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)