Four OFDC employees go missing, Naxal involvement suspected
28 February, 2007
DHENKANAL: Panic gripped Kanakadahada block after four employees of Orissa Forest Development Corporation went missing on Tuesday. The involvement of Maoists is being suspected as the Left wing extremists had earlier warned of targeting the OFDC workers. Read more
posted by Resistance 28.2.07,
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Telangana: Naxal Conflict And Press : A Left Perspective
Telangana with a militant history dating back to the Telangana Armed Struggle, with all its failures and successes continues to be a source of inspiration for the Marxist-Leninist parties. Opinions vary on the phenomenon of Naxalism, the generic term used to connote Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar. The Naxalite movement owes its origins to the revolt of Santhal tribals at Naxalbari, West Bengal led by armed Communists who parted ways with the CPI (M). Read more
posted by Resistance 28.2.07,
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Pseudo leftists loose in college polls in Bengal
SFI, the student's wing of the pseudo-leftist revisionist party, CPIM(Communist party of India-Marxist) has been defeated in the Student's union elections of Presidency College, Kolkata, which is one of the most prestigious college in India. Read more
posted by Resistance 28.2.07,
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Naxal violence on the wane in Bengal
Kolkata, February 27: The Union Government’s policy of ‘zero-tolerance’ towards the various Maoist and Naxalite groups active across the country has led to an overall decline in Naxalite related violence, with West Bengal gaining further following the launch of development works in the affected areas. Read more
posted by Resistance 28.2.07,
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Maoist raid killed four police men in Bihar
27 February, 2007
Maoist rebels have shot dead four policemen and wounded another four in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, police say. A police spokesman quoting local eyewitnesses said the officers were killed just after midnight when up to 600 rebels attacked a police camp. Read more
posted by Resistance 27.2.07,
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West Bengal two Maoists arrested
Midnapore (West Bengal): Two Maoist ultras were arrested by the West Midnapore district police from Bankura, police said here. Read more
posted by Resistance 27.2.07,
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End of Naxalism has started in Chhattisgarh: Raman Singh
Raipur, Feb 27: Naxalism is a threat to the nation but steps to wipe it out have started in Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Raman Singh told the assembly. Read more
Labels: chhattisgarh, News
posted by Resistance 27.2.07,
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Anti naxal seminar in Delhi
26 February, 2007
(A report from Organiser)
The Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini organised a national seminar in New Delhi on February 14, 2007 on “Innovative Strategies to Counter Naxalism: Experiment of Salva Judum.” The seminar was held in four different sessions throughout the day which had eminent speakers drawn from a wide spectrum of on-field workers to policymakers to law enforcers. Read more
Labels: News
posted by Resistance 26.2.07,
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WB: Police lathicharge Medha Patkar
Singur, Feb 26: Police today resorted to lathicharge to disperse social activist Medha Patkar-led protesters after they tried to approach the fenced area for the Tata Motors small car project at Singur in West Bengal. Read more
posted by Resistance 26.2.07,
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chhattisgarh; Naxalite killed in police firing
Raipur: A naxalite was killed and a policeman injured in a gun battle between naxalites and a police party on Saturday at Pedametta village, about 450 km from here." Read more
Labels: chhattisgarh, CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Resistance 26.2.07,
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Bihar Police killed two naxalites
The police in Gaya district under Wazirganj police station on Sunday evening shot and killed two Naxal extremists while injuring half a dozen others in an encounter that lasted over an hour, Gaya Superintendent of Police (SP) Amit Jain said." Read More
Labels: Bihar, CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Resistance 26.2.07,
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Tribal Communist Leader Manish Kunjam arrested for protesting against the land acquisition at Jagdalpur
25 February, 2007
Prabhat
What right the Tata Group has to disturb the peace of millions of Tribals,Farmers etc all over India?
What right the Tata Group has to disturb the peace of millions of Tribals,Farmers etc all over India?
Was brutal killing of Tribals at Kaling Nagar in Orissa last year not enough for the Tata's?
Is Singur not enough for Mr.Ratan Tata? Read more
Labels: chhattisgarh, Displacement
posted by Resistance 25.2.07,
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Uttar Pradesh: Security stepped up in Naxal-hit areas
24 February, 2007
Security forces have intensified combing operation in the Naxal-affected areas of Chandauli.According to reports, on receiving a tip-off that the naxalites have stepped up their activities in Naughar area, the district police swung into action. Read more
Labels: CPI(Maoist), News, Uttarpradesh
posted by Resistance 24.2.07,
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An Invitation to Swim Against the Tide Together
23 February, 2007
This letter reaches you amidst tall claims… about a strong and secure India riding the high tide of prosperity in South Asia in the 21st century. Growth, Security and Development are the buzzwords on the lips of anyone and everyone who matters in the sub-continent. A kaleidoscope of the emerging big picture—surfeit of images of super highways, malls, flyovers, golf courses, tourist resorts, mega-dams as hydel power projects, corporate farming, Special Economic Zones, urban beautification and finally a boomimg sensex—in the sub-continent as signs of growth, security and development is also being flaunted in the sensation driven media. Read more
Labels: Anti-Displacement Front, Statement
posted by Resistance 23.2.07,
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INDIA:Maoist Timeline - 2007
Andhra Pradesh,
2007
January 1: An alleged arms supplier to the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), identified as Ravi Kumar Chevori, was arrested from Cyberabad near Hyderabad. He had entered into a deal with the Maoists to supply arms and ammunition worth INR 40 lakh, which the city police seized on December 28, 2006, and arrested three persons. Read more
Labels: CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Resistance 23.2.07,
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Maoist meet after 36 yrs, Kashmir to Manipur on agenda
22 February, 2007
NEW DELHI, February 21 Giving the Union Home Ministry a rude jolt, the banned Maoists, who fight a low-intensity war with the Indian state along the “Red Corridor” down a swathe of central India from the border with Nepal in the north to Karnataka in the south, have concluded their ninth party congress somewhere in the “liberated zones” along the Jharkhand-Bihar border with a call to extend support for secessionist struggles ranging from Kashmir to Manipur. Read more
Labels: CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Bimal 22.2.07,
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No SEZ in Nandigram: Buddha
Faced with stiff and prolonged resistance, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has decided not to set up his pet Special Economic Zone project at Nandigram and has asked his party and his officials to find an alternative site.
The decision was taken after leaders from East Midnapore unit of the party reported that the people of Nandigram would not accept eviction particularly because setting up the SEZ would mean demolition of religious sites of the minorities. The police are yet to enter the troubled area for over a month now as all approach roads to Nandigram still remain cut. Read More
posted by Bimal 22.2.07,
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Land Acquisition and Women's Resistance
Tebhaga Comes Alive in Singur
A report by the Women's Movement Team-
16th to
Labels: Fact finding report, Singur
posted by Resistance 22.2.07,
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Maoist hunt for ‘traitor’ after leader arrest
| Hazaribagh, Feb. 21: Naxalites have started a hunt for insiders, who allegedly played a role in the arrest of zonal commander Bhagirath from Bundu of Keredari yesterday.Bhagirath’s arrest came as a big blow to the outfit as he was a “pillar” of the organisation.After the arrest of Sunil Ganjhu, Bhagirath had re-organised and strengthened the outfit in Hazaribagh, Giridih, Chatra and Latehar districts. Read more |
Labels: Bihar, CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Resistance 22.2.07,
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Bihar Maoists threaten jailbreak to free rebel leader
21 February, 2007
Indo Asian News Service
Patna, Feb 17 Maoist guerrillas have threatened yet another jailbreak to free Ajay Kanu, the suspected mastermind of the sensational Jehanabad jailbreak in 2005, according to intelligence reports.
Kanu, who was arrested Feb 2, is currently lodged at the Beur jail here in tight security. Read more
Labels: Bihar, CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Bimal 21.2.07,
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"Neoliberal" Leninism In India And Its Class Character
By Pratyush Chandra
21 February, 2007
"Criticism - the most keen, ruthless and uncompromising criticism - should be directed, not against parliamentarianism or parliamentary activities, but against those leaders who are unable - and still more against those who are unwilling - to utilise parliamentary elections and the parliamentary rostrum in a revolutionary and communist manner. Only such criticism-combined, of course, with the dismissal of incapable leaders and their replacement by capable ones-will constitute useful and fruitful revolutionary work that will simultaneously train the "leaders" to be worthy of the working class and of all working people, and train the masses to be able properly to understand the political situation and the often very complicated and intricate tasks that spring from that situation." (Lenin, "Left-Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder", Chapter 7)
Labels: Article
posted by Resistance 21.2.07,
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Maoists to resist formation of SEZs
K. Srinivas Reddy
- Policy documents adopted at the congress
- Big projects lead to massive displacement of tribals and forest-dwellers
Ganapathi re-elected general secretary
HYDERABAD : The Maoists have vowed to oppose and resist the formation of the 300 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) terming them efforts to form "de facto foreign enclaves" thereby enabling foreign and local sharks to grab prime agricultural lands.
This was one of the key decisions taken by the 9th Unity Congress of the Maoist party held recently. Read more
Labels: CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Resistance 21.2.07,
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Bihar: Maoist leaders Arrested
HAZARIBAG: The Hazaribag police on Tuesday arrested four Maoists leaders, including the sub-zonal commander of a CPI(Maoist), Bhagirath Mahto, from separate places and recovered firearms and Rs 9.5 lakh in cash. Hazaribag SP Praveen Kumar Singh headed the task force, which comprised the jawans of JAP and CRPF. Read more
Labels: Bihar, CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Resistance 21.2.07,
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Press communiqué of the 6th Regional Conference of Parties and Organisations of South Asia United in the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007
19 February 2007. A World to Win News Service. We received the following communiqué.The 6th Regional Conference of the Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia United in theRevolutionary Internationalist Movement was recently convened in a situation, where, both in South Asiaand the world, the opportunities as well as challenges before the Maoist forces are greatly heightened in the context of the emerging new wave of world revolution and the counter-revolutionary offensive led by US imperialism, the main enemy of the peoples of the world. This is particularly seen in Nepal where the new democratic revolution led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has entered a decisive level. Read more
Labels: Statement
posted by Resistance 21.2.07,
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UAV to hover over eastern Maha skies to counter Naxalism
20 February, 2007
Nagpur, Feb 20: Unmanned Ariel Vehicle (UAV) is all set to be deployed in eastern Maharashtra to trace the movements of Naxals, a senior police official of Anti-Naxalite Operation (ANO) said today.
The UAV over Naxal-infested Gadchiroli district is likely to be operational sometime next week, said inspector general of police, anti-Naxal operations, Pankaj Gupta.
Gupta told reporters that UAV's operation in Chhattisgarh was quite successful and the authorities have received photo and video images both from cameras fitted in the flying machine. It has traced movement of Naxalites near the hilly terrain of Abuzmadd in Bastar district which is a virtual den of the outlawed extremists.
The images of Naxal training camps, organised in thick and dense forests in Abuzmadd area of Bastar region of Chhattisgarh are very clear and reveal a lot of things which the official declined to mention.
Link
Labels: CPI(Maoist), Maharashtra, News
posted by Resistance 20.2.07,
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Police fail to enter Nandigram, West Bengal
Nandigram (WB), Feb 20: Violence continued to rage at Nandigram as CPI-M and Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee clashed with each other early today. Bombs were hurled and gun shots fired at around 2 am, CPI MLA Ilias Mohammad told a news agency.
However, there was no report of any casualty or injury. Intermittent clashes were taking place here between CPI-M and Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee, the outfit spearheading the agitation against land acquisition for a proposed SEZ. The police, which have kept away from the troubled block of East Midnapore district since early January when six persons were killed in violence, made no attempt to enter the area, Ilias said.
The police initially sought to set up camps. Repair of roads dug up to prevent the entry of outsiders and the police to villages, which was to have begun today also did not take off, he said. Meanwhile, 933 students from Nandigram were appearing for examination at two centres of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Examination which began this morning.
Board Invigilator Tapas Raj pandit said although the examination was going on smoothly, the students were jittery following recurring violence. Yesterday's all-party peace meeting at which representatives of the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind, spearheading the stir against land acquisition, did not turn up, had resolved that the police would enter Nandigram and set up camps where necessary and roads would be repaired.
Link
posted by Resistance 20.2.07,
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CPI (Maoist) completes its historic Unity Congress-9th Congress
PRESS RELEASE
CPI (Maoist) completes its much-awaited historic Unity Congress-9th Congress
--A Turning-Point in Indian Revolution
The successful completion of the Unity Congress-9th Congress of the CPI(Maoist) in January-February 2007 is an event of historic significance for the oppressed masses of India and the world people at large. It achieved a higher level of unity throughout the Party and marked the completion of the unity of the two great streams of the Indian revolution-the CPI(ML) and the MCCI-that took place on September 21, 2004.
It resolved the disputed political issues in the Party through lively, democratic and comradely debate and discussion. The present Congress, held after a period of 36 years since the 8th Congress in 1970, stands out as another milestone in the long history of the Communist movement in India and has great significance in the history of the Maoist movement in India.The Unity Congress-9th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Maoist)
Read More / Download
Labels: CPI(Maoist) 9th Congress, Statement
posted by Resistance 20.2.07,
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Call of the Unity Congress-9th Congress of the CPI(Maoist)
Oppressed people of India and the world! Rise up as a tide to smash Imperialism!
Advance the Revolutionary war throughout the world!!
The imperialist-sponsored policies being pursued by the ruling classes are devastating
the lives of the already impoverished masses of the country on a scale unheard of in post-
1947 India. No matter which party is in power at the Centre or in the States, all are
aggressively pushing these policies of LPG in all spheres of the economy and social life
of the country. Down laod Press release Read / Downlaod
Labels: CPI(Maoist) 9th Congress, Statement
posted by Resistance 20.2.07,
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Maoists snatch ballot papers
SAMBALPUR: Armed Maoists snatched ballot papers for panchayat elections from a polling booth at Panduakhol village in Sambalpur district early on Sunday, police said.The rebels numbering 14, including two women, woke up poll personnel at the booth, located about 90 km from here, at around 2 am and directed them to hand over ballot papers to them, superintendent of police s Debdutt Singh said.They disappeared with the ballot papers into dense forests.
Phase four of the five-phase panchayat polls, now underway in Orissa, is scheduled to be held in the area on Monday.Maoists had hung banners in the industrial estate of Sambalpur city and at Sambalpur road railway station recently, asking people not to participate in the polls. Leaflets with the same plea were distributed at several places.Posters also appeared at Tampersingha village of the district urging the electorate not to exercise their franchise.
Link
Labels: CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Resistance 19.2.07,
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Naxal-hit states may get more funds
NEW DELHI: In order to complement tough police action against naxals with a political outreach in areas affected by Red violence, backward districts in naxal-affected states are likely to get enhanced central assistance in the forthcoming Union budget.
The government is expected to increase the budgetary allocation for the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme in the next financial year.
The matter, aimed at fighting the naxal problem through greater development, will be finalised after the first meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), which includes finance minister P Chidambaram. The EGoM is to meet on Monday.
The idea was to raise this allocation from the existing nearly Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore in the next fiscal (2007-08), thereby giving an additional Rs 4 crore each district to fill in critical gaps in physical and social development in the naxal-affected areas.
After the EGoM, it will, however, be the finance ministry which will take a final call on the matter.
Link
Labels: News
posted by Resistance 19.2.07,
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A senior Politburo member of the Maoists in Nepal and in-charge of international relations, CP Gajurel was until recently jailed in India. In Delhi for the first time as an overground leader, he speaks on what lies ahead
| CP Gajurel Photo by Sankarshan Thakur |
| The pace of the development of the Maoist revolution in India is very slow |
Something remarkable has happened in Nepal. We have a situation in which probably for the first time a despotic monarchy is going to be overthrown by the ballot. Monarchies have always been overthrown through violent revolution, but in Nepal, because of the 10-year people’s war and the 19-day street rebellion last year, we have a situation where the monarchy is going to be dismantled by peaceful means. That is what we are trying to accelerate. And the struggle the Maoists waged has meant even the so-called mainstream political parties are now pushing for the removal of the monarchy. And it appears to me that India is supportive of that, although India seems to want the Maoists not to get the majority. India would rather have the other parties in a majority.
Why do you say that?
Because once the Maoists get the majority, India thinks that a genuine people’s republic will be created and India would not like that.
But are you saying this on the basis of something concrete?
I do not have any concrete proof of the Indian thinking but the political line of its establishment is very clear. This is true of the main parties both in government and the opposition. Initially, India supported the monarchy because it thought only the monarchy could suppress the Maoists, but the people of Nepal have changed all that and India has to recognise the new reality. But even then, India will want a convenient sort of republic.
What do you mean by that?
I mean a republic that Indians are comfortable with, like their own parliamentary type of republic.
So what sort of republic do you want?
A people’s republic.
Not a parliamentary republic?
You can say something like that. There will be a parliament, of course, but not of the sort that exists today. Essentially it will have to be a people’s republic which can solve the basic problems of Nepal. An anti-imperialist and anti-feudal republic.
What you are saying is very significant. You are saying that the biggest roadblock in your struggle was the monarchy, which is now in the process of being dismantled. That done, your next battle will be with what we know to be the mainstream political parties, the Nepali Congress etc.
At the moment we cannot speak like this because our main target still is the monarchy. It has lost support among the masses but it still has its backers. For example, the US is backing it, there are also political forces within Nepal that are for the monarchy. With their help, the monarchy is still trying very hard to survive. In terms of strategy, we want to target only one force at a time, and now it is the monarchy. Once we overthrow the monarchy, we will think about the mainstream parties.
You have given up a decade-long armed struggle to come into the political process. Looking back, do you think the struggle was wrong or would you say it was an inevitable process Nepal had to go through?
First of all, we have not given up either our arms or the armed struggle. We have only suspended that strategy. Armed struggle was an inevitable process, we could not have come here without waging the people’s war. And what we are trying to do now is also part of that process, through which we want to achieve a people’s republic. This is the continuation of the people’s war in a different form, but we have not given up the armed struggle. If we think it is required, we will resume it.
Do you have a timeframe in mind?
Yes, definitely. If all moves smoothly, elections will be held and the first meeting of the elected constituent assembly will decide the fate of the monarchy and the character of the future Nepali state. Of course we will win that election so we are hopeful we will be able to implement the roadmap we have. Mid-May is the time elections should be held and that is when the changes will come. We will have a people’s republic after that election.
What is the basis of your confidence about winning the election? You have never contested elections, we have no idea of your real strength.
We have the support of the overwhelming majority of the Nepali people, we control more than 80 percent of the country, we were the virtual government in those areas. We have been working among the people, so we have a fair idea of what our strength is. And it is not that we have no experience of elections. When democracy came back to Nepal, we contested the first election; this was before the Communist Party of Nepal split and we went underground. There is no question that we will get the majority if it is free and fair.
A lot of people say that the hold you had in large parts of Nepal was because of the fear you created with the gun and is not genuine support.
Of course, there are people who will complain about it. They are the class enemies, the enemies of the people, and we drove them out. We cannot work to please them. But as far as the masses are concerned, they are happy because they feel liberated from the feudal system.
What happens to the King of Nepal once the monarchy is gone?
No privileges. He will be just another citizen. A lot of his property is really the property of the state which he has been using as his own. That the state will take back from him. As far as everything else is concerned, the law will apply to Gyanendra as it applies to everyone.
What has brought this change from the king being treated as Vishnu’s avatar to being a common man?
Those are all myths, this avatar-of-Vishnu business. The reality of the people of Nepal is that they have been suffering at the hands of an exploitative system. It is our scientific ideology that changed the temper of the people. Maybe a long, long time ago, the king was worshipped as a god, but the struggle against the monarchy has been on for a long time. But there was no good leadership. It is the success of the Maoist leadership that has brought victory to the democratic and republican sentiments of the people of Nepal. And, of course, Gyanendra’s behaviour in power forced to people to oppose him more determinedly.
But some parties you are in alliance with are themselves feudal and status quoist in nature. How long is this partnership going to last?
It is not going to be smooth. The alliance was their compulsion, not ours. Earlier these same parties were allying with the king to fight us. They tried to physically finish the Maoist movement, but they have come to realise it would not work because the will of the Nepali people was behind the Maoists, we have forced them to change and, instead, ally with us. Also, I think they realised that they cannot work with an autocrat like Gyanendra who only wanted all the powers for himself.
Do you think India’s suspicion of the Nepali Maoists has something to do with the Maoist movement in India?
Definitely, it does. We have clarified our relationship with the Indian Maoists.
What is it?
We have ideological and political ties that we will not hide. That is what the international proletarian movement is all about. As a Maoist party, we have to have that relationship, we cannot escape that. But we do not have a working relationship, we never had one and don’t plan to in future.
But a lot of the Nepali Maoist activity has been based out of India.
Yes, but we have seven million Nepali people in India, don’t forget. We have our own networks. We don’t need anybody’s help, we can do that in our own way, with the help of our people. There has never been cause for us to worry on that count.
What is your understanding of the way the Maoist movement in India is going? Is Nepal a model?
Look, there can be no photocopies. Every movement has its own course, so Nepal is not necessarily an example to follow. But they have to evaluate why the pace of the development of revolution in India is so slow. It is not our responsibility to tell them, they must think about it and make their strategy accordingly.
Labels: Interview
posted by Resistance 19.2.07,
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Golwalkar Guruji: Superhuman Or Less Than Human?
Countercurrents.org
He was known as 'guruji' (revered teacher). I find that at least in some vernacular papers he is being referred to as 'shreeguruji'. The addition of shree to his title guruji makes him nearly sacred, an avatar of sorts. Within the Maharashtrian context this has an additional meaning or signification. Mystic gurus are often referred to as 'shreeguruji'. You can see thus that there has been rather subtle glorification of Golwalkar, the new appellation making him stand a little above the human level.
- GPD (March 25, 2006, EPW GPD, An Occasion for RSS)
I.
It is said that masses have very short memories. For them it is easy to send today's icon into oblivion without much hair splitting or it is still easier for them to hail yesterday's monster as today's development man.
But do classes or their intellectuals also suffer from similar amnesia? Looking at the important role played by them in the running of the society/state it is expected that they appear different. A recent writeup by one of the think-tanks of the right (Sudhindra Kulkarni, who also happened to be a 'ghost writer' for the ex deputy PM and was supposedly responsible for the 'iron leaders' speech at Jinnah Mausoleum) in the Sunday Express (11 th Feb 20007) belies this expectation. One could also decipher that it is a deliberate ploy by the writer to obfuscate things. It is equally possible that he is trying to present his wishful thinking as in-depth analysis before the masses.
Whatever may be the case, here we are presented with an analysis, which is not only bereft of historical facts but also appears to be another poor attempt at repackaging of a dangerous anti-human trend in Indian politics represented by the Hindu right.
The writer talks about how things are moving or rather changing at RSS. And to buttress his point he mentions two things: the way the RSS has extended invitation to Ms Sonia Gandhi for the programme organized to commemorate the birth anniversary of Golwalkar and secondly, proposal by Madan Das Devi, to deliberate on the Sachar Committee report in the coming meeting of RSS and suggest some measures for the poor Muslims.
Definitely the pen pusher for the ex-Iron Man cannot be faulted for his weak memories, but he can definitely be advised to just flip through similar expectations harboured by the likes of Jayprakash Narayan and others and how they came to a naught. Perhaps he would be delighted to know when Janata Party came to power way back in 1977, an impression was created that the secretive RSS – which retains its Brahminical core intact - was even ready to admit even Muslims in its ranks. It took a lot of time for the genuinely concerned citizens to comprehend that all that was meant for mere public consumption. RSS, which found itself cornered then because of its not so glorious role in the emergency – when it had tried to undertake secret parleys with Ms Indira Gandhi or had even instructed its cadres put in jails to give written undertakings before the Emergency regime – had put forward this proposal to wriggle itself out of the situation.
Perhaps the best thing for him would be to do look at the expectations entertained by a section of the liberal intelligentsia who had thought that a stint at power at the center would rather moderate the 'rabble rousers' and the way they got 'Modified'.
II.
Ofcourse anyone remotedly familiar with RSS would tell you that the RSS, which calls itself the biggest cultural organization on the face of the earth, is seriously trying to do a makeover.
It is a different matter that all these attempts focus not on the essence but the appearance of the organization, the challenge present before it in the wee hours of the 21 st century and they essentially get reduced to presenting a sanitized version of this project before the gullible masses.
It was only last year that there was news in the section of the media about the brainstorming going on within RSS where many a topics vital for the sustenance and continuation of the organization were being discussed. Ranging from the 'greying' of the RSS Shakhas to the impact of the electronic channels on the attendance, ranging from the backward looking dress to the relevance of its ideology in times of globalisation everything was put under scanner. Interestingly one of the most serious problem which inadvertently or so, continued to bother the minds of the RSS bosses and continues to remain a focus of attention, concerns the 'moral degeneration' of its cadre.
It is widely known that many of the leading cadres or their near and dear ones, are facing investigation for their dealings involving financial matters. While the world at large saw with its own eyes, its old Swayamsevak (who was later declared a failed one) Bangaru Laxman accepting wades of notes from a fraudulent arms dealer (thanks to the sting operation done by Tehelka), it also noticed that biggest contingent of MPs who faced expulsion because of similar sting operation, belonged to the Sangh only.
The world has not forgotten why the ex-spokesperson of the RSS M.G. Vaidya ( who is considered a think-tank in the RSS parlance and expresses views which are still considered very much akin to the RSS patriarchs) had to resign from his post all of a sudden during NDA era itself, when media exposed the dubious role played by his son and daughter in law in a financial company. Perhaps the best example from the Sangh hierarchy could be that of Madan Das Devi, who still has been asked to maintain liason between the BJP and the RSS. Tavleen Singh, a journalist said to be close to the RSS in a signed article 'Rashtriya Swayamseva Sangh' (Indian Express, 2003) had given details of Devi's very own son's involvement in the Petrol Pump Scam
Of course as far as matters of financial wheeling and dealing are concerned, the involvement of people who are brought up in the Sangh tradition are numerous. As they say it in a Sanskrit Shloka 'Hari Ananta, Harikatha Ananta' one can go on presenting instances where people who wear their Sangh lineage on their sleeves had no compunction in even occupying land meant for Dalits for years together ( Venkaiah Naidu) or making a beeline for plots at prime locations in Delhi under fictitious trusts which were existing on mere paper. It is a different matter that RSS still has the audacity to call itself an organization committed to character building.
While all such examples have definitely put a question mark over the moral high ground occupied by the RSS, the Sangh Patriarchs seem to be more disturbed with what can be called 'Sanjay Joshi Phenomenon'. The world very well knows how this powerful general secretary of the BJP ( loaned to it by RSS) had to make a ignominious exit recently when he was eased out of his responsibilities. The immediate cause for his exit because of a CD scandal, which refused to get settled despite his getting a 'clean chit' by the MP state government.
For the uninitiated it might be told that Sanjay Joshi, who happened to be a senior Pracharak of the RSS, who was 'loaned' to the BJP some years back, faced axe on the eve of the silver jubilee celebrations of the party last year. The immediate cause for this action was the circulation of a CD, which allegedly showed him (or a lookalike) with a woman in a compromising position. Later he was given a clean chit by the MP government, supposedly after conducting an enquiry. Although he was promptly rehabilitated in the party, doubts continued to linger over the way the enquiry was hushed up. It is learnt that recently when new 'facts' relating to the CD episode came up, the party decided to ease him out of his responsibilities to save itself from further embarrassment.
Very few people would know that the whole CD exposure was an intra-Parivar affair and none from the 'pseudo-secularist' camp was even blamed for it. A leading think tank of the RSS, M.G. Vaidya, in a signed article in a Marathi daily 'Tarun Bharat' had even written that the Sangh Patriarchs know who is behind the episode and if they wish the wrongdoers could be paid in the same coin. There were unconfirmed reports that the whole sting operation was done at the behest of the Chief Minister of a neighbouring state and one of his close female confidants supposedly to settle scores with Joshi. It was worth noting that a compromise within the 'warring factions' could be reached only after Mohan Bhagwat, another senior leader of the RSS intervened and settled the matter.
Looking at the secretive nature of the organization and the clandestine manner in which it functions, there is no way one could get to know what conclusions have been drawn by the RSS patriarchs over the whole issue of 'moral degeneration'. Looking at the fact that Sanjay Joshi episode continued to simmer more than a year after the CD was made public, one can gather that the rot runs quite deep and the Parivar bosses are still looking for answers.
Close watchers of the Sangh trajectory would vouch that the sting operation was rather a tip of the iceberg. It was worth noting that in the immediate aftermath of the 'ceasefire' reached between the warring factions of the Parivar, in connection with the Sanjay Joshi episode, 'Tehelka' did a story, where it provided details of an anonymous CD making rounds in the Sangh hierarchy, which allegedly showed another of its senior leaders in poor light.
Interestingly while the 'moral degeneration' of the leaders might have become a cause of concern of late, it cannot be said that it is a recent phenomenon. Balraj Madhok, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, in his autobiography provides details of the lifestyles of senior leaders. Madhok, in his autobiography Zindagi Ka Safar, published in three parts presents vivid description of the way senior leaders functioned then and the manner in which the top bosses of the RSS, namely Golwalkar dealt with issues involving moral turpitude..
Balraj Madhok writes :
Some time back when I was the President of the Jana Sangh, Jagadish Prasad Mathur, in-charge of the Central Office, who was staying with a senior leader at 30, Rajendra Prasad Road, had complained to me that the leader had turned that house into a den of immoral activities There everyday new girls were coming. Now water was flowing above heads. So as a senior leader of Jana Sangh I have dared to bring to your notice this fact. I had some information about character of the leader, but situation had deteriorated that much, I did not know. (Balraj Madhok, Zindagi Ka Safar – 3 : Deendayal Upadhyaya Ki Hatya Se Indira Gandhi Ki Hatya Tak, Delhi : Dinmaan Prakashan, 20003, p.22)
He further provides details about Golwalkar's reaction to the whole episode as Madhok had discovered then that senior leadership of the RSS was bent upon making this particular leader President of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Discussing his meeting with Golwalkar, he tells :
After listening to my talk he kept quiet for some time and then said –' I am in the know of the weaknesses of the character of these people. But I have to run an organization. I have to take everybody together, so like Shiva I drink poison everyday.(ibid p.62)
III.
Looking at the crisis of legitimacy, which the RSS is facing because of the moral degradation of its cadres, it deemed it necessary to present itself as 'moral exemplars of the nation' supposedly to lift the morale of its cadres and also repackage itself as a 'moderate' 'nationalist' organization. And the birth anniversary of its second Supremo called Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar alias Guruji happened to be just that occasion.
Since the birth centenary celebrations are moving towards completion, a question can naturally be asked whether it proved successful in 'repackaging itself' or it inadvertently opened up many questions before itself and is still struggling for answers. With hindsight one can say that it has been a mixed experience. While it could present a sanitized version of its activities or a defanged version of the second supreme before the masses with a lot of gusto, it has opened a pandora's box before itself as well. Reason being the impossibility of presenting repacked version of Golwalkar, the second Supremo, which would fit into the mood of the 21 st century. How could they carve out a 'Saint' from person who yearned for anti-human solutions to human problems, one who kept himself as well as the organization away from the surging anti-colonial struggle of the Indian masses, who was not only an unashamed supporter of Nazism and Fascism and till the end of his life who yearned for a society based on Manu's edicts.
IV.
RSS the biggest 'cultural' organisation on the face of the earth has had five supremos 'Sarsanghchalaks' since its inception. Starting from founder member Hedgewar and leading upto KS Sudarshan the present incumbent, the interregnum was filled by Golwalkar, Deoras and Rajendra Singh. If one takes a synoptic view of each of these periods then one can definitely discern the definitive impact each of them has had on the organisation. Ofcourse none of them proved as controversial as the second incumbent namely Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar whose birth centenary is being celebrated by his followers this year.
Coming to Golwalkar, his biographers tell us that Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar got the alias Guruji for his brief stint in the zoology department of Banaras Hindu University in the early thirties as a teacher. We are also told that he was a latecomer to the RSS, as he was more keen to undertake a spiritual journey via the Ramakrishna Mission. Despite his late entry to the organisation, he earned the confidence of the founder-member Hedgewar in a very short time supposedly because of his brilliance and sharpness of logic. It was logical that when the supremo breathed his last, he left a note asking his followers to make him the next Supremo.(1940) Golwalkar carried on with this responsibilities for a span of 33 years till his death, a period which saw lot of turmoil within the organisation and also witnessed a consolidation and expansion of the same via a network of organisations.
Insiders to the organisation as well as many external wathchers agree to the fact that he could be considered the key figure who provided a theoretical background to the project of Hindutva and laid down the seeds of the vast organisational network. As of now the plethora of anushangik ( affiliated) organisations which owe allegiance to the ideology of Hindutva would run in hundreds, each catering to a section of society. Scholars as well as activists, who may posit themselves diametrically opposite vis-a-vis the weltanshauung of this Hindu Supremacist organisation , also need to study in detail the way an organisation which was on the margins of Indian society for a long time could reach the centrestage of Indian politics. One still remembers how RSS people were made a butt of jokes in popular culture in Maharashtra especially --Marathi dramas in late sixties-early seventies - mainly because of their remaining limited to Brahmins or their insistence on mechanical style discipline. It is true that this era in RSS history it is long passe.
Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar spanned a period in world history, which could be said to be unique in many ways. It was a period when Nazism-Fascism was ready to swamp the whole of Western Europe, a period when national liberation struggles in many of the third world countries were near culmination and the great experiments of Socialist construction undertaken in Soviet Russia coupled with the rising tide of communist led militant movements were proving to be a defining characteristics of the era.
Retrospectively one can say that it was such a juncture in world history when the old world of feudalism, colonialism, was crumbling down and a new world was emerging. And it would not be incorrect to state that due to his peculiar weltanschauung which yearned for building a Hindu Rashtra based on the 'glorious traditions of Hinduism' and which looked towards Muslims as bigger adversary vis-a-vis British colonialism and which sought inspiration from the experiments in 'social engineering' undertaken by Nazism-Fascism, he completely failed to have a pulse on the march of history. In fact due to his intransigence he not only kept himself personally aloof from the surging anti-colonial struggle but also did not chalk out any positive programme for his organisation to participate in it.
As already mentioned the first of his theoretical contributions for the cause of Hindutva appeared in the form of a pamphlette called 'We or Our Nationhood Defined' (1938). It was so straightforward in its appreciation of the 'ethnic cleansing' of Jews undertaken by Hitler and such an unashamed proponent of the submergence of 'foreign races' in the Hindu race that later day RSS leaders have tried to create an impression that the said book was not written by Golwalkar but it was merely a translation of a book 'Rashtra Meemansa' by Babarao Savarkar.
It is a different matter that in his Preface to We or Our Nationhood Defined dated March 22, 1939, Golwalkar himself described Rashtra Meemansa as 'one of my chief sources of inspiration and help. The American scholar Jean A. Curran who did a full length study on RSS in early fifties, in his sympathetic book, Militant Hinduism in Indian Politics: A Study of the RSS (1951) confirms that Golwalkar's 77-page book was written in 1938 when he was appointed RSS General Secretary by Hedgewar and he calls it as RSS's 'Bible'.A. G. Noorani in his famous book ' The RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labour, {Pgs. 18-39} Leftword Books) also tells us that :Rajendra Singh and Bhaurao Deoras made an authoritative statement on that book in Para 10 of their 1978 application: 'With a view to give a scientific base to propagate the idea India being (sic) historically from time immemorial a Hindu Nation, late Shri M.S. Golwalkar had written a book entitled, "We or Our Nationhood Defined",' In Para 7 they 'placed on record' his book Bunch of Thoughts (1966) in order 'to clarify and understand the true purpose, the exact nature, the ambit and scope of the RSS work… and its activities.'
A quote from the 77 paged book would be opportune at this moment.
"The foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must loose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment — not even citizen's rights. There is, at least, should be, no other course for them to adopt. We are an old nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do deal, with the foreign races, who have chosen to live in our country".
( Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar's, We or Our Nationhood Defined)
A third arena where Golwalkar proved much behind his times was his love for Manusmriti's edicts. When leaders of newly independent India were struggling to have a constitution which was premised on the inviolability of individual rights with special provisions of positive discrimination for millions of Indians who had been denied any human rights quoting religious scriptures, it was Golwalkar again who espoused the same Manusmriti as independent India's constitution.'Organiser' ( November 30, 1949, p.3) the organ of RSS complained :
But in our constitution there is no mention of the unique constitutional developments in ancient Bharat. Manu's laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing.
When attempts were made under the stewardship of Ambedkar and Nehru in late forties to give limited rights to Hindu women in property and inheritance through the passage of the Hindu Code Bill , Golwalkar and his associates had no qualms in launching a movement opposing this historic empowerment of hindu women which was to take place for the first time in history. Their contention was simple : This step is inimical to Hindu traditions and culture.
It was late '60s when Maharashtra witnessed a massive mobilisation of people, cutting across party lines, which was precipitated by a controversial interview given by Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, the then Supremo (Sarsanghchalak) of RSS, to a Marathi daily Navakal Golwalkar in this interview had extolled the virtues of Chaturvarnya (the division of the Hindus in four Varnas) and had also glorified Manusmriti, the ancient edicts of the Hindus.
IV
Delhi will host a Grand Programme to commemorate the birth anniversary of Golwalkar on the 18 th of February. In fact this massive programme is a culmination of the yearlong celebrations of the birth anniversary of the second Supremo, which started with a colorful programme held on 24 th February in Nagpur last year. We very well know that a team of 122 members, belonging to different spheres of social life, besides 53 prominent saints and spiritual leaders of the country as patrons, had been constituted for the birth-centenary year celebrations.
Vice President of India, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat would preside over the function and many other dignitaries would speak on the occasion. As we know it had been decided to have 'social harmony' (samajik samrasta) as central theme of the yearlong celebrations during which Hindu rallies were organised at the block level all over the country
For the followers of Golwalkar the birth anniversary of one of their Pratasmaraniya ( worth remembering in the morning) icons has also been an occasion to revisit that period during which the second supremo held sway. And surprisingly they are not finding themselves much comfortable with it for various reasons. It is evident in the way in which on the one hand they are lauding him for his 'contributions' but are also simultaneously engaged in surreptiously sanitising him and presenting him before the guillible public under a more acceptable, humane face.
Ofcourse not that they have second thoughts about the vision espoused by him, rather they have continued to show their adherence to it by organising the 'successful experiment' in Gujarat in 2002. The only problem they have is the presentation of the vision. Looking at his controversial pronouncements from time to time on various issues of social-political concern and his transcending the 'calculated ambiguity' on many a occasions which is a hallmark of the organisation which he built, it is not surprising that he has always come under barrage of attack from all those people/groups/organisations who differed with the weltanshaaung of the RSS or who oppose/d the project of Hindutva on various grounds.
The feverish and foolish attempts undertaken by the Swayamsevaks to show that Golwalkar was not the author but basically the translator of the controversial book , the way in which they are engaged in presenting concocted proofs to show that they did participate in the independence movement ( while their very own Golwalkar Guruji had the audacity to make a fun of the tremendous sacrifices made by the people in the anti colonial struggle)or the way they have dedicated the year long celebrations in his honour to the cause of 'social harmony' all goes to show their keenness to present the Second Supremo in a Sanitised form.
Their eagerness to present a more palatable Golwalkar was also evident when they went in for presenting a 'filmy' version of Golwalkar. Directed by ex-MP Nitish Bharadwaj ('Mahabharat' fame) the film tells us that it is a myth to say that RSS kept itself away from freedom struggle and in fact it had decided in its high level meeting to participate wholeheartedly in the struggle. (It is a different matter that till date one has not yet discovered a single freedom fighter who owed allegiance to RSS brand of Hindutva). If one goes by this bollywoodian version of Sangh trajectory, you would know that Congress government led by Nehru had made frantic calls to the Sangh bosses for Gandhi's safety and a team of Swayamsevaks in fact happened to be brave enough to volunteer for his security.
V
Definitely no less troubling are Golwalkar's ideas around 'Hindu Experiments in Cross-breeding' which extolled North Indian Brahmins at the cost of the rest of the Hindus themselves and in fact propagates an idea that India had a superior race or breed of Hindus and also an inferior race of Hindus, which needed to be improved through cross-breeding.
In his address to the School of Social Science of Gujarat University on December 17, 1960 ( Organiser, January 2, 1961, p.5) he formulated this racist thesis.
Today experiments in cross-breeding are made only on animals. But the courage to make such experiments on human beings is not shown even by the so-called modern scientist of today. If some human cross-breeding is seen today it is the result not of scientific experiments but of carnal lust. Now let us see the experiments our ancestors made in this sphere. In an effort to better the human species through cross-breeding the Namboodri Brahamanas of the North were settled in Kerala and a rule was laid down that the eldest son of a Namboodri family would marry only the daughter of Vaishya, Kshatriya or Shudra communities of Kerala. Another still more courageous rule was that trhe first off-spring of a married woman of any class must be fathered by a Namboodri Brahmin and then she could beget children by her husband. Today this experiment would be called adultery, but it was not so, as it as limited to the first child.
As rightly noted by Dr. Shamsul Islam, in his book 'Golwalkar's We Or Our Nationhood Defined A Critique' ( 2006, Pharos Media, Delhi.pp. 30-31) 'The above statement of Golwalkar is highly derogatory in many respects. Firstly, it proves that Golwalkar believed that India had a superior race or breed of Hindus and also an inferior race of Hindus'..'Secondly, a more worrying aspect was the belief that only the Brahmins of the North, specifically Namboodri Brahmanas, belonged to a superior race."
Whatever may be the ideas of every justice loving person about the anti-human core of Golwalkar, his continued valorization in the Sangh circles reminds one of a Sanskrit proverb : Nirastapadapedeshe Erandopi Drumayate! (In a treeless country even castor counts for a big tree!)
- Contact : subhash.gatade@gmail.com
Labels: Article
posted by Resistance 19.2.07,
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Four Andhra policemen injured naxal attack in Orissa
18 February, 2007
Malkangiri: Four policemen from Andhra Pradesh were injured when Maoists triggered four landmine blasts in Poplur area of Malkangiri district on Saturday evening.
The incident occurred when the policemen of both Andhra Pradesh and Orissa were carrying out a joint combing operation in the area in the wake of the ongoing panchayat polls.
The blasts took place around 5-30 p.m. when the joint police team was moving ahead on the road between Dankarai and Poplur village under Chitrakonda police station limits of the district.
As the injured police personnel had sustained grievous injuries, they were rushed to a hospital in Visakhapatnam.
However, polling in the third phase of panchayat elections in the region was not affected by the naxal violence. About 60 per cent voters cast their votes.
Malkangiri district has been witnessing increasing naxalite attacks in the recent weeks.
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Labels: CPI(Maoist), News, Orissa
posted by Resistance 18.2.07,
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Anniversary of Naxal Varghese martydom today
KALPETTA: The 37th anniversary of martyrdom of Naxal Varghese, the revolutionary who was killed by police in the Thirunelli forests, would be observed on Sunday.
According to the district committee of the CPI-ML (Red Flag), PN Salimkumar, leader of the organisation, would hoist the flag at the martyr’s column at Ozhukkanmoola, near Mananthavadi on Sunday morning.
State leaders of the organisation PC Unni-checkan, KT Kunhikkannan, Vijayan Kuzhiveli and Kunnel Krishnan would participate in the public function to be organised at the Gandhi Park, Mananthavadi, on Sunday evening.
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Labels: Kerala
posted by Resistance 18.2.07,
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Four killed in Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh
15 February, 2007
Raipur, Feb 15 (IANS) A trooper was killed while defusing a bomb while three members of the Chhattisgarh government backed civil militia movement Salwa Judum were gunned down in overnight clashes with Maoists, police said Thursday.
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"A CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) constable was killed and another cop injured seriously when a tiffin bomb went off during defusing process Wednesday night in a forested stretch of Dantewada," said Bastar Range Inspector General R.K. Vij.
In the other incident, militants shot dead three Salwa Judum activists in Bijapur area.
Salwa Judum (Campaign for Peace) was launched in June 2005 to wipe out leftist insurgents holding sway in Bastar region for past three decades.
Maoists, who launched a violent movement in 1967 from a West Bengal village, claim to fight for the rights of poor peasants and landless workers.
Chhattisgarh is one of the worst Maoist hit 13 Indian states, accounting for 48 percent casualties of 749 Maoist-violence related deaths in India in 2006, says the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR).
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Labels: chhattisgarh, CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Resistance 15.2.07,
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14 advanced anti-Naxal bases set up in Chhattisgarh
New Delhi, Feb. 14 (PTI): In a bid to curb escalation of Naxal violence in Chhattisgarh, 14 advanced anti-Naxalite bases have been established in the targeted areas to provide security to people.
Security training to Village Defence Societies were being imparted at a few places as part of serious anti-Naxalite operations, according to State Director General of Police O P Rathor.
The Naxal problem in the state came in for a detailed review at a recent meeting of the Task Force on naxalism in the Union Home Ministry and it was found that barring Chhattisgarh, the situation was under control in other states.
Senior officials in the MHA dealing with Naxalism issue explained that Chhattisgarh accounted for rise in number of incidents and casualties in view of greater offensive by the ultras to derail 'Salwa Judum' movement against them.
The Centre has asked the state to streamline inter-state operations against naxalites, share intelligence and fine tuning action plans, besides filling up vacancies in the police in a time-bound manner, ensuring optimum utilisation of funds for police modernisation and speeding up investigation and prosecution.
Rathor said security measures had been tightened and development activities geared up under a two-pronged strategy suggested by the security establishment to deal with the menace.
"Development agencies have been geared up and Bastar Vikas Pradhikaran has taken a number of decisions to develop infrastructure in the areas," he said.
Labels: chhattisgarh, CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Bimal 15.2.07,
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‘Naxal violence under control’
14 February, 2007
NEW DELHI, FEB 13: While reviewing the status of naxal violence in the country, the home ministry on Tuesday said, except for Chhattisgarh, violence in other parts of the country was well under control. The exception was attributed to the naxalite attempt to derail the Salwa Judum movement against them in the state.
“During the meeting of the Task Force, which was also attended by nodal officers of nine naxal-hit states, it was found that barring Chhattisgarh, the situation was under control in other states,” a highly placed source in the ministry said.
The taskforce headed by the ministry's additional secretary (naxalism) Vinay Kumar, however, suggested the states streamline inter-state operations against naxalites, share intelegence and fine-tune their action plans to uproot the menace. The affected states were asked to fill up police vacancies in a time-bound manner and ensure optimum utilisation of funds for its modernisation. They also need to speed up investigation and prosecution of naxal leaders, it was felt.
The meeting of the Task Force, interestingly, comes ahead of the meeting of the empowered Group of Ministers (e-GoM) on naxalism here on February 19. The eGoM, headed by Union home minister Shivraj Patil, comprises finance minister P Chidambaram and chief ministers of affected states as members. The meeting is expected to make an in-depth study of reasons behind the naxalism and suggest ways to check it.
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Labels: CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Resistance 14.2.07,
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Chief vows training, not raid
Ranchi, Feb. 13: General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Command Lieutenant-general O.P. Nandrajog today confirmed that though the army would give technical training to the state’s armed police in combat operations, it will not participate in the anti-Naxalite raids.He said the rebel outfits operating in Jharkhand and other parts of the country had close links with Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
“The ISI activities along the Indo-Nepal border in Bihar and Indo-Bangladesh border in Jharkhand and Bangladesh pose a serious threat to our national security,” he said.The governments of the concerned states should work out effective ways to combat the menace, he proposed.In a 45-minute meeting with chief minister Madhu Koda, Nandrajog focussed on wide-ranging issues, including the local operational problems of the army and the welfare of service personnel.
Rehabilitation of retired service personnel, transfer of army lands for the expansion of Birsa Munda Airport, the dispute over field-firing ranges, training to the state police and setting up of a new military cantonment in the state, too, were discussed at length.
The government offered to mediate army’s land negotiations with the villagers. “We have been giving regular training to the police since 2006. Eliminating the disruptive forces is the duty of the state machinery. We are here to support them. But, the army will not directly join the operations. The army is doing its job well at the borders,” he added.
So long, the army has been giving training to 500 JAP personnel every year. During his meeting with the GoC-in-C, the chief minister proposed that the annual strength of JAP trainees should be raised to 1,000. He also proposed to start a new public school in Hazaribagh.
“My meeting with the army commander was cordial. He gave me positive assurances. I, too, agreed to form an auxiliary police force with the retired service personnel. This has already been done in Bihar and Orissa. The villagers need to understand that they will face an employment problem if the army takes away its training centres from the state. We will work out amicable solutions through mutual talks. Nandrajog also agreed to transfer army lands for the expansion of the Birsa Munda Airport,” said Koda.
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Labels: CPI(Maoist), Jharkhand, News
posted by Resistance 14.2.07,
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Onwards to the First Conference,
Anti-Displacement Front
March 22nd, 23rd 2007, Ranchi,Jharkhand
In Lieu of an Invitation
Heaven is a forest of miles and miles of Mohua trees
And hell is a forest of miles and miles of Mohua trees with a forest guard in it.
--A popular saying of the Muria Adivasi of Bastar, Chhattisgarh
Whatever contributes to assimilating people to Nature is a dangerous threat… At least that has been the lesson, of any discernible reading of the history of humankind. Here too, in the South Asian sub-continent, the experiences of the vast sections of the people have not been an exception. Specifically, after the advent of British colonialism…
Post-1947, there has hardly been any difference in the experiences of the people of the sub-continent. "If you are to suffer, you should suffer in the interest of our country", this was what Jawaharlal Nehru asked the villagers, while laying the foundation stone of the Hirakud dam in Sambalpur, Orissa. Hirakud, or the dam at Bhakra, Nehru termed these 'temples of modern India'. Ever since then, through the years of the so-called 'green revolution', canal irrigation cultivation, introduction of cash crops and hybrid variety of seeds we have daily proof that we create our world against Nature for want of profit. That people are forced to be the mute recipients of this expropriation of wealth in the name of development; of creating a new world out of Nature that is useful for a few rich and powerful. Even the most conservative estimate of the Government of India in 1994, after lot of jugglery with statistics, had to admit that more than 10 million (1 crore) people are still to be rehabilitated displaced by dams, mines, deforestation and other 'development projects'.
Today this logic of creating a world against Nature have taken the most aggressive turn; voluminous in its scope of exploitation and destruction; murderous in its reach in that it ravages the lives and livelihoods of lakhs and lakhs of peoples. The tall claims of Special Economic Zones as havens of employment generation and productivity with legal provisions totally different from the law of the land is further evidence of recolonisation of the land and its people for brutal exploitation of imperialist and local capital. The innumerous Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) that are being signed by the GoI with various monopolies for mining in Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand are open invitations to loot and plunder the natural resources for the predatory needs of the market.
The grand design to construct mega-dams in hundreds across the sub-continent so as to generate power to sell it to the far-east market and massive super highways to access every nook and cranny of the region to the reach of big capital will without fail ravage various cultures, memories, lives and livelihoods of these peoples. Not to say, this package to loot and plunder the wealth of these regions will pit the various peoples in this region against each other.
Big labour, big industry and big capital have forced the people of the sub-continent to adjust and be assimilated in accordance to its needs. These experiences legitimized with it a history of exploitation, of domination, of considering human beings as 'human resources'. Significantly, the use of the word 'human resources' confirms the dangerous threat of forcing people to comply with the needs of imperialism and its domestic lackeys. The poorest and the most vulnerable become easy targets. The tribal whether in Orissa, Jharkhand, Arunachal or Meghalaya and the worker in the small scale sector in Delhi, Mumbai or Calcutta, the landless agricultural labourer in Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh or Andhra Pradesh and even the small and middle peasant in Punjab, Haryana, Vidharbha and Andhra Pradesh all are classified, registered alongside the mineral, vegetal and animal resources. Mind you, people so designated are not the aim of production, but its raw material.
From Polavaram to Tipaimukh, from Nandigram, Singur Shalgoni, Dadri to Vidharbha, from Kalinganagar, Kashipur to Chhattisgarh and North Andhra and Telengana and Karnataka this language is not deceptive: as we all know, resources are to be exploited, and in our world they are bound to be destroyed. The struggle has increasingly become between two worlds in opposition: that of the world of the greatest number of people labeled as 'natural resources' and the world of those who treat them as such.
The reckoning of the hour is to forge an uncompromising resistance at the ground level while building a massive public opinion against this politics of loot and plunder in the name of development. At the South Asian and international level. It is important and inevitable that the resistance be forged at as many levels as possible. As you may know, a process towards building a mighty resistance against these displacements under the garb of 'development' has been initiated. The first preparatory meeting was at Ranchi, in Jharkhand on the 20, 21 st of January 2007. Over 100 organizations and individuals are part of this process to build a massive people's resistance against all forms of displacement at the South Asian level.
The first conference of this Anti-Displacement Front will be on the 22nd, 23rd of March 2007 at Ranchi, Jharkhand. We invite you to be part of and hence strengthen this process.
No to Displacement! No to Rehabilitation!
Only Change with Equity & Justice!
On behalf of the Preparatory Committee, Against Displacement, Dr. B D Sharma & G N Saibaba
Email:notodisplace@rediffmail.com, fightdisplacement@hotmail.com, Phones: 011-24353997, 9910455993.
Labels: Anti-Displacement Front, Statement
posted by Resistance 14.2.07,
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Naxalite Movement in Bihar: A Domino Effect of Nepal?
The Maoists (also known as Naxalites) in India are emboldened by the recent success of their Nepalese counterpart, who emerged as a legitimate power center after a decade of protracted people’s war. The effects are already visible in Bihar, the neighboring Indian State. Despite convoluted security arrangement by the Bihar Police, partial successful of the Bandh (general strike) on Oct. 30, 2006, by the Maoists indicated that they are capable enough to strike at their will. The Naxalites have managed to blow up a forest bungalow and triggered a mine near Chamua railway station on the Narkatiaganj-Gorakhpur section under the Samastipur division of the East Central Railway in West Champaran district of Bihar. The blast damaged a 200-metre stretch of the track leading to the derailment of the engine and six bogies of a passenger train.
The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) had called a 24-hour bandh in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh from Oct. 29, 2006-midnight to Oct. 30, 2006-midnight to protest the recent arrest of their leaders Narendra alias Osho in West Champaran district of Bihar and Sheela Marandi at Raniganj in Jharkhand. The strike by the Maoists spread over four States had affected general transport services. In Sitamarhi district, armed cadres of the CPI-Maoist set ablaze three private buses. Armed cadres descended on Balua- Gausnagar village under Runni Saidpur police station and set on fire three private buses parked in front of the house of former Sitamarhi block development committee chief Rameshwar Yadav. Of late, Railway has become a soft target of the Maoists. Despite Bihar Chief Minster, Nitish Kumar's fervent appeal to lay down arms and join the mainstream society, the Maoists continue to blow up railway tracks, police outposts and loot banks
Bihar is a fertile ground for the breeding of Naxalites due to poor governance, complex social structure, chronic poverty and formation of private armies. Starting their movement against feudal forces in early 1970s from Bhojpur, the Naxalites under the banner of erstwhile MCC (Maoist Communist Centre) and PW (People’s War) are now active in over 33 Bihar’s 38 districts and operate three fronts- CPI-Maoist, New Democracy and CPI (ML-Malay group). Apart from these groups Nepalese Maoists make their presence in the State taking advantage of 700 kilometers of porous border between India and Nepal. Although security personnel are manning the boarder, it is not possible to check the movements of the Nepalese Maoists in the border areas because of forests and inhospitable terrain. Districts like East and West Champaran, Sitamarhi and Sheohar in North Bihar have been facing a spurt in Maoist violence ever since the Maoists have become active in Nepal. However, according to a reliable sources, the Maoists of Nepal, India and Bangladesh use the Dharan-Biratnagar (Nepal)-Supaul-Purnia (Bihar, India) –via chicken neck of West Bengal-Dinajpur (Bangladesh) route to coordinate themselves for a ‘United Front’ against India.
However, despite peace talks with the seven party alliance and commitment to the Democracy, the Nepalese Maoists in a joint resolution together with its South Asian counterparts have vowed to “advance revolutions for the seizure of power by armed force” and "turn South Asia into a flaming field of Maoist revolutions." At the fourth conference of the Coordination Committee of the Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA) in Aug. 2006, somewhere in Nepal, the Maoists of the South Asian counties vowed to advance the armed struggle for the seizure of power in the respective countries. General Secretary of Nepal Communist Party (Unity Centre, Masal), Mohan Bikram Singh, on Oct. 31 pointed out that the CPN-Maoist as one of the most unreliable political forces in Nepal and they would do anything to come to power. They once announced to dig bunkers to launch tunnel war against India but they have now established intimate relations with India to go to power, he added.
As India grapples with a difficult internal security situation in the wake of continuing Maoist attacks, the ‘United Front’ effort by the Asian Maoist outfits in general and linkages between the Nepalese Maoists and its Indian counterparts in particular have remained a cause of concern for India. The concern is obvious due to 1,690 kilometers of porous border with Nepal. In addition, internal security is in constant threat due to ideological, strategic and organisational linkages between the CPI-Maoist and the CPN-Maoist and misuse by the terrorist outfits. In late September, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Shriprakash Jaiswal expressed apprehensions that terrorists could sneak into the country through the open Indo-Nepal border. The evidence of linkages are also confirmed by the annual report of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) of India for the year 2004-05, which states that arms belonging to Nepali Maoists are finding their way to the underworld.
As a result, any qualitative development in the Maoists movement in Nepal has significant implications for India. A document on ‘objectionable’ moderate approach and its damage to the Maoists movement in Andhra Pradesh was circulated among the Indian cadres. They felt that the party should have followed the ‘militant’ line as practised by the Maoists in Nepal and the LTTE in Sri Lanka. A document of CPI (Maoist) titled "New Challenges: Our Perspectives", meant for internal circulation, has emphasised the need for an evaluation of the Indian scenario, and, then redefine its strategies and field tactics. With modernization of its weaponry by procuring new sophisticated weapons, the Indian Maoists are closely monitoring the developments in Nepal. The Maoists victory in Nepal has strengthened the morale of Indian counterpart to accelerate the activities in India.
While the Maoists in India are all set to start a United Front with the support of its South Asian counter parts, the state responses to the menace is incoherence and lackadaisical. Even the formation of Naxalite Coordination Committee and the Task Force comprising nodal officers of the nine Naxal-affected states have failed to coordinate between the states. Apart from so called multi-pronged actions against the Maoists, the authorities should take all necessary steps to check external influence over the Maoists.
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Labels: Article, Bihar, CPI(Maoist)
posted by Resistance 14.2.07,
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Karnataka naxal movement splits
K. Srinivas Reddy
HYDERABAD: Sharp differences over the Maoist strategy of area-wise seizure of power led to a split in the naxalite party operating in Karnataka.
The ideologues, who disagreed with the Maoist principle of intensifying the revolution in rural areas first and then spreading it to urban centres, have floated a new party named the Maoist Coordination Committee (MCC).
The split in Karnataka has obviously turned out to be an `unpalatable' development for the party leaders, as it comes in the backdrop of intensified efforts to unite smaller naxalite parties in the country. With a majority of the cadres in Karnataka quitting the parent party and joining the MCC, the ideologues are worried. The name of the leader who engineered the split has not yet been announced. He is stated to be making serious attempts to contact the leaders in other states and mass organisations to woo them back into the MCC fold.
Alarmed over this, the CPI (Maoist) Polit Bureau has recently written to all its party members in the country `to expose their opportunistic and disruptionist activities'.
Sources say the split was discussed at length at the recent Polit Bureaumeeting held from November 16 to 24, 2006. The meeting attended by central committee secretary Ganapathi decided to step up efforts to convince their cadres on the futility of the `new line'.
The meeting felt that the central committee had failed to initiate steps to stem the dissent and ideological disagreements had accentuated after the killing of Saketh Rajan (February 6, 2005).
Maoist activity in varying intensities is seen in Bidar, Gulbarga, Bellary, Raichur, Shimoga, Chikmagalur, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Kodagu, Tumkur and Kolar.
Labels: CPI(Maoist), Karnataka, News
posted by Resistance 14.2.07,
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FIFTEENTH MEETING OF TASK FORCE ON NAXALISM HELD
13 February, 2007
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The trends of overall naxal situation during the year 2006 were discussed in detail with the nodal officers. The naxal violence in all the States, except in Chhattisgarh has been under control. The increase in naxal violence in Chhattisgarh was due to greater offensive by naxal outfits to derail Salva Judum. The States were able to improve police response and maintain pressure on naxal groups and degrade their infrastructure.
After detailed discussion, the States were requested to further streamline inter-State joint operations, pinpointed intelligence collection and sharing, fine tune action plans wherever required, fill up vacancies in State Police in naxal areas in a time-bound manner, ensure full utilization of funds under the Police Modernisation Scheme, giving special emphasis on investigation and prosecution of cases of naxal leaders/cadres etc. Under the Police Modernization Scheme, Rs. 385 Crores have been sanctioned for naxal affected States during this year. Another Rs. 100 Crores are also being released for them.
posted by Resistance 13.2.07,
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Maoist shadow over first phase
Bhubaneswar/Malkangiri: Over 58.88 lakh people would vote in the first phase panchayti polls on Tuesday in 22,252 polling centres. Elections to the office of 203 zilla parishad members out of the total 854 would be held in (he first phase in which 836 candidates including 297 women are in the fray. Security arrangements have been strengthened in areas which are going to polls in ihe first phase.
Pairouing has been increased in sensitive and very sensitive areas. Additional police arrangements have been made in the Naxaliie-affected area. The left wing ultras have given a call for boycotts of poll in their strongholds. Polls would be held in two zilla parishad zones each in Malkangiri and Deogarh districts, nine in Kionjhar and 1 zones in Mayurbhanj district.
Meanwhile, a Maoist was killed following an encounter with ihe police in Kurub forest area in Malkangiri district on Monday. A contingent of Special Operations Group (SOG) and the CRPF was on its way towards Badigata under Kalimda police station area for Tuesday's pandiayat polls when the Naxalites opened fired on them
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Labels: CPI(Maoist), News, Orissa
posted by Resistance 13.2.07,
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Maoist killed on eve of Orissa polls
Malkangiri: A suspected Maoist was killed in Malkangiri district on the eve of the three-tier panchayat polls in Orissa on Monday. The first phase of the polls is scheduled to be held on Tuesday.
The incident took place around 9-30 a.m. when a police party was heading for the Badigata polling booth under Kalimela police station of Malkangiri. A polling party expected to follow the police team later in the day.
As the extremists opened fire at the policemen from inside the Kurup forests, the security personnel fired at them killing the extremist on the spot. The exchange of fire between the extremists and the security personnel continued for nearly half-an-hour.
The police claimed to have recovered grenade, explosives, literatures, kit bags and polythene sheets from the spot.
Sources said that more number of extremists may have been injured in police firing in the encounter.
The Maoists had earlier given a call for boycotting the panchayat polls in the region.
The incident has created panic among the polling parties that were to conduct the polls at different polling booths in the naxal-infested areas on Tuesday.
The naxalites had killed a Havildar of the Central Reserve Police Force on January 26. The police had then intensified their combing operation and arrested several suspected Maoists.
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Labels: CPI(Maoist), News, Orissa
posted by Resistance 13.2.07,
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Six Maoists arrested in ChhattisgarhBy
Raipur, Feb 12 (IANS) Six Maoist guerrillas were arrested and explosives seized in an overnight swoop on a militant stronghold in Chhattisgarh, said police officials Monday.
A police team combed the restive Narayanpur area near Abujhmad locality in the forested Bastar region Sunday night and arrested six members of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist).'Six rebels dressed up in Maoist uniform surrendered to the police after a brief gun-battle in their hideout.
We seized three tiffin bombs, one detonator, a 50-metre wire and Maoist literature from them,' Bastar range inspector-general R.K. Vij told IANS.Rebels had shot dead a tribal Sunday night in Ader village, under the Faresgarh police station in Bastar.Chhattisgarh is one of the worst Maoist-infested states in India. Just last week, rebels killed four security personnel and a civilian in a landmine blast in Bastar forest.
Of the 749 people killed in India in Maoist violence in 2006, Chhattisgarh reported almost half the total casualties, said an Asian Centre for Human Rights report in January.Copyright Indo-Asian News Service
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Labels: chhattisgarh, CPI(Maoist), News
posted by Resistance 13.2.07,
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Singur: 4 months that reduced CPM to a ‘minority'
12 February, 2007
Ishwardaha, Feb. 11: Four months — that is all it took a CPM stronghold to turn against the party and force its leaders into hiding.
“In November, Trinamul leaders formed the Baastu Krishi Jomi Banchao Committee cashing in on rumours of land acquisition. They capitalised on the farmer’s love for land. Most of our voters and many of our leaders have moved over to Trinamul since,” said Narayan Patra, a CPM supporter and husband of panchayat member Chandana.
The Patras returned to the village, 130 km from Calcutta, on Friday after several days in hiding because of the raging anti-acquisition movement.
They admit that the situation worsened because of the large-scale defection by the CPM’s grassroots members.
A villager said only 30-odd families out of the 1,500 at Ishwardaha supported Trinamul before the agitation began.
Bablu Laiya, once a CPM whole-timer, is among the many to have bolstered the Trinamul ranks since.
Shankar Kar, then the DYFI local committee secretary, is a leader of the committee now.
“After these leaders were brainwashed, they also took our supporters with them. Very soon, we panchayat members and our families became a minority,” said Anil Gayunia, who had won 70 per cent votes in the 2003 panchayat polls.
Observers said small farmers such as bargadars and pattadars, who do not have land of their own but till that of others, have been the driving force of the movement here.
Land records show that marginal farmers and a large number of bargadars, both recorded and unrecorded, primarily inhabit the 791-acre Ishwardaha mouza.
There are some 3,500 registered bargadars in Ishwardaha, a mouza with only 2,035 plots.
Over half the village — around 400 acres — is on the acquisition list for a multi-product special economic zone.
“The average size of holdings here is 40 decimels (about 26.6 cottahs). There are many who till others’ land but do not figure on government records. There are also those who till government land (pattadars) along the banks of the Haldi,” said an officer.
Over 75 per cent of Ishwardaha is single-crop, but the land is dear to its residents. “My husband and I till a four-bigha plot that belongs to another family. We grow khesari (a kind of pulses) in the season and do menial jobs the rest of the year. But the crop is important to us. We get 50 to 60 kg of dal,” said Basanti Gendi, wife of an unregistered bargadar.
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posted by Resistance 12.2.07,
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