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It was mid-night on
Dec.1/2. The PGA week in South Bastar was inaugurated with militia attacks on
Pamed and Chintalnar police stations. One hour into the PGA week at 1.00 am on
Dec.2 the attacks began.
Dec.2, 2002 was the
second anniversary of the PGA’s formation and the third anniversary of the
martyrdom of the CPI (ML)(PW)’s three Central Committee members — Coms. Shyam,
Mahesh and Murali. The week is commemorated each year with meetings and actions
on enemy positions.
At Pamed over 130
militiamen attacked the police station (PS) from four different directions using
muzzle-loaders, soap bombs and claymore mines. The PS is in the centre of the
village. The village is a range centre with 200 houses. The PS plus camp houses
70 well-armed policemen. The people’s militia planned this attack well in
advance.
As told to this
reporter, Com. Narandra (DK Special Zonal Committee member) recounted: "Two
nights earlier they all gathered in a forest. They did a rehearsal of the
attack. At the night of Dec.1, at 10 pm, they formed into four batches and
dispersed. Taking shelter behind the houses and offices in the village, exactly
at 1 am. the attack began. The firing went on for four hours from both sides.
The panic-stricken police did not dare venture out and continued the firing for
half and hour even after the militia dispersed. It was only the next morning
that the police realised that the attack was not by the squads, but by the armed
masses".
A simultaneous action
took place on the Chintalnar PS. Chintalnar too is a big village with 250 houses
and only 30 kms from Pamed. Here too the PS is in the centre of the village,
with 60 heavily armed policemen. The local media reported that the militia
exploded a claymore mine and a few soap bombs and dispersed. Yet, the police
continued firing for under two hours. On the very next night of Dec.2 some 40
LGS (local guerrilla squad) plus militia, fired on the PS injuring one
policeman. Though the attack lasted for only 20 minutes, the police continued
their firing for 3 to 4 hours.
Between Dec.2 and
Dec.4. Com. Narendra reported that similar attacks took place on the PSs of
Chintagupa, Maraiguda and Kistaram, each of which house roughly 60 policemen.
The attacks were said to be part of a campaign to harass the police and train
the militia for bigger attacks.
But, as part of the
PGA week in South Bastar, the most effective was the mass attack on the
Jaggurguda village of Konta Tehsil. As Narendra recounted: " This is the
biggest village in the area with 500 houses. It is a range centre and a
stronghold of the enemy. Besides a PS, it also has the offices and quarters of
the forest department. It is also the centre of the enemy’s panchayat power. On
the night of Dec.4, 1,000 villagers from 20 villages gathered outside Jaggarguda.
In the forefront of this large gathering were the militia. Participating in this
mass action were members of the peasant organisation and 300 women. They first
approached the PS and fired a claymore mine at it. The police, fear-stricken,
dug themselves inside the police station. The 1,000 people then went on a 2 hour
demolition campaign using axes, rods, stones and anything they could find. Two
hours later the panchayat office, the forest office and quarters, etc were all
raised to the ground. The people confiscated all the office and household
materials and distributed it amongst themselves. The entire villagers of
Jaggurguda watched the action and welcomed it. Throughout the 2-hour action the
police did not dare come out after the firing of the claymore mine. The action
was part of the education campaign for the destruction of enemy power, towards
the setting up of Base Areas".
Besides these series
of actions, on Dec.2 the PGA flag was hoisted in all villages, processions were
taken out and functions held. In 20 villages a recruitment drive was taken up.
The meeting finally ended with the
presentation of a number of songs in Gondi, Hindi and Telugu.
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