The ruling classes tremble: Maoists expand influence in Northeast India

Location of Assam within India

The following article about the expanding operations of the CPI(Maoist) into northeast India originally appeared at A critique of the times. 

The Northeast is in danger of becoming the next Maoist hub

January 15 2012

Reports of Maoists mobilising people against dams in Arunachal Pradesh, shortly after Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had warned about ultra-Left presence in Assam, can only mean that policymakers both in New Delhi and the North-East can no longer ignore the presence of the Reds in the region. The situation in the state is increasingly worrying, especially now that captured Maoist members have reportedly confessed links to elements in the North-East.

Gogoi’s claims were not backed by reports from the ground. All he said was that two officials – one from the Assam Students Youths Organisation (ASYO) and the other from the Assam Chah Janajati Suraksha Samiti (ACJSS) – had been nabbed by security forces in Orissa’s jungles. He did not have any more incriminating information to offer, except to say that these were frontal organisations of the Maoists. Moreover, the timing of this revelation was suspect – it came close on the heels of the tripartite Suspension of Operations being signed by the Union and state governments with the overground faction of the ULFA led by Arabinda Rajkhowa.

CPI(Maoist) calls for bandh on May 16

The following is a press statement released by the CPI(Maoist). It discusses recent attacks on Maoist forces and adivasi peoples by Operation Green Hunt, as well as the role of the Indian Army in these brutal incursions. In response, the Maoists are calling for a large bandh, which is a kind of strike, enforced by the revolutionaries:

The Central Committee of our Party has given the call for a 24-hour `Bharat Bandh’ on 16 May to stop the fascist attacks on the people of the country by the exploitative ruling governments, to prevent the deployment of army in Bastar under Operation Green Hunt, to send back the armed forces camping in the pretext of `training’, to unconditionally release the adivasis and political prisoners confined in the jails of the country, and to demand the scrapping of the proposed fascist NCTC.

Bharat Bandha : CPI (Maoist)

( Comrade Gudsa Usendi, the  Spokesperson of Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has released a press statement on  4 May 2012. He has focused on the brutal attacks on the oppressed people of  India, by the facist   Indian Government. He stresses : The Central Committee of our Party has given the call for a 24-hour `Bharat Bandh’ on 16 May to stop the fascist attacks on the people of the country by the exploitative ruling governments…)

The Indian state is relentlessly continuing its extremely brutal attacks on the people of the country, particularly the adivasis, in the last two and half years in the name of Operation Green Hunt. The police and paramilitary forces unleashed by the ruling classes are perpetrating acts of `encounter’ killings, mass murders, sexual assault, torture, burning of villages, destruction of crops and grains, plunder of peoples’ property, wanton arrests and forced `disappearances etc. These forces have carried out the cold-blooded murder of more than 250 adivasis in the last two and half years in Dandakaranya alone. The objective of this war on people is to uproot the ongoing Maoist movement in the country, particularly in its central and eastern regions.

India: CPI(Maoist) statement on Indian state brutality in Maad

‘Operation Green Hunt,’ the Indian state offensive against the CPI(Maoist) and their adivasi (tribal) allies, continues. Indian Army special forces are now assisting paramilitaries in the effort to harass, brutalize and displace tribals; it is also highly likely that US special forces are providing training to these groups. The following document gives an account of the effects of these operations on tribal villages:

Apart from this, in every village they entered, the government forces resorted to loot, beatings, razing of houses and destruction.
In Padko village on the southern side of Indravati River, the government forces destroyed a field. People are collectively growing vegetables, maize etc in this field. In the forest nearby this village a school is being run by the revolutionary Janatana Sarkar and hundreds of government forces attacked this school. The entire students and teachers had evacuated the school beforehand fearing attack. The police camped for two days there and wreaked havoc. 

Thanks to Banned Thought for making this document available.

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

DANDAKARANYA SPECIAL ZONAL COMMITTEE

March 30, 2012

 An appeal to all the democrats and patriots of our country

Condemn the brutal offensive conducted by the government armed forces in Maad !

Come forward to stop the unjust war on the most oppressed people of our country !

Indian state ‘discovers’ red Naxal village

The CPI(Maoist) has very deep roots among the people, gaining support in areas that the Indian state was, apparently, not even aware of.

The piece originally appeared at the Hindustan Times. Thanks also to The Prison Gates Are Open site for making it available.

By Harinder Baweja
April 22, 2012

Helicopters were kept on standby for casualty evacuation; targets were chosen with care after studying satellite images and the troops were warned — the encounters would be fierce and the naxals could be in the hundreds, even thousands. After weeks of planning, security forces armed with automatic rifles, satellite phones and Swedish Carl Gustav rocket launchers made their very first foray into the dense Abujhmad jungle, straddling the two states of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.  Abujhmad, or ‘unknown hill’ — 6,000 sq km of thick forest — has not been surveyed since the British.

As part of the operation, security forces had zoomed in on a map of the area with the help of Google Earth, on to a couple of structures they identified as a ‘naxal camp’. A plan was prepared to go in and take out the naxalites. The mission had a second aim — the stronghold had to be psychologically breached, since it is as much home to the naxals as it is a zone ‘liberated’ of all government control.

CPI Maoist statement on the arrests and torture of activists

Thanks to Revolutionary Frontlines for publishing this statement.

Ramakrishna of the CPI(Maoist)

CPI (Maoist): “Condemn the arrests and torture of Maoist activists in Kolkata and Mumbai!”
COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) — CENTRAL COMMITTEE — Press Release — March 2, 2012

In the last week of February 2012, the police have arrested activists of our Party including some senior cadres from Kolkata and Mumbai. On the specific intelligence inputs provided by the murderous APSIB, joint forces of police and STF of AP, Maharashtra and West Bengal have raided the shelters of our comrades in Kolkata and Mumbai suburbs and arrested at least nine comrades including two women comrades. Comrades Sadanala Ramakrishna, Deepak Kumar Pargania, Sukumar Mandal, Bapi Mudi and Sambhu Charan were arrested from Kolkata while Comrades Dinesh Wankhede, Aasimkumar Bhattacharya, Suman Gawde and Paru Patel were picked up from Thane in Maharashtra. Comrades Sadanala Ramakrishna alias Santosh (62) and Aasimkumar Bhattacharya (65) were the seniors among the arrested. Senior comrade Sadanala Ramakrishna has been working for the revolution for at least four decades. He has been ailing with serious health problems for so many years. A mechanical engineer graduated in prestigious Regional Engineering College (REC) of Warangal from where martyr leaders like Surapaneni Janardhan and Azad were emerged as great revolutionaries of their times, Comrade Ramakrishna sacrificed his bright life for the cause of liberation of the downtrodden.

Both the two women comrades arrested – Vijaya and Suman – have been undergoing medical treatment for some time staying in the shelters outside the struggle zones. Particularly, comrade Vijaya has been suffering from serious heart problems.

The police forces, better known for worst kind of cruelty, have been torturing these comrades mentally and physically in custody. They have foisted several false cases against these comrades so that they could be languished behind the bars forever.

On one hand the ruling classes are asserting that these arrests are a big success for them and on the other hand, they are trying to portray our comrades as dangerous criminals claiming that they have recovered huge amounts of cash and other material that is used for making arms.

These arrests are nothing but a part of Operation Green Hunt (OGH), i.e. the ‘War on People’, which has been underway since 2009. The comprador ruling classes in connivance with their imperialist masters, particularly with the US imperialists, have unleashed this brutal war of suppression in the poorest parts of India so that their neo liberal policies of plunder of resources could get going unhindered. They are particularly targeting the revolutionary leadership and eliminating them. As the Pentagon itself claimed recently, the US Special Forces are not only actively involved, but also assisting their Indian counterparts on the ground in the counter-insurgency operations aimed at eliminating the revolutionary leadership. This fact also shows us that the US has been patronizing in the ongoing OGH making the values such as freedom, independence, and sovereignty of our country a joke. The exploiting rulers of our country are daydreaming that this movement can be suppressed if its leadership is wiped out.

Revolutionary movement cannot be crushed with arrests and murders. The bars of the dungeons can not restrict the revolutionary ideas from spreading among the vast masses.

The CC of CPI (Maoist) strongly condemns these arrests and inhuman torture being inflicted to them. We demand immediate and unconditional release of these comrades, as well as all of the political prisoners languishing in various jails in all corners of our land. We also demand to lift all the false cases foisted against these comrades.

(Abhay)

Spokesperson, Central Committee, CPI (Maoist)

India’s Maoists – Who are they? What do they want?

This piece first appeared in Radical Notes (Nov.2009). It offers valuable background to the revolutionary movement in India.

A more theoretical discussion of communist strategies in the Third World was recently published here on Kasama, offering background of a different kind.

India’s Maoists: Who they are and what they want

by Rita Khanna

This is meant to be a simple and brief explanation of the goals and strategies of the Maoist movement in India for people who may not have much awareness about it and are confused by the propaganda in the mainstream media. This does not go into the arcane debates about mode of production in India, the debates among communist revolutionaries over strategy and tactics etc. This aims at people who, for example, often resort to violent activities against the Government.

India: CPI(Maoist) expanding in Central India

Tribal woman Orissa, India

Despite the Indian state’s brutal assassination of CPI(Maoist) leader Kishenji, the organization is growing, even in traditional strongholds like Orissa.

This article appeared at Daily Pioneer.

PLGA Week: Maoists recruit 5,000 youth in Malkangiri

December 22, 2011

During the recent observance of the Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) Week, about 5,000 youth and adolescent girls were recruited by the Maoists particularly from Malkangiri district, sources said.

Challenging the joint combing operation of police, CRPF, SOG and paramilitary forces, they were able to hold open meetings for membership drive in the cut – off and remote pockets of the district. They held Prajamelis in around 10 villages, including in several village haats in Alampaka, Similibanki, Kusuguda and Kurmanur areas along the AP- Odisha border.

India’s people mourn Maoist leader Kishenji

Revolutionaries and oppressed peoples all over the world are mourning the assassination of CPI(Maoist) leader Kishenji. The loss is especially difficult for the people of India, even as they gather to celebrate his life and contributions to human liberation.

There is evidence Kishenji killed in what is called a “fake encounter.” This is an incident when police or paramilitaries capture a person, kill her/him in detention, and then manufacture evidence to make the killing look like it occurred in combat. It is nothing but cowardly, ruthless, cold-blooded murder. Indian state forces have often engaged in this practice to cover up their ruthless persecution of Maoist and Adivasi (tribal) people. 

This article appeared at the Hindustan Times.

Hundreds Pay Last Respects to Kishenji

November 27, 2011

Maoist sympathisers, revolutionary writers, singers, representatives of various people’s organisations, civil liberties activists and hundreds other on Sunday paid their last respects to slain Maoist leader Kishenji in his hometown Peddapalli in Andhra Pradesh. People in large numbers turned up at Kishenji’s house to pay their tribute and console his family members. With folded hands, the mourners were seen passing by the flower bedecked coffin amid huge police presence.

Arundhati Roy: “The people are under siege”

This profile of Arundhati Roy originally appeared at The Independent UK.”

The country that I live in is becoming more and more repressive, more and more of a police state…. India is hardening as a state. It has to continue to give the impression of being a messy, cuddly democracy but actually what’s going on outside the arc lights is really desperate.

Arundhati Roy: ‘The next novel will just have to wait…’

by Peter Popham

October 17, 2011

Arundhati Roy, winner of the Booker Prize in 1997 for The God of Small Things, is not in the frame this year. Again. In fact, she has yet to follow up on that first book, what John Updike described as her “Tiger Woodsian debut.”

It’s not for want of trying: it is no secret that she has a second one on the stocks. “Everybody has known that for many years!” she laughs. Few people have had a glimpse of it, however, one exception being her friend John Berger, the octogenarian novelist and art critic. He was so impressed that he urged her to drop everything and finish it. “About a year and a half ago I was with John at his home,” she recalls “and he said, ‘You open your computer now and you read to me whatever fiction you are writing.’ He is perhaps the only person in the world that could have the guts to say that to me. And I read a bit to him and he said, ‘You just go back to Delhi and you finish that book.’ So I said ‘okay…’”

CPI(Maoist) continues to defy Banerjee’s threats

Tribal woman whose home was destroyed by Indian state forces

When Mamata Banerjee and her populist party, the Trinamool Congress, won elections in West Bengal last May, the bourgeois press claimed she would be good for the CPI(Maoist). Some outlets spread more direct disinformation, suggesting the two parties had some kind of secret alliance. The truth has been quite the opposite. Since her election, Banerjee has tried to undermine the Maoist influence in West Bengal through offers of talks, attempts to undermine Maoist-led development, and now, threats. The Maoists, for their part, have not been phased, continuing their program of building clinics, schools, infrastructure and insisting on self determination for tribal peoples. The following article from the Times of India gives a glimpse of the kind of political power the CPI(Maoist) holds in India’s fourth-most populous state. 

CM not serious about peace process: Maoists

Oct 30, 2011

MIDNAPORE: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s seven-day ultimatum has hardly had its desired effect on the Maoist guerrillas camping in Jangalmahal. Akash, the state secretary of the Maoists, said they will not seize to demand basic rights for the tribals. While this strong note is a major jolt in the peace process, jailed tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato’s wife Niyati Mahato, on the other hand, accepted talks offer floated by Trinamool leader Mukul Roy and assured to meet him on November 3.

Police commit murders, Naxalites framed

Indian police in Lalgarh

From the Indian Vanguard 

September 12, 2011

by Himanshu Kumar (Translated by Deepankar Basu, Sanhati)

(Source: Janjawar, 7 September 2011)

It is common in Dantewada for the police to pass off responsibility for their crimes onto the Maoists. While the media parrots the police version, people accept this as yet another instance of “inherent Maoist cruelty”. I would like to highlight a recent event from Dantewada as an example of phenomenon. The event in question, it is interesting to note, has not only seen the incarceration of sub inspector of police, Ghanshyam Patel, but also the rejection of his bail petition by the High Court. Two SPOs involved in this event, moreover, are absconding.

I informed Medha Patkar about these murders. When Medha Patkar wrote about this event to DGP Vishwaranjan, the latter had retorted that Himanshu has the habit of lying. It must have been the handiwork of the the Maoists, the DGP went on to suggest to Medha. Now, a sub inspector from his own police force is behind bars for the incident. So, who has been lying?

The event in question took place on 18th March, 2007. On that day in Salwa Judum camp Matwada in Bijapur district (of Chhattisgarh), sub inspector Ghanshaym Patel and 15 other SPOs brutally killed three adivasis. The adivasis were first beaten up by sticks; then their eyes were gouged by knives; and then, their heads were smashed by stones. The dead bodies were buried in the sand on the banks of a nearby river and the media was informed that the Maoists had killed the three adivasis.

Video: Maoist medical camp in Northern India

This short video narrates efforts of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) to build revolutionary medical camps in Bihar. One of the featured camp’s primary aims is to eradicate life-threatening diseases like malaria and diarrhea. 

Thanks to Sidhartha S. for pointing it out. 

West Bengal, India: Maoists making gains, building hospitals

It seems that the CPI(Maoist) is strengthening its influence in West Bengal, and even the reactionary media is taking note.

The following report from The Hindustan Times gives the Maoists begrudging praise for their  work in the area —  for their health centers and infrastructure projects.

It should be noted that such initiatives are not a “change of face” for the Maoists, but consistent with their long-term strategy.

Thanks to Sidhartha S. for suggesting this piece. 

The invisible Maoist hand back in Bengal

by Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

September 10, 2011–From symbolising terror and subjugation, Maoists are now aiming for a change of perception. Or so it seems, at least in their strongholds in Jangalmahal area of Bengal.

In Maoist-dominated areas of West Midnapore, at about 130-150 km from Kolkata, which Hindustan Times visited recently, rebels have not only recovered lost ground, but are also running health centres and schools, building embankments and, repairing roads and ponds.

Indian Maoists Protest in Chhattisgarh

This comes from mangalorean.com. The Indian Maoists have been ardent defenders of the adivasi people who are being actively hunted by the Indian state.

The tribal people of Eastern India, targets of the state.

Maoist protest week hits life in Chhattisgarh interiors

Raipur, July 4 (IANS) A protest week called by the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) began Monday in Chhattisgarh, hitting life in the state’s vast forested interiors, police said.

“The protest week has hit life in the interior pockets of Bastar’s 40,000 sq km area where operators have kept buses and smaller passenger vehicles off the road fearing a Maoist attack,” a senior officer at the police headquarters here told IANS.

The official added that hundreds of police and paramilitary troopers have been relocated to strengthen security in the jungle areas vulnerable to attacks.

Reports coming in from the interiors of Dantewada, Bijapur and Narayanpur districts say Maoists have blocked dozens of key forested roads and people remained indoors. The rebels have distributed pamphlets and asked people to join their protest week.

Escalation of Terror: Indian Army Moves Into Maoist-Controlled Areas

The tribal people of Eastern India, targets of the state

Thus far the Indian government has not used its standing army in public, covert operations against the CPI(Maoist), instead relying on a combination of police forces and right-wing militias to attack the Maoists and their tribal supporters. Now it seems that the state’s approach has changed, and it has moved its army into Chhattisgarh, near one of the Maoists’ strongholds. This means the notoriously brutal Indian Army will have new opportunities to commit atrocities. Revolution in South Asia encourages its readers to follow these developments closely. 

The article originally appeared here.

Army moves into naxal region for training jawans

By Krishna Das

The army has entered into the naxal infested region of Chhattisgarh. This entry, however, is not intended at any combat but for training commandos in the jungle warfare.