India - revolution and counterrevolution in Nagpur

Nagpur: .....
 the Naxals are shifting focus to consolidating their base in villages in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli, Gondia and surrounding districts like Rajnandgaon, Kanker and Baster in Chhattisgarh, which were earlier their strongholds. The rebels’ vision includes formation of Revolutionary People’s Council (RPC), which will function parallel to local civic bodies like panchayat samities and zilla parishads, by following ideologies of the banned outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist).

he Naxals want to strengthen their political base at grassroots level and improve its strength by recruiting young cadets. The interrogation of a senior Naxal cadre, arrested by Gadchiroli police last week, underlines the fact that the rebels are now striving hard to create active supporters in at least every family residing in their zone of operations. The rebels are aiming to revive their lost support base in villages instead of engaging in armed conflicts with security forces which not only have better firepower but are deployed in large numbers in different locations in Central India. A senior police official stated that Naxals are promoting young leaders who have better skills to connect with the masses rather than depending on old warhorses.
“The Naxals seemed to have realized that they are in no position to fight and further lose manpower in lopsided combats with security forces in guerrilla zones. Several senior cadres have been either killed in police firing or have got arrested or surrendered leading to a void in the movement in the last two years,” said the senior official. “The Naxals are ruthlessly sidelining their old horses and promoting more aggressive younger generation of leaders who have no qualms in targeting civilians on the pretext of eliminating police informers and destroying public and private properties to spread terror,” the cop added.

The security forces have dealt a severe blow to the Naxal movement through encounters of senior cadres in the last couple of years. Forces killed 13 Naxals in 2013 and 27 in 2014. Police’s growing intelligence base has also led to arrests of senior cadres. State government too has started giving cash rewards to civilians for sharing inputs regarding Naxals. Around 18 Naxals have been arrested, including two top cadres of divisional committee member rank, since August 2014 when the reward policy was announced. Government also managed to increase surrender by Naxals by hiking compensation for cadres returning to the mainstream.