This article appeared in India Today on February 11, 2010.
Inside Maoistan
Dinesh Manji is a local libero hero. In volleyball, libero is a defensive player position and allowed only underarm passes. In a clay court off Orissa’s Deomali mountains, Manji jumps and smashes every oncoming serve. I give a second to attune myself to the motion of the ball.
The unruly libero is my first exposure to the liberated zones, where Maoists are changing the rules of the game and setting up Janathana Sarkars – People’s Government – a Maoist Xanadu, a vital building block of the Maoist society based on ideological rhetoric. Janathana Sarkars collect “taxes”, decide on local disputes, fix prices of local products, run local amenities and provide basic healthcare. In the huge region of mineral-rich forests in eastern and central India from West Bengal through Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, these committees, mostly managed by local villagers, but with severe Maoist mentoring, control all things in life – even tippling habits to eternal supply of volleyballs.
“Instead of explaining to you what we intend to do if we assume power in the country, I can show you what we do in the areas we hold power over,” says a Maoist leader, before sending me off on a bike of one of his cadres, my destination uncertain. Two hours into our journey, through narrowing road, often slipping down side-alleys, I ask him which village we are heading. He smiles with a glint of mischief. Read the rest of this entry »