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SEZs:Foreign Enclaves In IndiaColonisation in a New Form

Voice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian Revolution

Vol : 7, No:12, December 2006, Rs. 12http//;peoplesmarch.googlepages.com

PEOPLE’S MARCH

I want to become a Maoist – V.P. SinghThe former prime minister of our country has himselfgone on record to say that given today’s circumstancesand developments he would have become a Maoist andthe only thing stopping him from joining them is hisfailing health.

I want to ask today’s youth, one question.

What is stopping youfrom joining the Maoists ?

“Such policies would ultimately force the marginalized to take up arms”.Aruntati Roy in front of CPI Marxist Head Quarters in New Delhi.

“Unnecessarily do not push the non-violent to be violent”.Medha Patkar’s maneuvers in Kolkata after her 25 years of peaceful struggles.

Abhishek Mukerjee, General Secretary of Revolutionary Students Front (RSF), a constituent of RDF, West Bengalwas arrested on December 8th and has been charged under sections 120-B, 147, 148, 149, 452 and 427 Cr.P.C.

“I have no hesitation in saying that many of them are highly motivated. They areconvinced that they are fighting for a cause. They are far better than the criminalswho have managed to infiltrate assemblies and parliament and even becomeministers”. -Prakash Singh I.P.S. (former director-general of BSF.)

In other states CITU protests against acquisition of farmlands for SEZ (for its survival)

2 PEOPLE'S MARCH, December 2006

EDITOR: P. Govindan Kutty E-mail:[email protected]@indiatimes.com

Mobile No. : 99472 76692 [email protected]@rediffmail.com

Owned, Edited, Printed & Published by P. Govindan Kutty, Peroor house, Tripunithura, N.F. Ernakulam, Kerala — 682 301,Printed at Chithira Printers, 63/321, Poruvelil, Kannachanthodu Road, Kochi — 18

Contents

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Voice of the Indian Revolution

8

Free MohammedAfzal; Free KashmiriPeople

4

Letter of Independ-ent citizens Initiative& Maoist’s reply

Vol : 7, No.12,December 2006, Rs. 12

SEZs:Foreign Enclaves inIndia

Political

12

PEOPLE’S MARCH

People’s March Articles may be reprinted and translated in various Indian & ForeignLanguages without permission, provided the source (http//;Peoplesmarch.googlepagescom) is credited

Editorial Report

Press ReleaseInternational

Delhi traders on war path 6

Condemn the death sentenceof Saddam Hussein 18

Interview with comradeMasse 19

Major accused of killing JalilAndrabi in Canada 20

Anti US revolt in kabul brutallyrepressed 21

Red salutes to comradeRamulu 22

Comrade Sathyam’s murder 23

Red salutes to comradeVikas 27Press statement ofCommunist Party of Bhutan(Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) 27

Logic of Class Struggle 3

PEOPLE'S MARCH, December 2006 3

EditorialLogic of Class Struggle

Society, like nature, functions on thebasis of certain laws. These laws actindependent of the intervention of man.Natural scientists seek to understand thelaws governing nature in order to harnessit for the benefit of {in capitalism —“exploitation of”} mankind. Socialscientists or Marxists seek to understandthe laws that govern society in order tochange it in the interests of the bulk ofsociety — the oppressed. No scientist,however great, can bend these laws,whether in nature or society.

The greatness of any scientist —whether of nature or society — lies in theirability to discover the detailed intricaciesof these laws, and apply these discoveriesto nature and society for the benefit ofmankind. Their greatness or not is testedin the results they produce; not in abstractpostulations or empty rhetoric. Einstein,Newton, and others would not have beenthe great natural scientists had they notproved their discoveries in practice. Neitherwould Marx or Mao or any other have beenthe great social scientists through merepostulation, but by the results theirdiscoveries showed in the crucible ofconcrete practice.

So, in society class struggle too hasits laws as discovered by Marx and Engelsand then further enriched by Lenin, Stalinand Mao. These laws find their varied formsand manifestations in different countriesdepending on the level of development ofthese societies and their specificcharacteristics. But the laws themselvesdo not change from country to country.No doubt these laws continue to beenriched and developed through increasedknowledge gained through class struggle,struggle for production and scientificexperimentation. The logic of classstruggle, class contradictions and classantagonisms operate everywhere; and itis in grasping these in their concretemanifestation that the Marxistrevolutionary brings about change. Theproblem with the liberal (or revisionist),however well intentioned, is his inabilityto understand the inherent antagonisticnature of class contradictions and thefierceness of the struggle between theopposing classes. So they come forward

with patchwork solutions that change littlein society.

Take our country. India is a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. Here, thelogic of class struggle demands anintensive anti-imperialist and anti-feudalstruggle to overthrow the existing orderand establish a new democratic ordermoving towards socialism. This entails afierce class struggle against any and everymanifestation of imperialism (and their CBBagents) and feudalism and not against justone or two aspects of it.

So, for example the RSS, Maharajas,monarchy, etc have been important pillarsof the semi-feudal structure in Indiansociety. But they cannot be equated tobeing equal to the semi-feudal order itselfwhose core aspect lies in the productionrelations (around land ownership). Nodoubt the fascist RSS must be smashed;but mere one-point opposition to the“communal forces” in CPM-style resultsin landing in the lap of the Congress. Thelogic of the class struggle demands thatsemi-feudalism cannot be destroyed merelyby attacks on its super structuralmanifestation but by also attacking itsbase. So, the RSS, Rajas, monarchy, etcmay be ousted but semi-feudalismcontinues in new forms. In India have notwe seen this? Indira Gandhi abolished theprivy purses of the Maharajas but semi-feudalism continued in the country. InWest Bengal the CPM Operation Bargabrought certain changes, but semi-feudalism continued in new forms. So, thelogic of class struggle shows us that nochange in the backward relation ofproduction is possible without a radicaldemocratic transformation in both the baseand also the superstructure.

So alsocertain last govern imperialiamdiscovered by Lenin. Its manifestationstoday may have changed but the basiclaws of imperialist exploitation and controlremain the same. The logic of class strugglein the imperialist era requires that not onlyimperialist capital be kicked out of thecountry but also that their agents aredivested of both their economic andpolitical power. No half -way measures arepossible. So, for all the ant-imperialistrhetoric of the CPM they most faithfully

implement all imperialist policies in thestates that they run. Of course, that isinevitable, for ANYONE who attempts toshare power within the existing structurein any country of the world. Class logicdemands that either you are with imperialistpolices or you are fighting it; theimperialists will not allow ‘peaceful’ co-existence of any independent systemwithin it. This is most glaringly seen inWest Bengal where the CPM hasintroduced crudely the most blatantimperialist-dictated policies. This was alsoshown by history where many a nationalliberation movement of the 1960s & 1970scompromised with imperialism (or thensocial imperialism). We saw this in Indo-China, many a country of Africa, inNicaragua, in El Salvador……. the list isendless.

But we do not have to go that far; thestate of West Bengal is a ideal example ofthis. In the nearly three decades of CPMrule the level of poverty is as bad as in anyother State. But not merely povertyindicators — the Sachar CommitteeReports says that the status of Muslims inWB is even worse than most other States,and a recent NSSO survey says the statusof dalits and tribes in the sphere ofeducation is also worse than most otherStates. The government of WB has beenmost aggressively implementing all theimperialist-dictated policies including eventhe most anti-national ones like that of theSEZs. Best agricultural land is being seizedfor big business, like for Tata at Singur andon the outskirts of Kolkota for the mafiaSalim Group of Indonesia. Huge amountsof Japanese capital are coming into WBwith all types of concessions. Not only this,the CPM is as (or even more) ruthlessagainst the Maoist revolutionaries as anyother reactionary Party. But of course, thisis inevitable as either the entire economyneeds to be re-organised (creating a localhome market through radical land reformsand generation of capital by preventingimperialist/CBB drain) to be sustainable,or it is bound to get sucked into theimperialist/CBB vortex.

Besides, there can be no all-pervadingdemocracy in the abstract — it is so-called

continued on page 5


Free Mohammed Afzal; Free Kashmiri People from the Indian PrisonHouse

The hanging of Mohammed Afzal isyet another bullet aimed at the heart of thebeautiful Kashmir valley and its peoples’right to self-determination. The story ofAfzal is like the story of Kashmir —humiliated, brutalized, tortured, and finallyset to be hanged/destroyed by the Indianrulers. A people who once lived a peacefulexistence in their idyllic surroundings sobrutalized by the Chankyas of India; apeople utilized for imperialist intrigues; apeople who have been used as pawns in agame of treachery between the brahminicalIndian rulers and the fundamentalistPakistani rulers. Afzal is just one morevictim; one more Kashmiri sacrificed at thealter of Indian big nation chauvinism; ascape-goat to whip up anti-Kashmiri andanti-Muslim sentiments in the country.

Mohammed Afzal must not merely notbe hanged; he must be freedunconditionally to return to his earliersimple life with his wife and 7-year oldchild. Facts show that there is neither alegal nor a moral case against Afzal. Hiswas a trial by media lies and amegalomaniacal Supreme Court that notonly sends Afzal to the gallows, but alsodestroys lakhs of families of traders inDelhi, gives derogatory judgments againstdalits and OBCs with their elitist/casteistbias, destroys lakhs of lives of slum-dwellers to protect their luxurious lives, etcetc. Of late, more than ever before, these’sjudges in their demonic wigs act asvampires of the establishment drawingblood of the masses.

Take the legal aspects in the Afzal case.The Legal CaseOn Dec13th 2001 at 11.30 am there was

a clumsy attack on the Parliament. All theattackers were killed. Afzal, Geelani, etcwere supposed to be accomplices and forthis they were sentenced to death. Theattack was in the wake of the US 9/11incident and was used by the Indian rulersto break relations with Pakistan and wasteRs.10,000 crores in the biggest evermilitary mobilization to the border. In aspecial fast-track court under POTA, thetrial court sentenced Geelani, Shaukat andAfzal to death. The High Courtsubsequently acquitted Geelani and theSupreme Court reduced Shaukat’s deathsentence to 10 year’s imprisonment. In its

August 4, 2005 judgment the SupremeCourt clearly said that there was noevidence that Afzal belonged to anyterrorist organisation. Yet while sentencinghim to death the judgment is more politicalthan judicial. It says “the incident which….had shaken the conscience of society,will only be satisfied if capital punishmentis awarded to the offender……Theappellant, who is a surrendered militantand who was bent upon repeating the actsof treason against the nation, is a menaceto the society and his life should becomeextinct”.

So, Afzal’s “life should becomeextinct”!! But, on what evidence? For 5months, from the time he was arrested tothe day the charge-sheet was filed, Afzal,lodged in a high security prison, had nolegal defence, no legal advice. On Dec 10th

2001 the police, after brutal tortureextracted a confession from Afzal beforethe media which got widely propagated.This fake ‘confession’ was even set asideby the High Court and the Supreme Court.So, Afzal’s confession was dismissed; hislinks with the Kashmiri organisations werenever proved; a number of the ‘evidences’manufactured by the police were provedto be false in the courts, only his linkswith the ‘terrorists’ who attackedParliament were supposedly proved. Buttill today no one knows who they are!!!Why have their names never beendisclosed? Yet Afzal’s life should becomeextinct. This, inspite of the fact that he hadno lawyer to defend him. The court-appointed lawyer acted against him andthe 80 prosecution ‘witnesses’ wentundefended. Yet the case was full ofloopholes with no clinching evidence.

The Afzal SagaIn 1989, like many Kashmiri youth, Afzal

crossed the border to be trained as amilitant, when he was barely 20. Hereturned with no training disillusioned. Heput down his gun and enrolled in DelhiUniversity. In 1993, without ever havingbeen a practicing militant, he surrenderedto the BSF. For this surrender he wasboycotted by all his relatives who were wellknown JKLF members. It was after hissurrender that his nightmares began. Hebegan a business, but since 2000 the army

harassed him daily to become an informer.In 2001 the STF picked him up andcontinuously tortured him until he paid onelakh for his release and he was made anSPO (Special Police Officer) by the STFOne of those killed in the Parliament attack,Mohammed, was also in the STF camp. Itwas the STF who told Afzal to accompanyMohammad to Delhi giving threats if hedid not he would again be arrested andtortured. Later Mohammad was killed in theParliament attack and Afzal was arrestedin Kashmir for collaboration. He was notonly brutally tortured but also threatenedthat his family would be killed if he did notcooperate.

Mass Movement for release of AfzalSuch then is the conspiracy behind the

Afzal hanging.Huge angry protests have been rocking

Kashmir against the hanging of Afzal. TheKashmiri people do not expect justice fromIndian courts. They see Mohammed Afzalas a sort of prisoner-of-war being tried inthe courts of an occupying power. In Indiatoo a large number of intellectuals, lawyers,writers etc have been demanding that Afzalshould not be hanged. While the likes ofAdvani are braying for his blood. And itwas the CPI(Maoist) that issued thestrongest statement against the hanging.

In a statement issued on October 7th

the CPI(Maoist) said:The Supreme Court had convicted

Mohammad Afzal Guru to death sentencefor the attack on the Parliament inDecember 2001 and the date for theexecution is set for October 20. This is notonly unjustified and inhuman but alsobetrays the anti-Muslim bias and hatredharboured by the Indian rulers. There wasno fair trial and no direct evidence. Thesentence was given basing on sheercircumstantial evidence. Death sentenceagainst Afzal is not just a punishmentgiven to an individual but a reaffirmationof the ongoing war by the fascist Indianstate against the Kashmiri nationalliberation fighters and the entire Muslimcommunity in India. The so-called of ‘ruleof law’ cannot obfuscate this obvious fact.

One would not, of course, haveexpected anything less from the pro-Hindu, anti-Muslim fascist rulers of India.Whether they are in the guise of the BJP


or Congress or any other parliamentaryparty, or in the form of the legislative,judiciary, executive, the police and othersecurity forces, the bias against theMuslim community is crystal-clear. Thatis why, in the past several decades, not asingle Hindu chauvinist terrorist has beenawarded such a stringent punishment, nomatter if he had burnt alive scores ofMuslims, dalits, adivasis and women. Nosingle police official had gone to thegallows for having massacred peoplegoing against every law and fundamentalright incorporated in the Constitution ofIndia. Mass murderers of the Muslims likeNarendra Modi of the BJP or butchers ofSikhs like HKL Bhagath of the Congressare even adorned with titles of honour.Vajapayees and Advanis, who should havebeen hanged for their crimes of inflamingcommunal passions by overseeing thedemolition of Babari Masjid and causingdeath and destruction on anunprecedented scale in the country. Thereal terrorists, whether communal-fascist,or state-sponsored, roam scot-free asliberation fighters, revolutionaries andMuslim youth are killed every day by thestate and state-sponsored gangs. Such isthe real face of democracy in our country.

It is, in fact, the Parliament that hasthe greatest number of the top terrorists,gangsters, criminals and scamsters of our

country. These criminal gangsters are inleading positions in every parliamentaryparty and they enter the Parliament andAssemblies, and this has now become agranted thing. There are scamsters whooccupy the highest seats of power despiteswindling hundreds of crores of people’sheard-earned money through kickbacksand commissions. These traitors have nocompunction in selling the motherland tothe videshi masters for a few crumbs. Yetall these anti-national, anti-peoplecontinue to hold the lifelines of thecountry, posing a grave threat to thesecurity of the country. The BJP, whosehands are stained with the blood ofthousands of Muslim people, and whosebestiality and sadism was displayed in fullcolours during the Gujarat genocide, hasbeen shamelessly clamouring loudly forthe death sentence to be carried outwithout any leniency.

The state’s security forces hadcommitted indescribable atrocities inKashmir since 1989. They had massacredover 80,000 Kashmiri people, torturedseveral thousand people, raped hundredsof Kashmiri muslim women, and destroyedproperty of the Kashmiris and had noteven spared muslim masjids. Hundreds ofpeople had just ‘disappeared’ without anytrace. As Kashmir bleeds in agony, thestate has decided to add salt to the

festering wound by conspiring to sendAfzal to the gallows. Not seeking clemencyby Afzal shows the pride and the passionfor freedom of the Kashmiri people. Aslong as the brutal oppression of theKashmiris goes on, as long as youth arekilled are abducted, women are raped, andmuslim community is discriminatedagainst leading to further alienation,attacks on parliament or assassination ofthe political leaders and cruel policeofficers and bureaucrats will continueunabated. Death sentences will onlystrengthen the resolve of the freedomfighters. More and more Kashmiri youthwill be inspired to step into the shoes ofAfzal who will be identified as a martyrfor the cause of Kashmir.

Let us wage a massive people’smovement not only to repeal the deathsentence against Afzal, but also towithdraw all the security forces who arecreating insecurity in Kashmir, punish allthe officials responsible for the atrocitieson the Kashmir people and Muslims,repeal of all draconian laws, releasingall political detainees and those ‘missing’persons who are in the illegal custody ofthe police, para-military and the armedforces. And, most important of all, we mustbuild a powerful people’s movementdemanding self-determination to theKashmiri nation

democracy under the cap i ta l i s t /imperialist system often turning toopen fascism in periods of crisis; or itis proletarian democracy (with all itslimitations) under the new-democratic/socialist system. ‘Democracy’ too hasits class logic. In the era of imperialismeven the t rapp ings o f bourgeo isdemocracy get reduced as the laws ofimperialism demand domination, notfreedom. In the realm of proletariandemocracy there has been muchexperimentation and great advance,particularly with the Great Proletarian

Cultural Revolution in China and theexperiments of Tachai and Taching.Here, there were gigantic experimentswi th democracy, bu t a lwaysmaintaining class struggle as the keylink. No doubt even this has to bedeveloped further (as the reversal inChina would show) but this wouldentail greater democratization at thevery level of production and increasedprole tar ian (c lass) consciousnessamongst the masses and maybe certainother factors. But certainly it would notentail any hotchpotch utilization of thebourgeois voting machine.

continued from page 3 The logic of class struggle andclass contradictions shows that therecannot be any third form of socialstructure — either it must come withinthe capitalist/imperialist framework orit must go under the new-democratic/socialist framework. Whatever ourgood intentions may be, class realitywill not allow any third alternative.Whi le c rea t ive ly and e f fec t ive lyadvancing revolution it is important tolearn lessons from history. In addition,it is important not to forget the logicof class struggle.

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Delhi Traders on the War Path!SC Acts as Tool of Big Business!!

ArvindSix companies of the BSF; 44 of the

CRPF; thousands of local police — it waslike a war zone. This was not Kashmir orthe North East or any Naxalite GuerrillaZone, but the heart of Delhi; the capital ofthe country. The massive force was to backup the demolition drive of ‘illegal’ tradersafter the violent 3-day bandh in thebeginning of November. The gigantic useof force was to ensure that the will of themoneybags (sorry Supreme Court) will beobeyed. Overnight lakhs of people havebeen turned into illegal traders in their owncity.

First, many Muslims in the name ofbeing Bangldeshis were branded ‘illegal’;then all slum-dwellers were branded asbeing ‘illegal’ residents and now even thetraders are being thus branded. In the eyesof the Supreme Court (SC) and their elitejudgehood, only the moneyed are legalcitizens; the rest are to be treated like scumto be kicked around or out of the city, ormaintained only to service them.

During the Emergency about 7 lakhslum-dwellers were bulldozed out of thecity by the Congress gangs; a few yearsback thousands of small units were closeddown and over a lakh renderedunemployed on the SC’s order against so-called polluting industries; a little earlier alarge number of slums were demolished;and now it is the turn of the traders andshop-keepers. It is estimated that in Delhithere are roughly 5 lakh large, medium,small and tiny business families that areaffected by the threat of sealing. That is, inthe present round of attacks over 1 crorepeople could get affected. Due to the lackof unity amongst all these section (andeven within them) the government and itscourts have been able to systematicallyattack one section after another.

The first battle took place on Sept 20th

during the one-day bandh when policemowed down four people in cold blood.On that day Delhi was rocked by violentclashes between the traders and the police.Almost all major markets across the citywere closed, with traders blocking the mainroads and hurling stones at governmentvehicles. Around Seelampur, a Muslim re-settlement colony, pitched battles tookplace between the local residents and the

police/para-military. In the clash about 30police were injured and 40 residents. In thepolice firing of the four killed two wereyoung men and a child. In the rest of thecity protesters damaged 20 city buses andmost of the main roads were blocked. Thebandh was called by the Confederation ofAll-India Traders (CAIT) and wassupported by nearly 500 small and bigmarket associations. Due to the militancyof the traders the MCD (MunicipalCorporation of Delhi) was forced to slowdown its sealing drive.

But the Supreme Court was adamant.All the political parties lent lip support tothe traders but did nothing. The SCdirected the MCD to begin a full scaleoffensive in November after the Divaliholidays. It was before this that the tradersthen called a 3-day bandh from Oct.31st toNov.2nd. Coincidentally it was during thesevery same days that Reliance launched thefirst of its retail chain in Hyderabad,announcing plans to open 1,500 all overthe country. The November bandh turnedeven more violent than the September one.Buses were burnt and many more damaged,roads were blockaded, windowpanes weresmashed and stones were thrown at thepolice. Even trains were stopped. 350people were arrested. Seeing the anger ofthe traders the police declared they did nothave sufficient force to back the MCDdrive. At a marathon meeting between theSC appointed Monitoring Committee, theMCD and the Delhi Police it was decidedto put off the sealing drive by a couple ofdays. It is then that they moved in the hugecontingents of the para-military andsystematically began their destructioncampaign. Since then in area after area thepara-military, in menacing riot gear, is beingmoved in followed by the MCD bulldozers.With such a massive force the mediagleefully reports that the demolitions aretaking place ‘peacefully’.

And as this goes on, all the politicalparties only make a pretense of support tothe traders. The Congress, which is inpower at both the Centre and Delhi, couldeasily pass a law regularizing the shopsbut is playing cat-and-mouse with thetraders. The BJP ,which has traditionally abig base amongst the traders, is supposed

to be leading the agitation, but their maintask is to divert attention from the issue.In fact on the first day of the winter sessionof Parliament they took out a massivemorcha demanding the hanging of Afzaland made ‘internal security’ the main issuein the Lok Sabha. Not a word was said onthe trader’s issue. Most other parties aresilent, including the so-called left as thisanyhow is not their vote-bank.

Why then such a massive campaign inDelhi? There are basically two reasons.

First, Delhi and other suchmetropolitan centres are at the heart of bigbusiness and the TNCs. The ruling eliteand their imperialist masters are basedhere. For long the imperialists have beenailing about the poor infrastructure of thecountry and have demanded that this begiven top priority if they want greaterforeign investment. Top class roads, malls,clubs, five star services, is what theydemand in these enclaves. If thousands oflives have to be displaced in order to caterto them, so be it. And so the bulldozersmove ruthlessly.

The second reason is the planned influxof huge retail chains into the city. To makeway for these giants the smaller (and evenmedium sized) kirana and other shops mustbe forcibly pushed out. Since the last twoyears the major big business houses havemade gigantic plans to move into retailing;and the giants of international retailing likeWal Mart have also been making regulartrips to the country. These vultures areeagerly eyeing the gigantic $300 billion(Rs.14 lakh crores) retail market in Indiawhich is expected to rise to $ 637 billion by2015 — of which only 3% is in theorganised sector at present. This market isalready growing at 30% per year and theyplan to grab 10% of the retail market or $ 30billion (over Rs.1 lakh crores) by 2010.

On Nov.3rd Reliance (Mukesh Ambani)launched its first retail outlet at Hyderabadunder the brand names ‘Fresh’ and ‘Select’to market vegetables and fruit. They plana massive investment of Rs.25,000 croresin this retail sector, which would purchasedirectly from the farmers, set up 68processing centres all over the country andretail direct to the consumer. As a resultthey would wipe out not only lakhs of small


retailers but also a number of wholesalers,traders, middlemen and a host ofbusinesses associated with the marketingof these agro-products.

But Reliance is not alone in this line.ITC’s Choupal Fresh plans a major entry,ironically entering through the goodservices of the CPM West Bengalgovernment. It has put before the stategovernment a plan for a Rs.1,250 croresinvestment. Others joining the retailbandwagon are Pantaloon Retail, AnilAmbani, Tatas, Aditya Birla Group (with aplanned initial investment of Rs.6,000crores), Bharati Group (Mittals), etc, andall the major international retailers arelobbying hard to enter the country. Theyplan to increase the organised retail marketfrom the present $ 7 billion (3% of the total)to a massive $ 80 billion in the next fiveyears. They plan a massive $ 20 billion innew investment (excluding the real estatepurchase of land). In fact nearly a year backthe head of the biggest company in theworld, Wal Mart (the largest US retail outletwhich has just signed up in a joint venturewith the Bharati Group for a massive entryinto the retail sector) was himself presentin India meeting up with not only a host ofministers but the very Prime Ministerhimself. Not only that, the four major TNCFruit companies in the world — Chiquita,Fresh Del Monte, Dole Foods and

Capescan — are planning to put up chainsof small neighbourhood stores(particularly in southern India) in directcompetition with the small sabziwallah. Allare planning joint ventures with localcompradors. Quite naturally with such aplanned offensive on the country the smallretailers must be crushed so that thesebig fish can thrive. The Supreme Court ismerely acting as the whipping stick forthese big moneybags entering the retailsector.

India has about 1.2 crore retail outletsthroughout the country. More than 80%of these are run by small familybusinesses, which only use householdlabour. The big retail chains are aiming tocapture the main middle and upper classretail purchases targeting a 3 crorepopulation with an estimated purchasingcapacity of $230 billion (a gigantic marketof about Rs.9 lakh crores). In China andBrazil these big retail chains have alreadyraised the organised retail market from 5%to 20% and 38% respectively in the lastdecade. Once these chains come in onecan expect to what extent the small andmedium shopkeeper will be thrown out.

It was the elite from the Green parkarea of Delhi, which first filed the case in1994 for the removal of ‘eye soars’ fromtheir posh locality. Riding on the back ofthis case and utilising the good servicesof the Supreme Court, Reliance and gang

will march into the city wiping out the smallshop-keepers and forcing even the middleclass to pay high prices for their vegetables,fruit and other purchases from the malls. Itis well known that most shops at the Malls(except eateries and multiplexes) are sellingpoorly. The present drive will no doubt alsobe a boon for them.

This attack is basically targeting thesmall traders and the middle classes, theelite are to be accommodated. Thegovernment has put forward a scheme forthe regularization of 1,500 posh colonieslike the Sainik Farms, Anant Ram Dairy andMahendroo Enclaves, etc.

The people of Delhi and other urbanmetropolitan centers need to unite againstthis huge conspiracy against them and actunitedly and not just for their narrowinterests. They need to unite in a commonfight against this very model of urbandevelopment, which is being built for theelite. The slum-dwellers the traders, thesmall industrialists, and their employeesneed to unite to fight against thisdisplacement. There are two choicesbefore the people — 5 star elite enclaveswhere the bulk of the population aremarginalized; or all-round developmentwith emphasis on poverty eradication. Theformer will also entail a brutal police forceto protect these rich enclaves and stateterror on a scale unimaginable even today.

Letter to the Editor,

People’s March,

I appreciate the article on childrevolutionaries which was printed inthe June-July 06 issue of the magazinefor trying to highlight the role ofch i ld ren in the revo lu t ionarymovement and how the d i smalconditions in their villages and thecount ry have drawn them to therevolutionary movement. But therewere some shortcomings in the articlewhich will give a chance to the rulingclass bai ters of the movement tomalign it. If the article was meant as areply to the propaganda being donethrough TV channels and the rest ofthe media then it needed to be writtenwith more care. All around the worldthe imperialists have tried to malign

people’s movements while claimingthat children are recruited as fighters.For one the a r t i c le should havementioned the way the imperialists andthe big bourgeois ie are target ingchildren’s minds, and distorting theirself-images and aspirations throughtheir advertisements. There is a hiddenwar going on for winning the minds ofchildren, and for moulding their valuesand it is the task of revolution to givea constructive approach to children,to arouse in them the desire for andva lue fo r jus t i ce , equa l i ty andcoopera t ion . Fur ther the a r t ic lementions that “children are moving inuni form”. This was unnecessarybecause they are not fighters of thePLGA in actual war, but young soldiersof the entire revolutionary movement.The article further states, in generalte rms , “These ch i ldren are no t

educated through books, they areeducated through life…..they are notpure mental beings, they are physicallabourers”. These kind of simplisticgenera l s ta tements ins tead ofcommunicat ing the real s i tuat iondistorts i t . Children are educatedthrough books, but not through booksalone. This is the fact, and in the 21st

century if we make claims that childrenare not educated through books themovement will be maligned. Alsoch i ld ren should no t be phys ica llabourers. Marx has very succinctlybrought out the importance of makingchildren participate in labour andarousing in them value for labour. Butthat does not mean we consider themlabourers. Much care needs to be takenwhen presenting these aspects of themovement in the magazine.Avanti


Special Economic Zones — Colonization in a new formRashmi

“We will commit hatya, notatmahatya, like the Vidharbha farmers”,says Jaywant Madhvi of Vashi village inPen taluk in Raigad district, just outsideMumbai. The context is land acquisitionnotices being served to farmers for the35,000 acre (14,000 ha) SEZ beingdeveloped by Mukesh Ambani’s RelianceIndustries Limited (RIL). On 15th August, agram sabha was held in the Kalabusrevillage of the Uran taluka of the samedistrict. This sabha was attended by overa 100 people and passed a resolutionagainst the proposed MSEZ( MumbaiSEZ). This SEZ would be one of the largestin the country and one-third the size of themetropolis. The company and the localofficials claim it is all ‘unproductive’ landwhereas according to the villagers, theyare twice blessed with very rich soil forrice and the sea for fishing. Says a farmerin one of the villages, “we don’t want jobsin any factory. We have our land, our treesand the sea to keep our stomachs full.”The question posed by the 1200 farmers,facing take over of their lands anddisplacement is that why does’nt thegovernment develop SAZ (SpecialAgricultural Zones) instead of SEZs?According to informed sources, Relianceplans to convert these fields intoexpensive real estate, and the governmentseems to be acting as its broker, forciblyacquiring land at a pittance and handingit over to RIL to sell to businesses in theSEZ. It will be a satellite city in primelocation close to the major highways, portsand site for the new international airport.Besides the 45 villages that are to beacquired, Reliance has been buying upagricultural land at cheap rates anticipatingan increase in the land value in the areaonce the SEZ comes through. The recordsof the government estimate the value ofthe land at around 1.7 lakhs to 2.5 lakhs anacre. Reliance has been trying to buy theland at 3 to 4 lakh rupees an acre. And themarket rate, depending on the quality andthe location is anywhere between 20 and40 lakhs rupees an acre now! A bridgeconnecting Navi Mumbai and CentralMumbai is also proposed and Reliance isone of the bidders to build up the bridge!Across Maharashtra, farmers have

organized huge protests against theforcible acquisitions for this SEZ.

Anil Ambani’s Reliance has alsosparked a similar controversy. Theacquisition of 2,500 acres of agriculturalland by the UP government for the Reliancepower project at Dadri (near Delhi) forReliance Power led to massive protests bythe farmers. V.P.Singh himself has chosento spearhead the protests. The MulayamSingh government is accused of giving asubsidy of 60% on the land prices i.e. 60%of the land price will be paid by the stategovernment and the rest by the Reliancegroup. Of the total land being acquired forthis SEZ, 400 acres belong to the GramSabha for playground, school, communitypurposes etc. This 400 acres has beendoled away to Reliance at Rs 100 per squareyard for a lease of 99 years while theremaining 21,000 acres has been taken atthe rate of Rs 150 per square yard.Interestingly, the Mulayam Singhgovernment had offered 25,000 acres ofland to Reliance and even acquired somefor it, even though this project had noteven come up for approval before theBoard of Approvals.

It is reported in the National CapitalRegion (NCR) around Delhi, over 4.2 lakhhectares have been acquired bygovernment agencies which plan to sell theland to property developers and corporatehouses. The Delhi DevedlopmentAuthority (DDA) has recently acquiredone lakh acres for transfer to builders. TheGreater Noida Authority has acquired80,000 acres around Delhi, and Hudco40,000 acres in Faridabad in Haryana.Similarly, thousands of acres are beingbought around Gaziabad from farmers atrates as low as Rs.50 a square foot whenprevalent market rates are 20 to 100 timeshigher.

The Orissa government, already facingopposition to the South Korean’s Steelgiant Posco having been given land andconcessions, has now, in principle, clearedthe proposal of the multi-product SEZ tobe set up by the same company inJagatsinghpur district on 1,601 hectares.Even before the sanction, the stategovernment has handed over more than1100 acres of agricultural land to the firmat the rate of Rs 25,000 an acre.

Not to be left behind, both the Left-ruled states, Kerala and West Bengal havejoined the SEZ bandwagon. In fact, it hasno problems in handing over farmland tothe SEZ developers even though the samehas been declared “no go” zones in someother states.

Eight mega projects have alreadyreceived in-principle SEZ recognition fromthe Board of Approvals in West Bengal.The biggest of them is that of Indonesia’sSalim group proposing to set up two SEZsin Haldia district requiring a total of 22,500acres of land. Many of the remaining 6SEZs are to be located in land-scarce North24-Parganas and Howrah. Videocon whichreceived the go ahead for 3 SEZs will need2,700 acres for one of its projects in North24-Parganas and another 310 acres foranother of its projects in the same district.

Ever since the passing of the SEZ Actin 2005, there has been a flood of proposalsfor developing SEZs all over the country.While the entire world has only 400 SEZsand China only six, India has alreadycrossed 200 approvals within a year, 48 ofthem in Maharashtra alone. Till earlyOctober, 2006, the Board of Approvals hadgiven ‘formal approval’ to 181 SEZ projectsacross the country and ‘in principle’approval to another 128. According toinformal estimates based on the proposalsfor the SEZs, the total land alreadyacquired or to be acquired for the 181projects is to the tune of 30,000 hectares.Including the requirement for in-principleapprovals and those that are ‘underconsideration’, the total would come to1,25,000 ha - almost equal to the size ofDelhi! Further approvals were given on the10th and the 29th of October. On 10th October,2006, 26 formal approvals were grantedrequiring a total land of over 510 hectares.The 25 formal and 21 in principle approvalsgiven on 29th of October include that byAnsals in Haryana.

Apart from the widespread oppositionto the SEZs by the people, there are alsodebates within the government, especiallythe Ministry of Commerce and the FinanceMinistry about the costs and benefits ofthe SEZs. Despite this chaotic situation,the Commerce Ministry and the Board ofApprovals for SEZs, which functions


under it, are going ahead with the processof clearing the proposals in a big hurry.

SEZ : What does it mean?The SEZ (Special Economic Zone) idea

was first mooted in the year 2000 by thethen Commerce Minister, Murasoli Maranunder the NDA government’s regime. Theobjectives of the SEZs include makingavailable goods and services free of taxesand duties, integrated infrastructure forexport production, quick approvalmechanisms, and a package of incentivesto attract foreign and domestic investmentsfor promoting exports. While the policyrelating to SEZs is contained in the ForeignTrade Policy, incentives and other facilitiesoffered to SEZ developers and units werebeing implemented through variousnotifications and circulars issued by theMinistries and the departments concerned.The guidelines for SEZs were incorporatedinto the 1997-2002 EXIM Policy framework.

The UPA government after coming topower in 2004, felt that the existing systemdid not inspire enough confidence ininvestors for them to commit a substantialamount of money for the development ofinfrastructure. That became the basis forbringing a Central Act for SEZs.The SEZBill was introduced in the Lok Sabha onMay 10, 2005 and was passed by both thehouses of the Parliament on May 12, 2005and it secured the President’s assent onJune 23, 2005. The Board of Approvals inits first meeting, in March 2006, cleared 148of the 166 proposals before it.

The Commerce and IndustriesMinistries state that “SEZs are aboutinfrastructure creation” and that“infrastructure is not only roads, portsand airports but also workplaces likeindustrial parks and IT parks”. Theprocess of an approval requires receipt ofan application by a state government froma private enterprise. This is routed to theUnion Commerce Ministry after an initialclearance at the state level. It is then placed“under consideration”; this leads to “inprinciple approval” and “formalapproval”. The final stage is thenotification of the project.

There are two actors in the SEZs—Developer and the Entrepreneur. Theformer is the company that developsinfrastructure and other facilities on theland earmarked for SEZs. The Developerthen invites the Entrepreneur or the

company(ies) that sets up units takingadvantage of the tax waivers and otherincentives. Both of them are given hugeconcessions as can be seen from the tablebelow.Incentives for the DevelopersConcessions for the Units in SEZs

• Duty-free import/procurement of goodsfor development, operation of SEZs• A duty-free enclave that is trated as aforeign territory for trade and tariffs• Income tax exemption for a block of any10 years in 15 years• Licence-free imports• Freedom to allot developed plots toapproved units on commercial basis• Customs duty exemption on imports• Foreign funds to develop township• No excise on capital goods, raw materialsprocured in the domestic market• Suppliers to SEZs from domestic tariffarea (DTA) deemed exports• 100% income tax exemption for a blockof five years, 50% for two years, and up to50% of the profits ploughed back for thenext three years• For offshore banking units, 100% incometax exemption for three years and 50% fortwo years• Freedom to subcontract even abroad• In manufacturing, barring a few sectors,100% FDI through automatic route• No cap on foreign investment for SSIreserved items• No industrial licensing for SSI items• In order to acquire the land needed by aSEZ, The government uses the notoriousLand Acquisition Act whereby thegovernment is allowed to acquire land for‘public purpose’. The state’s power ofeminent domain to acquire land, usually atbelow market rates, or to force unwillingsellers to alienate their land, which is beingused extensively to acquire land for thebig mining and industrial projects anddams will also acquire land for the SEZs.The fact of the matter is that everythingabout these special zones is special—theway of taxes, enjoy access to statesubsidies of various sorts, will be immunefrom the rules that normally govern therunning of businesses, especially from alllabour laws. And the particularly specialaspect is that they are ‘foreign’ enclaveswithin the territory of India!

It is not surprising that the SEZ Actand the flood of proposals have raised alot of controversy and opposition. Let uslook at some of the contentious issues.

Myth of export promotion &development of industry

The government claims that one of themain objectives of the SEZs is promotionof exports. The SEZ policy is an extensionof the earlier policies with respect to freetrade zones (FTZs that have now beenconverted into SEZs) and 100 per centexport-oriented units (EOUs). The logicof the 100 per cent EOU policy was thatunits unwilling to locate in FTZs butachieving the export targets should notbe deprived of the benefits offered to thelatter. Now in a turn of policy, the SEZpolicy seems to once again favour theclustering of exporting units providingspecial benefits in an earmarked space.Why should the exporting units beexpected to move to the SEZs? Theanswer lies in the fact that under the newpolicy, the government has relaxed theconditions required for a unit to beconsidered an exporter needing specialconcessions. Unlike the requirement forEOUs there is no limit on the ratio of thesales in the DTA ( Domestic Tariff Area)to the value of exports. The onlyrequirement for qualifying as an exporteris to ensure positive net foreign exchangeearnings. This means that the unit doesnot have to produce for the explicitpurpose of exports, it only needs toensure that it is not a drain on foreignexchange reserves of India. The SEZshave become more attractive as aninstrument of privileged access to thehuge domestic market of India rather thanas a base for exports. According to astudy, during 2003-04, eight SEZs exportswere Rs 13,853.58 crores or .047% of thetotal exports and during 2004-05, elevenSEZs export earnings were Rs. 18,309crores or mere .05% of the total exportearnings. These SEZs providedemployment to about one lakh people. Onthe other hand, the Small Scale Industrysector accounts for 35% of the total directexports giving employment to about 200lakh people ( Ministry of SSI, AnnualReport 2002-03).

The SEZ Act clearly provides for non-industrial use of 75% of the land inpossession of an SEZ developer. The


government tries to justify this by theargument it would required for the socialinfrastructure, which would constitutethings like housing facilities andentertainment. This argument is extremelydubious. Even the CPM talks ofrecommending an amendment only to theextent that SEZs should use at least 50%of the land for industrial use.

In reality, this is nothing but an openlicense for real-estate racketeering.Interestingly, there is also no ceiling onthe private holding of land for the SEZs.Section 5(2) of the SEZ Act, whichaddresses the issue of land acquisition,talks only about the minimum (but notmaximum) land area requirements fordifferent classes of SEZs. It is notsurprising that a large number of SEZproposals have come up in areas adjoiningthe major urban centers. It is hardlysurprising that the real estate firm Ansal isconsidering a foray into construction ofSEZ property.

Large acquisitions of land, supposedlyfor the development of industry andexports, will actually serve as instrumentsof land scam with the government playingthe role of a broker to facilitate theprocurement of land for big capitalists. Thesupposed impetus to economic growth isnothing but an impetus for acquiring landat dirt-cheap prices, availing of the benefitsand concessions and make whoppingprofits.

Displacement and Food SecurityEminent historian, Sumit Sarkar,

describes the SEZs as “the biggest landgrab movement in the history of modernIndia”. Huge tracts of rich agricultural landare being acquired for the SEZs. In the faceof a massive uproar, Sonia Gandhiexpressed concern over the shrinkingagricultural land. But this concern is merelip service as is obvious by the letterwritten by the Union Commerce andindustry Minister Kamal Nath inSeptember, this year to all the state chiefministers. The letter says, “agriculturalland may be acquired only if necessary tomeet the minimum area requirements”,“…if necessary single crop agriculturalland alone should be acquired…”, “ ifperforce a portion of double croppedagricultural land has to be acquired…thesame should not exceed 10 % of the totalland required for the SEZ”. Quite clearly,

there is no intention of moratorium on theuse of agricultural land for the use of SEZs.The State Industries Minister of WestBengal, Nirupam Sen says quite clearly thatgiven the huge areas involved and thehuge population density of the state, it maynot always be possible to avoid acquisitionof multi-cropped land.

In a country where already agriculturehas suffered gross neglect by the state,this would only further the decline in thissector. This would also spell doom for ourfoodgrain production and food security.As a case study look at the case of a SEZcoming up on 10,000 ha in Jhajjar inHaryana. As of now the land taken up bythe SEZ produces enough to feed 2.4 lakhpeople –in perpetuity. A hundred suchSEZs will impact 2.4 crore people or over2% of the population. This populationwould be completely starved and a muchlarger section of the populace will bepartially starved. As it is foodgrainavailability per person in India is 200 kg asagainst the world average of 309 kg. Thismeans that the SEZ phenomenon could tipIndia from a state of endemic famine to fullblown famine. The future will see usimporting food on a regular basis and inview of the fact that the top exporter ofwheat is the U.S., India would be even moreat its mercy!

Forget about export promotion, SEZscould make us even more vulnerable evenin respect of our foodgrain requirements.

The very quantum of lands beingacquired point to the large scaledisplacement of both the owners of theland and those dependent on these landsfor their livelihoods. It is not surprisingthat the farmers all over the country areopposing the SEZs tooth and nail. As afarmer of Raigad district of Maharashtrasays, “ we have our land, we can’t live ina jhoppadpatti, the government will throwus out from there too.” “Already we havesacrificed our land for so many projects-13 dams, the Pune expressway, a petrolpipeline; now they want to takeeverything. We don’t want money”. As V.P.Singh says, “a farmer as the owner of hisland does not have the choice to decidethe terms at which he will part with hisproperty”. Also anecdotal evidencesuggests that land prices have fallensharply in the country’s suicide belts. Evenif the farmers are paid a ‘market price’, this

would become a good time to buy landcheap from the peasants and divert it forcorporate purposes. Once again the socalled development of the country wouldmean development of profits of the bigcapital at the cost of the farmers and thevast majority.

Financial DrainThe SEZ phenomenon also gave rise

to a controversy between the UnionMinister of Commerce Kamal Nath andFinance Minister P. Chidambaram.According to the Finance Minister, SEZswould give rise to revenue losses to thetune of Rs. 1,75,487 crores between nowand 2009-10. Of this Rs. 57,000 crores wouldbe lost on account of direct taxes and theremainder would be on account of customsand excise concessions offered to unitsoperating within these enclaves. TheCommerce Ministry’s response was thatbuoyant revenues, resulting from greatereconomic activity in these enclaves wouldmore than compensate the losses.According to its estimates, tax collectionswould increase by Rs. 137,000 crores.

Besides while the rulers keep wailingabout the big subsidies to food andagriculture they are silent about themassive subsidy given to exportpropmotion, to which will be added afurther gigantic sum to the SEZs.According to the Economic Times (Nov.20 2006) “the plethora of ExportPromotion Schemes, excluding SEZs, costthe exchequer a whopping Rs.34,430crores in 2005/06”. It added that theexpected drain due to SEZs would be amassive Rs.26,000 crores in 2007/08.

The problem in the CommerceMinistry’s calculations are that it isassuming that there would be freshinvestments in the SEZs which would nothave taken place otherwise. But the fact isthat a substantial number of the new SEZsare devoted to the IT (InformationTechnology) and ITES (InformationTechnology Enabling Services) sectorswhich have been growing at the rate of 30per cent per annum and where freshinvestments would have come in the normalcourse. According to a recent report, SEZsmeant for software and pharmaceuticalindustries account for more than 50 per centof all SEZs approved. The most glaringexample of this miscalculation is Posco’sSEZ in Orissa. The company had already


been given a shamelessly good deal interms of land and captive mines, and nowits SEZ has been approved. It is not asthough Posco would not have beeninterested in looting Orissa’s iron- orewealth, were it not for the SEZ status.

In reality the existing industries wouldmigrate to the SEZs to take advantage ofthe huge concessions. Thereby not onlywould the tax revenues be lost but theSEZs would become locations to produce(including retail, housing andentertainment) for the domestic market withadverse implications for the units locatedoutside the SEZs.

Attack on LabourBy far the most serious criticism of the

SEZs comes from the fact that no labourlegislation will be applicable there. SEZsenjoy the status of “public utilityservices” making it illegal for the workersto go on strikes for their demands. Thefunctions of the Labour Commissioner,who have traditionally taken the first stepin the conciliation process between labourand the managements, are now to bevested with the DevelopmentCommissioner whose main function,incidentally, is to woo investment and keepthe entrepreneurs happy! In the SEZ inGreater Noida, there have been manyinstances of workers being fined as theyhave gone to the toilets without the tokenswhich are too few as compared to thenumber of workers. There is also large scaleuse of contract labour in these SEZs.Andhra Pradesh, regarded as a frontrunnerin SEZ promotion, has laid down ruleswhich prohibit outsiders in unions,

thereby significantly reducing the scopeof collective bargaining.

The most worrisome fact is that sooneror later, these SEZs would become the‘models’ to be emulated on a countrywidescale. In other words, these islands wouldsoon pave the way for scrapping of all theprotective labour legislations all over thecountry.

ConclusionTo sum up, SEZs are the latest and the

most blatant example of the Indian stateprostrating before the imperialist anddomestic big comprador capital. In thename of development, the most importantresource i.e. the land itself is being handedover to big capital. Not only does it threatenthe land and livelihoods of a vast majorityof our population, like all other‘development’ projects, the fruits of theproject (SEZ in this case) cannot be boughtby the people who are to bear the burdenof this ‘development’. In a country wheremore than 65% of the population surviveson agriculture, there can be nodevelopment without the development ofagriculture. And the SEZs would actuallymean encroaching on the already shrinkingfarmland without proving them any job. Itis unlikely to even promote exports whichis the professed aim of the SEZ policy. Inthe name of development of theinfrastructure, it would give rise toapartments, shopping malls andentertainment complexes. With so manypeople being rendered without land andlivelihood, talk of employment generationis a bitter joke. And the labour employedin the SEZs will not enjoy any protection.Even the small capitalists who do not have

the wherewithal to locate themselves in theSEZ would be discriminated against.

The creation of islands within thecountry which are ‘deemed foreignterritory’ (mentioned as such in the verySEZ Act itself) is nothing but colonisationthrough the back door. Our land, ourresources, our labour are all being offeredon a platter to the imperialists and bigcapital. Says the ex Prime Minister, V.P.Singh, “by brazenly operating in favourof private companies and by openlybulldozing peaceful public dissent…theestablishment is pushing the people to aprecipice of no-return”. He further asks,“in such unjust circumstances, whyshouldn’t the armed struggle of theMaoists spread in the deep hinterland?”He added, in an interview to the magazineHard News, “I would like to be a Maoist,only I am too old”.

The SEZs are nothing but carvingenclaves within India where most Indianlaws will not apply and tax revenuesdrastically reduced. It will allow theComprador big business houses andimperialist TNCs to multiply their profitsten-fold — at the cost of the country; itsland and its people. Rural agricultural landwill be seized displacing lakhs from theirland and sources of livelihood; and withno labour laws applying cheap Indianlabour will be used to extract super-profits.And all these profits will be tax-free,draining even further the country’swealth. With such massive incentives thebulk of India’s big business (run bycompradors and TNCs) will move intodefacto foreign enclaves resulting incolonization in a new form.

continued from page 27party have vowed that there won’t beany hesitation in exchanging life withdeath for the sake of all nationals,nation and the oppressed classes. Allthe representatives have vowed,repeatedly that they will shed bloodto fight against the autocratic feudalmonarch and its supporters in all theforms to fulfill their obligation for thecause of all down-trodden andexploited people.

Lastly, it is to be noted that aday-long orientation was given to all

the party cadres and representativesand the conference was formallyended by the party General Secretary,on the fourth day, shouting theunderstated slogans:

Long-live Communist Party ofBhutan (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist)

Do away with Feudal and autocraticmonarchy

Down with World imperialism.

Down with Indian expansionism

New height to Bhutanese revolution

Long-liveMarxism-Leninism-Maoism

Long-NewDemocratic Revolution.

(VIKALPA)

General SecretaryCommunist Party of Bhutan(Marxist-Leninist-Maoist)


We print below the open letter written to the CPI(Maoist) by the Independent Citi-zens Initiative and the reply by the General Secretary of the CPI(Maoist) received atour office in early November.

First the letter by the Independent Citizens Initiative:Appeal to the CPI (Maoist)

ToGeneral SecretaryCPI (Maoist)

As members of an IndependentCitizens Initiative, we visited differentparts of Dantewada District inChhattisgarh from 17th to 22nd of May,2006, and met with a cross-section ofpeople with different perspectives on theongoing conflict in the district. We met alarge number of adivasis, in the villages,in relief camps and in jails. We feel deeplydistressed at the plight of the adivasis inDantewada and, in that context, we makethis earnest appeal to you.

We believe that the well-being and all-round development of the adivasis inDantewada and elsewhere should be thecentral theme of any discussion or effortthat impacts their lives, either directly orindirectly. We also believe that the defenceof the rights of the adivasis can be ensuredmore effectively through political, non-violent and open means, rather thanthrough armed struggle.

What is happening today inDantewada is truly traumatic for theadivasis. The majority stand deprived oftheir basic entitlements in terms of landand other natural resources, education,health, food security etc, either due to theapathy and insensitivity of the State,exploitation by outsiders, or because ofthe restrictions imposed by you. Due tothe violence unleashed by the governmentand government-supported Salwa Judummovement and the atmosphere of fear anduncertainty created by your violentresponse, the situation in Dantewada isnear civil war. We condemn both kinds ofviolence. Adivasi society is deeplydivided. This is a situation that cannot andshould not be allowed to go on. We holdall concerned, namely, the government, thegovernment-sponsored Salwa Judummovement and the Maoists responsible forthis unfortunate situation. Every one ofyou should own up to this and comeforward to resolve the crisis throughdiscussion and dialogue.

Based on our visit, we have a numberof questions we would like to pose to you:

1. Several organisations – An All IndiaFact Finding team (PUCL, PUDR, APDR,IAPL), Human Rights Forum, Asian Centrefor Human Rights and, the IndependentCitizens Initiative - have called upon youto declare a ceasefire with the governmentin Chhattisgarh and engage in dialogue.You have not responded to this call. Onthe contrary, you have escalated violence,and killed Salwa Judum members inretaliation, often very brutally. Are youprepared to engage in dialogue?

2. We are worried at your casualattitude towards taking away life. Deaths,like that of the marriage party returningfrom Gadchiroli or of the traders in Kankerare treated as ‘mistakes’. Unfortunately,armed struggle leads to too many‘mistakes’. Should this not lead to areconsideration of strategy? In any case,what does a ‘mistake’ really mean? We donot condone the killing of policemen eitheron moral or political grounds, especiallygiven that many people join the police orforces only as a means of employment.

3. Regarding the “jan adalat” held inManikonta in which 13 villagers werebrutally killed – what gives the villagers orthe party the right to impose deathsentences? Is a death penalty the onlypenalty possible? Where is the evidencethat due process was followed in these so-called jan adalats?

4. Why have you laid mines all over, aweapon which people throughout theworld have condemned as indiscriminateand actually want banned? Mines will notprevent Salwa Judum, but will onlyendanger the lives of ordinary people.

5. Why do you train minors (under 18)in the use of arms? Why do you have todestroy schools, even if the CRPF usesthem? Will this not affect education in thelong term to the detriment of the adivasis?

6. Not all the lack of development canbe blamed on the government. People havea right to vote, to work on roadconstruction schemes, to access

panchayat money, all of which your partyhas opposed. Even if your party builds athousand irrigation ponds and runsschools, can you ever replace theresources that the government has, and towhich people have a right?

7. While your armed squads may beready to face military operations and death,why put people at such risk? You claimthat if it were not for repression by theState, people would be fully with you. Bytaking up armed struggle, are you notinviting greater repression?

8. Are you not subordinating theinterests of the people of Bastar andDantewada to your wider goal of violentstate capture, a goal that they may not fullyshare? While there may be a great deal ofsupport for your party, how does onemeasure this in any independentlyverifiable fashion? Are you prepared todemonstrate that through impartiallyconducted polls?

9. All those who claim to struggle forthe people must struggle responsibly andwith full accountability. There must be adistinction between civilians andcombatants. Today, due to both the SalwaJudum and due to your response, such adistinction does not exist.

We appeal to you to respond to ourcall for a national dialogue, announce acease-fire and agree to be party to anyapproach that benefits the adivasis andenhances their well being.

We have appealed to the Central andthe State Governments through a similaropen letter to disband Salwa Judum,announce an unconditional cease-fire,come up with confidence buildingmeasures for the benefit of the adivasisand initiate a national dialogue with you.

Yours sincerely,Ramachandra Guha (historian and

columnist, Bangalore)Harivansh (editor, Prabhat Khabar,

Ranchi),Farah Naqvi (writer and social activist,

New Delhi),EAS Sarma (former Secretary,

Government of India, Visakhapatnam),


Nandini Sundar (Professor ofSociology, Delhi University),

B. G. Verghese (former editor,Hindustan Times, Indian Express, NewDelhi).

Reply by the CPI(Maoist):

ToThe members,Independent Citizens’ InitiativeDear Friends,

I received the letter sent by sixprominent personalities of theIndependent Citizens Initiative who hadvisited Dantewara district of Chattisgarhon a fact finding mission in last May. I couldnot ascertain when the letter was actuallysent as it did not bear any date and I couldget hold of it only recently. On behalf ofour Party I thank you all for your letter andthe responsible attitude and genuinedesire shown by you to put an end to thearmed conflict in Dantewara between theoppressed adivasis on the one hand andthe state-sponsored salwa judum, statepolice and central para-military forces onthe other. I convey my apologies to youfor the long delay in sending a reply,whatever are the reasons on our side.

Our Party appreciates the seriousefforts made by you in your genuine questfor finding a resolution to the tragic conflictthat had suddenly flared up in Dantewarasince June 2005 and has taken over 400lives until now. It is indeed heartening toall of us waging a just war for the liberationof the most oppressed sections of theIndian society to see democraticintellectuals like you seeking to explore thetruth and place it before the world. Thereare some good articles written by some ofyou such as the one in The Hindu by SriEAS Sharma, which made attempts topresent the truth in a more objectivemanner. He had correctly analysed theorigin and nature of salwa judum in sharpcontrast to the barrage of false propagandathat it is a spontaneous movement and anuprising against the Maoists: “It iscertainly not a “peoples’ movement” as ithas been made out to be. It is a State-sponsored campaign in whichunsuspecting Adivasis are used as

ammunition in a war that will serve theprivate interests of a few.” He had alsotraced the exploitation of the adivasis bythe non-tribal trader-contractor nexus:“For decades, unethical land-grabbers,wily traders, and exploitative contractors,all non-tribals, have dominated the livesof the Adivasis in this area, undeterred.”

I would also make it crystal-clear at theoutset that just as you do, our Party toobelieves “that the well-being and all-round development of the adivasis inDantewada and elsewhere should be thecentral theme of any discussion or effortthat impacts their lives, either directly orindirectly.” However, what we do notbelieve, unlike you, is “that the defence ofthe rights of the adivasis can be ensuredmore effectively through political, non-violent and open means, rather thanthrough armed struggle.” And it isprecisely these diametrically oppositeideological-political beliefs by ourrespective sides regarding the means tobe adopted to defend the rights of theadivasis that has led to two differingviewpoints in grasping the reality of theclass war in Dantewara. And it is thesediffering perceptions, outlooks and classbiases that are coming in the way ofarriving at a correct solution to the ongoingconflict, or what could be more correctlydescribed as a war between therevolutionary forces versus counter-revolutionary forces, that is going on notonly in Dantewara but in various parts ofthe country. Can you show us oneinstance from the pages of Indian historywhere the rights of the adivasis wereensured through non-violent and openmeans? And not just in India but anywherein the world for that matter? What havethe tribals of Kalinganagar received fortheir peaceful protest against Tata Steel?

You have placed nine questions beforeour Party. In brief, these are: lack ofresponse from our Party to your call for adialogue with the government anddeclaration of cease-fire; our “casualattitude towards taking life”; thelegitimacy of jan adalats like the one heldin Manikonta; that our Party is placingmines “all over”; that we are training minorsunder 18 in the use of arms and destroyingschools used by the CRPF, our Party’s

opposition to the right to vote, roadconstruction and access to governmentfunds for development; putting people torisk and inviting greater repression byresorting to armed struggle;subordinating the interests of the peopleof Bastar and Dantewara to our wider goalof capture of state power; and showing nodistinction between civilians andcombatants and so on.

Before answering these questions, thetenor and tone of which unmistakablybetray the mind and attitude of the liberaldemocratic intelligentsia, I wish to ask youone straight question: How does one getto know the truth from a plethora of facts?Can you say with full confidence that yourperception of the reality in Dantewara isnot tainted by your ideological biasesagainst the Maoist movement and violentrevolution? Is it possible for anyone, evenif one claims to be a neutral or impartialintellectual, to analyse facts and arrive atconclusions correctly if he/she has aninherent aversion for armed struggle?

We know that our answers will notsatisfy you. How is it possible when weboth have different ideological and politicalperceptions towards the means to beadopted to bring the oppressed out of theirmiserable conditions of existence? Thereis no level playing field in the mercilessclass war between the cruelly exploited,brutally oppressed majority on the onehand, and the fatty upper five per cent ofour society bulging at the expense of thehundreds of millions of poor on the other.In a class-divided society there cannot beany absolute truth. The truth of theoppressed is different from the truth of theoppressor. This has been true right fromthe time of Spartacus and the unsungslave heroes who waged struggle againstslavery. Either you were with the slaves, inwhich case Spartacus and the rebelsrepresented a just cause and truth, or youwere with the slave owners for whom therevolts were merely the unjust acts of theslaves who had strayed from their duty ofserving their masters. Likewise if BhagatSingh was a hero for the Indian people hewas the greatest terrorist and villain forthe British colonialists.

In class conflicts, unlike in ordinarysport, it is impossible to have an impartial


referee who cries foul whenever there is aviolation of the rules by either side. Forclass war is no game played out betweenequals based on rules that apply to bothsides equally. It is an unequal war betweenthe mighty militarised state that stands indefence of the propertied classes and their“right” to exploit the majority at will, andthe vast majority of the wretched of theearth—hungry, homeless, emaciated,docile, helpless masses—who, in the eyesof the ruling elites, are not much distinctfrom the slaves of bygone millennia. thesevery same exploiters through thierconstitution preset rules with enoughprovisions for violating the same. Thosewho imagine themselves to be impartialreferees in class war and try to set the rulesequally for both sides will ultimately endup as apologists for the oppressors, inspite of their good intentions and sincereattitude. Anyone who thinks that he/sheis being impartial in a class-divided societyis only a victim of his/her fancifulimagination.

You have condemned both types ofviolence, i.e., violence unleashed by thestate and salwa judum goons at the behestof the imperialist MNCs, big corporatehouses like Essar and Tata, unscrupuloustraders, contractors, as well ascollaborationist adivasi leaders who hadbecome part of the ruling elites, onawakened adivasi masses who arestruggling for their just rights andliberation under the leadership of our Partyon one hand, and the legitimaterevolutionary violence resorted to by theoppressed adivasis on the other. You heldboth sides responsible for the unfortunatesituation. How can you equate the violenceof the oppressor with the legitimate violentresponse of the voiceless oppressed?Whom would such a stand help ultimately?Would it not provide added strength tothe oppressors and help perpetuate theirdomination? All these have to be ponderedover by democratic-minded intellectuals.We sincerely appeal to you to stand morefirmly on the side of the oppressed andthen it will not be much difficult to findanswers to most of the seeminglyperplexing questions.

Now we shall try to answer your pointsvery briefly:

1. You had called on us to declare acease-fire and enter into a dialogue withthe government. You were dismayed thatwe had not responded to your call and hadeven escalated the violence. You alsoqueried whether we are prepared for adialogue? When the enemies of the peoplehave a single agenda of suppressing thestruggling masses through ever-increasingbrute force, where does dialogue come in?In fact, ever since 1998 we had always beenresponding positively for a dialogue on theissues of the people provided thegovernment cried a halt to its repressionand oppression of adivasis and created aconducive atmosphere for dialogue bywithdrawing the police and para-militarycamps from the countryside, punish theguilty officers responsible for murders andrapes, and so on.

Today, along with the above demands,other demands such as: immediatedisbanding of salwa judum, punishment tothe perpetrators of atrocities on the people,suspension of the Public Security Act, 2006,removing obstructions on adivasis whowant to go back to their villages from theso-called relief camps have also come tothe fore. Is there any justness in asking usto one-sidedly declare a cease-fire and gofor dialogue without the government firstcreating a conducive atmosphere? Thetalks in AP in 2004 had exposed thehypocrisy and heinous game plans of theIndian ruling classes when the governmentrefused to extend the cease-fire,commenced brutal attacks and createdconditions which made second round oftalks impossible under YSR’s Congressregime. These bitter lessons have naturallybecome a deterrent for talks anywhere inthe country. To ask us to declare cease-fire even as the exploiting classes continuetheir cruel barbaric campaign against thepeople means asking us to commit suicide.It is like the poor lamb believing the butcher.We appeal to you to think over thedangerous implications of your call for acease-fire from our side in today’sconditions.

2. You conveyed your worry at our“casual attitude towards taking awaylife”. Deaths of members of the marriageparty returning from Gadchiroli or of thetraders in Kanker were unfortunate

incidents that occurred due to mistakenidentity. No revolutionary would ever thinkof committing such attacks on innocentpeople. * Social scientists andinvestigative journalists do not stop atmere facts that happen. They would go intothe causes behind these incidents, thehistory and ideology of those whocommitted such acts, and the overallprevalent atmosphere that triggered suchincidents. Such incidents are exceptionsin our long-drawn revolutionary strugglespanning over 25 years in Dandakaranya.Our ideology and politics teach us toprotect the people as the pupil of our eyes.We value life and peace as no other partyor even a humanist does. It is our love andcommitment to the people that had drawnus away from our homes and families andgoads us on to sacrifice our lives so as thevast majority can live in peace. To accuseus of having a casual attitude towardstaking away life is a myth fabricated by thebourgeois media. Our society includingthe sharpest critics of the ruling classesare bound to be influenced at least to someextent by this subtle propaganda. Withgreater care and more meticulous planningwe assure you that we shall strive to avoidsuch unfortunate incidents in future.

We are as much grieved as you whenpolicemen are killed in our ambushes andraids. We made several appeals to thepolicemen and their families not to killinnocent people or launch attacks on ourcadre. We had issued leaflets appealingthe Naga battalion jawans, CRPF jawansto defy orders from their superiors and todesist from attacks. We have composed anumber of songs describing the plight ofpoor and unemployed youth who areforced to join police force due to lack ofalternative employment. Whenever weattack the police we try to minimisebloodshed. We had never killed anypoliceman who surrendered. We do notharbour any anger towards ordinarypolicemen but would anyone expect us toremain silent when people are tortured,killed, women are raped, houses andproperty destroyed by the police-para-miiary-salwa judum goondas? We stand forthe defence of the people’s rights and it isfor this reason we are compelled to attackthose who are snatching away people’sright to live. You would not have suggested


a reconsideration of the strategy ofpeople’s war itself just because a fewmistakes were committed had you knownwhy; in the first place, we had taken uparms.

3. Regarding the jan adalat inManikonta village, the first point we wouldlike to place before you is that those whowere punished were not villagers as youdescribe them but were paid SPOs and SJgoons who had committed terribleatrocities on the people in the name of salwajudum. A retribution of that order is anecessity to control these goons. Commonpeople, generally speaking, do not go tothe extent of killing those who hadcommitted crimes. The fact that hundredsof people who were present in the janadalat resorted to this extreme measureshows the pent-up anger and righteousindignation of the people intimidated sinceJune 2005 without a let up.

You had questioned for evidence thatdue process was followed in the janadalats. Before such a question is placedwe request you to examine the so-calledjustice system that is being implementedby the state in Dantewara-Bastar region oranywhere in our country for that matter.Does due process mean engagingprofessional lawyers (who turn out veryoften to be unethical professional liars) toprove one’s crime (which is the rarest thingthat can happen in our country if you seereal-life criminals occupying highestpositions of power while hundreds ofthousands of innocent languish in jailswithout trial for years without end). Whenit is a universally known fact that nine outof ten cases do not get justice through theso-called courts of law why should youfind fault with people when theythemselves punish the culprits as in thejan adalats held under the leadership ofour Party? The very fact that out of the 57people taken away by the jan militia led byour PLGA from the concentration camp and44 of them were let off after dueinvestigation of their deeds speaks of thefairness of the jan adalats unlike the so-called courts of law that let off the realculprits and throw the innocents for longyears into jails. Moreover, if we see ourpast history you will find that several timeswe had let off even police officers afterdetaining them for days when their crimes

were not proved in the investigation. Manyanti-social elements were simply censuredand let off. It is only the most notoriousanti-people criminal-lumped elements andproven agents of the enemy who weregiven the highest punishment of death.

In principle, we are against deathpenalty and our new system that wouldevolve after the seizure of power will scrapdeath sentence. But now the oppressedpeople and the revolutionaries arecompelled to resort to it for our defence aseven our very survival is at stake if provencounter-revolutionaries are allowed tocreate havoc with people’s lives and passon information about our movements tothe police. And as for evidence let me tellyou that the excellent evidence collectedby us—recorded cassettes of the entireinvestigation in the jan adalat which wehad placed by the side of the dead bodiesfor the world to know—had been takenaway by the police. We request you to bringpressure on the government and also askthe courts to direct the police to producethe cassettes. That would answer yourquestion about evidence for due process.If you are ready to collect live evidencethen thousands of people in Dantewara areprepared to place the facts before youwhenever you come.

4. It is a baseless allegation that we hadlaid mines all over. People, to defend theirvery existence, are compelled to plantmines here and there in order to check theinflux of hundreds of state forces and SJgoons who are creating a reign of terror inthe villages. Neither is this indiscriminateor on an extensive scale. We also do notbelieve we can prevent salwa judum byusing mines. We are with the world peoplein condemning the use of mines and allother weapons of mass destruction thatcreate more “collateral damage” to borrowthe phrase from the greatest terrorist ofour time, George Bush Jr., and we stand fora total ban of these weapons. If theindiscriminate use of grenades, mortarsand aerial bombing by the state’s forceswhich are deployed in thousands inDantewara-Bastar region killing orwounding hundreds of people is stoppedthen there is no need for us to use thisweapon.

We believe that it is people, and peoplealone, who can smash salwa judum

through mass political movements andmass armed retaliation. Our PLGA and thepeoples militia use weapons as they haveto confront an enemy armed with thedeadliest of weapons that are used forsuppressing the just and peacefulmovements of the people. In fact it is thesalwa judum and the large-scale atrocitiesby the police and para-military forces thathad led the people to arm them en-massand build armed defence systems for theirself-defence. They have every right todefend themselves with whatever kinds ofweapons available.

5. As regards training minors under 18years in the use of arms, we wish to make itclear that our policy and the PLGAconstitution stipulate that no one shouldbe taken into the army without attaining16 years of age. And this age limit is strictlyfollowed while recruiting. In the specificconditions prevailing in the war zonechildren attain mental and political maturityby the time they complete 16 because theyare directly or indirectly involved in therevolutionary activity from their verychildhood. They receive basic educationand political training early in their lives andhave organisational experience as membersof balala sangham (children’sassociations).

But now the enemy has changed theentire situation in this region by pursuinga policy of “kill all, burn all, destroy all”not sparing even children and old peoplewho are forced to flee the villages and stayin forests and have to arm themselves fortheir self-defence. When the enemy iserasing every norm of international law, theoppressed people have the full right to armthemselves and fight. Making a fuss overage makes no meaning in a situation wherethe enemies of the people are targetingchildren too without any mercy. If the boysand girls do not do resist with arms theywill be eliminated completely. Theintellectuals of the civil society shouldunderstand this most inhumane and cruelsituation created by the enemy and takethe side of the people instead of pushingthem more into defensive by raising allsorts of idealistic objections.

As for destroying schools used by theCRPF as their camps, neither the peoplenor our Party think it is wrong. Theschools, these forces occupy then, are


transformed into torture chambers andconcentration camps and there is no hopethat they will once again be used asschools in the near future. Moreover, inmany villages that did not have a schoolfor the past six decades after the so-calledIndependence, new RCC school buildingsare now coming up on a war footing forproviding the needed infrastructure for the‘carpet security system’. People living inthe villages know for what purpose thesebuildings are being built. That is why theyhave decided to destroy them and ourParty fully stands by the people.

Education of the adivasis is notaffected by destruction of schoolbuildings used by the security forces butby the destruction of entire villages (upto900 villages had been uprooted since June2005) by the state police, para-militaryforces and salwa judum goondas withactive police support. In mid-Julythousands of students whose educationwas disturbed by salwa judum goondascame into the streets demanding educationand gave slogans against police-judumgangs for depriving them of education. Wemust all demand the immediate withdrawalof all police-CRPF camps from schools andcolleges in villages and towns, stop thedestruction of villages and killing ofteachers and students by judum goons,allow people to go back to their villagesfrom the so-called rehabilitation centres,and to provide all facilities for education.While destruction of school buildings hadtaken place in a few villages where people’svery existence has become a question markyou still think that this is affecting theeducation of the children rather thanseeing it in a larger perspective affectingthe lives of the entire people. We arecurious to hear what you would say ofhundreds of other villages, which do nothave schools although the “Maoist threat”does not exist in those villages? It is foryou to ponder over whether we are in anyway responsible for the lack of educationto the children of Dantewara.

6. Another white lie doing the roundsever since the Maoist movement began tobe recognised by a significant section ofthe people as the only alternative to solvetheir basic problems is that we are againstdevelopment and that we obstruct peoplefrom exercising their right to vote and to

participate in government-sponsoreddevelopment works. Nothing can be fartherfrom truth. We were surprised to see thatyou too had fallen prey to this viciousdisinformation campaign unleashed by thegovernment and the media controlled bythe big moneybags. You wrote: “Not allthe lack of development can be blamedon the government People have a right tovote, to work on road constructionschemes, to access panchayat money, allof which your party has opposed.”

Is it true that we are in anywayresponsible for lack of development? Wehad never, I repeat never, opposed anyschemes of the government if those reallyhelped in ameliorating the lives of thepeople. You can verify this assertion ofours through independent investigationand not based on complaints from thosebigwigs like Mahendra Karma and hisagents among the adivasis and the non-adivasi exploiters who feel deprived of thefunds that would flow into their pockets ifthe Maoists were not present.

Our party spokesperson had alreadyexplained what model of development ourParty stands for which has been publishedin the EPW and hence I will not elaboratemuch on this aspect. The main point is thatwe oppose any development that playshavoc with the lives of the people. Youmight have known how an Essar and a Tatamanaged to get the consent of the adivasisby holding fake gram sabhas at gun point(see Down to Earth October 31, 2006).There is immense wealth in the areasinhabited by adivasis from Jharkhand toAP and all the big guns have their greedyeyes fixed on this wealth. Hence they leaveno stone upturned to grab this wealth evenif it means massacring the indigenouspeople, razing entire villages to the groundand suspending all fundamental rights ofthe people. In just the three statesChattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa overthree lakh crores of rupees are likely to bepumped in, to extract several times morewealth to fill the coffers of these steel andaluminium barons of India and theimperialist countries. And the so-calledadivasi leaders like Karma expect fatcommissions and bribes from their mastersfor clearing the areas of Maoists. This isthe logic behind the salwa judum.

We haven’t placed a blanket ban on allkinds of roads and railway lines. Weoppose the laying of only those roads andrailway lines that are meant for looting thewealth from the region and for enemy troopmovement. It is an open secret that therailway line from Waltair to Kirandul wasmeant for looting the raw material fromBastar to the imperialist countries likeJapan just as the British did during theircolonial rule. The proposed line fromRaoghat to Jagdalpur is meant for the samepurpose. Would you, as enlightenedintellectuals support these mega-development projects that result inunderdevelopment and misery for the vastmasses?

We support the just demand of theadivasis that the raw materials of the regionbelong to them, that they should not bedisplaced from their homes due to so-calleddevelopment projects such as mines andsteel plants, and that roads and railwaylines should not be laid for looting thewealth from the region. We stand in theforefront of their struggle against thesehuge projects and the roads and railwaylines meant for draining the wealth fromthe adivasi areas. We expect support fromdemocratic intellectuals like you to preventwealth from flowing out of the adivasiregions and from our country itself. Wehave our own model of development, whichyou can see, in the areas where we hadestablished the real democratic rule of themasses. You know very well that most ofthe development funds do not reach thereally needy. So much about the story ofdevelopment.

Even more amusing is the chargeagainst us that we prevent people fromvoting. The very same marauders whotrample underfoot all the fundamental rightsof the people guaranteed by our so-calledConstitution, lament when the Maoiststake up election boycott campaigns. Herewe wish to make it clear that people havenot only the right to vote but also the rightto boycott. But this right is snatched awayat gunpoint by the rulers who deploy hugecontingents of central forces to intimidateand force people against their will to votefor their very oppressors. This has beenmost conspicuous in AP where people arethreatened with dire consequences if theydared to boycott and, in several instances,


even pulled out of their houses on thepolling day and brought to the booths.During the last elections in 2003 and 2004in Chhathisgarh helicopters were used tocreate terror and huge para-military forcewas deployed in the name of preventingthe Maoists from foiling the elections. Justas other political parties have the right tocampaign for electing them to power theCPI(Maoist) too has the right to call uponthe people to boycott the elections thatare only meant to suppress them. Neverwas force used by our Party to preventpeople from exercising their franchise. Thisis easily verifiable from the people in ourareas of armed struggle.

Boycott of election is a political tacticof our party to mobilize, organize and rousethe oppressed masses against the rottensystem and to make them realise thenecessity to destroy it through people’swar. It is only then that the election of agenuine people’s democratic governmentbecomes possible. With this aim, under ourparty leadership and with the protectionof the PLGA, the oppressed masses ofDantewara-Bastar region are not onlyboycotting the election farce imposed bythe oppressors, but are also electing theirown organs of political power, JanathanaSarkars, with deep political conviction.

7. I shall deal with the 7th and 8th

questions together as they are closelyrelated. Both these questions and the verystrategy of people’s war, it is made out, tryto set up an artificial wall between ourParty and the masses. As one of the greatfounder-leaders of our Party, comradeCharu Majumdar, pointed out “People’sinterests are Party’s interests”. Therecannot be any other interest for a genuineCommunist Party than that of the vastmasses. It is not our armed squads that arewaging the actual war but the peoplethemselves.

We believe that it is the people, andpeople alone, who make history. It is theywho have to liberate themselves from allkinds of oppression. Tomorrow if theCommunist Party itself changes colour andbecomes a bureaucratic ruler aftercapturing power, as occurred in Russia andChina, people will wage a bitter struggleagainst them also. Our Party and armedsquads are mere catalysts that help themasses to achieve their liberation. It is the

people who are the real heroes and weawaken them and equip them with thescientific theory of Marxism LeninismMaoism. And theory becomes a materialforce once it is correctly grasped by themasses. Our Party and the PLGA are ableto survive the severest repression of theenemy because we are protected by themasses that act as a fortress of steel. Onemust have a correct dialecticalunderstanding of the interrelationshipbetween the Party and the masses or elsemistakes such as separating one from theother are bound to occur.

And when you ask us are we not“inviting greater repression by taking uparmed struggle”, I would say, “Yes. Butwithout armed struggle people willcontinue to live like slaves without self-respect or dignity and will perish like flieswith hunger and destitution.” That is whythe slogan “better to die in struggle ratherthan succumbing to hunger!” has becomeso popular with the masses. You might beaware of the chilling fact that the numberof people who died of hunger and diseasein just the past one decade far exceeds (byfive times according to an estimate) thosewho died in all the revolutionary wars thatoccurred in the last two centuries?

The ruling classes will not abandonpolitical power or their exploitation,oppression and suppression of the peopleuntil they are forcefully overthrown.Whether to live a life of slavery andindignity and die of hunger by remainingdocile or peaceful protests (we all knowthe fate of those displaced by SardarSarovar project even after two decades ofnon-violent struggle, just to take oneinstance), or take up arms to completelyeradicate the grounds that give birth to allkinds of suppression and oppression inorder to live as free and independenthuman beings. Our armed struggle is todraw the curtain on pre-history ofhumankind and herald the dawn of realhistory where people become the makersof their own destinies and not a handful ofmoneybags and corporate gangsters.

As for measuring the support our Partyenjoys among the masses anyone caneasily verify it. The police could not find asingle informer in hundreds of villages,which made their task of suppressionextremely difficult. In fact, it is the immense

support that we enjoy among the massesthat made the ruling classes sit up and thinkof ways and means to suppress us besidesdeploying the security forces. That washow the heinous strategy of salwa judumevolved by mobilising non-tribal exploiters,lumped elements among the adivasis whowere punished by the jan adalats for theiranti-people deeds, and people fromvillages falling outside the areas of ourstruggle. It can also be seen in the turnoutin the elections with several villagesboycotting the polls completely orregistering extremely low percentages ofvotes.

8. We totally agree with your last pointthat “there must be a distinction betweencivilians and combatants” and that “thosewho claim to struggle for the people muststruggle responsibly and with fullaccountability”. Our Party had alwaysdemarcated between civilians andcombatants. But you say such a distinctiondoes not exist today. We earnestly appealto you to point out where we have notmade the distinction and we shall certainlycorrect ourselves if it were true. We do notconsider all those who joined the salwajudum or those who are forced to becomeSPOs as our enemies. Nor are the peoplewho are herded into the so-called reliefcamps set up by the government to betreated as enemies. We only consider thosewho unleash brutal attacks against villageswith the help of the state’s forces aspeople’s enemies and punish them. Foroutsiders the SPOs might appear as pooradivasis but to the masses of adivasis whohad borne the brunt of their cruel attacksthe hardcore among the SPOs are evenmore dangerous and brutal than the police.Any independent and impartial enquirywill bring this truth out. We assure youthat we shall take even greater caution inthis regard.Yours sincerely,Ganapathi, General Secretary,CPI(Maoist)October 10, 2006

Due to unforeseen circumstanceswe were unable to bringout theVol.7, No : 10&11 (Oct.&Nov.issues). We assure you thathereafter the issues will come outregularly. Editor


Press Release:Condemn the death sentence on Saddam Hussein by the US occupiers and their puppet

regime in Iraq!George Bush—the No 1 perpetrator of crimes against humanity—should be hanged, not

Saddam!!On November 5th, the US occupiers and

their puppet regime in Iraq had completedtheir farce of so-called judicial enquiry intoSaddam Hussein’s crimes when he was thehead of state of Iraq and sentenced him todeath on charges of his alleged role in thekilling of 148 people in the Shia village ofDujail in 1982. Two others, a former militaryintelligence chief and a chief judge, toowere sentenced to death while severalothers were given rigorous imprisonments.The timing of the judgment, coming as it ison the eve of the Congressional electionsin the US, shows the deep-rootedconspiracy and the ulterior motives of theBush administration. Having lost itscredibility among the American people whohad begun to question their government’scontinued occupation of Iraq and thedebacles its occupation forces are facing,the Bush administration has used thedeath sentence as a bait to woo the voters.

The sentences have no validity underany count as the entire judicial processhad taken place under the direction of theUS occupiers, three lawyers defendingSaddam were brutally assassinated, twojudges were changed and puppet officialswere appointed as judges of the fakeTribunal. It is only the people of a countrywho have the right to punish its rulers andthis can happen only after the US occupiersquit Iraq. Through this verdict, the Bushadministration had also aimed at furtheringthe divide between the Shias and Kurdson the one side and the Sunnis on the other.

It is unfortunate that Shia muslims shouldhail the judgment that will benefit only theUS occupiers. The Shia people have theright to punish Saddam but the first andforemost task before them is to throw outthe US occupation forces from the soil ofIraq, build a sovereign Iraq and then tohold trial of all those responsible for killinginnocent people.

If the killing of 148 people can be citedas an example for awarding deathsentence, then how many times Bushshould be hanged for kill ing over6,50,000 civilians in Iraq since hisinvasion of that country in March 2003?And for his sadistic brutalities in AbuGhraib, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere?Virtually every US President at least sinceWWII could be hanged to death for thecountless crimes they had committed inVietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Nicaragua, ElSalvador, Guatemala, Haiti, DominicanRepublic, the Congo, Somalia and severalother Third World countries. Killings inDujail pale into insignificance before a MyLai massacre in Vietnam. And the dailybombardment of civilian localities by theIsraeli Zionist forces in Gaza, West Bankand other Palestinian territories, usageof weapons of mass destruction onLebanese territory and the genocide ofthe Palestinian people are the fittest casefor sending Israeli dictators like ArielSharon to the gallows.

The war on Iraq is not for preventingSaddam from using the non-existent

barrel gun. I was happy. Then onwardsneither the police nor firing couldmake me afraid. My confidence inmyself grew.

After sometime another platoonwas formed in DK and both my partnerand I were transferred there. I becamea Party Area Committee member.

How the women are workingin the military……..

There are a lot of women fightingcourageously in the movement. Fewhesitated. But they are doing well in

continued from page 19

WMD but to grab its rich oil resources forsatisfying the insatiable greed of the oillobby and the military-industrial complexthat Bush basically represents. People ofIraq—Sunnis, Shias, Kurds—should joinranks to throw out the foreign imperialistforces occupying their country. Theyshould resolve their differences and rejectthe judgments delivered under colonialrulers. Acceptance of the US-dictatedjudgments would only mean legitimizingthe colonial rule imposed by the US-Britishimperialists on the people of Iraq.

We call upon the people of India tocondemn this fake verdict fabricated bythe US imperialists led by George Bushand other imperialists. We call upon allsections of Indian people to condemn theambiguous attitude of the UPAgovernment, which, in essence, meanstacit support for the death sentence andUS occupation. Let us unequivocallydeclare that no foreign power has the rightto interfere in the judicial process of anycountry and that the death sentence onSaddam and others imposed by theimperialists is null and void in the eyes ofthe world people. Let us demand and fightfor the hanging of Bush, Blair and otherimperialists for their indescribable crimesagainst humanity, not sparing evenchildren and old people.Azad,Spokesperson, Central Committee,CPI(Maoist)Nov. 7.2006

other fields. Whenever there is anambush or raid, there is a review. Inthe review we discuss everything. Wediscuss the faults and the correctmethods, the positive and the negative.Thus we come to know about ourmistakes. We try to overcome themas a process.

Personal experiences………I participated in many ambushes

and raids. Each time I gained moreconfidence. I blasted mines. I was inthe assault team in raids on policestations. I worked in the stop group. I

feel very enthused with the work I amdoing. I feel empowered with the factthat I am able to fight with a rifle inmy hands. Once I blasted an anti landmine vehicle. This was a greatachievement for us in the field ofexplosives and personally also it wasan achievement.

I feel women must have theinitiative to do all kinds of works. Theymust strive hard so that we canestablish higher formationsexclusively with women. They needspecial political and militaryeducation.


Interview with Com. MaaseComrade Maase is the Commander of Platoon and District Committee Member in Dandakaranya. She spoke about her

suffering in the society, how she came in touch with the movement, the process that brought her to this position. Maase is knownfor her military capabilities. Right from the beginning she was militant. She participated in many ambushes and raids. Her effortsin this field put her in the forefront of the military field. There are more than a dozen women comrades like her leading in themilitary field inDanadakaranya. Let us see how they were in life, how they came into the party and how they developed to thepresent position…..[This report was received at our e-mail account-Editor]Maase, Recounts

About her life….It was B who first came and held a

meeting in our village. She told us allabout women’s lives and their struggle.She also told us about a woman inanother country. This created newthoughts in me. I thought life should besomething different from what it is now.

How she opposed her forcedmarriage…..

My parents drank liquor and fixed mymarriage (the parents of the girl and theboy drink the native liquor together andthis means the match is fixed). The boywas my cousin, the son of my uncle. ButI did not like this match. I was not readyfor marriage. My mother beat me. Mygrandmother beat me. They forced me toagree for the marriage.

Attending the meeting of thewomen’s organization…

While this was going on in my homethere was a meeting of the women’sorganization. At that time I did not evenknow that the name of the organizationis the Kranthikari Adivasi MahilaSanghatan (KAMS). I only knew that itwas a women’s meeting. One of myfriends in the village too was facing thesame situation. Both of us decided to tellour problem in the meeting.

But we did not have the courage totell. We gradually gained confidence andthen told one of the Range committeemembers. She asked us whether we wantto accept the marriage or join the KAMS.She told us we have to think and take afirm decision. We thought and told herthat we would first join KAMS and thengradually think about the movement.

Pressure continues at home……After some time my parents and uncle

started pressurizing me again. My unclecame to our house and was talking to mymother. I told my uncle I would die theday he takes me to his house. But my

mother and uncle were talking andtalking. I was vexed. I was irritated. I hitmy mother and then my uncle and ranaway from the house.

That day I slept in a friend’s house.My uncle did not leave our village. Hesent word to his village to come and takeme. My younger sister gave me thisinformation. My mother and uncle weresearching for me. So I left for anothervillage. I went to the weekly market andbought ‘pitta davvayi’, a medicine usedto kill birds.

I took the medicine and went home. Ishowed it to my mother and told her thatif they tried to send me by force I wouldeat the medicine and die. My stubbornstand made my mother rethink. Theywithdrew their decision. I was relieved.

Six months passed away. My friendmarried and left for another village. Thenpressure started again.

By that time I was already working inthe KAMS. The work gave meconfidence in life. I decided to join thesquad and informed the concernedcomrades. It took six months for them todecide and recruit me in the squad.

I joined the squad…But I did not know how to adjust,

how to talk and so on. I started thinking.My mind was in turmoil. I left my home. Ileft the place where my family wasstaying for many generations. Icontemplated whether my decision wascorrect or wrong. I could not sleep. I wasthinking how the life in the squad wouldbe.

The thoughts haunted me for onemonth. Comrades were laughing at myfear. I gradually got used to the situation.

As I was working with them theyasked me whether I am prepared to shiftto another place. I said yes. I continuedwith them for some time.

The squad took me to my village.They arranged a meeting. Many people

came for the meeting. My mother did notleave me. She was constantly sitting withme. I talked in the meeting. I told myvillage why I decided to join the squad.

While we were leaving my mother didnot give me my clothes and slippersback. I left without them. I did not turnback.

The new area….I was transferred to another area. The

commander and the leaders took greatcare about me. Everyone used to call me‘Mummy’. The commander encouragedme in military affairs. He used to makeme and the other comrades do all sortsof exercises.

A military training camp wasconducted. I stood first in it. So comradesasked my squad commander to allot meto the platoon. Thus I was shifted to thefirst platoon in DK in another area.

During this time I married a comradeof my choice. He was the commander ofthe platoon at that time.

The first time I heard the sound offiring…..

I thought i t was the sound ofrepairing the utensils. I practiced firingwith a single barrel gun. But the first timeI saw the police I got confused. I was onsentry and ran to the meeting place inthe village and told my comrades. Theyretaliated the firing. Later they reviewedthe incident. They told me I wasunnecessarily afraid and that I had tofight on such occasions. My partnercomrade encouraged me on how to fight.

That made me think a lot. I startedthinking whether I had fearfundamentally or whether I was afraidonly because of the suddenness of theincident. It was another turmoil for 6months.

When I was with this platoon I facedthe police again. This time I did nothesitate. I fired. It was with a double

continued on page 18


Major accused of killing Jalil Andrabi in CanadaThe Kashmir Times, July 9, 2006.

The lawyers pleading the case of SyedJalil Andrabi ( a civil rights Lawyer) whowas killed by an Army Major , MajorAvtar Singh in March 1996, have allegedthat the “judiciary in the state and thecentral government have been allowinga free run to the murderer, Major AvtarSingh”. These lawyers of Srinagar HighCourt have now been mobilizinginternational human rightsorganizations, for the arrest of MajorAvtar Singh possible.

One of the lawyers, Advocate ArshdAndrabi, who is the brother of Jalil Andrabisaid that despite the fact that 10 years havepassed after the death of Jalil Andrabi, hismurderer, Major Avtar Singh is yet to bearrested. Says Arshad Andrabi, “onewonders why the court, whether it is theHigh Court or the Chief JudicialMagistrate Budgum, neither of the twotried to get the results delivered. The HighCourt dismissed the petition of theKashmir Bar Association while the ChiefJudicial Magistrate Budgum could notsecure the arrest of the accused” It is inplace to mention here that Major AvtarSingh has reportedly escaped to Canadain order to avoid arrest . Right after takingcognizance, the High Court in 1997 hadissued orders that all out efforts be madeto arrest the culprit. The court had alsoordered to display his photographs in theelectronic and print media for facilitatinghis arrest.

A special investigation team (SIT) wasformed by the zonal police Headquarter

under S.K. Mishra, the then SSP Srinagar,to carry out the investigation. Later thehigh court directed that it would monitorthe investigation and directed further thatreports about the progress of theinvestigation be submitted to it. The courthad ordered that the investigation becompleted and challan be producedagainst the accused in the court of CJM,Budgum.

On 26 December 2002, the SIT came toBudgam and produced the challan againstthe accused, but failed to produce him inthe court. The lawyers of Jalil argue thathis full address, Railway Regiment,Ludhiana Station, was known to theinvestigating team but it still failed to arresthim and present him in the court. Theyallege that surprisingly enough, the CJMBudgum, Hari Om, endorsed the challanwithout the accused.

Arshad alleges that it is the policy ofthe central government that has allowedMajor Avtar to run away from the country.“The government of India rather providedhim amnesty…… it is only due topursuance of the family that the case isgoing on. It is strange to note that thepolice officer of the rank of DIG, Mr.Mishra, which is heading the SIT, said thatthe investigating team could not doanything more now”.

He goes on to say, “They only say thatthe accused is in Canada ….This is aready-made excuse available with them.In a fresh document presented by theZonal Police Headquarters Srinagar, inthe court of CJM Budgum, it has been said

that they have come to know that MajorAvtar Singh, who is involved in the murderof eight other people besides Andrabi, isin Canada at this time. So the court wasimpressed upon by the lawyers that somequestions arise as to how he could travelabroad when as early as in April 1997, adivision bench of the High Court headedby Justice Bilal Nazki had passed adetailed pre-emptive order directing thehead of the SIT and all the functionariesof the union of India, wherever they maybe, that they should provide all possiblesupport for apprehending Major AvtarSingh.”

He further says, “It was directed thathis photos might be circulated to theelectronic media and no passports shouldbe issued to him. In case he is inpossession of a passport, it should beimpounded so that he does not leave forany foreign country. So under section 6 ofthe Passport Act, it is an offence givingfalse information to the passportauthorities. There are columns in thepassport form about criminal casespending against the person”.

Therefore we argue that in the presentinstance, if the accused has traveled to aforeign country, how were the documentsissued to him? So it can be easily inferredthat his travel has been facilitated byviolating orders of the High Court and theLaw applicable” .The lawyers pleadingAndrabi’s case now, have been mobilizingthe International human rights agenciesafresh to facilitate making the arrest ofMajor Avtar’s possible.

TO THE PRESS AND DEMOCRATIC PUBLIC OPINIONCondemn the arrest of Erhan Aktürk, Yetis Yalniz, Timur Ates, Yaser Inancli, Aligül Polat in Paris!

On 27 June 2006, the French PoliceSpecial Forces raided the premises of theAssociation for Solidarity with People(ASEP) in Paris and confiscated somedocuments and papers. During the samehours, the homes of members of theassociation in Paris and the suburbs andin the Brittany area were raided and manypeople taken into custody.

We strongly condemn the InteriorMinistry and French Special Forces whowere disrespectful, rude and abusive

during these raids. Their intention wasclearly to intimidate and frighten people.

We will continue in our efforts todefend democratic rights against the“security forces” that unjustifiablyhandcuffed children, pointed guns at theguests and insulted the members of theassociation.

On Saturday July 1, Erhan Aktürk, YetisYalniz, Timur Ates, Yaser Inancli, AligülPolat were brought to court and are nowheld in custody pending trial. All are people

whose addresses and work places areknown and have full residence and legalstatus in France. The charges broughtagainst these individuals and the newsleaked to the press against them are totallyunfounded and untrue. The fact that thecharges were leaked to the press illegallybefore a judicial process is completedexposes the true nature of the fairness ofthe “bourgeoisie justice”.

The attacks of the French police andInterior Ministry on revolutionary-



Anti US Revolt in Kabul brutally Repressed (Taken from Internet: Left Radical of Afghanistan (LRA)Kabul, Afghanistan [email protected])

The shocking massacre by US andcoalition forces in Kandahar last weekis not yet forgotten and the blood ofinnocent people is not washed away,and the tormented people ofAfghanistan are drowned in an oceanof blood by US forces in the north ofKabul once again.

On 29 May 8:00 AM, a militaryconvoy of the US coalition forces onthe way from Bagram military base toKabul crushed and demolished morethan 30 private vehicles and dozens ofpeople along both sides of the jam-packed road in Khairkhana Kotal. It isworth mentioning that due to theconcentration of more than threemillion people in Kabul and anoutdated traffic system, narrow roads,etc on the one hand, and on the otherhand about half the roads of the middleof the city are being blocked by theUS embassy, US related departments,other embassies, foreign companies,NGOs (also usually when foreignforces, diplomats, high rankinggovernment officials are on the streets,each and every time the roads areblocked, for 20–60 minutes daily), allthis creates problems to the trafficsystem and problems for the citizens.

According to witnesses and injuredin the Emergency Hospital, the UScoalition convoy was driving fast andit looked as if the drivers were drunk.The road was packed with vehicles asusual. As the US coalition convoy wasin hurry, they switched on their hornsfully and were driving as madly asnever can be imaged. They firstcrushed a taxi with four persons inside,then any vehicle and person that camein front of them. As a result of thatincident, more than 30 private vehicleswere crushed badly and 56 personswere crushed dead and injured withina few moments.

When the residents of the area sawthe sadist killing, and the damage, theygathered immediately and threw stonesat the US coalition convoy. The angrycrowd chanted slogans such as as“Death to the USA”, “Death to the

occupiers”, “Death to Karzai”, “Theyare plunderers”, “They are murderers”,“Go home”, “We want justice for ourvictims and the perpetrators must bepunished and put to a public trial”.While the angry crowd were stoningand chanting in the area where theincident had taken place, the US-coalition forces opened fire and shotindiscriminately on the angry, butunarmed people. More than 87 peoplewere shot dead and 256 injured. Finally,they succeeded to disperse the furiouscrowd and opened a way for theconvoy to escape from the spot. Butthe suffering people once again filledthe roads and stood for revenge. Localprivate TV stations 20–30 minutes latershowed live scenes of the US forceswho were running wild and shootingpeople. Among the 256 injured, therewere two children aged six and eight,who were frightened to go home, theyran towards US forces, they were shotby US forces too.

All these shocking scenes wererepeatedly broadcast in the morning,but when the riot spread and thenumber of demonstrators against theUS-coalition forces increased, theterrible original scenes that reflectedthe barbarism and brutality of the US-led coalition were censored and werenot broadcast again. Subsequently, topretend that the disaster was a simplematter and business as usual, it wascalled a simple traffic incident due totechnical problems of a US vehicle! At11 A.M., while the demonstratorscarrying some dead bodies andchanting slogans against the USA, theoccupiers and the local puppetadministration near Serena Hotel (themost expensive hotel in Kabul) and theoffices of the World Bank, once againthey were shot at, and several peoplehave been killed by the claimants ofdemocracy, human rights and civilsociety. The wide anti US-coalitiondemonstrations saw the participationof tens of thousands of people, suchas school students, workers, youths,unemployed and other strata of the

society. The broad protest of thepopulation has frightened both the US-led coalition and the local government;they are afraid that if they will answerto the legitimate demands of the peopleby the language of force, it wouldcreate irreparable damage. So all theauthorities, from the US coalition,NATO, the US embassy, Karzai, theDefence Ministry, Interior Ministry,High Court, parliament, senate,provincial council to influentialindividuals on TV and radio requestedthe people to be patient and keep peaceand stability. The Afghan authoritiespromised that they would investigateand punish the killers and creators ofthe incident which resulted in 87 deadand 256 injured. But the US-coalitionauthorities once again promised to payjust one thousand dollars to thefamilies of each victim!

The par l iament asked thedemonstrators to come to parliamentand discuss their demands, but it wasa hoax, the police and security forcesidentified them and arrested all of themon the way to their homes. Three dayshave passed since the incident, thelocal administrat ion instead ofinvestigating and punishing the USsoldiers who caused that big humandisaster, began to arrest more and moredemonstrators as “rebels” who did notobserve the “regulat ions aboutdemonst ra t ions”! The s tupidauthorities expect people to be silent,peaceful, and polite when they demandjustice for their victims! The authoritiesthink that there are some hidden handsbehind the riot of the tens of thousandsof people on 29 May. Mr. Mujadidi, thesenate chairperson, told the media thatthere are communists behind thescene. Now, more than 200 youths,students and workers have beendeta ined and face dreadfulinvestigations and brutal torture,humiliation and probably long-termprison sentences.

1 June 2006


Red Salutes to Comrade RamuluIn another major incident on

October 7, comrade Kadari Ramulualias Ramana alias KDR, a memberof the Divisional committee of EastDivision in Gurralagondi forest inKoyyur Mandal of Vishakhapatnamdistrict which falls under the Andhra-Orissa Border Special ZonalCommittee of the CPI((Maoist).Comrade Ramulu hails from KantlaDamera village in Elkaturti Mandal inKarimnagar district. He joined theParty in the mid-1980s and has a longrevolutionary career of 22 years. Heworked in the armed squads inKarimnagar and Warangal districtsbetween 1983 and 1996. He workedas the secretary of Gurthedu areacommittee in East Division of AOB.He escaped several times from policedragnet in Karimnagar, Warangal andEast Division.

Comrade KDR worked as a bondedlabourer in his village and has aninherent class hatred for the classenemies. He realized the necessityof revolution in order to liberate thevast toiling masses who, like him,were oppressed under the weight offeudalism, imperialism and compradorbureaucrat capitalism. His class rootshelped him in standing steadfast evenin the midst of the severest repressionand tremendous hardships. Most ofthe revolutionary life of KDR was spentin Warangal. He was a terror to thepolice and the class enemies inWarangal who booked 32 casesagainst him. He never spared injusticeand stood firmly by the oppressedmasses which earned him greatrespect and love from the people. Heleft his daughter when she was fivemonths old and went underground withhis wife Laxmi in 19855. He never sawhis daughter again. His wife, Laxmi,became a martyr in a bomb blastduring a raid on a police station.Reacting to her father’s death KDR’sdaughter Suneetha, who never saw herfather, said that he dedicated hisent ire l i fe for the cause of the

oppressed and suppressed massesand finally sacrificed his life for thesame. She expressed anguish thatshe had to at last see his father’s deadbody while she was anxiously waitingfor years to see her father alive.

KDR’s village, Damera, has aglorious revolutionary tradition witharound 13 people from the villagehaving become martyrs. People of thevillage and the surrounding villagespooled funds and constructed amartyrs’ column in the village inmemory of these martyrs. KDR’spopularity among the masses becameevident when thousands of peoplegathered in Damera for the funeral onOctober 9. They eagerly waited forhours for the arrival of their belovedleader’s body. The police, as usual,sealed off the village to prevent thegathering of the people. They stoppedpeople coming from Dharmasagar,Anantasagar, Peesara, Veledu,Kothakonda, Bodagutta,Bheemadevarapalli and other placesin Warangal and Karimnagar districtsand shot video film with a view toharass the people later on. However,all these threats did not deter thepeople who manged to circumventpolice pickets through ingeniousmeans and reached the vi l lagecrossing the rice fields unnoticed onfoot.

The funeral was attended by therevolutionary balladeer and Jana NatyaMandal i founder leader Gadar,revolutionary poet Kalyana Rao,Madiga Resrvation porata Samitileader Manda Krishna Madiga,president and co-convenor ofAmaraveerula Bandhumitrulacommittee, Padma Kumari andNarsanna respectively, chairman ofthe people’s land commission,Chikkudu Prabhakar, and several otherleaders of democratic organisationsalong with thousands of people.Addressing the gathering, Gaddar,Kalyana Rao, Chikkudu Prabhakarand others called upon the people to

throw out the fascist rule of YSRwhose brutal reign had seen themurder of several hundredrevolutionaries and snatching of eventhe minimum rights of the people inthe state. They said the people wouldteach a fitting lesson to the YSRgovernment for having deceived themby promising that there would be noencounters in his regime but killingover 295 revolutionaries and theirsympathizers during his 2 ½ year rule.90 per cent of these were cold-bloodedkillings, they said. Narsayya, co-convenor of AmaraveerulaBandhumitrula committee said that theblood of these martyrs like KDR andSathyam would not go waste andwould give birth to thousands of suchheroes. Manda Krishna Madigaaccused the YSR government ofcarrying on dictatorship in the stateand demanded immediate halt to fakeencounter killings.

By 12 noon the village looked likea ocean of masses. Slogans of“Ramanna Amar Rahe!, We shall fulfillthe dreams of KDR!” rent the air asthousands marched in the villagestreets carrying KDR’s body. Peoplewho had never seen KDR during the24 years since he left the village cameenthusiastically to have their first andlast glimpse of their hero. As JNMartistes led by Gaddar sang songspraising the life and deeds of KDR theentire masses sang in chorussurcharging the entire atmosphere.

Comrade KDR, the proud son ofthe oppressed masses of India, shallremain forever in the hearts andhearths of the people. YSR’s policestate cannot halt the onward marchof people’s war in AP notwithstandinghuge losses suffered by therevolutionaries in the massive militaryoffensive launched by the greyhounds-CRPF combine. They will overcomethe present difficulties and utilize thesevere crisis affecting the state toadvance the revolution.


These reports were received at our office in end October before the fake encounters of other seniorcomrades of AP which will be covered in the next issue…….. Editor

Comrade Sathyam’s murder-YSR’s fascist state successfully buries thetruth once again

NitinThe murder of comrade Sathyam, a

member of the AP State Committee, onOctober 6th throws up many legitimatequestions related to the norms followedby the country’s rulers to the fore. Can therulers pour out lies that are obvious evento a school child and yet get awayunscathed? Will the society tolerate suchhypocrites, double-dealers and outrightliars who dupe the people through theirunending lies? Does not such lyingamount to a criminal act especially whenthe mutterers of these lies intend to protectkhaki-clad murderers who violate everyprovision in the Constitution related to thefundamental rights of the people? Khaki-clad murderers who are illegally licensedby the state and central governments tokill people at will, to detain them illegallyand inflict indescribable torture upon them,abduct them without leaving any trace, andprevent people from attending evenfuneral processions of the dead? Thebrutal acts of the police state in AndhraPradesh bring these questions seriouslybefore every thinking citizen in thecountry.

It is not just a coincidence thatSathyam in Telugu means Truth. Murderof comrade Sathyam is not just the murderof a revolutionary leader but also murderof Truth itself. Never before had the policein AP strived as much hard as in theaftermath of the murder of comradeSathyam to prove that it was a realencounter. On the 6th afternoon the policeofficials declared that there was a fierceencounter in the forest in Anantapur andthat the secretary of Nallamala ForestDivision, comrade Sathyam, died in theexchange of fire while two others, includinganother state committee member, Obulesh,was severely injured. 20 Maoists escapedafter the exchange of fire with the policeand the death of Sathyam, they claimed.The encounter, they claimed, took place inthe early hours of the 6th but did not permitthe media personnel to visit the spot ofthe so-called encounter on the plea thatthe situation there was dangerous and that

Maoists might throw hand-grenades andcause harm to the media personnel. Untilthat evening none from the media couldvisit the site.

The reason why the police refused toallow media personnel to visit theencounter site is obvious to even the mostnaïve—they needed time to prepare theencounter site. They hurriedly erected fiveor six tents, placed two pistols, a revolverand a country-made weapon, solar lights,wireless sets, revolutionary literature,kitchen materials, and even cooked food(!) at the site. And, of course, the deadbody of comrade Sathyam, which wasbrought all the way from Bangalore citywhere he was caught the previous day. Itwas only after “preparing” the site of theencounter that the media personnel wereallowed to visit the site. The site wasprepared under the guidance of the newly-posted SP of Anantapur, StephenRavindra. This SP has a notorious recordof fake encounter killings of revolutionariesand sympathizers, and is directly involvedin organising private vigilante gangs thatgo by the name of cobras, tigers etc. Hehad even organised a covert operation inWarangal during the period of talksbetween the Maoists and the Governmentof Andhra Pradesh in July 2004 along withanother notorious police officer, SrinivasaReddy, who is now enacting umpteennumbers of murders in Mahboobnagardistrict.

Even as he was busy “preparing” theencounter site, Stephen Ravindra frettedand fumed at the various massorganizations that were crying foul andwere demanding a judicial enquiry into themurder of comrade Sathyam. The SP evenissued a statement in the name of the statecommittee member of the CPI(Maoist),comrade Obulesh (now also martyred),claiming that there had, indeed, been anencounter with the special police forcesand the Greyhounds nearMallammakondalu in Nallamada mandal inAnantapur district and that he had escapedalong with others while comrade Sathyamdied in the ensuing exchange of fire. By

issuing such statements in the name of theMaoist leader the manipulator thought thathe would be able to mislead the people byshowing it as a real encounter. His policebrain could only think on a transient, adhocbasis to confuse the public for it wascertain that the real Obulesh would oneday anyway issue a statement, just as hedid a few days later, disowning the earlierstatement issued by the police in his name.Yet, this “brilliant” police brain, knowingthat the Maoist leader in the forest wouldnot be able to issue a denial immediately,thought a forged statement would save thepolice from a public outcry at leasttemporarily. No wonder, police officials likeStephen Ravindra, habituated as they areto amassing immense enormous wealth byduping the government through forgeddocuments, should think of such forgedstatements in the name of Maoist leadersto dupe the masses.

Janardhan, the spokesperson of thethree leading committees of CPI(Maoist)in AP—the AP State Committee, NorthTelangana Special Zonal Committee andthe Andhra-Orissa Border Special ZonalCommittee— issued a statement on the 7th,which appeared in the papers on the nextday, shattering the encounter story put outby the police officials. He asserted thatSathyam was arrested in Bangalore on theafternoon of 5th October, was tortured thewhole night, and bumped off in the earlyhours of 6th after taking him to the Chitravatisquad area in the forest of Anantapurdistrict. He also exposed how theAnantapur district SP had issued thestatement in the name of the statecommittee member, Obulesh, to confusethe people and justify the murder ofSathyam.

The police state of AP had proved onceagain that it has no compunction in killingrevolutionaries in cold blood and rubbingoff such murders as encounters. Once in awhile it would produce an arrested Naxalitein the Court, as it had done in the case ofcomrade Rajanna, leader of CPI(ML)-Janashakti, and claim that this very act wasproof that the YSR government wasagainst fake encounters. Such a rare case continued on page 25


Comrade Sathyam hails froma poor family from K Samudramvillage in Warangal district. Hisfather was a hamali and motheran agricultural labourer. He hadb e c o m e a P ro f e s s i o n a lRevolutionary of CPI(Maoist) inthe la te 1980s . He began h isrevolutionary career as a squadmember in Nalgonda district ofS o u t h Te l a n g a n a a f t e rcompleting electronics course int h e I T I i n P a l v a n c h a i nKhammam district. He graduallygrew to the posi t ion of squadc o m m a n d e r b y 1 9 9 5 , t h e nbecame a member of the districtc o m m i t t e e i n 1 9 9 8 , a n d t h es e c re t a r y o f t h e d i s t r i c tc o m m i t t e e i n 2 0 0 2 a f t e r t h emartyrdom of comrade Diwakar.He lost his life-partner, comradeSarita, in an encounter in 2001.He readily took up work as thesecretary of Nal lamala fores tdivision in 2003 and played ana c t i v e ro l e i n b u i l d i n g t h emovement in Nallamala in themidst of the severest repressionsince 2003. He was promoted tothe state committee in August2 0 0 5 . T h u s f ro m t h e h u m b l ebeginning as an ordinary squadmember he grew to the status ofstate committee member throughs h e e r h a rd w o r k , d e e pc o m m i t m e n t , s e l f - s a c r i f i c i n gn a t u re a n d o rg a n i s a t i o n a l -military abilities. His organisingabil i t ies and mili tary prowesswas proved time and again in hisp r a c t i c e . H e f o u g h t b a c kcourageous ly in many armede n c o u n t e r s w i t h t h e s p e c i a lpolice forces and the greyhoundsand had escaped in over 20-25i n s t a n c e s a f t e r h e w a ssurrounded by the enemy forces.As an able military commanderhe led many military operationsagainst the police forces. He ledthe daring day-light attack onthe SP of Prakasham distr ict ,Mahesh Chandra Ladha, in 2005in Ongole town. The notorious

SP’s bullet-proof car was throwninto the air and though he hadnarrowly escaped, it created terrorin the hearts of the cruel policeofficials and political leaders. Itis said that the police filed a totalof 107 cases against him. No otherproof is required about comradeSathyam’s revolutionary sincerityand commitment than the viciousat tack against Sathyam by thepeople’s enemy and leader of them u rd e r m a f i a i n A P, D G PS w a r a n j i t S e n , w h o d e s c r i b e dSathyam as a “hardcore brutalm a n ” a n d e x p re s s e d g re a tre l i e f f o r t h e p o l i c e w i t h t h ed e a t h o f c o m r a d e S a t h y a m .

Comrade Sathyam is known for hisdeep commitment to the people andc o m m a n d e d e n o r m o u s re s p e c tamong the Party cadres and allPLGA fighters. He was always ani n s p i r a t i o n t o t h e m a n d h i spresence gave immense confidenceto the people and the cadres. Whilehe mainta ined c lose comradelyrelations with one and all, he wasalso known for his frankness inexpressing his opinions regardingP a r t y p o l i c i e s a n d p l a c i n gcr i t i c i sm o f every mis take andweakness in the Party leadershipand cadres. The state committeemeeting, which took place in thesecond half of September 2006,decided to rel ieve him from thes e c re t a r y s h i p o f N F D i n

accordance with the decision ofthe Central Regional Bureau,and allot him to Dandakaranyat o l e a d a C o m p a n y o f t h ePLGA. He was to leave for DKwithin a fortnight or so whenthe unfortunate incident tookplace. He went to Bangalore onsome Party contact on October5 th and was ar res ted in theafternoon around 3pm. He wastortured until the next morningand then shot dead.

Comrade Sathyam did notrevea l a s ing le Par ty secre tdespite severest torture by thepolice. He remained steadfastt i l l h is last breath. ComradeSathyam was just 35 years whenh e a t t a i n e d m a r t y rd o m .S a t h y a m ’s e x e m p l a r yrevolut ionary career and hisi m m e n s e c o u r a g e a n ddetermination exhibited when hewas in the hands of the cruelSIB police offcials, will remaina n i n s p i r a t i o n t o t h e P a r t ycadres, PLGA fighters and therevolutionary masses not only inA P b u t t h ro u g h o u t t h ere v o l u t i o n a r y c a m p i n t h ec o u n t r y. H e w i l l re m a i n asymbol of rebellion among then e w y o u n g g e n e r a t i o n f o rhaving sacri f iced his l i fe forthe communist values he hadcherished all his life.

The popularity of ComradeS a t h y a m w a s s e e n a t t h emassive rally during the funeralprocess ion in h i s v i l lage onOctober 8. Apart from a hugegathering of the masses, leadersfrom virtually every party in theMandal at tended the funeral .The populari ty of th is youngleader cut across Party lines.The attempts by the police too b s t r u c t t h e p e o p l e f ro mattending the funeral bore littlefruit as people defied the policeres t r ic t ions and reached theplace through ingenious method.


of production in a court of law, perhapsone in a hundred fake encounters, cannotfool the people. Even such a rare thingoccurs when the arrest is immediatelypublicized widely and the civil rightsorganisations react promptly within hours.Such publicity too, however, did not helpin saving the revolutionaries in most cases.In the past 2 ½ years of YSR’s fascist rule,over 250 Maoists and another 60-70 otherrevolutionaries were killed, mostly in fakeencounters. And those produced in thecourts during YSR’s fascist rule do notcross the single digit.

What had taken place on October 6th

was not just the murder of comradeSathyam but the murder of Truth itself. Andsuch murders had taken place several timesin the past after arresting revolutionaryleaders in the high-tech city of Bangaloreright from comrade Puli Anjanna, the thenstate secretary of AP state committee inOctober 1993, comrade Reddappa, amember of the state committee in 1996,comrades Shyam, Mahesh and Murali, allCC members, in December 1999, comradesSathyam, a member of the state committee,Gangaram, the secretary of RayalaseemaDivisional Committee and Shankar, amember of the Divisional committee, inJanuary 2004, and again comrade Sathyamin October 2006. The AP SIB has well-knitillegal structures and torture chambers inmost of the cities in India, ore so in thesouthern cities like Bangalore, Chennai and

Mumbai, not to speak of the cities andtowns in Andhra Pradesh.

The media, especially the 24 hour newschannels that pour out stories in the nameof news every hour round the clock, hadfailed miserably in digging out the factsand establishing the truth. The Englishpapers were the worst as they onlypublished police versions of the so-calledencounter. They claimed that threeMaoists including the state committeemember, Sathyam, were killed in theencounter. Later, they corrected themselvesby saying that while Sathyam was killed,Obulesh and another PLGA fighter wereseriously injured but manage to flee alongwith 15 other Maoists. Some Telugu dailiesdid better by expressing doubts regardingthe encounter story. The hard labour putin by the police in preparing the encountersite and not allowing media personnel tovisit the site for hours was cited as a proofof the hollowness of the police story.However, some papers put out fabricatedstories that were even worse than those ofthe police. For instance one paper claimedthat it had access to reliable sources whichsaid that the encounter took place basedon the information provided by a Maoistwho had fled the camp on 5th night, becamea covert agent and brought the police tothe camping site by early morning the nextday. Photographs of the “site of theencounter”, the tents, weapons and othermaterials used by the Maoists wereprominently published in the daily. Anyoneseeing these photographs and inputs from

so-called reliable sources would have toinvariably believe that an encounter had,indeed, taken place based on theinformation provided by a covert agent.The criminal hypocritical gangsters rulingthe police state in AP thus bury troothand the so-called watchdog media hadsimply aided this burial even making it somuch colourful and credible by adding itsown creative masala.

The ruling class parties in AP, whetherit is the Congress or the TDP, have thesame notorious track record of cold-blooded murders when they are in power.Until date, not a single murder case hasbeen registered against any police officialalthough several thousand revolutionarieswere killed in these so-called encounters—euphemism for cold-blooded murders.Outright lies continue to do the rounds,whoever might be in power. The rulersknow well that the people know about theirlies. Yet they continue to churn out thesame lies about exchange of fire betweenthe Naxalites and the police even wheneveryone knows that they have beenarrested and shot dead. How long will thisculture of lies, hypocrisy, and daylightmurders go on? Does the judiciary, whichinterferes when the workers go on a strikesaying that it has to protect the lives andensure people of their basic rights everthink of interfering in these unendingmurders by the state and dare to punishthe murderers clad in Khaki and Gandhi’skhadi?


democratic individuals and institutionshave a long history. However, the latestincident highlights a new aspect of thepolicies of intimidation against progressiveimmigrants in general and more specificallyagainst democratic institutions such as thePeople’s Solidarity Club in Paris.

We, the undersigned associations,strongly condemn these draconian acts ofthe French State, its Interior Ministry andFrench Special Police Forces and demandthe immediate release of all those arrested.

We strongly oppose and condemn theattacks against the rights of migrants fromTurkey and their institutions and call onall progressive, democratic and freedomloving people to join us in protesting

against the French authorities and demandthe immediate and unconditional releaseof all those arrested.

End the anti-democratic policiesagainst progressive immigrants’institutions!

Free all those arrested, now!

Updated signatories (02/07/06):- The Paris Association for

Solidarity with People (ASEP)- The Federation of Workers from

Turkey in France(FITIF)- The Confederation of Workers

from Turkey in Europe(ATIK)- New Democratic Youth (YDG)- New Democratic Woman (ATIK)

- International League of PeoplesStruggle – European CoordinationCommittee (ILPS –ECC)

- Strasbourg Tohum Youth Center- St. Brieuc International Youth and

Cultural Centre- Group Siar- Democrat Unity of Artists- France Migrant Workers

Federation- France Democrat Rights

Federation- Anatolia Cultural and Solidarity

Association- Paris- Odak Magazine-Paris- Alinteri Magazine-Paris



Index for the year 2006JanuaryAn Epic A Saga of Twenty-Five Years ofGlorious Struggleof thousands of storiesof People’s Transformation“The Forest is Ours” — Assert theindigenous Adivasi inhabitants ofDandakaranya and the vast hinterland ofIndiaThe Hoax of National Rural EmploymentGuarantee ActVision Shanghai over the Mumbai MillLands – Speculation and other Ravagesof a Decadent BourgeoisieIndian Traitors Even Sell Our Water tothe International Water MafiaMore Horrors of the Salwa Judum

FebruaryJailbreak, Armoury Raid & Dynamics ofPeople’s WarThe hoax ofenergysecurityMore on Foreign Takeover ofIndian IndustryIran, the new FlashpointCondemn state violence on women andon the women’s movement!Expose and oppose the violence ofstate backed vigilante gangs on thewomen’s movement!!Horrendous situation of Civil andHuman Rights in Andhra PradeshRule of the Law is evaporated intheStateExtracts of a report sent fromBangladesh by the CPEB (ML) RedFlagSitaram Yechuri Tries To DeceiveIn India’s ‘Richest’ State,Death & Starvation Stalk theCountrysideDemand the unconditionalRelease of Maoist PolitburoMember Co. SanyalDemand Immediate and UnconditionalRelease Of Writers and ArtistsWTO 6th Ministerial Conference:Further Sell-Out to Imperialists

MarchSupport the Just Struggle of theBaloch People Against PakTerrorCarry Forward the militant anti-imperialist Traditions set by

Bhagat Singh and hisColleagues!Women’s movement inDandakaranya –Half of struggle and half of skyIndia’s New War: MiningMafia vs Oppressed Tribals On the Occasion of the 10th

Anniversary of thelaunching of the People’sWar in NepalThe revolutionary masseofIndia send Revolutionarygreetings for the OngoingPeople’s War In Nepal!Condemn the Killings of Mass Leaders inPhilippinesIn India’s ‘Richest’ State, Death &Starvation Stalk the Countryside

AprilMay Day CallHumiliating Bush Visit : Pushes Indiainto the Arms of US OctopusCrisis, War, Fascist Terror & GreatRevolutionary OpportunitiesBird Flu Hype & the Gigantic IndianPoultry MarketThe Saga of Clemenceau —Lives ofWorkers at RansomUnion Budget Favouring Compradorand Rich with lip serivce to PoorsFDI Crazy Budha Govt. of West BengalProposal to Celebrate HistoricMilestones in Struggle AgainstModern Revisionism since 1956

MaySalwa Judum - Wolves in SheepclothingsPeople’s War Intensify in IndiaWhither the Narmada Bachao StruggleNew Pension Scheme – Anotheronslaught on the peopleFrance in Turmoil - where is it headingforIn India’s ‘Richest’ State Suicides &Starvation Stalk the CountrysideMarxism and RevisionismAP - World Bank becomes the de-factoRulersBook Review:Anti – Imperialism and Annihilation ofCaste written by Anand Teltumbde

Draculean Clinical Trials and IndianGuinea PigsUS Dictate Terms India meekly complies

June-JulyComamorate Martyr’s weekcountrywideHomage to Marty’sDeploying Army in the role of PoliceImperialist MNCs and theirIndian agentsget out of IndiaR(E)volution of a ChildrevolutionariesReservation and Upper Class BacklashDismantaling of PDS - AnotherImperialist decisionDeliberate misleading Official estimatesof PovertyUphold the Theoritical Weapon ofProlitarian DictatorshipThe Phillipines : Killing fields of Asia“There is need for caution with thepresent tactics” : An Interview with theSpoksperson of CPI(Maoist) on NepalDevelopmentRepression and Heroic Resistance in DK

Aug-SepHold High the Prestigious Red Flag ofthe CPI (Maoist) PartyGovt Prepares for a Massive Clamp

Downon MaoistsThe Errabore Incident & Advance ofPeople’s WarJoint Press Release of CPN (Maoist)

andCPI (Maoist)Political Resolution of CCOMPOSA 4thConferenceVehemently Condemn Mumbai-TypeBomb BlastWhat SEZs mean for Women Collaps of the WTO Trade Talks&Intensifying Economic ContentionsPMs Vidharbha ‘Package’ a Big HoaxIsraeli Zionists Get a Bloody Nose inLebanonFood scarcity in PerilReply to Article in AWTW on tacticstowards WSF & MR-2004Without a Struggle against

Revisionismit is impossible to take even one stepforward in the RevolutionAdivasi Women : Situation & StrugglesInterview with the Incharge ofDandakaranya CNM; Comrade Lenj


Red Salutes to Comrade VikasCom Vikas was martyred on Sept 17

2006 after being arrested from the Kankerregion of Chhathisgarh; martyred in a fakeencounter. Hundreds of police fromGadchirolli (Maharashtra) and Bastar cameto kill him. Com. Vikas was the architect ofthe Gadchirolli movement, particularly inthe period of acute repression during the1990s. It was he who led the Party {thenCPI(ML)(PW)}to face the ruthless attacksof the state not only on the guerrilla forcesbut on the masses in general. In face of theworst form of mass terror the Party unitsled by him, somehow maintained theirclose links with the masses; gave themstrength and encouragement, and rebuiltthe party and army in the region. His lossis a serious blow to the revolutionary forcesin Dandakarnaya and throughout thecountry. But it is a blow that will turn intoa fire as thousands who loved him mostdearly will be aroused to follow in his path.

Com. Vikas (alias Shivanna) has beenactive with the revolutionary movement forover two decades. At a very young age hejoined the Revolutionary Students Unionin 1985 at Hyderabad. But very soon heresponded to the call of the Party and

committee till 1994. In 1995 he was electedto the Gadchirolli Divisional Committee ofthe Party. From 1996 to 1998 he was thePlatoon commander of one of the firstplatoons formed in Dandakaranya. In 2000he was elected as the secretary of theGadchirroli Divisional Committee and analternative member of the DK Special ZonalCommittee (equivalent of a StateCommittee). In 2002 he was elected to theSZC.

Vikas was very much loved by thepeople and the cadres due to his simplicity,straightforwardness, courage,selflessness, dedication and totalcommitment to the cause of the oppressed.He was a model guerrilla and communist.He trained hundreds of young fighters intoeffective guerrillas and good communists.Though he originally hailed from AP heintegrated so deeply with the local tribals— speaking their language fluently andconsidering them like his own familymembers. The revolutionaries of thiscountry will always remember Vikas andhis life-story will be a source ofencouragement to all future generations ofrevolutionaries.

Press statement of Communist Party of Bhutan (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist)The first four day’s National

Conference of THE Communist Party ofBhutan (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) hasended in a remote village amongst itsrepresentatives from various places. Theconference was held from 31st of Januaryto 3rd February 2006. It was a historical dayin the history of the party and has beenproved to be a milestone in the path ofstruggle for the freedom loving people ofBhutan. Since its formation, our great andglorious party C.P.B. (MLM) has comeacross various ups and downs in its courseof progress and has piled up much loss aswell as achievements. The conferencewhich commenced with the Internationalsong and paying one minute homage inthe memory of immortal martyrs had addeda new spirit amongst its cadres byfelicitating one of its brave fighters, com.Chandra-Bindu, who had fallen prey in thehands of the enemy (Police), for the firsttime in the history of the party whileperforming his obligations. As a result, thefirst conference has taken the following

historical decisions that we want to makepublic through this statement.

The name of the party will remainas it is in Nepali but it will be CommunistParty of Bhutan (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist)in short, C.P.B.(MLM) in English. It is toremind one and all that its name wasBhutan Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) and in short,B.C.P.(MLM) before the conference. Theconference has reached to this conclusionhaving had a long discussion andconsultation to name the party accordingto its activities and party-line.

The conference has approved fourimportant documents of the party,including the main documents, i.e. theprogramme and policy. It is also informedthat the manifesto of the party wasapproved by the plenum in the fifth sittingof the party central organizing committee.

The party has adopted the two-linestruggle as “party-life” and adopted it in acreative mode. Having realized the past

experience, this time, the conference hasbeen successful in bringing out therevolutionary “Unified force” breaking allthe large and bulky party committees intosophisticated ones. Henceforth, theconference has laid a great stress to makeall the party cadres more practicable andmore accountable in implementing theaforesaid policies and making the partymilitary-oriented and military party-oriented.

The party has fully analyzed that theprogramme and policy formulated earlierwon’t be practicable due to the changingNational and International politicalscenario. Hence, keeping in view theNational and International politicalscenario, the conference has formulatednew programmes and policies due to thedynamic situation so as to begin thestruggle from the next height studying thesituation of the country subjectively andobjectively. All the representatives of the


shifted as an organiser to the backwardtribal areas of southern Maharashtra of theDandakaranya region. From 1985 to 1989he worked with the squads of Sironcha,Aheri and Etapalli of this region. In 1989he was arrested at Ballarshah. But in 1991,

in order to secure his release, the MLA RajaDharmarao was kidnapped and his releasewas demanded in exchange. After comingout from jail in 1991 he worked ascommander of the Aheri squad and amember of the Party Divisional sub-

Demand the immediate and Unconditional Release ofComrades Sheila and Chintan, Central Committee Members

of the CPI(Maoist)Comrade Sheila was arrested on

October 7th from Sundargadh districtOrissa while comrade Chintan wasarrested ten days later on Oct 18th

from Champaran district, Bihar.Details of comrade Chintan’s arrestare still awaited.

Comrade Sheila (Shobha) aliasBudhni Munda, a member of theCentral Committee of CPI(Maoist),was arrested from a bus stand atRamjodi village on October 7th ,illegally detained for two days andsubjected to severe physical andmental torture at the CRPF camp atLathikata Police Station.. Two othercomrades, Sanjay alias Bijay Tuduand Rajan Rahul Munda, bothmembers of PLGA, were alsoarrested along with comrade Sheila.All the three were arrested by theOrissa and Jharkhand police in a jointoperation. At that time she had justreturned form a tour of the Orissa-Jharkhand border region awakeningthe oppressed women of the region.

Initially the government tried tokeep the arrest a secret, but due tothe consistent pressure from humanrights groups and other progressiveintellectuals the police was force topresent her in court and even beforethe media. Here, defiantly she openlydeclared her great mission for theemancipation of women and for thefreedom of all the oppressed massesof our country.

But soon after her presentation incourt, on Oct 10th she was again givenpolice remand. Though she was inbad health condition and on medicaltreatment she was taken from stateto state and subjected to cruelphysical and mental torture by thepolice, government officials and theintelligence. They also threatened toextend the remand and with evenmore horrifying torture.

But who then is Sheila Devi? Sheis that steadfast Maoist fighter whohas been consistently, for the last two-and-a-half decades, been arousing theoppressed masses of Jharkhand-Orissa-Bihar, particularly the women,for the new democratic revolution. Shewas the founder president of the NariMukti Sangh which she built fromscratch and extended to entire regionof Jharkhand-Orissa-Bihar. Therebyshe has played a notable role inestabl ishing the revolut ionarywomen’s movement in India. She hasalso played a pioneering role in theJharkhand movement on the call forthe formation of a “Lalkhand”. She hasalso been playing an active role in theongoing movement against the loot ofour mineral and forest wealth by theimperialists and their agents in therich Jharkhand-Orissa belt. Throughall these struggles com Sheila haswon a place in the hearts of themasses and is well know as theirfriend, staunch warrior and ablecommunist leader. Particularly herties with the women and young girlsbeing drawn to the movement are thatof a friend, guide and revolutionarymodel.

In a statement issued by theCentral Committee of the CPI(Maoist)on Oct.11th it said:

The CC, CPI(Maoist), demands theimmediate release of these comradesas well as an enquiry into their illegaldetention in the CRPF camp inviolation of the fundamental rightsguaranteed by the Constitution.

The illegal detention and the tortureof comrades Shobha and others onlyshows how the so-called fundamentalr ights provided by the IndianConstitution only exist on paper.Comrade Shobha is a very seniormember of our Party who has been inthe forefront of the women’s movementin Bihar and Jharkhand for several

years. She has been a greatinspiration to the adivasi women ofJharkhand, Orissa and NorthChatt isgarh who have beenoppressed and suppressed forcenturies. It is due to this active roleof comrade Shobhadi in awakeningthe adivasi women and galvanizingthem into united militant strugglethat the exploi t ing classes inJharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh hadbecome unnerved and their policeand para-military goons acted incoordination to arrest her andthereby to weaken the revolutionarywomen’s movement in the country.The arrest of comrade Shobhadicannot stop the onward march of therevolutionary women’s movement inthe country.

We call upon all Party members,PLGA fighters, members of allrevolutionary mass organizations,revolutionary people’s committeesand the entire masses of the countryto organize protests and build amass movement to secure therelease of the CC member andleader of the revolutionary women’smovement, comrade Shobhadi, andother two comrades immediately andunconditionally.

On Nov 14th a total bandh tookplace in the three states on a callgiven against the torture of comradeSheila and for the unconditionalrelease of al l the 5 CentralCommittee members in Indian jailsas also for the release of all otherpolitical prisoners.

Com Chintan (alias P.P. Singh),is also a senior comrade with over20 years experience in therevolutionary field integrating deeplyamongst first the working class andthen the oppressed peasantry. Hewas arrested from the bacvkwardareas of Champaran district in NorthBihar. More details are awaited.

Owned, Edited, Printed & Published by P. Govindan Kutty, Peroor house, Tripunithura, N.F. Ernakulam, Kerala — 682 301,Printed at Chithira Printers, 63/321, Poruvelil, Kannachanthodu Road, Kochi — 18

RNI No. KER ENG/2000/2051 Postal Regn. No. KL/EK/614/2004-06

PEOPLE'S MARCH, December 200628

We print below a press statement received from Com Azad Spokesperson of CPI (Maoist) on Nepal developments. Editor.

Communist Party of India (Maoist)Central Committee

Press Release: November 13, 2006

A New Nepal can emerge only by smashing the reactionary state!Depositing arms of the PLA under UN supervision would lead to the disarming of

the masses!!

On 5th November the CPN (Maoist) had entered into an agreement with the government of Nepal whichstipulated that the PLA would deposit its arms in seven designated cantonments while the government’s armedforces too would deposit an equal number of arms. These would be placed under the supervision of a UN monitoringteam while the keys of the lockers of PLA arms would be with the Maoist party. It was also agreed by both sides todissolve the present Parliament and form a new interim Parliament with a share of the seats for the Maoists, to forman interim government with some portfolios for the Maoists, and to elect a Constituent Assembly by next summerwhich is supposed to decide the fate of the monarchy and the future of Nepal. The agreement received the finalofficial stamp when prime minister Koirala and chairman of CPN(M) comrade Prachanda signed the agreement anddeclared it publicly. The CC, CPI(Maoist) has been perturbed by this agreement concluded by the fraternal Maoistparty in Nepal with the government of the seven party alliance led by the Indian protégé Koirala.

The agreement to deposit the arms of the people’s army in designated cantonments is fraught with dangerousimplications. This act could lead to the disarming of the oppressed masses of Nepal and to a reversal of the gainsmade by the people of Nepal in the decade-long people’s war at the cost of immense sacrifices. The clause in theagreement to deposit an equal number of arms by both sides will obviously work in favour of the Koirala-ledgovernment as the latter will have the option to use the huge stock of arms still at the disposal of the army anytimeand to further strengthen the reactionary army of the government. The decision taken by CPN(Maoist) on armsmanagement, even if it thinks it is a tactical step to achieve its immediate goal of setting up a constituent assembly, isharmful to the interests of the revolution.

Entire experiences of the world revolution had demonstrated time and again that without the people’s armyit is impossible for the people to exercise their power. Nothing is more dreadful to imperialism and the reactionariesthan armed masses and hence they would gladly enter into any agreement to disarm them. In fact, disarming themasses has been the constant refrain of all the reactionary ruling classes ever since the emergence of class-dividedsociety. Unarmed masses are easy prey for the reactionary classes and imperialists who even enact massacres asproved by history. The CC, CPI(Maoist), as one of the detachments of world proletariat, warns the CPN(Maoist)and the people of Nepal of the grave danger inherent in the agreement to deposit the arms and calls upon them toreconsider their tactics in the light of bitter historical experiences.

The agreement by the Maoists to become part of the interim government in Nepal cannot transform thereactionary character of the state machinery that serves the exploiting ruling classes and imperialists. The state canbe the instrument in the hands of either the exploiting classes or the proletariat but it cannot serve the interests of boththese bitterly-contending classes. It is the fundamental tenet of Marxism that no basic change in the social system can

PEOPLE'S MARCH Supplement December 2006 i

be brought about without smashing the state machine. Reforms from above cannot bring any qualitative change in theexploitative social system however democratic the new Constitution might seem to be, and even if the Maoistsbecome an important component of the government. It is sheer illusion to think that a new Nepal can be built withoutsmashing the existing state.

Another illusion that the agreement creates is regarding the so-called impartial or neutral role of the UN. TheUN is in reality an instrument in the hands of the imperialists, particularly US imperialists, to dominate, bully andinterfere in the affairs of the Third World countries for the benefit of the imperialists. It is used as a guise to providelegitimacy to the brazen acts of the imperialists to oppress and suppress the people of the Third World. Afghanistanand Iraq are the most recent instances of UN’s direct role in legitimizing imperialist aggression and occupation ofthese countries. It is the duty of the revolutionaries to expose, oppose and fight this imperialist role of the UN. Givingit any role in arms management, election supervision, and peace process in Nepal, would only mean inviting imperialistinterference, in particular that of US imperialism.

Another disturbing factor is the illusion harboured by the Maoists in Nepal regarding the role of the Indianexpansionists. Indian ruling classes are the biggest threat to the people of the entire sub-continent and it is the duty ofthe people of the various countries of South Asia to unitedly fight Indian expansionism. The Indian state, with thebacking of US imperialism, has been continuously interfering in the internal affairs of Nepal; it had backed themonarchy while encouraging its stooges among the parliamentary forces in the name of two-pillar theory; trained andextended all forms of aid to the Royal Nepal Army in their military offensive against the Maoists; has secret dealswith the Nepali Congress led by Koirala and with other reactionary parties; and is bent upon disarming the PLA andthe masses of Nepal and isolating the Maoists. Its aim is to grab the natural wealth of Nepal particularly its hugehydel potential and to make it a safe haven for the imperialists and Indian comprador capitalists. Comrade Prachanda’srepeated praise for India’s role in bringing about the agreement between the Maoists and the SPA in Nepal createsillusions among the masses about India rather than preparing them for fighting the Indian expansionists who are keenon Skirmishing Nepal in future.

Even more surprising is the assertion by the CPN(Maoist) that their current “tactics” in Nepal would be anexample to other Maoist parties in South Asia. Comrade Prachanda had also given a call to other Maoist parties toreconsider their revolutionary strategies and to practice multiparty democracy in the name of 21st century democracy.Our CC makes it crystal-clear to CPN(M) and the people at large that there can be no genuine democracy in anycountry without the capture of state power by the proletariat and that the so-called multiparty democracy cannotbring any basic change in the lives of the people. It calls upon the Maoist parties and people of South Asia to persistin the path of protracted people’s war as shown by comrade Mao. We also appeal to the CPN(Maoist) once againto rethink about their current tactics which are actually changing the very strategic direction of the revolution in Nepaland to withdraw from their agreement with the government of Nepal on depositing arms of PLA as this would makethe people defenseless in face of attacks by the reactionaries.

Azad,

Spokesperson,

Central Committee,

CPI(Maoist)

PEOPLE'S MARCH Supplement December 2006ii

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