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The PLGA guerrillas
of the CPI (Maoist) carried out a daring raid against the vicious state
machinery and feudal landlords at Madhuban in Northern Bihar on June 23, 2005.
This thunderous raid has really proved to be a ‘Dhamaka’ in the political
landscape of the country. The reverberating tremors of this raid has been felt
not only in Patna but also in the country. That is why the ruling classes and
their media have raised a hue and cry over it whereas the masses of Northern
Bihar and the country have enthusias-tically greeted it. Even though the PLGA
guerrillas suffered some losses particularly during the heroic encounters after
the raid, the achievements of this daring raid are really far reaching.
This raid has been
carried out by near about 150 people including PLGA guerrillas, some contingents
of the people militias and also the ordinary downtrodden people. A considerable
section of the women guerrillas also daringly participated in it. It was carried
out in the plain areas and in, daylight starting at 1.35 pm. Before launching
this daring operation, named as "Operation Dhamaka", the Maoist
guerrillas carried out thorough-going investigations and preparations. At the
time of launching this operation the guerrillas divided themselves into several
formations. Thereafter, they struck with lightening speed at half a dozen
targets of political, military and economic importance in Madhuban town. Within
minutes they captured almost the whole of the town. Except a little skirmish at
the police station they faced almost no trouble at any of the remaining targets.
Because of the skirmish faced at the police station the guerrillas had to kill
two policemen, that too only when they opened fire against the guerrillas. After
overpowering this obstacle they captured the police station and seized all the
weapons including a large amount of ammunition available there. In the mean time
they forced the remaining police personnel present in the police station to
surrender. Another formation of the Maoist guerrilla, it is reported, surrounded
and captured two local branches of the SBI and Central Bank and took hold of at
least Rs.12 lakhs in cash available at the counter. They also snatched the guns
of the sec-urity guards. It is a matter of regret that the guerrillas had to
kill one of the bank guards as he too refused to surrender and unnecessarily
opened fire against the guerrillas. One formation of the guerrillas struck
against the circle office and snatched four weapons from the police personnel
posted there by forcing them to surrender. Another formation of the guerrillas
attacked the house of a notorious landlord of the area who is also an MP of the
RJD and acts as a leader of an armed mafia gang. By chance he was away from home
and so survived. A nearby petrol pump owned by him, too, was attacked and
devastated. During this the guerrillas arrested the brother of the notorious
landlord but later let him free after necessary questioning. After complet-ing
this whole operation the Maoist guerrillas successfully retreated from the town.
Because this
operation was carried out in broad daylight in a township where the terrain of
the area was not quite favourable, being fully a plain area. The retreating
guerrillas were followed and encircled by a large number of police forces at
village Shampu Bahtaha comprising several companies of the CRPF, BMP and police
personnel of many surrounding police stations. Their number was at least four
times larger than the guerrillas and they were led by the SP and the DIG of the
Range himself. But the guerrillas were already prepared to face and resist this
onslaught. At this testing time the guerrillas rekindled their energies and
instantly chalked out a plan to give a befitting reply to the enemy.
There-after, the PLGA guerrillas continued their retreat with active help and
participation of the masses. After the first encounter they increased their
vigilance. They were aware that after the defeat in the encounter the demo-ralised
enemy will act more ferociously. This assessment proved true. Battered and
disheartened, the enemy continued their search for the guerrillas. That is why
another encounter took place between the Maoist guerrillas and the enemy forces
on the fourth day, that is, on June 26th, 2005 at Piprahi that too in the day
time. This time the number of enemy forces was more than the first encounter.
Whereas the number of the guerrilla forces was reduced because they had already
started the process of dispersing. Despite their reduced strength the guerrilla
forces proved their mettle in this encounter again. Because the guerrillas were
already pre-pared they hit back the enemy forces just at the time when they
started encircling them. In this counter-assault, a policeman was killed on the
spot and another was arrested. Four policemen were serious-ly wounded. Two
weapons including a carbine were snatched. This befitting reply not only
thwarted their attempt to encircle the guerrillas but also forced them to
retreat. A few hours latter they again tried to advance towards the guerrillas.
But this time the guerrillas were fully prepared and had already taken combat
positions to entrap the advancings enemy. Hence when the enemy forces advanced a
little towards them, they were hit hard. In this counter attack another police
person was killed on the spot. There-after sensing the combat-ive mood of the
guerrilla forces they immed-iately started withdrawing and hence fled away at 6
pm. This courageous and successful counter attack of the guerrillas proved to be
another glorious achieve-ment. Thereafter, the CPI (Maoist) guerrillas
successfully retreated by merging themselves with the vast ocean of the masses
just like fish in deep waters.
During this over all
daring raid, particularly during the subsequent encounters, the PLGA guerrillas
also suffered some unwanted losses. Six of their brave comrades laid down their
precious lives while heriocally fighting at the forefront and thereby helping
the remaining comrades to retreat. The name of the fallen heroes of Madhuban are
Com. Rajinder (23), Gaurav (31), Sourav (26), Mohamad Sabir (23) and Vaijna (22)
of STM Jitendra (22) of Champaran. All these were martyred during the first
encounter. Some comrades were also injured.
Just before breathing
his last, one of the fallen heroes, Com. Rajinder’s voice reverberated in the
air while sticking to his fighting position he boldly asserted, "if we will die,
3 lakhs more will come forward to take up our guns". Just then two other
comrades had already given their precious lives while fighting against the enemy
to their last breath. In this context the high sounding words of the fallen
heroes itself tells that the blood of the heroes of Madhuban will not go in
vain. More and more revolutionary forces will certainly come forward to pay back
this debt and thereby carry forward the already advanc-ing PPW to its final
victory and even beyond. The ferocious police forces also killed two unarmed
villagers while firing indiscriminately. One of the villagers was a woman.
Despite these
sorrowful losses of the guerrillas and the unarmed down-trodden people, the
Madhuban raid signifies the fact that the already advancing armed agrarian
revolutionary war has touched a new high level in Northern Bihar. Because of the
above achievement the ruling classes and their media created a hue and cry about
this raid. They falsely projected that more than 29 Maoist had been killed in
the encounter following this raid. They projected this naked lie to cover up the
cowardly defeat their police forces had to face in the fight with the Maoist
guerrillas. This is why they also brazenly tried to project another lie that
this raid was carried out by Nepali Maoists not the Maoist led by the CPI(Maoist).
Another reason for this lie is the fact that the Indian expansionists are in
search of a lame excuse to launch a war of aggression against Nepal,
particularly against the Nepali people and the protracted people’s war being led
by the CPN (Maoist).
Another aspect of
this raid is that it is no longer an isolated event nor did it emerge out of a
void. It is the result of the ongoing revolutionary movement in Northern Bihar
which was initiated al-most two decades earlier. It was started to carry forward
the revolutionary legacy of Mushahari. During recent years, particularly after
year 2000, this movement not only took a new turn but also began to expand to
larger and larger areas of northern Bihar and even beyond. Many important
struggles, including some of the daring raids and ambushes against the
reactionary feudal forces and the police machinery of the reactionary state
representing imperialism, feudalism and the com-prador bureaucratic bourgeoisie,
were carried out. During these struggles a large amount of the land of the
landlords including their property were seized and distributed among the real
tillers of the land. Various struggles to annihilate the landlords like Zimdar
Singh and Vijay Singh, Dinesh Singh and Ram Kumar Shaw and the seizure of their
land have occurred.
Most prominent among
these struggles can be cited as the following: First, a raid against the police
post of the state machinery was carried out in Jan 2001 at Phasaul in
Muzaffarpur near the border of Dharbanga. In this daring raid 8 weapons
including 6 SLRs, 1 carbine, 1 Stengun were captured by forcing the police
personnel present there to surrender. In June 2001 a daring raid was carried out
against the Dexuly police station of Shivhar district. In this raid all the six
weapons available in the police station were seized by the guerrillas. Then,
another raid was carried out against the Semrahani police post in West Champaran
district during which all the police personnel posted there were forced to
surrender after a three hour fierce battle - all the 15 weapons were seized,
including 7 SLRs. These and many other revolutionary struggles were carried out
with the activate help and participation of the masses. On July 15, 2003 a bandh
aga-inst state repression was success-fully carried out in the Tirhut-Mithla
region of Northern Bihar in which thousands of people participated. This bandh
actually engulfed the whole of Northern Bihar.
The development of
the armed agrarian revolutionary war, including the Madhuban raid, can be better
un-derstood in the socio-economic condi-tions prevailing there. In this part of
the country extreme backward-ness and poverty can be seen even with the naked
eye. Semi-feudal, semi-colonial relations of production exist in the crudest
form. Most of the people, particularly the peasant masses, are forced to live a
miserable life. Because of the cruel exploitation and oppression of the feudal
landlords and their armed mafia gangs, the living conditions of the peasant
masses, particularly the poor and landless peasants, are extremely unbearable.
The land problem is one of the most basic problems in Northern Bihar. This is
closely tied to the state machinery representing and protecting the interests of
imperialism, feudalism and the Comprador Bureaucrat Bourgeoisie. Hence the class
contradic-tions and the resultant class struggles are already sharp.
Over and above this,
regular floods cause havoc every year, especially during the rainy seasons. That
is also another reason why most of the people from this part of Northern Bihar
are forced to migrate to other parts of the country for their living. It is
another aspect that there too they are being treated like third rate citizens.
All the political parties of the ruling class have never taken any notable step
to solve the basic problems of the people to improve their living conditions
since so-called independence. Neither can it be expected from them. Today, they
are exposed more than ever before.
Hence the ruling
classes and their parliamentary parties are moving towards adopting more and
more repressive measures to suppress the struggling people even on their simple
demands. Since the development of the armed agrarian revolutionary move-ment of
the people, particularly the peasantry, they have increasingly tried their best
to suppress it by using every means. Until now 15 Maoist guerrillas and two
villagers have been killed and many others are languishing in jails. Now, after
the formation of the CPI (Maoist), they have declared that "Left extremism" is
the main danger before them. Hence they have already designed an all out war
against this movement without declaring it. In this over all context, the
significance of the Madhuban raid lies in the fact that it is a befitting reply
to these designs. It is certain that they will further intensify the repression
in Northern Bihar also. In this nefarious game they may even deploy their armed
forces to suppress this movement. But this is also certain that the triumphantly
advancing armed agrarian revolutionary movement, that is, the protracted
people’s war led by the CPI(Maoist), will also go on advancing by giving them
more and more befitting replies.
In the above context,
the armed agrarian revolutionary movement developing in Northern Bihar is not
only directed against the feudal mafia and police, including for land, but also
against the state machinery represented and protected by imperialism, feudalism
and the CBB. While owning the responsibility of the Madhuban raid, the section
of the SAC (equivalent to a State Committee) of the CPI(Maoist) responsible for
this region, issued a press statement saying that: the immediate purpose of
this raid was to oppose the increasing measures of repression and the
suppressive designs of the Patna and Delhi rulers. Secondly it is against the
expansionist designs of the ruling classes inseparably tied with imper-ialism,
particularly the US imperia-lism; particularly, against Nepal. Hence it
expressed actual and living solidarity with the Nepali people and their
protracted people’s war led by the CPN(Maoist). Thirdly, it was a step in the
direction of developing the PLGA into a full-fledged PLA to transform the
guerrilla zones into liberated base areas.
The Madhuban raid has
written a new chapter in the triumphantly advancing agrarian revolutionary war
in the country, that is, the protracted people’s war in Northern Bihar and the
Indian sub-continent. Despite some losses its achievements are manyfold.
Firstly, it has further vindicated the view that guerrilla war can be
carried out and advanced in the plain area too. Secondly, it has more
clearly pointed out that the fighting capability of the guerrilla forces in
Northern Bihar has reached a higher level. Thirdly, it has amply
indicated the possibility of raising the struggle of the special area of
Northern Bihar, Northern UP and Uttarakhand, under the leadership of the SAC and
also the CC of the CPI(Maoist), to the level of Andhra, Jharkhand, Bihar
Chhathisgarh movements, are greater. Fourthly, it has given a befitting
reply to the increasingly repressive designs of the ruling classes of India and
their imperialist’s chieftains particularly the US imperialists, Fifthly,
it has forcefully expressed the intimate solidarity of the struggling Indian
people to the struggling people of Nepal and their victoriously advancing
protracted people’s war led by the CPN(Maoist). Sixthly, the glorious
role played by the women guerrillas in the Madhuban raid has become its most
glaring achievement. It has further proved that women are equally capable in
playing a most daring role in all matters, particularly in military affairs.
Lastly, it has further kindled the aspirations of the Indian people that by
taking arms into their hands and by relying on their own mighty strength they
can create new miracles in the leadership of the CPI(Maoist) in smashing the old
and rotten India and building a completely New India.
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