Maoists active in Rural India

This article originally appeared in The Times of India.

Naxals ‘very active’ in rural India: US report
4 May 2008

NEW DELHI: Leftist extremist groups are “very active” in wide areas of impoverished rural eastern and Central India, the US State Department has said.

The Maoists also operate in parts of southern India, the State Department said in its latest annual report on terrorism.

It said hundreds of people were killed in conflicts between the government and various Leftist extremist groups, such as Naxalites and the Communist Party of India (Maoists), and also in internecine war.

May 2008: Interview with Indian Maoist Azad on Nepal

This article appeared in the May 10, 2008 issue of the CPI (Maoist) Information Bulletin-2.

Interview with comrade Azad, spokesperson of the CC, CPI(Maoist) on the present developments in Nepal

Q: The results in the April 10 elections to the Constituent Assembly in Nepal have been overwhelmingly in favour of the Maoists, a development least anticipated by even the keenest observers. How does your Party in India, the CPI(Maoist), look the election results in Nepal?

Azad: As mentioned in my press release on behalf of my Party’s central committee last week, the election results in Nepal have demonstrated the overwhelming anger of the masses against the outdated feudal monarchic rule in Nepal, against the Indian expansionist’s bullying and domination of Nepal, against US domination and oppression, against comprador-feudal parties which allowed this to continue and betrayed the masses for too long. The results are a reflection of the growing aspirations of the Nepali masses for democracy, land, livelihood and genuine freedom from imperialist and feudal exploitation. It is these aspirations of the overwhelming majority of the masses that had completely trounced the parties that had either supported the King and/or the Indian ruling classes or hesitated to come out strongly against feudal, imperialist oppression and Indian intervention in Nepal. The royalists could not win even in a single constituency out of the 240 constituencies where direct elections were held. And leaders of the so-called mainstream such as Madhav Nepali, Sujata Koirala were rejected outright which came as a great shock to the ruling classes.

Hence, when an alternative like the CPN(M) came to the fore, with its open commitment to abolish the feudal monarchy once for all, abrogate all unequal treaties signed with India by the former ruling classes of Nepal, and ensure democracy and equality for the oppressed sections of society such as Dalits, adivasis, national minorities and women, the masses enthusiastically veered towards the Maoists. To put it in a word, the people of Nepal had come out resolutely against constitutional monarchy, Indian expansionism and US imperialism; the results reflect the growing aspirations of the Nepalese masses for land, livelihood and democracy.