Many thanks to Ka Frank for passing this to us. This article can be found at Livemint.com.
Mainstream politics not for us, says Koteshwar Rao
This is a rare interview with Koteshwar Rao, a member of the politburo of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the party’s highest decision-making body. He is also head of the party’s guerilla operations in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa. The original comments on this article said “The 51-year-old Maoist leader refused to be photographed and set his own terms for the meeting. Mint’s reporters were asked to arrive at a school in Chakadoba where they waited for around 5 hours. At around dusk, they were escorted to where Rao was—a clearing in the jungle that was reached after a brisk 30-minute walk. In a conversation that lasted at least 5 hours, Rao, who greeted the reporters with the Maoist “Lal salaam” or red salute, explained the Maoist philosophy. And his group’s ultimate objective.”
Edited excerpts:
The administration alleges that you ambush people and run away—that you don’t have the courage to fight them…
Absolute rubbish—they know we don’t run away, but say so because they can neither ignore us nor can they fight us. Even on 2 November, when Buddhababu’s (West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) convoy was attacked, I was within a kilometre of where the blast took place. Huge forces were deployed, the area was combed, but I did not run away. All our comrades in (West) Bengal are sons and daughters of the soil. Where will they run away? For the last five years, I am camping here and helping the organization grow. The Intelligence Branch knows everything. They know what I look like—they even have a picture taken last year. We are not scared of appearing before people. Lakhs of villagers and tribals know what I look like since I interact with them regularly.
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