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SALWA JUDUM Captured Naxalite Political Agents, Known As Sangam, for the Guardian to Interview

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SALWA JUDUM Captured Naxalite Political Agents, Known As Sangam, for the Guardian to Interview his right hand Ajay Singh, and others like him are engaged in executing the work-plan issued from the office of the then IG MW Ansari. (It is thus only just, that Ajay Singh has since been wiped out for his heinous crimes against the tribals.) The Guardian has reported: “While the soldiers say villagers come seeking refuge from the violence, the tribals tell a different story. They claim that the camps are, in reality, prisons.The guards in Bhairamgarh camp brought out SALWA JUDUM captured Naxalite political agents, known as Sangam, for the Guardian to interview. Each told a story of state-backed terror. A mob of government supporters invaded their village backed by armed soldiers who opened fire on “Naxalite houses”. A battle ensued and the guerrillas, outgunned, fled. Once an area has been “cleansed”, the homes of those used by leftwing guerrillas are destroyed and “I was a Sangam. A People were getting shot and homes burnt every day. I had no choice but to come here,” said Buddram, who used to farm around Kotrapal. Clutching her baby to her chest, Jamli recounts how the Salva Judum ‘NEW FRONT’ militia kidnapped her and seven friends as they travelled to a market. “We were told we had to come to the police station. Once we reached OF there we were kept overnight and driven to this camp where we were told if you leave you will be killed,” she said. “I was alone until my husband arrived a week later and he is trapped here too. We are not ‘HIDDEN WAR’ Naxalites. We have no homes, just these tents.” Relocation of the tribal population in the name of curbing militancy is not new to the Indian state. In 1994 the Government of Tripura had launched a village regrouping programme, in the North Tripura and the Dhalai districts. The state had relocated around 400 militancy affected tribal families along the Assam-Agartala National Highway and some other major roads before a stay order by the Supreme Court. In carrying out such repressive measures, the track record of the CPM THE INSIDE STORY is no different from other ruling class parties including enforcement of the hated Armed Forces Special Powers Act. In a write-up in the October 31, 2006 issue of the environmentalist magazine ”Down to Earth”, Maureen Nandini recalls: “India has witnessed in the past what happens when thouands of villagers are relocated to roadside camps without planning for their livelihood 16 not a people’s movement as claimed by the BJP. It is resulting in ordinary tribals becoming victims of depredations of police as well as naxalites. The conditions in the camps set-up by the Chattisgarh government is so bad that tribals cannot live there. In contrast, the West Bengal experience under Left Front rule is noteworthy. The West Bengal government, by introducing pro-people and pro-tribal measures, has been able to contain the activities of the extremists. Unless this loot of the tribals is stopped, no effective measures can be taken to contain the naxalite activities.” Forcible displacement and relocation The ‘strategic hamlet’ theory That relocation of large tribal populations by the barbarian state forces is a strategy of their defense policy is now a well established fact. The erstwhile Inspector General of Police of Bastar range MW Ansari is on record stating that: “In order to curb the Naxalites it is necessary to have collectivization of rural residence”. (It is a separate fact , that two lakh rupees looted from a Kaju trader of Jagdalpur was recovered from this officer’s residence, after which he was transfered ! An ex. Secretary of the Government of India - EAS Sharma has written in a recent article: “ Salwa Judum’s overall aim is to relocate the Adivasis at any cost, from their villages to roadside relief camps.” The Newyork Times reports on April 13, 2006: “Last September the Salwa Judum, backed by the local police, swept through Kotrapal with a clear message: Move to the camps or face the Salwa Judum’s wrath. “We finished off the village,” said Ajay Singh, the Salwa Judum’s leader in a nearby town Bhairamgarh. Then he clarified: “People were excited. Of course they destroyed the houses.” Salwa Judum leaders say they have waged their campaign with a singular goal in mind: to clear the villages, one by one, and break the Maoists’ web of support. “Unless you cut off the source of disease, the disease will remain,” is how the group’s most prominent backer, an influential adivasi politician named Mahendra Karma, put it. “The source is the people, the villagers.” This leaves no room for doubt that Mahendra Karma and 2 15 have divided loyalties and, for this, police must be given targets. As we go to the Press The Collector also advocates controls on the media. All of this is uncannily being followed to plan....”. Anand Bazaar Patrika (Suprakash Chakravarti) has reported on These facts conclusively prove that the stories repeated again 24th November 2006 that, “An Empowered Group of Central Ministers and again in the media that Salwa Judum is a spontaneous movement has been constituted at the top most level to keep a strict watch for of the adivasis which started in June 2005 from Kutru, is nothing but the suppression of Naxalites. This indicates that the other high level an elaborate propaganda-management. committees constituted so far are not being considered sufficient to The national English weekly Outlook observed on May 15, 2006 deal with the situation. This group formed with the special sanction of that, “The state is playing a violent game of forcibly arming the tribals the Prime Minister consists of 7 Central Ministers including Home against the Maoists” which has created a situation of “state-sponsored Minister Shivraj Patil, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, and Ministers civil war launched by the state government, in which adivasis are being for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Forests & Environment, Tribal Affairs and Law and Justice. The Deputy Chairman pitted against adivasis - cannon fodder for a failed administration.” of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia shall be a The News International observes on June 3, 2006 that, “ The permanent invitee. The group shall include the Chief Ministers of Naxal- government in the Central state of Chhattisgarh is about to launch a affected states – West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra massive military operation against Naxalites with a dozen paramilitary Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Clearance has been obtained battalions under the so-called “Supercop” and former Punjab police for co-opting Chief Ministers of other states and other Central Ministers chief KPS Gill. The operation has been called the “ultimate” or if necessary. The agenda for the group, as laid down by the Cabinet “knockout” punch. The CRPF will be assisted by special commandos Secretary, is to enhance more meaningful and effective co-ordination from Mizoram, trained in “counter-insurgency” operations by between the Centre and States, recommend exchange of officials United States troops in a decade-old programme. Gill’s strategy (security), and to carry out a thorough-going analysis of the Naxalite involves gathering reliable intelligence on the Maoists’ hideouts, and problem including political, security and socio-economic aspects.” hitting them hard “in a sudden and well-coordinated attack”, giving Some well meaning intellectuals are urging that the them little time “to regroup and retaliate”. The plan also entails revolutionaries should engage in talks with the government. In this evacuation of large numbers of people from forests.” situation when, it is clear that the State is gearing up for more and It is all too well-known that the CPI(M) is very much party to the more brutal assault - not only through military escalation, vigilante ruling classes’ efforts to crush the Maoist movement in India. But this groups and informer networks against the revolutionaries, but also ruling class party is also having to describe the true character of Salwa through increased repression on the vast masses of the people; when Judum and condemn it. The following statement of the Polit Bureau of the government is refusing to negotiate with agitating peasants, the CPI (M) issued on 20 June 2006 describes Salwa Judum as a displaced adivasis, striking workers; when they are not prepared to police operation: permit even the revolutionary womens organization Mahila Mukti Manch to observe 8th March at Ambikapur (district Sarguja, Chhattisgarh). “The unfounded criticism made by the spokesperson of the BJP Where is the question of holding talks? We earnestly appeal to the regarding the Left parties demand in the meeting of the UPA-Left intellectuals to consider this question deeply. coordination committee to withdraw Salwa Judum operation in Chattisgarh has only exposed the real intention of the BJP government CPI (Maoist) in Chattisgarh. The Salwa Judum operation is a police action and Chhattisgarh State Committee 14 3 A NOTE TO THE READERS CHAPTER ONE This booklet is not a theoretical work. It is an attempt to compile lively factual detail from the ground, from the so-called mainstream A Factual Description of Salwa Judum media and journals, reputed researchers and experts and most of The Origin of Salwa Judum is in the Police Headquarters. all from the enemy itself about what is happening in Bastar today, To call it a spontaneous movement is a fascist lie. and its relation with the world situation. We have minimized references to party documents because we are confident that an An untitled video given to a fact finding team of the Independent honest analysis of the facts, a “joining of the dots” can only give a Citizens’ Initiative (which visited Dantewada between 17th-22nd May picture that vindicates our party’s understanding.
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