Volume 5, No. 9, September 2004

A: Such utterances from the government can only cause obstacle to the process of talks. It is a stumbling block for arriving at ceasefire agreement. The condition of leaving arms can never be acceptable to us.

A: PEOPLE’S WAR representatives are fully aware of the fact that there is no question of leaving the arms. We came to know from the news paper reports that they had signed an agreement with the government to do propaganda without weapons. But we don’t have complete information on this aspect. Facts will come out only after we discuss this issue with our representatives. Slight delay in the communication from our side might be one reason for this.

A: They have. But the important agreements like cease fire has to be made only between the Party and the government. Representatives will work out the modalities of the talks.

A: If the government is blindly insisting on leaving arms then it would definitely obstruct the talks. We may compromise on some aspects and do the necessary adjustments. But the issue of weapons is non-negotiable.

A: It is for the government to decide. If the government wishes to be responsible to the people it shouldn’t insist for leaving the arms. If the government decides otherwise then we will opt out of the talks.

A: Government is failing in creating a conducive atmosphere for the talks. Chief Minister is saying that he would recognise our party as a political party only when we leave our weapons. DGP is going one step ahead and asking us to join the mainstream. They are doing all this as part of their plan to disarm our party and deprive the people with leadership. There were some threatening letters to our representatives. Government is trying to act innocent on this issue. Finally they arrested a constable Javed. They have deliberately trying to cover up the senior police officials by arresting a small fish. Similarly both Chief Minister and Home Minister are talking about the Voddegudem incident (in which a covert attempted to kill the District Committee Secretary, but killed two squad members) as if it is our internal affair. They are saying that they have stopped combing operations. But by showing some pretext or other like suicides and other small incidents police are still going into villages. They are threatening our sympathisers saying "you have only three months period. Then there will be ban again and we will arrest you". Government is stopping such activities.

A: There may be a lobby within police department. It was created during the Telugu Desam government period. However all such incidents are not taking place without the knowledge of the government. Government is deliberately ignoring them as they are working to serve their class interests. IAS and IPS officers in the country are working only for serving the interests of exploitative classes.

A: Armed struggle and seizure of political power are the ideological issues of People’s War party. And they are not negotiable. Bringing them into the agenda of talks means obstructing the talks. In the blood stained history of the past 30-35 years, we built People’s Guerrilla Army (PGA) with more than 2000 members. It is not proper for any one to ask us to abolish this army. The greatest wealth of the people in this country is this People’s War party and the People’s Guerrilla Army. Intellectuals and the people of other classes should deeply think about these aspects. In the present society violence is in an organised form. There are continuous attacks on women and Dalits. The exploitation of compradors and imperialists is going on in urban areas. In these circumstances people have taken up the arms to safeguard their democratic rights.

A: Except for some methods, there is not much difference. Congress party is continuing the same policies of Chandrababu government. The decisions of the government are changed while implementing the same. They propagated that there will be no prices for the heads, but in practice they gave directions that it will limit only to those who are killed in encounters. They didn’t come to agreement on cease-fire. This is nothing but deceiving the people. Until now they didn’t even declare their representatives. At the same time government is trying create an impression that it is more democratic than the previous one and trying to attract intellectuals on its side. We are feeling that the government is not sincere in its efforts for a dialogue. They are making appeal to us to show restrain during this period of talks and also to the police. Its appeal to us is understandable. But why should it appeal to police which is nothing but a tool in its administrative machinery. It should issue orders to the police. The present government is implementing the policies of Chandrababu in a different form. It is giving a sugar coating to them. Except for their fight for power there is no difference in these political parties. It is the Congress which had opened the doors of Rama Janma Bhoomi. And they are the ones who brought first loans from IMF.

A: It is for the government to create the trust. The Voddugudem incident caused serious loss to our party. The loss would have been much more severe if we had lost our DCS. We asked the government to appoint an inquiry commission within 10 days. Home Minister also assured for an immediate inquiry. Not a single step has been taken in this direction so far. Without punishing the police officials responsible for this covert operation it is difficult to advance the talks. They are saying that People’s War has the right to hold public meetings and then why the conspiracy cases on the speakers of Mogilicherla meeting. These cases should be removed immediately.

A: We had sent some proposals to the government suggesting the measures for both sides. Government had sent its response in the name guidelines for positive dialogue. However there is no mention of cease-fire in it. From the very beginning government is talking about political propaganda without weapons. They are asking us not to hold meetings in the villages and call officials to these meetings. But we questioned the government is putting these conditions when it has already announced for unconditional talks. We expressed our reservations about leaving the arms and asked the government not to put it as a pre-condition. Chandrababu also made similar precondition. If required we will take the issue of arms to the people. In lifting ban and in fake encounters government didn’t show its sincerity. It didn’t lift the ban it only allowed it to lapse by not extending it. In this way government failed to create confidence in it. In view of the total situation in spite the limitations for the talks we are strongly determined to advance the talks for solving the basic problems.

A: We are showing restrain in the rural areas. We told that we are not going to use weapons and we are abiding by it. We will continue this attitude as long as government shows the same restrain. We show same restrain while displaying our arms. It means our forces don’t march in the villages. But we will got villages to teach politics to the people. We preserve this right. We are making our cadre understand to take steps to prevent any violations. For ensuring no such violations from both sides we suggested a 30 member supervisory committee. No such committee is formed until now. There is no mechanism to expose the facts in case of any covert actions. Even now government should form a supervisory committee. Talks can advance only after such measures. Until now we are conducting ourselves in a responsible manner. If the government reduces its violence we can also reduce violence from our side. If violence and counter-violence are reduced then we can say that talks are fruitful. Organised violence may not be reduced immediately but state violence should be immediately stopped.

A: We will place the problems of the people before the government. We place the issues, which had facilitated the defeat of Chandrababu. We will raise the issues like World Bank loans and its conditions, Hindutva policies, land issue, 1/70 Act etc…. We will educate the masses on these issues and organise them. These talks are nothing but the talks between the people and the government. There shouldn’t be any ban on People’s War party in the future. Abolish the rewards on the heads of party leadership. Conduct inquiry into all fake encounters. Control the black gangs. These are all not mere party problems and its demands. They are people’s problems and demands. In any country whenever such talks take place political prisoners are released. But our party leader Bandi Prakash is languishing in the jail for the past 15 years.

A: We are raising our recruitment. We became weak in urban areas and among middle classes. We are making efforts in this direction. We are lagging behind in deploying the cadre. We are trying to overcome this shortcoming.

A: As party carrying out armed struggle there is no scope for us to work openly. We don’t have any plan to form a legal party. We will not form any separate party.

A: Our legal organisations are working. They resist the fascist policies of government and educate the people.

A: Satyamurthy had renounced Marxism and armed struggle. We give little importance to his utterances. Government is using him. From the day he left the party, he is attacking our party on ideological, political and cultural matters. But there is no consonance between his words and his deeds. He is intentionally maligning us. Our party is the party of oppressed classes. It is a proletarian party. There can be people from different castes. We are fighting by mingling with masses. Only Mogilicherla is enough to prove our mass base. After leaving the party , could Satyamurthy organise 200 people behind him? He is general staff without any army.

A: As of now it is difficult to say. We will talk about it only when we have definite information on this. But what we can say for now is that he became part of the government attack.

A: He is making contradictory statements. Whatever he may say, our objective is areas wise seizure of political power. We are feeling that we are lagging behind a bit in building the army for this purpose. Had we done this earlier we could have built liberated areas by this now. We could have advanced further from military point of view.

A: We had faced some losses because of our delay in taking decisions. We couldn’t effectively face the enemy because he is already ahead of us. In some areas we are able to stop the enemy. We had faced losses because we didn’t form the People’s Guerrilla Army for a long time.

A: We had some bitter experiences. That is why we follow certain standards while recruiting. And take precautions to avoid enemy penetration. People from all classes are being recruited. Many of them have not become communists before joining the party. They are coming because of their problems and sufferings. We are moulding them. This is a long way. Some of them are subjected to some weaknesses and vacillations. Those who are leaving the party are not completely forgetting their ideology. But government is destroying their values. It is converting them into coverts by threatening them. In the mean time we will overcome our shortcomings in our theoretical education.

A: This is a wrong concept. Educated people may talk more politics. Farmers and labourers may talk less. That doesn’t mean that there will not be any political growth in them. We may take more time to politically educate them. However low level recruitment of educated people is definitely a shortcoming. With the educated people it becomes easier to strengthen the movement in different fields.

A: Until 1985 Universities had been the revolutionary centers. In the process of growing imperialist exploitation they are diverting students’ attention away from their social responsibility.

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