Common Dreams

Lalgarh The Red fort

2008-11-17T19:09:00.001+05:30

When it comes to political leaders moving with a gun-toting entourage, there is little difference these days between Western Uttar Pradesh and the Maoist-affected areas of West Midnapore.
During my journalist friend's trip to Lalgarh, several encounters with the zonal leaders of the CPM proved that panic has struck the party hard ever since the tribal agitation began on November 5.
Those blessed with clout are granted security personnel from the state’s armed forces. The officials in the district administration confided that over 100 grassroots leaders now move with private protectors. The threat perception is said to be “real” from Maoists, who have strong pockets of influence in the region.
On way to Lalgarh, at Bottola Chalk near the local CPM party office, The Indian Express met Anuj Pande, the party’s zonal committee secretary. Moving around with gun-totting securitymen provided by the government, Pande still looks a scared man.

Lalgarh The Red Fort

2008-11-17T19:08:00.000+05:30

The agitation against alleged police excesses by pre-dominantly tribal villagers continued on Sunday. Fresh roadblocks were put up further isolating the Lalgarh area — a region where the Maoists have a strong presence — from the rest of West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district.
The more than week-long protests, over alleged police excesses during raids to track down those responsible for the IED blast that narrowly missed Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s convoy on November 2, had spread to new areas.
Leaders of different tribal groups formed a committee to resist such “atrocities” on local people. The situation in some other parts of Jhargram sub-division, where trees were felled to set up roadblocks, remained largely unchanged. Roads leading to different parts of Lalgarh had been dug up to prevent police movement.
Members of a tribal students’ group staged a demonstration on National Highway 6 that links Kolkata with Mumbai at Lodhashuli. A large number of vehicles were stranded as a result. Several trains were detained at various places, some were rescheduled and a few cancelled following squatting on the tracks by supporters of the Jharkhand Disam Party that had called a 12-hour bandh in support of its demands.
Action against those in the police administration responsible for the excesses in the Lalgarh area was the major demand. The bandh evoked a partial response in parts of Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia districts.

New voices in Lalgarh

2008-11-15T17:01:00.001+05:30

Nov. 14: A new team of tribals from Lalgarh told district authorities today that the government would have to pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to each villager injured in police raids and searches should be stopped from 5pm to 6am.

The delegation of the Pulishi Santrash Birodhi Jonosadharoner Committee (panel to protest police atrocities) was led by its secretary, Sidhu Soren. The committee was formed last night after villagers accused the Bharat Jakat Majhi Marwa, a group of elders negotiating with the officials till now, of “betraying the tribal cause”.

The panel put forward a list of 11 demands. The elders had wanted compensation earlier, but the amount was specified today. They had asked night raids to be stopped, too, but had not spoken of the time.

The police suspect the new committee has the backing of Maoists. Additional district magistrate (general) R.A. Israel, however, refused comment on the matter.

“Today, we did not come to work out a solution. We submitted our demands. They told us they would not be able to fulfil some of them. The SP will have to go to Dalilpur and announce the decision in front of villagers,” Soren said.

“We will discuss administration’s views with the villagers tomorrow and then decide our next course of action.”

Israel, who spoke to the team of 10 tribals, ruled out the possibility of the SP going to Dalilpur, which falls in the Lalgarh police station area, because of security reasons.

The committee repeated two earlier demands that the officials have rejected. One, that the district police chief should squat and apologise holding his ears. Second, that policemen should crawl from Dalilpur to Chhotopelia.

Israel added that “releasing those who were arrested with arms in connection with the (November 2) blast is not possible”. “We have asked them (the committee) to file a written complaint against those policemen whom they are accusing (of atrocities). A probe will be conducted.

“We have assured them (the committee) that the policemen in the camps set up in schools and hospitals will be removed once peace is restored. The administration will bear the cost of treatment of those injured in the November 5 raids.”

Today, the roadblock in Dahijuri was lifted, but Jhargram town remained cut off from the rest of the state because the damaged roads had not been repaired.

In Calcutta, home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said night raids would stop, but did not specify the time. “We have decided there will be no night raids. But the road digging will not be tolerated indefinitely.”

Tribals stick to tree siege

2008-11-15T16:58:00.002+05:30

Lalgarh/Jhargram, Nov. 13: Lalgarh continued to remain under siege as tribals turned a deaf ear to requests from their leaders to clear trees from Jhargram’s roads this evening.

The tribal leaders held a meeting in the afternoon with the district administration, which agreed to some of their demands (see chart).

The leaders agreed to lift blockades in all places except Lalgarh. Nearly 300 members of the Bharat Jakat Majhi Marwa (BJMM), who met tonight to discuss the Lalgarh impasse, will hold talks with the administration to find a solution.

Armed with the officials’ assurances, the leaders went to the protesters and asked them to remove trees from roads in Jhargram, but the tribals turned violent, even hitting one of their leaders.

Convener of the BJMM’s youth wing Munshiram Murmu was assaulted for “agreeing” to withdraw the blockade, thus “neglecting” the plight of the victims of police atrocities in Lalgarh.

“Normality must return to Lalgarh first... only then will we allow blockades to be withdrawn from other places,” shouted Anup Soren.

Jhargram’s last link to the rest of the state — a metalled road from Midnapore town via Dherua — was cut off by trees today. Villagers also blocked roads in Goaltore and Salboni.

District officials alleged Maoists had “infiltrated” the tribal agitation and were trying to ensure that the area continued to simmer. They stressed their point saying every time a demand was met, a fresh one cropped up, which was often “impossible” to agree to.

District authorities said the latest demand, that all tribals arrested over the last 10 years be released irrespective of their offence, was “absurd”.

Four students belonging to the Santhal Engineering Students’ Welfare Association reached Lalgarh this afternoon to join the protest against the “torture and exploitation of tribals”. Two of them are from the Bengal Engineering and Science University and two from Vidyasagar Polytechnic College in Jhargram town.

Maoists threaten Lalgarh war

2008-11-15T16:55:00.003+05:30

Midnapore, Nov. 12: Maoists today threatened an armed resistance in West Midnapore’s Lalgarh where tribals have been protesting police raids and detentions following a blast that missed the chief minister by minutes.

CPI (Maoist) state secretary Kanchan said: “We are with the people of Lalgarh. Our guerrilla squad is with them to build an armed resistance. I appeal to the Lalgarh people to follow the Nandigram path by setting up road blocks and snapping electricity and telephone connections to teach the CPM and police a lesson.”

Villagers armed with bows and arrows tonight placed at least 30 trees at various points on the road that branches off NH 6 and leads to Jhargram town. They also blocked the road connecting Jhargram with Jamboni. “They are trying to cut off the town,” a police officer said.

The road to Jhargram from Midnapore town had not been touched till late tonight.

In East Midnapore’s Nandigram, villagers led by the Trinamul Congress and all- egedly aided by Maoists had created a similar island of unrest, cut-off from the administration.

In Jhargram, the villagers wrote on the road: “The police have to explain why innocent villagers were arrested on suspicion of being Maoists.”

Tribal youths continued to obstruct the state highway connecting Midnapore town with Bandwan in Purulia.

“The Maoists have been instigating the villagers. We have got some vital information after questioning three persons picked up from Binpur and Jamboni on November 6,” said West Midnapore police chief R.K. Singh. He declined comment when asked why the intelligence branch had failed to tip off the administration about Maoist activities.

Armed policemen had pounced on schoolchildren returning from a soiree and tried to link them with the rebels while probing the blast at Salboni that hit a car in Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s convoy on November 2. Women were allegedly beaten up during the raids that followed.

District magistrate N.S. Nigam said the allegations of police misconduct would be probed. “I appeal to the agitating villagers to return home and let us redress their grievances through talks,” he said.

Tribals force police to free 6

2008-11-15T16:49:00.001+05:30

Nov. 10: Tribals today forced police to free six youths and snapped the last road connecting Lalgarh to the rest of the state, but late tonight they offered to repair a state highway.

Around 6am, about 300 tribal youths with bows and arrows marched from Dahijuri in Binpur block to Betkundri and started digging up the metalled state highway connecting Midnapore town with Purulia’s Bandwan.

Around 8.30, a police contingent arrived at Betkundri, about 5km from Jhargram town and told the tribals, affiliated to the youth wing of Bharat Jakat Majhi Marwa, an outfit of village elders, to stop digging.

The villagers refused, following which the police arrested six youths on the charge of unlawful assembly and seized their weapons and drums. They were taken to Jhargram.

As news of the arrest spread, over 2,000 men and women, bows and arrows in hand, gathered at Dahijuri, about 8km from Jhargram town, and obstructed the highway demanding immediate release of the six. “The police torture us at the slightest pretext. The government thinks all Santhals are Maoists. Whenever there is a Maoist attack, the Santhals are picked up,” said protester Priya Tudu.

The angry, slogan-shouting villagers circled the contingent and hurled abuses. Some women reportedly pushed the policemen but the force did not react, keeping to instructions to exercise restraint.

Realising that tension was mounting in the area, the police released the six tribals and took them back to Dahijuri.

“We arrested the six under a bailable section. We released them on a personal bond,” said West Midnapore superintendent of police Rajesh Kumar Singh. “We have asked the police to work with restraint.”

Later in the morning, around 1,000 tribals dug up a road at Brindabanpur that connects Lalgarh to Jhargram and Midnapore towns.

But in the evening, tribal leaders assured the West Midnapore administration that the villagers would repair the road dug up this afternoon at Betkundri. They said they would take a decision on repairing the other roads after speaking to the people of Lalgarh.

The tribals also withdrew their demand that SP Singh would have to do “sit-ups holding his ears” and all policemen of Lalgarh would have to “crawl” from Dalilpur to Chhotopelia village, if they want normality to return.

In Calcutta, director-general of police A.B.Vohra promised to look into “specific complaints about police harassment”. “Specific complaints from villagers will be looked into. I shall also take action against those found guilty.”

Tribals want police boss to do ‘sit-ups’

2008-11-15T16:46:00.001+05:30

Lalgarh, Nov. 9: A tribal outfit has set a series of conditions, including “sit-ups by the West Midnapore police chief holding his ears”, to end a Nandigram-style backlash against raids that followed last Sunday’s Maoist blast.

The charter of demands by the group of village elders, the Bharat Jakat Majhi Marwa, was made public after an all-party meeting collapsed because of an alleged comment by a CPM leader that was seen as casting aspersions on the Opposition.

Tribals armed with bows and arrows have dug up roads and placed at least 40 tree trunks across a 40km-long road in West Midnapore’s Lalgarh, an area where Maoists are known to be active, cloning the tactics seen in Nandigram.

Around 25 of the 100 villages in Lalgarh have been cut off from the roads connecting them to the rest of the district. The blockade is not insurmountable now but the administration, which has deployed a large number of policemen, is showing restraint to avoid a repeat of Nandigram where several people had been killed.

The Lalgarh protests had begun after the police, apparently eager to show results in the investigation into the blast that struck Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s car, picked up three teenagers as suspects.

The all-party meeting today lasted over an hour but an alleged comment by CPM zonal committee member Joydeb Giri triggered an uproar.

Giri reportedly said workers of Opposition parties were indulging in Maoist activities at night, prompting tribal leaders as well as representatives of the Trinamul Congress and the Jharkhand Party (Aditya) to walk out. Only a Santhal tribal leader, Padmalochan Soren, remained at the meeting chaired by district magistrate N.S. Nigam.

“After the comment from the CPM member, we felt there was no need for the meeting, so we walked out,” said Mohammad Rafique, a Trinamul leader. Jharkhand Party (Aditya) leader Asit Khatua said: “It is because of this attitude of the CPM that we are being branded Maoists and are being harassed by the police.”

CPM leader Giri denied the Opposition allegation: “I only said that Maoists should not be provided shelter by political parties.”

Later, the Majhi Marwa issued the charter of demands that asked the West Midnapore police superintendent, Rajesh Kumar Singh, to apologise before the media with folded hands for the raids.

Prabir Murmu, a leader of the outfit, said: “The SP will have to do sit-ups holding his ears. All policemen of Lalgarh police station will have to crawl from Dalilpur to Chhotopelia village. Women who were beaten up by the police during the raids will have to be given Rs 2 lakh compensation. All villagers arrested over the past several years in connection with Maoist activities will have to be released and all cases withdrawn.”

Home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said there would be more meetings.

Target Buddha, claim Maoists

2008-11-15T16:41:00.000+05:30

Midnapore, Nov. 7: The CPI (Maoist) today confirmed that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was the target of Sunday’s blast in West Midnapore and threatened “countless explosions” in the future.

The statement came on a day villagers in Lalgarh, close to the blast site, dug up roads to stop police raids to catch Maoists.

The attack on November 2 was aimed at the chief minister’s convoy, the statement issued by Kanchan, secretary of the outfit’s Bengal chapter, said. Even if the police strengthened his Z-plus security four times over, he would still not be safe, it said. “Countless explosions would take place in the near future.”

“If the CPM and the police continue attacking us, we will take revenge. We will not let Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose sleep and the state government’s armoury will not be enough to protect them,” the letter said.

The outfit claimed that the explosion proved local people supported the Maoists’ attack and described the operation as “a symbol of people’s resistance”.

Bhattacharjee escaped as his convoy crossed the spot 15 minutes before the blast. The lead pilot car in Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s convoy suffered the brunt of the explosion.

The CPI (Maoist) also criticised the government’s decision to suspend relatively junior police personnel.

Nearly 4,000 tribals from about a dozen villages dug up the roads connecting West Midnapore and Bankura today.

Rajesh Kumar Singh, West Midnapore superintendent of police, said: “The villagers are digging up the roads in Lalgarh to prevent the raids. We are looking for people hiding in the villages and assisting the Maoists. But we will continue the raids.”

The villagers also gheraoed the police station in Lalgarh town and cut power supply to the area protesting the arrest of three school-going teenagers. The three got bail today, but three others arrested yesterday were remanded in police custody for a week.

A team from Calcutta’s Central Forensic Science Laboratory visited the blast site today.

Buddha Bombed

2008-11-15T16:32:00.002+05:30

Salboni, Nov. 2: An explosion struck a convoy carrying two Union ministers returning from a high-profile investment event in West Midnapore, the bomb going off soon after chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s car had crossed the same spot this afternoon.

The attack blamed on Maoists not only exposed Bengal’s stupor in the face of recent blasts in the east but also overshadowed the stone-laying ceremony for the Jindal steel project in Salboni, an event that was supposed to lessen the Singur pain and breathe some life into the flagging industrialisation drive in Bengal.

Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan and his deputy Jitin Prasada escaped unhurt. But the attack shattered the bonhomie seen on the dais less than an hour ago, with Paswan frowning upon Bhattacharjee’s decision to leave early and questioning the security arrangements in the state.

Six guards in the lead pilot car of Paswan’s convoy suffered shrapnel injuries in the improvised landmine explosion. The condition of police driver Mukul Phul Mali (50) and constable Judhistir Mahato (24) — admitted to a hospital in Calcutta — is said to be critical.

In Paswan’s vehicle were Jitin and Jindal Steel vice-chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal — all of whom were on the dais with a beaming Bhattacharjee at Salboni less than an hour ago. Navin, Sajjan’s brother and a Congress MP, was in another car.

Two police vehicles separated Paswan’s Innova and the pilot car that was lifted several feet off the ground in the explosion, suspected to have been triggered by Maoists who were apparently lying in wait a little over a kilometre away.

The bomb, planted near a bridge on Kalaichandi canal near Barua village, about 150 km from Calcutta, was ignited around 2.15pm using a 1,200-metre wire that snaked through adjacent paddy fields towards railway tracks, police said.

Around 15 people from nearby villages were detained tonight for questioning, the police said.

The pilot car landed on its wheels and its tyres burst but driver Mali managed to take the vehicle — which looked as if it had been raked with automatic fire — across the 15-foot-wide bridge and then slumped unconscious.

The convoy paused for less than a minute and then proceeded towards the Kalaikunda airbase 25km away, from where the ministers took off for Delhi.

The chief minister’s convoy had sped past the same stretch in Barua village 15 minutes before the blast. The police said he could have been the target and the Maoists might have mistaken Paswan’s convoy for Bhattacharjee’s.

“I don’t know whether I was the target. I will be able to tell you tomorrow. I have sent senior police officials to the blast site for investigation,” Bhattacharjee said later in the afternoon. Intelligence agencies have said the chief minister tops the list of Maoist targets.

According to the police, explosives were packed inside a plastic milk can — a tactic usually used by Maoists. “We think they used plastic instead of steel to get past metal detectors,” said an officer.

The last time the Maoists blew up a car was on October 22 when a doctor, a nurse and their driver were killed in Belpahari in West Midnapore. Metal milk cans were then used.

Today’s blast snapped overhead high-tension wires but there was no electricity in them as the lines were under construction. The police are wondering whether the attackers wanted the wires to fall on a vehicle and electrocute the occupants.

“If there was electricity in those wires, it would have been disastrous,” said Dilip Kumar Mitra, the superintending engineer of the state power distribution company in Midnapore.

The other injured are assistant sub-inspector of police Ranjit Mondal (51), constable Kartick Maity (26) and National Volunteer Force jawans Rabindranath Mahato (57) and Alakavo Chowdhury (41).

The Maoists had issued a public statement 10 days ago against the steel project and this afternoon’s meeting was finalised more than a month ago — despite which state police could not sanitise the route. The “heightened alert” in the wake of the serial blasts in Assam, too, did not help avert the explosion in Bengal.

Police shying away from Maoist heartland

2008-10-24T19:27:00.002+05:30

RAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Oct 16, 2008 Indian authorities have suspended 17 policemen for refusing to work in a Maoist-dominated area, officials said on Thursday, in what analysts say is a sign of problems police face coping with the rebels in rural pockets.
Four senior police officers and 13 junior officers were suspended for refusing to work in a rebel stronghold in Chhattisgarh, police said.
"Police will not tolerate such indiscipline, several more cops mainly drawn from inspector and sub-inspector ranks, are in the line of fire," R.K. Vij, a top police officer, told Reuters.
Security experts said police are often sent to forests without adequate weapons or protection, ending up isolated and at risk in thinly staffed outposts.
"A great deal of deployment is irrational and the government is deliberately sending the policemen to their deaths it seems," said Ajai Sahni of New Delhi's Institute for Conflict Management.
Sahni has long argued that the police are massively under-resourced to cope with the Maoist threat.
In July, 38 policemen of the elite anti-insurgency unit were killed by the rebels in Orissa. At the time, analysts said they had been "sitting ducks", lacking proper knowledge of the jungle territory.
Thousands of people, including hundreds of policemen, have been killed in the insurgency, which began in the late 1960s and affects pockets of the countryside in eastern and central India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the insurgency as the gravest threat to India's internal security.
In Jharkhand, the government has been forced to delay creation of a special force to tackle the Maoist threat after several officers refused to join.
The government has now promised higher wages to attract officers to join the new force.
On Thursday, four railway officials were abducted by suspected Maoist rebels in a remote district in the same state, which police said was deliberately done to intimidate them.
One police officer who was recently posted to a Maoist-hit area in West Bengal told Reuters that he was forced to live in a tent and almost never slept at night.
"It is a situation where they cannot defend themselves, leave alone protect people's lives," Sahni said.
In remote villages, the doors of police posts are often locked after dark because police fear night raids.

India's Maoists take their war to a new level

2008-10-24T19:03:00.001+05:30

India's Maoist rebels, known as Naxalites, have scored a series of successes in recent weeks in their insurgency, underscoring their growing ambitions and changing strategy, and stoking fears of attacks on high-profile and urban targets in coming months. Last Thursday, they attacked a police post in the central state of Chhattisgarh, killing 55 people. A fortnight earlier they assassinated member of Parliament (MP) Sunil Mahato inneighboring Jharkhand state.

Last week's attack, described as among the deadliest in decades of Maoist insurgency, was carried out by some 350 heavily armed Maoists. It took place in Rani Bodli police outpost, in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada region, some 525 kilometers from the state capital, Raipur. The rebels surrounded the police post and lobbed grenades and gasoline bombs before setting the camp ablaze.

They blocked roads to the village by felling trees to prevent police reinforcements from reaching the heavily outnumbered police at Rani Bodli. Of the 55 killed in the attack, 16 were members of the Chhattisgarh Armed Police. The rest were Special Police officers - tribals who were part of the government-sponsored civil militia, the Salwa Judum.

The assassination of Mahato and the attack on the Rani Bodli police outpost signal a sharp escalation in the Maoist insurgency. In the past, high-ranking victims of the Maoists included legislators and ministers, but these were at the local and state levels. Mahato was the first sitting federal MP to fall victim to the Maoists.

Again, while police outposts have been routinely targeted by the Maoists, the attack at the outpost at Rani Bodli was noteworthy for the number of victims it claimed. The death toll at Rani Bodli is by far the largest among recent Maoist attacks.

The frequency of such spectacular attacks has grown over the past two years. In November 2005, more than 1,000 Maoists participated in an attack on Jehanabad jail in Bihar and freed about 350 of their jailed comrades. Last March, they hijacked a train in Jharkhand that was carrying some 300 passengers. In June, at least 400 Maoists participated in an attack on a camp of the Central Reserve Police Force in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.

The scale and frequency of attacks are one concern. Another is the vast area across which Maoists wield influence. In the early 1990s, the number of districts affected by varying degrees of Maoist violence stood at just 15 in four states. This figure rose to 55 districts in nine states by the end of 2003 and shot up to 156 districts in 13 states in 2004. Today, at least 170 of a total of 602 districts in the country are said to be under Maoist influence.

The Maoists have been able to strike with considerable energy because of the unification of the two main groups. The Maoist Communist Center and the People's War Group merged in September 2004 to form the Communist Party of India (Maoists). From operating as scattered localized cells, they have been able to operate as a stronger and unified force along a vast swath of territory often described as the "red corridor" running from Nepal down to Andhra Pradesh state.

Experts warn that the recent attacks signal a widening and intensification in Maoist violence in the country. According to Bibhu Prasad Routray, research fellow at the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi, "Mahato's killing could just be the starting point for the escalation of the Maoist 'people's war' throughout the country."

Maoist documents and statements provide pointers to their growing ambitions and changing strategy. In 2004, Maoists, who had hitherto focused their operations in rural India, spoke of a new strategy to target urban centers. Their Urban Perspective Document lay down guidelines for working in towns and cities and for mobilizing support among students and urban unemployed. They identified two belts as targets for urban mobilization: Bhilai-Ranchi-Dhanbad-Kolkata and Mumbai-Pune-Surat-Ahmedabad.

More pointers to their growing ambitions were provided in statements issued at their "Unity Congress" this year. "The Unity Congress ... resolved to advance the people's war throughout the country, further strengthen the people's army, deepen the mass base of the party, and wage a broad-based militant mass movement against the neo-liberal policies of globalization, liberalization [and] privatization pursued by the reactionary ruling classes under the dictates of imperialism," said a statement issued at the meeting last month.

"No more hit and run," Muppala Lakshman Rao (also known as Ganapathi), who was re-elected general secretary of the organization, is reported to have said at the meeting. "Now the time has come to spread in the towns and identify specific targets, hit them precisely and with impunity."

An important trigger and target of Maoist attacks over the past year has been civilians who are part of the Salwa Judum - the Chhattisgarh government's initiative to arm villagers to fight Maoists on behalf of the state. Salwa Judum was initially thought to be a voluntary initiative of villagers in Maoist areas, who were fed up with the Maoist violence and wanted to fight the rebels themselves. It was touted by the government as a peace movement.

However, soon it became apparent that while some people in these villages might indeed be weary of violence, Salwa Judum was in fact government-sponsored and a civil militia, and tribals were being forced to join it. While a part of Salwa Judum's work involved political work, ie, propaganda against the Maoists, it also had an armed wing, which was seen as the tribal face of the police fighting the Maoists.

Soon, Maoists started targeting members of the Salwa Judum. Camps in which Salwa Judum members lived or buses in which they traveled were targeted by the Maoists. Hundreds of Salwa Judum members have been killed in the 18 months since it was formed.

The counterinsurgency strategy of the Chhattisgarh government, with Salwa Judum at its core, has unleashed civil strife in the state. Tribals have gotten caught in the crossfire between Maoists and the state. In the past, the Maoists targeted forest officials and police. Now it is tribals seen to be members of Salwa Judum who have become targets of Maoist ire. The 39 Special Police officers who were killed in last week's attack on the Rani Bodli police outpost were part of the Salwa Judum.

Entire villages have been emptied as tribal communities flee from the burnings, lootings and killings. The civil war in Chhattisgarh has driven more than 50,000 people out of their homes and into camps. Government authorities claim that the tribals are seeking refuge in the camps; tribals tell a different story. They maintain that they are forced into the camps. The land on which the tribals live is rich in minerals and other resources. Human-rights activists say companies backed by the government that are keen to extract the area's mineral wealth want the tribals to leave the land. Salwa Judum has become a convenient way to drive the tribals out of their land and into camps.

Suspected Maoists Kill 12 Indian Policemen

2008-10-24T18:59:00.000+05:30

20 October 2008
Indian police said suspected Maoist rebels have shot and killed at least 12 policemen.Police said the police were ambushed Monday while on patrol in the forests of the central state Chhattisgarh. Several others were wounded.The Maoists have not claimed responsibility for the attack.The rebels said they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless. They are active in at least 13 of India's 29 states. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the rebels the gravest threat to India's internal security.The decades-old Maoist insurgency has left thousands dead.

Mistake led to medical blast

2008-10-24T18:48:00.000+05:30

Maoists today said they blew up a doctor, nurse and their driver in Belpahari by mistake, thinking that the victims’ red-cross-tagged vehicle was a police Trojan horse.

A statement by Kanchan, the secretary of the CPI (Maoist) Bengal chapter, said: “We had wrong information that policemen were patrolling in a hired Tata Sumo bearing a red cross. Our action squad thought the police were trying to hoodwink them by using a medical vehicle.”

The statement said the outfit always welcomed health workers who helped the poor. “We want to assure health workers that such an incident will not recur,” Kanchan said.

However, Kuldeep Singh, inspector-general (western range), said: “We are convinced they knew who they were attacking…. When police or other vehicles go, they watch and enquire about the occupants.”

The police are also probing if the Maoists had any grudge against any of the victims. “We are trying to find out if the doctor had refused to treat an injured Maoist or the driver refused to give them his car,” an officer said.

The police have arrested five persons allegedly associated with the Maoists. Two were identified as Ashok Karmakar, 32, from Shankhabhanga, and Bishu Singh, 40, of Simulpal.

The police said the arrested had links with the Maoists who put together the milk-can bombs that blew up the medical team vehicle in West Midnapore. “Ashok provided food and shelter to Maoists who attended a meeting at Shankhabhanga on the night of October 19. Bishu also had links with the guerrillas,” said West Midnapore superintendent of police Rajesh Kumar Singh.

The government today made an exception to the policy of compensating only families of slain policemen.

Chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb said the families of doctor Dhaniram Mandi, nurse Bharati Majhi and driver Pranay Mishir would get Rs 2 lakh each. “Also, a family member of the doctor and the nurse will be given jobs,” Deb said.

“I don’t know why the Maoists picked on my husband. He dedicated his life to the treatment of poor people. Six days in a week, he went to villages to treat them. My four-and-half-year-old son and I are left without any support,” said Aparna, Mandi’s wife.

Bihar put on alert before Maoist 'Shaheed Diwas'

2008-07-23T18:24:00.001+05:30

Patna (PTI): Bihar has been put on alert on Wednesday ahead of the "Shaheed Diwas (sacrifice day)" to be oberseved by the banned CPI (Maoist) on Thursday, IG (Operation) S K Bhardwaj said.
All police stations in the Naxal-hit districts of Gaya, Aurangabad, Nawada, Jehanabad, Jamui and Rohtas have been put on maximum alert, he said.
Superintendents of Police in the districts have been asked to intensify patrol on road and railway tracks.
Extra security was deployed to secure the property of railways, considered a soft target for the Naxalites, official sources said.
The police officers were also tipped about possible Maoist oeprations on the basis of intelligence inputs, they said.
The intelligence agencies have reportedly alerted the security establishments about possible attacks on government buildings and other vital installations in the Maoist-affected districts.

What a shame! : Parliament converted to a shop

2008-07-23T18:21:00.000+05:30

Maoists to sit in Opposition, 'uneasy situation' ahead: Prachanda

2008-07-23T18:15:00.000+05:30

Kathmandu, Jul 22 (PTI) Maoist chief Prachanda, till recently a strong contender for Premiership, today said his party will sit in the opposition after its crushing defeat in Nepal's historic presidential poll, warning the new political equation would lead the country to an "uneasy situation".The victory of the tripartite alliance -- Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF) -- in yesterday's presidential poll would lead the country to an uneasy situation, Prachanda said after the Maoists' central secretariat meeting.He said that after the defeat of his party's presidential candidate Ram Raja Prasa Singh at the hands of NC-led tripartite alliance's Ram Baran Yadav, the Maoists, who had emerged the largest group in the April 10 polls but fell short of simple majority, would sit in the opposition on moral grounds.Prachanda also claimed that India was in favour of outgoing Prime Minister G P Koirala becoming the first President of republic Nepal, which his party was opposed to.He charged that the reactionary forces and foreign elements were hell-bent on stopping the Maoists from taking over the leadership of the new government. He, however, said the Maoists would open their door to some degree for cooperation.NC candidate Yadav, who bagged 308 votes, defeated Singh by a margin of 25 votes in the Presidential poll run-off in the 594-member Constituent Assembly yesterday. PTI

Chhattisgarh and the danger of dissent

2008-07-20T12:22:00.000+05:30

If Ajay TG had been smart enough to know where to point his camera, his films might have been showing in Osian today. As it stands, he is in Durg jail, 40 km from Bhilai.
Having started making films 7-8 years ago, he would capture “daily life, festivals and rituals of Durg”, and particularly, says Ajay, in a statement, “my own neighborhood — an old village now surrounded by urban growth.” In Chattisgarh though, these are acts of terrorism.
This week, www.releaseajaytg.in, a website was set up by a committee for his release. Playwright Habib Tanvir, activist Aruna Roy, professor Dr Kamal Chenoy, ex-director ActionAid India, Harsh Mander, law expert Usha Ramanathan, journalist Siddharth Vardharajan, among others, are its members.
Renowned film-maker Mrinal Sen who signed the petition condemning Ajay’s arrest, says: “I wish I was 30 years younger, so that I could have physically joined you all in this campaign.”
Tanvir says, “Chattisgarh was always a peaceful place. It is a great shame that artists, film makers and journalists are being targeted in this state.”
British film-maker Margeret Dickinson who taught Ajay the use of the camera, notes that, “even as a student, Ajay instinctively tended to opt for a non-authoritarian point of view when developing a film”. For example, when he made a short film on malaria prevention, Ajay told the story from the point of view of village children confronted with a friend’s illness.
He joined the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in Bhilai, a leading civil rights organisation, as a voluntary member. Dr Binayak Sen, was its general secretary. Ajay started making films on human-interest stories: on old-age homes, health, the politics of power in two adivasi melas.
Are these crimes? National Award winning cinematographer Rajan Palit asks whether the decision to investigate state repression creatively is enough to be branded a Maoist. “For the last 20 years, even civil society efforts in Chhattisgarh to protect land, water, culture and livelihood have been attacked,” says film-maker maker Amar Kanwar, who put together the committee for the film-maker’s release. “The message the police is sending out is — if you see something wrong with the system, do not make films about it.”
Implying then that the objective of Ajay TG’s arrest is to tell the local journalist, the local film-maker and the local poet to look elsewhere and not come in the way.

Maoist landmine kills 24 policemen

2008-07-20T12:21:00.000+05:30

Malkangiri (Orissa), July 17th 2008 : A massive combing operation has been launched following yesterday's Maoists attack in which at least 24 policemen were killed when a landmine exploded under a security vehicle in Orissa's Malkangiri District. The search operation to nab the Maoists is being jointly launched by Special operation group units and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Mottu police station area.
Additional police forces are being mobilised to 'strengthen' the combing operation in the area. In a related development, Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta has said that the Central Government has decided to set up six jungle warfare and counter-insurgency schools to train security personnel to 'deal' with the Maoists."In order to encourage the training capabilities in the state, we have decided from the Central Government's part to set-up six counter-insurgency jungle warfare schools this year. We have asked the states that they should let us know that where can they give land for this purpose," Gupta said. On June 29, 33 cops died when Maoists attacked their boat in Malkangiri district. 63 policemen were on the boat, which had sunk into the reservoir after a Maoist attack in. Out of them 28 survived. Also known as Naxalites, they are fighting on behalf of the rural poor and landless and want to build a communist Nation.The government has recently taken a new stance on the Maoist insurgency, pulling the affected states together to coordinate their response. It says it will combine improved policing with socio-economic measures to defuse grievances that fuel the Maoist cause, so called.

Press statement by Communist Party of India (M-L) NAXALBARI

2008-07-15T22:00:00.000+05:30

KrantipriyaSpokespersonCPI(M-L) NAXALBARIPress StatementReject the Indo-US Nuclear DealBy rushing ahead to finalise the Indo-US nuclear deal, unmindful of widespread opposition, the government led by the Indian Nation Congress reveals the extent to which it goes to please the murderer Bush. There are many factors in the agreements signed with the US and proposed to the IAEA that enslave India’s nuclear industry to imperialist interests. But, far beyond all that, the crux of the Indo-US nuclear deal is the surreptitious recognition given to India’s nuclear weapon status in return for pledging its alliance to US strategic interests. This boost to Indian expansionism, at the price of toeing US interests, is the most significant, strategic, aspect. This threatens the peace in South Asia and Asia. Both the fake Left, led by the CPM, and the NDA, led by the BJP, are silent about this. In fact their concern is about the lack of a formal recognition of India’s nuclear weapon status, a possible ban on further testing of nuclear weapons and insufficient guarantees of fuel supply. While this is expected of the BJP, the stand of the CPM and its allies exposes that they too are strong proponents of Indian expansionism.The real issues posed by the Indo-Us nuke deal are thus being covered up by the various political representatives of the ruling classes by framing it in terms of what is best suited for Indian expansionism. The people of India have nothing to gain from the nuclear weapons stockpiled by the rulers, or from the arms race this has accelerated. Indian expansionism is the main pillar of imperialist domination and reaction in South Asia. Anything that strengthens it is a danger for the people. US imperialism is the main danger of the world people. Anything that supports its interests must be opposed.Such real issues are further sought to be covered up by pulling in the energy angle. It is claimed that this deal will allow India to vastly expand pollutant free and cheap nuclear energy while reducing its dependence on fossil fuels. This is a lie. Nuclear energy is a far more dangerous and long lasting source of pollution. The cost of making nuclear energy a major source of total energy supply is extremely high. Moreover, even if all resources were tapped, availability of raw material in the world itself falls far short of fanciful projections on replacing fossil fuels with nuclear energy. The real answer to the energy problem does not lie in such false solutions that come at the heavy price of dependence to imperialist capital and technology and criminal pollution of the earth. It calls for an end to the irrational, profit seeking, energy guzzling development path followed by the rulers.To repeat, the Indo-US nuclear deal is not about peaceful nuclear energy development and the main issue raised by it is not the enslaving terms it imposes on the Indian nuclear industry. This deal recognises Indian expansionism’s nuclear ambitions in lieu of tying it up firmly with the hegemonic, imperialist, strategic interests of the US. It takes the growing relation between the Indian ruling classes and US imperialism to a totally new and even more dangerous level. It must be rejected precisely on these grounds.July 12th, 2008.

From jail to bailing out Dr Singh!

2008-07-15T21:55:00.000+05:30

The Honourable Member of Parliament from Phulpur, Ateeq Ahmad (Samajwadi Party), is in jail. He stands charged with the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Raju Pal.The Honourable Member of Parliament from Ghazipur, Afzal Ansari (Samajwadi Party), is in jail. He is accused of complicity in the murder of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai.The Honourable Member of Parliament from Siwan, Mohammed Shahabuddin (Rashtriya Janata Dal), is in jail. He has been convicted in the murder of CPI-ML worker Chhote Lal Gupta.The Honourable Member of Parliament from Madhepura, Rajesh Ranjan ('Pappu Yadav'), is in jail. He was sentenced in the case of the murder of CPI-M MLA Ajit Sarkar.The Honourable Member of Parliament from Balia, Suraj ('Surajbhan') Singh (Lok Janshakti Party), is in jail. He was found guilty in the case of the murder of a farmer, Rami Singh of Madhurapur-Purvatola village in Begusarai District.Please note that when I write 'is in jail' it refers strictly to the time of writing. I understand that each of the five honourable Members of Parliament will be permitted to vote in the Lok Sabha on the issue of the nuclear deal.First things first: I estimate that there is a 99 per cent chance of the Manmohan Singh [Images] ministry winning a Vote of Confidence in the Lok Sabha. (Or, alternatively, of fending off a No-Confidence Motion.) I would have calculated its chances of survival at 100 per cent but let us not forget that we are talking about politicians here.But what comes next? The frustration and pent-up anger of the Congress at its fifty month-long association with the Left Front has been only too evident in the past week. It took Lalu Prasad Yadav to remind everyone that the Left Front would, probably, be needed once again after the next general election.You know the Congress has crossed the limit when our beloved railway minister stands out as a beacon of reason.Yet, no matter what happened in the past fifty months, does the Congress think the next ten months shall be any better? The Manmohan Singh ministry needs every vote it can muster; that means the five honourable Members of Parliament named above must be brought from their jail cells to Parliament House, television cameras recording every move. It shall be, to say the least, an unsavoury beginning to the new alliance.As a matter of fact, the bargaining has begun before the debate has even begun in the House. Amar Singh has laid forward a set of demands. Shibu Soren's camp has leaked that its leader wouldn't say no to the Union coal ministry. The Congress, in a space of mere weeks, may look back nostalgically at the good old days of its dalliance with the Left Front.After all, the CPI-M leaders are intelligent, articulate, and observe certain norms. Can you imagine a Prakash Karat speaking of his meetings with the UPA chairperson in terms of 'suhaag-raat' ('wedding night') and 'balaatkaar' ('rape')? I know several Congressmen who cringed at the Samajwadi Party general secretary's alleged words but nobody dared to raise a voice, and it fell, oddly enough, to the BJP and the CPI-M to protest the insult to women in general and to Sonia Gandhi [Images] in particular.And what exactly is the Congress going to gain at the end of it all? Some Congressmen say their alliance with the Left Front was always 'unnatural.' True, but how is the alliance with the Samajwadi Party any less 'unnatural?'The point has not been lost on at least one Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi [Images]. The Nehru-Gandhi scion knows that the Congress must regain its old standing in Uttar Pradesh, India's largest chunk of votes, if it is to stand on its own feet. He has reportedly pointed out how the Congress struck a poor bargain twelve years ago when the party made an electoral alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party for the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha elections. Isn't the Samajwadi Party as much of a competitor to the Congress in Uttar Pradesh as the CPI-M is in Kerala [Images] and West Bengal?Rahul Gandhi is right to be wary about the Samajwadi Party, and you need look no farther than one of the family boroughs to bear him out. Today we tend to think of Rae Bareli and Amethi as the traditional constituencies of the Nehru-Gandhis but it wasn't always so.In the first general election, Jawaharlal Nehru was elected from 'Allahabad District (East) cum Jaunpur District (West)'; his successor in subsequent Lok Sabha polls was no less than Lal Bahadur Shastri. In 1957 and 1962, Pandit Nehru chose to contest from Phulpur; the seat was won by his sister, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, after his death. Guess which party holds the Allahabad and Phulpur seats today?In the last 2004 general election, the Congress candidate from Allahabad, Satya [Images] Prakash Malviya, wasn't just beaten; he suffered the humiliation of losing his deposit in the home of the first three Congress prime ministers. Malviya had company in the Congress nominee from Phulpur, Ram Poojan Patel, marked in the Election Commission'sannals with the chilly word 'Forfeited'.The successful candidate from Allahabad was the Samajwadi Party's Kunwar Rewati Raman Singh ('Mani Ji'). As for Phulpur, it is currently represented in the Lok Sabha by the man mentioned in the first sentence of this column.If I may digress a bit, isn't this a shocking commentary on Uttar Pradesh politics? To think that a constituency represented by Jawaharlal Nehru and Vijayalakshmi Pandit is now held by a man behind bars!Rahul Gandhi has the responsibility of nurturing the Congress back to strength in Uttar Pradesh. But how can he do so without stepping on the toes of his dear friends in Amar Singh's party?The saddest part in the story is bound to be played by poor Dr Manmohan Singh. He has staked his government's future on the nuclear deal; he is now duty-bound to stick on in office until it makes its leisurely course through the United States Congress, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group -- months of bullying by 'allies' anxious to make their mark before the inevitable elections.Confronted with the prospect of such humiliation, some Congressmen may prefer instant elections. But, even if the spectres of rising inflation and failing growth didn't haunt the party, rest assured that the Honourable Ateeq Ahmad, the Honourable Afzal Ansari, the Honourable Mohammed Shahabuddin, the Honourable Rajesh Ranjan ('Pappu Yadav'), and the Honourable Suraj ('Surajbhan') Singh will not let Dr Manmohan Singh fall come the twenty-second of July!Tailpiece: Two men, Prakash Karat and Manmohan Singh, have dominated the headlines over the nuclear deal. Weirdly, neither is a member of the Lok Sabha, so neither may cast a vote in the House in that epochal vote!

India should take action against state-backed vigilantes active in the central state of Chhattisgarh, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

2008-07-15T21:53:00.000+05:30

India should take action against state-backed vigilantes active in the central state of Chhattisgarh, US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.Since 2005, security forces and members of the Salwa Judum militia group have killed and raped villagers, HRW says.Salwa Judum was launched in 2005 to fight the Maoist rebels in the area.HRW also says the Maoists have kidnapped and executed civilians and targeted people suspected of supporting Salwa Judum.About 6,000 people have been killed in violence linked to the Maoist rebels in India over the past 20 years.Eyewitness accountsChhattisgarh officials deny supporting Salwa Judum and describe it as a "spontaneous citizen's anti-Maoist movement"."Human Rights Watch has found that since mid-2005 government security forces and members of the Salwa Judum attacked villages, killed and raped villagers, and burned down huts to force people into government camps," a new report released by HRW in Raipur, capital of Chhattisgarh state, says.The group says it has collected more than 50 eyewitness accounts of attacks involving government security forces in 18 different villages in Dantewada and Bijapur districts in Chhattisgarh."Judum and police came to our village... They beat the village official and the priest. They beat others also," the report quotes a villager who fled his village in Dantewada district as saying."The people who came to our village had bows and arrows, sticks, and the police had rifles. From our village they also raped a 20-year-old woman. They raped her and left her in the village itself," he said."At the same time," the report says, "the Naxalites (Maoists) have carried out bombings, and have abducted, beaten, and executed civilians, particularly those suspected of supporting the Salwa Judum."Human Rights Watch called on the Naxalites "to immediately end all attacks against civilians and allow camp residents to return to their home villages".The report says the violence has displaced tens of thousands of people who are stranded in government camps in Chhattisgarh or in the forestlands of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state."The Chhattisgarh government denies supporting Salwa Judum, but dozens of eyewitnesses have described police participating in violent Salwa Judum raids on villages - killing, looting, and burning their hamlets," the report quotes Jo Becker, a member of the Human Rights Watch research team, as saying.DisplacedThe report - titled "Being neutral is our biggest crime" - is based on four weeks of ground research in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh in late 2007 and early 2008."The conflict has given rise to one of the largest internal displacement crises in India - at least 100,000 people have resettled in camps in southern Chhattisgarh or fled to neighbouring states, principally Andhra Pradesh," according to the report."Thousands of families have lost their land, homes, and livelihoods, and now survive in crowded and decrepit camps with little assistance," it says."Chhattisgarh officials should help restore the lives of those who wish to return to their homes, and improve conditions for those who fear returning."The report says both the Maoists and the police have also recruited and used children in the conflict."While the Chhattisgarh police have acknowledged this as an error, the government is yet to devise a scheme for... rehabilitating them," the report says.Chhattisgarh police chief Vishwa Ranjan said the government would respond to the report after studying it.Maoist fighters, who are waging a violent battle in almost half of India's 29 states, have been described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the single biggest threat to India's security.The rebels are active in states across east and central India.They focus on areas where people are poor but there is great mineral wealth.The rebels say they represent the rights of landless farmhands and tribal communities.

Home ministry calls urgent meeting of Maoist-hit states

2008-07-15T13:36:00.000+05:30

New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) The unprecedented burst of Maoist violence in the country’s four most affected states that has led to over 50 killed in just a month has prompted the union home ministry to review security and ways to check the rebels’ spatial spread. Beginning with the snapping of power supply to 280 forested villages in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, the killing of 40 members of Andhra Pradesh police’s elite Greyhounds force and the brutal slaying of a Jharkhand legislator - all these incidents could spur the demand to set up a specialized force to tackle Maoist violence, said sources.
“Chief secretaries and police chiefs of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa - that account for the lion’s share of Maoist violence - will meet Wednesday. We will also review the police-population ratios and plans of strengthening their special branches,” said a top government functionary.
“Home secretary Madhukar Gupta will meet up with the officials separately.”
What has caused much concern among intelligence officials and those overseeing anti-Maoist operations in North Block is the ambush by the Maoist guerrillas of a motor-launch carrying the Greyhound force when they were returning from neighbouring Orissa after assisting in an operation.
“Considering that we wanted other states to replicate such an elite squad and were hoping to raise a dedicated force at the central government level, this is certainly a big blow as they (Greyhounds) have had huge successes in Adnhra Pradesh,” said a senior ministry official.
According to the police, the launch had 66 people, including 61 commandos, two Orissa Police constables and three employees of the vessel owner on board when it capsized.
While 28 personnel swam ashore, the remaining went missing and the police forces of the two states with the help of the navy carried out intense search operations in Balimela reservoir, about 220 km from Visakhapatnam, for the missing policemen.
After the daring raid in Orissa’s Nayagarh district in February where rebels laid siege of the town and decamped with a huge arsenal of weapons, violence has escalated.
Rebels blew up a Reliance cellphone tower in Jaduguda village in Koraput district and set its maintenance room on fire, and also burnt an earth digging machine in Malkangiri district.
According to Orissa home department officials, the Maoist rebels have a presence in at least eight of the state’s 30 districts. These are Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj.
“We will need to take a hard look at all these developments and how best we can use forces to counter the Maoists,” said an intelligence official

Organisation with ‘Maoist links’ to visit Nandigram

2008-07-15T13:35:00.000+05:30

Express News ServicePosted online: Tuesday , July 15, 2008 at 02:56:44Updated: Tuesday , July 15, 2008 at 02:52:28
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Kolkata, July 14 A few days after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee accused the Trinamool Congress of having links with Maoists in Nandigram, the Matangini Mahila Samity (MMS) announced on Monday that it would visit the troubled town tomorrow.
The MMS hit the headlines lately after police went to raid a Palbazar flat housing their members on grounds that they had Maoist connections.
Regarding tomorrow’s visit, Debolina Chakraborty, secretary, MMS, said: “Our members are working in Nandigram. We are going there to know the ground reality and condition of the locals.” Jayeeta Das, a member of the organisation, said, “Though the Opposition has come in power there, the locals have not benefited from the change. We are going there to help them.”
On Buddhadeb’s recent statement of lumping the Trinamool and the Maoists together, Chakraborty said, “We do not know about the Trinamool’s motives”.
Das, however, said working in Nandigram and protesting against the establishment of Special Economic Zones does not mean all organisations are the same. Though she denied any links of MMS with the Maoists, the organisations had plans of visiting Belpahari, a Maoist stronghold, last month to understand their ideology. The visit had to be postponed due to bad weather in the area.
Both Das and Chakraborty admitted to having relations with the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee. “Both the BUPC and the MMS were formed in the aftermath of the Nandigram violence. We work together because our ideologies are same, even though our institutions are separate,” said Chakraborty.
The local police have no information about the MMS’s visit. East Midnapore SP SS Panda said: “We are not aware about their coming here. We are not concerned though.”
Ashok Guria, a CPM leader in East Midnapore, took a dig at the visit. “When the MMS was active for 11 months in Nandigram, its chief aim was to oust the CPM. Even today, their main concern is not the welfare of the people but to oppose the CPM.”

Indian government behind anti-Maoist attacks: HRW

2008-07-15T13:34:00.001+05:30

15/07/08 NEW DELHI :At least 100,000 villagers in eastern India have been forced to flee their homes in spiralling violence spurred by a state-backed anti-Maoist vigilante group, a US-based rights group said on Tuesday. Human Rights Watch accused government forces of taking part in some of the violence, in which vigilantes allegedly attacked and killed supporters of banned left-wing rebels in the Maoist heartland of Chhattisgarh state. The rights group is calling for the state government to immediately end its support of the vigilantes and investigate rights abuses by its forces, as well as protect villagers who want to return home. "It is 100 percent certain that government forces were involved," said Jo Becker, director of children's advocacy at Human Rights Watch, ahead of the group's release on Tuesday of a report on rights abuses in the state. "We literally talked to dozens of eye-witnesses. In numerous cases they were very clear that government forces were present and not only present, they were actively participating," added Becker, who was part of a research team the group sent to the state in 2007 and 2008. One man told how police came to his village in 2006 by helicopter and burnt down huts. "Police came in three helicopters, landed there and set huts on fire," the unnamed man was quoted in the report as saying, adding that more huts were burned by police as recently as October 2007. The Chhattisgarh government has praised -- but denies backing -- the Salwa Judum movement, which began village-to-village rallies in 2005 aimed at rooting out the left-wing rebels. The insurgency grew out of a peasant uprising in 1967 and has hit half of India's 29 states, but its stronghold is in the heavily forested region in the south of largely tribal Chhattisgarh. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoists, who say they are fighting to improve the lot of India's rural poor, as the biggest threat to India's internal security. Many villagers in the state have told rights groups and journalists they participated in the anti-Maoist rallies under duress from local political leaders. The Maoists in turn retaliated with indiscriminate and deadly violence, attacking and killing Salwa Judum recruits. More than half of the 837 deaths due to Maoist-related violence in India last year took place in Chhattisgarh, according to India's home ministry. And both sides have put children on the frontlines of hostilities, the report said. "The state government does need to accept responsibility for creating this situation. People are caught between the naxals (rebels) on the one hand and government and the Salwa Judum on the other," said Becker. "State support for Salwa Judum has created both a human rights and a humanitarian crisis. You have a 100,000 people who are displaced and living in desperate conditions." Amid what became a small-scale civil war, large numbers of villagers fled their homes, with close to 50,000 people now living in government-run relief camps with little hope of returning home. Another 30,000 to 50,000 villagers have fled to the forests of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state. "The abuses started over three years ago. No one can claim any longer they're not aware of the crisis that exists in Chhattisgarh," said Becker. "There's no excuse not to act."

Decks cleared for Maoist government in Nepal

2008-07-15T13:31:00.000+05:30

Indo-Asian News Service
Monday, July 14, 2008 (Kathmandy)
After a 10-year war to capture power by the gun, Nepal's Maoists on Monday began edging closer to their target with the caretaker parliament clearing the decks for the formation of a new government under their leadership.''We will form the new government by this week,'' Maoist lawmaker and deputy commander of the party's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Janardan Sharma, better known by his war name Prabhakar, told a news agency.''In the next 48 hours, we expect the election of Nepal's first president to be held. After that, the new government will be announced,'' he said.The Maoists, who fought an election this year after more than a decade and stunned the world by emerging as the largest party, began hectic consultations with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's Nepali Congress (NC), the second largest party in the newly elected constituent assembly, as well as other parties for a coalition government.''Today's talks will decide if the NC will sit in the government,'' Prabhakar said.However, even if there is no consensus, the Maoists will still be able to go ahead with their plans for a new government as the assembly Sunday night approved of an amendment to the constitution to make their dream of capturing power a reality.Of the 449 lawmakers attending the session, an overwhelming 442 approved the fifth change to the constitution, which will now enable the prime minister to be elected - and removed - on the basis of a simple majority in the house if there is no consensus.Though the Maoists emerged as the largest party after the April election, they had not been able to muster the earlier two-thirds majority required.The almost nine-hour marathon session also saw the house agree that republic Nepal's first president, who will replace deposed king Gyanendra as head of state, will be chosen by a simple majority vote. However, to remove the president, who would be only a ceremonial head, a two-thirds majority will be needed.The main communist party, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), is expected to join the Maoist-led new government.A strong indication came during Sunday's vote in the assembly when the UML sided with the Maoists to defeat overwhelmingly the proposal by the prime minister's party to allow the chief opposition party to send a member to the National Security Council.Though the election was held on April 10, the inordinate delay in the formation of a new government occurred first due to Koirala's party refusing to cooperate unless he was made the first president of Nepal.But mounting pressure both at home and from the diplomatic community made Koirala finally resign last month. The appointment of a Maoist successor was still delayed by nearly a fortnight due to protests by three regional parties from the Terai plains which paralysed the assembly.The Terai parties, who want the government to create an autonomous Madhes state in the plains, boycotted Sunday's vote and may in future launch fresh protests.If that happens, the Maoists will have to wait even longer.Though the once underground party is holding its silence, it is said to have finalised its list of ministers.The chairman of the party and the supreme commander of the PLA, Pushpa Kamal Dahal - or Prachanda - has announced his intention to lead the new government.

PRESS RELEASE

2008-07-12T17:21:00.000+05:30

PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

CPP commends New People's Army victories in Eastern Visayas, calls for more offensives nationwide
July 11, 2008

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today commended the New People's Army (NPA) in Eastern Visayas for successfully frustrating the efforts of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to suppress the people's revolutionary armed resistance.

CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said "Red fighters under the Efren Martires Command (Eastern Visayas NPA Regional Operational Command) have for the past several months demonstrated with consistent brilliance the superiority of the people's army over the inutile, terrified and moribund fascist armed forces of the reactionary puppet regime."

"With the vigorous support of the people, the NPA in Eastern Visayas has maintained the upper hand in practically all battles against the despised and miserable troops of the AFP," said Rosal. "The NPA has responded to the AFP's widespread military offensives in wide swaths of Samar and Leyte islands with a series of successful tactical offensives against the enemy forces."

Citing reports issued by the Efren Martires Command, Rosal said "the AFP has suffered at least 43 casualties killed in action since January this year. Three NPA fighters were martyred in armed encounters with the fascist troops during the same period." Since 2005, Rosal added, at least 129 fascist troops have been killed in action on the part of the AFP and nine Red fighters on the part of the NPA.

"The AFP has further isolated itself from the people with its fascist abuses and crimes against the people," said Rosal. He cited the case of at least 800 barriofolk of General MacArthur town in Eastern Samar who have been forced by the government forces' atrocities to evacuate to the poblacion and are demanding the removal of the fascist troops in their communities.

"As shown in the series of victories of the people's war in Eastern Visayas, the Arroyo regime's Oplan Bantay Laya 2 has been failing miserably. Despite employing the worst of Palparan-style terror tactics in Eastern Visayas, the AFP has totally failed to stem the growth of the NPA and the people's armed resistance," said Rosal. "In fact, as of April 2008, NPA forces have even expanded their mass work, recruitment and military operations to 14 additional barrios in four more towns of Eastern Visayas."

The CPP spokesperson said the NPA has been able to continually launch offensives against the Arroyo regime during the past several months, not only in Eastern Visayas, but in Southern Mindanao, Western Visayas, Bicol, Ilocos-Cordillera and numerous other regions.

"Tactical offensives by the NPA will continue to intensify across the country in response to the widespread clamor to punish the Arroyo regime for the worsening economic hardships, political repression and fascist brutalities it has been imposing on the people."

Maoists vow to give special rights to Muslims in Nepal

2008-07-12T17:19:00.000+05:30

The Nepal Maoists, who played a key role in
abolishing the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy and turning the country into
a secular state, have vowed to ensure special rights to the minority
Muslim community in the Himalayan nation.
"It is not enough to provide equal rights to the Muslims but they
should be given special rights as compensation for having been
suppressed," CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda told a gathering of the
Muslim Mukti Morcha (MMM), a mass people's organisation affiliated to the party of the Maoist Revolutionaries.
Prachanda's support for special rights for the Muslims is seen as an
attempt to mobilise the muslim community, which mainly resides in the Terai-plains bordering India and unleash potential for Revolution. Also the aim is to show to oppressed muslim masses the world over that only Maoist led people's revolution is key to liberation and new life! Declaring Nepal a secular nation was one of the 40-point demands put forth by the Maoists in 1996 when they started the peoples war in the country.
Prachanda, who is poised to lead the new government in Nepal, promised
to form a `Muslim Commission' for the welfare of the minority
community and develop historically important pilgrimage sites of the
community as tourist destinations.
MMM leader Mohammad Kasim Miya asked the Terai-based Madhesi leaders not
to categorise Muslims as Madhesis, alleging that the regional parties of
the plains were trying to deny Muslims their rights.

Iron ore 'transportation' hit after Maoists derail train

2008-07-12T17:18:00.000+05:30

Iron ore transportation from Chhattisgarh' s Dantewada district's excavation sites was stopped Wednesday as railway authorities failed to repair rail tracks uprooted by Maoist guerrillas, which had led to derailing of 11 wagons of an ore-loaded goods train a day earlier.

Maoist insurgents, who enjoy dominance in the state's southern Dantewada district, uprooted about seven metres of rail track Tuesday. Eleven wagons of an iron ore loaded goods train derailed while on way to the port city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

The derailment took place between Dantewada and Kamaloor railway stations.

Police officials said railway officials reached the accident site Wednesday morning to repair the tracks. It is expected to take at least 24-48 hours to restore normal traffic.

The National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (NMDC) has three major mining facilities at Dantewada's Bailadilla hills. It excavates about 20 million tonnes of iron ore annually to supply several major domestic steel makers besides exporting to Japan via Visakhapatnam.

Maoist guerrillas blew up railway tracks

2008-07-12T17:16:00.000+05:30

Maoist guerrillas blew up railway tracks and a
government office after attacking a police station in Bihar's Jamui
district early Friday. A group of armed rebels first attacked the
Lakshmipur police station and then blasted the block office of Jamui
district, about 200 km from here.

Later they blew up railway tracks at two places. The tracks were blown
up between Narganjo and Ghorparan stations in Jamui district and near
Ghoghi-Bariarpur village on the Jamalpur-Kiul section in Munger
district. This disrupted movement of trains on the Patna-Howrah route, a
railway official said.

An exchange of fire between policemen and the Maoists followed.

"Maoist guerrillas opened fire on policemen to create panic and
bombed the block office," reports said.

The Maoists have given a call for a shutdown in five east Bihar
districts - Jamui, Munger, Bhagalpur, Lakhisarai and Banka - to protest
the arrest and alleged custodial torture of a self-styled `area
commander' Kamlesh alias Deepak July 6.

A few days ago, Maoist rebels bombed the Chitriya block office near
Motihari, district headquarters of East Champaran.

Mutiny in Police camps

2008-07-11T13:19:00.001+05:30

For the first time in the history of Nepal, low ranking policemen of the Armed Police Force (APF) from the Chandika Battalion of Parbat district and the Bageswori Battallion of Nepalgunj (a town of western Nepal) revolted against the repression of their high level officers.

The mutiny of the junior policemen against their officers started first in the Parbat district, where the junior policemen accused the officers of treating them badly, beatings, prejudice, of providing poor quality rations etc. The policemen have simple demands, such as edible food, the ending the abusive behavior, the payment of the allowances the government had promised for their work on Constituent Assembly election, holidays to visit their families and homes etc.

Within few days of the revolt in Parbat, some 200 lower rank policemen of the APF in Nepalgunj revolted, beat their officers and held them inside their barracks for two days. However, not a single shot was fired. They had similar demands to the policemen of the Parbat district. They held 3 DSPs and 14 Inspectors. As the junior police started their agitation, the DIG and SP of the Battalion fled to a nearby police camp.

These two similar agitations, in two different police battalions, in less than a week, has brought into light the pathetic condition of armed forces. It seems that the junior police had no other option than to revolt and risk their lives and careers. This action proves that the high officers do not behave in a respectful and human way to the lower level policemen. The revolt has also demonstrated that the restructure of the armed organizations must be the very first agenda in the new Republican state.

The consciousness of the policemen, the revolt against the high handed repression of the high ranking officers has surprised the status-quo, the bureaucrats and the politicians. But the right of the policemen to rebel didn’t develop overnight and it didn’t develop out of nowhere. The consciousness of the policemen to rebel is the result of the ten year long People’s War which has taught all the oppressed to rebel against the oppressors. The highest human right is to rebel. The junior police had expected that their oppression would end once the republic is established, but when the feudalist oppression within their organization didn’t end, they had no other option than to revolt. This revolt has shown the character of the officers of the armed forces in Nepal; the officers need to be taught how to behave with juniors.

A team under the home minister held a meeting with the agitators and a probe is underway. After they received a promise that the high ranking culprits will be punished, the policemen ended their agitation. An AIG of the Armed Police force said that there were many irregularities in the battalion. It is an ironic that a high ranking officer, the battalion commander Hari Sanket Budathoki, received an award for being the best Battallion Commander in the AFP last year. Budathoki has now been transferred.

The agitation has also revealed that a large section of armed personnel want a radical change in their organization, and in the country also. This revolt has sent a message to the new government as to where the problem lies. This is a strong example of how much the 10 year People’s War has influenced the poor and oppressed people of Nepal, including the junior armed personnel.

Indian solidarity with Nepali Maoist

2008-07-11T13:17:00.000+05:30

In a significant move, fourteen Indian revolutionary parties and organizations that uphold Marxism-Leninism or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism/Mao Zedong Thought publicly shared the same platform on June 23, 2008, for the first time in the history of the Indian revolutionary movement. They unanimously conveyed greetings to the CPN (Maoist) for its victory in the recent Constituent Assembly Election, and resolutely supported the current political line of the CPN (Maoist); the Constituent Assembly Election and Federal Democratic Republic. On this occasion, the Chairman of the CPN (Maoist), Prachanda, sent a felicitation letter wishing great success to the program jointly organized by Solidarity Initiative for Revolutionary Struggle in Nepal at the University Institute Hall in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. West Bengal is where the spark of legendry Naxalite movement was ignited in the 1970s. The felicitation letter states: “The Constituent Assembly Election has now laid a foundation for a Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. The monarchy, the feudal institution, has been demolished. However, the Nepalese people’s struggle against feudalism and imperialism is by no means over. Therefore, there will be greater challenges in the days ahead.” Acknowledging the importance of proletarian solidarity at an international level, the letter further states: “in the present situation of expanding imperialist offensive, mainly by the U.S., we hold that the success of the proletarian revolution in a certain country is dependent, more than before, on whether or not the proletarian class can develop internationally, for a strong revolutionary movement to fight imperialism.” CM Prachanda in his message also added that the present political changes in Nepal would not have been possible had there been no strong solidarity of revolutionary, left and democratic forces and individuals around the world, and India in particular.

After reading out the Chairman’s felicitation letter, and before a large gathering of participants from every corner of West Bengal, the party representative and Provincial Committee Member, Laxman Pant, said that the victory of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is also a victory for the international proletariat. He further added that this is the victory of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the indomitable ideology of the proletariat, and signified the defeat of revisionism and parliamentary reformism. West Bengal has been the stronghold and epicenter of revisionism in India, where parliamentary ‘communists’ have ruled the province for over three decades. He urged all the forces that prior to forming any opinion about the Nepalese revolution; they must make an overall objective assessment of present world situation. The Russian and Chinese revolutions took place during a period of sharp inter-imperialist rivalry and World War, a period where imperialism and revisionism were weak; in our time, the subjective and objective situation is entirely different. He said that although the party has achieved vital political and tactical victories, nevertheless the final victory is still in the future, and the class struggle is not over. He further called upon all the participating parties and organizations not to establish any view about the party’s ideology, line, policies and programs by going through media reports and interviews with the media, but by scrutinizing the party’s official statements and documents.

The list of other speakers who presented their views in the meeting included Santosh Rana, the General Secretary of PCC, CPIML and convener of the organizing committee, Somnath Chaterji, leader, SOC CPI ML, Amrit Paira, leader Mazdoor Kishan Party, Sadanand Bagal, West Bengal State Committee, Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), Animesh Chakrawarty, CPI-ML Liberation, Pradip Singh Thakur, CPI ML New Democracy, Shukhendu Bhattacharya, Workers Party, Alok Mukherji, CPI ML Janshakti, Prasun Chaterji, Gan Pratirodh Manch, Sukhendu Sarkar, D.M.S., Sailen Bhattacharya, CPI (ML) PCC, Yash Das CCRML, Varnali Mukerji, CPB. The other two parties, namely the CRLI and CPRM gave their consent for the program, however, they could not make it to the program. The meeting was chaired by a three-member presidium of Sukhendu Bhattacharya, Sadanand Bagal and Pradip Banerji. All the speakers unanimously stressed the need to build a strong Indian people’s solidarity movement in support of the Nepalese revolution, and resolutely resist external intervention from both Indian expansionism and U.S. imperialism. They expressed the view that the Nepali revolution has vitalized the revolutionaries in India and the whole world over. The final resolution was passed jointly. The joint resolution adopted by fourteen parties’ states: “The people of Nepal have achieved a significant victory in the long drawn struggle for the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of democracy and a democratic republic under the leadership of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). This assembly expresses its solidarity with the Nepalese people and sends its revolutionary greetings for the victories achieved by them under the leadership of CPN (Maoist). At the same time, this assembly severely condemns U.S. imperialism and Indian expansionism and other reactionaries who are trying to interfere in the internal affairs of Nepal, and the committee expresses its resolve in support of the revolutionary struggle of the Nepali people, led by the CPN (M). The resolution was tabled before the meeting by Santosh Rana. The proceedings were conducted by Pradip Banerji. On this occasion a memento was presented to the Chairman of CPN (M) by CPI ML Janshakti, which was received by Com. Laxman Pant on behalf of the party. The program came to an end after a vote of thanks by Sukhendu Bhattacharya on behalf of the Presidium.

Declaration and information

2008-07-10T15:20:00.001+05:30

International seminar
30th - 31st August 2008
In Italy near Florence

For more information and to confirm attendance e mail:
ro.red@libero. it

For more information on Revolution in Nepal, please link up to the following web sites:
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/MAOIST_ REVOLUTION/

http://www.krishnas enonline. org/theredstar/

http://www.cpnm. org/

Evaluation of the Nepal situation and international influence in the
International Comunist movement.

The theoretical and pratical lessons of Communist Party Of Nepal (Maoist)and the experiences.

Maoist Communist Party Of Italy (PCm Italy)

This international seminar will be in english, french and italian languages is open all M.L.M organisation and parties in the world and particularly in Europe (european parties and organisations) , open to all branches of the World Peoples Resistance Movement (wprm) and solidarity commitees supporting Nepalese Revolution.

For more information and to confirm attendance e mail:
ro.red@libero. it

proletari comunisti (Communist Worker)- International Seminar

Invitation

2008-07-10T15:16:00.000+05:30

Meeting of the World People's Resistance Movement (Britain)

Sunday 13th July 2008 2pm

Discussions:

Discussion On Nepal Following Successful Meeting On 4th July

Iran:The Possibility Of An Attack

The Food Crisis

Come and discuss people's struggles around the world

Read! Think!! Act!!!

2008-07-09T17:28:00.002+05:30

· When nine-tenths of Africa had been seized (by 1900), when the whole world had been divided up, there was inevitably ushered in the era of monopoly possession of colonies and, consequently, of particularly intense struggle for the division and the re-division of the world.

· Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich — that is the democracy of capitalist society.

· And so in capitalist society we have a democracy that is curtailed, wretched, false, a democracy only for the rich, for the minority.

· Abolition of the police, the army and the bureaucracy. The salaries of all officials, all of whom are elective and displaceable at any time, not to exceed the average wage of a competent worker.

· Bourgeois democracy is democracy of pompous phrases, solemn words, exuberant promises and the high-sounding slogans of freedom and equality. But, in fact, it screens the non-freedom and inferiority of women, the non-freedom and inferiority of the toilers and exploited.

· Modern monopolist capitalism on a world-wide scale — imperialist wars are absolutely inevitable under such an economic system, as long as private property in the means of production exists.

· Democracy means equality. The great significance of the proletariat's struggle for equality and of equality as a slogan will be clear if we correctly interpret it as meaning the abolition of classes. But democracy means only formal equality. And as soon as equality is achieved for all members of society in relation to ownership of the means of production, that is, equality of labor and wages, humanity will inevitably be confronted with the question of advancing father, from formal equality to actual equality, i.e., to the operation of the rule “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”.

------V.I. Lenin

Land of no return

2008-07-07T15:25:00.002+05:30

What would you tell someone if they told you that you had to give up your land, along with your livelihood, for the betterment of your state? For the people of Singur, they have had many opportunities to protest and little reason to celebrate. But they are hard working, so they set up tea stands, do embroidery work, to earn a little income. It is a far cry from the harvest they used to yield, before they were told less than two years ago that a small-car factory would bring not only work for the people but development for the state.
The first time Citizens’ Initiative, a group made up of mostly English Literature students from Jadavpur University as well as professors and activists, went to Singur in Hooghly district it was on a fact-finding mission, to see for themselves how the construction of the Tata Motors small-car factory had affected people. After encountering the hospitality of the villagers and hearing some of their stories, members of the group were compelled to return.
The result is Under Development: Singur, a photography exhibit, coupled with a panel discussion and film festival that took place last weekend at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre. They plan to have a separate exhibit on Nandigram in the future. A full report of the group’s findings from their visits to Singur and Nandigram from February to August 2008 will be available in the coming months.
“What is a very important part of this exhibition is the growing relationship between the students who come from such privileged background and these people... our efforts have that personal touch, these are not only photographs of burnt houses and bleeding people which is what comes out in the media, you know, sensational news but these are pictures of people leading their day to day lives,” said Madhura Chakraborty, one of the group members. The photographs vividly demonstrate that there is no short-term solution to what now troubles the people of Singur ~ no matter which political party is in power. The cement has been poured, the walls have come up around the 997.11 acres of land allocated for the project, and the factory is being built, permanently damaging the once fertile land.
“They can’t get back that land and put it to any use. But most of them think that they’re going to get back the land and go back to cultivating it. We’ve encountered this in several cases and several people have told us now that it’s going to the Supreme Court we’re hoping to get back the land. I don’t think that’s an option for them… the Opposition is exploiting them in that sense,” Chakraborty said.
Members of the group first started discussing development issues after 2 December, 2006, when police officers and CPI-M cadres burnt the houses of Singur villagers who were opposing the land acquisition. Since they were students of English Literature, they invited guest speakers who were familiar with land development issues to educate them about what was happening in West Bengal. They started a blog called Development Dialogues, where they have also been diligently archiving all of the pieces published in local newspapers, national newspapers and at times in the foreign press about Singur and Nandigram. More people joined the group after the Citizens’ Silent Protest March that took place in Kolkata on 14 November 2007. After their first visit to Singur, the group members have been trying to find ways to help the affected people, particularly those in the village of Dobadi, where 95 Scheduled Cast families, landless labourers, live.
“We found out that they haven’t received anything (compensation)… most of them are now without work since they only have farming skills and most of the cultivatable land fell within the boundary walls and they weren’t being allowed to cultivate it, so we started planning doing something for them to help them generate some income for them,” Chakraborty said. The group collected 270 kgs of rice and various other food staples from their friends and families but that was only enough for a couple of meals for them. They also set up a medical camp.
“It’s long-term reconstruction that we’re seriously interested in because it’s pretty clear to us that the CPI-M has done a pretty poor job in Singur, in Nandigram, in several other places of Bengal but the Trinamul Congress has done little less other than raise political capital out of that situation. It has not helped,” one of the group’s photographers, Amrita Dhar said.
“If the government takes away their subsistence, it should be able to provide alternative means. If it doesn’t, it’s obviously not doing its job. To my mind it’s not compensation to say, look this factory has come up and it will give employment by the hundreds, by the thousands. What kind of employment, is my question,” Dhar said.
What the group has discovered is that only 100 acres of the land allocated for the project is being used for the factory building, the remaining acres will be used to set up a private township for the workers. They are convinced that this is why the state government chose this fertile land for the factory site, since it is only a 40-minute drive away from Kolkata, instead of fallow land in Purulia, situated much further away from the metropolis. Since the villagers outside the wall have always been farmers, they know that they would only be given menial jobs, and they have made it clear that they do not want to become servants for the factory workers.
“There are real people involved with real dreams, with real aspirations, to whom it is not enough to say that ‘Your state is developing’. It is no use to me to have my state very, very developed if I am not self-sufficient any longer when I was. If I had land, I tilled it, I had housing for my son and daughter, I was happy. Right now I have nothing and my state is very developed,” Dhar said.

Tata’s Singur project: All promises turns into hoax

2008-07-07T15:25:00.001+05:30

700 youth lost job today (July 1) from Tata’s Singur project. They all guarded the land from any mischief for 19 months day and night in lieu of Rs 68 per day, but did not receive any recognition finally, neither from the state, nor from the Tatas..

ALMOST 700 youth who had all through guarded the land for Tatas at Singur, lost their jobs on daily wages from today (July 1). They all belong to the local areas like Beraberi, Gopalnagar and KGD. Among them 250 belong to the families who have sacrificed their high yielding agricultural land for the Tata Motor’s project.

At the same time, 339 trained workers belonging to such families are still waiting for a job offer from Tatas. 359 youth received training in different technical jobs on their own after the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and local Communist Party of India, Marxist [CPI(M)] leaders assured them a job after the training is over. Now the local leaders are avoiding them. 20 out of these 339 youth have decided to go for hunger strike from July 2 in front of the main gate of the factory at Singur.

The land was procured by WBIDC on December 1, 2006. Local people agitated. Police had to take stern actions against the agitators and helped WBIDC to take over the land. On the day itself, WBIDC appointed 700 youth, mainly from the families who had sold their land for the project, to guard the guard wall of the then proposed project. Their daily wages was 68 rupees. They have saved the land from the agitators risking their lives for months without caring the winter, monsoon and scorching sun of summer.

The situation overturned after Tatas initiated construction. The WBIDC, which has spent Rs 47600 everyday for them, suddenly stopped payment five months ago. Finally a few days back, WBIDC issued a circular that they are no more required from July 1. All of them have gone back to their old status from today. They do not even know when their due will be cleared.

During procuring land, the state government had all through maintained that after Tata comes, the entire locality will see an economic boom. Educated or uneducated – everybody will get a job – either in Tata’s factory or in other industries. Indirect employment will also be ensured. The families, which have given their land for the project were specifically assured of one job in Tata Motors.

Now all hopes have withered away overnight. None knows what is their future.

CPI ( Maoists) hails PLGA for 'Operation Chitrakonda'

2008-07-07T15:24:00.001+05:30

With the divers of Indian Navy working over time to locate the missing dead bodies of Greyhounds Jawans of Andhra Pradesh in Balimela Reservoir in Malkangiri district, the Central Military Commission of the outlawed CPI (Maoists) has hailed the cadres of People's Liberation of Guerrilla Army (PLGA) for successful 'Operation Chitrakonda'.

"We hailed the PLGA of the Andhra-Orissa border for Operation Chitrakonda across the Balimela reservoir under the South-Western Police range of Orissa on June 29," Commission chief Basavaraj and Central Committee spokesman Azad in a joint statement said on Sunday.

Describing the Greyhounds as a force that had unleashed a reign of terror in AP, the top Maoists leaders warned the Greyhounds that if they venture into the neighbouring Orissa and Chhattisgarh again to conduct "anti-Maoists operation ", they would meet the same fate as their colleagues near in Malkangiri district.

"Our PLGA forces will carry out joint counter-campaigns and deal effective blows to the security forces," the statement reads.

The outlawed outfit in their statement also turned down the offer of talks by AP Home Minister K Jana Reddy after the ambush of the Greyhounds.

The party made it cleared that it would not repeat its mistake of parleying with the Government. They said that they would not make any mistake of going in for talks with these double-dealers (Congressmen).

They blamed Andhra Chief Minister Y S Rajaekhara Reddy and Home Minister Jana Reddy for the failure of the talks in 2004 and charged them with hypocrisy in saying that violence had no place in democracy.

Maoists reject talks with Government

2008-07-07T15:18:00.001+05:30

The CPI (Maoist) has turned down the offer of talks by Home Minister K Jana Reddy after the ambush of the Greyhounds in the Sileru-Balimela reservoir on the AP-Orissa border recently.

The party made it clear that it would not repeat its mistake of parleying with the Government.

In a statement here on Saturday, party central military commission chief Basavraj and central committee spokesperson Azad said: "We assure the people of AP and India that we will not make the mistake of going in for talks with these double-dealers (Congressmen)."

They blamed Rajasekhara Reddy and Jana Reddy for the failure of the talks in 2004 and charged them with hypocrisy in saying that violence had no place in democracy while themselves presiding over the cold-blooded murder of several hundred Maoist revolutionaries, sympathisers and innocent people.

The Maoist spokesmen said their movement eschewed violence per se but necessarily had to counter the repression of the State.

They hailed the PLGA of the Andhra- Orissa Border for the Balimela reservoir operation and described the Greyhounds as a force that had unleashed a reign of terror in AP.

The PLGA, and revolutionaries in general, would punish Congress leaders and police officials in similar fashion if they continued to indulge in attacks in the name of retaliation, they said.

Come let us strive to make world of our dreams !

2008-07-04T09:40:00.002+05:30

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection:
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
--Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.