22/10/2009: PoW, Maoists and the Government

On 22nd October, 2009 India, the largest democracy in the world, witnessed a history when the Communist Party of India (Maoist) released Atindranath Dutta, the Officer-in-charge of Sankrail PS, West Midnapore, West Bengal, who was under the custody of Maoists as prisoner of war (PoW). He spent almost 54 hours with Maoists in remote forest areas (Junglemahal) of West Midnapore. He was handed over to journalists at a press conference named as Juddhobandi Mukti Sammelan (PoW release conference) held in the evening in Junglemahal. The series of incidents that happend since 20th October, 2009 is not less than a Bollywood flick. On 20th October a 30 to 40 member Maoists squad attacked the Sankrail PS, killed two policemen and took the OC with them as hostage. On the same day they made a bank robbery at the SBI branch adjacent to the Sankrail PS. Interestingly, there were some active female members in this Maoists squad. On 22nd October top Maoist leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji called the press conference to release Atindranath Dutta. The press teams were guided to the spot although the journalists were not able to see the direction of roads as their eyes were covered with tightly fastened handkerchief. After the release when journalists asked Atindranath Datta about his willingness to be in the police service, he was not very clear about this. But one thing became very clear to the people of West Bengal. They understood the mental strength of the police. Everybody understands that it is not the fault of Atindranath Dutta. He is a very simple honest person who needs to think about his wife, 2 year old daughter and parents. Several questions arise here. Is our police department not competent enough? Is the government not efficient enough? Are the Maoists revolutionaries in true sense? Is our democratic system rotten? Perhaps a lot more can be added to this sequence.

One thing is very clear about the Maoists activities in India. CPI(Maoist) is mainly active in adhibasi/ tribal areas of 160 districts; mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra and West Bengal. A lot of questions are there. Why have the innocent tribal people taken arms in hands? Why do they not have any faith in the Indian constitutional system? Why do they not rely on the democracy for their development? Is the Maoist movement continuation of the Naxalite movement of '70s?

Democracy can turn into kleptocracy if the people of the country do not take active participation to make sure healthy condition of the constitutional system. There is no way to escape from reality. We have to accept that there is fault in our bureaucratic system. Corruption and lethargy in Indian politics and bureaucracy have stopped the country to develop uniformly. If someone gets neglected, abducted, exploited and insulted day after day without any ray of hope for justice, it is very obvious that the person will take up weapons in hands. Recently in an interview famous writer Arundhuti Roy has equivocated to this by saying “ If I were a person who is being dispossessed, whose wife has been raped, who is being pushed off his land and who is being faced with this police force, I would say I am justified in taking up arms. If that is the only way, I have to defend myself.” This is the reason why Maoists have strong hold in tribal areas where most are living below poverty line (BPL). Tribal people have seen CPI(Maoist) as their savior. They believe Maoists not only have empathy for them but who can fight for them. With this faith a lot of tribal youth have joined CPI(Maoist). In a recent interview on a Bengali news channel Kanu Sanyal, the famous leader of Naxalite movement of '70s, has clearly mentioned that there is nothing which can be termed as “Maoism”. He does not consider it as the continuation of the Naxalite movement of '70s. He thinks that Maoists are very loose on the ground of ideology.

We have seen Maoists to actively take part in armed clashes with police. There are several incidents of murders of politicians, policemen and bomb blasts by Maoists. Perhaps that is the reason why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Chindambaram are considering CPI(Maoist) as biggest threat for the national security. The government will never be able to solve the 'Maoist problem' with combat forces. It can only bring the end of lives of poor CRPF jawans. Further strict defense action may even lead to civil war which can be very dangerous for India. The only way to effectively tackle it is significant development of tribals and their native places. Without any lethargy and corruption ministers and officials need to implement it as early as possible. Intellectuals of our country are ready to work as moderators of the discussion between Maoists and the government. They should be utilized for this without further delay.

One interesting thing to notice is Maoists have not yet killed any coal mafia although they have killed some coal mine executives. Don't they consider coal mafias as enemies of the country? Don't they think that coal mafias exploit the poor tribal people of Jharkhand and West Bengal? Honestly speaking, I do not have answer to these questions. But perhaps this is the reason why some people think Maoists as bandits, why Maoists have a bad image in the mind of the common Indian mass. If Maoists start to kill all the corrupt politicians along with mafias and underworld dons of the country, they will surely be called revolutionaries by the common Indian people (Aam Aadmi) who desperately want to see something like this. That is the reason why Aam Aadmi applaud movies like Rang De Basanti.

Prakash Karat, the General Secretary of CPI(M) has recently said that Maoists are not leftists. CPI(M) has faith in the Indian constitutional and democratic system and it considers Maoists as some misguided people. The Aam Aadmi may get confused by so many variations of communist party in India with so many forms starting from peaceful CPI and CPI(M) to a bit extreme CPI(M-L) to ultra left wing CPI(Maoist). With the existence of so many communist parties it is very clear that Indian communists are not united. There can be a lengthy debate over the issue whether Maoists are “leftists” or not. But one thing is very sure that these people are “left-outs”. These neglected exploited “left-out” people have formed People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA). The PLGA, which is dedicated to overcome all Fascist forces in order to lead the entire mankind towards liberation, is the Salvation Army to supporters of Maoists. Perhaps Maoists also know that the way of killing and violence will never bring liberation for the exploited tribal people of India. But it is very unfortunate for our democracy that their past experiences have taught them to take this path.

-Arnab Mandal
 Durgapur