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The 88th anniversary of the October Revolution was
celebrated in India by the historic Jehanabad jail break. It was an action of
unprecedented significance in the Indian revolutionary movement. Together with
the Koraput armoury raid this will become folk lore in the days to come. As the
full details are yet to come out we only have the confused reporting of the
establishment media that seeks to hide more than give the full facts.
The attack began at about 9 pm on Nov.13th soon
after the completion of the days polling in another part of Bihar’s third stage
of voting for the assembly elections. The media has reported that about 1,000
comrades launched an attack on Jehanabad from all sides. The simultaneous attack
took place on the Police Lines, police stations, government offices and then the
jail. The attack continued for about two to three hours. It was first reported
that the Naxalites seized over 200 arms from the police lines and then by the
attack on the jail some 341 persons escaped with the retreating Maoists. These
included senior leaders like Ajay Kanu. In addition the revolutionaries killed
two of the ring leaders of the notorious Ranvir Sena (army of the Bhoomihar
landlords) and took another 40 captive.
Though the area around Jehanabad is fully plain and
there are no forests or hills in the vicinity the revolutionaries were able to
launch the attack and safely retreat through precision planning and deep support
from the masses. Just two days earlier 300 Maoists attacked a Home Guard
Training Centre in Giridh in Jarkhand and decamped with 185 rifles and large
amounts of ammunition. These two actions in quick succession have created panic
within the ruling classes both at the State and the Central level.
The Central Home Minister immediately called an
emergency meeting and decided to send, for the first time ever, two companies of
the elite NSG (National Security Guards) commandos to Bihar. They were also
supplied with helicopters to help in the combing operations. Panic stricken,
they tried their best to suppress the actual news from coming out by resorting
to brutal lathi charges on journalists. So desperate were the authorities that
they did so three times. The brutality was such that the authorities were forced
to suspend the SP on duty and even the Central Home Minister was forced to give
a statement. But this enflamed passions even more with the police agitating
against the decision to suspend the SP and not the District Magistrate. The
government also provoked the Ranvir Sena to retaliate. But with President’s rule
in Bihar and all the ruling class parties at loggerheads with each other in the
on-going elections political chaos reigns in Bihar, with the Maoists being able
to strike fear into the hearts of the rulers.
Today, in this so-called democracy thousands of
revolutionaries and their supporters languish in jail without any fair trial. So
is the case with the various nationality movements in the country. So also
hundreds of Muslims are being incarcerated without any evidence whatsoever, as
with the so-called Godhra POTA detenues. Even trade union activists, peasant
activists, dalits are being falsely implicated and sent to jails. In fact even
thousands of the common poor people are arrested each day and languish in jail
often for years as they are too poor to organise bail or even a lawyer.
The jails are packed with innocent people while
the real criminals in society rarely are put behind bars. For this reason the
people of the country have the right to release their beloved brethren who are
falsely thrown into jails and to try the real culprits in people’s courts. This
the CPI(Maoists) did successfully in the historic Jehanabad jail break.
In India our jails are packed mostly with the poor.
Most are victims of this unjust system. In addition jail conditions are
horrifying, demeaning and criminalizing. Bihar jails are particularly bad. The
criminal mafia rules in the jail. The highly corrupt jail administration is in
league with them. In Bihar jails even to get sleeping place one has to bribe the
authorities or else the prisioner has to sit night and day near the toilet with
no place to lie down. The prisions are over crowded and filthy. The food is
inedible with the jail authorities stealing the bulk of the food quotas. Those
with money can buy all facilities and get food from outside. The situation in
Indian jail is itself criminalizing with innocents coming out as criminals.
The legal system too are so designed that only
those with money can expect justice. The judicial system is not only deeply
corrupt, there is a strong bias against the poor, oppressed and the lower
castes. A starving person, if he robs some grains, he may by thrown into prison
for years, as he cannot afford a lawyer or bail. The rich can buy justice and
get away even with murder.
Under these conditions the Jahanabad jail break is
not only just, but legitimate and necessary. With thousands of revolutionaries
and sympathizers still in jails on numours fake charges, they cannot expect
justice within the system. Quite obviously they will avail of any opportunity
that arises to escape from the enemy’s clutches.
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