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In three major
tactical offensives in Andhra Pradesh in the South, Madhya Pradesh in Central
India and Bihar in the North in the month of February 2000, People’s War
guerrillas wiped out at least 40 policemen and snatched away a large quantity of
sophisticated arms and ammunition from the enemy. These armed actions, which
took the enemy by surprise, nailed the lie spread by the Indian ruling classes
in the previous two months that CPI(ML)[PW] had suffered a serious setback with
the loss of its three top leaders — Comrades Shyam, Mahesh and Murali — and that
it is incapable of launching any major offensive.
On 18th February, the
guerrillas made a daring attack on the Armed Out-Post (AOP) of the Andhra
Pradesh Special Police at Darakonda village in Gudem Kotha Veedhi mandal in
Vishakhapatnam district, wiping out seven policemen including a Sub-Inspector
and two head constables belonging to the 5th Battalion of APSP. At least nine
other policemen were injured in the guerrilla attack. A huge cache of
sophisticated arms—24 Self Loading Rifles, one AK-47 rifle and three sten guns,
along with a huge quantity of ammunition — were seized from the enemy forces. It
was the biggest ever seizure of weapons in Andhra Pradesh till date. In the
exchange of fire that lasted for almost three hours from 7pm-10pm, two
guerrillas — Comrade Naveen alias Balakrishna, and Comrade Sathyanarayana alias
Sridhar — became martyrs. Comrade Naveen was a former student leader of the
AIRSF and a member of the Editorial Board of the Party’s military magazine,
JUNG. Comrade Sathyanarayana was the deputy commander of the special guerrilla
squad in the East Division. Despite these losses, the guerrillas showed immense
courage and overran the Camp of the Special Police and successfully completed
the operation. After the raid the guerrillas marched through the village singing
revolutionary songs.
The entire operation
was meticulously planned and executed by the armed guerrilla squads of the East
Division in northern Andhra Pradesh. The attack commenced just at the time when
the policemen were leaving for their dinner. The guerrillas climbed the roof of
the adjacent building and asked the policemen over the loud speaker to
surrender. But when the latter refused to surrender, petrol bombs and smoke
bombs were hurled at the policemen causing confusion and panic among them. While
one batch of guerrillas attacked the camp, two other batches took care of the
two roads that led to Darakonda in order to prevent additional forces from
reaching the village. In the exchange of fire that took place with the two
rescue teams at Tuppalapadu village on Sileru-Darakonda road and near
Lankapakala on GKVeedhi-Darakonda road, three policemen were injured. The teams
fled the scene after armed confrontation with the guerrillas.It was only on the
next day morning that additional forces could reach the village. Throughout the
night the injured policemen lay at the outpost and the people of the village
refused to provide them with even a glass of water. Such was the wrath of the
people towards these mercenary forces of the State who were notorious for their
atrocities against the people.
The guerrilla attack
on Darakonda police camp is a fitting rebuff to the fascist TDP regime in Andhra
Pradesh led by the World Bank stooge Chandrababu Naidu which had been boasting
that the People’s War is now crushed with the martyrdom of the three Central
Committee members on December 2, 1999.
In another major
guerrilla offensive that took place two days later, on February 20, in
Dandakaranya in central India, 23 policemen were wiped out in a landmine blast
set off by People’s War guerrillas. The dead included an Additional
Superintendent of Police, a sub-inspector, an assistant sub-inspector and two
head constables, besides 18 constables. The attack took place near Bakulwadi,
about 10 kms from Narayanpur town in Bastar district in Madhya Pradesh. It is,
by far, the single biggest incident in the history of revolutionary movement in
India till date. With this the total number of policemen annihilated by the
guerrillas in the state of MP since 1991 reaches 115.
The ambush was well
planned by laying a trap to draw the enemy force deep into the jungle.
Information was sent to the police that some ‘naxalites’ were camping in the
Bakulvadi area. Based on this tip-off, the police engaged a private matador van
so as not to attract attention. As they were approaching the place where the
Naxalites were said to be camping, the guerrillas triggered off the landmine
killing 22 of them on the spot and injuring the other two. One of them died in
the hospital. At least 11 SLRs were said to have been snatched by the guerillas
along with other weapons. This attack was a retaliation to the series of
assaults by the police of MP in Bastar, Dantewada and Kanker districts in recent
months which resulted in the death of some guerrillas and several arrests.
A week prior to this,
on February 12, at least six CRPF men were wiped out in an ambush by People’s
War guerrillas in Palamau district of Bihar, during the first phase of elections
to the state Assembly on February 12.
People’s War
Guerrillas also attacked an attack-proof police station in Karepalli in Khammam
district of North Telangana on February 8, but due to some technical snag, it
could not be blasted. The station was due for inauguration the next day.
At mid-night of
January 11, the DySP office in Kagaznagar town in Adilabad district in North
Telangana was blasted with dynamite killing two policemen on duty.
Another two policemen
were killed in two separate incidents in North Telangana in February.
These daring tactical
offensives by the People’s War Party enthused the revolutionary masses all over
India and demonstrated that no covert wars and no joint coordination centres
organised by the Indian comprador ruling classes can halt the onward march of
People’s War.
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