Indian Maoists take advantage of BJP’s Hindutva programme

Shamsuddin Ahmed

Hindutva programme of the BJP government in India alienating progressive and secular forces and has also provided new opportunities to the Maoists and insurgent groups in the northeastern states fighting for independence.
CPI (Maoist) general secretary Ganapathy has directed the party cadres to take advantage of ‘Hindutva-fascist’ agenda to unite the secular and progressive forces and extend support base in urban areas to strengthen the protracted people’s war. The directive came in a rare statement of the Maoist leader recently issued through the Maoist bulletin and carried by a section of the Indian media.

Maoists have intensified activities
The statement said the ruling BJP is pursuing a Hindutva-fascist agenda in various forms and imperialist policies. This has alienated progressive, secular and patriotic forces. CPI (Maoist) should take advantage of the situation and intensify guerilla warfare. The enemy (government forces) employed some tactics to counter their movement.
Maoist cadres should adopt tactics that will give them the advantage, to counter the superior forces of the enemy by mobilizing forces opposed to Hindutva programme and intensifying the guerilla warfare.  A crucial factor in building up and developing the guerilla war will be the deepening of the mass base.
The directive of the Maoist leader came in the wake of government claim that the Maoist movement has been tamed and scores of disillusioned activists surrendered in lieu of cash award and promise of lucrative employment. Ground report said a lull in Maoist activities except stray incidents of ambush of security forces in Orissa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala and Telangana leaving a few security personnel killed and dozens wounded since January this year.
Born in Telangana as Gopal Rao and a science graduate, Ganapathy started career as school teacher. He joined the Naxal movement at its end and succeeded in uniting Maoist factions into the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in 2004 which was soon outlawed. The party gained momentum with support from the deprived, utterly poor and neglected adivasis living in forests of central India and low caste Hindus across the country. Guerilla war of the red rebels inflicted heavy casualties to government forces. The entire leadership of Chhattisgarh Congress was annihilated in an ambush. The motorcade of the state Congress leaders out for state election campaign was caught in landmine blasts leaving about 30 dead including a former central minister.
Two and a half lakh paramilitary forces deployed, in addition to state police, failed to end the Maoist insurgency spread in 22 out of 29 states of India. The Indian government has admitted that the Maoists have posed the gravest threat to internal security of India.

Rs 1.5 cr reward on Ganapathy
The government announced a reward of Rs.1.5 crore for information leading to the arrest of Ganapathy. He is believed moving from heavily guarded hideouts in deep forests in central India to the insurgency-prone northeast bordering China. The Maoists have extended bases in upper Assam and joined hands with insurgency groups of Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Tripura who have long been fighting for independence from India.
Reports say the Maoists are now carrying out Bolshevisation campaign, directed by Ganapathy – Bolshevise the party, its armed wing and the mass organisations. It would take some more time to complete it and only then can we assess the success of re-moulding our party into a Bolshevised party, said Ganapathy in a statement.
It was the Bolshevik party of Russia that ushered in socialism for the first time in the world. On the other hand, the Chinese Communist Party model is also very important to the Maoists because China and India have a lot of similarities. It is necessary to know and imbibe the qualities of Communist Party of China (CPC) that helped it make a successful revolution and build socialism in a country with semi-colonial, semi-feudal backward where peasantry is the majority by developing the PPW line and building a people’s army, a successful united front and establishing liberated areas.
The CPC, since its formation, made continuous efforts to strengthen by taking Bolshevik as a model. Some analysts, however, say century old Bolshevik style of movement is unlikely to succeed today. The mind and living style of working class and peasants have now undergone radical changes.
The Indian government leaders are worried at the Maoists’ inroad into cities and urban areas. The war on red terror is no longer limited to remote jungles in far off districts as the urban Maoists have become a clear danger.

Govt. worried about Maoists tactics
Maoist front organizations, functioning far from their strongholds in the jungle tracts of central India, have succeeded in penetrating urban India and have managed to give a slip to intelligence agencies for some years. The government is now planning a crackdown on them.
Government admits that some128 organizations have links with the red rebels. These organizations carry out over ground agitation activities in an attempt to expand the mass base of the party and prepare the stage for armed insurrection. Many of f these front organizations are based in urban centre and provide logistical support to the movement ensuring fusion between over ground and underground activities.
They are responsible for recruitment of educated youths who go to field areas to keep the movement alive and play the role of ideologues.  Several organizations in Delhi and the National Capital Region have been identified as Maoist front organizations. Hem Mishra, a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, was arrested by the Maharashtra Police recently for allegedly helping the Maoists.  Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba, belonging to the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), was also arrested by Maharshtra police on allegations of supporting the Maoists.
Intelligence officials said these groups are working with an objective to enter the cadres of workers’ associations and work from within and motivate them to carry out violent protests. Their cadres work in different layers. The modus operandi of some of these groups is aimed at provoking violence. Starting from distributing material related to the Maoist ideology to holding rallies, they finally want to penetrate into protest demonstrations and trigger violence.

Source: Weekly Holiday