India - Varavara RAO on Martyr’s Remembrance Week

 ‘State an agent of globalisation’
The Maoist party has been successful in setting a model of resistance against the onslaught of globalisation in the country, poet and writer Varavara Rao has said. Addressing Martyr’s Remembrance Week observation here on Tuesday, he said Maoists were dreaming of a self-reliant society without oppression, suppression or private property. “The state has become the agency of implanting globalisation policies. Maoists are the only party, who fight against globalisation policies.
The forest areas in the country are under the threat of corporates as those are the mines of natural resources and cheap labour. That’s why Maoists’ activities are focused on forests,” he said. “Even when the Constitution gives adivasis the right over forest resources, most parts of the country’s forests are under the control of the paramilitary forces,” he noted. In the name of operations such as Green Hunt, Thunderbolt and Vijaya, the state has been unleashing violence against the poor tribals. It’s a paradox that in a democratic country, the Army rules the entire North East and Kashmir, he said. As long as classes exist, class struggles too will be there, he added.

The parallel government set up by the party in the Dandakaranya region of Chhattisgarh was a model of how people could win over oppression and harassment, Mr. Rao said. Praising the alleged Maoist activities in the Western Ghats area, the writer said there had been attempts by the party to spread base in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and the Western Ghats. “The Western Ghats area has the tradition of armed struggles right from the time of Naxalite activist Varghese. The government has tried to scuttle the activities through Operation Thunderbolt. Recently, they arrested leaders like Murali, Roopesh and Shyna. Though the arrests were a setback to the movement, they will reequip and hit back,” he said. Leader of Porattam M.N. Ravunny presided over the function.