BeyondHeadlines News Desk
Central paramilitary forces launched a massive campaign against the Maoists in the uncharted territory of Aboojhmaad for the first time in last three decades in the first week of March, named as Operation Haka.
(Haka is a word used in villages to ward off the animals), the operation lasted for about ten days, as reported by some media groups. The gory details were reported in The Indian Express, The Hindu and Rajasthan Patrika on the first hand, where a reader could easily track the similarities. Incidents, characters and bytes were almost same in all the reported stories that gave a sense of the story being state managed.
This was partially confirmed when Pratirodh talked to one of the journalists whose bylined story was published in Chhattisgarh editions of Rajasthan Patrika and later circulated widely on hindi blogs.
He told that although the incidents, characters etc. were same, story was not managed. This was just due to the fact that all the journalists had gone together for the story at the site and were briefed together by CRPF ops-in-charge.
However, CPI (Maoist) has released a detailed report of the operation in Aboojhmaad with photographs a few days back. To sense what had happened for ten long days in an unaccessible area, the other side of the story must be read.
The report, howsoever being partisan, may throw light on the credentials of media reporting, for the least. We are publishing the complete report here…
Dear People ! Democrats !
The month of March brought destruction for the people of Dandakaranya (DK) just like it did last year. Last year, exactly at this time, between 11 and 16 of March the government armed forces wreaked havoc on Morpalli, Pulanpad, Timmapuram and Tadimetla villages in the Chintalnar area of South Bastar and now it was on Maad area known as ‘Abujhmaad’ in the nomenclature of the rulers. Due to pressure from all sections of people about the Chintalnar destruction and about the attacks on Agnivesh and others who came for fact-finding and due to the order of the Supreme Court the Chhattisgarh (CG) government ordered for a CBI probe. That this inhuman offensive on Maad was conducted exactly when this ‘trial’ was going on should open the eyes of those who still believe that there is democratic rule in our country.
In last July, the Supreme Court declared the appointment of SPOs and Koya Commandos illegal and gave the judgment that their weapons must be taken back. As is its wont, the CG government ignored this judgment too and is continuing the SPOs/Koya Commandos by changing their name to ‘Auxiliary Police Force’. The fascist gangs that wreaked havoc in the form of ‘Koya Commandos’ last year, now resorted to destruction, loot, murders, atrocities and indiscriminate firings with the names of ‘Auxiliary Police Force’ and ‘Abujhmaad Police’.
Three thousand men belonging to various armed forces as claimed by the government itself attacked 20 to 25 villages. One Adivasi died and another was abducted whose whereabouts are not known till now. Many more were injured in this attack that was conducted simultaneously from three districts – Narayanpur and Bijapur of Bastar in CG and Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra (MR). In many places police/paramilitary forces fired indiscriminately on unarmed people. Dozens of houses were destroyed, some were razed down. Lakhs of hard-earned money of the people was looted or burnt.
This recent mayhem in the name of ‘Operation Vijay’ and ‘Operation Haka’ conducted as part of the series of destruction and murder being perpetrated since seven years in the name of Salwa Judum and Operation Green Hunt (OGH) was claimed by the ruling classes as a ‘victory’. Along with the Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Sasastra Seema Bal (SSB) that are supposed to defend the borders of our country from the attacks of enemy countries, the state has deployed the Army and the Air Force too in the heart of our country at present and is hunting the most deprived people here considering them as its enemies. Is it surprising then that it is considering this as a ‘victory’ as though it fought against an enemy country?!
As part of the second phase of OGH, a brigade level force of the Indian Army entered Maad area in DK in the name of ‘training’ in last June. As part of a conspiracy to occupy a total of 750 sq km of land, a plot was hatched to wipe out many villages in Maad and to completely wipe out the very existence of Maria Adivasis. Maoist movement which is proving to be the biggest hurdle to handing over of our country’s natural resources to the corporate classes is being consciously portrayed as the biggest internal security threat to the country. Particularly they are propagating that Maad is the main base area of the Maoists and that top rank Maoist leaders are taking shelter in Maad and are daydreaming that they could gain legitimacy and acceptance for their offensives by saying so.
In fact, attacks on Maad are not something new. In the past, hundreds of police/paramilitary forces have conducted attacks in different areas and resorted to murders, destruction and violence. In the area adjacent to Indravati River on the periphery of Maad, several Salwa Judum attacks were conducted since 2005. Dozens of villages were razed down. Several people were shot dead. Loot and destruction of crops was done on a huge scale. But this is the first time that Maad was surrounded from three sides and was simultaneously attacked. It should be noted that the Indian Army has already been deployed in Kondagaon area near Maad in the name of establishing training schools in Maad and that this massive offensive was conducted in this backdrop. This offensive, the strategy for which was formulated by the Army, was conducted like an offensive over an enemy country using helicopters, UAVs, modern technology and several kinds of lethal weapons including mortars were used on a huge scale.
This recent offensive on Maad is part of the war that is being conducted with the aim of evacuating Adivasis from Maad; totally occupying Maad in the name of training school for Army; giving away the riches of Bastar to comprador bourgeoisie and MNCs; and wiping out Maoists in order to fulfill all these without any hurdle.
The high ranking police officials of MR and CG – Chhattisgarh DGP Anil Navani, Maharashtra DGP Subrahmanyam and CRPF DG Vijay Kumar formulated the plan for this offensive. While Vijay Kumar came to Bijapur and supervised the preparations for this offensive, the ADG of CG Ramnivas, Bastar IG Longkumer, CRPF IG (CG in-charge) Pankaj Singh coordinated the offensive by camping at Kurasanar base camp near Narayanpur. Bijapur SP Narayan Rajendradas and Narayanpur SP Mayank Srivastav led this offensive directly. On the whole this offensive was conducted according to the decisions taken at the recent meeting conducted by the central home ministry with the DGPs and principal secretaries of naxal affected states on 22 February and in the video conference held by Home Minister Chidambaram on 2 March.
The police officials are propagating on a big scale that this offensive is a ‘victory of police over the naxalites’. The media which did not bother to know on whom this offensive was conducted, who were targeted and who the victims of this violence were added its own ‘masala’ to the police claims and is propagating with banner head lines. However the Narayanpur SP had to spill some truths while talking to the media. He said that there were no schools or hospitals in the remote villages of Maad and that Maoists were harvesting sorghum and vegetables and also running schools. It is necessary to question the ruling classes how running schools and improving agriculture under the leadership of Maoists by people who are victims of government callousness can become criminal. Everybody should think how this offensive that targeted two schools and two agricultural farms run by the revolutionary Janatana Sarkars in this area apart from the villages could be claimed as a ‘victory’.This would become crystal clear by examining how this offensive was conducted.
Offensive on Indravati Area
Nine companies of armed forces (nearly 800 men) started from Jagdalpur on March 7 and reached Bijapur. They completed the preparations for this offensive named ‘Operation Haka’. On March 10, armed jawans comprising of Cobras, police and SPOs started from Bijapur and reached Ittampara village located on the banks of Indravati by traveling via Bhairamgarh. On the afternoon of March 10, they bathed in Indravati and completed the final preparations for the offensives and reached Tadum village after crossing the river in the evening. In order to return safely after completing their ‘operation’ they left two platoons of their forces in Ittampara. On 11th morning they reached Bodga village. They looted several houses in this village. They looted 2,550 rupees from the house of a peasant named Java. They looted 2,000 rupees belonging to Nakiri Oyami. A peasant named Maadivi Baman was beaten severely. He is unable to get up due to these beatings. However, the People’s Militia members burst crackers and blew the ‘Akkum’ (horn) and so every village became aware that the enemy forces had come to attack them. Police stopped there in the noon and started at 4 pm. They traveled via Takilode and Rekavaya villages and reached Vedama village after dark and slept there.
With the bitter experiences of the past, the Takilode villagers evacuated the village beforehand and slept in the forest near the village Vedama. The government armed forces fired indiscriminately on the sleeping villagers. Children and women who were terrified by these firings began crying loudly. On 12th morning police who started from Vedama reached the vicinity of Rekavaya village, cooked food and ate. They ate the hens looted indiscriminately from this village. They looted five hens belonging to Aitu Podiyam’s family and burnt the clothes in that house. They looted four hens, two hundred rupees and a utensil from Hidumal Kuhadavi’s house. Two hens belonging to Bedita Aitu of Nayumpara and five kilos of Bengal grams were looted.
They reached Got village by ten. Exchange of fire took place for some time between a small People’s Militia squad and the government armed forces here. On 12th evening they attacked a primary ashram school run by the revolutionary Janatana Sarkar. However the teachers and the children studying there escaped into the forest beforehand and so there was no loss to any of them. The forces slept in the school that night. While going away from the school, they arranged a bomb near the stream where the children bathe thus displaying their cruel nature. Before they started to go they understood that PLGA forces sat in ambush nearby. So they changed their route, acted as if they were going to Alveda and entered the forest midway, traveled across the hilly terrain and by dark reached a small hamlet named Kummam. They forcefully entered the houses, looted rice and other eating materials, cooked and ate. They were afraid that the guerillas would attack and so they chased the people away from their homes and slept there. On the next day they climbed down the hills and reached a village named Tadiballa.
They caught several people there, left off some of them and crossed the river with the rest of them. However they left a batch there to defend the rest of their forces. They cut down the trees there so that helicopters could land and they were even supplied food and other materials from air. Several of the persons caught were beaten and later the jawans gave 20, 30 or 50 rupees to some of them. Maybe they had decided to give money like this as ‘Civic Action Programme’ is also part their OGH !
Three more companies of forces started from Matwada located on the Bijapur-Jagdalpur road almost at the same time. They crossed Indravati River near a village named Gudra and reached Rekapara. They caught 22 villagers belonging to Jeeli and Gongla villages who came for collecting ‘Rachi’ from the forest. ‘Rachi’ is a kind of wood that is soaked in water for several days to extract coir from it. Some of the people began running away after seeing the forces and the forces fired on them. They took along the villagers they had caught, climbed the hills and attacked a small village named Kumnar.
The attack on Kumnar was conducted when all the villagers were working in their fields. The women who remained in their homes were beaten severely. They forcefully entered the houses and looted indiscriminately. They looted money from several houses. They caught a person named Budru Oyami. Later he was sent to jail by foisting false cases. They looted five thousand rupees from Budru’s house and six thousand rupees from the house of a woman named Paiki. The rest of the household materials were ransacked and broken. They looted bows, arrows and spears. The granary of a peasant where he stored ‘Kohla’, (millet like food grain) the staple food grain of Maad people was burnt down. The grain which was supposed to feed the family all year long was turned into ash within a few seconds. Later they reached Tadiballa village by 13th evening via Divalur from Kumnar. The forces met there. On 14th all of them crossed the river and went back.
The armed forces had even burnt down the nets used by the people for fishing. They cost about ten thousand rupees. They looted the dried meat stored by the people in their homes. They forcefully entered several homes and looted clothes. They looted two country guns too.
These forces were led by Bijapur SP along with another SP level official. They brought along computers, GPS gadgets and satellite phones apart from modern lethal weapons. They also brought along light weight UAVs. They were portable, weighed less and its parts could be taken apart and fitted again. They flew UAVs almost at every place and confirmed through its images if there were any movements of guerillas in their vicinity. They flew them in Bodga and Rekavaya villages when they stopped for a stay there. Thus this terrible offensive could also be termed as a high-tech offensive.
As mentioned before, at several places police beat people severely and then gave them money in the most heinous and perverted manner. They distributed clothes they brought along to some of the people! Several of the people were taken along with the single purpose of using them as human shield so that the PLGA would not attack them. However women chased the armed forces everywhere. They fought with the police to get their family members released. They even went to Bhairamgarh and got them released.
The eleven Jeeli villagers caught near Rekapara were taken to Bhairamgarh. Lachu, Budru and Sukhram among them were beaten severely. Budru could not urinate due to this. All of them were detained for one day and their photos were taken. All of them were together given five hundred rupees and let off. Budru was sent to jail after foisting false cases.
Of the nine Gongla villagers caught near Rekapara, Lachu Oyami was sent to jail under false cases. The rest of them were taken up to Bhairamgarh, given some money and let off.
A total of ten persons were sent to jail after foisting false cases on them. They are Madkami Musur (32), Oyami Kumma (45), Maadivi Guddi (55) belonging to Nayumpara village, Oyami Budu (33), Oyami Hidma (35) belonging to Bodga village, Oyami Chaitu (40), Padami Somdu (35), belonging to Bade Palli village, Oyami Budru (23) of Kumnar, Oyami Lachu (25) of Gongla and Kunjam Sudru (35) of Jeeli.
The offensive in Kuttul Area
The preparations for this offensive started from March 5 itself in Narayanpur, the district headquarter. The Narayanpur traders who sensed that an offensive on Maad was being planned did not come to open their shops in Sonpur village which is a prominent centre in Maad. So there was no weekly market on that day there. On 13th morning the forces started. Nearly a thousand men belonging to various armed forces reached Kohkametta village on 14th, cooked and ate. They acted as if they were going to some other place to sidetrack the people. Later they reached the borders of Kachhapal village traveling via Irakbhatti village. They sat in ambush on the path leading to the fields from the village.
Two villagers named Sonu and Raju got caught in their ambush while going to drink ‘Gorga’ (toddy). The armed forces fired indiscriminately on them. Sonu was seriously injured when he was hit by a bullet in his leg. But he ran for his life and escaped. But Raju was caught. He was beaten severely and let off. Due to this he is still spitting blood. In the same area the police and a PLGA team came face to face. Though the police fired a lot of bullets the guerillas could escape safely without any loss.
The destruction in Toke village
On 15th at 3 pm before entering Toke village the armed forces fired indiscriminately on the sentry post of People’s Militia on the outskirts of the village to clear the sentry place. As nobody was present at that time in that place, nothing happened. Later they surrounded the village and pounced on the villagers.
The house of Keye Dhurva was completely razed down. Everything inside the house including furniture, rice, Kohla grain, clothes, utensils and 16,000 rupees were burnt. A pig that got caught in the fire also died.
Bothal Dunga (45) is suffering from some disease in his legs. He cannot walk. His ribs got bruised and he bled when was beaten severely and was dragged. Later they tried to give twenty rupees to him. When he rejected they threw the notes in front of him and left. This is how they are ‘Winning hearts and minds’!
Later a peasant named Dunga Dhurva (38) got drunk with toddy and went to the village Gotul (common meeting place and cultural centre) carrying his axe, bow and arrows. The police caught him there. He tried to stop the police when they were damaging their traditional drums by cutting their hides with knives. So they beat him severely with rifle butts and killed him on the spot. Dunga is survived by wife and children.
The armed forces attacked the house of Munna Pulso (20) and damaged the cooking utensils. They looted three hens. In the adjacent house too they damaged the utensils and damaged two drums by cutting the hides with knives. They tried to beat the people who stayed at home due to illnesses. The women who tried to stop them were beaten. Later they gave twenty rupees each to three women and three men who were present there.
They went to the ashram school and distributed biscuits to the children. These biscuits were looted from a house in the same village. They damaged solar lights and batteries in the ashram school. It is worth noting that this is a school run by a government supposedly elected through a ‘democratic process’. The solar lights and batteries they damaged were sanctioned by none other than the government. After several persons in the village were beaten, tortured and their houses were looted, the total cash distributed as compensation for this destruction to all of them together is 240 rupees!
They also razed to the ground a Kohla granary on the path leading from Toke to Kodenar. Nearly 20 to 25 hens were looted and eaten. They took along with them a fifteen year old boy named Vatte Vadde beating him all the way. They had cut the hides of the drums not only in Munna’s house but also the hides of big, big drums in other houses. Drums have lot of significance in the lives of the Adivasis. Every social and cultural activity including births, marriages and deaths is interlinked with drums and other musical instruments. When they are in risk or when they face unforeseen dangers too they alert all the neighbouring villagers by beating the drums and unite them. So the government forces cannot tolerate these drums. That is why this is not just an offensive in the physical sense but an offensive conducted on all aspects of the economic, social, cultural life of the people.
The series of offensives carried on from Maharashtra
When Adivasis rose against British imperialists during Bhumkal revolt nearly a hundred years back, the armed forces started from Nagpur and Jabalpur that were under Central Provinces apart from Madras, Raipur etc simultaneously and suppressed the revolt in Bastar. Any person familiar with Bastar history knows this fact. Now this offensive was also simultaneously conducted as if on an enemy country with complete coordination from two states. 800 policemen comprising of Cobras, C-60 commandos and police started for conducting the offensive on Maad from Maharashtra side exactly on March 14.
Two days before the offensive was launched, notorious killers and rapist SPOs like Kesa Bhaira and Dallu were taken in helicopters from Narayanpur to Laheri police station that is adjacent to the Maad hills. The forces that walked down along the banks of the Neibered River caught three villagers belonging to Podewada village. Two of them were let off and taking along the third person they first attacked a small village named Goddelmarka. They caught Lalsu Vadde (28) and Bitiya Vadde (21) and both the brothers were severely beaten. They were tied with a rope and when the police were taking them along with them, Lalsu’s wife tried to stop them. So she was also thrown on the ground and beaten severely. They looted 1500 rupees from Bitiya’s house. They looted rice, food material, hens, eggs etc from almost every house. A bullet brushed past the hand of a woman named Jaini Gota when they fired upon her. Kesa Bhaira who is working like a tool in the hands of the police/paramilitary forces since six years fired upon the woman and injured her. He was born in Kuttul village in this area and turned into an enemy of the people. Some of the villagers were eye witness to this atrocity.
Later they traveled in the forest at night and surrounded Ekonar village before dawn. This village is comprised of just eight thatched huts. They attacked the house of an Adivasi named Sandu. He began running away after seeing the police and they fired several bullets on him. However he escaped unhurt. Later they brought rice, clothes, blankets, sarees etc from his house and burnt all these. They looted nine quintals of rice from his house and burnt some rice. They looted material from all houses. They burnt whatever they did not carry with them. They looted three country guns, four axes and other working tools. They looted hens too. They looted 3800 rupees, clothes and rice from Manglu’s house. They severely beat Channu Podadi (15) and sent him to jail by foisting a false case that he was Bal Action Team commander. Koya commandos attacked an old woman named Pali, beat her severely and then gave her hundred rupees. They severely beat Lachu, Nangi and Malu and gave them ten rupees each. A woman named Bayye was beaten with rifle butts. Those who refused to take money were beaten again.
This batch went to Jatwar on 16th morning. The CG batch that came from Toke via Kodenar met them there. They resorted to loot and destruction in Kodenar on the way. These two batches resorted to indiscriminate destruction in Jatwar village.
They looted rice, food materials, cash, bows, arrows, hens, eggs, tobacco, axes, torch lights, mirrors, radios, clothes and even slippers. They razed down a house and a hut in the fields. They looted a DVD player worth 2500 rupees from Gonglu’s house. This young man bought it recently with the money he gathered by doing some labor work at the paper mill. A total of twenty houses were looted in the two hamlets in Jatwar. A poor peasant named Pandu’s house was completely razed down and material worth 4,000 rupees turned into ash. They looted rice, hen and two shawls before they burnt the house. They looted seven thousand rupees from the house of a peasant named Lalsu. Along with other material they looted 1700 rupees from Sukko’s house and seven hundred rupees from Parsa’s house. They looted more than twenty thousand rupees from these three villages. As the villagers came to know about the attack beforehand none of them were caught but the priest of Kodenar village named Edama Kare (45) who came to that village on some work was caught and the forces took him along.
However this whole offensive was not done smoothly or without any resistance. Between Ekonar and Jatwar villages and near Jatwar some PLGA guerillas and People’s Militia members very bravely attacked these mercenary armed forces six times. With determination, they tried to defend their villages, properties and harvest through resistance. Due to their resistance two Cobra commandos were severely injured. A helicopter came to Jatwar to pick them up. But guerillas and militia members were at its back like honey bees. All through the morning of 16th battles were fought between hundreds of mercenary armed forces and a handful of PLGA/militia forces. The armed forces fired thousands of bullets and mortar shells indiscriminately and wreaked havoc but the People’s Militia was not deterred. Militia members fired with their country guns on the helicopter and harassed it. Finally somehow it could pick up the injured jawans. It came again to give food material to the armed forces. But the mercenary Cobra forces did not even approach it fearing resistance. So PLGA and people seized all the food materials that it dropped. It is clear that they would have resorted to much more destruction if not for this resistance.
On 16th night some batches slept in the Karkaveda forests. Some more batches stopped in the forest near Jatwar. The first batch reached Gurmanjur village from Irapanar traveling via forest. They sighted three guerillas going on some work and fired a lot of bullets and shells. But the guerillas escaped unhurt. Thus this batch reached Sonpur on 17th afternoon. There they were supplied food through helicopter. Later they reached Kundla village. On 18th morning another batch started from Karkanar and reached Kundla village traveling over Irapanar, Gurmanjur and overtaking Sonpur. From there up to Kurasnar base camp they deployed police/paramilitary forces all along the road and made arrangements to safely send back the batches that participated in the offensive. Thus all the batches reached Narayanpur by 18th.
People recognized some local enemies who were working as SPOs and informers among those who participated in this offensive – Dallu @ Ajay (Pharsaveda), Kesa Bhaira (Kuttul), Tangru, his son (Toke), Raju (Balevada), Bandi, Maniram, Dasu (Vadapenda), Dolu, Varlu (brothers belonging to Podewada village) and Ramu guruji (Takilode). All of them belong to this area. They turned into people’s enemies at various times due to various reasons, escaped to towns and are working as mercenary killers and as the eyes and ears of the mercenary forces.
Family members of those who were arrested went to Narayanapur to get them released. Two of the arrested persons were released on 21st evening. Parents of a boy named Vatte Vadde gave three thousand rupees as bribe to the thanedar to get him released. Family members of Kodenar priest gave 2,000 rupees to get him released. As a proof of their ‘victory’ police paraded thirteen persons – three were arrested in Narayanpur district and ten were arrested from Indravati area (Bijapur district). Among those arrested from Narayanpur are Channu Podadi of Ekonar, Bitiya of Goddelmarka and a person named Ghasi. But it is still unknown what happened to Lalsu of Goddelmarka. His name is not found among the arrested ‘Maoists’. He was not let off too. Villagers are saying that he was beaten severely when they caught him. The talk among the people is that the police had taken two dead bodies along with them. So the people are seriously worried that they might have killed Lalsu on the way and buried the body. Not knowing if Lalsu is alive or dead, Lalsu’s wife is making trips to Narayanpur and Jagdalpur carrying her suckling baby who is down with fever!
After the offensive, SP Mayank Srivastava boasted a lot before the media. He lied that they had eight encounters with the guerillas and that 12 to 15 Maoists might have died but that they could not find the dead bodies. But he did not mention about Dunga Dhurva whom they had killed beating with rifle butts. Whatever may have been their claims about bravery, their cowardliness during every instance of resistance by armed guerillas was seen with their own eyes by the Maad people. They went on firing blindly when they faced the resistance of guerillas and ran away without advancing even one step. People have clearly understood that indiscriminate firings on unarmed people, committing atrocities and wreaking destruction by pouncing on villages are their only ‘achievements’.
The new aspect in this offensive is giving money to several people even while resorting to inhuman attacks on the villagers. ‘Winning hearts and minds’ is a part of the imperialist LIC strategy. Governments are allotting hundreds of crores of rupees to the central and state police forces. The paramilitary forces that have been deployed in DK are forcefully gathering the villagers and distributing blankets, clothes, utensils, medicines, cycles etc using this money. If people refuse to take them they are threatening them. They are daydreaming that by doing so they can make the people believe that they are working for them. In the meeting held on February 22, one of the aspects stressed by Chidambaram was that ‘people’s feelings must be kept in mind during suppression campaigns’. There is no need to mention how people’s feelings were respected and how well ‘civic action’ was interlinked in this offensive!
During this total campaign, police went on dropping foul propaganda pamphlets along the paths. It was titled as an appeal by the police to the Sangams and committees in the local villages. They made vicious attacks on the party leadership and made false allegations that revolutionary movement opposes development and also made false allegations on the activities of the revolutionary Janatana Sarkars. False stories and lies form the basis for the ‘psychological warfare’ that is part of the ‘War on People’!
Mayank Srivastava clearly stated that schools and agricultural farms run by revolutionary Janatana Sarkars and weapon repair camps were their targets. In Indravati area and in Jatwar area, children and teachers could escape safely during the attacks on schools run by revolutionary Janatana Sarkars but food materials like flour, peas and books kept in store for children and a printer from Ekonar were looted. Near Nayumpara in Indravati area, the police camped for two days and ate all the vegetables grown by the people for their own usage. Not stopping with that they damaged all the vegetable plots and plants. The rest of the vegetables were crushed.
The arrogant statements of the police officials, the arrests they showed as their ‘achievement’ in this offensive and the aims they had declared…are all clearly pointing out as to why this offensive was conducted and to achieve what. This is an offensive on the people. This is part of the ‘War on People’ (OGH) ongoing from mid-2009. Its aim is to wipe out the alternative development model coming to the fore in DK by the people under the leadership of the CPI (Maoist) basing on self-reliance and cooperation. In fact this is a rehearsal for the full-scale onslaught of the Army in the future. This is a warning too. If anybody follows Maoist politics and opposes the destructive displacement policies and fake development model of the ruling classes, this is what they have to face is the warning of the rulers to the people. This is a challenge too. Can the Adivasi people who are mainly armed with country and traditional weapons and an army which fights solely by basing on the people and the Adivasi people who have drawn battle lines under its leadership face the state that is forcefully imposing a war on the people using brute force, modern weaponry and state of art technology. Yes! We are fully confident that our people, our People’s Army and our party that is leading can face this challenge. We are once again reminding for the sake of clarity that people and only people are the makers of history and the deciding factor in the outcome of the war.
What are we expecting from you?
Everybody must condemn with one voice this unjust war. You must stand firmly on the side of justice by rejecting the fake peace mantras of the rulers and their meaningless talk about ‘development’. At present this attack might have happened in a remote and most backward area very far from the so called civilized society. But the blow of the attacking forces is not limited to this area. Every one must realize that this war is not just on the Maoists as claimed by them. This is a war on all Adivasis who are fighting for their right on Jal-Jungle-Zameen. This is a war on all the citizens of this country who aspire for self-reliance, democracy, peace and sovereignty. Imperialism, particularly US imperialism is behind this. Corporate robbers are behind this and a mighty media is standing in its support. If we do not stop this war now and here…in areas where the most ancient human societies with great cultural and struggle heritage are residing, if we do not open our voices loud enough now, if we do not shout that this offensive must be stopped immediately, then we cannot defend our country and our natural resources. This is not just a question of existence of Adivasis living in Maad, this is a question linked with the future of our country.
So, come and tour these areas in the form of fact-finding teams to know the facts about the horrible violence perpetrated here. Meet the victims. See with your own eyes and hear in their words the insults and injuries they had suffered. Come forward to give them moral, economic and material help. Invite with both hands the alternative development model they are building with their sweat and blood. Contribute your share to defend it ! (Courtesy: Pratirodh)
