The Maoists are now funded through extortion and killings, and they don’t work for the benefit of the people, writes SHAMS TAMANNA
The recent attack by Maoists in south Chhattisgarh, where top- ranking Congress leaders of Chhattisgarh were killed, is the biggest attack against Indian politics so far.
Eye-witness accounts seem to indicate that State Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and Mahendra Karma, under whose guidance and leadership the controversial Salwa Judum took shape, were the primary targets. While the brutal episode raises serious questions about the efficiency of the State's intelligence operations, the likely aftermath raises even more serious concerns: Will the tribal youth, trapped in a conflict not of their making, bear the brunt yet againIJ
Though Mahendra Karma was leader of the Opposition, he had, for many years, enjoyed huge support from the State's BJP-led Government, and theSalwa Judum movement saw youth being armed with weapons issued by the State, allegedly for self-defence.
In the name of Salwa Judum, even more innocent tribals were killed, as personal grudges and scores were settled under the garb of creating a grassroots movement against the Maoists. This highly controversial ‘movement' was brought to an end only after the Supreme Court stepped in. Thereafter, Mahendra Karma was a marked man.
With Assembly election due at the end of this year, the State Congress is campaigning against the well-established Chief Minister Raman Singh. AParivartan Yatra is being organised throughout the State to showcase the ‘failure’ of the present BJP-led Government.
Interestingly, former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and senior Congress leader Vidya Charan Shukla had buried their differences and were undertaking joint campaigns — a good beginning for the Congress which is keen to return to power in the State. However, the death of the party's senior leaders in the recent attack has dealt a severe blow to these plans.
In the decades-old conflict between the security forces and Maoists, the worst affected have been the younger generations of local communities, notably the tribals, who are trapped at both ends.
Recent casualties among senior Maoist commanders in Bastar, believed to have been kept away from the media glare, are said to have crippled the Maoists cadre. And the Jeeram Ghat attack is seen as a retaliatory move. The Maoists were openly opposed to political rallies by both the Congress and the BJP, and had issued threats of dire consequences. But, in the heat of the upcoming election, both parties ignored these warning signs.
Which party will benefit by this attack is difficult to say, yet. The bigger and more predictable fallout is the expected wrath that the hapless youth are likely to face. In any conflict, ‘encounters' have the unavoidable possibility of targeting innocent tribals. last November, for instance, the killing of alleged Maoists in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh, turned out to be a mistake; those killed were local tribals. The public outcry had reached New Delhi, then. But will injustice be spoken up against, each timeIJ
The increase in such incidents has forced the local youth to migrate from their homes in search of safer lives. Those who stay behind are being targeted by the Maoists on the one hand for being ‘police informers', or picked up for being ‘Maoist sympathisers' by the state police or security forces.
The original ideology of rebel leaders Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal has long been forgotten, with the armed movement being funded through extortion and killings rather than working for the benefit of the people.
It is true that local tribals, who in one way or the other have been affected by the corrupt political and administrative system, have been Maoist supporters. Decades of corruption and harassment make it easy for vested interests to take advantage of the situation and brainwash them into joining an armed movement. Though the number of local tribals taking up arms is very small, the entire tribal community of Bastar has had to bear the brunt.
And so, yet one more time, the commandos and security forces have been sent out to hunt for Red rebels in the forests of Bastar.