Communist Party of India (Maoist) Press Release - The offer for peace talks by the President of India is nothing but a ploy!

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release

June 24, 2011

The offer for peace talks by the President of India is nothing but a ploy to divert the people from the reality of OGH Phase -2!

On June 24, the President Pratibha Patil who came on a visit to Chhattisgarh capital Raipur proposed that Maoists should shun violence and come forward for talks and that they should join the mainstream and work for the development of Adivasis. This proposal came exactly at a time when thousand Indian Army soldiers had entered Bastar to participate in the Operation Green Hunt (OGH) against the poorest people of India. In the backdrop of the signing of MoUs worth billions of rupees worth to loot the natural resources of our mineral-rich country after many rounds of talks, the President is talking about `peace talks'. She is proposing these `talks' when already 750 sq kms of forest land where dozens of villages and thousands of Mariya Adivasi community reside have been handed over to the Army without any `talks' whatsoever.

Pratibha Patil, incidentally the first woman President of India, is advising us to shun violence even before the wounds of women of Tadimetla, Morpalli, Pulanpadu and Timmapur villages at the southern tip of Chhattisgarh have healed after the brutal atrocities and violence of the government forces perpetrated on them. She is advising us to abjure violence when state violence is a daily occurrence in Dandakaranya, Bihar-Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra and many other areas, particularly the Maoist movement areas or Adivasi areas. In fact, state violence expresses itself in many forms. It is carried on in various methods at various times. For example, today it hiked the price of kerosene by two rupees, diesel by three rupees and cooking gas by 50 rupees. This is one form of violence which makes the lives of people even more unbearable. But the President doesn't have any issue with such kinds of `violence'.

The first citizen of India is even asking us to `join the mainstream'. The `heroes' of the `mainstream' which she is referring to, i.e., the scamster and gangster corrupt ministers, political leaders, corporate sharks, and their comprador lackeys are facing the hatred of the people from Dilli to gully. The workers, peasants, Adivasis, Dalits, minorities and women face nothing but injustice, atrocities and insults in this so-called `mainstream' of hers.

Our party's spokesperson and Politburo member Comrade Azad was killed in a fake encounter after he declared our stand to this kind of a proposal for talks by this very government and Pratibha Patil is inviting us for talks in this backdrop. Incidentally this invitation is being extended exactly one week before his first death anniversary. Exactly one year back Chidambaram and his killer intelligence-police dogs must have been giving final touches to the conspiracy to kill him. The state headed by this President responded by killing him when he clearly placed before the people of this country and the world our party's stand about talks. Later too many veteran Maoist leaders were arrested and put in jails and this is a continuous process. Even Maoist leaders as old as 60 or 70 years are also put in jails and tortured apart from not providing them minimum medical treatment. False cases are foisted on them in dozens of states and the state is conspiring to keep them in jails lifelong.

Our earnest appeal to the people of our country !

Demand the President that the `War on People' by the Indian State – OGH be stopped immediately, that Army training in Bastar be stopped and that Army and paramilitary forces be withdrawn from all the Maoist movement areas before the government proposes for any `Peace Talks'. If the government is ready to implement this, then the counter-violence of people done in self-defence would stop from the very next day!

Demand the President that all MoUs signed between the governments and the MNCs be scrapped before the government talks about `development', that all projects which grab the lands of the people be immediately stopped and that the government should accept that people have the right to decide what kind of a development they want before the government talks of `development'!

Demand the President that all the scamsters and corrupt politicians should be arrested and punished, that all the black money stashed away in foreign banks must be brought back to the country and that all ministers and political leaders be stripped of their posts and publicly punished before the government invites the Maoists to join the `mainstream'!

(Abhay)

Spokesperson,

Central Committee,

CPI (Maoist)

Statement: COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) Condemn Gruesome Mumbai Bomb Blasts!

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release

July 17, 2011

Condemn Gruesome Mumbai Bomb Blasts!

Demand for an impartial and independent probe into
all the incidents of bomb blasts including Mecca Masjid, Malegaon and Samjhauta Express blasts!

Communist Party of India (Maoist) severely condemns the bomb blasts took place in Mumbai on July 13, 2011. These incidents of serial blasts are inhuman in which at least 20 innocent people have lost their lives and nearly 80 people were injured. Our Party also strongly condemns the devious and baseless allegations of exploitative ruling classes and their police/intelligence agencies who are trying to blame our Party without any clue of who might be responsible for these bomb blasts and even before the investigation is started. The oppressed people of India know very well that our Party which is fighting for the emancipation of people would never commit such attacks aimed at innocent people putting their lives at peril. Murderous ruling classes and their corporate media are deliberately blaming us so as to depict our Party as a terrorist organization and our just people¡¯s movement as terrorist one, and thus to justify their brutal suppression campaign and the Army deployment in the second phase of ongoing Operation Green Hunt ¡ª the War On People.

If we retrospect into the earlier incidents of bomb blasts took place till this day in our country, we would never know the real culprits hidden behind those who are being shown as offenders. It¡¯s become a norm now that whenever such incidents of bomb blasts take place, the pro-Hindu fundamentalist Indian state, its intelligence/investigative wings and the corporate media immediately claim that Muslims and so-called Islamic terrorist organizations are responsible. In fact, as part of a conspiracy and collusion of the Indian state which always try to blame Muslim society for every attack of this kind and the top leaders of the ruling class parties like Congress and BJP, the IB itself created an illusionary organization named Indian Mujahiddin which is being held responsible for every incident of bomb blast by the authorities. Corporate media barons and bankrupt intellectuals servile to the ruling classes are branding all those who ask for proof of these allegations and who demand for comprehensive and impartial probe as outright traitors and attacking them belligerently, irrationally and frantically. Thus people are being kept at bay from knowing the truth. In our so-called biggest democracy on the earth, the big joke is not asking for incisive probe has become the touchstone for patriotism and the person who asks for any probe is branded as traitor!

In earlier instances of bomb blasts in Mecca Masjid, Malegaon, Samjhauta Express etc. hundreds of innocent Muslims, particularly the youths were arrested, tortured inhumanly and sent to jails. Many were killed in fake encounters. Even after the obvious evidences came forth that the Hindu fanatics belonging to the right-wing RSS gang were responsible for those ghastly incidents, no justice was done to the Muslims. No leader of the Hindu terrorist organizations like Abhinav Bharat, Hindu defence force, Rashtriya Jagaran Manch, Bajrang Dal, Viswa Hindu Parishad has been punished until this day. At the same time, death sentence given to Afzal Guru in the case of attack on Parliament and to 11 Muslims in Godhra train carnage case recently on March 1 are some examples of the anti-Muslim and pro-Hindutva character of the Indian State. While the butchers like Narendra Modi whose hands have stained with the blood of over 2,000 innocent Muslims are freely wandering in the corridors of power, Muslims are being meted out stringent punishments by virtue of bizarre and inadequate evidences. And this has been spreading the feeling of severe frustration and fury among the Muslim masses.

It¡¯s an obvious fact that because of the grisly incidents like the destruction of the Babri Masjid and Gujarat genocide, the Muslim community in general, a large section of Muslim youth in particular, has become furious and outrageous against the Indian ruling classes. Another irrefutable fact is that this situation has given birth to some Islamic organizations. Exploiting this situation and by taking organizations of this sort into their grip or by misleading them in a deceitful manner or by even creating some new organizations of this kind, both India¡¯s and Pakistan¡¯s intelligence agencies like RAW, IB, ISI are engineering bomb blasts and other attacks in both countries as part of serving their vested political interests. Failing to identify their real enemies many a frustrated Muslim youths are stuck in this lattice and taking part in acts of mindless violence of this kind. Thus they are taking of the lives of innocent people. This is such a vicious cycle where these youths don¡¯t even know in whose hands are they acting and whose vested interests are being fulfilled with such attacks in deed.

On the other hand, after it was clearly exposed that an organization called Abhinav Bharat belonged to the Sangh gang (i.e. RSS) was responsible for bomb blasts of Malegaon, Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta Express, people of India have started seeing Saffron terrorism as a dangerous trend. When it became obvious that the Saffron terrorists are responsible for Ajmer Sherif bomb blast also, the demand for a review of all investigations done into the incidents of bomb blasts in various places of our country has come forth. The Muslim youths of Malegaon and Hyderabad have demanded that the government should apologize for the police atrocities inflicted on them. Despite of all its rhetoric, the Congress-led UPA government has been instigating Saffron terrorism as a part of promoting its wicked political motives. The corporate media which act hand in glove with Hindu fundamentalism in general, on the one hand, attack Muslims and Islamic organizations aggressively without any clear evidence and on the other hand, report as less as possible even when there is evident proof is available that the Saffron terrorist organizations were responsible for various incidents of bomb blasts.

If we see in this backdrop, we could arrive at the conclusion that Saffron terrorist organizations or so-called Islamic militant organizations sponsored by the very intelligence agencies like IB, RAW might have committed these heinous acts of July 13 Mumbai bomb blasts. It¡¯s also likely that the mafia gangs hand in glove with police top brass and ruling class political leaders could have committed these attacks. Whoever else has done this, only the interests of ruling classes would be served with such acts of mindless violence. Firstly, people¡¯s attention could be diverted from the issues like price rise, corruption, scams, black money, Swiss banks accounts which have become burning issues in the country now. Secondly, by posing terrorism as biggest danger, even more draconian laws could be prepared and the teeth of State¡¯s suppressive machinery could be sharpened by importing arms and technology from imperialist countries on a massive scale misusing trillions of rupees of hard earned people¡¯s money. Thirdly, by supporting directly or indirectly all invasive wars, attacks and intimidations of US imperialism going on in the name of ¡®Global War on Terror¡¯ and thus by acting as its junior partner in south Asia region, the Indian State could go ahead reducing the country more servile to it by signing the treacherous treaties like Homeland security, civil nuclear deal etc. Fourthly, using the pretext of terrorism, public consent could be built for crushing the people¡¯s movements and growing Maoist revolutionary movement militarily which are surging against anti-people and pro-imperialist neo-liberal policies of the governments. Apart from this, consolidating Hindu vote bank by blaming Muslims and Islamic organizations every time without any proof and diverting the people¡¯s attention from the basic problems of our country like food, clothing, shelter, price rise, unemployment, poverty, starvation, displacement etc. are necessary for both Congress and BJP and for the feudal and comprador bourgeoisie classes whom they represent, so that their exploitative rule can be carried on unchecked.

However, Communist Party of India (Maoist) believes that the real perpetrators of Mumbai blasts could be traced only through an impartial and independent probe. Our Party humbly appeals the masses and democrats of the country to not to sway away with the malicious propaganda, falsehood and prejudices unleashed by the ruling classes, their intelligence agencies and the corporate media in a mad, one-sided and irrational manner. Our Party demands to uncover the culprits responsible for these blasts and punish them severely. At the same time, our Party calls upon entire people of the country to demand the governments for impartial and independent probes into all incidents of bomb blasts that took place since 1992 and for unconditional release of Muslims and Christians who are languishing in various jails with false cases. Our Party also calls upon the people of the country to demand to punish all those Saffron terrorist leaders who are responsible for all the attacks perpetrated on religious minorities including the Babri Masjid destruction, Gujarat genocide, Kandhamal (Odisha) attacks and to condemn Hindu religious fundamentalism and all other religious chauvinisms.

(Abhay)

Spokesperson,

Central Committee,

CPI (Maoist)

Press Release by COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) CENTRAL COMMITTEE

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release

July 2, 2011

Immediately withdraw the death sentences on Adivasi and dalit cultural artistes and leaders Comrades Jeeten Marandi, Anil Ram, Manoj Rajwar and Chhatrapati Mandal !

On June 23, the Giridih district (Jharkhand) sessions court judge Indradeo Mishra pronounced death sentences to Jeeten Marandi, Anil Ram, Manoj Rajwar and Chhatrapati Mandal in the Chilkari case where 19 people were killed in 2007 and thus the state bared its fascist fangs one more time. Jeeten Marandi and others have always worked openly and the organizations they are working for are not banned organizations. Pronouncing death sentences in a case with which they had no connection whatsoever is a clear is nothing but an act of revenge on them as they are standing firmly with the people using song and dance in all their anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggles, particularly against displacement. As part of Operation Green Hunt launched to suppress the Maoist movement in the country, particularly in Central and Eastern India, the central and state governments have been resorting to the most brutal and heinous atrocities one could imagine on the poorest of the poor – the Adivasis of this country and these latest death sentences are one more proof of this. The cruelest face of OGH could be seen in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha and that too in the Adivasi areas of these states where the Maoist movement is stronger.

Jeeten Marandi is a well-known Adivasi cultural artiste and leader of Jharkhand Abhen, a cultural organization of Jharkhand. He is a leader of the All India League for revolutionary Culture and has toured the length and breadth of India propagating revolutionary songs and culture. Anil Ram, Manoj Rajwar and Chhatrapati Mandal are also Adivasi and Dalit cultural artistes. Jeeten displayed his cultural talents since he was a child and gradually developed himself into one of the finest artistes this country has ever produced. It was only natural that as a conscious child he could not ignore the plight of the Adivasi society of which he himself was a part. His social investigation of the root causes for the poverty, exploitation and oppression of Adivasis naturally led him to revolutionary politics and he and his cultural organization propagated revolutionary politics to awaken political consciousness among the people.

Propagating one's ideas openly is not a crime and nobody can be punished for that. The ruling classes of India are not ready to tolerate any kind of dissent and have been resorting to all kinds of ploys to stifle the voices of dissent to its pro-imperialist and anti-people policies aiming to loot the natural resources and rich mineral wealth of the people. As true people's artistes they have been in the forefront in the anti-displacement movement in Jharkhand which is giving one of the toughest resistances in this matter. It is very clear that the state is punishing them for these political activities and not for some Chilkari case which everybody knows is just one of the dozens of false cases foisted on them. In the bitter class struggle fought against feudalism in Bihar and Jharkhand massacres were perpetrated by the land lords through their private armies on the peasantry, particularly on the dalits. The peasantry had to resort to counter-violence in self-defence and incidents like Chilkari are a part of it. The state instead of looking into the root causes for such incidents and addressing them, is trying to use them to foist false cases on mass organization activists to stifle their voices of dissent. Firstly they slapped a case of sedition on Jeeten Marandi in 2007 with the allegation that he made inflammatory speeches in front of Raj Bhavan in Ranchi on the issue of release of political prisoners and have been harassing him ever since with incarceration and false cases. Even before that he has been arrested many times and sometimes beaten brutally. This death sentence comes as a culmination of all these conspiracies to stifle his voice forever. The state is so shameless in its callousness that it has foisted some cases of Pirtand and Teesri P.S. which happened when Jeeten was in jail!

This country has a 200 year long history of colonial rule under the British which was consequently witness to countless Adivasi rebellions. British imperialism sought to suppress these rebellions by using brute force with the advantage of modern weapons they had and hanging of the rebel leaders was one consistent tactic it had used. The comprador Indian ruling classes which inherited this mantle of brute suppression from them are following in their footsteps. Comrades Bhumaih and Kista Goud were the first revolutionary peasant activists to be hanged in `independent India' and later death sentences were pronounced on many revolutionary activists, particularly on the revolutionary peasant activists in Bihar (which included the present Jharkhand) implicating them in false cases. People's lawyers and civil rights leaders like comrades KG Kannabiran and Pattipati Venkateswarlu as part of their civil rights organizations have vehemently fought against the death sentences pronounced on the revolutionaries both in the courts and outside and built broad movements not only with the immediate demands of annulling the death sentences in particular cases but also for ending capital punishment. It is the necessary to continue this fight on a broader scale as it is obvious that the state would resort to more such fascist acts apart from the massacres, false encounters and atrocities perpetrated on the Adivasi hamlets on a daily basis. Singanna of Narayanapatna was killed point blank in police firings, Lalmohan Tudu of Lalgarh was killed in a `fake encounter' and now comes this death sentence on Jeeten Marandi of Jharkhand. This is all part of the conspiracy to kill the people's leaders who emerged from the people's movements waged against feudalism, comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie and imperialism. By rendering the movements leaderless they want to remove all hurdles to their loot of natural resources in the Adivasi areas.

As Jeeten and other people present in the court sang in the court immediately after the death sentences were pronounced – `that day would definitely come' when people would put an end to all these fascist acts of the state with powerful mass upsurges. Neither death sentences nor false encounters can kill the spirit of true leaders of the people and they would fight to the end.

CPI (Maoist) demands that the death sentences of Jeeten Marandi, Anil Ram, Manoj Rajwar and Chhatrapati Mandal be annulled immediately. It appeals to all democratic organizations, civil rights organizations, organizations for the rights of political prisoners and particularly to all cultural and literary organizations and Adivasi cultural associations to build a vast movement demanding the annulment of these death sentences and the unconditional release of these people's artistes. Let us broaden this movement for ending capital punishment altogether.

(Abhay)

Spokesperson,

Central Committee,

CPI (Maoist)

CPI (Maoist) appeals to SPOs in the wake of July 4 SC judgement

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)
DANDAKARANYA SPECIAL ZONAL COMMITTEE
Press Release

July 7, 2011
An Appeal from Maoists to SPOs (Special Police Officers)
Defeat the ploys of the government to divide us and rule!
Stop fighting for the exploiters and oppressors
and come back to your villages!!

The Supreme Court delivered a judgment on the petition filed by social activist Nandini Sundar, historian Ramchandra Guha and ex-bureaucrat E.A.S. Sharma on July 4, 2011 and ordered the Chhattisgarh government that appointment of Adivasis as SPOs on the pretext of fighting Maoists and arming them with guns should be stopped. The SC opined that the very appointment of SPOs is unconstitutional. Previously too it had commented several times in the negative about Salwa Judum, SPO and Koya commandos.
In fact, since the launch of the fascist repressive campaign in the name of Salwa Judum (SJ) by the central and state governments in a planned manner, the process of appointing Adivasi youth as SPOs began. Since then in a series of repressive campaigns in the name of SJ and later in the name of Operation Green Hunt (OGH) nearly 700 villages were destroyed. Each village was burnt down in phases. More than 1200 people were killed. Hundreds of women were gang raped. Many of them were murdered too. Granaries were razed to ground. Properties were looted. Hens, pigs and goats were whisked away. In all these terrorizing acts SPOs recruited from Adivasis were pushed to the forefront. It was the SPOs that were pushed to the forefront to act as guides to the paramilitary forces and to identify the people and their houses when they attack villages. Later due to the decision taken to recruit SPOs on a huge scale their numbers increased to nearly 5,000. Some selected SPOs were given training by Greyhounds and Rashtriya Rifles of Indian Army and a new force called Koya commando was constituted. As it was not possible to suppress the Maoist movement even with the repressive methods employed by all these types of armed forces, the state has now deployed the Army as its last resort. Though this deployment is done in the name of `training' at present, in fact the process of directly using the Army in the `War on People' has started.
The ruling classes have launched this unjust war against the people with the evil design of turning the whole of Dandakaranya which is home to immense natural resources into the grazing field for MNC and big bourgeoisie corporate loot. They took up a policy of displacing people from the villages and forests on a huge scale to implement this plan. Local Adivasi youth were appointed as SPOs and Koya commandos and countless atrocities were perpetrated through them.
Our party believes that many of the SPOs had not gone on their own will and that they had turned into SPOs due to several kinds of pressures. Several of them were arrested, forcefully shifted to `relief' camps, beaten, abused, threatened that they would be killed and thus turned into SPOs. Though at first they turned into SPOs fearing state terror, later gradually they became part of the force and have participated in all the atrocities perpetrated on the people. Some of the SPOs have participated in violence and atrocities on people against their will. They are feeling sorry for that. Several of the SPOs are not even aware that they have been used as pawns in the brutal orgy of terror and violence unleashed by white and khaki robed compradors like Mahendra Karma, Raman Singh, Viswaranjan, Nankiram by deploying thousands of police, paramilitary, Naga-Mizo battalions etc.
Home minister Chidambaram who is acting as the CEO of OGH, the war on people announced that he would conduct a meeting with chief ministers of the states where the Maoist movement is strong in the light of the above judgment. It is obvious that this meeting is being conducted with the conspiracy of finding out ways to continue this system of SPOs and Koya commandos under a different name. Politicians, top police brass and bureaucrats from Delhi and Raipur are now cracking their heads to somehow continue this SPO system in this unjust war on the people.
We want to make it clear to all the SPOs that this war is not between them and us. This war is being fought between a small minority of exploiters and the entire toiling masses of this country. On one side are the 95 percent of oppressed masses – the workers, peasants, middle classes, dalits, Adivasis, petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie; on the other side are the big landlords and the comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie. These enemy classes have the complete support of the imperialists. These exploiting classes are using you as pawns by recruiting you into their repressive machinery. You are made into guinea pigs. As part of their `divide and rule' policy they are bringing a section of the people to the forefront and are trying to portray this as a `civil war' between the people. They stood you against the very people of whom you were once a part. `Patriotism' and `defence of the country' are some of the lies used by the ruling classes to incite you against the people's movements that are fought with just demands. In fact, it is these very classes which are using you as cannon fodder that are the biggest enemies to our country. They are scamsters who have resorted to scams worth billions of rupees; they have mortgaged not only the riches of our country but also its sovereignty for the sake of kickbacks; they have stashed away billions of rupees of black money in Swiss banks by indiscriminate loot of the people of our country. It is due to these scamsters and gangsters that 77 percent of our population is not able to eat even two times per day. They have pushed us into the quagmire of poverty, price rises, unemployment, epidemics, starvation deaths, malnutrition etc. So do identify your real enemies. Don't forget that your barrels are pointing at your very own people at present.
Dandakaranya Special Zonal committee of CPI (Maoist) calls upon all the SPOs to leave their jobs and come back to their villages. We, the party and the people, promise to rehabilitate all those SPOs who come back to their villages, accept all the crimes they have committed and seek the mercy of the people while severing all kinds of connections with the government machinery. Janatana Sarkar, the people's government, would provide them lands and other instruments of production. They would be provided a guarantee for livelihood. So, we appeal to all the SPOs to come out of the vicious circle and the false propaganda of these exploitative governments. Do not crave for the morsels thrown by them, try to stand on your own feet and live with raised heads among the people of your villages. Do not live a life of insecurity and restlessness. Stand in support of the just struggles of the people of Dandakaranya fought against the absolute corporate loot of invaluable natural riches and for right over Jal-Jungle-Zameen.

(Gudsa Usendi)
Spokesperson
Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee
CPI (Maoist)

Communist Party of India (Maoist) 'OPPOSE THE RAOGHAT RAILWAY LINE AND THE MINING PROJECT'

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

DANDAKARANYA SPECIAL ZONAL COMMITTEE

Press Release

June 7, 2011

OPPOSE THE RAOGHAT RAILWAY LINE AND THE MINING PROJECT
WHICH WOULD DE-RAIL THE VERY EXISTENCE OF BASTARIYA PEOPLE!

CLAIM OF SAVING BHILAI STEEL PLANT IS NOTHING BUT TRICKERY!

ENSURING THE PLUNDER OF BASTAR'S WEALTH
BY MULTI-NATIONAL COMPANIES IS REALITY!!

The moment when the process of deploying the Army in Bastar is just underway, the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), one of the biggest Public Sector Units of India, has declared that the Raoghat mines would be privatized. These two acts not just coincided, but there was a conspiratorial coordination between them. Raoghat hills are located just 25 kilometers away from Narayanpur (in Maad region), a district headquarter town, where the Raman Singh government of Chhattisgarh has given permission to the Army to acquire 750 square kilometers (i.e. 185,250+ acres) of land. Now so many notorious MNCs will rush into this area to rob the iron ore which is known for its best quality. From one side, the Army and from other side, the corporate companies are trying to gulp down the whole Maad region which is the motherland of Maria and Gond adivasis, the primitive tribal communities of Bastar.

In 2006, before the Raoghat project is commenced, some accusations were made against the management of BSP that it had illicitly leased out some of the deposits of Raoghat mines to Tata and NECO companies. People believed strongly that the BSP management was acting as paw in the hands of big business houses such as Tata, Essar, Jindal, NECO etc. But then it had cleverly managed it and stated that there was no such thing. But lately the chairperson of the SAIL, Chandrashekhar Verma himself has declared that they are going to privatize Raoghat mines and global tenders would be invited for this. (Source: Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, May 24, 2011). With this, now the game of hide-and-seek is over! Intentions of the exploitative governments are very clear! With the neo-liberal policies dictated by the imperialist masters getting implemented so openly, the MNCs would capture not just Raoghat mines; they would even buy the BSP or buy the SAIL itself. The recent examples of POSCO, Vedanta etc. of other states also clearly indicate this trend.

It's believed that Raoghat hills are having 7.4 billion tonnes of iron ore which is known for finest quality with 62 percent Fe grade. BSP is supposed to excavate 511 million tonnes of iron ore. Construction of Dalli-Raoghat-Jagdalpur railway line is underway for this purpose. Government has already started grabbing the lands forcefully from the peasants between Dalli and Raoghat. But it's facing stiff resistance from the local people.

This project in fact is an old one. In 1992, government was forced to give up implementing this project due to massive protests of people. In Antagarh, ten thousand adivasis had taken a massive procession to register their strong opposition to the proposed mining project. But the state had responded with repressive methods as always happens. A police camp was set up on the top of these hills. That camp is still present there. Our Party has been actively supporting this just struggle.

Local people are opposing this project because 3,278 hectares of forests would completely be destroyed. Apart from this, large portions of adjoining forests would also be destroyed. River Mendhki and so many other streams flowing through the region would get polluted. The farming will be destroyed so much that it is difficult to quantify. Local people see these mountains as their cultural centers and ritual faith. After the opening up of the mines these will be buried for ever. Many environmentalists believe that environment and monsoon from the perspective of Bastar, Raoghat Mountains are extremely important. With Raoghat mining project the existence of 23 villages will immediately be endangered. Further, 13 villages of adivasis might be uprooted in Chargaon area, next to this mine proposed by a private company of NECO Jaiswaals. (And now if you add the proposed massive acquisition of land by the Army - bloated 750 square kilometers - you can't imagine that the existence of how many villages is going to disappear!)

On the issue of where to setup township for the proposed mines, an ugly tussle is going on amongst the business classes of Narayanpur and Antagarh. These selfish people do not worry at all about how many villages will be destroyed, how many thousands of tribals will be displaced, how much forest will be cut, how many rivers will be polluted and to what extent the tribal culture will be destroyed, when the mining work is started in this region. Overall, they don't bother about the oncoming destruction in this region. They are supporting the government's false claims of 'Bastar development' because they think that their own business will grow with this at the price of whatsoever.

Government still makes the argument in support of railway line and mine that the digging up of Raoghat mines is necessary as the mines of Dalli Rajhara which are supplying the raw material to the Bhilai steel plant are going to end up. It's making dubious propaganda that if the mining will not start in Raoghat, BSP could be stopped due to the scarcity of raw material, threatening the future of the thousands of BSP workers. Thus, such an environment is created that anybody dares to oppose Raoghat mine will immediately be labeled as 'anti-development'. In fact, in the guise of this promotion, the government and administration have put a veil over many realities.

Dalli town today is in a position of almost desolation only because of the wrong policies of the BSP, particularly of indiscriminate mechanization. All rivers and streams of this area have been badly polluted. In Dalli and several surrounding villages, as red dirt coming of mines and roads turned on to the fields of farming, and the farming has been fully destroyed. In Dalli where 16 thousand workers used to work earlier, today the number has decreased drastically to 1200. Can the businessmen of Narayanpur and Antagarh and the contractors sitting in Raipur and Jagdalpur give the guarantee that after 20-25 years this region will not become another Dalli?

If the government is really worried that the 'BSP will be closed if it won't get raw materials supply', then why doesn't it stop selling iron ore of Bailadilla mines to the multinational companies of Japan, China and Korea? In fact, many sponge iron factories in Raipur and Bhilai have closed due to lack of iron ore supplies. They appealed to the government several times for supply of raw material from Bailadilla for them and to stop selling the iron ore to foreign companies. Doesn't this prove that the interests of big and foreign capitalists are paramount for the spineless rulers of our country? Isn't the government's "concern" about the future of BSP workers just a pose? Isn't this just a ploy being adopted to deal with the opposition putting up against proposed the Raoghat mine?

We urge all the workers, employees and other people who are concerned with the future of the BSP, that they should recognize who actually is a threat to the BSP. In 1960s, when the Bhilai steel plant was founded, the annual production was 1.5 million tonnes and the number of workers was 95 thousand. Today, the production has been increased to 4.5 million tonnes, but the number of workers is reduced to less than 37 thousand. Contracting, mechanization and partial privatization process are in full swing in BSP. Many facilities for workers have been taken back. New recruitment and compassionate appointment is closed. BSP is planning to increase the production to 7.5 million tonnes by 2012-13, taking up further modernization and expansion. This means even more layoffs and 'retirements' of workers will take place. And even there is a talk of selling out of BSP to Tatas, Mittals or Jindals! BALCO experience is before us. Overall, the policies of imperialist globalization which have been implemented by governments are responsible for this situation. So, you must fight against the anti-worker and pro-capitalist policies of the governments to protect the BSP. You should not fell prey to the designs of the ruling classes to inflict destruction to the Jal-Jungle-Zameen by opening mines in another area. You should fight against this too. Entire people of Dandakaranya will support your struggles.

The Special Zonal Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) calls upon all the workers and farmers of Chhattisgarh and democratic and patriotic forces of our country to demand the closure of Raoghat project; to register their protest to mechanization, contracting and all other anti-worker policies being implemented in Bhilai steel plant and other industries; to demand to stop selling the high quality iron ore to the foreign companies from Bailadilla; to lend support to the people of Dandakaranya who are fighting for the right over their Jal-Jungle-Zameen; and to oppose the Army deployment in Bastar to suppress their just struggles.

(Gudsa Usendi)

Spokesperson

Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee

CPI (Maoist)

Communist Party of India (Maoist) 'OPPOSE THE ARMY DEPLOYMENT IN BASTAR!'

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

DANDAKARANYA SPECIAL ZONAL COMMITTEE

Press Release

June 3, 2011

OPPOSE THE ARMY DEPLOYMENT IN BASTAR!

TALK OF 'TRAINING' IS NOTHING BUT A PLOY TO DECEIT THE PEOPLE!

GIVING POWERS TO THE ARMY TO ATTACK IN THE PRETEXT OF 'SELF-DEFENSE'
IS NOTHING BUT FREE-HAND FOR MASSACRES AND ATROCITIES ON ADIVASIS!

As the first column of the Indian Army arrived in Kanker, the formal process of Army deployment in Bastar has commenced. But hiding this fact from the eyes of the people, the rulers are propagating falsehood that the Army was coming here just for training and not to fight the Maoists. It's being said that in the name of `self defense', the ministries of Defence and Law had issued `guiding principles' for the Army, but nobody is ready to reveal the details. It's noteworthy that the Air Force was already given the right to attack in `self-defense'.

The Central and State governments have been hiding the fact that this was obvious deployment and have been telling the world that they were just coming here for a training as part of their ploy of deceiving the people and pacifying those democratic forces who have been outrageous against Army deployment. The glaring fact is that the Army is now deployed in the ongoing war against people of our country. After Kashmir and North-East regions, now the Indian Army is going to wage a brutal war against most oppressed people of India. Now the apprehensions seem to be realized that the draconian law - AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) would also be proclaimed in Bastar.

In fact the government gave free-hand to the Army and Air Force to attack the people in the name of `self-defense', as there are no measures defined for clear-cut demarcation between a Maoist combatant and an ordinary citizen. Since 2005, first in Salwa Judum and now in Operation Green Hunt, state armed forces set ablaze more than 700 villages; murdered more than 1500 people; raped hundreds of Adivasi women; burnt down the crops; looted the villages; and forced tens of thousands of people to flee from their native places. Recent carnage of Chintalnar was just an example of ongoing state terror in Dandakaranya. And now, with the Army taking part in this onslaught and with all powers granted to it in the name self-defense, the massacres of Adivasis and brutalities would increase manifold. This would pose a big question mark on the very existence of the Adivasi community. Particularly, the Jal-Jungle-Zameen and the ancient cultural heritage of the Mariya tribes, the indigenous residents of Maad, would be vanished.

A heated discussion is going on across the country on the issue of land grab these days. Particularly, in the context of Uttar Pradesh incidents, all political parties belonging to the ruling classes including Congress and BJP have been portraying themselves as the `champions of peasants' and vaguely speaking against the forceful land acquisitions as part of promoting their vested political interests. But all these `champions' are keeping themselves mum on this huge land grab taking place in one of the most backward Adivasi areas of the country in the name of Army training. BJP's Raman Singh government has decided to uncaringly give away as much as 750 square kilometers of land in the Maad area of Narayanpur district for one of the three proposed training schools to be set up. Raman Singh, the man who has been trumpeting his cheap tactic of selling one kilogram of chana per month for 5 rupees to each adivasi family in Bastar region, is completely unmasked now. There has neither been any debate nor been any discussion about the decision of giving away such a huge portion of precious land and forest. Laws like PESA (Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas) and 5th Schedule have become a joke here. The local Mariya people of Maad region are completely unaware that the land on which they have been living for thousands of years and the forest with whose support they have been able to survive till this day, are no more of them. One fifth of the total 4,000 square kilometers area of Maad region would now be given away to the army. It would be expanded further according to the reports coming in media. As Army vehicles started moving into Bastar, the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has declared that the Raoghat mining project would be privatized and a global tender notice would be issued. This makes the picture very clear now. On one side there would be a vast Army base and on the other side of the Maad region the MNCs would fall in line in a rush to plunder the precious iron ore from Raoghat hills. The mining mafia would become active with their pending mining projects and the lands of the tribal people would be acquired forcefully. Now it's not at all difficult to realize who is coming with what intension and what the interrelation between them is!!

Politically, today the Maoist movement is posing a serious challenge to the pro-imperialist neo-liberal policies being implemented by the servile rulers of our country. The struggles of Adivasis and the Maoists who are leading them have become gravest threat for the ruling classes of India and their imperialist masters, who are hell-bent on looting huge deposits of precious minerals from the Adivasi regions in particular. In Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and other states, hundreds of MoUs that were signed by state governments and the corporate houses are not getting implemented due to the opposition posed by people. Particularly in Dandakaranya, several projects of big corporate houses, such as mines, big dams and heavy industries have been held up due to organized protests and resistance struggles of the people. To sum up, in Dandakaranya the exploiters' juggernaut of `development' has not been able to move forward. That's why they have been waging this brutal war against the people in which now the Army is involved.

The Bastariya Adivasis have never bowed their head to exploitation, injustice, suppression and alien rule. They have a glorious history of several rebellions against the British colonialists. In 1910, at the time of Mahan Bhumkaal, a great tribal uprising, the British rulers had deployed the army against the people of Bastar. Now, after a hundred years, the rulers have once again sent the Army so that their just struggles could be crushed cruelly. We call upon the people of Dandakaranya to face this challenge boldly. People are the creators of history! So, the ultimate victory will only be theirs!!

Our Special Zonal Committee appeals to all democrats, human rights organizations, anti-displacement movements, Adivasis' organizations, and well-wishers of Adivasis, intellectuals, writers, Artistes and media persons to raise their voice against setting up of Army training schools in Bastar and the proposed huge land grab meant for this purpose. Come forward to build agitations with the slogan - "Indian Army, Go back from Bastar". Oppose the deployment of the Army in the ongoing war against people in the name of training schools. Demand to scrap all those MoUs signed by the government of Chhattisgarh with big corporate houses and all those projects of forceful land acquisition.

(Gudsa Usendi)

Spokesperson

Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee

CPI (Maoist)

Kobad Ghandhy's Afterword in the book Hello Bastar

On 5 February this year, in a village in Uttar Pradesh, a 16- year old Dalit girl was attacked by three upper caste youth. While she was returning from the fields, they dragged her away in an attempt to rape her. When she resisted and shouted for help, they fled. But before running away they chopped off her ears and part of her hand with an axe and badly injured her face. The inhumanity of this action would be unthinkable in any civilised society. But here, in India, it is hardly noticed. This is routine. In our highly patriarchal system, a girl’s life is cheap; a poor Dalit girl is less than a chattel in the prevailing upper caste /upper class social thinking.

This single incident brings out three factors. First: the intolerance to any form of Dalit assertion, even if it is an assertion to resist rape. Second: the impunity with which Dalits can be attacked even in a state ruled by a Dalit leader that comes from the knowledge that the establishment will not touch the culprits. Third: it brings out the arrogance of the upper caste youth, a superiority complex instilled since birth.

Rahul Pandita’s Hello, Bastar coincides with the third death anniversary of Anuradha Ghandy. It is an occasion to remember her monumental contribution to the understanding of the caste/Dalit question in India and the significance of its resolution for the democratization of the individuals, and with it, the society. In a society where a small percentage of people consider themselves superior to all others merely due to birth, there can be no democrat consciousness. Where major sections of society are seen as inferior (and nearly 20 percent treated as untouchable) merely due to their birth, what results is a society that is hierarchical and not democratic. Even nation building and national consciousness get sacrificed at the altar of the caste. Caste consciousness supersedes national consciousness, identity, loyalty – everything.

Anuradha’s pure simplicity, her total lack of any ego or arrogance and her innate attitude to see all others as her equal drew her to the issue of caste in her early college days itself. The outbreak of the Dalit panther movement in Mumbai(1974) further helped fuel thought on this question. She began studying the caste/ Dalit question at a time when the issue was anathema to most shades of communists. And by 1980 itself she had presented extensive analytical articles on the issue. The Dalit question and Ambedkar’s role in taking it up was not in fashion amongst the left then and Anuradha’s writings resulted in hostile reactions from many of these circles. But Anuradha stood her ground. Even as a lecturer later in Nagpur, she lived in a Dalit basti and worked among them thereby getting a practical experience of their lives – the horrific humiliation they face, and their struggles for self respect much before their desperate struggle for livelihood.

Anuradha was one of the few on the 1970’s to understand the negative impact of casteism on genuine democratization of society – a disease worse than the apartheid in South Africa. Anuradha’s creativity and intellect was a product of the fact that her mind was not fettered by hundreds of ego complexes. She was modesty personified . Her child like simplicity with no element of pretence, trickery or cunning allowed her to focus fully on whatever issue she took up. Her mind was not dissipated in varied futile directions to create impressions, appearances and images. As a result, her mental sharpness and intellectual capacity continued to flower and grow even towards the last years of her life, even after she was afflicted with the deadly disease, systemic sclerosis. In the 35 years that I knew her – from a simple student leader to a mass leader – she never lost her straightforwardness and pristine honesty. I never saw her struggle to achieve this; it all came very naturally to her. One tends to see these values amongst the simple tribal folk who live with nature and have not as yet been corrupted by the system and are also outside of the caste framework.

Through all our ups and downs we were often apart for months. But the times we were together are the most cherished periods of my life. Her fiercely independent thinking acted as a great help to rational understanding of events, people and issues. There was no other person with whom I have had as vehement debates. This normally brought a balance to my often one sided views.

Back to Hello Bastar. This book by Rahul Pandita is an authentic introduction to a subject that is being much debated in the media. There have been other books on this subject, but they have primarily been based on secondary sources. But Rahul has personally investigated the issue, traversing difficult and often risky terrain. Such investigative journalism is a refreshing breeze in the stagnant air of superficiality that dominates reporting today. Having personally studied the developments in Chhattisgarh and having interacted with many revolutionaries and their sympathisers, the author has no doubt added to the reliability of the information. One may agree or disagree with the views presented, but the facts of the Maoist movement seem well elucidated. So this book becomes an important source material for anyone seeking to study the particular model of development. For even if one does not agree, it is necessary to know the efforts and viewpoints going on in the country today. This is important in order to seek effective solutions to the problems – problems that are serious.

Generally, to the ordinary reader of the mainstream media, the issue is just that of violence. This book brings out that the question of violence is secondary; the key question is how to develop the country and its people. The Maoists have one method as reflected in their policies as elaborated in this book while the established government has another, seen in their economic and political policies over the past years.

Let us now address the larger question of India’s real growth. The government’s Economic Survey 2009 – 10 has rightly commented: ‘A nation interested in inclusive growth views the same growth indifferently depending on whether the gains of the growth are heaped primarily on a small segment or shared widely by the population. The latter is cause for celebration but not the former. In other words, growth must not be treated as an end in itself, but as an instrument of spreading prosperity to all.’ Then it goes on to show how inclusive growth has taken place in the country, by showing a growth in the percapita GDP and the percapita consumption expenditure of the country. But these figures, I am afraid, do not give an accurate picture as it averages out the billionaire’s income and wealthy with that of a pauper and puts them in a common category. This is particularly skewed in India where just a few families have a wealth equivalent to 25% of our GDP. All official indicators in fact show a terrifying situation within the country that is quite contrary to the rosy picture painted by the government. In the Global Hunger Index 2010, India ranks 67^th among 88 countries – it was 65 in 2009. And if we turn to the recently developed UNDP Multidimensional Poverty Index(MPI), which more accurately measures income on the basis of income, health, education etc., we find the situation even worse. India, it says, has 65 crore people who are poor on this index. It amounts to 55 % percent population. Eight states of India (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) account for more people than those present in the 26 poorest countries of Africa.

According to the United Nations children’s fund(UNICEF), India ranks better only than Ethiopia in the number of malnourished children (under 5). In 2008, the percentage of malnourished children was 51percent in Ethiopia, 48 in India, 46 in Congo, 44 in Tanzania, 43 in Bangladesh, 42 in Pakistan, 41 in Nigeria and 37 in Indonesia. The right to food campaign says that two – thirds of our women are anaemic. India is also at the very bottom of the recently compiles ‘Quality of Death’ index. This new study, on the provision of end of life care, takes a look at the quality of life and care made available to the old and the dying in developed and ‘emerging’ economies of 40 countries. In a scale of ten, the US was at 6.2 while India figured last at 1.9. So pathetic is the situation that even a country like South Africa that got independence after India has an index that is double that of India’s.

The water in our country is so badly polluted that it has turned into one of the major killers. According to the United Nations, one lakh people die each year of waterborne diseases in India. A planning commission report adds that out of over 600 districts, one third (203) have high fluoride content in drinking water that causes flourisis among 6.5 crore people. Thirty five districts have high arsenic content that results in 50 lakh people suffering from poisoning; 206 districts have high iron content and 109 districts have high nitrate content. Then, according to a study led by the Registrar General of India, 14 lakh infants die every year of five major preventable diseases. This includes eight lakh children who die within one month of their birth. The study said 23 lakh children died before completing five years of age in 2005 alone, and of these 14 lakh children died from preventable causes like pneumonia, diarrhoea etc. Even as one can clearly see that India is a ‘sick’ nation, national expenditure on healthcare is amongst the lowest in the world. State governments now barely spend 0.5 percent of their GDP on healthcare and hygiene as compared to one percent in the 1970s. Only 34 percent of India’s population has access to government hospitals.

If one looks at the issue of food, the situation appears equally grim. Per capita food grain consumption has fallen from 177 kilos per year in 1991 to 151 kilos in 1998(it has dropped even further now). Compare this to 182 kilos recorded by the LDCs (Least developed Countries) and 196 kilos in Africa.

Such then is the horrific condition of the people of our country – that too after six decades of independence. This surely is a matter of grave concern. And, add to this the massive destruction of our land, forest and water resources, together with the total degradation of the moral fabric (corruption, greed, nepotism), is it not time to discuss various alternate models to better the policies of governance?

For those serious about our country and its future, there is an urgent need for discussion of various models and policies being put forward – like those of the National Advisory Council (NAC), various commission reports, Maoist views and from civil society. As far as the Maoist viewpoint goes, this book could be useful for any future dialogue between the government and the Maoists which is an urgent necessary.

Overall, this book will be a very useful read for varied sections of people to understand the root causes of the four decade old Maoist movement in India and their alternatives in the spheres of economy and social life. Rahul has put in enormous effort to produce a work based on an important phenomena in today’s India. This will only help any discourse to evolve a better future.

April 2011

KOBAD GHANDY

Tihar Jail, New Delhi