Volume 3, No. 8, August 2002

The police, in collaboration with the para-military forces, have in recent times let loose a campaign of terror against the revolutionary and mass movements in Bihar and Jharkhand. With the evil intention of creating an environment of terror, the state has been subjecting the revolutionary fighters and struggling masses to inhuman torture in police stations. It has been destroying and looting their properties and killing revolutionary fighters in false encounters.

To make the repression campaign more ferocious and effective the state has resorted to long range patrolling (LRP) to Chase and Engage the revolutionaries. This policy was adopted right before the coming into being of the State of Jharkhand and continued since.

Since January last (Jan 2001) the state killed at least five revolutionary fighters of the PGA and seven dalit adivasi supporters after arresting them. Also, the Jayanandan gang, organised by a minister in the RJD ministry and protected by the local police administration has killed two dozen sympathizers, including two cadres of the party, in different incidents in Patna district during the same time. The killings by this gang also include the infamous Masourha and Danmai massacres. The Ranvir Sena, raised by the landlords and protected by the state, has killed four supporters and one cadre of the PW Party. During the same period, nine cadres and supporters of the MCC have been killed by the state police.

This strategy of a repression campaign has been adopted as a principal method and implemented in a strict way with the help of specially deployed armed forces. The CRPF accompanies the police on a massive scale in these LRP campaigns in Jharkhand. These forces always carry modern weapons and modern communication systems. When they go out for patrolling they are accompanied with a long caravan of vehicles. Once out they set up camps in the villages and carry on the repression campaign.

In Bihar, when the police embark upon a repression campaign, it provides services, support and protection to the private feudal armies like the Ranvir Sena and murderous criminal gangs. It establishes new police stations and posts in the rural areas and encamps there to provide protection to these armed thugs.

Against this protection by the state to the private armies and the criminal gangs and the ruthless repression on the revolutionary and democratic struggles, the revolutionary tradition to oppose repression avenge the martyrs has always been carried on by the fighters of the People’s Guerrilla Army. In this counter campaign, the guerrillas in Jharkhand and Bihar have carried on many actions in recent times. This counter campaign is organised not only as an answer to the local terror campaign of the police and paramilitary forces and the private armies but also as an answer to the overall terror campaign that is being carried on in various states under the directions of the Central Government. The fighters of the People’s War have carried on their armed struggle in Andhra, Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa-Andhra Border Area and the MCC has done the same in Jharkhand and Bihar.

Here we are listing only those actions that have been successfully carried out in the months of September, October and November 2001.

One action was carried out in the Garwah district of Jharkhand while three others were conducted in the Camoor, Patna and Gaya districts of Bihar. In all these districts the police vehicles have been destroyed by land mines.

In all of these four actions, 23 men were killed which included 20 policemen and three civilian drivers. Another 6 policemen were injured. Among the dead policemen, one was a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), one bodyguard, one sub-inspector, three assistant sub-inspectors and three head constables. 15 arms were seized in these actions. These arms included five SLRs, five .303 rifles, two sten guns, one carbine, one pistol of nine mm bore, and one revolver of .38 bore. Two hand grenades were also seized. In some other actions of the same type, 8 more policemen were injured and one walkie-talkie was seized. In all these actions, the guerrillas of the PGA suffered no losses.

District Camoor, Bihar: The first successful action was carried on near village Bahurai that lies near the Adhoura hill under police station Chainpur. A mine was blasted when a police party was coming from a police picket in village Lohra under the leadership of a DSP on Sept. 11, 2001. In this blast, six members of the Bihar Military Police (BMP)were killed. Soon after the blast, other policemen from this picket assaulted the PGA squad and a fierce encounter ensued between the police and the guerrillas. The PGA could only get one SLR and one sten gun from this encounter while the DSP escaped. After the losses suffered by the state forces, the police stated that three guerrillas were also killed in this encounter. This was just a propaganda lie that was meant to stem the sagging morale of the state forces. All the members of the PGA squad had retreated safely after the encounter.

District Garhwa, Jharkhand: The second successful action was carried on October 4, 2001 about ten Kilometers away from the Bhandrya P.S. in the Bargarh jungle near village Barigawan at about 11.30 AM. A caravan of eight four-wheeled police vehicles was out on a LRP mission. They were searching for a PGA squad to encircle and destroy it on the information provided by an informer.

The DSP heading the police caravan was a cruel person like the current SP of Garhwa and was infamous for his repressive actions. He was enthusiastically participating in the state repression campaign. Both the SP and DSP were on the hit list of the PGA. The DSP Amlesh Kumar was sitting in the third vehicle of the eight-vehicle LRP caravan. When his vehicle reached at the waiting mine the switch was triggered and a big explosion tore his vehicle into pieces along with him and his bodyguard and two other policemen. One head constable and three other policemen were injured. The policemen and the CRP forces present in the other vehicles immediately started firing on the PGA guerrillas. In front of the heavy firing from the enemy, the PGA squad could only retreat safely and it was impossible to seize the arms due to the much superior number of the reactionary state forces.

Patna, Bihar: The third landmine blast occurred in the sub-division Masaurhi near village Jagpura under the Dhanrua PS. In this incident six policemen and a personal driver of an RJD MLA Dharmender Yadav, were killed. Here the police had not come on its own but was deceived to come there by the PGA itself. The trap worked well and the PGA was successful in carrying on its mission.

It must be remembered that the criminal mafia gang of Jayanandan Yadav that had been organised by the RJD minister Surender Yadav was responsible for the murder of about a dozen supporters of the PW Party and also of the massacres of children, women and the old people from dalit hamlets in the villages of Masaurha and Datmai that fall under the Masaurhi sub-division. They had not only killed and massacred, but also raped women and girls in these villages. When the struggling people had demanded the sacking of the minister responsible for this gang’s atrocities, the government, instead of listening to the just demands of the people, had ordered the "Special Task Forces" to suppress them. The task forces targeted the revolutionaries and the struggling masses. They terrorized the people through naked repression throughout the sub-division. Though the police forces were engaged in their suppression campaign yet they dreaded the PGA’s counter-attack. In recent years, there have been many incidents of police vehicles being blown up by the communist revolutionary guerrillas. As a result, the police had lost the courage to patrol these plain areas in the night. They were carrying out their campaign only in the daytime.

The situation was demanding that the repression be resisted in a way that would teach the police a lesson. The target being in the plains, the PGA too was finding it difficult to attack the police in the daytime. The Party’s strategy was to lay a trap for the police in the dark hours of the night. So, a plan was made to force the police to come to the area at a time that suited the guerrillas. A trap was laid two kilometers from Masaurhi- Datmai road near the village of Jagpura. The guerrillas made a sham attack on the police picket in the night of October 20 at about 11. When the police got a wireless message from the Datmai picket that they have been attacked it rushed towards the picket in five vehicles to provide help. But they were heading towards the laid out trap where the main PGA squad lay in ambush and was eagerly waiting for them. But the police convoy stopped suddenly a kilometer away from the trap. They got frightened of a possible trap on the way to the picket. Instead of providing security to the men at the picket, they started fearing their own death. They changed their route and went on a road that would take two hours instead of the 20 minutes to reach the picket.

This nearly pushed the PGA squad to the brink of frustration. They were saddened by the sudden turn in the expected plan that was on the edge of being thwarted. But they did not lose their calm. And they decided to wait until the end. At last, their resolve and long wait paid off.

Suddenly a vehicle appeared on the scene. Before it reached the spot, the guerrillas had received information that the police were arriving in it. Just when it reached the right spot, an explosion ripped it apart. This vehicle belonged to the local MLA Dharmender Yadav and used to be his pilot car. The vehicle was blown to smithereens. All the seven occupants present in the vehicle were dead that included six policemen and a driver of the MLA. Sub-inspector Subhash Kumar Suman (the SHO), ASI Babu Lal Soren and a head constable were among the dead. The SHO at Dhanrua, Subhash Suman was really notorious as a dreadful adventurist. He had been successful in arresting MCC comrades on two occasions. He was a daring man and had become a hero among the counter-revolutionaries. The police officers loved him and he stirred up terror in the common man. With his death, the people heaved a sigh of relief. He had also killed Jayanandan and his accomplice Panchu Yadav in a false encounter a few days ago though he had been giving him protection all along. This he did to save the minister Surender Yadav and the RJD ministry from infamy due to the massacres carried out by the Jayanandan gang. Those massacres had exposed the link between the criminal gang and the minister. Therefore, the RJD thought it better to do away with him.

In this action, the guerrillas also captured seven arms. This cache included five rifles of 303 bore, one sten carbine and a revolver of .38 bore. A pistol and a walkie-talkie could not be found due to the darkness. The guerrillas raised slogans hailing the People’s War Party and rant the air with Long Live Revolution! They also declared to avenge the death of comrade Pratap and the massacre at Kachnawan.

Gaya, Bihar: The fourth successful action was carried on November 21, 2001 to avenge the massacre at Kach-nawan where comrade Srikant achieved martyrdom. This action happened at village Koyri Bigha under Bela PS at about 7 PM in the evening. There were eight men in a private vehicle and included a private driver. Six policemen died whereas two persons were injured. The dead included an ASI (SHO of the Charta police picket), one head con-stable among four BMP men, and the civilian driver. The guerrillas spared the injured persons who were also BMP men.

The guerrillas captured five SLRs, one nine mm pistol, one sten gun and two hand grenades, and a large amount of ammunition. One SLR and a walkie-talkie could not be retrieved due to the darkness. These were later found by the police the next morning.

This area is a strong bastion of the notorious Ranvir Sena. After the blast at Koyri Bigha, the armed goons of the Sena attacked the guerrilla squad with firearms but the guerrillas suffered no losses.

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