Tamils - a Trans State Nation..

"To us all towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."
-
Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C 

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Home  > International Relations in the Age of Empire > India - an Empire in Denial  > India's Simmering Revolution: India is 'losing Maoist battle' says Indian Prime Minister

India: an Empire in Denial

Indias's Simmering Revolution

15 - 22 September 2009

India is 'losing Maoist battle' says Indian Prime Minister. Maoists have a presence in almost 200 Indian districts, 15 September 2009
Indian Maoists in fierce battle,18 September 2009
Maoist guerrilla commanders providing basic military training to local youths in West Bengal, 22 September 2009
 

[see also Old Habits Die Very Hard: India's Ugly Underbelly - Badri Raina, 19 September 2009

"Never a day goes by when some senior member of the cabinet does not lambast "internal challenges to the state." Invariably they have left-wing extremism in mind... Matter of time, as dominance carries within it the seeds of its own destruction. Those that everyday swear by democracy while wishing to contain it cannot succeed."

India Bans  Communist Party of India -Maoist (CPI-M) , 22 June 2009
Maoist Naxalite attacks in Central India,  16 March 2007
'It�s outright war and both sides are choosing their weapons'- Arundhati Roy March 2007

"..What we�re witnessing is the most successful secessionist struggle ever waged in independent India � the secession of the middle and upper classes from the rest of the country. It�s a vertical secession, not a lateral one. They�re fighting for the right to merge with the world�s elite somewhere up there in the stratosphere... to equate a resistance movement fighting against enormous injustice with the government which enforces that injustice is absurd. The government has slammed the door in the face of every attempt at non-violent resistance. When people take to arms, there is going to be all kinds of violence � revolutionary, lumpen and outright criminal. The government is responsible for the monstrous situations it creates...There is a civil war in Chhattisgarh sponsored, created by the Chhattisgarh government, which is publicly pursing the Bush doctrine: if you�re not with us, you are with the terrorists. The lynchpin of this war, apart from the formal security forces, is the Salva Judum � a government-backed militia of ordinary people forced to become spos (special police officers). The Indian State has tried this in Kashmir, in Manipur, in Nagaland. Tens of thousands have been killed - thousands tortured, thousands have disappeared. Any banana republic would be proud of this record. Now the government wants to import these failed strategies into the heartland... I have no doubt that the Maoists can be agents of terror and coercion too. I have no doubt they have committed unspeakable atrocities. I have no doubt they cannot lay claim to undisputed support from local people � but who can? Still, no guerrilla army can survive without local support. That�s a logistical impossibility. And the support for Maoists is growing, not diminishing. That says something. People have no choice but to align themselves on the side of whoever they think is less worse.does this mean that people whose dignity is being assaulted should give up the fight because they can�t find saints to lead them into battle?. "

Sumanta Banerjee - India's Simmering Revolution: The Naxalite Uprising, 1984

."...The term `Naxalite' (from Naxalbari) has continued to symbolize any assault on the assumptions and institutions that support the established order in India. It has become a part of the common speech all over India, and along with 'Huk' of Philippines, 'Al Fatah' of Palestine and `Tupamaros' of Uruguay, has today found a place in the vocabulary of world revolution...  Obituarists of the movement have always proved to be premature in their pronouncements. If the movement was contained and declared "crushed" in one part of India it soon erupted in another, sometimes a very unexpected corner of the country. Naxalbari was followed by Srikakulam: Srikakulam by Debra-Gopiballavpur; Debra-Gopiballavpur by Birbhum; Birbhum by Bhojpur �where still today, peasant guerrillas of the CPI (M-L) continue to fight back against a repressive feudal regime...  The ideologue of the movement � fiery-eyed, frail Charu Mazumdar, who was a victim of cardiac asthma and was driven to death by police persecution � was fond of saying: "No word ever dies. What we are saying today may not be accepted by the people at this moment. But our propaganda is not in vain. Our words remain embedded among the people... One who doesn't dream and can't make others dream, can never become a revolutionary."]


India is 'losing Maoist battle' says Indian Prime Minister. Maoists have a presence in almost 200 Indian districts  BBC Report 15 September 2009

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says his country is losing the battle against Maoist rebels.Mr Singh told a meeting of police chiefs from different states that rebel violence was increasing and the Maoists' appeal was growing.

The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of the poor. They operate in a large swathe of territory across central India, and in some areas have almost replaced the local government.

More than 6,000 people have been killed during their 20-year fight for a communist state.

"I have consistently held that in many ways, left-wing extremism poses perhaps the gravest internal security threat our country faces," Mr Singh told a conference of Indian police chiefs in the capital, Delhi. "We have discussed this in the last five years and I would like to state frankly that we have not achieved as much success as we would have liked in containing this menace."

The prime minister said that despite the government's best efforts, violence in Maoist-affected areas was going up. The prime minister admitted that the Maoists had growing appeal among a large section of Indian society, including tribal communities, the rural poor as well as sections of the intelligentsia and the youth.

Mr Singh said a more sensitive approach was necessary in dealing with the Maoists. "Dealing with left-wing extremism requires a nuanced strategy - a holistic approach. It cannot be treated simply as a law and order problem."

The rebels operate in 182 districts in India, mainly in the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal. In some areas they have virtually replaced the local government and are able to mount spectacular attacks on government installations.


Indian Maoists in fierce battle , BBC, 18 September 2009

A fierce gun battle between Maoist insurgents and security forces has taken place in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, police say. They say that at least seven Maoists were killed in the fight, and one paramilitary soldier. The clashes happened during an operation to remove more than 100 insurgents from a forest. Thousands of people have died in the Maoist insurgency since it began in the 1960s as a backlash against poverty.

Chhattisgarh police chief RK Vij told the AFP news agency that more casualties were likely after an intense battle in the jungles of Singamadagu district, 500km (300 miles) south of the capital Raipur.

Parallel administration

"Nine Maoists and an assistant commandant have died and five troopers are missing," he told AFP.  Some unconfirmed reports say that up to 30 Maoists were killed and 10 soldiers were missing. Security officials in Raipur told AFP that up to 250 personnel from the police, paramilitary and commando units were involved in attacking a rebel arms factory in the Singamadagu offensive. The rebels are believed to have established a parallel administration in the area and telephone communications there are virtually non-existent.

Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram told police chiefs this week that the guerrillas were growing stronger and refining their tactics in the forests of Chhattisgarh and had even acquired advanced military hardware.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday also warned that his country was losing the battle against Maoist rebels. The rebels - who operate operate in 182 districts in India - say they are fighting for the rights of the poor. They control large swathes of territory across central India.
 


Maoist guerrilla commanders providing basic military training to local youths in West Bengal - BBC Report, 22 September 2009

Casualties are feared in a gun battle between Maoist rebels and supporters of the ruling Communist party in the Indian state of West Bengal. A five-hour battle ended after police arrived to break up the clash. Villagers in the West Midnapore region said that up to 15 people may have been killed or injured in the clash which began on Monday night.

Maoist-linked violence across central and eastern India has killed 6,000 people in India over the past 20 years. The Maoists say they represent the rights of landless farmhands and tribal communities. Last week at least seven Maoists and one soldier were killed in a battle in the central state of Chhattisgarh and more than 20 police were killed in the eastern state of Jharkand.

In the latest incident, the rebels surrounded an office belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at Enayetpur in West Midnapore district on Monday evening. Rebel leader Kishenji told the BBC that the Communist supporters had hoarded a large number of weapons at the party office in order to carry out attacks against villagers who supported the Maoists at a later stage. "The party supporters were harassing local women, so thousands of villagers led by our fighters encircled the party office," he said. The rebel leader said four local tribal women had died in the gun battle.

More than 30 Communist party supporters have been killed by rebels in the Midnapore region since the West Bengal government launched a security offensive against Maoists in June. The offensive was initiated after the Maoists had taken complete control of the Lalgarh area in Midnapore in November last year.

Our correspondent says the insurgents and the CPI(M), which has been the state's dominant political force, have been fighting a turf war. In the past few years, he says, the Maoists have extended their influence with guerrilla commanders camping in the area and providing basic military training to local youths.

Last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India was losing the battle against Maoist rebels.

 

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