The anti-national character of the Maoists was quite evident during the Independence Day celebration and in the run-up to it. In Bengal, they burnt the National Flag. In Bihar, they gave a call for boycott of the occasion. At some places in Bihar, people were forced to lower the national flag and were made to hoist black-flags.
Several schools in Maoist affected districts of Orissa i.e. Koraput, Malkhangiri, Ganjam and Kandhmahal did not celebrate Independence Day because of intimidation by the Maoists. In fact, Maoists blew up a school in Malkhangiri district.
In his Independence Day speech, the Prime Minister expressed his willingness to talk to the Maoists. Whom does he talk to?
On 14 August, the Maoists killed two security forces personnel in Chhattisgarh, who were on their way to participate in the Independence Day Parade.
The nexus between the Maoists and Pak ISI was exposed on 12 August with the arrest of six-middle men in Bangalore and Hyderabad. They revealed that ISI was using the gangster ‘Chota Shakeel’ as conduit to the Maoists. It has also been reported that Maoists are being trained in suicide terrorism in Kerala. On their target are some big political figures.
On 14 August in Chhattisgarh the Maoists torched six trucks legitimately carrying iron ore to a steel factory.
The moot question therefore is: are the Maoists ‘own people’ or ‘enemies of India’? If they are not enemies, then who in this age of terrorism and proxy war is an ‘enemy’.
The Maoists are plundering India psychologically, socially and economically. In Jharkhand, they are not even sparing pilgrims. Legitimate business and economic activities in the Maoist affected areas is gasping for breath, even as illegitimate economy of the Maoists, i.e., illegal mining and extortion thrives.
The security forces, especially the para-military, feel that they are being taken for ride. As it is, the ongoing operations against the Maoists is bedeviled by problems of leadership and lack of proper unified command.
Recently some apprehended members of a fledgling Maoist outfit ‘Jharkhand Army’ confessed that in the five months of their existence, they had mobilized about Rs.30 lacs by way of extortion. The magnitude of the extortion industry of the Maoists can therefore be extrapolated. Are the Maoists, therefore, criminals or revolutionaries?
The sad truth in this country is that gang of criminals who adopt the ‘Red Flag’ gain the respectability of revolutionaries. Political support and support of so called intellectuals and professional activists automatically follows.
Mamta’s recent rally in Lalgarh has brazenly exposed the nexus between some mainstream politicians and so called intellectuals, which include writers of fiction and self declared activists of all hues including saffron. They were roped in to impart respectability to the Maoists, which was blown into smithereens after the Maoist engineered derailment of the Gyaneshwari Express in Bengal in which 120 passengers were killed. As per sources, there were bitter arguments between the intellectuals and the Maoist leadership over targeting of passenger trains. The intellectuals argued that they were finding it difficult to defend the Maoists. The latter retorted that it was necessary to drive fear in order to establish control over the people and commercial activities in the region, and targeting goods trains did not yield the same dividends. The Maoist leadership however assured that the targeting of passenger train was an exception because of pressing exigencies in their scheme of things. It was then that the idea of a rally under the patronage of ‘intellectuals’ and politicians was decided.
In the rally, the issue of ‘killing of Azad’ was raised by Mamta, who called it ‘murder’. Thus, in one stroke she put the state and the Maoists on the same pedestal. The ‘intellectuals’ and ‘the activists’, echoed the same refrain from the podium. Not a word from them about Maoist victims!
The so-called intellectuals showed no signs of pangs of conscience that money and coercion was used by the Maoists to mobilize people for the rally. This was candidly admitted by one of the important Maoist leaders soon after the rally.
The motivations, source of funding and linkages of some of these ‘versatile intellectuals’ and ‘ubiquitous activists’ is established beyond doubt by the intelligence agencies, but the government is restrained to act against them for political reasons. In most countries, they would have been prosecuted for subversion.
Mamta’s alliance with the Maoists confounds the security forces. The rally in Lalgarh has in effect demoralized them. They very much doubt the government’s resolve to crush the Maoist menace.
The security forces, especially the para-military, feel that they are being taken for ride. As it is, the ongoing operations against the Maoists is bedeviled by problems of leadership and lack of proper unified command. The conflicting signals emanating from the government has diluted the ‘objective’ and ‘doubts’, have begun to cast shadow on the purpose and conviction of the security forces in their fight against the Maoists.
Click to Buy
Mamta’s Lalgarh rally cannot be condoned by the specious argument of ‘personal and political beliefs and agenda’. It is a failure of collective responsibility of the government towards its security forces.
The state machinery has so far failed to deliver security to the people in the ‘Red Corridor’ under various pretext and pretensions. Misplaced emphasis on intellectuals and activists by the media, and a part of the civil society and the government has allowed the Maoist terrorism to morph into ‘suicide terrorism’.
In his Independence Day speech, the Prime Minister expressed his willingness to talk to the Maoists. Whom does he talk to? When confronted with prospects of peace, such movements invariably crack-up into sub-movements, because of political and economic interests of various groups. In the case of Maoists, the stake is the huge illegal mining and extortion industry.
If the Prime Minister is willing to talk to the Maoists, he should extend the gesture to other criminal syndicates as well. If the Maoists are our ‘own people’, so are they.
The government and more importantly the civil society must treat the Maoists as the ‘enemy within’ and deal with them accordingly. No politician, no media, no intellectual, no activist and no human rights group should be allowed to further the life and scourge of Maoism on the Indian soil.
Please wait...
