On ‘Indian Democracy’ and its Champions!

 

A village in Bastar razed to ashes by the Salwa Judum



The killing of Congress mafia Mahendra Karma along with other Congress party members and some arrmed personnel on 25th May at Darbha Valley, near Jagdalpur in Chattisgarh, has suddenly turned all the parliamentary parties into crusaders of democracy in India. Shedding their differences and colours, from Congress to BJP to Shiv Sena to CPI to CPM to Liberation, all have lurched in together with great urgency to denounce the incident as an attack on Indian Democracy. Congress President Sonia Gandhi termed the incident as “a dastardly attack..not just on Congress or its leaders, but an attack on democratic values”. Not to be left behind in this crusade for saving democracy are the parliamentary left parties. CPM Polit Bureau issued a press statement terming it as an “..attack on legitimate democratic activities”. The promptness with which a section of the ‘civil society’ too jumped into to condemn the killing was all to missing just a week back when the state forces had butchered 8 adivasis in other part of Bastar. In their race for condemning this “attack on democracy”, they have chosen to forget that Mahendra Karma was a mass murderer whom this very “democracy” had awarded with the most elaborate possible security arrangements instead of bringing him to justice. This is because this “democracy” is for the feudal lords and imperialist lapdogs like Mahendra Karma and his ilk and not for those thousands of people who lost their lives, nor for those 1700 women who were sexually assaulted and raped, nor for the more than 600 villages that were razed down to ashes, and neither for those 3.5 million who were displaced by the Salwa Judum under the command of Karma with complete backing of the state.

The Indian state’s hands are rinsed with blood that it tries to hide behind the facade of “democracy”. It is most unwittingly explicated by Rajiv Mathur, Former Addl DG Int & Naxal Ops Chatisgarh, who in the context of the killing of Mahendra Karma writes, “In a mature democracy the media too needs to show restraint in publishing any news that they somehow obtain regarding anti-Naxal drives. The battle is already lost and the force becomes totally vulnerable when all its secrets are out in public domain. We need to learn to keep some secrets.” And what were Karma's (not so well guarded) secrets? The First Jan Jagaran Abhiyan was started as far back as 1982 by the notorious Vishwaranjan (then SP of Bastar) who in 2006 as the DGP of Chattisgarh would be one of the architects of the latest avatar of the Jagaran – Salwa Judum. The first Jagaran ended with police brutalities and further intimidation and alienation of the people, and it soon pittered away. Alongside, the people's movement had already by then posed a determined challenge not only to the feudal land-owning sections, but also to the oppression of the Forest Dept. and the Tendu traders. As the BJP came to power in 1990, a Second Jan Jagaran Abhiyan was launched under Karma's leadership. He had the support of his own party – Congress, the ruling BJP and the local traders and businessmen as they were eager to fortify their position with some local muscle. It was this collaboration of the ruling classes that was eager to unleash its wrath upon the revolutionary masses which marked the beginning of the bloody career of the 'Bastar Tiger' and our ruling classes’ ‘crusader of democracy’. The mayhem and bloodshed that followed had the complete backing of our “mature democracy” that was trying its best through its media to hide its secrets.



Adivasi villagers killed by Salwa Judum



Though the second Jagaran too pittered away in the face of the resilience of the people, but with the strengthening of the revolutionary movement, the repression too intensified manifold paving way for the third wave of white terror – the Salwa Judum (literally Peace March). Karma noted: “In 1991, I started the Jan Jagran Abhiyan against the Maoists, but without any support. But, now everyone is serious, because the TATAs could not acquire the land in Lohandiguda [for their project.” Even a Govt. Appointed committee under the head ‘The biggest land grab since Columbus’, was forced to acknowledged that it was TATA Steel & Essar Steel (along with local businessmen) who in a bid to forcibly evacuate scores of villages for mining were the first and the most ardent financiers of the Karma’s Salwa Judum. TATA however managed to get these portions removed from the final report. But despite its best efforts, the blatant collusion and sponsoring by the state administration; and the bloodbath did not remain secrets for too long behind the euphemism of “Peace March”. Like on the last two occasions, it was once again the resurgent people’s struggle that halted the bloody trails of Salwa Judum on ground. Under huge public outrage across the country, the Supreme Court recently was forced to denounce “the horror” of this state-promoted predatory ‘development’ and finally ban this death squad. In reality however, the Salwa Judum has been smoothly institutionalized by converting them into Auxiliary Police Force – hail this ‘democracy’, and its custodians!

As three successive waves of state terror were resisted and defeated, the Indian state in its desperation to crush the revolutionary movement has subsequently declared a fascist war, under the name of Operation Green Hunt, since 2009. In order to facilitate the loot of the minerals by the big corporate and mining mafias and also in order to crush the resistance of the fighting masses it has unleashed upon the people its entire arsenal – SPOs, Koya Commandos, TPC, harmads, Bhairav Sena, Shanti Vahini, Sunrise Sena, police, CRPF, ITBP, Grey Hounds, CoBRA, BSF, Jungle Warfare Commandos, army, air force and drones. For instance in the Bijapur district itself there has been two successive massacres in June 2012 and May 2013 of unarmed adivasi villagers who were surrounded and indiscriminately fired upon killing 25 villagers including 8 children. For these massacres there was of course no such uproar from these champions of democracy.

The people of central and eastern India, from Jangal Mahal to Gadchirolli and from Bihar to Telengana, under the leadership of the revolutionary movement are giving a fitting rebuff to the spiralling state repression under Green Hunt. The revolutionary upsurge of the people today is not just fighting the exploitative semi-feudal and semi-colonial order, but it is also simultaneously building new organs of peoples' power for a pro-people development model. They have become the beacon of light and source of inspiration for oppressed masses throughout the country and have forged solidarities with the people of oppressed nationalities in Kashmir, Nagalim, Assam and Manipur. As the class struggle sharpens, either one is with Essar, Tata, Karma, Manmohan, Modi, Obama OR they stand with the fighting people. The lesson of dialectics teaches us that there is no third ground. So when the champions of this ‘democracy’ cry foul today, we must remind them that however strong you may be, and whatever weapons you may have, history has shown that the final victory is always of the oppressed masses. And with every day-break, this victory is coming nearer.

DSU appeals to all progressive and democratic sections to stand in solidarity with the fighting masses of central and eastern India, and force the Indian state to end this fascist war launched at the behest of its imperialist masters.