonzalo, as the movement has suffered a big set-back and there is even dispute regarding his present role. So also the same could happen to any other country. There need not be any undue haste in glorifying individuals by placing some suffix or the other just because some initial successes have been achieved in their countries concerned. Even more problematic would be the assertion by Maoist Parties that the Thought, Path etc of their leaders has universal significance. This would mean imposing one’s own assessment regarding the development of MLM on other fraternal Parties and the ICM. This could also increase the differences and might lead to disunity rather than promoting unity among the Maoist forces worldwide.

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Encounter

Truth, it is said, is the first casualty of war. Therefore, it is not surprising that Indian government denies the very fact of prosecuting a war against the CPI(Maoist)!

Instead, it is said that they are merely carrying out “police action” to restore civil authority. A police action brings the image of baton or lathi wielding cops trying to restore order in a riotous situation. Whereas 75 battalions (bns) of central para military forces especially trained in jungle warfare and assisted by more than 100 bns of state armed constabularies, the Indian Reserve bns and the SPOs, all heavily armed, have been deployed. Besides, Union Minister of Home P Chidambaram categorically asserted that Indian government had a “legitimate right” to use “as much force as necessary” against the Maoists (Times of India, March 13, 2010). An extraordinary control regime is in place, which among other things, regulates entry and exit into areas held by the Maoists guerillas, somewhat akin to entering another country. Unless people carry identity cards signed by the Superintendent of Police they can neither enter nor exit from the area.

As for movement of goods, this too has been curtailed; weekly markets have been shifted to local security camps, where one has to register oneself, provide list of members for whom rations is needed, and allowed rations which can last for no more than a week.

In the forest, people had to walk for a few hours to reach the weekly haat (market), but now the required travel time is a full day, even two, because of the location and the encumbrances (ID cards, check-post,

registration at camps, search of bags) imposed.

The war on Maoists is not because they want to overthrow the presently constituted Indian State, which the Maoists have been fighting for nearly half a century. By their own admission, it will take them another 50-60 years to succeed. Also, to borrow PM’s words while referring to their military strength, the Maoists possesses “modest capabilities”. Moreover, it has nothing to do with their wanton acts of violence. Record of parliamentary parties, in varying degree of culpability, is worse. Besides, the fact that after 62 years of “transfer of power” 80% of our people survive on less than or equal on Rs. 20 per day, whereas 100 families own wealth which is equivalent to 25% of the GDP, invites us to remain skeptical of Indian rulers commitment for the life and liberties of mass of our people, the overwhelming majority of Indians.

As far as I am concerned, reason for ‘operation green hunt’ is because Maoists offer formidable resistance against implementation of hundreds of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for mining and mineral-based industries in predominately tribal India, where they enjoy considerable support. Without weakening this resistance, Government of India’s mineral as well as FDI policy will remain unrealized. It is worth remembering that there is a consensus between Congress, BJP and CPI (M) to curtail political activities by “LWE” and to create an atmosphere, in the words of Prime Minister, “conducive to investment”

and “rapid economic development”. This has laid the ground for a long drawn out bloodletting, the likes of which has not been seen in the 60 years since 1947. This will be a “fight to the finish”, in which, one side is bent on destroying the ‘LWE’ and the other side determined to defend themselves.

It threatens to be a prolonged attritional warfare. Having staked so much in this policy and invested in prosecuting this war, it is not surprising, that the government shows no signs of reversing or radically modifying its current policies. Indeed it is even reluctant to make public the MOUs signed by various state governments citing “commercial secrets” but unmindful of larger public concerns. In other words, Indian government has much to hide.

Democratic rights activists oppose war against our own people, under any pretext, because political aspirations ought not to be suppressed militarily. Behind every war is a long history of struggle, over-ground and peaceful. In 62 years fifteen parliaments have been voted in, and it is apparent to any discerning person, voters continue to remain impoverished, disempowered and barely able to survive. It is also our experience that, once the genre of laws under the rubric of “national security” is invoked, these not only criminalizes legitimate activities, but simultaneously legitimises unlawful acts of the authorities. This means that once the authorities proscribe an organization, and place curbs on their activities, including propagating, organizing, etc., then anyone offering any help to any member of the

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proscribed organization (e.g., medical help, legal assistance, or even help a member of such organization get employment or attends a meeting organized by them and addresses such meetings) ends up committing a crime.

Were this ban to be lifted the very same evidence ceases to incriminate. Thus the most innocuous facts can get invested with criminal intent no sooner “national security” considerations come into play. Also, there is a strong likelihood of evidence being manufactured, facts misconstrued or twisted, to suit the State’s objective of silencing critics of its policy of curbing the so called internal sources of threat to security.

We are witness to systematic abuse by authorities wielding arbitrary powers. Apart from arrests, torture, fake encounter the authorities have become brazen enough to suppress voices of dissent by accusing them of being “Naxalite sympathizer”, as though to be a Naxalite or a Maoist is in itself criminal. It took Supreme Court judges to remind the government counsels that to hold sympathies is not a crime. Recently we also saw how an attempt was made to mislead the Supreme Court by the officers of the court representing the Union and Chattisgarh Government, about a purported ambush that took place on early hours of February 9, 2010 near Gachchanpalli in Dantewada district of Chattisgarh.

police accost, threaten and lead mobs to attack social activists, but little of it finds its way into the corporate newspapers.

Independent social activists have been evicted from the areas [such as Himanshuji of the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA)] or thwart women’s team that visited Narayanpatna in Orissa or members of National Association of Peoples Movement who went to Dantewada (Chattisgarh) are thwarted from visiting areas to ensure that truth about a dirty war does not finds its way into public domain. And even Union Minister of Home shied away from attending a public hearing in Dantewada, after promising to do so in a published interview. Indeed, government forces on the ground carried out demolition of VCA ashram, arrested, beat up and implicated in criminal cases members of VCA, prevented social activists from reaching Dantewada and siding with mobs led by proclaimed offenders.

Moreover, proclaimed absconders sought by the first class magistrate in Konta (Chattisgarh), for a crime of alleged gang rape, brazenly move around the Bastar region, and in full view of the police; the

Gautam Navlakha is a civil liberties activist with the People’s Union for Democratic Rights. He is also an Editorial Consultant, Economic and Political Weekly.

It is this repressive climate of war, which makes it incumbent, that we do not succumb to official diktat to tailor our convictions and go beyond official propaganda to understand for ourselves the Maoists...

Who are our own people.

Supreme Court gives thumbs up to Jan Adalats (Maoist Judicial System)

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11 October Union home ministry sanctions Rs 1.17 crore to the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan for organizing 5th Tribal Youth Exchange Programme at four places with participation of 2,000 Tribal Youth from 30 districts in four Maoist-affected states.

08 October The Odisha Sarvodaya Samaj (OSS) on Monday appealed Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda to give up violence and agree for discussions with the state government. The OSS president Ratan Das while issuing his appeal to Panda also urged the state government to stop all operations against the Maoists to give peace a chance to return to the state.

28 September The Malkangiri police on Friday arrested three persons including a panchayat sarapanch on charges of having links with the Maoists. The arrested trio had been regularly passing on information about the movement of security personnel in the area to the Maoists. They also directly participated in attacks on security personnel, police said.

28 September Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda on Friday said he had no immediate plans to surrender and asked the state government to stop security operations against them before expecting him to return to normal life. Panda said this through a 7-minute audio tape released to the media in Bhubaneswar. Nine Gandhian and Sarvodaya leaders had recently made a joint appeal to Panda to lay down arms and continue his fight for the poor in a peaceful manner.

27 September Jhargram police on Thursday arrested two Maosist armed-squad members Dilu Yadav, 32, and Tofan Mahato, 25. from their respective home in Lodhashuli and Nandalalpur in Jhargram. Police said Dilu was accused in number of murder cases, including that of CPM party member Khokan Maity. He was the prson behind the burning down of CPM party office at Lodhashuli.

25 September At least 13 families in Badtunda village under Odisha’s Bargarh district have fled their homes fearing attacks by the Maoists. All the families are related to Md. Rice, a village headman. The

Maoists had attacked the village on Sunday night and threatened to kill Rice accusing him of being in possession of lands belonging to the poor persons. Though the police said it had intensified security measures in the area and combing operations, the villagers are not convinced.

24 September Two suspected Maoists including a woman surrendered before the Keonjhar police on Monday. Police said the two were working under the Chhotnagpur division of the CPI (Maoist) party. The Police quoted them as saying that unable to bear harassment in the organization they decided to surrender and lead a normal life.

20 September A group of women Maoists late on Wednesday night attacked a businessman in Nangalbod village in Odisha’s Nuapada district and shot him. The deceased, Abdul Sattar Mohammad (50), was running a small grocery shop in the village. The Maoists left a poster at the place accusing Sattar of working against the people.

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28 April The PLGA, the military wing of the CPI-Maoist, is training its cadres to counter aerial attacks in the event of air strikes by the Indian Air Force. Sources said that the Maoists are also planning to carry out strikes on airports. The Special IB of the anti-Naxal (LWE) agency of Andhra Pradesh Police had recently recovered key documents and sketches with details of how Maoists will defend air attacks and capture airports. The syllabus for military training of Maoist cadres is being revamped. A manual, titled Guerrilla Air Defence written by the ‘central military commissioner’ and senior Maoist Tipparthi Tirupati alias ‘Devji’ of Andhra Pradesh has been introduced into the Maoist syllabus. This syllabus includes instructions on how to kill air force commandos while they climb down during air drops from choppers.

Sources in the State Police Headquarters say that the Maoists are a step ahead in combat strategies.

10 August The State Government has extended the ban on the CPI-Maoist and six of its front organisations for one more year with effect from August 16. The current ban on the seven organisations expires on August 16. The banned front organisations include AIRSF, Vikasa, Sikasa, RSU, RCS and RYL. 29 November The Karimnagar District Police were on a high alert as the CPI-Maoist began their protest week against the killing of top Maoist leader, Mallojula Koteshwara Rao alias Kishanji in an encounter in West Bengal. Apart from observing the protest week from November 29 to December 5, the Maoists have called for Telangana bandh on December 4 and 5.

11 December CPI-Maoist cadres released all the seven labourers after they were abducted on December 9 from Pakari village in Jamui District. The labourers were set free at a hillock near Rajaun Bishanpur village, SP R N Singh said.

9 December The CPI-Maoist killed two villagers by slitting their throats in Langalkata village, under K. Balang Police station in Sundargarh District in Odisha. According to sources in Rourkela Police, about 200 armed Maoists barged into the village in the wee hours and abducted six villagers at gun point. All the hostages were taken to a nearby school building where villagers had reportedly a heated exchange of words.

Subsequently, four villagers were let off while two were killed. The two victims were identified as Anup Singh and Bisra Singh, whom the Maoists suspected to be Police informers. The Maoists and the cadres of erstwhile MCC threw the bodies along with a few posters warning the villagers not to support the Police.

22-23 December The CPI-Maoist cadres killed two villagers and set ablaze machines of a road construction company in two separate incidents in the evening of December 22 in Bihar, Police said on December 23. In the first incident in Atari region of Gaya District, armed Maoists, looking for a deserter, fired indiscriminately at a house that they suspected to be his hideout.

Two villagers were killed in the firing, but they had nothing to do with the Maoists. “As soon as we received the information, we reached the spot with the Police force. We searched for the rebels but they had fled,” said Nand Kishore, Assistant Sub Inspector. Elsewhere in the District, the Maoists set ablaze machines of a construction company at Gurua, including two JCB machines, a tractor and a motorcycle, whose owner had reportedly refused ransom.

A Maoist outfit named Shastra People’s Morcha (SPM - Armed People’s Front) claimed responsibility, said a Police official. “This is the first violent activity carried by SPM (Shastra People’s Morcha) in Gurua. Outfits like MCC (Maoist Communist Centre) have carried out violent activities here earlier but it is for the first time that we have recorded a militant activity by SPM,” said Rup Narayan Ram, Police Officer incharge, Gurua.

10-11 November Nearly a dozen heavily armed cadres of the Revolutionary Communist Centre (RCC) late in the night of November 10 raided village Pipra under Dumaria Police station of Gaya District of

Bihar and set ablaze a road construction machine being used in the ongoing construction of a road linking Dumaria with the divisional headquarters. The RCC is a splinter group of the former Maoist Communist Centre (MCC).

Construction activity consequently remained suspended on November 11 in view of the attack. Confirming the incident, the Sherghati Sub Divisional Police Officer Ranjan Kumar said that only partial damage has been caused to the road construction machine.

17 November An armed squad of the CPI-Maoist shot dead one of their fellow cadres after calling him out from his home at Barudih village in the Nimdih block of Seraikela-Kharsawan District of Jharkhand. Sources said at 1.30am, about 12 Maoists turned up at 35-year old Shivraj Singh Sardar’s house and called him outside. Subsequently, two Maoists opened fire at him before escaping into nearby forests. Sardar is reported to have died on the spot. According to sources, Shivraj Singh Sardar was killed because of a dispute over levy collection. The SeraikelaKharsawan District Superintendent of Police (SP), Abhishek, said the killing was carried out by the CPI-Maoist ‘area commander’ Arup Mochi’s squad that is active in Dalma, Patamda and Nimdih. “It is the same squad that had killed Naxalite leader and former MCC [Maoist Communist Centre] area commander Bhola Singh Sardar,” the SP said. A case against Mochi and others has been filed.

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