Maoist Information Bulletin - 21

PLGA 10th Anniversary Special Bulletin December 2010 Messages on the 10th Anniversary of PLGA ...... 3 Special Article on the occassion of 10th Anniversary of PLGA ...... 8 Spring Thunder Over India ...... 27 Excerpts from Party Documents ...... 29 Martyrs Gallery ...... 41 Follow Up : Com. Azad’s Fake Encounter ...... 47 News from Behind Bars ...... 51 From the Revolutionary Camp ...... 53 News from the Battlefield ...... 59 News from the Counter-revolutionary Camp ...... 60 From the News Papers ...... 66 Voices Against War on People ...... 68 Statements from Other Organisations ...... 76 CPI (Maoist) Statements ...... 79

Let us Celebrate ttate he PLGA 10th Anniversaryyy for one month from December 2, 2010 witwitwith RRh evolutevolutevolutionarionarionary EntEnty hhhusiasm andandusiasm a Spirit of Jubilation!ion!ion! Red Salutes to the Innumerable Beloved Daughters and Sons of the oppressed masses whose sacrifices laid the foundations for the Birth and Development of People’s Army, The PLGA, in India.

Com. Charu Mazumdar Memorial Column at the Historic place of GuttikGuttikGuttikonda Bilam in Guntur District of AP, where Com. CM had a meeting with AP Revolutionaries in 1969 and formed APSOC.

Page 2 MIB-21, December 2010 Messages On the 11he 0t0t0th AnnivAnnivh ererersarsarsary of PLPLy GGGA DaDaA yyy

Excerpts From CMC Message on the 10th Anniversary of PLGA Day CMC message on the occasion of tenth anniversary of People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) which was born out of the inspiration of our beloved comrades and the leaders of Indian revolution, Comrades Shyam, Mahesh and Murali! Let us defeat the ‘War on People’ carried out by the Indian exploiting ruling classes in the name of Green Hunt through People’s War! Let us intensify and expand the People’s War and declare to the world that our people and PLGA are invincible! Let us fulfill the tasks set by our Unity Congress – 9th Congress!

Dear comrades and our beloved people! December 2, 2000. This was the day when the oppressed people of India formed their own worker- peasant army, the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA). The ray of hope they had been waiting for since decades shone brightly on the Indian revolutionary skies on that day. For the victory of the Indian New Democratic Revolution carried out as an integral part of the World Socialist Revolution, PLGA had been formed as a detachment of the international army of the proletariat. It gave a deep assurance to the entire oppressed classes, nationalities and tribes of India and to the oppressed people of the world on the day of its birth. Realizing the dreams of our great teachers of Indian revolution, Comrades Charu Mazumdar and Kanhai Chatterjee, to fulfill the aims of our beloved martyr comrades Amulya Sen, Chandra Sekhar Das, Saroj Datta, Sushitalrai Chowdary, Babulal Viswakarma, Johar, Jagdish Master, Panchadi Krishna Murthy, Nirmala, Vempatapu Satyam, Adibatla Kailasam, Babu Bhuja Singh, Diya Singh, Appu and Verghese who played a prominent role in bringing armed struggle to the agenda again in India and with the inspiration of comrades Shyam, Mahesh, Murali, Puli Anjaiah, Prakash Master, Krishna Singh, Srikanth, Bhaktida, David, Suryam, Mahendra Singh, Damodar, Mahender, Reddappa, Snehalata, Padma, Chittekka, Premlatha, Belli Lalitha and other hundreds of such leaders who played a great role in again developing the movement to a higher stage after the temporary setback of the Naxalbari armed struggle and with the inspiration of martyrs Jaheer, Krishna, Sankar and Praveen of the Special Action Team who had sent chills down the spines of the enemy through their brave actions in AP and laid down their lives unflinchingly and with the inspiration of many, many more martyr comrades - the PLGA was formed. By December 2, 2010, it would be one decade since the formation of PLGA. On this occasion, Central Military Commission is giving a call to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the PLGA with revolutionary enthusiasm and spirit of jubilation for a month in all the guerilla zones and red resistance areas all over the country. It is requesting all Commissions and Commands to use this excellent opportunity to train our entire PLGA fighters regarding the successes and failures in our battle experiences gained in this period. In the severe repression of the past one decade the generals of our people’s war comrades Karam Singh, Ajayda, Anuradha Gandhi, Vadkapur Chandramauli, Sande Rajemauli, Patel Sudhakar, Saketh Rajan, Maimuddin (Ravi), Somanna, Anupuram Komaraiah, Ramakrishna, Padmakka, Lalithakka, Sukdev, Krishna, Madhav, Dadhichi Rai, Devanna (Jaipal), Kaumudi, Suguna, Erra Satyam, Asim Das (Kanchan), Yadanna, Mangtu, Bhim, Ramesh, Sridhar, Gautam, Vikas, Sudarshan, Ravi, Pran, Sravan, Raghavulu, Sukanto, Randev, Komma, Sagar, Mastan Rao, Ramchander, Naveen (Bala Krishna), Niranjan, Madhu, Tirupati, Mohan, Vinay, Vikas, Amruth, Arjun, Satyam, Arun, Sanjeev, Krishna Yadav, Chotangond, Pariman, Jagdish Mahato, Babulal, Sardar Yadav, Jagdeeshwar Turi, Sundar Yadav, Sudheer, Abhishek, Manohar, Naveen, Surendra, Raghu, Kundan, Surya, Yodh, Surju, Bhola Oraon, Vyas and other district, sub-zonal and area level leaders, commanders and fighters, and the brave women soldiers who fought as part of People’s War for half their share in the sky – comrades Vidya, Karuna, Ratnamala, Bhagyalakshmi, Rajeswari, Swarupa, Aruna, Ramana, Sarita, Vijaya, Sasi, Shakila, Girija, Jyoti, Chinnammi, Nagamani of AP, Parvati, Hajima, Kaveri of Karnataka, Manju, Anju, Amita, Mamata, Kavita of B-J, Swarupa, Kalpana, Karuna, Somari, Syamala, Meena, Narmada, Kamala (East Bastar), Kamala (Central Company), Rambatti, Soni, Reena, Mainabai, Sujata of DK, Sunanda, Jenya, Aruna of Maharashtra, Rinki of Odisha and others and the brave guerillas of special action teams comrades Ramana, Sagar, Hari, Ratna had laid down their lives and had developed People’s War to greater heights.

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 3 Particularly, this year on July 1, the enemy intelligence dogs had caught and killed our beloved leader and Polit Bureau member comrade Cherukuri Rajkumar (Uday, Gangadhar, Madhu, Azad). Comrade Azad had worked relentlessly for the past four decades to develop people’s war and people’s army contributing in various fields. On March 12, the same Grey Hounds had caught our Central Military Intelligence Director Comrade Shakamuri Appa Rao (Ravi, Jailal), tortured him and unable to extract anything, killed him in a fake encounter in Nallamala forest. The political commissar of Central Regional Company-2 comrade Suryam, comrade David of Jharkhand, Lal Mohan Tudu of West Bengal, Kongera ambush martyrs Bandu, Sankar and Ramesh, Daya, Punnam, Suresh of North Telangana, Com. Anand of Karnataka, Com. Rinki of Odisha, eight martyr comrades of Mukaram (Tadimetla) ambush including Rukmati and Wagal who had sent chills down the spines of the Indian ruling classes, five comrades who died in the brave raid of Silda (West Bengal), dozens of comrades who died in the encounters in Hathilot, Bandugaon and Ranja encounters which took place on the borders of Jharkhand-West Bengal as part of the head on fight against the brutal Green Hunt, dozens of people, people’s militia, the local leaders of Sangam-party and Janathana Sarkars in the Dandakaranya villages of Korunjed, Gumiyapal, Toter, Pollevaya, Vechapal, Kotrapal, Alvur, Rangaiguda, Takilod, Ongnar and Kutrem, Comrades Singanna, Andru and other comrades who were martyred in Narayanapatna armed peasant rebellion and in other parts of AOB – all these martyrdoms happened in the past one year. CMC is paying revolutionary red homage to all our beloved martyrs on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of PLGA. Let us pledge to intensify our People’s War to fulfill their aims. In this same period, our beloved leaders who played a crucial role in establishing an united party and a unified PLGA, comrades Barunda, Vijayda, Janardhanji, Sumithda, Kobad Ghandy, Balraj and also comrades Tapas, Sheela didi, Mohit, Vijay (Maharashtra), Chintanda, Ashutosh and many more Party, PLGA central and state leaders, commanders and members of various levels of party, PLGA, RPC and mass organization structures and ordinary people were arrested. The enemy is trying to permanently put them in the dark dungeons and strangle their voices there. But these comrades are transforming jails into revolutionary centers, spreading revolution to the jails and proving that bars cannot stop revolution. CMC is sending special revolutionary greetings to all the leaders and cadres in jails who are standing firmly and fighting the enemy even in incarceration. CMC is deeply aspiring for their release and is promising that the PLGA would try its level best to get them released to join the revolutionary movement outside the jails. When our PLGA took birth, it was in the form of small organizing squads and in the form of small special military squads and was in a very weak position. Nobody had imagined on the day it was formed that this weak people’s army would become so popular all over India in one decade. There were even some skeptics who did not consider it an army. But in the past one decade, our PLGA has not only expanded into many platoons but is also developing into companies and is giving birth to battalions too. To fulfill the great, main, central and immediate task of developing guerilla war into mobile war and developing PLGA into PLA with the aim of establishing Base Areas, the task set by the Unity Congress-9th Congress of our party, our PLGA has been bravely advancing with innumerable sacrifices at each step and is posing a great challenge to the Indian ruling classes and their imperialist masters. In this decade, thousands of daughters and sons of India had laid down their lives unwaveringly and had developed people’s war to newer heights. The hundreds of tactical counter offensive actions conducted by the PLGA in the past decade had sent chills down the spines of the enemy classes. With the support of the PLGA, the question of power came on the agenda in many strategic zones and people got consolidated into People’s War. As a result, the confidence of the people increased gradually. People’s power organs came into existence. Dear comrades and people! Since mid-2008, the imperialist economic crisis which intensified in US has engulfed the whole world and is seriously affecting the European countries. In this situation, the present crisis has spread more deeply and is facing a serious danger like in the days of the Great Depression of the 1930s. This crisis is having a serious impact on the proletariat of the imperialist countries and the imperialists are trying to overcome this crisis by exploiting backward countries. On the other hand, G-20 countries are resorting to bail-outs worth hundreds of billions of dollars to overcome this crisis. While they are trying to overcome the crisis in one sector, the financial crisis is spreading to another sector. The impact of this crisis is very serious on the ordinary people and the middle classes. The working class in the capitalist countries is losing jobs. The working class which lost jobs and the entire population are getting mired in poverty. The people of these countries are taking up anti-government struggles expressing serious discontent. This crisis of the imperialist economy is intensifying the contention between the imperialists. As a result,

Page 4 MIB-21, December 2010 imperialist countries which could conduct a unified war against countries like Iran and Afghanistan in the 90s are no longer able to do so. One of the main reasons for this is the guerilla warfare of the people of those countries, particularly that of the Afghan guerillas against the NATO forces led by the US. Russia has gradually overcome its worst condition and revived its economy and China’s economic growth has led to the formation of groups like the Shanghai cooperation and BRIC between Russia, China, East Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin American countries. So the US, Europe and Japan imperialists are facing new competition with these formations. India has also been seriously affected by the imperialist economic crisis. The UPA-2 is aggressively implementing second generation reforms as soon as it came to power without considering people’s opposition to them. Disinvestment, full convertibility of the rupee, increase in imperialist capital share to 70 percent in sectors like insurance and imperialist investments in retail and education sector are on the rise. India signed the nuclear deal and perched itself on the top of a volcano. The foreign institutional investments and the foreign direct investments (FII and FDI) are aggressively entering India and imperialism has established its hegemony in all the sectors in our economy. As part of these policies, permission was given to imperialists and MNCs for SEZs and to loot the natural resources like minerals which actually belong to the people. Due to this, lakhs of people are getting displaced. Ecology is facing serious danger. Investments in manufacturing, service sectors are increasing in leaps and bounds. Investments like the FII are destroying the small investors in the stock exchanges. It is seriously affecting the export sector and lakhs of workers are becoming unemployed. Price rise has reached unprecedented levels and the economic lives of middle class people have become unbearable. The governments are conveniently ignoring even the 5th and 6th schedules won by the adivasis through struggles and is displacing them from their lands. Due to this, the whole population of the country along with the adivasis has started rebellions against the imperialists and their stooges the comprador bureaucratic capitalists all over the country. Right from Singur and Nandigram to Lalgarh and the land struggle in Narayanapatna of Koraput district to the struggles against bauxite mining in Mali, Devmali and Niyamagiri in Odisha and in Visakha, against displacement in Lohandiguda of DK, against opencast mining in Singareni of North Telangana, against Polavaram, against Sompeta Thermal Power Plant – the people’s struggles are continuing. The ground is ripening for more rebellions. The militant separate state movements like separate Telangana and Gorkhaland are shaking the ruling classes. Due to the new mining law and new education law, the contradiction between the imperialists and the people of our country is sharpening. Due to the impact of the crisis, new forces are coming to the fore in anti-government struggles. Petty bourgeois forces, students, teachers, lawyers and employees are coming forth militantly into movements along with basic classes. Most favorable conditions are increasing for the revolution in our country. The government and its parliamentary system have been exposed more than ever among the people. People have understood the fakeness of the parliamentary system and have prepared themselves for militant people’s movements; they are advancing in the path of struggles with the slogans of Land-Power-Democracy-Building of people’s army and Self Reliance. “When governments are not able to rule in the old methods and when people do not feel that their problems could be solved in the ambit of the old laws, we can say that conditions had ripened for the revolution” said Lenin. People are taking up struggles defying the government laws all over the country. Protracted People’s War politics are added to these struggles. On the one hand, the exploiting ruling classes are getting more and more isolated from the people and the Maoist party is gaining the confidence of the people as an alternative to the present system. In this background, the exploiting ruling classes have launched a massive military offensive in the name of Operation Green Hunt to destroy the Maoist movement. We have to realize that this is a new aspect on the political landscape of our country. Basing on this, we have to advance our revolution with more confidence and determination. Call of the CMC Workers, peasants, Adivasis, Women, Students, Youth and Intellectuals! The Green Hunt Operation carried on by the state and central governments to bestow the mineral resources of our country, particularly in the adivasi areas, to the imperialist multi-national companies and Indian comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie and feudal forces and to get rid of the forces which are opposing this loot is nothing but a ‘War on the People’. Defeat this unjustified war! Support the fighting adivasi revolutionary people! Mobilize militantly to stop the brutal attacks of the mercenary police who are massacring hundreds of adivasis and looting their properties by portraying them as terrorists! Do not believe the foul propaganda of the bourgeois media spitting venom on the revolutionary movement!

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 5 Maoist guerillas are the daughters and sons of the soil. They are the people’s liberation forces who have armed themselves to fight the mercenary forces to liberate our land from the clutches of the exploiting classes and who consider that people’s interests are their interests. So, take the side of the revolutionary movement! If this enemy offensive is not defeated and if the conspiracy of the enemy to destroy the revolutionary movement, the Maoist Party, the PLGA, the alternate people’s power organs and mass organizations is not defeated, then the valuable gains made by the revolutionary movement will be lost. So play your role in isolating and fighting back the enemy! Join PLGA in large numbers and increase its strength manifold! Wake up to the struggles carried on widely with the slogans of Land-Power-Democracy- Building of the People’s Army and Self Reliance! Join hands with these struggles! Support the armed resistance struggles of the PLGA! No basic change is possible without completely destroying the exploiting classes! The reforms thrown as crumbs to the people would worsen their lives further and would achieve nothing for them. Let us expose these reforms which destroy the unity between the people and let us march forward for an alternate New Democratic Society by fighting them back! Final victory belongs to the people if we dare to fight! · Let us develop guerilla war into mobile war and PLGA into PLA with the aim of establishing Base Areas! · Let us fight back the conspiracy of the Indian ruling classes to deploy army to crush the revolutionary movement! · If army is deployed let us teach it a lesson through our Great People’s War! · Let us develop Maoist Style of Fighting to its zenith! · Let us declare that People’s War is invincible! · Let us fight relentlessly and bravely giving birth to more and more Nayagadhs and Mukarams! · Let us annihilate the special commando forces and secret vigilante gangs of the enemy! · Let us annihilate the enemy in large numbers and seize arms! · Let us identify the weaknesses in the Carpet Security System of the enemy and take initiative to give it a death blow! · Let us defeat the Operation Green Hunt carried on with the aim of destroying the revolutionary movement! · Let us establish a strong people’s counter-intelligence network and defend the revolutionary leadership, PLGA, people’s power organs and revolutionary movement like the pupils of our eyes! · Let us unite the people-PLGA; party-PLGA-revolutionary people’s government; commanders- people’s soldiers and all the three forces in the PLGA to defeat Green Hunt! · Let us develop strict discipline in PLGA and develop it into an invincible army! · Long live the Communist Party of India (Maoist)!

With revolutionary greetings, Central Military Commission, Date: 13-9-2010 CPI (Maoist) - - - Excerpts from Eastern Regional Command’s Message on the Occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of PLGA

Dear Comrades and Friends, On December 2, 2010 the decade long journey of PLGA would be completed. Come, let’s celebrate the 10th anniversary of PLGA with enthusiasm and fervor. Come, let’s take a pledge on this occasion that we would develop guerilla warfare into mobile warfare, develop PLGA into PLA, turn guerilla zones into Base Areas and develop war zones while giving a fitting reply to the ‘Operation Green Hunt’ launched by the class enemies with the aim of decimating the Maoist movement and the Maoist revolutionaries. Friends! Our PLGA has completed its decade long journey going through many ups and downs, ebb and tide Page 6 MIB-21, December 2010 and fighting back ruthless ‘surround and annihilate’ campaigns of the enemy. In the past ten years, we have developed, consolidated and strengthened from a regular guerilla squad to a platoon, company and up to a battalion formation. This gradual development of the PLGA took place by achieving successes in hundreds of small and big battles, defeating the enemy and by taking lessons from our failures in several battles. By facing the bitter challenge of the enemy and by gaining direct experiences from battlefield in the spheres of military, art of war and battle skills, our PLGA is learning, is gaining ability in art of war and is gradually becoming steeled. It is going on gradually developing the war while bitterly fighting the enemy. Thus slowly but in a gradual manner it is advancing in the direction of realizing the slogan of the Unity Congress-9th Congress. Call of the Eastern Regional Command Our call to the Workers, Peasants, Adivasis, Toiling Masses, Women, Students, Youth and Intellectuals is to join the revolutionary movement and the ongoing People’s War in our country to end the semi- colonial, semi-feudal system of India and establish a new society i.e. the People’s Democratic State and then to advance from Socialism to Communism; to build a vast People’s Resistance Movement against the brutal police atrocities and repression unleashed by the ruling classes on the revolutionary movement’s leaders, activists and toiling people under Operation Green Hunt to suppress the just revolutionary movement; to join the ongoing People’s War to intensify it, help it in all possible ways and give suggestions. Our special call to the young women and men of our country is to join the PLGA, the people’s army in vast numbers to build a new society which guarantees a life of dignity, respect, equal rights and employment in order to get liberated from this oppressive life full of insults, exploitation, oppression and abuse. Because only with your participation we can win this People’s War which is carried on with the aim of a huge transformation. Come, let’s develop guerilla warfare into mobile warfare, PLGA into PLA and build the People’s State and democratic power of the people by liberating the people from the exploitation and oppression of the ruling classes in the vast rural tracts to defeat the Operation Green Hunt conducted by the ruling classes to keep intact the present exploiting system. History has taught us that unless we destroy imperialism, feudalism and the comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie, there won’t be any real development of the society. Hence, a mighty People’s Liberation Army of the people is inevitable. It is a universal truth that without a people’s army the people have nothing.

· Defeat the Operation Green Hunt launched by the ruling classes and develop the Guerilla Warfare into Mobile Warfare ! · Intensify the recruitment campaign to join young women and men in huge numbers to transform PLGA into PLA ! · Intensify People’s Resistance Movement and People’s War against Operation Green Hunt !

With Revolutionary Greetings, Eastern Regional Command CPI (Maoist)

RRRevolutevolutevolutionarionarionary GrGry eeteeteetings to PLGA Commanders, Fighters and entiririreee RRRevolutevolutevolutionarionarionary Masses of India on the occasion of 10th Anniversaryyy of PLGA born out of inspiratatation of Our beloved Comrades andandades Leaders of Indian Revolutevolutevolution - ComrComrion ades Shyam, Mahesh and Muralialiali who had laid down their lives on December 2, 1999.

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 7 PLGA 10-Years Special Let us extend the People’s War to all corners of the country solving the issue of liberation of the people and developing PLGA, the ray of hope of Indian people, into PLA! Let us establish Liberated Areas!

“Seizing political power through armed struggle and solving the issue through war is the revolution’s central task and highest form” - Mao The exploiting ruling classes had murdered the leaders of Indian revolution Comrades Shyam, Mahesh and Murali. It was with the inspiration of these beloved leaders that People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) was formed under the leadership of CPI (Maoist) on the occasion of their first death anniversary. By December 2, 2010 it would be ten years since the formation of PLGA, the people’s army of the Indian oppressed people. PLGA, the ray of hope of the oppressed people came into existence to fight the exploitation and oppression of the big landlords, big comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie and their imperialist lords and to establish the political power of the people. The PLGA declared its political-military goals as taking up the protracted people’s war line and successfully accomplishing the New Democratic Revolution through area-wise seizure of political power. It declared as its immediate tasks consolidating people into PLGA to extend People’s War all over the country, consolidating the vast masses as People’s militia and seizure of arms while annihilating the enemy in order to arm itself. Right from the days of the Naxalbari, Srikakulam, Debra, Gopivallabhpur, Punjab, Birbhum, Sonarpur, Kanksha and Gaya-Hazaribag struggles the seeds have been laid for the people’s liberation army that would destroy the exploiting state machinery in order to end feudal and imperialist exploitation. With the seizure of enemy’s weapons for the first time in Magurjan, Comrade Charu Mazumdar declared that the People’s Army was born. In the Srikakulam struggle the marching echoes of armed forces in the size of a company sent chills down the spines of the rulers. Comrade Kanhai Chatterji, from the very beginning had stressed that building up of people’s army and base areas is the basic, principal and central task at present. To accomplish this task Com.KC led the armed agrarian guerilla struggles in Kanksha (WB), Gaya-Hazaribag (the then Bihar). Between 1971-75, in Kanksha, Budbud, Avusgram police station limits in Bardhaman district in West Bengal a campaign was conducted with the slogans “Occupy lands and seize harvests”, ‘’Conduct trials on counter-revolutionary zamindars and bad gentry” and “All powers to armed revolutionary peasant squads and to KKCs”. All these transformed into the war drums of the toiling people. After the suppression of the Naxalbari, Srikakulam, Debra, Gopivallabhpur, Punjab, Birbhum, Sonarpur and Kanksha struggles the revolutionary wave which rose like a phoenix took the form of armed squads in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and the then Bihar and turned into a deluge of people with the slogans “Let us develop armed agrarian revolution! Let us establish liberated areas by forming People’s Army!” renting the air. These people’s armed squads which are sprouts of the People Army have demolished the seats of the feudal authority in Telangana and Bihar and posed a challenge to the exploiting rulers. In the 1980s, the people’s armed squads entered the forests of Dandakaranya (DK) and Bihar- Jharkhand (B-J) which are strategic areas and had established themselves gradually and this created a strong basis for the formation of PLGA. These consolidated the agricultural labourers, land less and poor peasantry, adivasis and dalits in the B-J, AP, DK forests and plains into people’s militia, mobilized them into armed squads and developed People’s War. They initially consolidated thousands of people against the land lords, their goons, private armies, forest officials and contractors and led the armed attacks. Landlords’ lands and the government’s Khasa land were occupied and their weapons were seized. In order to defeat the undeclared war of the state between 1985 and 1987 in the 1980s period they started attacking cruel police officers, and government armed forces and the private armies of the landlord class. They began seizing arms while annihilating the armed private armies and armed forces in ambushes and raids. They developed the anti-feudal, anti-imperialist struggle into guerilla war. Page 8 MIB-21, December 2010 The advancement of the People’s War by defeating the multi-pronged offensives of the enemy on the people and the revolutionary movement – annihilation of the enemy – seizure of arms In the past one decade the PLGA had very courageously conducted hundreds of tactical counter- offensives on police, paramilitary, commando forces and counter-revolutionary gangs which are conducting multi-pronged attacks. In the hundreds of small, medium and large scale attacks the main, secondary and base (People’s Militia) forces have inflicted considerable damage on the enemy. Nearly two thousand police were annihilated and an equal number of them were injured. They applied in practice the maxim that ‘enemy is the main source for our weapons’ and have seized 2,500 weapons, more than one lakh ammunition and other military equipment. Past legacy As part of our revolutionary efforts since three decades, the armed peasant revolutionary forces have been steeling themselves by fighting with exploiting ruling classes, their mercenaries, police, special police and paramilitary forces and defeating several enemy operations. The experiences gained in this process have created the background for the formation of People’s Liberation Guerilla Army. Let us take a glimpse into these experiences. In Bihar (Jharkhand was not formed by then) there were actions against class enemies and bureaucratic forest officials in the beginning. In 1971-72 under the leadership of comrade David (Lakshman Singh Ganjhu) in the Palando forests under the PS limits of Badkagaon in Hazaribagh district (now in JH) a forest jawan was annihilated as part of the struggle against the authority of forest officials, their atrocities and rapes. Government timber was razed down. In 1972 in Chute village under Gomia PS limits in Hazaribagh (Giridih district before) district, zamindar Gopi Saav was annihilated by the revolutionary peasant squad with the support of the people. In 1972, property of a usurer was seized in Khatiyava village under Madanpur PS limits in Aurangabad district of Magadh area. In 1973, in Kasala bazar of Aurangabad district evil counter-revolutionary Ranvir Singh was annihilated. In February 1977, house of zamindar Kapil Singh was raided in Dhamarpur village under Guruva PS limits in Gaya district and his property was seized. In 1980 in Bhagalpur-Banka area coming under East Bihar, Sardar Tej Narain Singh, a goon of the zamindar was annihilated near Ingli Samod Chowk under Amarpur PS limits. In 1981 zamindar Genalal Mag was annihilated in Belari village under Samuganj PS limits in Banka district. The Kurmi rich peasant and chief of killer gangs Ramparvesh, his close associate Dughan Singh and another notorious killer bandit among his followers were annihilated in 1981 as they proved to be a hurdle in the initial struggles taken up against bandit gangs. In 1982, zamindar, lawyer and chief of goons Ramparvesh Rai and three goons of his gang were annihilated under Amarpur PS limits. In Bihar the attacks of people’s guerillas on government armed forces started in 1980 with the seizure of five rifles in an attack on Kulharia police camp under Amarpur PS limits in East Bihar-Bhagalpur-Banka area. During Bihar assembly elections, one rifle was seized by attacking a police patrol camp. Later in Magadh area in central Bihar, railway police were attacked in Jakhim railway station in 1983 and two .303 rifles seized. In 1987 the struggle extended to ‘Pankti’ area. There the people, particularly the women had fought for right to collect ‘mahua’. In course of the struggle they rebelled against the police trying to repress the struggle and had seized arms from them. In mid-1988 in a brave raid our squads seized four rifles in Mahammadgunj. In Gadhwa a rifle was seized from RPF. In 1989, people seized one weapon each in Kanvai and Tetram. In Bardhwa people seized five rifles and a sten gun from the police. Women played an active role in this. In 1990 a rifle was seized from GRP police in Tankuppa railway station in 1990. In Dhanbad district (now in JH) two .303 rifles were seized by attacking GRP forces in Matari railway station. Dughmania police camp under Vishnugadh PS limit in Hazaribagh district (now in JH) was raided in 1992 and six .303 rifles seized. In 1994 November the BMP police were attacked in Bhragseri mela under Gahe PS limits in Aurangabad district (Magadh) and all their weapons were seized. On January 20, 1996, weapons were seized by raiding the Tekari PS (Magadh) and it was burnt down. Two comrades Mithilesh and Pardesi were martyred here. On May 1,1998, a raid was conducted on Madanpur police camp under Akodi Gareya PS limits in Rohtas district (West Bihar) and twelve .303 rifles were seized. In 1998 a SLR was seized in a raid on Teesri police camp in Giridih district (now in JH). In October1998, a raid was conducted on Pratisila police camp under Chandauti PS limits in Gaya district (Magadh) and all the weapons were seized. In Chatra district (Magadh) two comrades Titileshwar and Puleshwar were martyred in a raid on Mamphipada police camp. The police camp was blasted with a mine. In 1999, an ambush was conducted in Churchu in Hazaribagh district and 16 policemen were annihilated. 16 SLRs, 2 LMGs and a 2" MIB-21, December 2010 Page 9 mortar were seized in this. In East Bihar a raid was conducted on Sajaur PS in Bhagalpur district and a police was annihilated. Two weapons were seized. In the ambushes at Kadna Sikaria, Chatal Chakia and Pesrar ambushes several policemen were annihilated and their weapons seized. Particularly in the Pesrar ambush the district SP was wiped out. In 2000 a police barrack of the Jharkhand armed police under Topchanchi PS limits in Dhanbad district was raided and 18 SLRs were seized. 13 policemen were wiped out. Two of our comrades were martyred here. In January 2002, guerillas raided a police squad in Sanghrighati in Chatra district (Magadh) and seized weapons. In January 2004, forest security guards were attacked in Assam and four rifles and a sten were seized. In July 2004 a fine raid was conducted on Simrahni police camp in West Champaran district in North Bihar. Many weapons and material were seized in this raid. After the formation of Jharkhand a historical raid was conducted in Saranda forests (West Singhbhum district) in 2004 and 33 policemen were wiped out. 38 weapons were seized. In Sambalpur and Devgadh areas successful actions were conducted in annihilating class enemies and seizure of weapons. In January 1984, when the then party leader Kondapalli Seetharamaiah was brought to a hospital for treatment from jail by the police, our Action Team created history by conducting a daring and clever raid and carried him away to safety. In the process of fighting the state forces in AP, for the first time cruel police officers Komal Reddy, Lakshman Rao, Yadagiri Reddy, Buchi Reddy and Linga Reddy were annihilated in single actions. These actions demoralized the police forces and simultaneously increased the self- confidence of the party ranks and guerilla squads. Police officers like DIG Vyas, AIG Umesh Chandra and CI Gandhi who were bent on destroying our movement as part of the state’s offensive were annihilated in the most daring and dashing manner in the heart of cities in broad daylight. Siddhappa who was the arch- enemy of our movement in Rayalaseema, counter revolutionary Jitender Reddy in North Telangana, political leaders like State Home Minister Madhava Reddy, MLA Chenna Reddy, upper caste landlords like Karamchedu’s Daggubati Chenchuramaiah, Atmakuru MLA Budda Vengal Reddy who had massacred the dalits were annihilated by our action teams. In 1987 in AP, the East division (then in DK) secretary Comrade Vadkapur Chandramouli (martyred as CCM in 2006) and some more comrades were arrested and sent to jail. Our guerilla forces abducted IAS officers near Gurtedu and secured the release of those comrades. This incident shook the ruling classes in AP. After this incident, abducting ruling class political leaders and government officials to secure the release of our comrades came to the fore as a struggle form on a big scale. In a sensational incident in 1991, our action team abducted Sudhir Kumar, MLA and son of a central minister from his house in the heart of Hyderabad city after killing his bodyguards and secured the release of four comrades including a state committee member. Starting with Daragadda and Alampalli in Andhra Pradesh in 1987 ambush tactics became one of the main tactics in our guerilla war. In the initial days, our guerilla forces fought the enemy with guns and gradually gained skill in annihilating the enemy in mine warfare. Our party could defeat the then offensive of the enemy as we could inflict more losses to the enemy using mines. In 1991 when an enemy offensive was launched again under the “Nodal Cell” formed by the central government, our guerilla forces mainly used the ambush tactics to fight back the enemy onslaught. In the Sithaphala (Balaghat), Ramadugu (Nizamabad), Etagatta (Bastar), Tadgaon (Gadchiroli), Ramavaram (Karimnagar) ambushes in 1991, Gajulapalli (Karimnagar), Palakurthy (Warangal), Manuguru (Khammam), Gollapalli-Kistaram (Bastar), Sindhuvada (East division), Bhimankojji (Gadchiroli) ambushes in 1992 enemy forces were annihilated, their weapons were seized and as a result the strength of our squads increased. In 1993 in the Rudraram (Karimnagar), Bhupalapalli (Warangal), Saarsala (Adilabad), Bhatrupalli-Potharam (Karimnagar), Somasila (Mahboobnagar), Tekenar (Kondagaon) ambushes our forces gained experience in annihilating even BSF and CRP forces. With the death of SP Paradesi Naidu in the Somasila ambush the morale of the police was dented severely. In 1994 the main ambushes conducted were at Balaghat, Lankelagadda (Karimnagar), Eturunagaram (Warangal) and Dichpalli (Nizamabad). Six Punjab commandos were wiped out in the Lankelagadda ambush and the central government immediately withdrew the Punjab commandos. In the ambushes conducted between 1995 and 2000, - Jakaram, Motlagudem ambushes in North Telangana, Ittanar, Nenduvadi, Godsur (Kothakonda), Bhamragad, Alainar, Tarrem, Edsagad, Vakulvai ambushes in DK, Lakshmapur (Mahboobnagar), Pillutla (Medak), Lothugadda (East), Raipalli (East) ambushes in AP, Kadna Sikaria, Chatal Chakia, Pesrar ambushes in Bihar-Jharkhand – enemy forces were wiped out in large numbers and weapons were seized. This increased the self-confidence of the guerilla forces and impeded the offensive of the enemy. Similarly the raid tactics starting with the raid on Sileru outpost in AP had played an important role in annihilating the enemy and seizure of weapons. The raids on the gelatin godown security at Tammanpalli in AP, security at bamboo depot of Maseli (Bandara) and security at Koheda mela were the first raids conducted. The raids on Wajedu, Uppalvai, Sirnapalli, Pothkapalli, Eleswaram, Manpur, Narsapur, Page 10 MIB-21, December 2010 Ramayampet, Veeravelli, Buddigada, Bodapoda, Tirumalagiri and Kandy (Gadwa, Bihar) police stations and camps were conducted by centralizing our guerilla forces at the platoon level and the higher level. The raids on Sirpur (U), Karkagudem, Darakonda, Papannapet, Pedakothapalli and Asarelli raids were conducted by centralizing our guerilla forces in company formation giving a death blow to the enemy. Huge numbers of arms were seized in these raids. Thus in the process of intensification of People’s War by our party, guerilla forces, people’s militia and revolutionary mass organizations the PLGA was formed on December 2, 2000. The emergence of PLGA facilitated the process of bringing all people’s armed forces under our party’s leadership under a single command and to develop them in the form of an army. Following the call of our Unity Congress-9th Congress the PLGA is advancing at present in the direction of developing guerilla war into mobile war. After the formation of PLGA, with the Saranda-2 ambush in Jharkhand in 2004 the ambush tactics and with the Koraput campaign in the same year where 536 weapons and more than 25,000 ammunition were seized, the raid tactics have assumed a higher form. With this experience, a united PLGA was formed with the emergence of CPI (Maoist) on September 21, 2004 and it readied itself for higher level operations. In this period, that is, in 2001 - the joint Kalimela-Motu raids, the annihilation of CI Gandhi in Salur court in Andhra-Odisha border special zone (AOB), the Yallamanda, Srisailam- Sundipenta raids and Remidicharla ambush in AP, Gadhwa ambush in B-J, the Eturunagaram raid in North Telangana (NT); in 2002 – Saranda ambush-1 in Jharkhand, Anakapalli-Chodavaram joint raid in AOB; in 2003 – Bara, Lodipur-Sahuganj, Pachambha, Chandrapura, Topchanchi raids in B-J, Gidam raid in DK, the massive attack on AP chief minister Chandra Babu in Alipiri in AP, Tekari, Prathsila (Gaya), Devkuli Dham (Seohar), Khoradi (Mirjapur) in UP, Matari, Dudhumania, Kataras, Baniyadih, Bagodar, Navadih,

Teesri, Gorhar, Tundi, Dembotand, Bara Jamda raids; Churchu, Palamu, Satganva, Palma, Chandrababu Tundi, Rania raids in Jharkhand, the attack on the forest office of Kamrup in Assam, Naidu after the annihilation of class enemies in Sambalpur-Devgadh area and some incidents where Alipiri Action weapons were seized in Odisha, the ambush at Henaithghati (Chandauli) in UP, Vinjaram ambush in DK could be quoted as the major operations. Giridih, Jehanabad, R. Udaigiri : After the emergence of the new party, it conducted two big raids in 2005 in the most courageous manner with meticulous planning in Bihar-Jharkhand. It conducted a raid on the Giridih armoury and seized 193 weapons and ammunition. Defeating the conspiracy of the enemy to keep the revolutionaries in captivity lifelong and strangle their voices, Operation Jail Break was successfully conducted in Jehanabad. A total of 388 captives which included revolutionary activists and sympathizers got released in this. Comrades Indal and Ashok were martyred here. A similar excellent multi-raid was conducted in R.Udaigiri and along with Jehanabad Jail Break, Bihar freeing the captives, it had seized 34 weapons and 4,000 ammunition. Comrades Kiran and Satish were martyred here. When revolutionaries and sympathizers who were captives in Dantewada jail rebelled in end-2007, 299 prisoners were released. In Dandakaranya the PLGA attacked the NMDC gelatin magazine which is located in difficult terrain and seized 19 tonnes of gelatin and 900 People’s Militia comrades carried it on their backs to a safe place facing many odds. 16 weapons were seized too. Ranibodili : Responding to the call of Party’s Unity Congress-9th Congress the first raid which symbolized mobile warfare was conducted in Dandakaranya in Ranibodili. This raid terrified the ruling classes. 55 CAF and SPOs were annihilated, 12 CRPF and SPOs were injured, 33 Enemy casualties in the Ranibodili Attack, DK weapons and more than 2,000 ammunition were seized MIB-21, December 2010 Page 11 by the PLGA. Comrades Mohan, Linganna, Kailash, Bhagat, Bhimal and Chaitu were martyred while valiantly fighting the enemy. Operation Ropeway – Nayagadh : In 2008, in the ‘Operation Ropeway’ conducted under the joint command of Eastern and Central regional commands in Nayagadh of Odisha, the PLGA displayed its best talent and skill in a mobile war operation. In maintaining secrecy, overcoming the difficulties in crossing plains, forests and rivers, implementing C-3 in the best way the PLGA became skilled in ‘fire and movement’ and in doing military maneuvers. Comrades Rambatti and Iqbal were martyred in this while valiantly fighting the enemy. In fact, though the PLGA seized 1200 weapons and 1,75,000 ammunition, as we had not deployed the necessary forces in time, the PLGA could carry only 305 modern weapons and 50,000 ammunition with it. The ruling classes trembled with fear seeing these long-term maneuvers conducted in the area known as ‘Red Corridor’ by basing ourselves on the vast masses. Khas Mahal, Rajpur-Bagheila, Jhajha : In the Khas Mahal raid in Jhajha, Bihar 2007, in the Rajpur-Bagheila raid in Bihar and Jhajha raid in 2008 the PLGA forces reached the enemy forces in the most secret manner, attacked them with surprise and seized 76 weapons and nearly 2,000 ammunition after annihilating and controlling the enemy forces. Silda : The social fascist CPI(M) government as well as the central government spent sleepless nights after the glorious and heroic Silda raid conducted protesting Operation Green Hunt in West Bengal in February 2010. The PLGA came on vehicles and motorcycles and conducted this raid most courageously in broad daylight in an open market. They skillfully used the technique of creating fires to kill the Silda Raid, West Bengal enemy and won this battle. 24 Eastern Frontier rifles jawans were annihilated and 40 weapons were seized and the EFR camp was fully destroyed in this raid. In this valiant raid, five comrades were martyred. Many more model raids : Along with these, in 2005 - the raid in Venkatammahalli in AP-Karnataka border, the Bhatgaon raid in North Chhattisgarh, Madhuban multiple raid in 3-U; in 2006 - the Murkinar raid and raids on Salwa Judum sibirs in DK, the Ara raid in N.Chhattisgarh; in 2007 the Nawadih PS & Block raid in Jharkhand, in 2008 the Bermo raid in Jharkhand, in 2009 – the NALCO raid in AOB; in 2010 – the raid on government toll plaza in Bihar are the important raids conducted in this period. The Main tactic of the PLGA – Ambush The PLGA mainly concentrated in implementing the ambush tactics creatively to intensify the guerilla war further and to develop guerilla warfare into mobile warfare. In the past decade it won significant successes in this. In 2006 the Bokaro ambush in Jharkhand, in 2008 the Samaripat ambush in North Chhattisgarh, the Rahe ambush in Jharkhand, the Saranda campaign in Jharkhand which continuously went on defeating the enemy operations in a valiant manner; in 2009 the Hesla, Kodwadih Bidwa, Phulbasi ambushes in Jharkhand; in 2010- the Vishnupur ambush in Jharkhand and Syampur Batha ambush in Bihar; In 2007 – the Jaraghati, Kuduru, Urpalmetta, Tadimetla -1, Tonguda, Battiguda; in 2008 – Tadkel, Modugupal during the assembly elections, in 2008-09 Korepalli, Markanar, Mugner, Tavvetola, Laheri in Gadchiroli in 2009 Minpa, Madanveda and Mandgiri - all in DK; in 2010 –the Mumail resistance continuously for 30 hours and the Kajara-Lakhisarai ambush in Bihar-Jharkhand Balimela Attack on Greyhounds, AOB Page 12 MIB-21, December 2010 – all these had displayed mobile war characteristics excellently. In 2008, the historic Balimela attack which dealt a death blow to the Grey Hounds is an excellent model in applying guerilla war tactics. PLGA defeats Salwa Judum, Sendra, Nagrik Suraksha Samiti and Harmad Bahini The exploiting governments formed counter-revolutionary vigilante gangs and campaigns like Salwa Judum, Sendra, Nagrik Suraksha Samiti and Harmad Bahini and SPO system as part of LIC for decimating the revolutionary movement and egged them on for attacking us. The PLGA fought back these reactionary gangs by firmly implementing class line and mass line and raising the consciousness of the people. The Urpalmetta ambush gave great confidence and gusto to PLGA and People’s Militia forces in annihilating the SPO system. People and particularly the women stood in the forefront and resisted the Salwa Judum goons. The attacks at Vinjaram, Padeda, NMDC, Darbhagudem, Murkinar, Kotha Cheruvu, the series of attacks on Salwa Judum sibirs at Gangalur, Basagudem, Manikunta, Vinjaram, Dondra and Errabore, the boobytrap at Pundri, many ambushes and raids like Ranibodili, Urpalmetta, Tadimetla, Tonguda, Battiguda, Modugupal, Tadkel, Minpa and Kokavada put an end to the murderous Salwa Judum campaign. Due to numerous small and medium attacks like the attack on Sendra led by Babulal Marandi, attack on MLA Sunil Mahato and the continuous attacks by PLGA, the Sendra and Nagrik Suraksha Samiti were defeated in BJ and BJO areas. PLGA defeats the private armies like Ranvir Sena and TPC-JPC-JLT reactionary goons In Bihar-Jharkhand private armies like Sunlight Sena, Ranvir Sena and secret gangs like TPC, JLT, JPC and SPM were formed with the close guidance of the counter-revolutionary government. In the beginning of 1980s the armed struggle spread rapidly by annihilating cruel land lords as part of anti-feudal struggles. It was with the aim of dousing the agrarian revolutionary flames that private armies – Bhumi Sena, Sunlight Sena, Savarna Liberation Front and Ranvir Sena which is the most notorious of all these for cruelty, were firstly formed in central Bihar. It is these Ranvir Sena gangs that had massacred poor, landless, dalit peasants in places like Laxmanpur-Bathe, Narayanpur, Kansara, Rampurchai, Bhagodih etc. The revolutionary masses took revenge in places like Arwal, Bhimpura (Jehanabad), Jalpur (Patna) etc. The two tactics of annihilating cruel land lords selectively and imposing economic blockade on land lords gave good results. From 1984 the local Sena leaders began surrendering to the demands of the revolutionary masses withdrawing false cases foisted on people and revolutionary activists. Important surrenders took place in Sikaria and in Kansara, Rampurchay, Akbarpur and Bhavanichak where the Bhumi Sena surrendered. In the course of this struggle on August 10, 1982 Lakhan, Swadeshi and Balkeshwar were martyred. The Jehanabad jail break happened after the formation of PLGA. At the time of the jail break about a hundred Bhumihar goons and Ranvir Sena members were in that jail as inmates. Among these, two leaders were annihilated selectively by the PLGA. Others were granted amnesty and allowed to escape from jail. This had a huge impact on the people. People believed that Maoists would not resort to caste-ridden violence. Let us take a glimpse of some more important actions taken by the armed revolutionary masses on the private armies and gangs of the landlords. In 1982 there was an attack on Bramharshi Sena and five persons including the commander belonging to Iguti village under Paraiya PS limits were wiped out. In October 1986, the houses of zamindars in Durmiya village under Rafigunj PS limits were raided and seven goons were wiped out. On May 7, 1987, guerillas conducted a raid on Dalalchek Baghaura village and annihilated 37 goons belonging to Satyendra Sena. In 1987, goon Puran Yadav was annihilated while he was with his gang in the weekly bazaar under Kursela PS limits in Katihar district. In the same year leaders of ‘Krishak Sevak Samaj’, the counter- revolutionary land lord army which collects ‘Rangdari tax’ from people were annihilated. The bandit gang led by Raja Yadav was destroyed. Particularly, with the annihilation of Pekhan, the Bindu-Pekhan bandit gang lost its right hand. Leadership comrades like Krista Singh, Ramshish, Umesh etc were martyred in these struggles. In mid-1988, after the raid on police in Muhammadgunj, seizure of arms from land lords took place in the form of a big campaign. Due to continuous attacks the Sunlight Sena began weakening. In 1988 Boda Pahadi village in Giridih district was surrounded and counter-revolutionary zamindar Pedol Singh and his goons were wiped out. Others surrendered and they were left off after signing a bond. In May 1992 in Khukhra village of Giridih district eight goons including the leader of Sunlight Sena were wiped out and some more goons were injured. In 1992 zamindar’s goon Sardar Hira Singh was annihilated within the Belhar PS camp limits in Banka district. On February 12, 1992, 35 goons of Savarna Liberation Front were annihilated in an attack on Baara village under Tekari PS limits. In all these incidents the main characteristic feature which emerged was that thousands of peasantry got mobilized and conducted massive attacks on the strong centres of the counter-revolutionaries. As a result, upper caste land lord MIB-21, December 2010 Page 13 armies like Bramharshi Sena, Sunlight Sena, Savarna Liberation Front and other counter-revolutionary armies were destroyed. Armed peasant revolutionary flames leapt up in Bihar. In the later period bitter battles were fought with Ranvir Sena, a joint feudal army formed with all castes. In 1998, several goons belonging to the main gang of Ranvir Sena were wiped out in Senari village under Kurdha PS limits. This attack could be considered to be a severe attack initiated by the revolutionary masses on the Ranvir Sena. In 1999, goon and MLA Samrat Ashok was shot and killed along with his goons in Hajipur. There were attacks on counter-revolutionary Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leaders who stood in opposition to the revolutionary movement. In 1984, JMM leader and counter-revolutionary land lord Intra Singh Chowdhary belonging to Khepcha village under Tundi PS limits in Dhanbad district was annihilated and his property was seized. In 1987 in Kolhahir village of Dhanbad district, five goons belonging to the anti- revolutionary gang of the JMM were wiped out. After the formation of PLGA it carried on continuous struggles against counter-revolutionary secret gangs and private armies and faced them by upholding mass line and class line with more determination. In central Bihar and West Jharkhand more such battles took place. For example let us take a glimpse into some of the important incidents. In West Jharkhand members of counter revolutionary secret gangs of the government like the state leader Murari of TPC (Tritiya Prastuti Committee), local leaders Sudhir Singh, Kariman Ganju, Bhola Uraon @ Mahesh, Kamta Prasad @ Hakad and along with them several members like Devcharan Mahato, Chanarik Turi, Satyanand Mahato, Prabhu Yadav, Sravan Kumar Singh, Gudu Ganju; area commander Shafik Ansari @ Rajesh of JPC (Jharkhand Prastuti Committee) in Daltongunj district; five members of JPC in Chatra district; the betrayer Ravindra Mehta, gang leaders Ajay Yadav, Surendra Mehta, Surendra Uraon, Hemanth Uraon, Sonulal Uraon, Sanjay Paswan; later first and second layer goonda leaders like Amit of SPM (Sasastra People’s Morcha) who belonged to TPC initially; Bhado Singh of Santi Sena killer gang and many of his gang members; similarly goons belonging to PLFI (People’s Liberation Front of India) and JLT (Jharkhand Liberation Tigers) were annihilated by the PLGA. Now these private armies and gangs have been suppressed. The Sidhu-Kanu people’s militia inflicts severe blows to the social fascist Harmad Bahini In West Bengal, the Harmad Bahini fascist counter-revolutionary killer gangs are nothing but forms of social fascism. The anti-people exploiting and murderous policies followed by Left Front governments under the leadership of CPM in West Bengal since three decades had to face the severe wrath of the people in the mass resistance which erupted in Singur and Nandigram. Simultaneously the Harmad Bahini

Fighting Capacity and Superiority of People’s Army “Fourthly, if the People’s Red Army, grown out of agrarian revolution, have firm leadership of the communist revolutionaries, its fighting capacity, even it be small, must be stronger than that of the mercenary army of the enemy—because, they fight for themselves, for the people; because they have with them the support of the peasantry as well as of the vast masses of the population; and because the officers and the fighters of this army are politically united. On the contrary, the fighting capacity of the counter revolutionary army – may it be a huge one – is comparatively very week and it is bound to be so – because, the ordinary soldiers and many lower ranking officers of this army come from poor families and they have to fight as the mercenary army of the reactionaries - for the interests of the reactionaries, against the interest of the people; because, as a result of its opposition to the agrarian revolution, this army is deprived of the support of the peasantry and the vast masses of the population; and because, the officers and the ordinary soldiers of this army are politically divided. On the other hand, the superiority of the people’s red army mainly grown out of the agrarian revolution, and on the other, the inferiority of the counter revolutionary bureaucratic mercenary army – this is a very important aspect of the strength and weakness of the people and the enemies respectively and this can be increased more by continuous efforts.” [From “The Strategy of the Indian Revolution”, document of erstwhile MCC]

Page 14 MIB-21, December 2010 which is a social fascist killer gang also earned the severe wrath of the people. As part of mass upsurge in Lalgadh the brave people of Lalgadh rebelled with boundless hatred towards Harmad Bahini and conducted resistance attacks against the Bahini and the CPM killer politicians on a large scale. Under the leadership of Sidhu-Kanu people’s militia which itself emerged through this resistance, nearly 250 CPM leaders at various levels and Harmad Bahini goons were annihilated. In fact this resistance shook the base of CPM in West Bengal. To suppress Lalgadh resistance movement the state and central governments are jointly carrying on ‘Operation Green Hunt’ on a severe scale since June 2009. However, this resistance movement is becoming severe day by day and is extending to various fields and areas. With the support of the vast Indian masses, democrats and patriots this movement fiercely resisted the Green Hunt offensive and has advanced. In this struggle the martyrdoms of people’s rebel leader Comrade Sidhu Soren, the militia commander of Sidhu-Kanu militia commander who became famous as the second Sidhu and a person of many talents and brave leader Comrade Umakanth Mahato along with the arrest of Comrade Chatradhar Mahato, the leader of Lalgadh movement had given a jolt to the movement. In this two year old movement nearly 110 Lalgadh masses had laid down their lives. Nearly 25 PLGA commanders and soldiers who stood in support of these people and led them had laid down their lives in raids like Silda, in encounters like Roja (Dhule) and in the joint operations of paramilitary and Harmad Bahini. That the state and central governments are concentrating their entire energies to suppress this people’s rebellion is no exaggeration. The CPM and Harmad killer gangs are taking this as a severe challenge to save their existence in that state. The Lalgadh masses and the Sidhu-Kanu militia which had dealt heavy blows and defeated the CPM and Harmad Bahini would teach them a fitting lesson with the great experiences gained in this two year long militant struggle. Historic Mukaram (Tadimetla-2) gives new lessons in Mobile War On April 6, 2010 in the massive ambush at Mukaram conducted in South Bastar by keeping the PLGA guerilla battalion at the core, a company of the enemy was completely decimated. (75 CRPF jawans and a district police constable died and seven were injured). The experiences gained by company-3 and company- 8 of DK in the series of ambushes conducted in South Bastar since Urpalmetta in 2007; the experiences of CRC company-2 in operations such as Nayagadh, Nalco etc.; the leadership of local comrades for the guerilla battalion which was formed as a centre of these; the grip this leadership had over the terrain as a result; the strong bonds with the local people and the strong mass base complemented each other and helped the success of ‘Historic Mukaram-Tadimetla’ Ambush. This courageous operation which was conducted in response to the brutal Green Hunt launched with the aim of completely decimating the revolutionary movement gave a great inspiration to the PLGA forces all over the country. This inspired confidence among the revolutionary people that PLGA is capable of fighting back the enemy’s bloody offensive. Political motivation played a very important role in the success of this operation. The politically motivated forces rushed on the enemy forces in the most valiant and agressive manner and annihilated them. The Mukaram attack is a step forward in the development of our war operations. We can call this a mobile war operation. We have to take the Mukaram operation as a new experience to all our PLGA forces and encourage them to conduct more such attacks. It was with the inspiration of this attack that a platoon level CRPF forces were annihilated in Kongera (DK) too. As part of TCOC and the resistance operations conducted in 2010, many big, medium and small operations were carried out. Of them, the Lakhisarai-Kajara opportunity ambush, the incident where we had fought back the enemy who attacked our camp at Mamayil and the incident where we defeated Operation Saranda are the big military operations and big battles. With the evil design of decimating our leadership comrades, seven thousand police (two thousands at the spot and five thousands in the outer MIB-21, December 2010 Page 15 circle) had attacked our camp in Mamayil the PLGA fought back the enemy for 30 hours and defeated that attack. 4 or 5 Cobra police were annihilated and 8 or 9 of them were injured in this incident. In Operation Saranda too, the police had mobilized 10,000 police in the inner and outer circles with the aim of inflicting leadership losses. Our PLGA forces fought back the enemy attack for 72 hours and defeated it. One Cobra police and four district police were annihilated and nine police were injured. In the incident where we fought back Operation Saranda, the lower level Commands under the Central Command and the three types of forces in PLGA were centralized. Better C4 (Command-Control- Communication-Coordination) was implemented here. Mine warfare : In the past decade the PLGA has excellently applied the mine warfare in the vast guerilla zones. As a result, in 2005 - the Bhimband in BJ, the Padeda ambush in DK on the mine-proof vehicle for the first time, the Karremarka, Vinjaram, Navatola in Gondia; in 2006 - Kotha Cheruvu in DK, Kiriburu and Bokaro in Jharkhand; in 2007 – Banda – 1 in DK, the attack on Janardhana Reddy, the ex- Chief Minister of AP; in 2008 – Adejhari, Cheribeda, Mardapal in DK, Dulvadih area ambush, Vanso two person ambush in Jharkhand, Burudi in West Bengal (BJO), Tellarayi ambush Padeda Ambush on Mireproof Vehicle, DK on mine-proof vehicle in AOB, Samaripat in North Chhattisgarh; in 2009 – Kokavada, Ganeshnala (Gidam) in DK, Biramdih in Jharkhand, Palur in AOB; in 2010 – Singavaram, Pedakodepal in DK, Mantriyamba in AOB, Ramgadh-Pingboni in West Bengal – in all these ambushes the PLGA could inflict heavy losses on the enemy. The attack on the helicopter : At the end of 2008, during the Chhattisgarh assembly elections, the PLGA forces fought Tellarai Ambush in AOB back the tactics of the enemy of deploying the police and paramilitary forces through helicopters by firing on the helicopter at Pidiya in West Bastar. An air-force officer was killed and three others were injured in this attack. In the month of June, 2010, during OGH campaign, in Porahat area of West Singhbhum district (Jharkhand), PLGA forces fired on the helicopter and were able to make a hole near the engine. Due to this the helicopter was forced to return back to its safe place. These would remain a few model attacks as to how to fight back if Bullet Ridden Helicopter there is an aerial attack. at Pidia, DK Booby Traps : The Baniyadih booby trap in BJ in 2005 and the Pundri booby trap in DK in 2007 could be considered as model attacks of annihilating the enemy in booby traps. With these the enemy took more stringent measures not to let gelatin fall into the hands of the guerilla forces. The PLGA fought back even this tactic excellently through its people’s intelligence. PLGA seized dozens of tonnes of explosives in seizing operations during the seizure of Mahamaya mines vehicle in DK and another explosives vehicle in BJ in 2008 and seizure of explosive vehicles in two places in DK (Gadchiroli, East Bastar) in 2010. Model for money confiscation operations: While the exploiting ruling classes are following four-cut policy and are imposing an economic blockade on People’s War, the PLGA conducted attacks on financial Galobad Mine Blast, sources and seized money on a large scale. The attack on the ICICI bank Jharkhand Page 16 MIB-21, December 2010 The Significance of the Liberated Areas “While developing guerilla zones, and the guerilla war, we should concentrate our forces in the strategic areas and give importance to the establishment of liberated areas. In the absence of liberated areas it is impossible to advance either the on going guerilla war or the guerilla zones. The people’s liberation army will depend on the liberated area alone, for preservation and expansion of its forces and for the destruction of the enemy forces. It will be impossible either to wage guerilla war or to develop it without the backing of the liberated areas. In one word, “The guerilla armies rely on these strategic bases to fulfill their strategic tasks”. The liberated areas constitute the rear for the guerrilla armies. Moreover, by establishing people’s democratic political power in a specific area and implementing in practice the tasks of the agrarian revolution, it will become possible not only to greatly enthuse the people in other parts of the country but also to promote confidence in them and create areas of struggle everywhere. In this way, we will be able to create serious losses to the exploitative ruling classes and hasten their collapse. We will be able to quicken the tempo of the revolution only through this method. The course of building guerilla zones and developing them into liberated areas, of several guerilla zones developing on the basis of a liberated area and of the establishment of some more liberated areas to back those guerilla zones will pervade the entire rural area of the country, creating a countrywide revolutionary situation, and finally the towns will be occupied and the countrywide victory will be achieved.” [From “Strategy and Tactics”, document of erstwhile CPI (ML) [PW] adopted by its 9th Congress, 2001] vehicle in Jharkhand in 2008 yielded 5 crores, that on the vehicle of State Bank of India on the Malkangiri-Chitrakonda road in AOB in 2009 yielded one crore and that on the vehicle of SBI on the Rourkela-Barsawa road in August 2010 which yielded 49 lakhs could be considered as models for money confiscation action. Surprise attacks : In 2009 the PLGA forces conducted a surprise attack on the Lakhisarai district court with meticulous planning and this would rank as a great model among such attacks. They could free Sunirmalji, CMC member and East regional PLGA Attack in West Midnapur Commander-in-Chief from the hands of the enemy through this attack. In 2007-2008 - the attacks on railway police in Nargunjo and other places in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal; in 2008 - in Rushikund and Ranigunj in Bihar-Jharkhand; in 2009 – Badhania, Khunti, Goelkera, Mahuliyatand attack; in 2010 – Toll plaza (GT road) raid, Sankrail raid (W. Medinipur, WB in 2009), Chowra raid on Ranchi-Patna road, some more raids in W. Medinipur (WB) and Tandwa bazaar, Latehar and Vishnupur ambushes would come under this category. In 2008 the PLGA attack on Laxmananand, the leader of the Hindu fascist gangs, a political target in Odisha not only exposed the saffron terror but had also helped the development of People’s War a lot. The successes of the PLGA have enhanced the enthusiasm among the people of India while they sent shivers down the spines of the Indian exploiting ruling classes. Before the formation of PLGA and after it was formed the guerilla war went on intensifying gradually and has developed to the stage of conducting attacks keeping platoons and companies at the core and gradually to the stage of attacking by keeping the battalion at the core. While the centralized forces conducted large scale attacks, the decentralized units conducted small and medium operations. Guerilla war reached a higher level. Gradually the mobilizing capacity of PLGA increased and it is gaining many experiences by fighting the enemy forces for hours together. By coordinating of fire and movement, CQB (Closed Quarter Battle) skills, flank and rear maneuvers and by fighting in groups and teams it is gaining expertise in annihilating the enemy forces. Gradually PLGA is gaining grip in achieving Command-Control-Communication (C3) in the operations it is conducting. It is gaining the characteristics of a disciplined people’s army. As we have been successful in

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 17 consolidating people’s militia forces to some extent, they are participating valiantly in resistance actions. The various kinds of booby traps have become effective weapons in the hands of the militia. Particularly the higher level experiences we are gaining in DK, BJ, AOB and West Bengal (B-J-O area) are providing us a basis to develop guerilla warfare into mobile warfare. In the course of this protracted people’s war, we can briefly summarize the experiences we have gained as follows : 1. Though we are carrying on guerilla warfare (People’s War) in the strategic defensive stage, its main existence would be dependent on carrying out ‘offensive’ over the enemy. 2. Only by keeping ‘offensive’ as the main aspect, we can sustain the initiative in war in our hands. We would be able to conduct TCOCs and active resistance actions by deploying PLGA tactically with flexibility. 3. The PLGA should never resort to battles without proper plan and full fledged preparations. Only a proper plan, full fledged preparations and readiness can ensure successes. 4. As we had failed to take up proper tactics in Andhra Pradesh our movement had suffered a temporary setback there. We had to lose the Party, PLGA, mass organizations and areas of influence. Advancement in the direction of developing guerilla warfare into mobile warfare and PLGA into PLA In order to consolidate PLGA and to expand it, various state/special zone/special area military commissions, regional/zonal/ divisional/district, sub-zonal, area commands were formed from top to bottom organizationally to some extent under the leadership of Central Military Commission (CMC). Immediately after the Unity Congress- 9th Congress, Central and Eastern Commands were formed. After the emergence of PLGA, in the past one decade commissions and commands have gained higher level PLGA at the Historic Unity Congress-9th Congress experience in intensifying guerilla warfare and in directing it to develop into mobile warfare. They are improving on various kinds of trainings in conducting operations in forest, semi-forest, plain area, urban and suburban areas by enhancing military skills. They are also enhancing their capacity to conduct various operations jointly and with coordination. They are taking up many campaigns like time-bound TCOCs and have learnt to lead them directly. The Commissions and Commands have gained new experiences and are developing them in coordinating and involving the three forces in the PLGA – the main, secondary and base forces – around various tasks in a planned manner. This is helping a lot in achieving qualitative change in conducting military operations. Apart from conducting many military camps and classes as part of political-military training for PLGA, our military commissions have regularly published ‘Awami Jung’ as the military magazine of CC before PLGA was formed and later too. After the formation of PLGA ‘Padiyora Pollo’ is being published regularly as the military magazine of DKSMC and is being published as bulletins of Awami Jung though not regularly in WB and both of these magazines have become beacon lights for the PLGA soldiers. Apart from this, many military books were published by ‘Awami Jung’ publications. This process was extremely useful in learning from People’s War military experiences, in forming PLGA and in consolidating it more. Recruitment of hundreds of young women and men In the past one decade party committees, commissions and commands have conducted recruitment campaigns many times by giving calls to young women and men belonging to all oppressed classes and sections to join PLGA in their thousands to expand the People’s War and PLGA. As part of this, since the Unity Congress-9th Congress hundreds of peasant and adivasi young women and men are joining in PLGA in many guerilla zones. Nearly 500 persons are newly joining the PLGA every year. Apart from this thousands of people got consolidated into People’s Militia. The PLGA units had expanded to some extent. In fact, in some guerilla zones the revolutionary mass organizations, people’s militia and the revolutionary people’s Page 18 MIB-21, December 2010 governments which have sustained are taking up the responsibility and are playing a crucial role in recruiting young women and men into PLGA in the village meetings. As a result, PLGA is getting strengthened in quantity and quality. Party and military commissions had created many departments too. Intelligence, education, medical, cultural, technical, communication and supply departments have been formed at respective levels and are standing in support of PLGA. The various departments developing in support of PLGA The various departments of PLGA are like oxygen to PLGA. The Party and military commissions have worked in a planned manner to establish them. Though these are at a primary level at present, gradually they should develop and gain experience PLGA Women Guerillas March Ahead in accordance with the needs of war. Technical department : Considering the war needs of PLGA, it is obvious that the number of weapons that it would be seizing from the enemy would be less. In order to overcome this shortcoming at least to some extent the technical departments under CMC and SMC are manufacturing and supplying weapons, grenades, mortars, mortar shells and various types of booby traps with steely determination even under very trying conditions. These have fulfilled the tasks of technical department, very secretly hiding from the enemy in urban areas fearlessly and being ready for any kind of sacrifice. They are also continuously repairing weapons and are trying their best to overcome the shortcomings at least to some extent. They are developing into regular units. Press unit : The press departments used to function in urban areas before the formation of PLGA. Gradually they have shifted their work to strategic areas and after the formation of PLGA they have strengthened themselves. Though press units in Andhra Pradesh have been damaged, press departments have strengthened in areas where the movement is advancing. In some areas screen printing units have developed too. PLGA Weapon Drill All these kinds of press units are playing a crucial role in supplying reading material and literature most necessary for guerilla war by publishing magazines and publications of party, PLGA, Janthana Sarkars and mass organizations and by fulfilling other publication needs. Intelligence department : With the inspiration of Martyr comrades Patel Sudhakar and Sakhamuri Appa Rao, intelligence units are sprouting up very secretly in the history of revolutionary movement for the first time. They are learning lessons in forming counter intelligence to destroy the enemy intelligence system. Education department : The education department is guiding its sub-departments of political and academic education and is imparting education to the PLGA ranks. They are preparing syllabus based on scientific education to the ideal revolutionary people’s schools run by the revolutionary people’s governments. They are laying foundation for scientific education. They are contributing tremendously to impart revolutionary political consciousness and understanding to enhance the role of soldiers and people in people’s war.

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 19 Military instructor teams : Some instructor teams were formed to give military training to PLGA at CC, special area/special zone/state, region, zonal/division/district, area levels and they are gaining experience. It is the task of these teams to give training by preparing syllabus even while learning to conduct war by participating in war. They are developing combat forces by giving higher level special striking force training too on special priority occasions apart from giving primary training to the newly recruited PLGA members and militia on immediate priority. The contribution of these teams is ever present behind the successes of PLGA in the past decade. Medical departments : The medical department is developing as a crucial department in people’s war. These are treating injured PLGA fighters in the battlefield on the spot and there are many incidents where their lives have been saved thus. This department is training doctors in each PLGA unit and is giving medical treatment to PLGA soldiers. Taking inspiration from Norman Bethune, Kotnis, Chaganti Bhaskar Rao, Devineni Mallikarjun and Suryadevara Mallikarjuna Prasad the medical department is giving valuable medical treatment to people’s soldiers and people in the guerilla zones. Communication department : As communication departments have been formed under the guidance of state military commissions in some areas and have commenced work it is becoming possible to develop skill in this field. As we have conducted many training camps and imparted communication knowledge, many PLGA soldiers who became literate only after joining the party are gaining good skill in communications field. To conduct mobile war operations in a vast area this department is striving to develop according to the increasing importance of coordination among PLGA forces as part of the effort. Supply department : The supply units in PLGA are gradually expanding and are establishing themselves as a department from area level to division and regional level. These units are striving hard and are fulfilling the many rarely available supply needs of the guerilla forces to some extent or the other while traversing very long distances. It is necessary to expand these units further. Though supply units were formed at the central and state levels and worked to some extent in the midst of the enemy camps they could not sustain. We have to strengthen the supply department by further learning from these experiences. Tailor department : It is a serious problem to supply uniforms to the increasing PLGA forces. Scarcity of uniforms is also coming forth as a serious problem as part of the enemy’s attempts to stop our various supplies totally. Under such circumstances, tailor departments were formed in many regions and began fulfilling the needs. These have to be developed further. From all the above mentioned aspects, it is clear that guerilla warfare is developing by gradually gaining the characteristics of mobile warfare. Our document ‘Strategy and Tactics’ described this as follows: “ … The important difference between a guerilla war and a mobile war is that, in mobile warfare, the troops will be concentrated in relatively large numbers. The troops engaged in mobile warfare, will comprise of regular soldiers who have relatively higher political consciousness, greater discipline and military training….” (pg 103, para 7) The document adopted by CC in 2007 has the following to say on mobile war : “1. Retaining the area and seizing is not to be the main aspect, the main aim would be to annihilate enemy forces. 2. The security for the forces engaged in mobile warfare would come from movements, speedy responses, vast flexibility in using the forces and their deployment, the speed with which forces are centralized and decentralized. 3. The main forms to achieve the goal and the main method to defend our forces would be offensive operations. 4. In mobile warfare forces are centralized in large numbers, then they are decentralized. Moreover, a main force would serve as the centre for mobilization of forces. 5. Area would be kept under control only as long it is favorable to our forces, as soon as we lose that favorable condition, the forces would vacate that area and move away. 6. The mobile warfare would be a war where the battle fields change often as per necessity. 7. The mobile PLGA Company during a Parade warfare would comprise of operations which would give quick results.” Page 20 MIB-21, December 2010 PLGA is a strong weapon in the hands of the people in building revolutionary people’s governments As an armed structure implementing political tasks in Indian revolution the PLGA did not just confine itself to military operations. It served as the main means for the revolutionary masses to establish revolutionary political power organs (Revolutionary People’s Committees or Janathana Sarkars) with the aim of area-wise seizure of power. In the past decade people’s war extended to vast areas, people’s democratic political power organs emerged in the rural areas which are strategically weak areas for the enemy by destroying the exploiting state machinery. Destroying these organs and preventing people’s support to people’s war, blockade of our areas, annihilating PLGA forces through encirclement-suppression and surprise attacks, destroying the centralizing capacity of the PLGA forces and making them decentralize (dispersing them), loot of villages, razing them to ground, closure of markets, blocking all supplies from outside and increase of carpet security on a huge scale are resorted to by the enemy in order to fail our aim of establishing liberated areas. The PLGA is defeating this carpet security and enemy offensives and by using the available flexible opportunities people’s political power organs are emerging. By always keeping in view Mao’s dictum that ‘seizure of political power through armed struggle and solving the problem through war is the central task and highest form of revolution’ the PLGA is advancing forward. By fulfilling various tasks like conducting continuous revolutionary political propaganda, mobilizing the people into various structures (party-people’s militia-mass organizations, RPCs), arming the people- training them, mobilizing people into various people’s struggles, participating in production to increase the standard of living of the people and giving medical treatment for people, the PLGA won a place in the hearts of people in the various guerilla bases-guerilla zones, red resistance areas and other zones. As a result, people’s political organs are emerging in Dandakaranya, Bihar-Jharkhand, Bengal- Jharkhand-Odisha border area and Andhra-Odisha border areas. In Dandakaranya, area level revolutionary people’s governments were formed and are functioning regularly. Moreover district level people’s governments have also started functioning. In Bihar-Jharkhand, AOB and West Bengal (BJO) villages the numberof revolutionary people’s governments have increased. They are advancing in the direction of formation of people’s governments at area level. They are placing an alternative development model in front of the Indian people by rejecting the fake reforms of the exploiting governments and striving to increase the production of the people through collective labour of the people while working very hard to achieve self-sufficiency for the economic development of the people. PLGA provides defence in fulfilling political, organizational and propaganda tasks and in conducting people’s struggles It is difficult to conduct even a single work in the guerilla zones and red resistance areas without the protection of PLGA. As the attacks of the enemy are increasing with each passing day this has become even more inevitable. It would be impossible to conduct political classes, plenums, conferences, military camps, mass meetings, propaganda campaigns and resistance programmes without the protection of PLGA. The PLGA takes upon itself the responsibility of providing defence for people’s struggles (land struggles, famine raids, attacks on people’s enemies, seizure of enemy properties etc). While the enemy is nervous as to when the PLGA would attack, people are able to go about their tasks without any fear. If there PLGA Defends People’s Struggles is no protection from PLGA then the whole revolutionary activity would itself stop. Guard units which emerged for the protection of leadership The practice of deploying guards to protect the leadership right from the CC to the guerilla commander has been in vogue as a rule since the days of guerilla squads. After the formation of PLGA this developed MIB-21, December 2010 Page 21 into a regular form. As part of enemy’s LIC tactics, the conspiracies of the enemy to annihilate the leadership have increased. In this background, the importance of guard squads has increased manifold. A significant number of women and men guerillas are engaged in this task and they are guarding the leadership putting their lives at stake. This is a positive aspect in people’s war. PLGA’s role in consolidating people PLGA strove hard day and night in building a strong mass base for the revolutionary movement by consolidating thousands of people in KKC, Rytu Coolie Sangam, DAKMS, various revolutionary women’s organizations, youth organizations, cultural organizations and Bal Sangams (children’s organizaitions). These mass organizations, particularly in Dandakaranya (DK) were formed from village level to state level and are functioning regularly. Their membership is increasing regularly and now the total membership of all these mass organizations is nearly 1,80,000 in DK. At the division level, coordination committees have been formed between these mass organizations. As a result, they are gaining experience in enhancing the collective strength of the people with each passing day. Under the guidance of the revolutionary people’s governments the activists of peasant and women’s organizations and revolutionary artistes are participating in resistance actions on the enemy forces. Cultural squads are participating in collective agriculture works voluntarily and serving the people. They are carrying supplies for PLGA, conveying information about the enemy to PLGA and people’s defence departments from time to time and are doing sentries at daytime in the villages. In B-J, WB and Odisha states these MOs are active and in B-J co- ordination committees have been formed at Regional/ Zonal levels. They are playing a prominent role in building mass base for People’s War. PLGA’s substantial efforts in fulfilling cultural and propaganda tasks As part of PLGA the armed revolutionary cultural squads are playing an important role in building a revolutionary cultural movement in support of People’s war with MLM ideology and politics. PLGA had contributed a lot in giving the revolutionary literary and cultural movement a mass character. As a result, in Bihar-Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Dandakaranya, AOB, West Bengal and Odisha cultural organizations and armed cultural squads developed. Apart from these, in some zones children’s cultural squads are also being formed. These are uprooting imperialist and feudal decadent culture from the minds of the people, developing scientific, progressive, democratic and revolutionary culture and revolutionizing people’s arts. Cultural performances of PLGA Particularly, in Bihar-Jharkhand, Dandakaranya, AOB and West Bengal they are carrying out revolutionary ideological and political propaganda and playing a crucial role in involving the masses in the ongoing revolutionary movement and People’s War. They are playing an important role in fighting back the enemy’s foul propaganda. They are regularly conducting workshops from area level to state level and are improving revolutionary arts. Amidst constant repression this revolutionary cultural movement is carrying on in a lively manner with the cooperation of the people. PLGA earns a permanent place in people’s hearts as their servant The PLGA is participating in agricultural production apart from taking up the task of mobilizing people into production in some areas. Though very less at present, it is carrying on agricultural production for its own needs in some places too. In future it should advance in the direction of taking up the task of fulfilling its needs and standing on its own legs by forming separate production units in PLGA itself. In this aspect the people’s militia forces (base forces) are a model for the whole PLGA. Within every village or panchayat where people’s governments have been formed people’s militia forces are carrying on agricultural production in collective farms. This is very much helpful to fulfill the needs of their forces, people’s (people’s government’s) needs and the needs of PLGA. Page 22 MIB-21, December 2010 PLGA stands in support of people’s struggles The revolutionary masses have intensified the anti-feudal struggles in the vast rural areas keeping the land issue at the core in the process of extending the armed agrarian revolutionary flames to the four corners of India. They occupied lakhs of acres of lands belonging to land lords, government lands, forest and fallow lands. All these struggles advanced by arming themselves. After the formation of PLGA these PLGA taking part in land levelling work along with the people struggles took on a vaster form. The PLGA stood in support of these people’s struggles by failing the various operations taken up by the governments to suppress these movements. Thus it further advanced the People’s War. The political, economic policies of LPG (liberalization-privatization-globalization) have made the lives of oppressed people unbearable. People’s struggles are breaking out everywhere as people are rebelling against these enormous problems everywhere. Right from Kalinganagar, Singur and Nandigram to Lalgadh, Narayanapatna, Niyamagiri and Sompeta the people’s struggles which erupted and the movement for separate Telangana and people’s struggles against displacement in some areas of Jharkhand and mass movements against flood and drought problem in Bihar have created great deluges of mass struggles. People are displaying higher level struggle consciousness and are arming themselves by overcoming the confines of the legal limitations of the constitution. They are chasing the enemy and are fighting by standing firmly even in the midst of enemy firings ready to sacrifice their life too. All these are happening against the establishment of SEZs and against the establishment of industries in adivasi areas placing land issue, forests, mountains, minerals, rivers and water problems at the centre. All these are struggles of the adivasis fought for their existence. The fighting people are building struggles around the slogans ‘Land- Political Power-Democracy- building of a people’s army-Self-reliance’. All these struggles are directly confronting the state and are worrying the ruling classes. As these struggles have affected the interests of the exploiters, they have launched Operation Green Hunt with thousands of forces to suppress these struggles with an iron heel. Particularly, thousands of armed forces have been deployed in Bihar-Jharkhand, Dandakaranya, Bengal and Odisha and they are implementing carpet security and massacring the people. On the other hand, the central and state governments are spending thousands of crores of rupees and are trying to win hearts and minds of the people through fake reforms. Fighting back this two-fold policy people are fighting for solving their life and death issues amidst repressive conditions. They are displaying higher level of consciousness and are resisting the brutal violence of the armed forces. They are going to the police stations to get their arrested persons released and to obtain the dead bodies of the people who died in fake encounters. People are also mobilizing against their day to day problems and against price rises. PLGA is standing in support of these struggles. With the support of PLGA, people are getting increasingly mobilized into armed people’s organizations like ‘Koya Bhoomkal militia’ in DK, the ‘Jan Militia Squads’ in Bihar-Jharkhand, ‘Sidhu Kanu militia’ in Lalgarh, ‘Ghenoba Bahini’ in Narayanpatna (Odisha) and ‘People’s defence militia’ in Kalinganagar. They are providing mass base for ‘People’s War’ waged against the ‘Green Hunt’ of the mercenary, fascist police and paramilitary forces. They are winning many historic successes by fighting back the policies of the exploiting ruling classes. They are proving that only ‘people and people’s army’ can guarantee the victory of the revolution. How could the PLGA advance towards its goals by overcoming so many difficulties? How could it continue guerilla warfare with a series of successes amidst many losses? It firmly abided by the political-military line of the party and rushed into the battlefield with determination and consciousness that People’s Militia under Training ‘it is better to die fighting in people’s war than to bear hunger MIB-21, December 2010 Page 23 and insults’ for the survival of the oppressed people, workers and peasants and for the liberation of the country. Overcoming all kinds of hurdles, not letting any disappointment or wavering to enter their ranks, the PLGA fighters and commanders have dedicated their lives to the people in order to advance certainly towards victory. Thus the party, PLGA and the people could achieve self-reliance in guerilla warfare. Without these sacrifices there could be no advancement of the people’s war. However on this occasion we should not forget that our PLGA is still weak. Compared to our goals the successes we have won are very limited. There are like a Women Militia Members drop in the ocean. Our PLGA has still not equipped itself with all kinds of paraphernalia. In aspects such as armed power, particularly artillery, fighting skill and numbers our PLGA is still very weak. At present, our guerilla areas are still limited. It has to expand to every corner of our vast country. It should expand to forest, plains and urban areas. While fighting bravely to create all these, we must intensify guerilla warfare further by defending ourselves and annihilate the enemy as far as possible. In the past decade, PLGA has gained the following lessons through its experience in severals difficult battles: 1. Wherever the party, PLGA, revolutionary people’s governments, various revolutionary mass organizations and united front forums stand united and fight, there people’s war would advance. 2. Wherever people’s movement transforms itself into people’s resistance movement and advances, there guerilla warfare would develop and achieve successes. 3. Wherever PLGA takes up flexible tactics according to the conditions and keeps initiative in its hands, there it is guaranteed that the PLGA would gain successes.  Losses inflicted by the PLGA to the Enemy in this 10-year Period (2000 Dec. to 2010 Dec.)

Weapons Seized by the Police Goons & Enemy Agents Annihilated PLGA

Salwa Year Judum, Political Died Injured Informers Sendra Coverts Weapons Ammunition Leaders and CPI(M)

2000 Dec. to 2001 Nov. 93 76 1 5 136 4477

2001 Dec. to 2002 Nov. 19 10 54 242

2002 Dec. to 2003 Nov. 70 38 116 3333

2003 Dec. to 2004 Nov. 97 84 1 619 222

2004 Dec. to 2005 Oct. 201 145 8 113 1556

2005 Nov. to 2006 Oct. 177 104 1 65 370 10616

2006 Nov. to 2007 Nov. 269 234 16 51 69 241 4826

2007 Dec. to 2008 Nov. 261 271 2 127 56 435 52875

2008 Dec. to 2009 Nov. 308 233 11 98 48 185 4346

2009 Dec. to 2010 Dec. 322 155 15 127 75 2 248 5095

Total 1817 1350 55 408 313 2 2517 87588

Page 24 MIB-21, December 2010 Arms and Ammunition Seized from the Enemy by PLGA in some of the Operations in these 10 Years

Nayagad Raid (OS) Mandagiri (DK)

Manpur Raid (DK) Murkinar Raid (DK) Enemy is the Main Source for PLGA Armoury

Mukram Ambush (DK) Lahiri Ambush (DK) Minpa Ambush (DK) Kongera Ambush (DK)

From Dantewada Jail Break (DK)

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 25 CPP Salutes Indian Maoists for Victorious Ranibodili Raid The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) recently congratulated and saluted the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the Red fighters of India for carrying out a successful tactical offensive on 14 March against the reactionary and fascist state forces of India. The Indian Maoist revolutionary fighters successfully overran a security outpost of the fascist police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Gregorio Rosal, spokesperson of the CPP, congratulated the CPI (Maoist) and its Red fighters in behalf of the CPP, the New People’s Army, the Philippine revolutionary movement and the Filipino people. He said that the victorious tactical offensive “is truly inspiring... as we wage our own people’s war to end imperialist, feudal and fascist rule and oppression in the Philippines”. Scores of Red fighters under the leadership of the CPI(Maoist) launched the early morning raid against a police outpost in a forested area of the Rani Bodli village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district. They easily took control of the outpost manned by at least 75 policemen and seized a large cache of rifles and war materiél. More than 50 policemen were killed in the firefight, including 16 state police personnel and 37 special police officers. Rosal said that the large cache of weapons seized “will help arm many more Indian masses anxious to become Red fighters and join the people’s war”. He added that, “the broad masses of the Indian people celebrate these victories as they struggle to smash the prevailing backward and reactionary semifeudal rule, end the centuries-long system of exploitation and oppression of the people, and build a bright, revolutionary future in India”. Dedicatedly fighting for the rights and welfare of poor and landless farmers, neglected tribes and other impoverished Indian masses, the CPI (Maoist) and its Red army have now gained control of 10 of Chhattisgarh’s 16 impoverished districts and are also present in 14 of India’s 29 states, covering huge swathes of the subcontinent’s central, eastern and southern regions. (From Liberation International, March-April 2007)

“Another feature we want to highlight about these women martyrs is their bravery and valiance in fighting the enemy. Innumerable incidents of their bravery can be quoted. They have been immortalized in many art and literary forms not to mention the countless songs which describe their bravery and courage. They have become legends in the eyes of the people and sometimes we find even their ‘enemies’ praising their valiance. Their military skills are not inferior to any of the male comrades and sometimes even surpassed that of their male colleagues. Ordinary peasant, adivasi and petty bourgeois women had become soldiers and military leaders. The military exploits of Rajitha and Lalitha of NT have become legendary and even the armed forces feared them. Karuna and Somvari died during Daula raid, Rambatti during the illustrious Nayagadh raid, Rukmati during the historic Mukaram attack, Anju in the Jhumra Pahad raid, Srilata during the raid on Tirumalagiri PS and many are the working class heroines who died fighting the enemy valiantly in attacks on the armed forces and in the scores of encounters with the armed forces. Porteti Penti (DK) had Special Forces training and proved her mettle in the last encounter with the police. Vanaja’s (AOB) and Radha’s (DK) last battles with the police are some of the most valiant fights put up by the guerillas of PLGA. Rathna (AOB) was an action team member. A woman in action teams is still a rarity to find in the PPW. Many sacrificed their lives in these armed confrontations to save their fellow comrades. Health is not on their side and one would be surprised at how much these undernourished, lean, short built women could achieve in the military sphere. The answer is again the same – their determination to fight all patriarchal notions about women and their commitment towards the people as builders of new society. Here lies the strength of the communist ideology which makes such things possible. It can give rise to this kind of selflessness and their lives in turn guarantee the ultimate triumph of this ideology over selfish class interests and ushers in the communist society. It is their communist spirit and selflessness which turned them into such wonderful human beings. Not for nothing do the masses mobilize in thousands and lakhs to pay homage to these great martyrs.” [From the foreword “Let Us Realize the Dreams of the Great Martyrs” to the book ‘Women Martyrs of Indian Revolution’ (Naxalbari to 2010)]

Page 26 MIB-21, December 2010 Spring Thunder Over India

[This was first published as an editorial in People’s Daily, organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on 5 July 1967. It was reproduced in Liberation, Vol. I No. 1 (November 1967)] A peal of spring thunder has crashed over the land of India. Revolutionary peasants in the Darjeeling area have risen in rebellion. Under the leadership of a revolutionary group of the Indian Communist Party, a red area of rural revolutionary armed struggle has been established in India. This is a development of tremendous significance for the Indian people’s revolutionary struggle. In the past few months, the peasant masses in this area, led by the revolutionary group of the Indian Communist Party, have thrown off the shackles of modern revisionism and smashed the trammels that bound them. They have seized grain, land and weapons from the landlords and plantation owners, punished the local tyrants and wicked gentry, and ambushed the reactionary troops and police that went to suppress them thus demonstrating the enormous might of the peasants’ revolutionary armed struggle. All imperialists, revisionists, corrupt officials, local tyrants and wicked gentry, and reactionary army and police are nothing in the eyes of the revolutionary peasants who are determined to strike them down to the dust. The absolutely correct thing has been done by the revolutionary group of the Indian Communist Party and they have done it well. The Chinese people joyfully applaud this revolutionary storm of the Indian peasants in the Darjeeling area as do all Marxist-Leninists and revolutionary people of the whole world. It is an inevitability that the Indian peasants will rebel and the Indian people will make revolution because the reactionary Congress rule has left them with no alternative. India under Congress rule is only nominally independent; in fact, it is nothing more than a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country. The Congress administration represents the interests of the Indian feudal princes, big landlords and bureaucrat- comprador capitalists. Internally, it oppresses the Indian people without any mercy and sucks their blood, while internationally it serves the new boss, U.S. imperialism, and its number one accomplice, the Soviet revisionist ruling clique, in addition to its old suzerain British imperialism, thus selling out the national interests of India in a big way. So imperialism, Soviet revisionism, feudalism and bureaucrat-comprador capitalism weigh like big mountains on the backs of the Indian people, especially on the toiling masses of workers and peasants. The Congress administration has intensified its suppression and exploitation of the Indian people and pursued a policy of national betrayal during the past few years. Famine has stalked the land year after year. The fields are strewn with the bodies of those who have died of hunger and starvation. The Indian people, above all, the Indian peasants, have found life impossible for them. The revolutionary peasants in the Darjeeling area have now risen in rebellion, in violent revolution. This is the prelude to a violent revolution by the hundreds of millions of people throughout India. The Indian people will certainly cast away these big mountains off their backs and win complete emancipation. This is the general trend of Indian history which no force on earth can check or hinder. What road is to be followed by the Indian revolution? This is a fundamental question affecting the success of the Indian revolution and the destiny of the 500 million Indian people. The Indian revolution must take the road of relying on the peasants, establishing base areas in the countryside, persisting in protracted armed struggle and using the countryside to encircle and finally capture the cities. This is Mao Tse-tung’s road, the road that has led the Chinese revolution to victory, and the only road to victory for the revolutions of all oppressed nations and peoples. Our great leader, Chairman Mao Tse-tung, pointed out as long as 40 years ago: “In China’s central, southern and northern provinces, several hundred million peasants will rise like a mighty storm, like a hurricane, a force so swift and violent that no power, however great, will be able to hold it back. They will smash all the trammels that bind them and rush forward along the road to liberation. They will sweep all the imperialists, warlords, corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry into their graves.”Chairman Mao explicitly pointed out long ago that the peasant question occupies an extremely important place in the people’s revolution. The peasants constitute the main force in the national-democratic revolution against imperialism and its lackeys; they are the most reliable and numerous allies of the proletariat. India is a vast MIB-21, December 2010 Page 27 semi-colonial and semi-feudal country with a population of 500 million, the absolute majority of which, the peasantry, once aroused, will become the invincible force of the Indian revolution. By integrating itself with the peasants, the Indian proletariat will be able to bring about earth-shaking changes in the vast countryside of India and defeat any powerful enemy in a soul-stirring people’s war. Our great leader, Chairman Mao, teaches us: “The seizure of power by armed force, the settlement of the issue by war, is the central task and the highest form of revolution. This Marxist-Leninist principle of revolution holds good universally, for China and for all other countries.” The specific feature of the Indian revolution, like that of the Chinese revolution, is armed revolution fighting against armed counterrevolution. Armed struggle is the only correct road for the Indian revolution; there is no other road whatsoever. Such trash as “Gandhi-ism”, “parliamentary road” and the like are opium used by the Indian ruling classes to paralyse the Indian people. Only by relying on violent revolution and taking the road of armed struggle can India be saved and the Indian people achieve complete liberation. Specifically, this is to arouse the peasant masses boldly, build up and expand the revolutionary armed forces, deal blows at the armed suppression of the imperialists and reactionaries, who are temporarily stronger than the revolutionary forces, by using the whole set of the flexible strategy and tactics of people’s war personally worked out by Chairman Mao, and to persist in protracted armed struggle and seize victory of the revolution step by step. In the light of the characteristics of the Chinese revolution, our great leader, Chairman Mao, has pointed out the importance of establishing revolutionary rural base areas. Chairman Mao teaches us: In order to persist in protracted armed struggle and defeat imperialism and its lackeys, “it is imperative for the revolutionary ranks to turn the backward villages into advanced, consolidated base areas, into great military, political, economic and cultural bastions of the revolution from which to fight their vicious enemies who are using the cities for attacks on the rural districts, and in this way gradually to achieve the complete victory of the revolution through protracted fighting.” India is a country with vast territory; its countryside, where the reactionary rule is weak, provides the broad areas in which the revolutionaries can manoeuvre freely. So long as the Indian proletarian revolutionaries adhere to the revolutionary line of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tse-tung’s Thought and rely on their great ally, the peasants, it is entirely possible for them to establish one advanced revolutionary rural base area after another in the broad backward rural areas and build a people’s army of a new type. Whatever difficulties and twists and turns the Indian revolutionaries may experience in the course of building such revolutionary base areas, they will eventually develop such areas from isolated points into a vast expanse, from small areas into extensive ones, an expansion in a series of waves. Thus, a situation in which the cities are encircled from the countryside will gradually be brought about in the Indian revolution to pave the way for the final seizure of towns and cities and winning nationwide victory. The Indian reactionaries are panic-stricken by the development of the rural armed struggle in Darjeeling. They have sensed imminent disaster and they wail in alarm that the peasants’ revolt in Darjeeling will “become a national disaster.” Imperialism and the Indian reactionaries are trying in a thousand and one ways to suppress this armed struggle of the Darjeeling peasants and nip it in the bud. The Dange renegade clique and the revisionist chieftains of the Indian Communist Party are vigorously slandering and attacking the revolutionaries in the Indian Communist Party and the revolutionary peasants in Darjeeling for their great exploits. The so-called “Non-Congress” government in West Bengal openly sides with the reactionary Indian Government in its bloody suppression of the revolutionary peasants in Darjeeling. This gives added proof that these renegades and revisionists are running dogs of U.S. imperialism and Soviet revisionism and lackeys of the big Indian landlords and bourgeoisie. What they call the “Non-Congress government” is only a tool of these landlords and bourgeoisie.But no matter how well the imperialists, Indian reactionaries and the modern revisionists may cooperate in their sabotage and suppression, the torch of armed struggle lighted by the revolutionaries in the Indian Communist Party and the revolutionary peasants in Darjeeling will not be put out. “A single spark can start a prairie fire”. The spark in Darjeeling will start a prairie fire and will certainly set the vast expanses of India ablaze. That a great storm of revolutionary armed struggle will eventually sweep across the length and breadth of India is certain. Although the course of the Indian revolutionary struggle will be long and tortuous, the Indian revolution, guided by great MarxIsm-Leninism, MaoTse-tung’s Thought, will surely triumph.  Page 28 MIB-21, December 2010 From “Carry Forward the Peasant Struggle by Fighting Revisionism” by Com. Charu Mazumdar “Agrarian revolution is the task of this very moment; this task cannot be left undone, and without doing this, nothing good can be done for the peasants. But before carrying out agrarian revolution, destruction of State power is necessary. Striving for agrarian revolution without destruction of State power means outright revisionism. So, destruction of State power is today the first and principal task of peasant movement. If this cannot be done on a country-wide, State-wide basis, will the peasants wait silently? No, Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought has taught us that if in any area the peasants can be roused politically, then we must go ahead with the task of destroying State power in that area. This is what is known as peasants’ liberated area. The struggle for building up this liberated area is the most urgent task of the peasant movement today, a task of this moment. What shall we call a liberated area ? We shall call that peasant area liberated from which we have been able to overthrow the class enemies. For building up this liberated area we need the armed force of the peasants. When we speak of the armed force we have in mind the arms made by the peasants. So also we want arms. Whether the peasants have come forward to collect arms or not is the basis on which we shall judge whether they have been politically roused. Wherefrom shall the peasants get guns ? The class enemies have guns and they live in the village. Guns have to be taken forcibly from them. They will not hand over their arms to us voluntarily. Therefore, we shall have to seize guns forcibly from them. For this, peasant militants will have to be taught all tactics, right from setting fire to the houses of class enemies. Besides, we shall secure guns from the armed forces of the Government by attacking them all of a sudden. The area in which we are able to organise this gun- collection campaign shall quickly be transformed into a liberated area. So, for carrying out this task it is necessary to propagate extensively among the peasants the politics of building up armed struggle. It is, moreover, necessary to organise small and secret militant groups for conducting the gun-collection campaign. Simultaneously with propagating the politics of armed struggle, members of these groups will try to successfully implement specific programme of gun-collection. Mere collection of arms does not alter the character o f struggle—the guns collected have to be used. Only then will the creative ability of the peasants develop and the struggle will undergo a qualitative change. This can be done only by poor and landless peasants, the firm ally of the working class. The middle peasant is also an ally, but his fighting consciousness is not as intense as that of poor and landless peasants. So he cannot be a participant in the struggle right at the beginning—he needs some time. That is why class analysis is an essential task for the Communist Party. The great leader of China, Chairman Mao Tsetung had, therefore, taken up this task first and was able to point out infallibly the path of revolutionary struggle. So the first point of our organisational work is establishing the leadership of poor and landless peasants in the peasant movements. It is in the process of organising peasant movement on the basis of the politics of armed struggle that the leadership of the poor and landless peasants will be established. Because, of the peasant classes, they are the most revolutionary. A separate organisation of agricultural labourers will not help this task. Rather, a separate organisation of agricultural labourers encourages the trend towards trade union movement based on economism and intensifies conflicts among peasants. The unity of the allied classes is not strengthened, because in our agricultural system the exploitation of feudal classes is foremost. Another question that comes up in this very context is that of compromise with small owners. What shall be the Communists’ outlook in this regard? In regard to compromises we shall have to consider whom do we support. So, we cannot support any other class as against them. In the peasant movement (in India) the Communists have always been compelled to give up the interests of poor and landless peasants in the interest of the petty-bourgeoisie. This weakens the fighting determination of the poor and landless peasants. In regard to middle and rich peasants also we should have different stand. If we look upon rich peasants as middle peasants, the poor and landless peasants will be frustrated. Again, if we look upon middle peasants as rich peasants, the fighting enthusiasm of the middle peasants will diminish. So, the Communists must learn to make class analysis of peasants in every area in accordance with Chairman Mao’s instructions. Again and again the unrest among the peasants of India has burst forth. They have repeatedly sought guidance from the Communist Party. We have not told them that the politics of armed struggle and the gun-collection campaign constitute the only path. This path is the path of the working class, the MIB-21, December 2010 Page 29 path of liberation, the path of establishing a society free from exploitation. In every State throughout India the peasants are today in a state of unrest, the Communists must show them the path. That path is the politics of armed struggle and the gun-collection campaign. We must firmly uphold this one and only path of liberation. The great cultural revolution of China has declared a war on all kinds of selfishness, group mentality, revisionism, tailism of the bourgeoisie, eulogy of bourgeois ideology—the blazing impact of that revolution has reached India also. The call of that revolution is—”Be prepared to resolutely make all kinds of sacrifices, remove the obstacles along the path one by one, victory shall be ours.” However terrible the appearance of imperialism, however ugly the snare laid by revisionism, the days of the reactionary forces are numbered, the bright sunrays of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung thought shall wipe off all darkness. So the question naturally arises: Is there no need for peasants’ mass struggle on partial demands in this era ? Certainly the need is there and will be there in future also. Because India is a vast country and the peasants are also divided into many classes, so political consciousness cannot be at the same level in all areas and among all the classes. So there will always be the opportunity for and possibility of peasants’ mass movement on the basis of partial demands and the Communists will always have to make full use of that opportunity. What tactics shall we adopt in conducting movements for partial demands and what shall be their objective? The basic point of our tactics is whether the broad peasant class has rallied or not, and our basic objective shall be the raising of the class consciousness of the peasants—whether they have advanced along the path of broadbased armed struggle. Movements based on partial demands shall intensify class struggle. The political consciousness of the broad masses shall be raised. The broad peasant masses shall be roused in making sacrifices, the struggle shall spread to newer areas. The movements for partial demands may take any form but the Communists shall always propagate the necessity of higher forms of struggle among the peasant masses. Under no circumstances shall the Communists try to pass the type of struggle acceptable to the peasants as the best. In reality the Communists shall always carry on propaganda among peasants in favour of revolutionary politics, i.e., the politics of armed struggle and gun-collection campaign. Despite this propaganda, the peasants will possibly decide to go on mass deputations and we shall have to conduct that movement. In times of white terror the effectiveness of such mass deputation must in no way be underestimated, because these mass deputations will increasingly draw peasants into the struggle. Movements on partial demands are never to be condemned but it is a crime to conduct these movements in the manner of economism. It is a crime, moreover, to preach that movements on economic demands will automatically take the form of political struggle, because this is worshipping spontaneity. Such movements can show the path to the masses, help d evelop clarity of outlook, inspire in making sacrifices. At every stage of struggle there is only one task. Unless that task is done, the struggle will not reach the higher stage. In this era that particular task is the politics of armed struggle and the gun-collection campaign. Whatever we may do without carrying out this task, the struggle will not be raised to the higher stage. The struggle will collapse, the organisation will collapse, the organisation will not grow. Similarly, there is only one path of India’s revolution, the path shown by Lenin—building up the people’s armed forces and the republic. Lenin had said in 1905 that these two tasks must be carried out wherever possible, even if these were not feasible in regard to the whole of Russia. Chairman Mao has enriched this path shown by Lenin. He has taught the tactics of people’s war and China has attained liberation along this path. Today that path is being followed in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaya, Philipines, Burma, Indonesia, Yemen, Leopoldville, Congo, in different countries of Africa and Latin America. That path has also been adopted in India, the path of building the people’s armed forces and the rule of the liberation front which is being followed in Naga, Mizo and Kashmir areas. So the working class will have to be called upon and told that it must lead India’s democratic revolution and the working class will have to carry out this task by providing leadership to the struggle of its most firm ally, the peasantry. So, it is the responsibility of the working class to organise the peasant movement and raise it to the stage of armed struggle. The vanguard of the working class will have to go to the villages to participate in armed struggle. This is the main task of the working class “Collect arms and build up bases of armed struggle in rural areas”—this is called the politics of the working class, the politics of seizure of power. We shall have to rouse the working class on the basis of this politics. Organise all the workers in trade unions—this slogan does not raise the political consciousness of the working class. This does not certainly mean that we shall not organise any more trade unions. This means that we shall all not get the Party’s revolutionary workers bogged in trade union activities—it would be their task to carry on political propaganda among the working class, i.e., to propagate the politics of armed struggle and gun-collection campaign, and build up Party organisation. Among the petty-bourgeoisie also our main task is political Page 30 MIB-21, December 2010 propaganda and propagation of the significance of peasant struggle. That is to say, on every front the responsibility of the Party is to explain the importance of peasant struggle and call for participation in that struggle. To the extent we carry out this task, we shall reach the stage of conscious leadership in the democratic revolution. Opposition to this basic Marxist-Leninist path of the Party is coming not only from revisionists. The revisionists are taking the path of class-collaboration straightaway, so it is revolution; the bourgeois parties had come to power and there was power in the hands of workers’, peasants’ and soldiers’ soviets also. Because of the existence of this dual power, leadership of the working class became effective and only when in these soviets the petty-bourgeois parties handed over power to the bourgeoisie did it become possible for the working class to accomplish the October revolution.” 

From “The Tactical Line of the Indian Revolution” document of erstwhile Maoist Communist Centre first published in Bengali organ of the Central Organising Committee of the MCC, “Dakshin Desh” in its issue dated 17.5.69. This is taken from the English translation published in November, 1981 People’s War and People’s Army are the main forms of Struggle and Organisation The relation between the principal and non-principal forms of Struggle and Organisation

17. If the basic theory of Marxism-Leninism-Mao TseTung Thought on the question of the state and the path of Protracted People’s War as the path of New-Democratic Revolution of India are accepted, and if the task of building up of the people’s army and red base areas through the agrarian revolutionary guerrilla war in the countryside is really to be carried forward as the primary, principal and the central task of the present time, people’s war and people’s army must be considered as the principal forms of struggle and organisation throughout the whole period of the stages of the protracted people’s war, and even after that, according to conditions. At the present stage of building up of the revolutionary war, the guerilla struggle and the guerilla army must be taken as the main forms of struggle and organisation, not only in words but in deeds too. To be more precise, at the present stage of development of the revolutionary war, all genuine communists must take up as the main task the task of building up of guerrilla struggle giving preference to the countryside and of building up of an underground party and a guerrilla army (which is the primary form of the future red army) under its leadership through this guerrilla struggle. 18. In the special situation of India, where the revisionists of various shades and colour wearing the mask of communism, have all along been, in words and or in deeds, advocating the line of accomplishing revolution (?) through the so-called Gandhian path of non-violence, or through the so-called “peaceful path” or the “path of election”;where the immense importance of the agrarian revolutionary guerilla struggle or of the armed struggle for the seizure of state power and the immense importance of the building up of the people’s army for the establishment of military power for the party and the people have all along been denied; and above all, where the path of protracted people’s war as the path of revolution has all along been opposed ; and on the contrary, where the revisionist mass movements, totally isolated from the agrarian revolutionary armed struggle or armed struggle for the seizure of state power have all along been one-sidedly emphasized,—if, in such a situation, the people’s war and the people’s army are to be really built up as the main forms of struggle and organisation, then, on the one hand, a massive and protracted ideological struggle and revolutionary political propaganda campaign is to be systematically conducted in the correct line and with creativeness (specially in the light of the bitter experiences of the past struggles) and the false revolutionary pretence of the revisionists be thoroughly unmasked, on the other hand, more and more people are to be mobilized for guerilla struggles and in guerilla organisations, with conscious and diligent efforts and with earnestness, firmness and boldness. For the very special situation in India as mentioned above in the process of conducting ideological struggle and revolutionary propaganda work, the path of building up of guerrilla struggle and guerrilla organization, building up of people’s army (specially regular army) through guerrilla struggle, and MIB-21, December 2010 Page 31 establishment of red base area and organising protracted people’s war, giving preference to the countryside, must be systematically and regularly upheld to the people as the only and absolutely inevitable path of their liberation. At the same time, the revisionist mischievousness must be unmasked of those who, advocate only for the other forms of struggle and organisation, or those who accept revolutionary armed struggle and armed organisation as the main form of struggle and organisation in words only, but refrain from building up of guerrilla struggles in the practical work and indulge in serving only the other forms of struggle isolated from the work of developing revolutionary guerrilla struggle. Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.. ..having guns we can create party organisations, we can also create cadres, create schools, create cultures, create mass movements. All things grow out of the barrel of a gun. According to the Marxist theory of the state, the army is the chief component of the state power. Whoever wants to seize and retain state power must have a strong army. Experience in the class struggle in the era of imperialism teaches us that it is only by the power of the gun that the working class and the labouring masses can defeat the armed bourgeoisie and landlord; in this sense, we may say that only with guns can the whole world be transformed” (Problems of war and strategy—Mao Tse-tung). In order to lead the propaganda movement and the practical work in accordance with the correct orientation, every genuine communist must clearly realise the significance of the above teachings of Chairman Mao and must arouse the people also to understand this. As Chairman Mao has said “every party member should be prepared to take up arms and go to the front at any moment” and “the whole party should pay deep attention to war, should study military affairs and attention to war, should study military affairs and prepare itself for fighting”. To build up war and army as the main forms of struggle and organisation, or even to build up guerrilla struggle and guerrilla organisation as the first step towards this aim, these teachings of chairman Mao have to be realised and followed. 19. However, as Chairman Mao has said, “giving stress on armed struggle does not mean abandoning other forms of struggle; on the contrary, armed struggle cannot achieve success unless co-ordinated with other forms of struggles.” And exactly for this reason, at the present time, both in the countryside and in the urban areas, with the aim of building up and developing guerrilla struggle and guerrilla army as the main forms of struggle and orgnization, the skill and the method must be acquired to build up other suitable forms of struggles and organisations, complementary to the building up of guerrilla struggle— keeping in view the place, time and condition and the level of thinking and consciousness and the fighting spirit of the backward sections of the people. The skill and method must be acquired to co-ordinate such struggles with the guerrilla struggle and to develop guerrilla struggles as the principal and central form. In this context, other forms of struggles and organisations mean only those struggles and organisations (including those mass struggles and mass organisations under the leadership of the underground party) which help to build up and develop armed struggle or guerrilla war for the seizure of state power. 20. There is, among the people, a tendency to overestimate the strength of the enemy, especially the strength of the police forces and the army and the state-machinery. Here lies the root cause of the tendency of accepting helplessly, often without any protest, all sorts of exploitation and oppression of the hated enemy, and the root cause of the capitulationist mentality amongst the people also lies here. And it is exactly for this reason, that, while explaining to the people the relative and temporary superiority of the strength of the enemy compared to the that of the people and the consequent impossibility to destroy the enemy at a single stroke, through “insurrection”, the strong sides of the people and the superiority of the strategy and tactics of the guerrilla struggle and the protracted people’s war must, at the same time, be very strongly and persistently upheld. It is to be impressed on the people with all emphasis that, however strong the military strength of the enemy may be, and however weak the military power of the people may be for the time being, by relying on the vast countryside, the weakest position of the enemy, and on the vast masses of the peasantry, eager for the agrarian revolution, and by following the flexible strategy and tactics of the guerrilla struggle and the protracted war—it is entirely possible to defeat the enemy forces in individual, partial battles (in different single battles) by way of mobilising superior forces of the people (a number of times stronger than that of the enemy forces) against the individual sections or parts of the enemy forces, and thus, through such a war of protracted nature, to diminish, bit by bit, the enemy’s strength, - as the entire of the necessary rice or meal is eaten up mouthful - and to gradually enhance the strength of the people, and finally, to overwhelm the strength of the enemy and to destroy them decisively. This truth is to be emphatically upheld with the living examples and experiences of the revolutionary protracted wars of China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, etc., so that there may develop amongst the people sense of self-confidence, courage and a faith in the victory of the revolutionary war.  Page 32 MIB-21, December 2010 From ‘Our Tactical Line’ Document of erstwhile CPI(ML)(PW), 1980 Agrarian Revolution, Guerilla Zones, Base Areas and the People’s Army As the strategy of our revolution is to establish base areas one after another, from isolated points into a vast expanse, from small areas into extensive ones, in the broad backward rural areas and to gradually encircle and finally seize power in cities and win the nationwide victory, the Party should make rural areas the main centre of its work. As the rural area in our country is very vast and as our Party organisation, at present, is very weak and limited, it is not possible for the party to cover the entire countryside immediately. Therefore, to begin with the Central leadership and every state committee also should, according to its strength, take up work in rural areas in a planned way, first concentrating on such areas where feudal exploitation is rampant and the economic, social and political contradictions are most sharp aggravating and ripening the class struggle there and where terrain also is most favourable for starting armed struggle. The party should give priority to allot cadres first to such areas to integrate with the peasantry, build party organisation and start activities and struggles to mobilise pasantry into armed struggles with the perspective of building guerilla zones and gradually base areas. As agrarian revolution is the axis of our democratic revolution, in the rural areas our party must popularise the agrarian programme among the pesantry, especially, the poor peasants and agricultural workers and should arouse, mobilize. organize and arm them in struggles to make the agrarian revolution successful. The main features of the agrarian programme will be confiscation of all lands, orchards etc., of landlords including usurers, religious and other institutions and their distribution free of charge among poor peasants and agricultural workers, and cancellation of all debts of the peasantry. While popularizing this programme and propagating the politics of seizure of power, our party should take part in and lead all struggles of the peasantry against eviction from both private and government land, forced and bonded labour, for higher wages, for equal pay for equal work, for reduction of rent and interest, for vested as well as Government waste land, for stoppage of leasing out community land to landlords and rich peasants, for protection of land and property of the tribal people, for food and work, against hoarding, high prices and taxation, against social, political and other kinds of oppression. The Party must formulate slogans of action in accordance with the level of consciousness of the peasantry and their preparedness for struggle. From the beginning the Party should concentrate on educating the peasantry with the politics of seizure of power. If the peasantry lacks the perspective of seizure of power and establishing people’s democracy while carrying the struggle forward, the peasant struggle, however extensive and strong, will certainly end in economism. To mobilise all sections of people to carry out the tasks mentioned earlier, we must build strong mass organisations such as peasant associations, agricultural labour associations etc. Also we must bestow special attention on youth and students. The students and youth should take up as their key task going to villages, integrate with the rural masses and rouse them for agrarian revolution. Our perspective in building mass organisations should be to transfer all those mass organisations of the people into an auxilary body and a transmission belt linking our party with the people. At this phase, cannot be waged in an entirely peaceful manner. The landlords and the reactionary state machinery will certainly launch all sorts of brutal attacks to crush the peasant struggle in the bud and to quench the revolutionary flames. The peasant struggle can survive and extend only through encountering the brutal attacks of the landlords and the reactionary state machinery. In order to withstand the onslaught of the enemy and to make counter attacks against the landlords the peasantry may find the existing organisations such as the peasant associations etc., inadequate and some other organisation such as the strike committees, struggle committees, village defence squad, village committees etc., may become necessary. From the very beginning the Party should educate the peasantry to face the onslaught of the landlords with arms and build the village self-defence squads to defend their struggles. The party should take necessary steps to build such squads. Unless we prepare the peasantry to adopt all these forms of organisation they cannot successfully wage their struggles at this phase. The struggles in this phase will be waged in a series of waves and therefore, the party should MIB-21, December 2010 Page 33 consciously use the intermittent intervals between one struggle and the next to consolidate the results of the struggle. Here, consolidation means educating the people with the politics of seizure of state power, further strengthening of their respective mass organisations, making them realise the necessity to forge unity with other sections of anti-imperialist and anti-feudal masses to wage still heroic battles against the common enemy improving their socialist consciousness, bringing them out of all sorts of revisionist influence, and building the party with the militants emerging from the mass struggles. The party can successfully ‘fulfil all the above tasks of consolidation only through the village committee constituted as a United Front comprising of the representatives of all the anti-fuedal classes. This process of consolidation and along with it the weakening of the grip of the landlords, on the economic, social and political life of the village and the establishment of the firm leadership of the proletariat over the broad masses of peasantry will take place, only as a part of and during the course of intensifying the class struggle in the village. Thus, this first phase of the agrarian revolution will create the suitable political base under the leadership of the proletariat in the countryside, necessary for the armed struggle to overthrow the four mountains of oppression. As the struggle intensifies and grows to a certain stage the enemy-both the local landlords as well as the state-will not allow it to grow further uninterruptedly. After reaching a particular situation any movement should either advance or perish but cannot remain marking time. So, the first phase of the movement when it reaches an advanced stage in a considerably large extent of area, should necessarily transform itself and pass on to the next higher stage of establishing guerilla zone or otherwise it cannot preserve itself. Guerilla zone is such an area where the enemy’s regime will not be stable however much he tries to maintain his control while the revolutionary forces also are not able to establish their political power however much they develop the guerilla warfare. In a nutshell, it is an intermediary zone where both the sides the reactionary regime and revolutionary forces contend for total control and at the same time none of them is able to establish a stable regime. In the first phase of the movement itself, as the struggle grows stronger and stronger and as the preparedness of the people for struggle rises higher and higher, the needs of the stuggle demand the organisation of peasant armed squads. Unlike the village self-defence squads, these will be regular and disciplined squads under the control of the Party. In the beginning their main task will be to carry on the struggle against the local feudal forces but they may have to counter the State’s armed forces also occasionally to safeguard their existence as well as to defend the people’s struggles. In the course of the peasants armed struggle, the fight against State’s armed forces will gradually become the main and dominent task and marks an overall change in the situation calling into existence a guerilla zone. Throughout this stage of the guerilla zone, fight between the people’s armed forces and the State’s armed forces will be the main form of struggle and the armed guerilla squads under a centralised military command which is the embryo of the people’s liberation army, will be the main form of organisation. in this period all other forms of struggle and organisation have to serve the above main forms of struggle and organisation. So, the peasant armed squads will be merged into guerilla armed squads swelling their number. The guerilla armed squades will be different from the peasant armed squads in that they are politically more conscious, better organised with relatively strict military discipline under centralised command and are more mobile. In the guerilla zone for a very long period, series of armed clashes will ensued between the guerilla squads and the state’s armed forces will be progressively weakened and that of the guerilla squads grows to such a stage where the state powe. of the enemy can be wiped out from that area and people’s power can be established. In that final stage which is the eve of the establishment of liberated base area, the nature of confrontation between the guerilla squads and the State’s armed forces also will undergo a change as the guerilla nature of war yields place to mobile warfare and the guerilla squads transform into regular people’s army. Up to this point, the area will be considered as guerilla zone. During the above phase i.e., during the establishment of guerilla zone the people will be roused and drawn into struggle on the following concrete action slogans, through the village committees, as a part of the politics of seizure of political power. 1) Overthrow feudal authority and estabish peoples authority. 2) Confiscate the land of the landlords and feudal institutions .and distribute among the landless and poor peasantry. Page 34 MIB-21, December 2010 3) Get armed and build people’s militia. 4) Stop payment of taxes and levies to the State. 5) Stop payment of all debts and interests to the landlords and money lenders etc., etc. Implementation of these slogans by mobilizing all anti-feudal forces into struggles against imperialist and feudal comprador exploitation and complete liberation of that area will be the immediate political tasks and guerilla warfare will be the military line of the Party during the above phase. The political mobilization on these slogans may take the form of armed uprising of the peasantry and will provide countless fighters to build up the guerilla squads and people’s liberation army. In order to carry on the guerilla warfare effectively and to transform the guerilla zone into a liberated base area, the guerilla squads must carry on the armed struggle in close co-ordination with the people. The people must be roused to action and must be brought into active struggle; the heroic actions of the guerilla squads alone cannot win victory. The armed struggle in the guerilla zones will be very severe and so the former mass organisations, associations etc., and the strike or struggle committees will not be adequate to guide and carry on this bitter fight. So, at the level of thc village as a primary unit, some organisation like the villge committees should be formed under the leadership of the proletariat to carry on the struggle. As the armed guerilla struggle develops and the guerilla zone reaches the stage of transformation into liberated base area, during this course these village committees also will be gradually transformed into revolutionary councils, basing on the newly developed mass upsurge and consciousness: These councils will be the effective weapons of smashing the old state power and building up the people’s power and they will be in the embriyonic form of people’s democratic dictatorship under the hegemony of the proletariat like the Soviets in Russian Revolution and the revolutionary councils in Chinese revolution. As such the village committee which come into existence at the beginning of this prosses must be looked upon as the preparatory elements of the revolutionary councils to be realised towards the end of this process and must be nurtured so consciously. The principles of Guerrilla war will be as follows : ‘Desperse the forces among the masses to arouse them, and concentrate the forces to deal with the enemy; and when the enemy advances we retreat; when the enemy camps we harass; when the enemy tires we attack; when the enemy retreats we pursue.’ It is the method of ‘breaking up the whole into parts’ and ‘gathering the parts into whole’. A guerilla zone can be truly established only with the gradual fulfilment of the three basic conditions, (1) the building up of regular guerilla forces under the centralised command with strict military discipline (2) the building up of sufficient and considerably strong, politically conscious mass base under the leadership of the proletariat and (3) building of the real people’s organisations consciously dedicated to the seizure of political power. As Chairman Mao pointed out such guerilla zones will be tansformed, into base areas when they have gone through the necessary process of guerilla warfare, that is when large number of enemy troops have been annihilated or defeated there, the reactionary regime has been destroyed, the masses have been rouse to activity and well organised, people’s local armed forces have been developed and people’s political power has been established. The guerilla forces strategically rely on such base areas in performing their strategic tasks and achieving the object of preserving and expanding themselves and destroying enemy forces and winning grdually the nationwide victory. In view of the unified administration and the strong centralized military command in the hands of the ruling classes in India, it is certain that the guerilla zones which undergo transformation into revolutionary base areas will face many difficulties, twists and turns, but it is also certain that they will emerge and expand in a series of waves, as the reactionary rule is weak in the countryside. In the entire course of the peasant armed struggle the party should take the following precautions; first, throughout the period of struggle from its initial beginning to the final capture of power revolutionary politics of seizure of political power should be in command in mobilizing and organising the peasantry for armed struggle. Second, in adopting the form of struggle and organization the party should base itself on the level of political consciousness and organisational strength of the people and their preparedness for struggle, but under no condition on the subjective wishes of the leadership. Third, while the struggle transforms from one phase to the other, the party should be very careful not MIB-21, December 2010 Page 35 to loose the initiative. It should visualise the next phase before hand and get ready with all the necessary preparations to successfully transform the struggle to the next higher phase. This is the crucial role, the leadership is required to play at every critical juncture. Fourth, during the entire struggle the party should unfailingly rely on the people and at no time it should miss the living link with them. As Mao said, “the revolutionary war is war of the masses, it can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them.” *** From “The Perspective of the Indian Revolution And The Tactical Line of the Indian Revolution – perspective” of erstwhile MCC, 1996 Firmly grasp the Class-line and the Mass-line Carry on work relying on and centring around Working class and the Poor and Landless Peasantry

Whether there is urge for realizing the object of the class-analysis of the society, whether the correct class-line and the mass-line are followed in the practical work : Whether there is genuine respect and love for the working class and its firm ally, the poor and landless peasantry – whether there is reliance and faith on them ; Whether there is the intention to realize significance and the indispensability of the all-embracing leadership of the working class and of the revolutionary unity of the working class and the peasantry in the revolution ; Whether, in conformity with the class line, the work and activities, as well as struggles in the urban areas are being organized by completely relying on and centring around the working class, whether the working class is being aroused to class consciousness and to the consciousness of the leadership, whether they are being activised in the revolutionary work, and whether there is the effort of bringing up professional revolutionary organizers and soldiers from among them ; again, whether in conformity with the class line itself, the works and activities in the countryside are being carried on depending on and centring around the most reliable and the firmest ally of the working class, the poor and landless peasantry, and whether there is the effort to bring up more and more cadres from among them ; To a faithful communist, these are questions of principle. The advancement and the success of the National Democratic Revolution of India depend to a great extent on whether there is a positive approach on the part of the communist revolutionaries on the above mentioned questions and whether works and activities are directed accordingly. As a matter of fact, however correct the thesis may be, put forward in writing or during theoretical discussions on the class analysis of the Indian society and the role of different classes in the revolution, if that bears no connection with the day to day work, if there is no correct appraisal of different classes and categories (strata), then such class analysis becomes totally meaningless. Many a people will readily accept (?) these formulations from the theoretical point of view. But the fact is that, most of the revolutionary intellectuals, who think themselves to be communist revolutionaries, an overwhelming majority of them, don’t even the mind to go to the working class and the peasantry, let alone the question of being integrated with them on the basis of revolutionary politics. One of the reasons for the temporary failure of the peasant struggles developed after the Naxalbari struggle is the lack of realization of the importance of correctly following the class line and mass line in practice. Lessons must be drawn from this. The importance of the role of the revolutionary intellectuals in the New Democratic Revolution cannot but be emphasized; but it must also be understood, and more clearly understood, that revolutionary struggles in the real sense, or revolutionary party or people's army in the real sense, none of these can be built up with the petty bourgeois revolutionary intellectuals alone. As a matte of fact, the revolutionary war in the real sense and the revolutionary party, the peoples army and the united front in the real sense, as the weapons of the revolution – none of these can be built up without the active support and firm role or participation of the working class as the most advanced and the most revolutionary class of the society, and the peasantry (and specially the poor and landless peasantry) who constitute the overwhelming majority of the Indian population and who are the firmest and the most dependable ally of the working class and who are the principle force of the revolution.  Page 36 MIB-21, December 2010 Revolutions and revolutionary wars are inevitable in class society and that without them, it is impossible to accomplish any leap in social development and to overthrow the reactionary ruling classes and therefore impossible for the people to win political power. [“On Contradiction” (August 1937), Mao Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 344]

The Chinese Red Army is an armed body for carrying out the political tasks of the revolution. Especially at present, the Red Army should certainly not confine itself to fighting; besides fighting to destroy the enemy’s military strength, it should shoulder such important tasks as doing propaganda among the masses, organizing the masses, arming them, helping them to establish revolutionary political power and setting up Party organizations. The Red Army fights not merely for the sake of fighting but in order to conduct propaganda among the masses, organize them, arm them, and help them to establish revolutionary political power. Without these objectives, fighting loses its meaning and the Red Army loses the reason for its existence. [“On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party” (Dec. 1929), Mao Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 106.] From ‘Strategy and Tactics of Indian Revolution,’ CPI (Maoist) document, 2007 Building the People’s Army If we do not formulate a military line corresponding to the correct political line we cannot achieve our revolutionary objective. The military line should be subordinate to the political line. The correct military line takes birth in struggle, develops through struggle and takes a clear shape in the course of struggle. It is only by waging incessant ideological struggle against the Right and “Left” opportunist lines that we can successfully carry out the protracted people’s war. MLM teaches us, and is proved by the experiences of class struggles in world history and the concrete experience of the class struggles in our country’s history, that the exploiting ruling classes will never relinquish or give up power voluntarily even at the time of serious crisis. Without smashing the present state machinery and the main constituent of the state power, the mercenary armed forces, the instrument of suppression of the people by the ruling classes and without the establishment of the armed power of the revolutionary people, the Indian people cannot establish their political power. Hence, in order to completely smash the state machinery of the exploiting classes or overthrowing it, the building of the people’s army as the organized armed force of the masses is indispensable. That is why Mao said that “without a people’s army people have nothing.” and ‘political power flows through the barrel of the gun’. The military line that was comprehensively developed by com. Mao proceeds from two fundamental points. In our people’s war too, we can victoriously carry out the people’s war by creatively implementing these two fundamental points: One, our army is a new type of army that is fundamentally different from the mercenary armies of the exploiting classes; it is a political army. It must be an instrument subordinate to the ideological leadership of the proletariat and serving the struggle of the people and the building of revolutionary base areas. Two, our revolutionary war is a new type of war-a people’s war; it must be a war in which we recognise that the enemy is strong and we are weak, that the enemy is big and we are small, and in which therefore we fully utilise the enemy’s weaknesses and our strong points and fully rely on the strength of the masses for survival, victory and expansion. In India, people’s war and people’s army must be considered as the principal forms of struggle and organisation throughout the whole period of the stages of the protracted people’s war. Even to build up guerrilla struggle and PLGA as the first step towards this aim. In the concrete conditions of India, we cannot build the people’s army without the armed agrarian revolution and without the people’s army we cannot carry out the agrarian revolution to its consummation. We cannot establish the Base Areas in the absence of the people’s army. And without the Base Areas the people’s army cannot carry out consistent and prolonged resistance against the enemy and it loses the meaning of its very existence. The process of building the people’s army is not the same throughout the world. The people’s armies were built basing on the specific conditions of the respective countries. In countries like Nepal, Peru, the Philippines, etc. where protracted people’s war is being waged under the leadership of the revolutionary Communist parties, guerilla armies and the people’s militia were first formed and only later, the people’s liberation armies came into existence. Development of the People’s Guerilla Army in India In our country people’s army could not be formed despite heroic armed peasant struggles right from MIB-21, December 2010 Page 37 the first war of independence of 1857 and the Santhal rebellion until our Party took the initiative to form the PLGA. The failure to form the people’s army even under the leadership of the united Communist party which led the Telangana armed struggle between 1946-51, was due to the absence of a revolutionary political and military line and the dominance of a Right opportunist line for most of the period of its existence. The upsurge of armed peasant revolutionary movements in the late 1960s and early 70s starting with Naxalbari armed revolt, through heroic sacrifices and armed struggle against the state’s armed forces, could create the embryonic form of the people’s army in the form of armed guerilla squads. Thereafter, going through several ups and downs and bravely resisting the enemy’s brutal suppression campaigns, guerilla war continued to develop and advance as per plan with the aim of establishing the Base Areas. Starting with irregular guerilla forces, we formed guerilla forces in the form of people’s militia locally (GRDs, self-defence squads), local guerilla squads, special guerilla squads in AP, Dandakaranya, Jharkhand and Bihar states. In this process, the acts of resistance against the state’s armed forces had increased. The struggle between the guerilla forces and the state’s armed forces had become the principal form leading to a qualitative change in the situation and guerilla zones came into existence. The necessity had arisen for further intensifying the guerilla war in accordance with the changing conditions by confronting the enemy’s brutal onslaught. Besides the separate guerilla squads, the need for the qualitatively higher level of platoons and companies became necessary in order to destroy the enemy forces at a specific time and place. The guerilla forces working as guerilla squads, platoons and companies were brought under a centralized policy and decentralized command in order to coordinate the separate guerilla operations with further plan to destroy the enemy by relative concentration of the forces and in this way the PLGA was formed. This is the first step in the formation of the PLA and the establishment of the Base Areas. PLGA is the armed organization to achieve the revolutionary political tasks. It preserves its strength and destroys that of the enemy. At the same time, it takes up the political tasks like propaganda among the people, organizing the masses, arming the masses, helping the masses in establishing their organs of political power, developing the Party, participating in production etc. 

Our Party is placing the programme of New Democratic Revolution of India before the people and dedicates itself to this great revolutionary cause. It sets to itself the task of achieving socialism. Our ultimate goal is communism. After the People’s Democratic Revolution, the production relations will be revolutionized step by step, in the process of removing the class distinction between exploiter and the exploited. It will continue the efforts to eradicate Brahminical ideology, caste oppression and discrimination by promoting a scientific socialistic outlook. It will continue to move forward by continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat and thereby continue to consolidate the socialist society as a strong base area for the world proletarian revolution. This socialist state will be the dictatorship of the proletariat, which will guarantee democracy for the vast majority of the people while exercising dictatorship on the handful of the exploiters. There will be classes, class contradictions and class struggles even in socialist society, in accordance with the principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism of uninterruptedly continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. It will continue to advance the proletarian cultural revolution and through it fight and defeat every attempt by imperialism, modern revisionism and capitalist roaders to restore capitalism. Through this process, it will continue the struggle against any deformities introduced in the socialist system especially against bureaucracy and, thereby, continue to ensure that people participate in the state and are not alienated from either socialist state or the proletarian party. It will have to creatively eliminate the remaining inequalities and solve the contradictions that exist within socialist society and, in the process, move towards the elimination of class society and, thereby, the withering away of the state, i.e. towards communism on a world scale. This party pledges to fulfill its duty of putting an end to the endless misery and suffering of crores of our beloved people by completing the people’s democratic revolution. It further pledges to follow class line and mass line in every respect and be ever vigilant towards the conspiracies and nefarious intrigues of the imperialists and modern revisionists and march forward to ultimately abolish exploitation and oppression by continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat and marching forward to socialism and then communism on a world scale. [From Party Program Document of CPI(Maoist)]

Page 38 MIB-21, December 2010 From “The Proletarian Revolution and Khrushchov’s Revisionism” - Open Letter of the CC, CPC to the CC, CPSU, March 31, 1964 Two Different Lines, Two Different Results

History is the most telling witness. Rich experience has been gained since World War II both in the international communist movement and in the peoples’ revolutionary struggles. There has been successful as well as unsuccessful experience. Communists and the revolutionary people of all countries need to draw the right conclusions from this historical experience. The countries in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America which have succeeded in making a socialist revolution since the War have done so by following the revolutionary Marxist-Leninist line and the road of the October Revolution. Now, in addition to the experience of the October Revolution, there is the experience of the revolutions of China, the socialist countries in Eastern Europe, Korea, Viet Nam and Cuba. The victorious revolutions in these countries have enriched and developed Marxism-Leninism and the experience of the October Revolution. From China to Cuba, all these revolutions without exception were won by armed struggle and by fighting against armed imperialist aggression and intervention. The Chinese people were victorious in their revolution after waging revolutionary wars for twenty- two years, including the three years of the People’s Liberation War, in which they thoroughly defeated the Chiang Kai-shek reactionaries who were backed up to the hilt by U.S. imperialism. The Korean people carried on fifteen years of revolutionary armed struggle against Japanese imperialism beginning in the 1930’s, built up and expanded their revolutionary armed forces, and finally achieved victory with the help of the Soviet Army. After the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, it took another three years of war against U.S. imperialist armed aggression before the victory of their revolution could be consolidated. The Vietnamese people seized state power by the armed uprising of August 1945. Immediately afterwards, they had to begin fighting a war of national liberation lasting eight years against French imperialism and to defeat the U.S. imperialist military intervention, and only then did they triumph in northern Viet Nam. The people of southern Viet Nam are still waging a heroic struggle against U.S. imperialist armed aggression. The Cuban people started their armed uprising in 1953, and later it took more than two years of people’s revolutionary war before they overthrew the rule of U.S. imperialism and its Cuban puppet, Batista. After their victorious revolution, the Cuban people smashed armed invasions by U.S. imperialist mercenaries and safeguarded the fruits of revolution. The other socialist countries too were all established through armed struggle. What are the main lessons of the successful proletarian revolutions in the countries extending from China to Cuba after World War II? 1. Violent revolution is a universal law of proletarian revolution. To realize the transition to socialism, the proletariat must wage armed struggle, smash the old state machine and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. 2. The peasants are the most dependable allies of the proletariat. The proletariat must closely rely on the peasants, establish a broad united front based on the worker-peasant alliance, and insist upon proletarian leadership in the revolution. 3. U.S. imperialism is the arch enemy of people’s revolution in all countries. The proletariat must hold high the national banner of opposition to U.S. imperialism and have the courage to fight with firm resolve against the U.S. imperialists and their lackeys in its own country. 4. The revolution of the oppressed nations is an indispensable ally of the proletarian revolution. The workers of all countries must unite, and they must unite with all the oppressed nations and all the forces

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 39 opposed to imperialism and its lackeys to form a broad international united front. 5. To make a revolution, it is essential to have a revolutionary party. The triumph of the proletarian revolution and the triumph of the dictatorship of the proletariat are impossible without a revolutionary proletarian party established in accordance with the revolutionary theory and style of Marxism-Leninism, a party which is irreconcilable towards revisionism and opportunism and which takes a revolutionary attitude towards the reactionary ruling classes and their state power. To insist on revolutionary armed struggle is of primary importance not only to the proletarian revolution but also to the national democratic revolution of the oppressed nations. The victory of the Algerian national liberation war has set a good example in this respect. The whole history of the proletarian parties since the War has shown that those parties which have followed the line of revolution, adopted the correct strategy and tactics and actively led the masses in revolutionary struggle are able to lead the revolutionary cause forward step by step to victory and grow vigorously in strength. Conversely, all those parties which have adopted a non-revolutionary opportunist line and accepted Khrushchov’s line of “peaceful transition” are doing serious damage to the revolutionary cause and turning themselves into lifeless and reformist parties, or becoming completely degenerate and serving as tools of the bourgeoisie against the proletariat. There is no lack of such instances. The comrades of the Communist Party of Iraq were once full of revolutionary ardour. But acceptance of Khrushchov’s revisionist line was forced on them by outside pressure, and they lost their vigilance against counter-revolution. In the armed counter-revolutionary coup d’état, leading comrades heroically sacrificed their lives, thousands of Iraqi Communists and revolutionaries were massacred in cold blood, the powerful Iraqi Communist Party was dispersed, and the revolutionary cause of Iraq suffered a grave setback. This is a tragic lesson in the annals of proletarian revolution, a lesson written in blood. The leaders of the Algerian Communist Party danced to the baton of Khrushchov and of the leadership of the French Communist Party and completely accepted the revisionist line against armed struggle. But the Algerian people refused to listen to this rubbish. They courageously fought for national independence against imperialism, waged a war of national liberation for over seven years and finally compelled the French Government to recognize Algeria’s independence. But the Algerian Communist Party, which followed the revisionist line of the leadership of the CPSU, forfeited the confidence of the Algerian people and its position in Algerian political life. During the Cuban revolution, some leaders of the Popular Socialist Party refused to pursue the revolutionary Marxist-Leninist line, the correct line of revolutionary armed struggle, but, following Khrushchov’s revisionist line, advocated “peaceful transition” and opposed violent revolution. In these circumstances, Marxist-Leninists outside and inside the Cuban Party, represented by Comrade Fidel Castro, rightly bypassed those leaders who opposed violent revolution, joined hands and made revolution with the revolutionary Cuban people, and finally won a victory of great historic significance. Certain leaders of the Communist Party of France of whom Thorez is representative have long been pursuing a revisionist line, have publicized the “parliamentary road” in response to Khrushchov’s baton, and have actually reduced the Communist Party to the level of a social democratic party. They have ceased to give active support to the revolutionary aspirations of the people and rolled up the national banner of opposition to U.S. imperialism. The result of their pursuit of this revisionist line is that the Communist Party, which once had great influence among the people, has become increasingly isolated from the masses and has deteriorated more and more. Certain leaders of the Indian Communist Party, typified by Dange, have long pursued a revisionist line, hauled down the banner of revolution and failed to lead the masses in national and democratic revolutionary struggles. The Dange clique has slid farther and farther down the path of revisionism and degenerated into national chauvinists, into tools of the reactionary policies of India’s big landlords and big bourgeoisie, and into renegades from the proletariat. The record shows that the two fundamentally different lines lead to two fundamentally different results. All these lessons merit close study. 

Page 40 MIB-21, December 2010 SOME OF THE IMPORTANT MARTYR LEADERS WHO HAD LAID FOUNDATIONS FOR PLGA

Com. Amulya Sen Com. Chandrasekhar Das Com. Saroj Dutta Com. Vempatapu SatyamCom. Adibhatla Kailasam CCM CCM CCM CCM CCM

Com. Sushitalroy Com. Panchadi Krishna Com. Panigrahi Com. Panchadi Nirmala Com. Chaganti Bhaskar Chowdhury, CCM Murthy CCM Revolutionary Writer Srikakulam Martyr Srikakulam Martyr

Com. Chittekka Com. S. Janardhan Com. I.V. Master Com. Anjanna Com. Suryam Srikakulam veteran Girayipally Martyr CCM AP SCS AP SCM commander

Com. Padmakka Com. Reddappa Com. Peddi Shankar Com. Nirmal Com. Srikanth Women’s front-AP AP SCM First Martyr in DK BJ SCM BJ SCM

Com. Krishna Singh Com. Damodar Com. Rameshwar Com. Ramireddy Com. Naveen BJ SCM APSCM Hyd-DCS, AP NTSZCM Jung-EBM

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 41

BELOVED LEADERS AND BRAVE FIGHTERS OF INDIAN REVOLUTION MARTYRED DURING THESE GLORIOUS TEN YEARS OF PLGA

Com. Karam Singh Com. Ajay da Com. Azad Com. BK Com. Prasad PBM/CCM CCM PBM/CCM CCM CCM

Com. Anuradha Com. Patel Sudhakar Com. S. Apparao Com. Saket Rajan Com. Maimuddin CCM CCM Central MI Director Karnataka SCS 3U SACS

Com. Madhav Com. Mastan Rao Com. Krishna Com. Satyam Com. Sridhar AP SCS AP SCM AP SCM AP SCM AP SCM

Com. Raghavulu Com. Dadheechi Roy Com. Somanna Com. Sukhdev Com. Padma AP SCM B-J SCM NT SZCM DK SZCM NT SZCM

Com. Sudarshan Com. Yadanna Com. A. Komuraiah Com. Koumudi Com. Vikas AP SCM NT SZCM NT SZCM AOB SZCM DK SZCM

Page 42 MIB-21, December 2010

BELOVED LEADERS AND BRAVE FIGHTERS OF INDIAN REVOLUTION MARTYRED DURING THESE GLORIOUS TEN YEARS OF PLGA

Com. Komma Com. Kanchan Com. Mangtu Com. Suryam Com. Nomula Ramana AOB Alt. SZCM WB SCM DK SZCM CRCM Hyd-DCS - AP

Com. Gangaram Com. Diwakar Com. Lalita Com. Ramesh Com. Sagar ATP DCS - AP NLG-DCS, RCM - AP ADB DCS - NT NZB DCS - NT KMM DCS - NT

Com. Vikas Com. Raju Com. Mohan Com. Mangesh Com. Sudhakar Zonal C-in-C - WB Pl-1 Cdr - DK Div. C-in-C - DK Div. C-in-C - DK Div Cmd Member - AP

Com. Ramana Com. Prasanna Com. Kadari Ramulu Com. Rajeswari Com. Karuna Party Magazine Editor, Central Dept. Central Intel Dept. DCM, AOB Karnataka DCM, AOB

Com. Suguna Com. Manju Com. Parvati Com. Chandan Com. Zakiriya DCM, AP B-J ACS, Karnataka PL Cdr, B-J PL Cdr, B-J

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 43

BELOVED LEADERS AND BRAVE FIGHTERS OF INDIAN REVOLUTION MARTYRED DURING THESE GLORIOUS TEN YEARS OF PLGA

Com. Ashok Com. Indal Com. John Com. Julius Com. Veerendra Jehanabad (Bihar) Jehanabad (Bihar) B-J B-J B-J

Com. Madhu Com. Tirupati Com. Badru Com. Chandu Com. Bandu Coy-2 Cdr - DK Coy-1 Cdr - DK Coy-2 Dy Cdr - DK Coy-3 Dy Cdr - DK Pl Cdr - Coy-1 - DK

Com. Kosa @ Aitu Com. Bhaskar Com. Babu Com. Rukmati Com. Karuna DCM - DK DCM, AT Cdr, AP Pl Cdr - COY-8 - DK Sec. Cdr - Bn-1 - DK Sec Cdr - Coy-1 - DK

Com. Shobha Com. Ravi Com. Madavi Jangu Com. Rajendar Com. Rambatti Sub-ZCM, MR DCM, OS DCM-ADB, NT PL Cdr, 3U ACM (Cy-7) - DK

Com. Mangu Com. Ramal Com. Kamala Com. Shibu Chatterjee Com. Natasha, ACM PPCM (Cy-7) - DK PPCM (Cy-7) - DK PPCM (Cy-7) - DK ERB Area DKCNM Page 44 MIB-21, December 2010

BELOVED LEADERS AND BRAVE FIGHTERS OF INDIAN REVOLUTION MARTYRED DURING THESE GLORIOUS TEN YEARS OF PLGA

Com. Ramana Com. Vidya Com. Padma Com. Sudha Com. Swarupa, DCM-GNT, AP DCM(JNM), NT DCM-ADB, NT ACM, GNT-AP ACS, NZB-NT

Com. Vijaya Com. Chaitu Com. Jagadish Com. Punnam Com. Balanna ACS, GNT-AP Cdr (PL-14), DK PL Cdr (Cy-1), DK PL Cdr, NT PL Cdr, ADB-NT

Com. Ratan Com. Raghu Com. Ramesh, Com. Komaranna Com. Sharada, Cdr (PL-2), DK Nalco Raid, OS Cdr (PL-17), DK ACS, NZB-NT ACM, Maad-DK

Com. Rajeswari Com. Vema Radha Com. Kamala(Munni) Com. Chaite Com. Bhavani Sec. Cdr(PL-1) NT LGS Cdr, WGL-NT ACM (Cy-7) ACM, DK(Press) ACM, AP

Com. Madhavi Com. Lakshmi Com. Jeniya Com. Rajita Com. Yenki Teacher, ACM, AP ECM-APCMS ACM, MR ACM, AP SecDyCdr (Cy-2), DK MIB-21, December 2010 Page 45

BELOVED LEADERS AND BRAVE FIGHTERS OF INDIAN REVOLUTION MARTYRED DURING THESE GLORIOUS TEN YEARS OF PLGA

Com. Jaggu Com. Neelesh Com. Swarupa Com. Rina Com. Rajita LGS Cdr, DK ACM (Cy-7) PM (PL-3), DK PM (CY-2), DK PM, DK

Com. Rajita Com. Kajal, Com. Latha Com. Vetti Sanni Com. Poonem Jogi PM(PL1), NT PM, Maharashtra AP KAMS, DK DK (Kanchal)

Com. Kadti Penti Com. Madavi Latchakka Com. Korram Salo Com. Vimala Com. Akhila DK PM, DK AOB DK (Kanchal) PM(LOS), GDCL-DK

Com. Somvary Com. Mainabai Naitham Com. Punem Sammakka Com. Kumme Com. Mangli Doula Raid, DK RPC President, GDCL-DK KNR-NT GDCL-DK PM(CRC Cy-1)

Com. Vijaya Com. Gangi Com. Limmi Thimma Com. Sangeeta Com. Radha AOB PM, AOB RPCM, DK NT GDCL, DK Page 46 MIB-21, December 2010 Follow Up : On Com. Azad’s Fake Encounter

THE HOLE IN THE HEART The SC pulls up the Centre, Andhra Pradesh on the Azad ‘encounter’ death

OUTLOOK January 2011, by Madhavi Tata in Adilabad and Saikat Datta

Azad’s body with bullet wound during post-mortem, inset Azad; Outlook’s Sep 6, 2010, story which showed that Azad had died of close-range wounds

ON January 14, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Aftab Alam and R.M. Lodha heard two petitions filed by lawyer Prashant Bhushan on the death of Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar in an alleged encounter killing. After hearing the petitions, the judges observed that “we can’t allow the Republic killing its own children”: Nearly seven months after the death of Azad, the apex court was expressing its concern on the mysterious circumstances that surround police encounters. In September last year, Outlook had reported that the post-mortem report of Azad’s body pointed to the presence of “blackening” and “burnt” edges around the bullet-entry wound area, indicating that the firing had been done from very close quarters. There were also several discrepancies in the police FIR and the inquest report of the encounter. However, the Andhra Pradesh government had rubbished the allegations of a fake encounter and had ordered a magisterial inquiry into Azad’s killing. None of these facts as recorded in the post-mortem report and discrepancies would have come to light but for the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRo), a national coalition of human rights organisations that probed the encounter. They also procured a copy of the post-mortem reports of Azad and journalist Hemchandra Pande another casualty of the encounter. Bhushan, who was part of the CDRO fact-finding mission, filed the petitions in the apex court on behalf of social activist Swami Agnivesh and Bineeta, Pandey’s widow, seeking answers from the central and state government on the alleged fake encounter. In her petition, Bineeta points out that both the post-mortems indicate that it was close-range shots that killed the two men. According to medical forensics the world over, the presence of “blackening” and “burnt” edges on the bullet’s entry-point wounds indicates a shot fired from less than 7cm. The post-mortem on Azad’s body was conducted on July 3, 2010, by two doctors of the Mancherial government hospital, ENT surgeon Dr Neelakanteswara Rao and anaesthetist Dr Chandraiah. Both are civil assistant surgeons and Dr Rao is a veteran of over a 1,000 post-mortems. Dr Chandraiah told Outlook that he had written the post-mortem report as Rao dictated it out to him. Sources close to one of the doctors say he firmly believes the blackening of the wound near the chest and the tattooing near the one on Azad’s right shoulder clearly indicate that the shots were fired from close range, probably less than three feet. Since the case is in the Supreme Court, it is likely the doctors will be called in to testify at some point.

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 47 The post-mortem of Pandey was conducted by Dr Aravind, an orthopaedician, and Dr A. Bhishma, the hospital superintendent. Dr Bhishma agreed the content in both post-mortem reports were his responsibility “We will stand by our reports irrespective of what is recorded in them. Their interpretation might differ but we will stand by the reports per se,” he told Outlook. Meanwhile, a fact-finding team from the Human Rights Forum, which visited the encounter site in the Sarkepally forest on July 6, 2010, says they are sure that there was no exchange of fire between the police and Azad/Pandey. The team spoke to locals and examined the encounter site. “That the police version of a nearly four-hour encounter in the dead of night in the course of which over 300 rounds were exchanged following which ‘two top Maoists’ died is an utter falsehood is proven by a perusal of the hillock where the alleged encounter took place. The hillock is about a kilometre from Kensuguda village amidst fairly thick forest,” the HRF claims in its report.

Others like legendary social activist KG. Kannabiran, who passed away earlier this year had also questioned the official version. Talking to Outlook a few months ago, he had said, “Fake encounters are a favourite tool of the AP police. I have been fighting them for the last 30 years but I know I am going to lose this battle. They will wilfully conduct murder and we will never be able to do anything about it.” Veekshanam editor N. Venugopal says “the people of Andhra are sick of the police version which they have been reading over and over for the last 40 years. The wording is the same, with changes only in the proper nouns.” The SC has now issued notices to the central and state governments, seeking replies within six weeks. The bench also observed that “we hope there will be an answer...a good and convincing answer. The government will have to answer many questions,” it said. The state government’s magisterial inquiry was done by revenue divisional officer G.K. Prasada Rao, who has held just one sitting so far, on September 6 last year. Of course, police officials always point out that this is a “war against a group that challenges the Indian Constitution”. A senior police officer says the post-mortem findings can be “easily answered by the facts. In an encounter, the bullet can travel in any direction and a spinning one can also cause burnt edges. It doesn’t mean anything”. Another senior intelligence officer points out that dealing with the violent Maoists needs a “bullet-for-bullet strategy”. But people like Vamshi Krishna, a local reporter who broke the story, ask, “How did people in Hyderabad know it was Azad’s body even before a former colleague identified it? We were the first ones to reach the spot and we didn’t find Azad in his uniform and everything suggested a neat set-up. We have covered encounters before and Maoist leaders are never known to travel alone. So why was Azad alone?” Dead men tell no tales. But Azad’s death has thrown up several questions. The truth, as is usual in times of conflict, is the first casualty. *** The Magic-Realistic Slaughter of Azad

AMIT BHADURI, OUTLOOK, January 2011 Writing of the death of comrades, Cherukuri Rajkumar foretold his own “HERE has never been a death more foretold,” wrote Gabriel Garcia Marquez in his classic little novel, Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The setting is a small seaside town somewhere in South America where virtually the whole town knows that a honour killing of a young man is going to take place one morning. The killers wait with open knives in full view of the public, declaring to all passers-by their intention. Nothing is kept secret; the killing takes place in full view of the town through the public’s various acts of omission and commission. Everyone has his or her justification for why they couldn’t prevent the killing. Insights into the gripping power of collective prejudice merge with realism and fantasy to create the magic Marquez is famous for. But even the magic realism bf Marquez falls short of the ‘facts’ presented by Indian law enforcing authorities through the media about so-called encounter killings. Here are some ‘facts’ presented in one case: • A man was reported killed, but soon enough, he returned to give a press interview. So he had to be killed again. • The man then ‘foretold’, more or less exactly, the events leading to his own death. • The death occurred in a jungle with magical qualities, where objects defied the laws of gravity and the arrow of time moved inexplicably from the future to the past. Page 48 MIB-21, December 2010 • And finally, the collective prejudice of the powers that be found it fit to celebrate this ritualistic killing, although it might be illegal, as a victory of democracy. Let us try to decipher this conundrum. One ‘Azad’, a Communist Party of India (Maoist) spokesperson and member of its central committee, was killed with his wife Rama in an “encounter” in the Eturnagaram forests in the Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh. Soon, P.K. Hormis Tharakan, a senior police officer and former chief of the Research & Analysis Wing, confirmed the killing in an article in the April 22, 2008, edition of The Indian Express. But the ‘news’ was contradicted in a few days by another man called Azad in an interview that appeared in the No. 2, May 10, 2008, issue of the Maoists’ News Bulletin. It said the Azad who was killed was one Gajarala Saraiah and the person giving the interview was Cherukuri Rajkumar, the party’s chief spokesman, who also goes by the name of Azad. Then, Cherukuri ‘Azad’ Rajkumar kept foretelling the circumstances of his own death—through the deaths of his other comrades. In a May 24, 2009, press release published by leading national dailies, he described how his comrade, Patel Sudhakar Reddy, alias Suryam, also a central committee member of the Maoist organisation, was arrested by police officers of the Andhra Pradesh Special Investigation Bureau (APSIB) in Nashik, Maharashtra. Suryam was “brutally tortured and murdered on 23rd night”, and the government floated the story of an encounter killing, the purported location where Suryam and a Maoist district committee member, Comrade Venkatayya, were killed being the Tadwai forests of Warangal district. The police claimed that “an AK-47 rifle and a 9 mm pistol were recovered”. Azad’s press release describes how Suryam was being trailed by the APSIB for at least the week before his arrest: “He was kept under watch when he went to the shelter maintained by Comrade Venkatayya in Nashik.” In another press statement, published in the May-June 2010 issue of People’s March, Azad chronicles how two other comrades, Sukhamari Appa Rao and Kondal Reddy, were murdered by the APSIB and the Greyhounds in cold blood on March 10, 2010, “after being abducted two days earlier from Chennai and Pune respectively, tortured and taken to the Nallamala forests, where they were shot dead in an encounter”. The statement alleges that the order to kill came directly from Union home minister P. Chidambaram. It then wryly observes that the Andhra Pradesh police and Chidambaram had all along been claiming that the Nallamala forests had been cleared of the Maoists, but did not probably realise that “the so-called encounter with such a big Maoist leader in Nallamala region would mock their own claims of the past threeyears”. A few months later, between the night of July 1 and the morning of July 2, 2010, Azad himself was killed by the Andhra police. The killing followed the same script. Azad’s body, with that of Hemchandra Pandey, a journalist, was discovered in the Adilabad forests. As with Suryam, the police claimed that an AK-47 and a 9 mm pistol were recovered beside the two bodies. The Adilabad forests—like Nallamala, where Appa Rao’s body was found—had been reported as quiet and free of Maoist activities for the last four years, according to villagers. Villagers mocked the police in private: how could the body of a Maoist leader of Azad’s stature have been found in forests said to have been cleared of the rebels? Onevillager told a visiting fact-finding team that Azad had more brains than the entire Andhra police put together, and wouldn’t have been so stupid as to give occasion to be killed near their village in the Adilabad forests. However, there is a method in the apparent stupidity of the police, on which Azad had commented earlier: policemen, perhaps for effect, throw the bodies of Maoist leaders they slay in areas where they are known and admired for their ‘overground’ work. Azad, for instance, was found in a place not far from the Singarini coal mines, where he had worked to organise the labourers into trade unions. There never has been a chronicle of a death so frequently foretold by the very man killed. And there never has been stronger collective prejudice against such a man, manufactured by the media, the political class and big business, and justifying his killing for the sake of “democracy”. There is, however, an omission in Azad’s foretellings: he failed to see that a peace initiative of the government to the Maoists in which he was a key participant was in fact meant to kill him. The sequence of events that led to Azad’s killing is well- known. On Chidambaram’s appeal, Swami Agnivesh, a respected social worker, approached the Maoists with a letter from the minister setting out conditions for a dialogue for peace, starting with a 72-hour bilateral ceasefire. Azad responded positively, but wanted some conditions amended. For instance, he wanted the ceasefire to be extended to six months so as to enable him to coordinate with regional committees of his rebel group before any dialogue for peace. Chidambaram then insisted on a definite date for the ceasefire to come into effect. Agnivesh suggested three alternative dates, and Azad was travelling widely, contacting various regional units to arrive at a date acceptable to them all. In the process, he outed himself and the police got on to his tracks. The rest is well-known.

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 49 With Azad’s killing, all possibility of peace was killed. Chidambaram refused to initiate any inquiry, saying it was for the Congress government of Andhra Pradesh to do so. The home minister of Andhra Pradesh, for her part, claimed immediately after the encounter that she had no knowledge of what happened. Both the state and central governments have since maintained a studied silence. The story of this encounter might have remained buried. Yet the incongruities were too fantastic and began to trickle out through the efforts of a few journalists, human rights activists and some members of civil society. Consider this: in a report written at 9:30 am on July 2, 2010, at the police headquarters, officers said the two bodies at the encounter site were unidentified; however, at 6:30 am the same morning, local journalists had got calls from persons claiming to be policemen that Azad had been killed and that two bodies were lying in the Adilabad forests. The second body was later identified by them as that of “Hem Pandey”. Clearly, the arrow of time moved backward at police headquarters. A later police report said Azad and Pandey, who were with a Maoist band that was travelling to Andhra Pradesh from Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, were killed in an encounter with a police team. It said the band was atop a hillock and the brave policemen were firing from below. And yet, according to the post- mortem report, the bullet that killed Azad entered his body from above chest level and travelled downwards. Clearly, even the law of gravity changed for the benefit of the police. And the bullet marks on Azad’s body, according to forensic experts, suggested he was shot dead at close range. Some remarkably brave policemen, in the face of AK-47 firing, must have run uphill at lightning speed and shot him dead at close range. Azad’s death adds a new chapter to the discourse on revolutions. We have been told repeatedly in history books that violent revolution devours its own children. However, the powers that be haven’t taken the trouble to tell us how a democratic republic—purportedly built on the Gandhian foundations of non-violence—becomes a deranged killer. During a recent hearing, Justice Aftab Alam of the Supreme Court tellingly observed that “our Republic cannot bear the stain of killing its own children”. Can our democracy be saved from such patriotic killings of its own children? (The writer is emeritus professor at JNU’S Centre for Economic Studies & Planning, New Delhi.) Azad encounter: SC upset over ‘the republic killing its own’ Jan 14, 2011 New Delhi Upset over “the republic killing its own children”, the Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government on a plea for judicial probe into the killings of top Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar and journalist Hemchandra Pandey in an alleged fake encounter six months ago. “We cannot allow the republic killing its own children,” a Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha said while issuing notices to the Centre and and the state government on a petition filed by social activist Swami Agnivesh and Pandey’s 30-year-old widow Babita. Seeking the two governments’ replies to the petition within six weeks, the Bench said, “We hope there will be a answer. There will be a good and convincing answer.” “The government will have to answer so many questions,” it said. Rajkumar alias Azad, a senior member of banned CPI (Maoist) Central Committee, and Pandey, who was dubbed by the police as a Maoist, were killed in an alleged fake encounter on the intervening night of July 1-2, 2010, in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh, close to Maharashtra. Seeking judicial probe into the killings, the petition alleged that the post-mortem reports of both the persons and a fact-finding exercise carried out by rights groups clearly indicate that the encounter was not genuine. The petitioners referred to the fact-finding carried out by Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO), a national coalition of human rights organisations, that both were killed by the Andhra Pradesh Police in blatant violation of their rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. The petitions listed for hearing on January 14 alleged that Azad, 58, who carried a reward of Rs 12 lakh on his head and Pandey, 32 were killed from a very close range which is evident from the post-mortem reports of both the persons.

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12345678901234567890123456 Is Kalpana asking too much ? UAPA Marches On ....

By Nisha Biswas, Dec 28, 2010 West Bengal police’s Special Task Force (STF) claimed to arrest five persons including Sudip Chongdar alias Kanchan, State Secretary of CPI(Maoist), Kalpana Maiti alias Anu, wife of senior Maoist leader Anil Ghosh alias Akash, Barun Sur alias Bidyut, and Anil Ghosh alias Bijoy, all members of state committee. Arrested too is Shankar Mallick alias Buchu, said to be a Maoist linkman. This happened on December 3,2010, though it is said that they were picked a week before by state police. All five, so far, have been produced in court four times for extension of police remand, which is now extended till December31, 2010. This is the longest police remand, 30 days at a stretch, so far awarded to any person arrested under UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act). On all these days of Court production, all of them were brought hand tied and blind folded. They also had to talk to their lawyer and sign on legal papers like Vakalat – Nama etc., blind folded. They were not even allowed to talk to their lawyer, leaving aside the presence of lawyer during interrogation according to NHRC guidelines. Their family members too are not allowed to meet them. Even Court too has denied them the right to meet their loved ones. Till date they are unable to provide them with additional set of clothes or warm clothes in this cold winter. In the Court of Chief Metropolitan, all five of them including Kalpana Maiti are huddled together in Court lock-up. This kind of treatment towards a woman accused is unheard of. In Courtrooms where generally there is no separate lock-up for women, women accused are brought separately and are generally made to sit on a bench flanked by women guards. Kalpana Maiti is denied the minimum dignity that a woman commands. One wonders, if this is the kind of treatment Kalpana Maiti is receiving in a public place, what would be happening to her in secrecy in the name of interrogation? December 27, 2010 was a heart wrenching experience in the Court of Chief Metropolitan. Not able to withstand indignity and torture, Kalpana Maiti sought permission from Court to say something. On not being allowed to speak, she started complaining on her own regarding the ill treatment and torture that she is meeting every moment of police custody. According to her, because of severe spodylitis she cannot sit for ten minutes, whereas in police custody she is made to sit for more than ten hours at a stretch every day. Though doctor has examined her and has prescribed medicine, no medicine is provided. With tears in her eyes and choked voice she complained in front of all that during her menstruation cycle, she is not provided with the sanitary napkins to maintain the necessary hygiene and is forced to suffer extreme indignity. Then her lawyer articulated her complaints before the honorable Court, but no remedy was provided. She was denied a life of dignity. At a time when we are expressing our deep anguish, concern and anger on murder of justice in the case of Dr Vinayek Sen, Piyush Guha and Narayan Sanyal, it appears state’s intolerance to dissent has reached unprecedented heights where basic humanity too is forgotten.  Support and express solidarity with the Political Prisoners who are on an Indefinite Hunger Strike in Medinipur Central Jail from 10th December(Human Rights Day) 2010

CRPP Press Release : 24-12-2010 Nearly 150 political prisoners-mostly under trail–incarcerated in the Medinipur Central Jail-which the government calls ‘Correctional Home’-will start hunger strike from 10th December 2010 on the Human Rights Day for an indefinite period-true to the long tradition of hunger strikes organized by political prisoners in Medinipur as also other jails of West Bengal and outside in near and distant past. The prisoners include those arrested on the charge of having Maoist links, or becoming members of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) that spearheaded the Lalgarh movement from November 2008, or common villagers standing by the cause. Many of these prisoners have been languishing in jail for years together in abysmal conditions virtually without trial. The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) express wholehearted support to the striking prisoners and urge all democratic forces throughout India and other parts of the world to raise their voice in support of their just demands. MIB-21, December 2010 Page 51 The demands placed by the prisoners to the authorities are as follows: 1. The joint forces should be withdrawn and the ‘Operation Green-hunt’ stopped immediately and the government should sit for a dialogue with the PCAPA without delay. 2. Section 144 should be immediately withdrawn, and there should be unrestricted entry of all newspersons, intellectuals and other people. 3. Legal steps should be taken against the CPI(M) hermads. 4. Judicial enquiry should be initiated for the murder of all leaders, members and supporters of the People’s Committee including Lalmohan Tudu, Sidhu and Umakanto Mahato, and offenders should be brought to book. 5. The cooked up charges against all the prisoners incarcerated in the jails of West Bengal on political grounds, including those arrested from Jungle Mahal should be withdrawn and the prisoners released unconditionally. 6. Repeal all draconian acts including the UAPA and the AFSPA. 7. Prisoners imprisoned on political grounds should be given the status of political prisoners and the government should have to bear the cost of maintaining their families. 8. Prisoners should be given opportunity to meet the members of their families and receive necessary articles from them in Medinipur court. 9. After arrest, no participant in a movement should be made to “disappear” illegally. Everyone should be produced in court within 24 hours. 10. Nobody should be ‘shown arrested’ by tagging in one false case after another. 11. Judicial enquiry should be initiated in all cases of rape including those in Sonamukhi and the offenders brought to book. 12. Old men and women in the Jungle Mahal should be given adequate old-age pension and widows given widow-pension, and all in this connection should be paid off immediately. 13. All surplus grain kept in the FCI go-downs should be immediately distributed among the poor people of Jungle Mahal, and not to be allowed to either to rot or be burnt. 14. Stop biased investigation into the Jnaneswari Express sabotage and initiate neutral investigation; a neutral investigation team should be formed with people from cross-sections of society and actual culprits should be punished. 15. Indian army in Kashmir should be immediately withdrawn. The hopes and aspirations of the people of the land should be honoured. 16. Persons involved in the destruction of Babri Masjid and subsequent riots should be given exemplary punishment. 17. Prisoners confined in the cells should be allowed to meet other prisoners. The illegal system that segregates one prisoner from another should be immediately stopped. 18. Those among the life-convict prisoners who have already passed 14 years of incarceration should be set free immediately. 19. Telephone service should be introduced inside jails and every prisoner be allowed to avail himself/ herself of this opportunity. 20. Instead of every prisoner being forced to have his beard cut with one common razor, each prisoner should be allowed to have a separate arrangement of his own. 21. Arrangement should be made for the supply of water inside the cells for 24 hours and the inhuman custom of carrying water drums over shoulders should be stopped immediately. 22. Arrangement should be made for political prisoners to take political classes inside prisons. No political literature can be seized by the jail authority. 23. Political prisoners should be allowed to contact media persons outside and they should be allowed the right to have their political writings published in different newspapers. 24. Intellectuals coming to meet political prisoners should be allowed to have table interview with them. 25. The newly-proposed system of payment of daily wage Rs.100.00 to convicts should be implemented immediately; wages should not be kept due. 26. Prisoners seeking a copy each of West Bengal Correctional Services Act and the Jail Code should be provided one copy each. 27. Canteens should be introduced inside Medinipur Jail. 28. Political prisoners should be provided with all the daily newspapers at government expense. 29. Proper infrastructure for treatment in Medinipur Jail Hospital should be made and necessary machines installed.  Page 52 MIB-21, December 2010 From the Revolutionary Camp

[We are publishing the following article by Executive Committee-Central Committee, Communist Party of the Philippines keeping in view its significance for revolutionaries in understanding the LIC policies of the US imperialists] US Counterinsurgency Guide 2009 : Guide to imperialist intervention and aggression and counterrevolutionary war

The US COIN Guide was issued by the US government in January 2009. It presents US imperialism’s current official doctrine in fighting revolutionary armed struggle in colonial and semicolonial countries. It is allegedly the product of summed-up experiences in implementing “counterinsurgency” in various parts of the globe for the past 40 years and was the result of collaborative efforts of nine US government agencies and/or offices led by the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Department of State. The agencies involved in writing the US COIN Guide 2009 are the Department of State, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Department of The Treasury, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Agriculture, Department of Transportation, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the US Agency for International Development. Through the document, the US government speaks as a sole superpower and self-appointed international policeman. It unabashedly presents the various types and levels of interference and intervention, which are undertaken with or without the permission of the targeted subject of ‘assistance’ or client government, in the name of fighting “insurgency.” US imperialism estimates that it is armed revolutions that pose major and growing threats to the US’ international power in the 21st century. With the crash of the international capitalist system in the Long Depression since 2008, the US anticipates the explosion of widespread people’s dissent, armed revolutions and upheavals. US planners also anticipate only a remote possibility that the US will be embroiled in a thoroughly conventional war against other governments in the immediate future. The Guide covers all aspects of COIN and intervention by the US’ military and non-military agencies although it stresses the non-military components and tasks of civilian agencies. It clarifies that these are complementary to existing COIN manuals and guides issued by the US military. In providing guidelines for US intervention, it noticeably avoids being colored by the jingoism, arrogance and unilateralism of Bush’s “global war on terror.” As a guide to COIN, it strikingly avoids Vietnam War-era terms and presentations. Its goal is to refurbish imperialist intervention to make it broader and more efficient, actively mobilize civilian agencies and personnel, and draw in more international and local agencies/actors. The Filipino people have a particular interest in the US COIN Guide because ever since Bush declared the Philippines as the second arena in the “counter-terrorist” war, American troops have continued and expanded their direct intervention and permanent basing as well as their civil and military operations and foreign internal defense in the country. Although claiming to fight the terrorism of the Abu Sayaf bandit group, the growing targets of US intervention are the MILF and NDFP, with the COIN Guide being applied to the hilt against them. The COIN Guide must be studied to enable us to more sharply monitor and grasp the operations and schemes not only of US troops but the aggressive networking being done by US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr., the successive visits of high-ranking US officials, the USAID’s prominent role, the enhanced military and economic aid, the psywar experts’ hype of “Cory’s legacy” upon her death and the support for Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s candidacy and the aggressive promotion of reformist illusions after the election. We also anticipate that the COIN Guide will likely have a major influence on the COIN plan that the Aquino regime will be drafting in place of OBL. The use of the terms “insurgency” and “counterinsurgency” was purposely done by the imperialists and their puppets to evade the historic-political, national and class-societal bases and framework for the struggle between revolution and reaction. Such terms are also instruments in the effort to criminalize and isolate the armed revolution. It is part of the bureaucratic, technocratic and technique-oriented style, MIB-21, December 2010 Page 53 concept and presentation and muddles the issue of imperialist intervention and control and the suppression of the just and revolutionary struggle of oppressed nations and peoples. Massive psywar operations simultaneous with violent armed repression The document presents the counterinsurgency doctrine’s formula—conducting massive psywar operations alongside violent armed repression with US imperialism playing a direct and calibrated role depending on its estimate of the needed level of intervention. The counterinsurgency doctrine has been redesigned and promoted in the name of counterterrorism, defense of democracy, reforming and stabilizing weak governments, resolving the people’s poverty, long-term economic development and winning the people’s support. The massive psywar operations and violent armed repression formula should supposedly be undertaken simultaneously and molded into a single counterinsurgency strategy in every affected country. The counterinsurgency strategy has five components—the four tasks (“politics,” “economy,” “security,” and “information”) that all redound to “control” as the fifth component. Of the four, the US COIN Guide states that “politics” is the key, and at its center lies the establishment of a prevailing political setup where formal democratic processes are credible and acceptable to the people. This is the key in a “counterinsurgency” strategy in the sense that it allegedly plays a decisive role in winning back the people from the insurgency to the fold of government and serves as the main framework for implementing the other components of the “counterinsurgency strategy.” If the illusion of a government that implements reforms, addresses the people’s interests and advances the agenda of economic development can be created, they can supposedly “eliminate the reason for the insurgency’s existence,” win the people’s support, marginalize the “insurgent” armed force and violently suppress it. The components of the massive psywar operation, dubbed in the document as the “population- centric approach” are the following: 1. setting up a credible government 2. creating so-called genuine indicators of economic development 3. mobilizing the reactionary armed forces in non-traditional military tasks such as participating in socio-economic projects and providing assistance during calamities in order to create an image of public service 4. implementing so-called reforms in the security sector which comprises the police, armed forces and judiciary in order to strengthen the reactionary state 5. actively seeking and collating information from the population to shape their psywar propaganda in the mass media and manipulate public opinion in favor of reactionary rule and against armed uprising The violent armed repression of the people’s armed resistance comprises the so-called “enemy-centric approach” and covers the usual military parameters—number of “insurgents” killed, number of firearms recovered, extent of reduction of areas covered, neutralizaton of the leadership, destruction of identified centers of gravity of the enemy; use of various strategies against the revolutionary armed forces: “soft” and “hard,” direct and indirect, violent and non-violent, decapitation and marginalization. The US will thus continue providing aid to the armed forces of affected governments in the form of financial assistance, equipment and resources, training and if needed, forces directly operating within the affected country as part of civil-military assistance or direct assistance in internal defense or direct military intervention by US troops. The favored political atmosphere in a counterinsurgency strategy US counterinsurgency strategy favors a political atmosphere that cultivates an image of reform in order to assert the legitimacy of the ruling system and government. In determining the different ways of dealing with various forms of people’s resistance, US imperialism presumes that it would be best for its interests if the political atmosphere is one that always provides opportunities to pacify dissent and resistance from the oppressed and exploited people. US imperialism also calls this the “release valve,” a way of channeling heat whenever dissent intensifies and the people are determined to wage resistance. Among the “tried and tested” methods of US imperialism and its local reactionary co-conspirators are: - formal democratic processes in the form of elections, referenda and judicial systems. The more credible these processes are, the better. Page 54 MIB-21, December 2010 For instance, in the recently concluded elections, we gathered from reliable sources that the US played a direct role, from choosing Noynoy Aquino as the favored candidate after sensing the people’s sentiments upon former Pres. Corazon Aquino’s death, helping form a “psywar team” that worked with the mass media in contesting other rival candidates for the presidency, manipulating the results of the automated elections to make it appear that Noynoy Aquino won through a landslide victory, and drumming up praise for the automated polls as an example of a clean and successful election. - choosing a puppet who is acceptable to the people and is able to project a reformist image. This type of puppet can be used to continue creating the illusion among the exploited and oppressed people that there is “hope for change.” - implementing selective reforms that will not touch on substantive social issues, but are designed to deceive the people and lead them to “believe” in the ruling regime. Among the examples that can be cited are President Aquino’s pronouncements and steps focusing on small and shallow reforms—a ban on the use of sirens by VIPs, the revocation of midnight appointments, an alleged call to respect human rights, the implementation of economic projects mainly attuned to providing infrastructural support for foreign investments, the establishment of a Truth Commission—while purposely avoiding the issues of implementing genuine land reform and genuine industrialization, raising workers’ wages and defending national sovereignty. US imperialism considers an acceptable political atmosphere as the key or the decisive component in ending or defeating “insurgency” in a country. Using such an atmosphere, it aims to accomplish the following: 1. To have an effective channel for various types of US imperialist assistance to the ruling system, among them financial aid, economic projects and military assistance. 2. To facilitate the legal basis for further and more unencumbered US imperialist intervention in the country’s economy, politics and military. A particular agenda of US imperialism in the Philippines is changing the reactionary constitution to eradicate obstacles to its unhampered control of the country’s economy, politics and military 3. Win over what it calls the “insurgency’s soft support” among the people. (They consider as “soft support” those who they believe only sympathize with the “insurgency” not for reasons of ideology or adherence to its political program but due to personal circumstances). 4. Forge effective unity among the different government units and agencies. 5. Mobilize the middle forces (especially the urban petty bourgeoisie) as the voice of their support among the people. 6. Isolate the revolutionary movement through “psywar operations” in the mass media and among the people in accordance with the line that “there is no longer any reason to fight.” 7. Achieve the armed suppression of the revolutionary forces with a minimum of disquiet or opposition from the middle forces and the people. Parallel implementation and the right relationship between psywar operations and violent armed suppression Identifying an acceptable political atmosphere as the key component of “counter-insurgency” does not mean that the armed mode of eliminating the revolutionary forces shall take second priority to “reforms” and the “soft” approach. Different sections of the US COIN Guide repeatedly point out that the right relationship between the various components is not sequential or serial but rather parallel and emphasize that the subject is armed resistance. It thus points out that the establishment of an acceptable political atmosphere should be accomplished alongside economic reforms (actually economic projects in accordance with the policy of globalization), armed suppression of revolutionary forces and mass intelligence and information gathering among the populace to be used against revolutionary forces and employed by the political entity in its ‘psywar operations’ against the people. In fact, among the important roles of an acceptable political atmosphere is to make the armed elimination of the revolutionary forces acceptable to the people. The US COIN Guide is the doctrine now being applied by the AFP and used in guiding the extended OBL. The following operational principles of the AFP therefore remain: “holistic approach” which means the simultaneous conduct of operations in rural and urban areas, “operations in depth,” identifying and striking supposed centers-of-gravity of the revolutionary movement, dissemination of what they consider MIB-21, December 2010 Page 55 as successful models of “counterinsurgency” such as the Palparan model, the Gomez model, the de Mesa model, the Bustillo model, and the “Cougar concept of clearing the RA and WA.” But in accordance with the US COIN Guide, these principles will be made more deceptive and their psywar or CMO component enhanced. The US has increased and upgraded its military assistance to the Aquino government and the AFP in the form of modern weapons, precision-guided missiles, state of the art equipment and training in intelligence gathering and the regular conduct of the Joint US-RP Balikatan military exercises. The program of the reactionary and puppet Aquino government also includes the expansion of the AFP and the police in order to achieve a 10:1 ratio of reactionary troops to NPA fighters without abandoning the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF problem, and ostensibly to protect the country’s growing population. The US COIN Guide teaches quick adaptability and flexibility of strategy. US imperialism prescribes psywar operations as the center of gravity of the counterinsurgency strategy against “protracted and complex insurgencies.” But it immediately points out that the doctrine is only a guide and it expects that the strategy in the actual stage of conflict would not take a “linear” course but a combination of different approaches, strategies and methods. Calibrated US intervention The US defines various levels of intervention, from the lowest to the highest, in implementing the adopted counterinsurgency strategy in a particular country. Direct and open intervention is a sensitive matter that the US would not resort to as long as “low-profile” and “low-cost, small footprint” intervention works. It is always wary of public opinion in the US regarding direct armed intervention and the associated costs. The US Mission’s Country Team, in close coordination with the State Department, is the central element in managing the implementation of US COIN strategies, plans and programs in the target countries. The Country Team is headed by the Chief of Mission (COM) in coordination with the Department of State. The US ambassador himself acts as COM and represents the US president in the country concerned and is responsible for endorsing and implementing US policies as well as supervising all government employees in that country. The US ambassador has extraordinary authority as the highest official in the country being subjected to intervention in times of crisis and unstable situations. In the absence of the ambassador, the Charge d’Affaires represents the Secretary of State as the highest official in that country. The different levels of US imperialist intervention from the lowest to the highest includes Mission Augmentation, Single Expert Advisor, Civil-Military Assistance, Foreign Internal Defense, and Direct COIN Intervention. Mission Augmentation. Mission Augmentation involves the deployment of an additional team of specialists on civil and military affairs to assist the Country Team in its tasks. The entry of the augmentation mission is covert. It is considered to be most suitable when the “insurgency” in a certain country is at its early stages. It is also the method of choice if the other levels of US intervention are too sensitive politically. Single Expert Advisor. The Single Expert Advisor (SEA) is an adviser (either military or civilian) who is directly embedded in the staff of the government involved. The SEA shall be in close consultation with the affected government to give advice and training and assist elected government officials in handling the insurgency. He or she assesses the situation, develops plans and capabilities to support the affected government and gives advice in employing and tasking additional US personnel. Civil-Military Assistance. Civil-Military Assistance involves the deployment of specialists as a Joint Inter-agency Task Force that will directly work with civilian and military agencies of the government involved. It can embed group members or set up detachments in key positions in the affected government to extend support, advice, technical assistance, education and training. However, team members usually do not engage in direct confrontation with the “insurgency.” It uses the Civil-Military Assistance Program to develop an Internal Defense and Development Strategy in consultation with the affected government and serve as conduit for assistance from the international community. It operates independently of the Country Team but under the COM. If the security threat is assessed to be severe, it can operate under a military authority. Unlike Foreign Internal Defense, it remains under civilian leadership and is just supported by the military. The US considers this level of intervention as less costly and sustainable in the long term. It intends to keep the small size of the civil-military assistance team and give it enough time before relief to increase its affectivity relative to cost.

Page 56 MIB-21, December 2010 In the Philippines, the level of US intervention can be assessed to be in the third level (Civil-Military Assistance) based on the US’ own statement about its mission in the southern Philippines (Mindanao) against the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah and supposed al Qaeda operatives in the area. Also present in different parts of the country is the so-called US Humanitarian Mission being enforced by US troops along with the AFP. It has also been proven in several instances that US troops are directly engaging in combat operations against the Abu Sayyaf, MILF and the NPA. Foreign Internal Defense. Foreign Internal Defense involves the deployment of military teams usually from the US Special Operations Command to support the affected government. Its difference from Civil- Military Assistance is its military leadership although it also receives substantial support from various agencies of the US government. The scope, size, budget allocation and level of direct open intervention may vary but the level is definitely lower than Direct COIN Intervention. Direct COIN Intervention. Direct COIN Intervention involves the outright deployment of sizable US troops to undertake a military counterinsurgency campaign in the affected country. Depending upon the objectives of the US, this can be the first option or measure (as in Iraq and Afghanistan) or the last resort if the intervention levels discussed above fail. The US COIN strategy is bound to fail The US COIN strategy is bound to fail in eliminating the legitimate and just resistance of the people against the domination of US imperialism and the local ruling class. It can be compared to a swimmer diving into the water with a heavy rock tied to his neck. The heavy rock is precisely the objective of eliminating the people’s legitimate and just resistance in order to perpetuate their rule, exploitation and oppression. No real change can be expected so long as the people are oppressed and exploited. The US only intends to deceive them through token schemes in order to further squeeze and impoverish the people and weaken their struggle. The severe crisis besetting the world and the country is unmistakable. As exploitation and oppression worsen, the people’s resistance will also intensify. Whatever volume of resources or number of personnel the US pours in will end up in the dustbin of history as it confronts a people determined to gain their freedom and achieve genuine democracy. Our Tasks Although we are certain that the US COIN strategy will fail, it requires considerable effort to expose, fight and frustrate the scheme in part and in whole, in the short and the long run. To be able to expose, resist and frustrate the US COIN strategy, we must accomplish the following urgent tasks: 1. Sharply draw the line between revolution and reformism. Firmly grasp, uphold and put to practice in every revolutionary undertaking the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal and antifascist line. Reformism and any pretensions at instituting reforms can only be exposed and defanged by upholding the class struggle, the real and basic interests of the people against their class enemies. 2. Establish closer links with the masses through the advancement of the basic mass movement and mass struggles. Through this, we can reach the people in their millions, draw them to the path of armed revolution and strengthen the just basis of armed struggle. 3. Resolutely raise the people’s war to a higher level. Fulfill the requirements to advance to the stage of full-scale guerrilla warfare and lay down the basis for advancing to the strategic stalemate. 4. Tirelessly raise the level of political consciousness of the people through intensive and extensive political education, propaganda work and cultural work. 5. Establish the broad united front of the oppressed and exploited, divide the ranks of the enemy, isolate and fight one chief puppet of the reactionary state after another. 6. Intensify tit-for-tat and intensive and extensive propaganda work in order to shatter all kinds of deception, expose the fascist crimes and counterrevolutionary designs of the US and its local puppet and other local ruling classes. 7. Expose and oppose US imperialist schemes in the country and bring these issues to the US and international arenas. The leading Party organs and committees at the national and regional levels will formulate particular plans to direct the entire Party organization and the revolutionary movement at various levels.  MIB-21, December 2010 Page 57 MIB condemns gagging of Kurdish Newspapers by the despotic Turkey Government Turkey: Two Kurdish newspapers suspended; magazine copies seized

IPS Communication Foundation, 7 September 2010 Kurdish newspapers “Azadiya Welat” and “Rojev” have been suspended for one month under allegations of “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization”. Similarly, copies of the left-wing “Guney” magazine were confiscated. The “Rojev” paper had just resumed publishing after a long break on 24 August 2010 before the Istanbul 11th High Criminal Court decreed the one-month publication ban. The decision was based on the 36th issue of the Kurdish paper, published on 28 August, which featured a picture of Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and a PKK flag on the front page. Additionally, a chart depicting Ocalan and other members of the militant organization published on page eight of the same issue was given as a reason for the ban. On 21 August, the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court suspended the publication of “Azadiya Welat”, the only nation-wide Kurdish daily published in Turkey, on the grounds of “spreading propaganda for an illegal organization” and “praising criminals”. The decision stemmed from the paper’s 21 August issue. Editor-in-chief M. Nedim Karadeniz said that the newspaper has “faced unlawful bans” for eight issues within the past four years. He added that the daily had already been closed down three times since the beginning of the year. “None of these suspension punishments were in line with universal law. As a matter of fact, Turkey was convicted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in similar cases related to newspapers stemming from the tradition of the Free Press. Imagine a judiciary system where all the news and articles in the current issue of a twelve-page newspaper are considered a crime,” the editor-in-chief said. The decision is based on the Anti Terror Law (TMY). While the Constitutional Court recently ruled that this law does not contravene the Constitution, the use of the law resulted in several rulings against Turkey at the ECHR. While the seizure was ordered in accordance with Article 25/2 of the Press Law (Confiscation and Prohibition of Distribution and Sale), the publication ban was based on Article 6/last paragraph (Disclosure and Publication) of the TMY. Former “Azadiya Welat” chief editors Vedat Kursun and Ozan Kilic are still in prison, as is "Hawar" newspaper official Bedri Adanir. The 2010 first quarterly issue of “Guney” magazine was confiscated following a decision by the Mersin 2nd Magistrate Criminal Court. However, the issue does not mention the name of any illegal organization. The police seized the copies on 26 August from the magazine’s printing house in Mersin (eastern Mediterranean coast), after informing the staff about the ruling. The police delivered a written notice about the court decision to the magazine’s central office in the Esenyurt district of Istanbul. The article entitled “Rights of (Kurdish) children in the dungeon”, written by Ali Dagdeviren, was given as the reason for the seizure. However, the article does not mention the name of any organization. The writing criticized the “treatment of thousands of Kurdish children” despite the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, both of which have been ratified by the Turkish government. A statement by the magazine said, “This mentality which fills prisons with thousands of children could not tolerate an article criticizing this situation”. From: Frontlines of Revolutionary Struggle, at: http://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/turkey-two-kurdish-newspapers- suspended-magazine-copies-seized/#more-7699

Page 58 MIB-21, December 2010 News from the Battle Field ITBP tries to become a champion of OGH – Gets ambushed by PLGA as a result Condemn the brutal killing of children and villagers of Savargaon by ITBP ITBP forces have been perpetrating innumerable atrocities on the people since they were deployed in 2009 in Rajnandgoan district. Since their base camp was established in Kohka there was no end to their harassment of people. They used to attack the Maharashtra villages on the border. In the first week of October, 2010, the enemy forces attacked three villages at night and arrested 24 persons and took them away. They were beaten and sent to jail. Posters were put up condemning the arrests of villagers done by the police in September and October and demanding their release. The people and the PLGA wanted to teach a lesson to the forces which were going on harassing people with atrocities, arrests etc and stop them in their tracks. So they planned an ambush on ITBP. The Savargaon ambush took place on ITPB jawans who were traveling in two gypsy vehicles on 8-10- 2010 between Kohka and Savargaon in Tipragad area (Dhanora tehsil, Gadchiroli district, Maharastra). Three ITBP jawans were wiped out and one was seriously injured. One gypsy vehicle was completely damaged. One Insas LMG, two magazines and 93 cartridges were seized by the PLGA guerillas. The PLGA could conduct this ambush in a plain area and within just a distance of one or two kilometers from the camp only because of the support of the people. The people were indeed fed up by the day to day violence of the jawans. There was no resistance whatsoever from the “brave” jawans supposed to guard the borders to “defend” the country against “enemy forces” but are strangely deployed in the heart of India against the people of their own country ?! But there was retaliation and how?! They took their revenge on innocent school children by firing shells on their ashram school from inside their camp as they were afraid even to come out of their camp. Three school children, one old man from the village and one woman peon were killed in this attack and ten children were wounded. This has once again proved that the security forces are indeed deployed to attack the poor peasants and not any ‘enemies of the country’. Afraid that this would backlash against them they immediately began foul propaganda that the Maoists had attacked the school and killed the children and villagers. The people who were direct victims of their atrocities and who also knew the fact that PLGA never attacks its own people refuted these claims and stated very clearly to the fact finding teams(s) which visited the place about the truth behind the massacre. The height of the ‘terror tactics’ of the security forces can be gauged from the fact that even before the FF team returned, the police began arresting those villagers who had talked to the team. The team immediately turned back and got them released. This is just one more instance which proves the increasing fascization of the forces. Perpetrators of atrocities will be taught a lesson by the poor peasants Perimili – Talwada ambushes prove this fact Sub-Inspector More of Perimili station was a notorious goon and went on harassing the poor peasants of the area. The people were so fed up with his atrocities that they wished to eliminate him. Accordingly, PLGA had conducted an ambush at Perimili on 4-10-2010 at 4.40 p.m. on the vehicle carrying him. Thanedar More (SI), an inspector rank officer from CRPF, a head constable and a driver of head constable rank were wiped out in this ambush and the PLGA team seized an AK-47 from the site. Another ambush was conducted at Talwada on 5-1-2010 at 8.30 a.m. on a mine-proof vehicle carrying C-60 commandos while they were going to the place of Perimili ambush the next day morning. They were going in five mine-proof vehicles and the PLGA blasted the fifth one. Eight C-60 commandos traveling in that vehicle were injured in this blast. After this the enemy did not dare to come by road and finally took the dead bodies of the police from the Perimili ambush site in helicopters. C-60 commandos are hated by the people for their brutality on ordinary peasants and particularly on young women and girls who are raped by them. The people of Gadchiroli would never forget the abduction and gang rape of Vandana, a teenage girl by the notorious C-60 commandos. That was why people gave active support to the PLGA guerillas who but numbered very few to conduct these two ambushes and they could not have been conducted without their help.  MIB-21, December 2010 Page 59 News from the Counter-revolutionary Camp

Interview I DG CRPF, Vikram Srivastava ‘Intelligence Set-up of the CRPF is in the Process of Being Put in Place in Various Theatres’ Director General, Central Reserve Police Force, Vikram Srivastava Challenges as the DG ‘The CRPF is deployed in various states to assist the state government/state police to meet the challenges of internal security ‘The CRPF has to ensure that this is done smoothly in close coordination and cooperation with the state authorities. In order to meet the challenges of internal security, particularly the Naxal menace, the CRPF is conducting intelligence-based joint operations along with the state police. These joint operations along with the state police will effectively contain the Naxal menace in the times ahead. The force is also effectively meeting the challenges of providing connectivity at all operational locations, so that the troops deployed in remote areas are able to get in touch with their family members from time to time. Their families also feel relaxed once they are able to personally speak to the jawans. Criticism of the CRPF I have seen various newspaper reports, wherein the CRPF has been criticised for its training and tactics. These critical comments are the personal perceptions of those who have authored the reports and I don’t agree with those. I may clarify that the CRPF is a time-tested force, which has exclusive units for various roles and operational theatres in different parts of the country. For instance, we have the Rapid Action Force, the Special Action Force, the Mahila Units, etc. We need to understand that the CBPF is deployed in different theatres throughout the country and each theatre has its own challenges. The terrain in each theatre is different, the adversary is different and hence the modus operandi that the CRPF has to adopt is also different. The troops are imparted pre-induction training when they are deployed in a new theatre which enables them to reorient themselves to face the challenges of that particular theatre. Importance of Training Basic training and specialised training is extremely important. The CBPF has five training centres to impart basic training and four institutions for specialised training and to undergo pre-promotional courses. We ensure that the troops are adequately trained to keep the CBPF flag flying high. Modernisation Up-gradation of equipment is an ongo in process. The CRPF is deployed in different theatres and hence different kind of additional equipments are pro- vided to handle the challenges. In vanous theatres the situation is dynamic and hence the requirement has also to be suitably met. We have procured modern riot and crowd control gear, particularly for the troops deployed in various areas in Kashmir to meet the challenges of severe stone pelting which has caused injuries to large number of our jawans. Security Related Expenditure The CRPF has been provided with enough funds to meet all our expenditures. I may clarify that funds for security related expenditure (SRsE) is being provided to the state governments. The requirement of infrastructure at various locations is also being met by the state governments from these funds. The requirements of the CRPF, in terms of funds, are being fully met and the force has no problem as far as funds are concerned. SAF Vs CRPF Special Action Force is a part of the CRPF. It is a well trained force for ensuring ‘resolute action’. Yes, we have six battalions and would be raising some more this year. There will be a rotation of personnel of the SAF at the appropriate time. Page 60 MIB-21, December 2010 Age Profile I may clarify that a young age profile is maintained in our specialised units as per ground requirements. Further, the CRPF units have a suitable mix of the young and the experienced personnel. After all, we have different ranks and they all cannot be of the same age profile. Shortfall of Officers I may clarify that direct recruitment of gazetted officers is being done by the UPSC and for the sub inspectors, recruitment is being done by the staff selection commission. Vacancies arise from time to time for various reasons. While some personnel avail voluntary retirement schemes, some also leave when they are selected for the All India Services. War on Maoists The CRPF and other CPMFs are deployed in the LWE-affected states to meet the challenge of Naxalism. The CRPF and other CPMFs are conducting joint operations along with state police. We are also facilitating various developmental initiatives which are being undertaken by the state authorities in the areas of our deployment. I am sure that the CPMFs would be able to effectively contain and eradicate the Naxal menace in the years ahead. Four inspector generals of CRPF have already been placed in the state ofJharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal to exclusively coordinate anti-Naxal operations. This arrangement would surely result in focussed and meticulous planning of all intelligence-based joint operations in the Naxal-affected states. Integral Intelligence The intelligence set up of the CRPF is in the process of being put in place in various theatres. Intelligence inputs at all places of deployments would further improve the effectiveness of intelligence-based operations. Two CRPFs I am not aware of any suggestion regarding bifurcation of the CRPF. It is a well- knit time tested force, where the personnel and officers are rotated from one theatre of operation to another. Rotation of troops is a well-recognised principle in all armed forces of the Union. Men and Morale The morale of the personnel is a very important aspect and remains uppermost in the minds of supervisory officers. Proper rotation of troops, provision of all basic facilities/amenities, grant of leave, messing arrangements, medical back-up, time for rest and recuperation, welfare measures for the family and education of children are very important aspects, which go a long way in maintaining high morale and we are doing our very best to ensure high level of morale. [ From ‘FORCE’ August 2010 issue]

Chidambaram visits Gadchiroli to review security Mumbai, December 28. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram visited the Maoist stronghold of Gadchiroli district in eastern Maharashtra to review the security scenario and discuss development plans for the area, an official said. Chidambaram was accompanied by Maharashtra’s Home Minister R.R. Patil and Director General of Police D. Sivanandan. Chidambaram met Gadchiroli District Collector Atul Patne at the district headquarters, reviewed the security measures taken, and also discussed development plans with officials. He then visited a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in the Murunga forest, about 30 km from the district town. He later addressed local police personnel and CRPF troopers in Dhanora area, which had seen Maoist guerillas set a panchayat building afire ahead of his visit. No casualities were reported. Officials said it was the first time that a union home minister has visited Gadchiroli, one of the districts affected by Maoist violence. Chidambaram returns to Mumbai in the evening. Gadchiroli, about 950 km from here bordering Andhra Pradesh, has been a troubled area with Maoist guerillas frequently targeting security forces and government property. In October last year, 18 police personnel were killed when Maoists ambushed the police. MIB-21, December 2010 Page 61 [We are giving excerpts from three articles written by two research assistants and a research fellow at ‘Institute for Conflict Management’ to understand the perception of the ruling classes about the Maoist movement in the country] A Withering Green By Fakir Mohan Pradhan/ South Asia Intelligence Review The Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) rhetoric during the early months of the United Progressive Alliance II (UPA II) Government, about facing down the Communist party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) squarely excited great enthusiasm in the media, and a ‘massive crackdown’ on the Maoists was much awaited. A ‘clear, hold and develop strategy’ was projected by the MHA, and an impression created that major operations were imminent. Some Central Forces were shuffled about, and an ‘intensification of operations’ did occur, but, insufficiently thought out, the strategy quickly backfired, producing massive Security Forces (SF) fatalities. At about the same time, the Chhattisgarh Police, along with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA, also known as the Special Action Force, SAF) launched an operation against the Maoists in the Dantewada District in September 2009, christening it Operation Green Hunt (OGH). The name stuck with the media, and every anti-Maoist operation anywhere in the country was quickly dubbed OGH, and attributed to the Centre’s ‘massive and coordinated operations’. Thus, when 18 companies of the Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMFs) were deployed in Maoist infested areas close to the tri-junction of Maharashtra-Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh in the first week of November 2009, this was reported as the beginning of the first phase of OGH. However, Police later clarified that this operation merely signalled the observance of ‘Police Week’. Again, on December 3, 2009, against the backdrop of anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh it was widely reported that the Centre had launched its ‘major offensive’ against the Maoists in Chhattisgarh. The MHA again denied this, insisting that what was being witnessed was nothing but an “intensification” of earlier operations. By December 18, 2009, when Jharkhand Assembly polls were coming to an end, the Union Government was set to send an additional 17,000 CPMFs to Maoist affected States to step up their anti-Naxalite [Left Wing Extremism] operations under its planned “major offensive”. The idea was to have simultaneous operations at the junctions and tri-junctions of the affected States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa (now known as Odisha), Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Maharashtra. A senior MHA official said the States already had 58,000 CPMFs — drawn from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force, Indo Tibetan Border Police, Sashastra Seema Bal and SAF — at their command. The additional deployment would increase the strength of CPMFs to nearly 75,000 [these calculations are based on full battalion strengths. Actual field deployments are roughly 40 per cent of these numbers]. An unnamed CRPF officer, stating that there were in for the “long haul”, disclosed, “Operations are supposed to be launched secretly so that the forces can catch the ultras off guard. We are on the job and we will expand the area of operation gradually.” Roughly one year after the purported launch of the “major offensive”, it was claimed on October 7, 2010, that Security Forces (SFs) had regained control over more than 10,000 square kilometres areas dominated by the Naxals in the six worst-affected States. Official sources described the success of the SFs as “very significant” as nearly 40,000 square kilometres had been ‘controlled’ by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh ‘for the last several years’. The source claimed, “We have got maximum gain in Chhattisgarh. We hope that the success will continue in the coming days.” An earlier MHA report had claimed that, till June 2010, the SFs had managed to destroy as many as 120 Maoist training camps. These gains, however, have largely been the consequence of quiet, intelligence-based operations, rather than the ‘area domination’ or ‘clear and hold’ approach, that had been projected as the Centre’s operational strategy. The claim of having ‘recovered’ 10,000 square kilometres area from Maoists, moreover, loses credibility as it there is no clear identification of the areas supposedly reclaimed, or prior identification of areas allegedly controlled by the Maoists. The combined forces battling the Maoists in the seven worst-affected Page 62 MIB-21, December 2010 States have also had little success in keeping fatalities – and particularly civilian and SF casualties – down. Evidently, far from ‘intensifying’ their offensive, the SFs have been forced to go slow in the wake of a series of setbacks they have suffered, even as the Maoists have become more careful to preserve their strength in the unequal fight they are waging. [MHA data puts the total fatalities in 2010 (till October 31) in Left Wing Extremist Violence at 974 against the previous year’s total of 908 (or 1,125). The MHA released two different figures on different occasions for 2009]. Despite their reverses, the Maoists have been able to mount dramatic attacks on the SFs since the ‘offensive’ or ‘intensification of operations’ was initiated by the Centre. The attacks on CRPF personnel at Chintalnad in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh on April 6, 2010, in which 75 CRPF personnel and one State Policeman were killed; the attack at Chingavaram in Dantewada on May 17, 2010, in which 44 persons – 16 Security Forces (SF) personnel and 28 civilians – were killed; the ambush near the CRPF’s Dhudhai base camp in Narayanpur District, Chhattisgarh, on June 29, 2010, in which 27 CRPF personnel were killed; the encounter in Lakhisarai District, Bihar, on August 29, 2010, in which eight SF personnel were killed; and the attack on the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) camp at Shilda in West Midnapore District, West Bengal, on February 15, 2010 in which 24 EFR personnel were killed; are the most dramatic in a wider series of Maoist attacks on SF targets. The claim that the SFs have made their ‘maximum gain’ in Chhattisgarh also holds little water. SATP data on major Maoist Incidents (involving three or more fatalities) indicates that, out of a total of 32 such incidents in Chhattisgarh in 2009, the Maoists took the offensive in 18. In 2010, thus far, only 17 major incidents have been recorded, in which the SFs took the initiative in just seven; five of these came before the April 6 Chintalnad massacre. After Chintalnad, the SFs have relinquished the initiative, and the Maoists have led the offensive in another nine incidents. The retreat of the SFs into a posture of passive defence is the principal reason for the significant reduction in major incidents in 2010 in Chhattisgarh. Worse, the SFs have also conceded a huge psychological and strategic gain to the Maoists when the Centre decided to shift the CRPF Zonal Headquarters from Raipur (capital of Chhattisgarh) to Kolkata “for reasons of safety” in the wake of killing of 27 CRPF personnel in the Narayanpur District, Chhattisgarh, on June 29, 2010. It has been the intelligence-based operations, overwhelmingly led by the Andhra Pradesh Police, which have resulted in the most significant damage to the Maoist structure, particularly through the neutralization of eight top Maoists (and a number of lesser commanders) over the May 2009 – October 2010 period. Despite their geographical dispersal across the country, the Andhra Pradesh Police was involved in most of these cases. Crucially, it was not the numerical strength of Andhra Pradesh Police (the Force has a police population ratio of just 99, as against the severely deficient national average of 128 per 100,000), but years of investment in developing an intelligence network that underpins these successes. Conspicuously, the Centre’s much-vaunted ‘massive and coordinated operations’ have lost momentum because of their inherently false assumptions and inaccurate assessments. Unless drastic changes are now made in the orientation and execution of anti-Maoist operations, reconciling these to the realities of the ground, the state will fail to recover the initiative. Regrettably, there is no coherent evidence of such a crystallization of strategy and Forces, and a bloody and extended confrontation remains inescapable, belying the MHA’s rhetoric claiming that the state “will control the situation in 2 to 3 years”. (The writer is Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management ) Bihar Maoist surge By Ajit Kumar Singh / South Asia Intelligence Review On March 8, 2010, the then Minister of Home Affairs, Brijendra Prasad Yadav, had disclosed in the State Assembly that, out of 40 Districts (including two Police Districts) in the State, 33 were Naxalite (Left Wing Extremist)-affected. Of these, 20 — Gaya, Aurangabad, Rohtas, Jamui, Munger, Kaimur, Bhojpur, Nawada, Jehanabad, Arwal, Motihari, Patna, Sitamarhi, Bagaha, Bettiah, Banka, Sheohar, Lakhisarai, Vaishali and Begusarai – fell under the ‘A’ category of highly affected Districts; five — Buxar, Khagaria, Muzaffarpur, Saharsa and Nalanda – fell in the ‘B’ category of moderately affected Districts; and eight – Siwan, Saran, Samastipur, Katihar, Purnea, Bhagalpur, Sheikhpura and Darbhanga – were in the marginally affected ‘C’ category. MIB-21, December 2010 Page 63 According to National Crime Records Bureau data (as on December 31, 2008), Bihar had a dismal 64 Policemen per 100,000 population, the lowest in the country, just half of the severely inadequate Indian average of 128 per 100,000. Four Battalions of Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF) are also currently deployed in the State, yielding barely 1,600 CPMF personnel in actual field deployments, minuscule numbers for a State as large and as problematic as Bihar. The State currently has just 700 officers and personnel deputed to the Special Task Force (STF), the Bihar Police unit dedicated to carrying out operations against the Maoists and hardcore criminals operating in Bihar. There has, however, been some emphasis on recruitment to, and modernization of, the Police. Bihar and Union Governments initiatives in 2010 in this direction include: January 7: Bihar Government sent 428 Police Personnel, from Constables to Deputy Superintendents of Police, to different Central Police organisations for specialised training in jungle warfare, weapons training, and counter-insurgency commando operations. March 5: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) decided to send an additional two battalions of CPMF personnel, trained in jungle warfare, to Bihar and Jharkhand, to help the Police counter the LWE violence. March 17: The Bihar Government raised the cash rewards for those providing information leading to the arrest of CPI-Maoist leaders, ranging between INR 50,000 to INR 300,000 for ‘area commanders’. Earlier, the range was between INR 20,000 and INR 100,000. March 29: DGP Neelmani disclosed that the Bihar Government would raise the insurance cover of Policemen and Home Guard personnel posted in 15 Maoist-affected Districts from INR 1,200,000 now to INR 1,375,000. June 16: The Bihar Government cleared a INR 92.4 crore Police modernisation plan for the current fiscal. The plan envisaged an expenditure of INR 30 crore on every Police Station located in Maoist- affected Districts. The money would be spent on fortification, construction of buildings and other infrastructure. The purchase of over 1,000 bullet-proof jackets was also approved. The Government also decided to recruit 952 wireless operators. Wireless sets and vehicles had been provided to all Police Stations. July 17: The DGP disclosed that the Centre had included an additional five extremist-hit Districts of Bihar in the list of Districts to be covered by the Union Home Ministry’s Security-related Expenditure (SRE) scheme. Under the scheme, all the security-related expenses are reimbursed by the Centre. The scheme earlier covered the 15 Districts in the State. The newly-included Districts were Lakhisarai, Banka, Sheohar, Vaishali and Begusarai. August 4: The State Government approved the creation of the post of Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Operations, in eight Maoist affected Districts. In 2009, the post of ASP Operations had been created in another eight Districts. August 9: The State Government allotted INR 11.2 million to each of the 38 Districts of the State as advance money for the Police Stations for their self-sufficiency and contingent expenditure. DGP Neelmani stated, “All the 872 Police Stations in the State, including around 300 which fall under the Naxal-belt, have been allotted money to meet their contingency expenditure...” December 12: The Bihar Government decided to recruit 50,000 Police Officers over five years. As many as 5,000 Sub-Inspectors and 45,000 Constables would be appointed over this period, in a phased recruitment. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting of top officials chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the night of December 12. The State Government would appoint 9,000 Constables and 1,000 Sub-Inspectors annually over the following five years. Despite the apparent magnitude of these initiatives, these would remain far from securing the critical mass of capacities necessary to deal with the Maoist threat in the State. The efficiency of implementation still remains to be seen. Worse, both operations and SF morale continue to be undermined by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s continuous reiteration that the Maoists cannot be countered by force, and that all-round development and welfare measures alone can bring the Maoists back to the mainstream. The State Government has remained unwilling to join the Centre’s ‘coordinated’ operations in the worst affected States. On September 9, 2010, the Chief Minister again stated that only long-term development could deter the poor and tribal people from the “lure of the ultra-left insurgency”. His own State Police Chief, Neelmani, however, has articulated a radically different position, declaring, on March 22, that he was “very much in favour of supporting” the Centre’s Operations. He added, further, Page 64 MIB-21, December 2010 that “unnecessary confusion was created on the State’s ambivalence or even opposition” to the Centre’s move. “We had in fact started raising our own anti-Naxal force on the lines of Andhra Pradesh’s STF (Special Task Force) in the absence of the Centre meeting demands for additional Forces.” Nitish Kumar has distinguished himself by turning Bihar around from the brink of administrative collapse in just five years. His ambivalence and confusion with regard to the Maoists, however, has prevented comparable successes from accumulating with regard to the challenge the rebels have thrown at the state. If the Chief Minister is to consolidate the developmental and administrative gains of his first tenure, he will have to bring widening areas of Maoist dominance, where governance is non-existent, within the ambit of effective service delivery. This can only happen after these areas are freed of the Maoist threat. A failure to secure this outcome could easily jeopardise all that has been achieved in Bihar in recent years. (The writer is Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management ) *** West Bengal Maoist surge Replying to a question in the State Assembly on December 23, 2010, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee claimed, Because of sustained joint operations by 35 companies of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), six companies of Nagaland Police and 51 companies of State Police, the situation in Goaltore, Salboni and Midnapore Sadar blocks of West Midnapore and that in Bankura and Purulia has greatly improved... The situation has changed in the past three months. Some of the blocks [in Jungalmahal] are terror free... (However) Till the situation improves in Jharkhand and Orissa, it would be difficult to keep Bengal unaffected. Till such a time, the paramilitary forces should be there. Expecting that the pressure mounted by the SFs would induce some Maoists to lay down arms, the State announced its new surrender policy on June 15. The ‘package’ followed Central Government guidelines, with a one-off payment of INR 150,000, vocational training for three months, and INR 2,000 in a monthly stipend for each surrendering cadre. If arms were also surrendered, they would receive, in addition, INR 15,000 for an AK-47 rifle, INR 25,000 for a machine gun, and INR 3,000 for a pistol or revolver. On June 17, West Bengal Director General of Police (DGP) Bhupinder Singh stated, “We have received feelers that a number of people are willing to surrender.” By December 26, 2010, however, only five Maoists had surrendered, after the announcement of the ‘package’. Despite the many SF successes, however, there is little reason for any great optimism. The Chief Minister’s claim that ‘the situation has changed in the past three months’, while not altogether incorrect, nevertheless glosses over the reality of continuing killings in the State, despite the deployment of 92 SF companies in the Jungalmahal area. Again, the Chief Minister’s claim that “some of the blocks are terror free” cannot be accepted without qualification. It is, of course, the case that, on October 18, 2010, at least 12,000 CPI-M cadres marched 12 kilometres from Dharampur and Goaltore to Lalgarh and ‘reclaimed’ the area amid tight security. According to media reports, earlier, an armed rally of CPI-M party cadres, led by its Zonal Committee Secretary Annuj Pandey, who was driven out of his residence in Dharampur in June 2009, ‘reclaimed’ Dharampur and opened the party office located near his residence. However, the role of armed CPI-M cadres in these ‘recoveries’ can hardly be overlooked. Even Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram acknowledged, on September 1, 2010, the existence of armed CPI-M camps in the State. Again on December 21, 2010, Chidambaram wrote to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asking him to ensure the armed cadres — including those from the ruling party-supported ‘Harmad Vahini’ – are “immediately disarmed and demobilised”. In August 2010, the State Government advertised a call for recruitment to 4,767 Police Constables, essentially to fill existing vacancies. The State has a dismal Police Population ratio of 89 per 100,000, way below the national average of 128, as on December 31, 2008 (National Crime Records Bureau Data). There is little possibility of raising the size of the State Police Force to an acceptable level to secure operational efficiency against the Maoists in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, the State Government has sent a proposal to the Union Government to declare another three Districts – Birbhum, Murshidabad and Nadia – Maoist-affected, and the matter is under consideration by the Centre. West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura were already in the list of Maoist-affected Districts. According to reports submitted by the State Police to the State Home Department, eight Police Stations in Nadia, six Police Stations in Birbhum and three Police Stations in Murshidabad have seen increased Maoist activity. (The writer is Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management) MIB-21, December 2010 Page 65 From the Newspapers

India: Torture and Rape by Security Forces

[The following article from The Hindu gives insight into the crimes being perpetrated by the Border Security Forces in India] Villagers in Chhattisgarh accuse BSF of torture A wreath of lesions coils up Sunita Tulavi neck; lesions she says were caused in the course of a three- day interrogation at a Border Security Force camp in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district. “They blindfolded me, tied my hands and then electrocuted me with wires wrapped around my neck and stomach,” said Sunita, a resident of Aloor village, “They questioned me for three days and then released me. My sister is still in custody.” On September 8, Kanker police arrested seven alleged Maoists, including six girls aged between 15 and 19 years, from the Pachangi and Aloor villages in connection with an August 29 ambush in Kanker in which three BSF soldiers and two policemen were killed. Picked up Adivasis from these villages told The Hindu that the girls were picked up in a two-day search-and- comb operation on September 5 and 6 in which, residents allege, the BSF and the district police brutally assaulted over 40 men, molested two teenaged girls and picked up 17 villagers in all: 10 from Aloor and seven from Pachangi. A senior BSF officer involved in the operation has categorically denied the villagers’ allegations. “The BSF is a disciplined force,” he said, “not a single person was assaulted or molested.” “Part of propaganda” The officer said the villagers’ claims could be part of a Maoist propaganda effort, and that all the suspects had been arrested on the basis of specific information provided by Kanker police informants. The three neighbourhoods of Pachangi village lie scattered around a low hill in the heart of the settlement. On September 5 and 6, villagers allege, a joint team of the district police and the BSF gathered all the men of the village, dragged them up the hill in pairs and assaulted them. “On Monday [September 6] the BSF took me and two others up the hill, forced us to strip and then beat us with sticks,” said Narsingh Kumra, 24. “They threw me on the ground, pushed my knees up and pushed a stick into my private parts,” Narsingh said. Account corroborated Narsingh and four other men from Pachangi are currently admitted in Kanker Hospital, recuperating. His account was corroborated by fellow patients Sukram Netam, 45, Premsingh Potayi, 32, Rajju Ram, 30, and Bidde Ram Potayi, 31, who said that they too were sodomised with sticks. While the men were gathered at the base of the hill, a 20-year-old woman of Panchangi (name withheld) said that a BSF soldier tore open her blouse and skirt and molested her. “He stopped only when my aunt saw him and started screaming,” she said. A schoolgirl, aged 16 and currently in class X, said that a soldier cornered her in her house, groped her and tried to tear open her blouse. “He kept saying I just want to love you,” she said. He stopped when her mother raised an alarm. In the course of the two-day raid in Pachangi, the BSF allegedly picked up two girls, Mangte Potayi and Baiju, and five young men, Paru Ram, Devin Ram, Dalla Ram and Ringlu Ram. While the girls were presented as suspected Maoists on September 8, the men were paraded as Maoists on September 10. Similar raid Meanwhile, a similar raid was under way in neighbouring Aloor. The BSF picked up sisters Sunita and Sarita Tulavi; Rajkumari Sori, Dhansu Kumra, and Anita Kureti. While Rajkumari was picked up on September 4, in the nearby Badgaon market, the families of the remaining six girls said they were picked on September 5 from their homes. “The BSF took away both my daughters [Sunita and Sarita],” said Manobai Tulavi, “When their father, Page 66 MIB-21, December 2010 Punnim kumar went to stop them, they took him away as well.” Manobai said that her brother Sukluram Kowachi also tried to stop the BSF. He was arrested as well. Ramnath Dugga, Tursingh Dano and Shyamlal Hidko were working in their fields when they were apprehended. Turned away Villagers said that they made several visits to the nearby BSF camp in resettlement colony P.V. 34 but were turned away. On September 9, Sunita Tulavi and her father were allowed to return to Aloor village, where she met this correspondent. Her younger sister Sarita, and the five girls from Pachangi and Alnoor, are currently in Kanker jail on charges of ambushing the BSF on August 29 this year. *** Dalit Activist Sudhir Dhawale Arrested under UAPA in Maharashtra January 3 2010 Source: Mumbai Mirror Dalit activist and editor of Marathi magazine Vidrohi, Sudhir Dhawale, was arrested on Monday morning at Gondia and charged with sedition (sec 124) and under Secs 17, 20 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). These sections relate to: raising funds for terrorist acts; being a member of a terrorist organisation and providing support to a terrorist organisation. The police searched Sudhir’s home in Byculla for over three hours in the evening. Sudhir has been remanded in police custody till January 12. He had addressed a Ambedkar-Phule Sahitya Sammelan near Wardha on Sunday, and was on a train when he was arrested. Gondia Sub-Divisional Police Officer Borate said they had been trailing him for the last few days, emphasising that his arrest had nothing to do with the Sammelan. Expressing shock at his arrest, award-winning documentary maker Anand Patwardhan compared it to that of Binayak Sen. “I know Sudhir well. He is a gentle person. His arrest is an outrage. It’s like what happened with Dr Binayak Sen - hounding those who have sympathy for the oppressed.” Interestingly, Sudhir is an active member of the Mumbai-based Committee for the Release of Binayak Sen. A well-known name in Dalit and Left circles, Sudhir was one of the founders of the Republican Panther Jaatiya Antachi Chalwal (movement for annihilation of caste), formed on December 6, 2007, Dr Ambedkar’s Mahaparinirvan Day, at Shivaji Park. This group grew out of the anger of Dalit youth against the Ramabai Nagar firing (1997) and the Khairlanji killings (2006). According to Shyam Sonar, a member of the Republican Panthers, their group was created seeing the failure of the Dalit Panthers to live up to their original aim of working among people to wipe out caste. “We believe in raising awareness about atrocities on Dalits and the government’s destructive pattern of development in a democratic way,” said Sonar. A full-time activist, Sudhir edited the bi-monthly Marathi magazine Vidrohi, which has among its editorial advisers Nikhil Wagle, Anand Patwardhan, and Anand Teltumbde. A year ago, Sudhir had performed Hindi film director Sagar Sarhadi’s play Raj Durbar in Nagpur. Describing him as a “decent man and an enthusiastic and curious student of theatre”, Sarhadi said his arrest was a form of “witch hunting”. Folk artiste shahir Sambhaji Bhagat recalled having first met Sudhir as a college student in Nagpur, where he had attended Bhagat’s theatre workshops. “Sudhir was very active in organising the parallel Vidrohi Marathi Sahitya Sammelans,” said Sambhaji. “He is also a good singer. His arrest bodes ill for those who believe in open democratic work.” Last week, Home Minister Chidambaram had asked Maharashtra’s police to go on the offensive against Naxalites in the state. “When the government puts pressure on the police, they catch Leftists who work in an open manner because these are easy targets,” said Anand Patwardhan. “Dr Binayak Sen and now Sudhir, are being tarred as Naxalites for doing human rights work. It is a continuation of the dangerous pattern of blurring the lines in order to shut people up.”  MIB-21, December 2010 Page 67 Voices Against War On People Nisan Sammelan-2010: “Cultural Resistance: War on People in Corporate Interest” - A Report from Bhubaneshwar, Odisha

[Excerpted from an article By Gunjan] “Combating the impending corporate imperialism backed by the state along with white terrorism in the name of Operation Green Hunt, political as well as cultural resistance is the call of the time in order to protect the life and livelihood and to safeguard the rights of the poorest populace of world’s greatest democracy”, was the unanimously resolved voice of the “Nisan Sammelan-2010”, Bhubaneswar on “Cultural Resistance: War on People in Corporate Interest”. The two tiered conference was attended by more than five thousand people from around 30 co- operating organizations from various corners of Odisha, along with progressive intellectuals like writer- activist Arundhati Roy and Varavara Rao. It was a cool Nov, 21st forenoon and the Shahid Smaraki Swadhinata Sangrami Sadan campus was over flooded with roaring banners, flags, slogans and the village and tribal folk with their traditional attire and armaments. Speaking on the occasion Arundhati remarked that the people ruling the state are the formulators of the constitution and laws for people and they are the ones who are violating it ruthlessly, waging war against their own people to serve the interest of the corporate sector, both national and transnational. The power lines begin from Prime Minister to the Home Minister to the Chief Minister Navin Pattanayak who, it seems is determined to fulfill his father’s dream to metamorphose Odisha into a steel state. “Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, which was brought to safeguard land of tribal areas, is being grossly violated. But now the people in power say that it is imperative on the part of the state to acquire land from tribals in the name of development”, said Arundhati. She re-asserted that the people who raise their voice to protect their ancestral land from corporates are being termed as Maoists and terrorists and are being terrorized by the state. “People’s sovereignty is at stake. The Indian state is using military forces in places like J & K, Punjab, North East, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal to suppress the voice of the people against the land acquisition attempts by big corporate houses supported by the state. Planned strategy is being enforced to snatch away the rights of the people on their land, water, forest and hand them over to corporate forces, making people fight among themselves. Their sole aim is to vacate these lands. They are openly using the military to take hold of the affairs. The country is swiftly turning into a military state, even though in the neighbouring Pakistan, the people are fighting against military rule to establish democracy in their country” she explains. Force, according to Arundhati, is being used by the Govt. and not by Naxalites. Further she added that “Democracy in India is changing fast and those at the helm of the affairs want the country to be militarized. One should not trust the organizations of democratic set-up, even judiciary and media are being influenced. Media has joined hands with the state and the corporate, and has become more dangerous than terrorism itself. The situation is quite similar to what we had during emergency. The media has lost its credibility, origin and ethics, and has become a tool of oppression to justify the voice of interest of the state backed corporate world. Likewise, democracy is being administered by the capitalists. After 1986 two faces of fascism have emerged in India, namely, company fascism and communal fascism, proliferated by the congress and the BJP, respectively. This gave rise to the Maoists and the Islamic terrorists. Ruling parties have 10 percent of voters while the rest 90 percent of the people are fighting for their rights. As there is no judiciary, we are now talking about human rights”. Staying firm on what she earlier said on Kashmir issue, Arundhati maintained her support to the national liberation movements in Kashmir and the North East. She stated that the Maoists are patriot of a kind but their patriotism is very complicated. “I do not think there could be only a Maoist revolution solution to the problems. There will be a new kind of alliance of all kinds of people and all forms of resistance. I ask the people to think on how to confront the challenges thrust upon the country by the corporations. How do the people, whose land, right, river, jungle, livelihood are snatched, whose women are raped and houses gutted, should react? They can’t go on hunger strike because they are already hungry. Even they can not launch non violent agitations in the deep jungle which is controlled by armed forces of the state. It should now be left on the people to decide whether they would resort to violence or non-violence to safeguard their life and livelihood”, clarified Arundhati. Page 68 MIB-21, December 2010 Commenting on the role of writers, she remarked that a writer has every right to express her views. She did not see any problem in that and told “I am not a politician. I am not asking for any vote. The people have a right to protest and I have a right to express my views”. She re-iterated her thoughts on the plight of the tribals and said that the condition of the poor people, especially the tribals, in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal is critical. The attention of the whole world has now turned towards Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand because the poor here have fought off and stopped the biggest corporate houses on the globe from enacting their plans. Recalling the successful anti-BALCO movement in 80s in Gandhamardan in Odisha, she said activists have to think and devise strategies to win battle against Vedanta, POSCO and other corporations. She also added that people’s mass movement in Odisha against POSCO and mining in Niyamgiri and Gandhamardhan Hills are a success so far, but it still lacks complacency and therefore appropriate strategy should be formulated to continue the struggle in the forthcoming days. Successful resistance against projects in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand should not mean that the movement has translated into victory since there is a huge amount of capital, power and force which is backing these monstrous projects. Places like Niyamgiri, Kandhamal and Lalgarh have already been militarized. The tribals cannot confront the state terror within the apparatus controlled by the state, and to lecture them on violent and nonviolent forms of struggle is totally futile. Let the tribals decide how to wage the struggle. There is a bio-diversity of resistance and she greeted the militant milieu of the state for their strong resistance - of various forms – against Operation Green Hunt. Revolutionary poet Varavara Rao in his eloquent deliberation also affirmed that tribals are being targeted for corporate interest. Thousands of people are languishing in jails for their struggle for water, forests, and land. Demanding immediate release of the tribals illegally detained in jails, he alleged that the Naveen Pattanaik government is following a policy of making Odisha a steel state, which would ruin the tribals. He asserted that the Polavaram project is against the tribals of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Rao also criticized the state for using media to generate propaganda around the issue of violence in the resistance struggle, in order to divert the public discourse from its large-scale violently repressive measures on resistance movements which are seeking justice and control over the livelihood resources. Hailing the Nisan Sammelan in this critical juncture he further said that the so called builders of Odisha and modern India, Biju Pattanaik and Nehru have converted Odisha as well as various other regions of the country into jungles of steel plants that gave death instead of life, and these so called temples of development debarred all dalits and adivasis as untouchables and outcasts depriving them of their own land and resources. Further he stated that the definition of Nationalism propagated by communal, capitalist-politico forces and media is against the ideal of nationalism of the struggling masses that are flighting as citizens to save the country from disaster. He questioned whether the plundering of rich natural resources by the corporations, backed by capitalism can be equivalent to nationalism, whereas the struggle by the poor to retain their livelihood and for upholding democratic values like equality and justice is equivalent to anti- nationalism. “The state is trying to suppress the tribal movements against displacement and their refusal to the corporate bodies taking over their land, water, forests”, said Rao. In electoral politics the political parties are supporting the corporate houses as they are being funded by them, he added, and called upon the people to unite and support the tribals in their fight against corporate bodies. They are being targeted by administration and the military. An armed struggle is a must to combat the atrocious violence of the state in form of Operation Greenhunt. Anti-Vedanta tribal leader and member of Niyamgiri Suraksha Samity, Lado Sikoka said that the people are fighting for their land and are being detained. Police is acting as an agent of the corporate and physically assaulting them, in a hideously brutal fashion, for raising their voice for justice. Abhaya Sahu, leader of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, raised a similar concern and told that the state is working for corporate houses and unleashing atrocities on the hardworking people. Diksha Majhi, a resident of Mohana village in Gajapati district narrated the plight of her daughter Arati Majhi, who was gang raped by police personnel and thereafter jailed on the charges of sedition. Lokashakti Abhijan leader Prafulla Samantaray stated that economic imperialism invites cultural imperialism. According to him, to resist imperialism altogether, we ought to fight against cultural imperialism armed with art, literature, theatre, etc. Lingaraj of Paschim Odisha Krusak Sangathan Samanway Samiti further elaborated on this by saying that we don’t want gun rather we require more ploughshares, ponds, farms, check dams. Lingraj described the meeting, involving the various mass movements and the literary intellectuals on such a huge platform, organized by Nisan, as historic.

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 69 Odisha Forest Majdur Union Leader Dandapani Mohanty gave a clarion call for a third war of independence to face the fire of repression by state. The struggle of Mandrabaju, Gajapati, Kalinga Nagar and others, he said, are the struggle of life and livelihood. Police atrocities herald a dark administration. He criticized severely the present Operation Green Hunt, specifying it as a war against the people struggling for their life and livelihood, and demanded political prisoner status for the jailed activists. According to his research, till now more than 600 people are languishing in various jails, in the name of sedition. Kalia Mullick of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh, Ghumusar along with Vidika Soma and Ram Andro of CMAS, Narayanpatna described that they are fighting for their survival and are being jailed and tortured. Their paddy, foodgrains and household are being looted, villages and houses are being raided, and women are being sexually harassed. More than 200 activists of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangathan are in jails while Ganguli Tadingi and Rata Sirika lost their lives in jail as they were deprived of medical facilities. They invited the writers and intellectuals of the Capital to come down to their villages and see the real picture themselves and called for their support. Bhagaban Majhi of Prakrutika Sampad Suraksha Parishad, advocate Biswapriya Kanungo, Satyabadi Mahar of Kalahandi Sachetan Nagarika Manch, Vikram Mallick of Adibasi Adhikar Andolana, Kandhamal, Gupteswar Kanhar of Gandhamardan Surakshya Yuva Parishad, Paikmal, Viswanath Nayak of Bruttanga Birodhi Manch, Santosh Mohapatra of Dakshin Odisha Shramika Federation, Narendra Mohanty from Banbasi Suraksha Parishad, Kandhamal, delegates from Odisha Janabadi Lekhak Sangh, Bhubaneswar, Kalahandi Janabadi Lekhak Manch, Behera, Oriya Bhasa Bikash Manch, Rourkela, Prakrutika Sampad Suraksha Parishad, Kucheipadar, Malkangiri Zilla Adibashi Sangh, Tarlakot, Rajnaitik Bandi Mukti Committee, Cuttack, AISF, Bhubaneswar, Rastriya Yuva Sangathan, Jagatsinghpur, Rajdhani Basti Unnayan Parishad, Bhubaneswar, Jal Jamin Jungle Surksha Manch, Sundargarh, Adihak Jana Sangharsha Committee, Sundargarh, Aanchalika Bisthapit Sangh, Rourkela, Janaswartha Suraksha Parishad, Mahanga, Chilika Matsyajivee Mahasangh, Balugaon and others also addressed the sammelan and opined that in this juncture of history, besides diversity of struggle and thought, everyone should come together to pave the way to fight against corporate bodies, Operation Green Hunt and resist state atrocities and massacre, bravely. They condemned both the Odisha government and the centre for their anti-people policy to safeguard the corporal interest and called for an effective cultural resistance. The conference was co-chaired by radical poet Kumar Hassan and eminent writer Bibhuti Pattanaik. Reception committee chair person, eminent poet Rajendra Kishore Panda, Veteran Journalist Ravi Das, revolutionary octogenarian writer Prafulla Das, Poet Ashutosh Parida, poet Aswini Kumar Mishra and others also addressed the congregation. Poet and president of Odisha Janabadi Lekhak Sangh Kumar Hassan delivering his presidential address defined the unsustainable and anti-people industrialization as death toll of human future and stated that whenever there is any attack by selfish interests a resistance is a must, be it political or cultural or of any kind. The combined resistance of people is the need of the hour. He called all the like minded people to unite and ceaselessly fight against anti-people state and corporate bodies for land and life. A detailed resolution was tabled in the sammelan and was accepted by all with a reverberating and wide applause. The points in the resolution include, 1) Stop all sorts of attack on people in corporate interest including Operation Green Hunt, 2) All the fake cases against people’s movement be withdrawn; unconditional release of all the nabbed activists of Narayanapatna movement, 3) Proper and impartial investigation on fake encounters and punish the real culprits accordingly, 4) Withdrawal of police and paramilitary camps from areas of mass movement, 5) Stop the attack on freedom of creative expression which is intended to establish a real democratic social order, 5) Stop industrialization induced displacement and stop industrialization for luxuries of few, devastating the land, water, jungle, livelihood of the majority, 6) Cancel all the MOUs with native and foreign companies and cancel SEZs, and 7) Safeguard the natural resources, forest, peasantry, wage earners, tribals, labourers, youth, students, slum dwellers, displaced, fishing folks, political prisoners, language, writers, poets, intellectuals, artisans and art. The conference also condemned arrest of activists and members of Laxman Nayak Yuva Chhatra Manch and Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh while coming to attend this conference, near Rayagada station. It was declared as a heinous crime and the sammelan demanded to set them free immediately. Earlier when Arundhati arrived at the venue, she faced tussle perpetrated by a group of eleven Sangh Parivar activists shouting “anti-national”, “go back”, etc. The police remained mute spectator to the clash that followed between ABVP activists and the organizers. The ABVP activists were driven away and later the police arrested all of them. At the start of the conference, the attack on Arundhati by communal Sangh Parivar was condemned and the conference considered it as a facet of ongoing corporate conspiracy against the struggling masses. Page 70 MIB-21, December 2010 Politics of Fake Encounter in Odisha

By Dandapani Mahanty, General Secretary, Odisha Forest Mazdoor Union, January 14 2011 Odisha is full of mountains and hills containing a substantial quantity of nations wealth of minerals. Odishas resources in percent of Indias total mineral resources in parenthesis: coal(25%), bauxite (50%), chromites (98%), iron (27%), nickel(91%), and many other minerals. Exploitation of these mineral deposits is taking place legally as well as illegally at an increasing speed, causing large scale evictions of tribals, dalits and poor peasants from the lands, forests, rivers, mountains etc. In the so-called process of development the broad masses are denied access to the forests and forest produces, affecting their livelihood adversely as well as causing pollution of entire ecology system. The plundering of natural resources by the national and multi-national companies in the name of mineral based industries is not accepted by the people of state which has resulted in militant mass movements in different parts of the state. 54 MoUs have been signed with the national and multinational companies and capitalists by the Odisha Govt. to loot the natural resources and minerals. If the said schemes are implemented, around 1,10,000 hectors of agricultural land, 10,000 hectors of forest land and 50,000 hectors of grazing land will be affected and lakhs of poor people will be displaced from their hearth and home. Since long, people are raising their voice and organizing resistance movements against the anti-people destructive projects in the name of so-called developments. From Baliapal to Gopalpur, Gandhamardan to Kasipur, Dhinkia to Niyamgiri, Kaling Nagar to Narayanpatna - everywhere the oppressed, poor mainly tribals are organizing themselves against the state patronized exploitation and conspiracy, which open the doors for the corporate, multinationals to loot the natural resources. Different forms of of resistance movements are going on including armed struggle led by CPI (Maoist). Instead of addressing the fundamental political economic issues of the broad masses, the state has been persistently continuing terrorism to suppress the dissent voice, politics as well as peoples militant resistances. The fundamental issues like life and livelihood of broad masses are treated as law and order issues by the state and the state security forces including Border Security Forces, CRPF etc are deployed in the movement areas. In the process of state terrorism about 700 fighting people have been imprisoned and most of them are under trial prisoners and languishing in the jails for years together. Custodial violence including deaths in the custody has become a policy of the state. Gang rape of tribal women in the custody is also not uncommon in our state. The complaint of a gang rape victim is also not properly inquired into by the judicial magistrate of R.Udaygiri in spite of mandatory provision enumerated as under section- 176(1-A) of Code of criminal procedure. In the name of combing operation the security forces have obtained license to kill any person under the cover of encounter with Maoists. It has become a general practice in our state that when an innocent person is killed by the police bullets, at that moment the police create a story that the person was a Maoist who died in the encounter. Very recently between 28-12-2010 and 12-01-2011, twenty innocent persons including ten women were killed by the bullets of security forces in the name of encounter with Maoists. Since the militant mass movements are continuing in Kaling Nagar, Kashipur, Niyamgiri and Gandhamardan areas, the state has adopted the politics of encounter to create a reign of terror in the said areas to suppress the mass movements and to serve the corporate interests. It is not out of place to mention that although a number of so called encounter incidents have occurred in the tribal areas of the state, in no case any independent and credible enquiry has been ordered by the state government. In one case only the victim lady of village Birubai under Rayagada district made a complaint before the state human right commission that her husband was killed on 7-7-2006 by the security forces in a fake encounter. The commission decided the case in her favour and came to the conclusion that the husband of victim lady was innocent, who was killed by police in fake encounter. But the recommendation of Comission regarding taking action against responsible police officer is yet to be carried out. I have reason to believe that there are only four cases of exchange of fire (encounter) between the arms squad of Maoists and security forces of the state during the period of 2004 to 2011 and which are in Koraput, R.Udaygiri, Gasama and Damanjodi and all other cases are fake encounters and which require free, fair and credible investigations after registration of criminal cases in the respective police stations. Under the above facts and circumstances, I appeal to all concerned persons /groups/forces to condemn and raise their voice against the state policy of fake encounter to kill innocent persons as a part of repression and suppression of dissent voice/politics/ideology with a motive to serve the corporate interest. MIB-21, December 2010 Page 71 “In Gandhamardhan, the slain activists are ironically members of the BJP. It is probably the most emblematic cases amongst fake encounters in the war against the communist guerrillas where people with right wing political affiliations were killed and branded as left wing extremists. Vedanta is one of the companies that has been trying to acquire mining rights for Gandhamardhan hill. While all this mayhem is unleashed upon people by the police, the corporations have been making major announcements. Vedanta has gone to court challenging the MoEF’s decision. Tata has released statements that they will turn Kalinga Nagar into Jamsedhpur.” “To start with we have to register our opinion about the way media reports on these killings, celebrating the death of people as if some big evil force has been defeated. All news agencies without exception have been rendered into propaganda publishers of the Govt and the Corporations. Let’s not forget the shocking expose of the media a few months ago when the Radia tapes were made public. Let’s not forget that it was Nira Radia (PR Agent) who told Vir Sanghvi (Top Journalist) “We (tata steel) are fighting the Maoists in Kalinga Nagar.” Let’s not allow the Nira Radias to brand our movements and pave the way for such horrific brutalities.” [From the article “Anti Mining Activists killed in Odisha” by Surya Shankar Dash] Revolution and Counter-Revolution: Indian State Bares its Fangs as the Class Struggle Intensifies in Odisha! January 17, 2011 “Once they (Vedanta Aluminium Ltd.) get the final clearance and come here for mining, we will have no option but to fight them tooth and nail… We have started preparations for the confrontation and that is when the government will declare us Maoists and unleash CRPF troops on us. But we have nothing to lose. We will fight it out and die but will not let go of our forest…” - Lenju, activist of Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti in an interview to Frontline, 5-18 June 2010 Lenju was among the nine people gunned down by the armed forces in Badangmali of Rayagada district last week. After staging this ‘encounter’ on 9 January 2011, the police claimed that nine ‘Maoist ultras’, including four women, were killed and advertised it as the biggest ‘catch’ in its ongoing war against the Maoists in Odisha. The police identified the dead as Ravi, Rajendra, Lenju, Ramesh Kulsika, Rinky, Nirmala, Mamata Sipka, Karuna and Kamala. However, not even a single policeman got injured after this ‘fierce encounter’ that supposedly lasted for six to seven hours! In spite of the one-sided reports in the corporate media which uncritically blurted out the police version of the ‘encounter’, anyone who is aware of the realities of India would know that it was not encounter but cold-blooded murder. Like Lenju who was a member of Dongria Kondh tribal community and a leader of the Niyamgiri movement fighting against Vedanta’s incursions, all the dead were activists or supporters of the anti-displacement movements in Rayagada and its adjoining districts. This was preceded by another ‘encounter’ staged on 2 January 2011 in Tamka forest of Jajpur district. Five people, including four women – Sabitri, Sujata, Baby and Janga – were killed by the police. The usual claims of heroic success against the Maoists were made. All five of them, however, were picked up by the police from different villages on 20 December 2010 and made to undergo two weeks of illegal custody and torture before being shot. Among them Janga, of merely 12 years in age, was a resident of Baligotha village near Kalinga Nagar. In April 2010, the police attacked her village and razed it to the ground. Though there was no proof of ‘illegal activities’ against any of them, the murderous gang of police executed the five without taking the ‘trouble’ of carrying out constitutional and legal niceties, such as arresting or producing them before a court of law. The only crime of the five villagers was to oppose the forced displacement of people Page 72 MIB-21, December 2010 to make way for mining. The ‘encounter’ was staged just a day before the 5th anniversary of the Kalinga Nagar killings where 14 adivasis where shot dead in January 2006 for protesting against the proposed Tata steel plant. It was meant to be a lesson to the people that the state would not hesitate to replicate the mass murder of Kalinga Nagar if they did not submit to the wishes and interests of the ruling classes. In 2008, Sirimajhi Paleka was gunned down by the police in Birubai village of Rayagada district in a fake encounter for allegedly belonging to the ‘Surya dalam of CPI (Maoist)’. When this concocted story was challenged in the Odisha Human Rights Commission, no proof could be provided by the police for his alleged involvement, nor could it give any justification for the ‘encounter’. It was impossible to believe that any encounter really took place when none of the 50 policemen who supposedly took part in the exchange of fire were injured, the OHRC observed. It ordered the Odisha government to provide Paleka’s widow compensation and a pension. As for the punishment of the guilty policemen, not a word was heard. None of the perpetrators of state violence has been brought to justice, nor will they ever be in the given political and judicial system. Because the police and armed forces merely implement what the state wants them to do, and thereby receives its full protection. This makes it amply clear to the people that the state, being an instrument of class oppression, sanctions the murder of the vocal members of the exploited classes. This is what happened in Narayanpatna on 20 November 2009 when the police shot dead two members of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha, including its president Wadeka Singana during a peaceful protest demonstration. Therefore, the oppressed masses at times decided to respond with retaliatory violence, much like when a policeman was killed by the people after four persons died in police firing in Gochapada of Kandhmal district on 13 September 2008. And these are but a few recent and more blatant instances of state violence. It is estimated that in the last four decades since 1969, 130 people have been killed in fake encounters in Odisha. Of them, 23 have been killed in the last two months alone, for being part of various anti-displacement and democratic movements. At least three adivasis have been killed in police custody after undergoing torture in October-December 2010. The intensification of state violence in the last few years signifies a sharpening of the class contradictions, where Odisha has become one central arena of class struggle. This shows the growing influence of the communist movement among the oppressed classes, and the proportionately growing desperation of the ruling classes to crush it by unleashing state terror. Threatened by the growth of the revolutionary movement, the Indian state has abandoned all its democratic pretence, treating all peoples’ movements in a dictatorial manner. In this way the ruling classes are desperately trying to preserve the age-old exploitative social and economic relations, be it the feudal land relations or the stranglehold of the comprador big bourgeoisie and international finance capital over Odisha’s people and resources. However, these relations are constantly being attacked by the revolutionary and democratic peoples’ movements, be it in Narayanpatna where adivasis have reclaimed thousands of acres of land occupied by big landlords of Odisha and Andhra, or in other regions where the exploitation and incursion of extractive industries have been stalled by the people. It is the same forces of domination that kept the vast majority of the people of Odisha in poverty, misery and subjugation over the years, and fulfilled the needs of a handful of rich and powerful belonging to the ruling classes. Post-liberalisation, multinational companies of various imperialist countries have entered Odisha with renewed vigor, expecting super-profits from the plunder of resources. For instance, out of the total mineral resources of India, Odisha contains 99 percent chromate ore, 92 percent of nickel ore, 65 percent of graphite and pyrophylite, 66 percent of bauxite, 32 percent of manganese, 28 percent of iron ore, and 24 percent of coal deposits. Posco of South Korea therefore has plans to construct a mammoth $12 billion steel plant near Paradip port, which would be the largest single investment in India’s history. Arcelor-Mittal likewise has announced plans to invest in another mega steel project amounting to $10 billion. Russian major Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Company plans to set up a 10 MT steel plant. Anil Ambani’s Reliance Industries is putting up the world’s largest power plant with an investment of US $13 billion at Hirma in Jharsuguda district. The 1.4 million tonne alumina project in Kalahandi district undertaken by Vedanta Resources is the largest investment in aluminium in the country. Profit and not the people are at the centre of these projects. The Indian state, which is the joint dictatorship of the feudal forces and comprador big capitalist class, is now being boldly challenged by the oppressed masses all over Odisha, be it in Narayanpatna, Kalinganagar, Kashipur, Gandhamardan, Malkangiri, Koraput or Rayagada, etc. And the people here, as elsewhere in the country where the revolutionary movement led by the Maoist revolutionaries is taking shape, are not only fighting to defend what they have – jal, jangal, jameen – they are also fighting to build what they aspire for: a real democracy. Organs of peoples’ power are taking shape in many parts of MIB-21, December 2010 Page 73 Odisha which are restructuring the society in a revolutionary way, and are putting up the most resolute fight against feudal oppression and corporate plunder. These areas of revolutionary class struggle, spread over nearly half of the 30 districts of Odisha, are now being identified by the state as ‘Naxal affected’. The most blatant instances of state violence in the name of fighting Naxalism are taking place in these areas, and it is here that the counter-revolutionary war waged by the state on the revolutionary and democratic masses and their movements is most intense. Here everyone who is not with the state is a potential target of ‘encounters’. But inspired by the revolutionary spirit of Naxalbari and guided by a communist consciousness, the oppressed people of Odisha are boldly carrying forward the banner of class struggle. It is time that we too choose our sides. [Posted by Democratic Students Union] *** Punjab: Protest march and rally for Binayak Sen and companions January 9, 2011 On a call of the Democratic Front Against Operation Green Hunt, Punjab, a protest march and rally was organized at Bathinda on 8th January 2011. In chilling cold, protestors, including a good number of intellectuals, peasants, agricultural laborers, women, students, youth & children assembled at the local Teachers Home lawn. N.K.Jeet Advocate, State Committee Member of the Democratic Front described in detail, how Dr. Sen and his co-accused were implicated in a false criminal case, as he raised his voice against violation of democratic & human rights of tribals under the Salwa Judam campaign and expropriation of the mineral wealth lying underneath the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh, by imperialist Multi National Companies. The rules of evidence have been changed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Chhattisgarh Special Security Act, putting the burden of proving his innocence on the accused. He further said that the conviction & sentencing of Dr. Binayak Sen is a warning to all pro-people intellectuals, human rights activists and social workers. Dr Sen, a heart patient, has already spent over two years in prison from May 2007 to May 2009 and was released on bail by the Indian Supreme Court. Sh. Attarjit Singh Kahanikar, another State Committee member, rendered a beautiful poem dedicated to Dr. Sen calling upon the people to fight this brutal attack on the democratic movement. Sh. Bagga Singh, President Association For Democratic Rights, Punjab and Sh. Jagmohan Kaushal President Teachers Home Trust Bathinda and a noted educationist, described the conviction & sentencing of Dr. Binayak Sen & his companions as a black spot on the face of Indian Democracy. They said that in our country corrupt politicians claim themselves to be patriot even after swindling lakhs of crores in kick-backs, but those who dedicatedly serve the people, are branded as traitors and put in jail. The protestors, carrying banners and placards, marched through the crowded city bazaars, raising slogans demanding release of Dr. Binayak Sen and his companions, repeal of black laws and an end to operation Green Hunt. The protest march culminated in District Court Bathinda, where a rally was held. Master Jagmail Singh, addressed the rally, demanding immediate release of Dr. Binayak Sen & his companions. He said, it was a matter of shame to Indian citizens everywhere that the world’s largest democratic country cannot tolerate criticism and non-violent human rights activism. This attitude of intolerance should invite widest possible condemnation. Lok Kala Manch Mansa, staged a Nukkad Natak (Street Play) “ KURSI NAACH NACHAYE “, portraying the politicians deep lust for power and betrayal of the people by them. The rally ended demanding immediate release of Dr. Binayak Sen & his co-accused Narayan Sanyal and Piyush Guha, repeal of all anti-people black-laws and putting an end to Operation Green Hunt. N.K.JEET Advocate, State Committee Member, Democratic Front Against Operation Green Hunt, Punjab. ‘Operation Mineral Hunt’ - From Frontier Anti-Naxal operation has been in operation in the state of Jharkhand since March 2010. And it has created tremendous uncertainty, brought threat to life and seized the freedom of the villagers, mostly the Adivasis in different parts of the state. The Adivasis who live in or around the forests and depend on it for their livelihoods are not allowed to enter/roam in the forests any more by the security forces, the water

Page 74 MIB-21, December 2010 resources are captured by them, the villagers are unnecessarily harassed, children are denied their right to education as the schools have been transformed into military camps and women are also misbehaved by the security forces. People have been told for several years that the Palamu region of Jharkhand is the most Maoists infested area. Presently, Simdega district comes under the same category but everybody is surprised to know about the anti-Naxal operation, which was first launched in the Kolhan region, where most of the MoUs were signed with the corporate houses for establishment of the mining industries, the power projects and the steel plants. It is very clear that the anti-Naxal operations are being carried out in those districts (East Singhbhum, West Singbhum, Khunti, Gumla, Bokaro, Giridih, Chatra, Latehar, Ramgarh and Hazaribagh) where the villagers are opposing the proposed projects for steel plants, mining industries, Power projects, Dams and sponge iron factories. Ironically, the government of India has launched another operation on March 17th in the same areas where the anti-Naxal operations are being operated, which can be called an ‘Operation Mineral Hunt’. According to the latest report, the choppers are engaged for conducting an aerial survey to find out the existence of minerals in Chhotanagpur region. Both the operations are being carried out simultaneously in these areas by the government of India. Therefore, people have every reason to believe that the so- called ‘operation green hunt’ or anti-Naxal operation is to get the Adivasis’ and other local settlers’ lands clear for the Corporate Houses rather than cleansing the Maoists from the areas. It seems that the state is essentially batting for the corporate houses in the name of combating the Maoists and instead of creating peace the government is creating insecurity in the state to displace the tribals. The demands of the tribals are simple. They urge the union government to ensure the livelihoods to the villagers and their remaining resources should not be taken away, they demand MoUs signed with the Corporate Houses since 2000 till the date must be withdrawn, the people whose lands had been taken away for the development projects must be rehabilitated in proper manner and in case of signing a new MoU; the traditional Gram Sabhas must be made a party to it. The existing land laws must be enforced strongly, address all kinds of land related problems and the Adivasis must be returned their snatched land. The agro-forest based development process should be enhanced in the state with the complete involvement of the villagers rather than pushing the corporate model of development in the state. No that is not happening. Blaming it on the Maoists for all the evils under the sun cannot hide the real design of the Government of India. *** Green Hunt Debate on Web

Ranchi, March 2: Blogs and posting messages on Facebook, Orkut and Twitter are passé. Netizens eager to voice their opinions have found a new way to do so — drop a mail into your inbox. At least, that’s what National Forum, a community floated by human rights activists, social workers, writers and intellectuals, is doing to justify “Why Operation Greenhunt Will Fail”? Cutting across boundaries, participants, most of who belong to Naxalite-affected states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, are voicing their opinions on the net. A majority of the members oppose the Centre’s crackdown plan on Maoists. “I am surprised that some intellectuals based outside the state and the country argue for hunting the Naxalites/Maoists instead of proposing to bring them to the mainstream. Is pleading for killing human beings not a greater crime? Should such Devil’s advocates be encouraged and supported by the people of our country?” wrote Prashant Patnaik, a resident of Bhubaneswar. It is not Patnaik alone, there are many others arguing on this line and swearing that Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s plan will fail. Even Catholic priests have joined the debate. “More than six decades of injustice is not going to be solved by force overnight. If the government both at the state and the Centre think that they can taste victory, they are fools,” said Jothi SJ, a priest residing in Arruppe Institute in Damon-Raia (Goa). He claimed to have visited Lalgarh in Bengal. Some participants of National Forum have even termed the operation a “hunt for minerals”. “The rural hunt is for the mineral wealth of the tribal land. Greenhunt is actually a hunt for green forests where tribals live,” said Stan Swamy, a social activist of Jharkhand. Very few support Chidambaram’s view. 

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 75 Statements from Other Organisations Dr Binayak Sen’s Conviction And Life Sentence Mock Justice

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Press Release 24 December 2010 The life sentence handed down against Dr Binayak Sen by a court in the India state of Chhattisgarh violates international fair trial standards and is likely to enflame tensions in the conflict-affected area, Amnesty International said today. “Life in prison is an unusually harsh sentence for anyone, much less for an internationally recognized human rights defender who has never been charged with any act of violence,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director. “State and federal authorities in India should immediately drop these politically motivated charges against Dr Sen and release him.” Dr Binayak Sen was convicted of sedition and conspiracy under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Safety Act, 2005, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 2004. He was immediately taken into custody after the announcement of the sentence, having been out on bail since May 2009. “Dr Sen, who is considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, was convicted under laws that are impermissibly vague and fall well short of international standards for criminal prosecution,” Sam Zarifi said. “Instead of persecuting Dr Sen, authorities in Chhattisgarh should be acting to protect the people of the region from the abuses committed by the Maoists, as well as state security forces and militias.” “This sentence will seriously intimidate other human rights defenders who would provide a peaceful outlet for the people’s grievances, especially for the indigenous Adivasi population,” Sam Zarifi said. India’s central government has acknowledged that the intensifying armed conflict with the Maoists in central India is a reflection of serious inequities and a history of human rights violations in the area. Amnesty International believes that the charges against Dr Sen are baseless and politically motivated. Dr Binyak Sen is a pioneer of health care to marginalized and indigenous communities in Chhattisgarh, where the state police and armed Maoists have been engaged in clashes over the last seven years. He has reported on unlawful killings of Adivasis (Indigenous People) by the police and by Salwa Judum, a private militia widely held to be sponsored by the state authorities to fight the armed Maoists. Dr Binyak Sen was first detained without proper charges for seven months, denied bail, and kept in solitary confinement for three weeks. He spent two years in jail before his release on bail in May 2009. Many of the charges against him stem from laws that contravene international standards. Repeated delays in the conduct of his trial have cast doubts about its fairness. Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Indian authorities to immediately drop all the charges against Dr Binyak Sen.

For more information please call Amnesty International’s press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: [email protected] International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK

War, this monster of mutual slaughter among men, will be finally eliminated by the progress of human society, and in the not too distant future too. But there is only one way to eliminate it and that is to oppose war with war, to oppose counter-revolutionary war with revolutionary war, to oppose national counter-revolutionary war with national revolutionary war, and to oppose counter-revolutionary class war with revolutionary class war. . . . When human society advances to the point where classes and states are eliminated, there will be no more wars, counter- revolutionary or revolutionary, unjust or just; that will be the era of perpetual peace for mankind. Our study of the laws of revolutionary war springs from the desire to eliminate all wars; herein lies the distinction between us Communists and all the exploiting classes. [“Problems of Strategy in China’s Revolutionary War” (Dec. 1936), MSW,, Vol. 1, pp. 182]

Page 76 MIB-21, December 2010 The need to enlarge protests around Binayak Sen to all cases of Sedition - PUDR Statement January 4, 2010 Dear friends and comrades, The recent countrywide demonstrations against the unfair verdict in the Binayak Sen case have been really heartwarming. The demonstrations have brought many of us together, who feel enraged and upset over the judgment. Clearly, if our numbers continue to grow, we will soon be in a position of strength and will ensure the release of Binayak and many others. The case against Binayak Sen has become a focal point to oppose the attempts by the state to criminalise civil rights activities. Yet, we strongly feel that in order to make the entire campaign into a success we have to enlarge the present focus from the individual, Binayak Sen, to include the co-accused, Piyush Guha and Narayan Sanyal, and also take into consideration the plight of others who are similarly imprisoned in unfair cases of sedition. Consider the following : Piyush Guha, the supposed courier in this case, has never been granted bail. He lost his parents in the course of these three years but was not given the right to even attend to the last rites of his parents. Piyush was kept in illegal custody and tortured for five days and he was only produced when the Chhattisgarh PUCL issued a statement demanding his whereabouts. His family lost its breadwinner and his wife, Rupa Guha, has been carrying out a lone fight for three and half years. Our efforts in demanding the release of Binayak must include the release of Piyush Guha. Narayan Sanyal, the other co-accused has been in jail for five years already. He is old and ailing and is suffering from a chronic and painful ailment, fibromatosis. Despite directives from the court, he has not received any serious medical treatment in prison.The argument that his being a Maoist ideologue is sufficient to keep him in prison for the rest of his life is unfair, cruel and undemocratic particularly since the other cases in which he has been arrested have nearly collapsed. As has been pointed out by many, the decision to charge him with sedition happened only after the police arrested Binayak Sen. Narayan Sanyal’s case (even his supposed role in the present one) is a fit case for us to ask not only for his release but also to demand a repeal of the ban against CPI(Maoist). Our campaign must focus on demanding the repeal of undemocratic ‘security’ legislations like UAPA, CSPSA etc or under unfair provisions of the IPC like ‘sedition’ (S 124 A) and ‘waging war’ (S 121 of IPC) . The most recent conviction of Asit Sengupta, editor ofthe well known journal, World to Win is most worrying. Sengupta was arrested by Chhattisgarh police (and illegally detained, of course!) in January 2008 and never granted bail. On the same day when Binayak, Piyush and Sanyal were given life imprisonment, the same day Asit Sengupta was convicted and sentenced to eight years imprisonment for his work as an editor and publisher by another Raipur court. Kopa Kunjam, activist of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (Dantewada) who was working to re-settle displaced Adivasis in Netra villa, has been implicated in a murder case. Nine activists, including Kartam Joga of Adivasi Mahasbha, campaigning against landgrab in Lohandiguda, (Bastar) have been accused of involvement in the attack on CRPF personnel. There are innumerable incidents of this nature which are taking place in Chattisgarh and elsewhere where joint operations are going on. Friends, we need to fight together to ensure that : 1. The entire miscarriage of justice begun in 2007 should be rectified and all the victims should be unconditionally released and compensated for their unfair stay in jail. 2. Withdrawal of undemocratic ‘security’ legislations like UAPA, CSPSA etc 3. Repeal of archaic and colonial provisions like sedition and waging war from the IPC 4. Improvement of facilities in jails, particularly medical treatment of prisoners Harish Dhawan and Paramjeet Singh (Secretaries PUDR)

Revolutionary war is an antitoxin which not only eliminates the enemy’s poison but also purges us of our own filth. Every just, revolutionary war is endowed with tremendous power, which can transform many things or clear the way for their transformation. [“On Protracted War” (May 1938), Mao Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 131.]

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 77 Press Note from OFMU, Odisha and Revolutionary Writers Association, A.P. January 11 On 24th December, 2010, the police raided the village of Lundang in Gajapati District, brutally tortured all village people. The Adivasis there belongs to the catholic christian community. Their preparation for Christmas was totally destroyed. From there, they have taken four young men - Somnath Majhi, Pradeep Majhi and two others to the S.O.G camp inside SPs office, Paralakhemundi and severely tortured. Pradeep Majhi died there because of torture but the SP has concocted a story that he committed suicide in the Police lock up with shoelaces. The villagers blocked the road and protested. The district collector announced one lakh rupees ex-gratia from the Red Cross Fund. The other three were sent to judicial custody to R.Udayagiri after fabricating false cases against them. In the month of October two Adivasi people - Gangul Tharangi ( Chandrapur) and M. Suba Rao ( ward member from Konda Baridi village ) were picked up and tortured, causing their death in custody in Rayagada district ( Gangulu in Chandrapur P.S and Suba Rao in Ramnaguda P.S). Their custodial deaths were also shown as suicides. After the people’s protest blocking the road, Rayagada collector announced ex-gratia for Suba Rao. On 28th December 2010, two activists of Gandhamadan Surakshya Parishad, Madhab Singh Thakur and Ramesh Sahoo, were killed by Bargarh police in Paikamal and floated the story of encounter. Madhab Thakur is the BJP mandal president. When the preparations for the anniversary of Kalinga Nagar Martyrs ( 5th January) was taking place, 5 people from different places were forcibly taken by the police on 20th december and an encounter of these five people was shown on 2nd January, 2011 after two weeks of illegal custody and torture. They were not Maoist squad members. They are all innocent villagers and there were 4 girls among the 5 people. One of them is a 12 year girl. The encounters was shown to have taken place near Tamka Forest, Main road. Since 1969 in Odisha, 130 people were killed in fake encounters. One in Gasma, one in Koraput armoury action (2004), one in R. Udaygiri (2006) and another in Damonjodi in Nalco (2009) are the only real encounters. Rest are fake. Even in these fake encounters except in Kopardang, Gotaa, Kutinganda and Betasing, people killed are innocent people. In the last 40 years among the 130 people died. But with Operation Green Hunt, the pace of encounter killings has increased. It has become a frequent practice and 30 innocent people are killed during Operation Green Hunt. Though there is a state Human Rights Commission chaired by a retired high court Judge, no justice is delivered to the kith and kin of deceased nor any enquiry has been conducted into the facts of encounter killings. There are 700 people in different jails in Odisha including 120 people in Rourkela and 200 people in Koraput. This kind of state repression and encounter killings are only to suppress the resistance of the Adivasi and democratic forces in the state, who are resisting their displacement and the plunder of resources of this state by the multinational and big companies. We demand the state government to stop these encounter killings an illegal arrests and stop the displacement of Adivasis in the name of development. And we urge the democratic forces to raise their voices in solidarity with the fighting people. Issued by , Dandapani Mohanty ( General Secretary. OFMU , Odisha) Vara Vara Rao ( Revolutionary Writers Association, A.P)

We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun. [“Problems of War and Strategy” (November 6, 1938), Mao Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 225] Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. Military and economic power is necessarily wielded by people. [“On Protracted War” (May 1938), Mao Selected Works, Vol. II, pp. 143-44.]

Page 78 MIB-21, December 2010 CPI (Maoist) Statements COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) CENTRAL COMMITTEE December 4, 2010 OBSERVE ‘BLACK DAY’ ON DECEMBER 6 OPPOSING HINDU COMMUNALISM! Rebuild Babri Masjid At The Same Site! Isolate And Defeat Hindu Fascist Forces!! Punish Severely Saffron Terrorists Responsible For Malegaon, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Sherief And Samjhouta Express Bomb Blasts! Exactly 18 years ago, on 6th December, 1992, Hindu religious fundamentalist goondas in connivance with the then Congress government at the centre, demolished Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. Firstly, these Hindu fundamentalists made 500 year-old Babri Masjid a controversial site by claiming it as the birth place of Lord Rama and on that pretext many a time instigated communal disturbances in the country killing thousands of Muslims. Demolition of Babri Masjid was the biggest attack by Hindu fascists in the history of our country. The likes of LK Advani, Ashok Singhal, Murali Manohar Joshi, Praveen Togadiya, Uma Bharati, Sadhvi Ritambara, who were directly involved in it were not punished by any court even till today. On 30th September, giving its verdict on the ownership rights of the controversial site, pending for 61 years, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court with its Brahminical Hindu religious ideology did injustice to Muslims. Without any historical evidence and archeological proof it stated the controversial place to be the birth place of Lord Rama. First occupying Masjid, then demolishing, now by giving verdict to build temple, that too to handover the very forces involved in demolition, clarifies Indian state’s Hindu fascist mindset. By this verdict, once again it has been proved that the Houses of justice in this country favour only exploitative classes and Brahminical Hindu religious fanatics, but not peasants, workers, dalits, women and religious minorities. By court verdicts a solution to this cannot be found, only by smashing the present system and by establishing New Democratic State, a solution to this can be found. In the recent past, many evidences surfaced proving the involvement of saffron terrorist groups of the Sagh Parivar in bomb blasts at Malegaon, Ajmer Sherief, Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid, Samjhouta express. The leaders of VHP, RSS, Bajarang Dal and other organizations on the proxy name of ‘Abhinav Bharat’ conspired bomb blasts and killed many innocent people. It has become a norm for the police and intelligence agencies to blame Muslims as culprits, wherever and whenever bomb blasts take place, even if at Masjids. Arresting hundreds of youth without any reason and severely torturing, killing in fake encounters, implicate false cases, accusing of having links with ISI and thus playing with the lives is part of the Hindu communal and fascist policies of the governments. By projecting every Muslim as a terrorist through media, governments are trying to suppress them by all means. Those who demand to hang Ajmal Kasab who is involved in Mumbai attacks, at the same time keeping mum or not raising their voice loudly against Hindu fascist killers of Sangh gang is a dangerous sign. Governments are not arresting these saffron terrorists, even if they arrest a few on some occasions, are setting them free declaring innocent by not conducting thorough probe. On the other hand, those intellectuals, journalists, media organizations, newspapers and activists who dare to raise their voice against these Hindu fundamentalist forces are being attacked by Sangh gang at several places. On the whole, the communal fascistic trends of the Indian state are taking a severe form day by day. Secular forces of all religions, democrats and progressive thinkers should come forward and fight unitedly against Hindu communal fascism. All of us must condemn the attacks of Hindu fascist forces on Muslims, Christians and all other religious minorities. At the same time all other kinds of religious fundamentalism should be opposed. Our Party has been maintaining that the place of Babri Masjid belonged to Muslims; it should be given to Muslims and has been demanding that Babri Masjid should be rebuilt at the same site and those fascist MIB-21, December 2010 Page 79 leaders who had demolished it must be punished severely. Our Central Committee calls upon all democratic, secular, progressive and revolutionary forces, organizations and parties to support this demand. Our CC also calls upon entire people to observe ‘BLACK DAY’ on December 6, by conducting meetings and processions and wearing black badges in protest of Hindu communalism.

(Abhay) Spokesperson, Central Committee, CPI (Maoist) *** COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) CENTRAL COMMITTEE December 24, 2010 Serving people is not conspiracy! Supporting peoples struggles can never be sedition!! The Scamsters who amass billions of rupees are the real conspirators! The Gangsters who sell-out our country to imperialists are the real traitors!! Observe Protest Week from January 2nd to 8th, 2011 against the fascist Chhattisgarh government’s court judgments that sentenced Civil Rights activist Doctor Binayak Sen, Maoist leader Narayana Sanyal, trader Piyush Guha under sedition for life imprisonment and magazine editor Asit Sengupta for eight years imprisonment! On December 24, the Raipur district additional sessions court sentenced for life civil rights activist Dr. Binayak Sen, our party Politburo member Comrade Narayan Sanyal, trader Piyush Guha under IPC, Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and UAPA implicating them in false cases. The life sentences were pronounced by B.P. Verma under IPC section 124 (sedition), 120 B (conspiracy) and many other kinds of sentences were pronounced under various sections of CSPCA and UAPA. The eight year sentence for Asit Sengupta was pronounced on the same day by O.P. Gupta. Both these judgments are the latest additions to the huge cache of anti-people, fascist repressive measures of the Indian ruling classes. Sentencing for life our party Politburo member Comrade Narayan Sanyal, Binayak Sen, a doctor who had dedicated his life as a doctor serving the poor people selflessly, a prominent civil rights activist and the vice-president of PUCL and Piyush Guha, a trader belonging to Kolkata is the most shameless thing for the rulers to do even while boasting that this is the biggest democracy in the whole world. Opposing the repressive policies of the government, the fascist Salwa Judum, raising his voice for the repeal of the black law CSPSA and standing in support of the just peoples movements are the ‘crimes’ committed by Dr. Binayak Sen for which he has been punished with life sentence. When he was arrested in May 2007 and kept in jail for two years, immense protests were held and severe condemnations were issued by democratic sections, medical community, Nobel laureates and many others in India and abroad. Pronouncing this sentence ignoring all this can only mean that the fascist rulers are without any scruples or embarrassment issuing a threat to all the democratic, progressive and patriotic sections of our country. If responding positively towards people’s issues in a legal, democratic manner, serving the people sincerely and criticizing the anti-people policies of the government is ‘sedition’, then one can imagine what kind of ‘democracy’ is being practiced in this country and how dangerous it is for the people. The eight year sentence for Asit Sengupta (editor of the Hindi version of ‘A World To Win’ which is published in various languages all over the world) who is languishing in jail since three years with the false accusation that he was participating in Maoist activities is nothing but stifling the Freedom of Press. Recently, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, DGP Viswaranjan, Bastar IG Longkumer and Dantewada SP Kalluri gang had published pamphlets under the name ‘Maa Danteswari Adivasi Swabhimani Manch’ and had openly declared that they would kill journalists SRK Pillai, Anil Sharma and Yaswant Rai along with democrats Himanshu Kumar and Arundhati Page 80 MIB-21, December 2010 Roy and had the audacity to declare that it is indeed their own doing! So much for the ‘rule of law’ harped upon by our rulers day in and day out! Comrade Narayan Sanyal, a 73-year old veteran communist who began his revolutionary life in 1968 and has dedicated more than four decades of his life for the liberation of the oppressed people, is ailing with various health problems and has been languishing in the dark dungeons of the fascist Chhattisgarh government since five years. The Sonia-Manmohan-Chidambaram-Raman Singh terrorist gang is killing Maoist leaders in fake encounters and sentencing many of them to harsh punishments under black laws. They are subjected to physical and mental tortures in the inhuman conditions prevailing in jails. On July 29, 2010, our party activist Comrade Malati @ Santi Priya and a worker Surendra Kosaria were sentenced to ten years imprisonment using false witnesses under the case that Maoist propaganda CDs were sent to the MLAs. Amitabh Bagchi, a Politburo member of our party and Comrade Kartik, a state committee member of West Bengal, incarcerated in Ranchi jail, were also sentenced to life imprisonment through fast track court in Jharkhand. On October 29, the AP government sentenced Comrade Panduranga Reddy and three others to four years imprisonment in the Alipiri case (attack on ex-CM Chandrababu) using false witnesses. Many more revolutionary activists and ordinary people are being sentenced to very harsh punishments including capital punishment by the reactionary courts serving the exploiting ruling classes. Comrades Sushil Roy and Kobad Gandhi who are senior leaders and ailing with various health problems and old age; comrades Shobha, Patitpavan Haldar, Pramod Mishra, Vijay, Asutosh, Balraj, Chintan, Biman, Bidhan, Chandi Sarkar, Balganesh, Jharkhand Abhen’s Jeetan Marandi and thousands of other comrades are denied bail, being implicated in false cases one after another and made to languish in jails for years together. In West Bengal, Comrade Swapan Das arrested under UAPA was denied health care in Jail and became the first martyr of this draconian law. The UPA government bent on selling our natural and human resources to imperialist MNCs like Vedanta and to comprador bourgeoisie like Tata, Essar, Jindal, Mittal etc has declared CPI (Maoist) as the biggest internal security threat as it is standing in their way offering stiff resistance to this unlimited loot. As part of this, the government is carrying on vicious foul propaganda using its propaganda machine. Since August 2009, in the name of Operation Green Hunt the central and state governments are resorting to brutal attacks on the revolutionary movement and particularly adivasis are being massacred by deploying millions of police and paramilitary forces in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and other states. This offensive is carried on under the guidance and full support of imperialists, particularly the US imperialists. The exploiting rulers are using every means at their disposal to portray our party which is fighting with the lofty aim of establishing people’s government of democratic classes basing on the unity of worker-peasants by overthrowing the imperialists, bureaucratic comprador bourgeoisie and the feudal classes, as ‘terrorist’ and ‘traitor’. Why are the ministers, political leaders, big bourgeoisie and their brokers, the real traitors who are amassing billions of rupees in scams and stacking them in Swiss Banks shamelessly roaming in the corridors of power not booked under SEDITION? Why are all those criminals who perpetrated and facilitated the Bhopal Gas Tragedy not called CONSPIRATORS? How could striving for the liberation of the toiling masses become SEDITION? How could democrats who raised their voices and pens in support of people’s movements be called CONSPIRATORS? These sentences are nothing but a part of the bigger conspiracy of the ruling classes to eliminate all kinds of hurdles to their anti-people, unpatriotic and immoral neo-liberal economic policies. This is an alarm signal that fascist repression would intensify further in the near future. These judgments are an eye opener for those who believe and get deceived innocently that there is still some semblance of democracy in this country. Though the overt statements of the ruling gang declare that Maoist movement is their prime target, what is happening in reality is a fascist onslaught on progressive and democratic forces who wish for the welfare of the people and aspire to protect the interests of our country vis-à-vis the imperialists. Our party is appealing to the people to stand united against this offensive and defeat it through a determined fight. The comprador governments are resorting to suppression of people’s movements and nationality liberation struggles using black laws like UAPA, CSPCA, MCOCA and AFSPA following in the footsteps of the US government which promulgated black laws like the Homeland Security Act. The reactionary legal system which had never bothered to book or sentence the saffron terrorists who had killed many innocent people in the Mecca Masjid, Malegaon and Ajmer Sharif bomb blasts or the scamsters and political gangsters involved in scams like 2G Spectrum (worth 1,76,000 crores of rupees), Commonwealth games, Adarsh housing society, Karnataka lands and dozens and dozens of other scams are eagerly sentencing revolutionaries, people’s leaders, democrats and activists of national liberation movements in Kashmir

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 81 and North-East. The CPI (Maoist) Central Committee is appealing to all democratic, patriotic forces, national liberation activists and to all civil rights activists, organizations, students, intellectuals, teachers, writers, artistes, doctors, lawyers, media friends, workers and peasants to come out on the streets condemning and opposing these judgments delivered through the reactionary legal system by the collusion of the UPA government at the centre and the BJP government in Chhattisgarh. We appeal to all of you to build united and militant agitations demanding the immediate repeal of UAPA, CSPCA, MCOCA and AFSPA. We appeal to all the progressive, democratic and revolutionary organizations, communities and individuals of various countries to condemn in severe terms this criminal act of the Indian ruling classes and express their vigorous protest in various democratic struggle forms. In the past the international community stood in strong solidarity with the Indian people’s movements and had condemned the arrest of Binayak Sen and demanded his immediate release. Now the time has come for it to play this role more solidly. Our party calls upon the people to observe protest week all over the country from January 2 to 8 against these judgments by creatively taking up various protest activities including press conferences, statements, dharnas, rasta rokos, meetings, protest rallies, processions, signature campaigns, wearing black badges, waving black flags, burning of effigies etc., and to take up legal battles condemning severely the anti-people, traitorous and fascist policies of the ruling classes. Our party is calling upon all our ranks, PLGA forces and revolutionary mass organizations to take up various protest forms on this occasion by mobilizing vast masses. Our Central Committee is making it very clear that no call for bandh is being given as part of this protest week and is requesting the people and media not to believe the deliberate propaganda of the police to portray this as a bandh call.

(Abhay) Spokesperson, Central Committee, CPI (Maoist) *** COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) CENTRAL COMMITTEE January 5, 2011 Revolutionary homage to Civil Liberties leader Comrade KG Kannabiran!

KG Kannabiran (KGK), the civil liberties leader, democrat and close friend of Indian revolution, breathed his last on 30 December, 2010 in Hyderabad. He was 82. His demise had left a void in the civil liberties movement of India. Kannabiran’s whole life was dedicated to the civil rights movement and he fought on behalf of the poor people in the bourgeois courts to protect them from the injustices of this system. He stood firmly with the oppressed people fighting state violence on them. He always stood in support of the revolutionary masses. KGK’s life was inseparably intertwined with the more than four decade long revolutionary movement in our country. He did not cave in even in the face of severe repression on the civil liberties movement in Andhra Pradesh or all over India. In this whole period he stood firmly with the oppressed people fighting state violence on them. He was not only a civil rights leader but also an efficient and bold lawyer who undauntedly argued for the just things he stood for. In the post 70s, he left an indelible mark as a rare personality who had carved a niche in the field of civil liberties and also as a people’s lawyer in India. Kannabiran was influenced by communist politics in his youth and since the wake of Naxalbari he walked in step with the revolutionary movement in our country waged under the leadership of Maoists. Kannabiran’s activity as a civil rights leader started with PUCL in 1970 and served in it for more than four

Page 82 MIB-21, December 2010 decades including being its President. After emergency he took up responsibilities as the President of APCLC and came closer to the revolutionary movement as the well-wisher of the oppressed people. He proved since the dark days of the emergency period of Indira raj that the “encounters” staged by the state are nothing but brutal murders. Even in his last days, as an unflinching civil rights leader he strongly raised his voice against the brutal murders of Comrades Rajkumar (Azad), Patel Sudhakar, Apparao and accused the state of perpetrating these murders. Since the days of emergency, KGK had stood in full support in all the agitations led by prisoners and political prisoners. During the historic jail agitation led by Maoist political prisoners in 1994-1995 in AP, KGK participated in the talks with the government. Thus he strived for the release of hundreds of prisoners which included several revolutionary leaders. Due to the legal services offered by KGK, a number of prisoners could escape the dark dungeons of the jail and gallows. Many among them had once again joined the revolutionary movement. In his last days, he worked as the President of Andhra Pradesh chapter of Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP). KGK had persistently argued in courts for years together in the Parvatipuram, Secunderabad, Ramnagar and Bengaluru and several other conspiracy cases and had proved that revolution is no conspiracy and that revolutionaries are not conspirators. He offered free legal service to poor people on whom false cases have been foisted. KGK’s legal service were not limited to AP alone, he freely offered his services to the dalits and poor peasants who fought against age-old feudal oppression in Bihar and other struggle areas. Due to his services, many peasants could escape the gallows. The revolutionary masses, dalits, adivasis and national liberation activists would always fondly remember KGK for the legal services he rendered to their movements as well as the moral support. He gave material help to fellow civil rights activists’ families when the activists faced state repression. The values and standards he established in his 50 year career as a lawyer are of a higher quality and worth emulating. KGK propagated about the callousness of the state in the Indravelli massacre of adivasis in Adilabad, the burning of adivasi villages in Manyam of Eastern Ghats and other atrocities on them. From the 1980s till Operation Green Hunt, the latest offensive of the state on the fighting masses, KGK had consistently and staunchly fought against the state terror on the adivasis and was in the forefront in building a country-wide democratic movement against it. KGK played a crucial role during the talks between the CPI (Maoist) and the government in AP in 2004. He criticized the government when it withdrew from the talks and began a grave offensive on the Maoists and exposed the sham behind its mantra of peace chanted till then. Even when the revolutionary movement faced a setback in AP he fought firmly against state violence and inspired others. KGK was a voracious reader and a creative writer. He wrote extensively against state violence and on people’s issues. He wrote on the anti-people provisions in the constitution and the inadequacies in the laws. Particularly during his last days his writings on revolutionary leaders who were brutally murdered by the state eulogizing their contributions had earned an eternal place in the hearts of the oppressed masses. The Central Committee of CPI (Maoist) expresses its deep grief at the demise of Comrade Kannabiran and humbly pays revolutionary homage to him on behalf of the whole revolutionary camp. It is sending its deep condolences to his family members, colleagues in the civil liberties movement and friends. Our party sees this decades-long service of KGK for genuine democracy, independence and oppression less India as an inseparable part of the broader movement for the establishment of people’s democratic society. The establishment of a new democratic society would ensure in the real sense all the democratic rights fought for by comrades like KGK to all the marginalized and deprived people of India and we once again appeal to all to vow to carry on the struggle for such a society on this solemn occasion. It is appealing to all democrats, intellectuals, lawyers and writers to continue the ideals and values he established and to continue his fight for the democratic rights of the oppressed masses of India. That would be the real homage one could pay to this great democrat.

(Abhay) Spokesperson, Central Committee, CPI (Maoist)

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 83 COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) CENTRAL COMMITTEE Press Release January 12, 2011 Condemn the indiscriminate killings and fake encounters by the police and paramilitary forces in Odisha ! People would surely defeat the conspiracy of Naveen Patnaik to hand over the natural resources of Odisha to the Corporations by decimating the Maoist revolutionary movement !

As part of the massive offensive Operation Green Hunt being conducted in coordination by the central and state governments with the avowed aim of decimating the Maoist revolutionary movement completely, the special police and paramilitary forces have resorted to indiscriminate killings in the past two months in Odisha and have taken nearly 25 lives in cold-blood in various incidents. Of these most of them were fake encounters while others were incidents where hundreds of police and paramilitary were deployed with specific information about the whereabouts of the guerillas and fired indiscriminately on the guerillas and the people with them. Recently on January 12, 2011, in an ‘encounter’ in a forest area in Keonjhar district two Maoists had died and on January 9, 2011 in an alleged encounter in Bandhkamali mountains which fall under the Niyamgiri area of Rayagadha district, nine comrades were martyred. Ravi, one of the martyred comrades, is an important leader who has been working among the oppressed people of Odisha for the past few years. He hails from East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. Just one week back, on January 2, 2011 in the encounter which was said to have taken place in the Rayaghati forests under Kalinganagar area in Jajpur district, five Maoists including three women comrades were martyred. One among these martyrs was an Area Committee member of the Kalinganagar area. They were in preparation for some mass activities on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the massacre of Adivasis on January 2 when this incident occurred. On 29 December, 2010, in an alleged encounter in Talpada forest area of Keonjhar district one woman comrade was martyred. Before this in the fourth week of December the police announced that three Maoists had died in an encounter at Adaba forest area in Gajapati district. In the beginning of January, in another alleged encounter in Bargarh district two persons had died but the people had declared that they were ordinary people and that the police had killed them in cold-blood. Some days before this there were news items in the media that even the encounter in Gajapati district was also a fake one and that ordinary people had died in this. Though huge scale protests were staged by people and democrats on these fake encounters, the Naveen government is not caring a damn and is resorting to murders of ordinary people and revolutionaries unscrupulously. Odisha is a state abundantly rich in mineral, water and forest resources but it has become the abode of dire poverty and hunger deaths. Odisha is in the first place in iron reserves and it has many other valuable mineral resources. But all this wealth is filling the coffers of the wealthy while the conditions of the poor people are deteriorating. In the past 63 years of so-called independence, the oppressed people of Odisha, particularly the adivasis are getting crushed under the feudal and imperialist exploitation. The Odisha government led by the Mining Mafia Boss Naveen Patnaik has turned Odisha into the paradise of the mining corporations by signing innumerable MoUs with them. More than 49 MoUs regarding steel plants, more than 20 MoUs regarding thermal power plants, some MoUs for alumina refinery projects and a harbor were signed. The MoU worth 55,000 crores of rupees signed with the MNC Posco belonging to South Korea is the biggest foreign direct investment in India. The Odisha government had shamelessly violated its own laws while granting permissions to Tata in Kalinganagar and Vedanta in Niyamgiri apart from Posco. All these MoUs lead to untold miseries for the Odisha people. These would lead to destruction of the forests, lands, water, ecology and all aspects of their lives. This could be one of the biggest man- made disasters in the world. That is why the people of Odisha are fighting against this atrocity and exploitation. Page 84 MIB-21, December 2010 In the recent past, Odisha people agitated and are still agitating against the exploitation and atrocities of the MNCs and big comprador bourgeoisie companies like Tata, Vedanta, Posco etc. and also against the feudal exploitation in the Narayanapatna area of Koraput district. Government used brutal force against these struggles and killed many people. On January 2, 2006, the police fired on the adivasis who refused to hand over their cultivable lands to the Tata Steel company in Kalinganagar and killed at least fourteen of them. In many other instances, people had become injured or have lost their lives in police firings. People launched agitations against bauxite mines of Vedanta company in Niyamgiri area and against Vedanta Alumina refinery in Lanjigarh. Caving in before the people’s agitations, the Central government had cancelled permission to Vedanta with the reason that it had violated rules and regulations. But the people are still continuing their agitation as they feel that as long as the Vedanta refinery exists in Lanjigarh it is detrimental to their very existence and that it would adversely affect their lands and ecology. People of Odisha are fighting against such issues in many places. The Maoist party is leading these agitations in many places and supporting them in others. More important is the fact that people are welcoming the leadership of Maoists and are aspiring for it. The Odisha people have realized that there is no political party other than the Maoist party which could put an end to feudal and imperialist exploitation. The Maoist movement is expanding to many new areas. The Naveen Patnaik government with the full support of the UPA government at the centre is resorting to these massacres precisely because the Maoists constitute the main hurdle to their blanket loot of resources. Particularly, it is obvious to one and all that the callous murder of nine revolutionaries in Niyamgiri area has happened with the aim of facilitating the wholesale loot of Vedanta and under its aegis. Similarly it is also very clear that the fascist massacres resorted to by the government in the Kalinganagar area (in Jajpur and Keonjhar districts) is to facilitate the exploitation of corporations like that of Tata and others waiting in the wings to occupy this whole area. Naveen Patnaik who is gobbling billions of rupees as the stooge of the corporations and his administrative machinery are being threatened seriously by the existence of the Maoist movement. That is why they are resorting to fascist onslaught on the people and the guerilla squads spending billions of rupees on increasing police, commando forces (SOG), SPO and informer network on a huge scale. History has proven many a times that it is impossible to suppress the people’s movements with murders, offensives and suppression campaigns. The comprador Naveen Patnaik, Vedanta ex-director and the CEO of the present Operation Green Hunt Chidambaram, other ruling class oligarchs and their imperialist masters are dreaming that they would be able to put aside all the hurdles in the path of exploitation of the feudal classes and the corporations by crushing the Maoist revolutionary movement. The people are bound to come to the fore more militantly to intensify their struggles. Though the spate of encounters in the past few days indicate the intensity of the offensive on the Maoists this should be seen as part of the overall offensive on all the people’s movements fighting against their loot. We can stop these massacres only by taking up arms and fighting in a united manner against the anti-people, pro- imperialist policies followed by the blood-thirsty Naveen government and against corporate exploitation. The Central Committee of the CPI (Maoist) is appealing to all the people of our country and democrats to condemn in severe terms these atrocious massacres and fake encounters. We are appealing to the people to demand independent judicial inquiry into all these incidents of firings and to demand punishment for all the police officials involved in them. We are appealing to all that they should realize that these offensives are not carried on exclusively on the Maoist movement and that they are aimed at all those who are raising their voice or fighting against this corporate loot. Our Central Committee is calling upon all the democratic, progressive and patriotic forces to unite and fight against the corporate exploitation and against the massacres perpetrated by the central and state governments and against the Operation Green Hunt carried on for the incessant loot of our resources.

(Abhay) Spokesperson, Central Committee, CPI (Maoist)

MIB-21, December 2010 Page 85

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