news from India - Maoists at the urban gates

Maoists at the urban gates: Home Ministry reveals Naxal ‘front organisations’ are most active in Delhi and the NCR
Hardly a week after the news filtered in about the CPI(M) Central Committee admitting depletion of its organisational strength, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has brought out a report listing 128 ‘front organisations’ that are under the radar of intelligence agencies for their links with the Left ultras. What is serious is that while the Maoist movement may have hit a rough patch in tribal areas, the cadres have support from their ‘front organisations’ in urban centres across the country.
Other than left wing extremism (LWE)-hit states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, these outfits are also active in Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Kerala. And more alarming is the fact that the most active units are in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). Among the ‘front organisations’ operating from Delhi are Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), Committee for Release of Political Prisoners, Democratic Students Union, Nari Mukti Sangh, People Democratic Front of India, and Mehantkash Mazdoor Morcha. Many members of these organisations are said to be active in towns adjoining Delhi like Gurgaon and Ghaziabad. “The activities of these organisations are under scanner but it is difficult to nail them since they function under another garb,” a Home ministry official said. Intelligence reports suggest that many of these organisations are based in urban centres and provide logistical support to the Maoist movement.
“The front organisations ensure fusion between overground and underground activities. They are responsible for recruitment of educated youth who go to field areas to keep the movement alive and play the role of ideologues,” the intelligence report, accessed by Mail Today, said. “These organisations also gather funds, are part of misinformation campaigns and provide legal aid to Maoists,” it stated. Intelligence agencies had stumbled upon the Maoist strategy of setting urban bases in cities following the arrest of top Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy from Delhi in 2009. Last month, Hem Mishra, a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, was arrested by the Maharashtra police for allegedly helping Maoists. His arrest followed a search at the residence of G N Saibaba, a professor in Delhi University, who also happens to be the joint secretary of RDF.
In a meeting attended by the police chiefs and chief secretaries of Naxal-hit states with Home ministry officials on Wednesday, it was decided that evidence needs to be gathered against these outfits and action must be taken. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was present in the meeting. “Most of these organisations work as NGOs. We are trying to get evidence and expose them,” a Home ministry official said. Sources in the MHA said the activities of these ‘front organisations’ include making in-roads into workers’ groups, social forums, and unions in urban areas. Intelligence inputs indicate that these groups are working with an objective to infiltrate the cadres of workers associations, work from within and motivate them to carry out violent protests. The modus operandi of some of these groups is aimed at provoking violence.
Starting from distribution of pamphlets and other material related to Maoist ideology, holding rallies and finally penetrating into protests and triggering violence, the sources said. “Our organisation is not a front for any party. Linking us to Maoists is a campaign to discredit us and not allow us to work among people,” Saibaba told this reporter. Similarly, SAR Geelani, President of Committee for Release of Political Prisoners said naming his organisation as a Maoist front indicates the government’s “frustrations”. “It is an attempt to oppress dissenting voices in the country,” he asserted.