The Other Face of Maoist Terror

In December 2011, the Central Government claimed a reduction in Maoist violence, and stated that the number of affected districts had reduced from 232 to 194 in the nine affected states. As per the government report, the number of killings owing to Maoist violence also reduced from 932 in 2010 to 542 in 2011 (till November). The abduction of two Italians by the Maoists in the Kandhamal District of Odisha has however come as a wakeup call. The period of relative low violence was on account of various factors, one of which was the run-up to the Assembly Elections in West Bengal in April 2011. However, there has been no major reduction in the number of incidents of Maoist violence in the four key states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, though the number of persons killed has shown appreciable decline.

The setback to the Maoists following the killing of top ranking leader Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji in November 2011, was severe. The organisation had already been buffeted by the killing or capture of most of the top leaders, i.e. Kobad Ghandy, Narayan Sanyal, Amitabha Bagchi, Sushil Roy and Azad. Some of the few top leaders like Ganapati, Prashanta Bose alias Kissan, Venugopal and Sudarshan continue to be underground, but they could hardly recompense the authority and sway that Kishenji enjoyed. Evidently, there is a churning process within the Maoists ranks. It appears that Sabyasachi Panda, the Chief of Maoist Odisha State Organization Committee is trying to fill the vacuum created by the loss of Kishenji. Allegedly, Panda is the mastermind behind the abduction of the two Italians Bausco Paulo and Claudio Colangelo on 14 March 2012.

Following the killing of Kishenji, the Maoist movement hit a major low. This was evident from the tepid response to the recruitment drive by the Maoists. The move by the Trinamool Congress Government in West Bengal to recruit 10,000 youth in police and home guards from Junglemahal area, the hub of Maoist terrorism in the state received overwhelming response despite warning issued by the Maoist leadership. Anti-Maoist organisations like Naxal Hingsa Prapidita Manch in Orissa were gaining ground. Project Rupantaran initiated by the CRPF to train tribal girls as security guards was getting increasingly popular.

It has been seen that whenever the armed wing of the Maoists gets weak or is in disarray, their over-ground cadres, supporters and sympathisers both in India and abroad go on an overdrive. These elements are present in every segment of Indian society to include doctors, lawyers, bureaucrats, politicians and so-called intellectuals. It is not merely a coincidence that a leading English weekly has published a 30 page article by Arundhati Roy, decrying the Indian state even as the Italian hostage drama was being enacted. A similar pattern was seen a few years back when the same English weekly carried an equally long article by the same author at a time when the Maoists had experienced major reverses. This article is the written version of what Roy spoke at St Xavier College, Mumbai during the 4th Anuradha Ghandy Memorial Lecture. The late Anuradha Ghandy, an underground Maoist, was the wife of Kobad Ghandy, who is presently in prison.

In December 2011, Maoist Communist Party of Manipur in a press release had acknowledged its association and support of some foreign based ultra-leftist outfits. They are: Communist Party of Philippines, Association for Proletarian Solidarity, Italy (ASP), Maoist Communist Party of France, Revolutionary Communist Party Canada (PCR – RCP), and Party of the Committees to Support Resistance for Communism (CARC) Italy. The latter organisation is known to be very active in support of the Indian Maoists and its members are known to be frequenting the tribal areas in the heartland of India. Allegedly, one of the Italians, Bousco Paulo belongs to the organisation CARC. He is known to have visited the Kandhamal area from where he was abducted several times earlier also. It is intriguing that Paulo persisted with visiting the area, ignoring travel advisory by the Italian foreign ministry and caution by the state police. The area is considered to be a Maoist stronghold. Maoism in this district has strong religious undercurrents. Most Maoist terrorists in the area are Panna caste Christians, who constitute 20 percent of the population. The remaining 80 percent belong to the Kandha Tribe, who are essentially Hindus. The area is communally very sensitive. In January 2008, there were large scale Hindu-Christian riots. In the same year, in August, the octogenarian Swami Laxminand Saraswati was killed allegedly by the Maoists. 

Some Indian embassy officials posted in Italy have revealed to this author that they are flooded by visa applications from Italians seeking to visit Maoist affected tribal areas with hidden religious and Maoist agendas in the garb of social service or academic interests. India needs to send a strong message to such elements and vested interests that the country is not a sad anthropological museum and there are enough social problems in Europe crying to be attended.

The international face of the Maoists was also evident during the trial of Binayak Sen in Chhattisgarh High Court in January 2011. An eight member delegation from the European Union was present in the court during his trial. Binayak Sen, a doctor by education and training, never held one single health camp for the tribals whose cause he claims to espouse. Nevertheless, his Maoists links are too well-known in Chhattisgarh. Getting temporary reprieve from law does not absolve him of his Maoist links, which is why his being made a member of the Planning Commission’s Steering Committee on Health has raised many eyebrows.

Even in Nepal, some European countries have been known to be supporting the Maoist cause for furthering their religious agenda. The Maoist leadership’s decision to declare Nepal a ‘secular’ country, despite no such demand from the people, points to foreign vested interests eager to promote their conversion agenda. There were religiously motivated Maoist supporters in the United Nations Missions in Nepal (UNMIN). The activities indulged in by UNMIN led to its unceremonious ouster from Nepal in January 2011 at the behest of most political parties in Nepal.

Intelligence reports suggest growing ISI-Naxal linkages. It is believed that the ULFA leader Paresh Barua has played a key role in forging the nexus between the two. Reportedly, ULFA has considerable leverage over the Maoist leadership, because of the latter’s dependence on ULFA for supply of arms. It is also learnt that the Chinese have supplied a weapon manufacturing facility to the Kachins in Myanmar, which is producing replicas of AK-47. These AK-47s are being supplied to the Maoists through the ULFA. Further, the ISI is also using Bangladesh based operatives to establish links with the Maoist leadership. The ISI is believed to be coordinating with the Maoists to cause large scale damage to infrastructure projects and industrial units in the Indian heartland.

Maoists therefore are deeply entrenched in the country and have developed too many linkages, aiming to tear the very fabric and integrity of the nation. They are increasingly subverting the democratic process in the country. They have won large number of panchayat seats directly or through proxies in Jharkhand by sheer intimidation. In the recently held local elections in Odisha, candidates with clear Maoist links have won around 30 blocks in eight districts. Many of them were elected unopposed. Thus Maoists now have direct access to government funds provided by central and state governments under various social and development schemes.

Maoists are waging a war against India not only by the armed cadres, but white-collar terrorists in the garb of intellectuals. Besides ultra-leftist organisations of foreign countries, which are collaborators in this war, there are inimical powers like China and Pakistan as well. Then there are collaborators impelled purely by religious and economic agendas. It is the physical and psychological integrity of India which hurts them most. The Indian state and its people must unmask these inimical forces within and outside. With every passing day, the challenge is getting more formidable and sophisticated and needs to be addressed.