Volume 7, No. 6, July-August, 2006

As the massacre of innocent tribals continues with the toll now having reached 250 the masses of Bastar, under the leadership of the CPI(Maoist) have been resisting the fierce attack heroically. The rulers have sought to spread the Salwa Judum (SJ) campaign to the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. A campaign in the name of Lokyatra/Shantiyatra was taken up by the government covering Sironcha, Allapalli, Bhamragadh, Nadipalli and Kasansur and upto Gadchiroli via Tipragadh area. The leadership was given by one journalist Suresh Dwadeshivar editor of the Congress Lokmat newspaper. The so called Shantiyatra was basically packed with Congress and RSS elements. The campaign was escorted by police vehicles throughout and was thus exposed as a police-sponsored camp-aign. There was not much mobilisation for the shanti yatra unlike in Bastar. Baba Amte and a large number of intellectuals from Vidarbha opposed the campaign. Even the once leader of the separate Vidarbha movement (and later Congress minister), Jamantrao Dhote in a signed article in a daily paper condemned not only opposed this Yatra but also the very system of which he was once a part and gave support to the naxalite movement. The CPI(Maoist) Gadchiroli division organised a successful bandh against this campaign on March 30.

The political campaign included the following: On March 8th a widespread campaign was taken throughout DK against patriarchy in general and against the inhuman brutalities of the SJ hoodlums and paramilitary against women in particular. On March 23rd, in commemoration of the 75th death anniversary of Bhagat Singh an extensive anti-imperialist campaign was taken (see separate report). On May 1st a DK bandh was called against the Black Act passed by the Chhathisgarh government which does away with every type of civil liberties of the people. On May 21st/22nd a DK bandh was called against the Salwa Judum. Also regular campaigns have been going on against the Raogarh mining project linking it to the very model of imperialist sponsored development.

For 40 days the SJ campaign was suspended after the Darbhagudem incident when the SJ hoodlums were blown up, but was revived in the second week of April. In the second week of April massive attacks were unleashed on several villages under the direct leadership of Karma who personally burnt houses. At least 800 houses were burnt in 10 villages — Gaganpalli, Otukendra, Banda, Heldad-banda, Etegatta, Palamadugu, Arjam etc. In the South in Bijapur and Byramgadh blocs, SJ committees have been formed for 10-12 villages. Meetings are being held near Police Stations by mobilising people from nearby villages. On 8th May, 200 SJ goondas along with 50 policemen attacked Nallamadugu village near Konta and killed 3 members and burnt 50 houses. Since 12th April in Konta area 20 villages were attacked and 700 houses were burnt. In the camps in Dornapal, Errabore, Vinjaram and Kunta around 10,000 people are staying.

The Red Cross is helping the SJ goondas by supplying funds and medicines in the name of helping the victims.

But the masses have been heroically resisting this fierce attack, organised into their militias and in the PLGA. It is not only the higher formations of the Platoons and Company that have been fighting back; the militias of the youth have been using the most ingenious and creative methods to hit back. A few examples of this heroic resistance has filtered in to the press notwithstanding the systematic attempts to block out all information on the terror being unleashed in Bastar and the people’s resistance.

The people’s morale is high due to their ability to successfully resist and thereby the people’s war in this area has reached new heights. The ‘Koya Bhoomkal Militia’, Mass Organisations and the people’s government, led by the PLGA have been retaliating magnificently and have thereby achieved much successes.

The militia have killed a number of leading elements of the SJ. Particularly the most notorious Mahendra Karma’s right hand, Ajay Singh (a man from UP) was wiped out on May 22, 06. On this day Ajay Singh and his hoodlums were going on motorcycles to oppose the Bandh call given by the CPI(Maoist) Special Zonal Committee. The militia tracked his move-ments. They then blocked his path by felling a tree. Then he and three of his accomplices were blown up by a pressure bomb.

The real essence of the people’s war is that now virtually every village has been turned into a fortress. To protect their villages the masses and militia have used many an ingenious method like ‘boogie traps’, pressure bombs, and other such, to resist the enemy forces. These have become a nightmare for the terror squads of the government whether in uniform or out of it. People have been hiding their stock of grains in the forests to save it from loot and destruction of the govt. forces. In every village there are two to three sentry posts that function around the clock. They alert the village well in advance on seeing the enemy forces. Specific arrangements are made to first take care of the women, children and the elderly. Not only are the villages being defended even every house is becoming a fortress of resistance. Boogie traps have been laid even within the houses, like the deep pit ‘boogie trap’. In some places ‘pressure bombs’ have been placed, known only to the villagers.

Besides these specific arrangements have been made to protect the martyr columns, erected in many villages. The enemy forces also particularly target these as symbols of resistance and the new power. so, for example, when they tried to destroy the statues of the three erstwhile CCMs, Shyam, Mahesh and Murali, in a village in the Indravati area a pressure bomb went off seriously injuring a jawan. Since then they keep a distance from these martyr columns!!!

Also utilising the weakness of these mercenary forces to loot valuables the villagers put bombs to radio sets which go off on being turned on. In the process a number of the looters have been killed. In one example the militia left a radio on the road leading to Chinnapalli village in the Bairamgadh area. A to SJ goon and his accomplice were killed when they tried to rob it.

The government has always sought to target the Maad area which they claim is the Headquarters of the Maoists. But all their efforts have got thoroughly defeated. In Dec 2005 itself they conspired to extend the SJ campaign from Bairamgarh/Bijapur at one end and Narainpur at the other toward the Maad area going through Barsoor, Orcha, Chotadongar and Koilbeda areas. In this connection they stationed the Naga battalion at Narainpur and Pakhanjur. To create terror they burnt down the houses of the leading activists, arrested and brutally tortured some and gang-raped many a woman activist. They killed a number of mass leaders. In Jan.2006 the PLGA arrested about two dozen SJ elements recruited form the area who had also been given arms training. They were brought before a people’s court. The people passed a death sentence on a few of the ring leaders and released the others after a stern warning. This was a major blow to the enemy plan to make an entry into Maad. Having failed in this attempt they got massive para-military forces to cross the Indrvati and went on a big campaign of burn all, loot all, destroy all, attacking village after village. Hired SJ goons from Bijapur were used to hold so-called mass meetings. Inspite of threats and coercion, not a single local attended; not even the local traders and political leaders. Yet not a single person joined the SJ; on the contrary the local militia wiped out a number of SJ goons and para-military forces. Thereby their attack on Maad failed.

So we see that in the ongoing people’s war in the DK the masses have been mobilised for the war. They are not mere sympathizers or spectators; they are actual participants in the war. It is by only involving the masses in the war in this way is it possible to conduct a real people’s war. The revolutionaries of DK have set an excellent example. But besides the mass participation the lead in the war has to come from the Main forces of the PLGA, who are the vanguard in the battle. We now give below some examples that have reached the outside world of these heroic battles (earlier issues have also covered other battles).

At the start itself the attack on the CRPF mine-proof vehicle in which 24 were killed (the action being led by a Mahilla commander) there have been followed by successful actions in Paded, Mendo, Vinjram, bailladilla, Chintalnar, etc. in which over 20 Naga/CRPF forces were wiped out and many more were injured severely. Large quantities of weapons and ammunition have been seized. In all these actions thousand from the masses have participated making it truly a people’s war.

In North Bastar, 8 police were killed in the Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign since January 2006 and 55/60 police were injured. One SLR was seized. In South Bastar in the Murikinaar raid the PLGA forces seized 49 weapons including 4 AKs, 2 stens, 1 Insas, 14 SLRs, 25—.303, 1 LMG, one 2" mortars, 1 pistol. 2700 rounds were also seized. 11 police/SPOs died while 4 were injured. Also seized was one night vision goggle.

On Feb 6th, 10 Naga police were killed in Kothacheruvu near Bejji. Another 9 were injured. On Jan 29, the PLGA forces attacked the SPO camp in Gangulur and killed 8 SPOs/SJ goondas. Another 10 were injured. On Feb 9th, in Operation Akash the PLGA successfully conducted a raid . seized 14 SLRs, one 9mm, 20 tonnes of gelatine, thousands of detonators, cordex wires. In this incident, com Kiran who was earlier in 6th PL was injured. On Feb 11th, the militia attacked police and seized one SLR in Chintalnaar. On Jan 22, a militia squad attacked a vehicle coming from Bijapur to Avapalli bank and seized 5 lakhs and one DBBL.

When people began returning from the govt camps to attend the tendu leaf picking and other works, they were being forced to go back to the camps but the resistance by the PLGA encouraged them to stay back in the villages. The SPOs are finding it difficult to stay in the camps out of fear of attacks. Hence they are aggressively forcing people to return to camps. The Murikinaar attack has encouraged the people much and many SPOs are returning to villages and are apologizing for joining the SJ.

This is just a sample of the attacks that have taken place by the PLGA forces. Others have already been reported in earlier issues and many are still to reach the media from which this information is gathered.

Besides, the democratic and progre-ssive people of the state of Chhathisgarh took out a rally of 10,000 in Raipur at the end of December last year. When the Raman Singh government together with Mahendra Karma has tried to take out rallies in the cities in support of the SJ a maximum of 100 people attend. This is an indication as to who even the urban masses support.

In addition to all this it has been reported in the media that in response to a call of the Politburo of the CPI(Maoist) an all-India and international campaign has been conducted to condemn the brutalities of the Indian government and their international masters. A week long all-India campaign against the Salwa Judum culminated in an all-India bandh on Jan.26th.

On June 14/15 a 2-day Chakka Jam programme was called by the CC of the CPI(Maoist) in Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Chhathisgarh and parts of Bengal. The response to this call was good and large parts of these regions came to a standstill for 48 hours. Thousands of leaflets, posters banners were released and propagated by the respective state committees of the party. The atrocities of the SJ were this time focused well compared to the January programme. Particularly the towns like Tatanagar, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Daltanganj, Chaibassa, Chatra, Hazaribagh, Girdi, Gaya, Aurangabad, Patna, Gahtshilla, Purlia, Jhargram sub-division, Belphadi, Malkangiri to Behrampur and Sambhalpur sub-division, Jagdalpur to Bhopala-pattnam, Dantewada, Kanker, Narainpur sub division, etc witnessed effective bandhs. According to a rough estimate of the media 50,000 trucks were affected, particularly NH-5, NH-6, NH-2 and some other highways totally witnessed jams of vehicles. No untoward incidence happened due to the voluntary cooperation and participation of the people.

In Bihar and Jharkhand officially the railways withdrew all the trains including freight trains. 70,000 para-military forces were deployed to guard the vital installations of the railways. However, total train traffic was jammed through the cooperation of the masses. In order to avoid inconvenience to the people there was advanced information given out calling upon them to support the campaign against the Salwa Judum.

The CPI(Maoist) appealed to the people of the country to oppose not only the SJ campaign but also similar campaigns being unleashed in various parts of the country.

In addition to this opposition a number of teams of intellectuals, journalists and civil liberty activists who have visited the area have opposed the Salwa Judum including the team of senior journalists like B.G.Verghese, Ramchandra Guha and leading academic Nandini Sunder. There is a cry from all over the country to stop the state-sponsored terror amongst the tribals of Bastar. Over 50,000 have been displaced and virtually put in concentration camps in the named of protection. These are hell holes and terror camps along the style of the "strategic hamlets" set up by the US forces in Vietnam. They destroy the tribes and their culture and dislodge them from their natural habitat. International opinion has also come out in strong condemnation of these actions by the so-called democratic government of this country.

The people of this country have a right to rebel against the atrocities perpetrated against them. They have a right to defend their lives and land against the rapacious sell out to MNCs and compradors for mining and other purposes. And if they are attacked with the brute armed might of the state they have the right to defend themselves with whatever means possible. The real terrorists are the robber barons who want to loot out country and their accomplices here. The people of our country will never allow it!!!

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