20TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDIAN PLGA AND 40 YEARS OF DANDAKARANYA
By Harsh Thakor
SALUTE THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY
OF FORMATION OF PEOPLES GUERRILLA LIBERATION ARMY IN
On December 2nd
we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the formation of the 1st Peoples
Liberation army in
APPRAISAL OF
PLA AND DANDAKARNYA MOVEMENT
We have to strike
the balance by not glorifying the PLGA or reducing it a set of roving bands.
Amongst Indian intellectuals this trend is predominant like Sumanta Banerjee, Rahul
Foundation(C.L.I.) or Communist Party India (Marxist Leninist) Red Star which dubbed
the Maoists as anarchists. Such people or forces fail to give respect to the
complexities of
No country in the
world faces the diversity of
For any genuine
revolutionary democratic resistance given to counter oppression and entail
democratic development credit should be given to the PLA who have dug to the
deepest depth. Other democratic forces have also rallied around them. It is
notable that they are unleashing their striking power to confront or check the
penetration of corporate industries or mines. Great innovation or creativity
has been revealed in organizing self defense or attempting encirclement to
ambush enemy forces. In junctures mass organizations mobilized staggering
numbers of 50000 to lakh To have withstood such a powerful enemy in one with
such consistency for a considerable tenure ranks without doubt amongst the
greatest achievements in Maoist armed struggles.
I have the utmost
praise of the spirit they display even when down in the barrel with all pages
of Maoist online organ ‘Peoples March’ blazing the torch of the Red Flag and
tooth and nail defending the fact that that they are still in contention for
creating liberated zones and confronting neo-fascism at the very core. In an
interview in the Wire in 2016 after facing a debacle of a state attack the
Maoist leader showed great humility that accordingly the armed struggle would
have to turn towards a defensive tone, with self –defense given priority.
What has to be
admired that the formation of the Indian Peoples Guerrilla it was not just a
haphazard event of freak nature or a hasty formation but precede with intense
armed resistance by armed squads led by the C.P.I. (M.L.) Peoples War Group. Of
Central importance was its integrating itself with the landless, poor and
middle peasantry and the Adivasis or Girijans in forests. This co-relationship
with mass resistance and integrating armed actions accordingly led to its
establishment. It gave vivid memories of how the Chinese Communist party in
1930's established the red army after facing a severe battering from the
Kuomintang army in 1928. Similarly the Indian People's Liberation army was
formed to shimmer the torch of vengeance to avenge the cold blooded killings of
Comrades Murali, Shyam and Naresh. Those staged assassinations broke the
backbone of the revolutionary movement in
Since 2000 a historical event took place with a merger of the People's Guerilla army formed by the erstwhile Maoist Communist Centre in 2004.The emergence of the People's Guerilla army marked a turning point in giving the armed resistance movement in Dandakaranya a cutting edge like a sword sharpened to its zenith or a pot of water simmering at it's boiling point. It consolidated the revolutionary democratic forms of power into Janatana Sarakars in 2006. Courage and sacrifice was displayed at a crescendo comparable to the Chinese people’s Liberation army confronting their enemies before the revolution. Hardly an adjective can do justice to their phenomenal intensity or determination. Immaculate skill was displayed in blending consolidation of area with dispersing forces and defense with attack. Even if numerically overpowered it undertook some of the most daunting retaliatory actions to send shivers down the spine of the ruling classes. It was unbelievable how at times they could shatter the morale of the enemy with their relentless spirit...The PLA literally travelled like a fish in water symbolizing the aspirations of the Adivasis. In Sukma in 2013 to avenge killings of it’s cadre in fascist attacks by army in Salwa Judum in a daring operation it executed Congress minister Nand Kumar Patel, former state minster Narendra Sharma and Vidya Charan Shukla.
I deeply
complement the work or writings of Jan Myrdal, Gautam Navlakha, Amit
Bhattacharya, and Pani Pinaaka. With most insightful and meticulous research
they have elaborated how the Maoist Peoples Guerrilla Liberation army is based
in the very heart of the masses, like a heart pumping blood in a body. Navlakha
summed up that it was only as a result of the Maoist army that self-confidence
was instilled in the Adivasis in Chattisgarh or any adrelanin pumped in their
hearts to give a striking blow to the oppressor classes. He also did justice to
how some genuine democratic powers were installed which were non -existent
before. Bhattacharya in great detail summed up how in every facet of life the
Maoists infiltrated to incorporate genuine democracy. Comrade Pani Pinaaka went
to the very heart of Chattisgarh to get first hand information and concluded
that a new life had literally been created trough the Janathana Sarkars. Myrdal
compared the Indian forces with those under Chairman Mao in pre-revolutionary
In peak periods
the PLGA had a membership of around 15000 persons and may have mobilized up to
5000- strong militia fighters. Quoting an interview in October 2020 issue of Peoples March of
PLGA members:
‘I
learned to read and write;’ ‘I started to know the world;’ ‘I knew how to fight
with the enemy;’ ‘I knew how to serve the people;’ ‘I learnt discipline;’ ‘PLGA
is working for the liberation of the oppressed, so I shall also work to serve
the people;’ ‘the PLGA molded me into a Professional Revolutionary.’
‘I
could overcome patriarchy in my ideas that the society imposed, I can now move
around freely without inhibitions among men.’ The daughters and sons of the
soil thus sprouted in
the People’s Army. Then they started to understand the politics of it. They
said – ‘PLGA is working in the guidance of the CPI (Maoist);’ ‘it brings down the
power of the village gentry;’ ‘It establishes people’s power;’ ‘It protects
jal-jungle-zameen, the mineral wealth and the natural resources;’ ‘PLGA drove
out the forest looters and established the right of the people to forest;’ ‘it
shall change the lives of the people.’ In the PLGA they saw a totally different
social milieu. It is anti-feudal and is egalitarian in more than one aspect.
This
is how the comrades described the work style of PLGA – ‘There is equality among men
and women. There is no discrimination such as race and caste;’ ‘PLGA is
training the people to fight against the exploiters;’ ‘The poor people are
empowered with PLGA;’ ‘it helps the people in their agricultural work;’ ‘it
stands steadfast amidst severe enemy offensive;’ ‘it shakes the enemy and
contains them from attacking the people.’
The
comrades are now very clear about the benefits out of the People’s Army. They
are confident that PLGA defends and protects and also betters the people’s
lives. They affirmed – PLGA defeated Salwa Judum. It gave a stiff resistance to
Operation Green Hunt and is now giving ‘samadhan’ (answer) to the strategic
offensive SAMADHAN.
‘Without
this resistance the people cannot continue their agricultural activities;’ ‘the people give life to PLGA and
the PLGA gives life to the people;’ ‘the people can have no life, no land and
no change without PLGA;’ ‘PLGA works under the Party that is our mother.’
‘PLGA
is not distant from the people. It is born, grows, protects and is protected by
the people;’ ‘the people are enthused with the achievements of PLGA and
are increasingly recruiting their children into the Army.’
‘We
can understand how the PLGA members prepared for the sacrifice,’ they explained
– ‘I know that we cannot live without the Party and PLGA. So I am prepared to
die for the people as a member of PLGA;’ ‘my parents know that without the
Party and PLGA the people cannot have a better
living
and so they sent me into the people’s army.’
Why
do Maoists kill the police who also come from poor classes is a normally posed
question by urban dwellers? This is what the PLGA members have to say about it
– ‘The police protect the exploiters that are the enemies of the people. We do
not wish to kill them. But when they come to attack us on behalf of the exploiting
classes we are forced to attack them;’ ‘this is class struggle and those who come
in the way must be wiped out;’ ‘we do not make violence, but the question is if
we want power, we will have to apply force.’
DANDAKARANYA
MOVEMENT
A. INTRODUCTION
Dandakaranya is a
vast region located in Central Indi a with cutting regions of Madhya Pradesh,
The British colonialists
mercilessly demolished the economy, society, and culture of the Adivasi
Communities. They undertook mining exploration, set up
plantations and constructed railways to pave the way to unscrupulously
plunder the natural wealth Mines were dug to extract iron ore, manganese, coal,
bauxite, gold diamonds and limestone. Sal, Teak and bamboo were
razed to the ground in forests. Thus they extracted every tooth of the vast
mineral and forest resources..
Bastar had a deep
rooted tradition or legacy of anti-colonial struggle. The Santhalu
rebellion led by Birsa Munda, Siddhu Kanu, the Halb arebellion of 1774-79, the
Parlkot rebellion of Gond Singh in 1825, the Murria rebellion of 1876, Abhujumad
rebellion of 1910, the Rampa rebellion led by Alluri Settharama Raju in East
Godavri and the Gond rebellion in Adilabad led by Khammuram Bhemu were all
shining examples of valour. These revolts were virtually resurrected 40 years
ago with the influx of revolutionary cadre of the C.P.I.(M.L.) Peoples War
Group.
The Bastar region
was so backward that people could not avail of facilities of education,
medicine or facilities for agriculture. The Adivasis could sustain their lives
only by selling forest produce, hunting and wage labour. British and Indian
rulers expropriated all the mineral and forest wealth and robbed and cheated
the Adivasis. The Adivasis were paid a pittance for bamboo cut for a paper
company or for Tendu paata leaves they grabbed. They were cheated for forest
produce with the forest officials banning them from agriculture or even cutting
firewood in the forest land. They were even robbed of their goats, chicken ad
other produce. Since 1947, Large-scale eviction of tribals is the order of the
day. Millions of Adivasis were displaced from their natural habitat by
irrigation projects, hyro-electric and multi-purpose projects, thermal plants
or even national parks.
Around 40 years
ago around 35 comrades from the Peoples War Group dipped their feet in
Dandakaranya from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh having roots in movements of
Karimnagar and Adilabad. Inspite of not knowing the Koya language they
integrated with the Dandakaranya tribals being influenced by the ideology of
Subbarao Panigrahi, Cherabanda Raju and other comrades. With relentless spirit
they shimmered spark of Naxalbari and Mao thought. On November 2nd 1980,
Peddi Shankkar became the first comrade to make the supreme sacrifice in
Dandakaranya.His martyrdom sowed the seeds for a spark into a prairie fire
In 1984 the mass
Organisation Adivasi Mazdoor Kisan Sanghatana was formed in Kamlapur
in Gadricholi. It was attacked by the police who sealed all road to block
all protestors as well as encompassed forest paths. Ironically the
conference was staged within jail bars.
In 1989 the
Adivasi Mazdoor Kisan Sanghatana was re-formulated or re-structured with a
state wide expansion. Vast numbers of workers and peasants were mobilized.
From 1985-1990 a
series of retaliatory actions were undertaken like in Sarsundi village. Where
lathi charge and firing was launched by the police. The people snatched 2
rifles.
In 1991-92
special commandos were sent breaking the backbone of the Adivasi Mazdoor Kisan
Sanghatana with mass organization leaders arrested and police
openly shooting mass leaders in 1993.In retaliation in Bastar in 19990 armed
squads of the Peoples War Group launched a counter offensive in retaliation
putting the enemy forces in retreat.
Guerrilla squads
formed in 1993 were converted into platoon s in 1995.Ambushse and raids were
undertaken with surgical skill seizing many modern weapons. In 1995, 25 years
ago, the first platoons were established. This intensified people’s warfare.
Guerrilla squads
formed in 1993 were converted into platoon s in 1995.Ambushse and raids were
undertaken with surgical skill seizing many modern weapons.
In Bhumkal in
2001 Bhumkal day was observed with substantial preparations made for it50
volunteers toured each and every village for a period of one month.
For the final even ten thousand persons attended of which four thousand were
women. It literally was a festival of the masses with people carting red
banners, placards and flags as well as traditional musical instruments.
B. ACHIEVEMENTS
By 1995 the mass
organization sin the DK reached a membership of 60000. In 2010 it was over 2
lakhs.
These are the
notable achievements.
1. Inspired
confidence in Adivasist to assert their rights. Now they will not bow down
before any authority. They all have land, freely move in forest, and get a just
wage for labour.
2. Better living conditions
They now have
clothes, radios cycles, torches and other commodities. Diet has improved
considerably. Earlier they had no clothes to wear.
3. Health Care
Medicines are
distributed at cost price. Local youth are taught basic medicine and anatomy.
4. Education
Every youth is
taught to read and write, They see that government schools function. Classes
are given in Marxism-Leninism.
5. Children
Children are
organized into Bal Sanghams and take up tasks which help them develop. They
learn to read, write, sing revolutionary songs and act as watchdogs for the
party.
6. Women
Conventional
practices like child and forced marriage have been abolished and superstitions
eradicated.40% of the guerrilla forces comprise women. However patriarchy still
exists in a subtle form.
7. Development
Co-operative
forms of framing are introduced.100miniirrigation projects were set up. They
have been converted into fish breeding which gives people a better diet.
Capital intensive framing was countered and Orchards planted to grow
vegetables. People are educated in forest conservation and planting trees and
poultry, goat, and pig rearing is encouraged.
8. Cultural Changes
An alternative
culture has been created combating or replacing Hinduisation. Traditional
Adivasi forms have been adopted to create revolutionary themes, songs and
plays. Hundreds of cultural troupes exist. Language of Gondi has been developed
in a revolutionary
form.
9. The New Power
Revolutionary
Peoples Committees have been formed .They exercise peoples new power at ground
level. They have departments like developmental, justice, defense, education
and health. Gradually they are developing into Janathana Sarkars which are
administrative units harbouring larger populations. This new power is a thorn i
the flesh to the rulers.
In 1991 the
women’s organization Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sanghatana was formed. Earlier
it was titled the ‘Adivasi Mahila Sanghatana. In 2010 the organization boasts
of a membership around 1 lakh.
This organization
made very deep penetration into the day to day struggles of the oppressed
people by integrating new art forms. In 2003 protesting state violence on women
in
C. CHETNA NATYA
MANCH DEVELOPMENT
In 2004 The
Chetana Natya Manch was set up as a further development which galvanised huge
numbers of people A Dandakaranya Cultural sub committee was formed in 2003 to
examine the problems of the cultural field and the building of the CNM as a
mass organization and the spread of it’s work methods. A Constitution and
manifesto of CNM was formed. Since 2004 forces have galvanized considerable to
crystallise the writers, artists and lovers of art and literature into an
organizational form. Earlier separate cultural squads resembling the Jana Natya
Mandali squads of
It has taken the
shape of a very broad based mass organisation, having thousands of women and
children as members. It Functions at village and zonal level. With great
consistency the revolutionary torch is shimmered amongst the masses. After
village level CNM units are formed in an a area level,exective
committee ,is elected so as to provide leadership to them, and when area level
Executive Commitees are formed in 3 or 4 areas of a division, then a
divisional executive Committee is formed. Executive Committees are only elected
in the conferences. Today the DKCNM operates from village level to zonal level
with all zonal and area level teams comprising of full timers.
CULTURAL MOVEMENT
Great strides
were established in the literary sphere in the Cultural movement. ’Peeto’ was
devised as an art form or ‘Vesod’ in Bastar. When some respectable
elders die ,then this Peeto is performed in Gituls for three days.
In this form, women, men, children and others participate. A singer guru
recites. Revolutionary artists improvised or innovated smaller versions of
Peeto with revolutionary content to disseminate radical ideas. Such work
was created by Sadhana in Gadricholi on historical process of development.
Similarly Sukhdev created a Peeto on Tallaguden martyrs and Pandu did one on
martys of Bhumkal.
Plays were
written illuminating the terrible living conditions touching issues like
elections, militia’s attack on police, invasion of Hindu Culture, surrenders,
superstitions countering informers, marriage, recruitment into squads, patents,
SalwaJudum, The Grat Bhumkal. Green Hunt. And Media. None of these messages had
a duration for more than half an hour but still hit the nail on the head with
perfection to project the message. The most notable plays were
Short Stories,
Novels and Poems were written which read like anthropological studies, social
histories and explorations on poetical and military mobilizations. Jwala’s
story Dorla Bidda glorifies an Adivasi turning into a guerrilla fighter and
narrates the technical modalties of the people’s militia. At least 24 stories
are written by cadres or tribal activists such as Jwala,Kaadi,Swathi,Chinna,Thoorpu,Indravati,Vekava,Pravin,Ramesh.Ajad,Janam
and Devannna.Komuram Bheem the first novel based on the area about the
historical figure who fought against the Nizam’s rule. It was written jointly
by Sahu ,one of the first activists of the Adilbad region. It is an inspiring
account of the Gond hero of the 1940’s. Recounting his
mobilisation methods, representations to Nizam’s govt. and his armed struggles.
A writer
translated and started singing marty Subba Rao Panigrahi’s ‘We are Communist, We
are Toilers.’ The writer translated a line in the songnyayann poojakeekom as
satyamthune pujakeekom. Not being familiar with word Stayam Thune they starte
sining it as Tattamuthine pujakeekom. which means ‘worship our wives.’
In education and
Culture literacy has been inducted at the very grassroots or base, Squad schools,
Primary schools, mobile academic schools, mobile political schools and ashramas
were set up. Collective study is a daily programme in which a party magazine.
The Maoists teach people not just to fight but also how to read and write. A
timetable is set for the day which also includes physical exercise .Many
prominent party magazines are published like ‘People’s War,’ Viyyukka, ’Jhankar’,
’Padiyara Pollo’ and Sangarsharath Mhaila at the Central Level. They are
printed in Gondi or Hindi languages.
A major impact has
been made on Children organized under banner of Revolutionary Chidren’s
Organisation. They are learning and singing revolutionary songs, dance, street
plays, participating in mass meetings, performing dances to songs, propagating
against using tobacco, gutka, manjan, arrack, Toddy etc. They also undertake
sentry duty in villages ,patrolling, keeping surveillance on the movements of
the police or paramilitary and handing information to the PLGA. They also join
primary level military camps, conducted by the people’s militia.
Children’s
cultural teams are formed with ‘War Dance’ used as a popular art form. Children
also undertake jobs to earn money for the movement. They engage in growing
vegetables in cooperative farms by participating in collective labour.
Adivasi children
strive to emulate Maoist squads playing games of ambush in the way kids play
hide and seek.
The major
achievements of the Dandakarnya cultural movement were
1. Organising people and mobilizing them in struggles.
2.
3, Young Adivasi artists and poets have been mobilised into the Chetan Natya Manch.
4. All the artists in the mass organisation are educated with the politics of New Democratic Revolution.
5. People’s Cultural Heritage is preserved.
6. Revolutionary
songs are being synchronised with peoples war and dance with song.
EMERGENCE OF
JANTHANA SARKARS
The Janata Sarkar
intervened in nine spheres concerning different issues with regard to war, revolution
and people’s welfare. These were People’s Defence, Finance, Agriculture, Trade
and Industry, Judiciciary, Education and Culture ,Health and Social Welfare ,
Quoting Amit
Bhattacharya “In DK a new society has been built and is consolidating itself.” People
oppressed for ages have stood up with their heads held high. The DK region is
the scene of numerous new social, economic and political experiments and these
become possible because of their inseparable ties with the ongoing armed
revolutionary struggle. In DK region, even when the rest of the Country
witnessed a huge famine in 1997 taking a heavy toll of lives, not a single
person perished.
Professor Amit
Bhattacharya in ‘Storming the Gates of Heaven’ has in deep detail delved into
the contribution of the ‘Janthan a Sarcars.’ In 2006 the Janathana Sarkars were
formed which were initially Gram Rajya Commitees. Morally they were sown in
1996 as Village Committees. The Janathana Sarkar intervened in nine spheres
concerning different issues with regard to war, revolution and people’s
welfare. These were People’s Defence, Finance, Agriculture, Trade and Industry,
Judiciary, Education and Culture, Health and Social Welfare,
Development work
was undertaken through agriculture related schemes with the implementation of
the; land to the tiller ‘programme. Lakes and Tanks were constructed. Fish
–rearing was undertaken, Vegetables were cultivated, Revolutionary
Co-operatives or Mutual aid groups established.
JUSTICE OF
PEOPLES COURTS
A new system of
Justice of People’s court and prison was established. Peoples Courts challenged
the anti-people judicial system. In 1995, the Gram Rajya Committee was inducted
with a depart of justice encompassing the entire area covered by the
Revolutionary peasants Committee. Some classical peoples courts were conducted
in villages of Chitral, Petti,Nayum and Kellial, Pandhe and Kistaram
range. Here injustice was confronted at its highest zenith or crescendo.
In Kitral, sarpanch
Daubhal was brought to the book, for committing adultery and killing his first
wife. 400 people were mobilized by the RPC, In the People’s Court meeting.
In Petti, a
peasant named Maral with four other peasants stole money from the place party
funds were kept. The RPC investigated the matter after the money was found
missing and after instituting an inquiry found the culprits. All five pleaded guilty
and returned the money.
In Nayum, the
DKSZC issued a press statement for committing a mistake of wrongly
punishing a villager, by mistaking him as a police informer. It was widely
circulated to all the papers of
In Kellial
village a young man from
In Dokke village
a peasant was punished for employing and injuring a ten year old girl named
Raago to keep watch over his paddy as a child labourer. Ruthlessly Pandhe
punished Raago when cows damaged his crops by hitting her on the head. The
People’s court awarded him a sentence for 15 days. However later the term was
reduced and he was allotted the same duty of protecting the crops as the little
girl.
In Kistaram a
person name Anadalua,a police informer ,was executed after a trial in a
People’s court. Earlier the villagers had detained him on grounds of collecting
information about guerrilla squads .It was found that Anadalu had joined the
enemy ranks and showed no repentance for his deeds. The PGA pleaded to his
father to make his son give an undertaking that he would not participate in
such anti-people activities. However the son refused.
It is significant
that in the place of mass organizations the judicial department of the
revolutionary govt. has started taking steps, even if in a rudimentary form, to
resolve the people’s problems. The Maoist party in it’s appraisal highlighted
11 achievements. They were replacing panchayat system with democratic organs,
destroying age-old judicial system controlled by elders ,awarding punishments
on class basis, emergence of new ideas, diffusing of social customs,
eradicating customs of untouchability and marriage, people’s authority no more
commanded on factors like individual profits, Undertaking of work
now even without performing in festivals ,much less social
humiliation of prisoners.
APPRAISAL BY
INTELLECTUALS
Quoting Amit
Bhattacharya “In DK a new society has been built and is consolidating itself.
‘People oppressed for ages have stood up with their heads held high. The DK
region is the scene of numerous new social, economic and political experiments
and these become possible because of their inseparable ties with the ongoing
armed revolutionary struggle. In DK region, even when the rest of the Country
witnessed a huge famine in 1997 taking a heavy toll of lives, not a single
person perished.
Quoting Amit
Bhattacharya “Such developments of the people’s political prison are
unprecedented in the history of the country, not to speak only of revolutionary
communist movement.”
Gautam Navlakha
in ‘Dyas and Nights of Heratland Rebellion’was convinced that the Maoists were
spiritual heirs of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. No force in his view since 1947 has
shown such fortitude or relentless commitment to ‘serving the people’ through
social transformation. He felt they were firmly rooted in the people. Which is
the very reason they survived and expanded. “Two generations have grown up and
a third is getting influenced by the idea of rebellion. against an autocratic
state. This gives the movement a continuity and firm root sin the people. The
Maoist movement gives us a sharp reminder that the unleashing of coercive force
by the state will received a continuous or protracted resistance from those
confronting oppression”
Navalkha was
convinced that in terms of agrarian land distribution the movement went one up
on Andhra Pradesh previously, where1,00,000 acres of land was after
distribution usurped with police and civil authorities preventing Dalits from
cultivation or destroyed their harvest. In Bastar ousted
landlords have been unable to capture or sell their lands reclaimed. Adivasi
peasants here return to cultivate their lands and area of lands which remains
shallow is shrunk. Ousted landlords have no avenues to re-occupy the land. The
Janathana Sarkar extends credit and seeds to the poor peasants and loans to
purchase pairs of bullocks, to encourage them to plough their fields, rather
than using shovels. An important rectification document of the Maoist party was
a precursor in formulating this change. Without securing a firm social base it
would not have been possible for Squads to crystallise into platoons and
companies. It is also remarkable that the party base is strongly
built among the poor Adivasis and women.
Recently in
Potali Panchayat in the Andhra-Orissa border the Adivasis have heroically
confronted the installation of police camps. Mass resistance was crystallised
to the core galvanising even social activists and journalists .With traditional
weapons the people combated the police raising powerful slogans who in
retaliation mercilessly beat them with batons. For four consecutive days the
administration was taken to ransomby the bravado of the Adivasis.
WEAKNESSES OF
PLGA AND DANDKARANYA MOVEMENT
However the army
is too beset by weaknesses and setbacks. The most important aspect is the
subjective factors which were not conducive to undertaking peoples war
.Agrarian revolutionary movement had not sharpened or been consolidated
sufficiently to precipitate formation or integration of a red army .Land
re-distribution was mainly undertaken by the armed squad of the party and not
necessarily by the poor or landless peasantry. This was also the case in the judgments
of people's courts or Jan Adalats. No doubt the armed squad members comprised
the mainly of te opressed dalit or Adivasi Communities and derived from
movements like in Karimnagar or Adilabad. However there was hardly co-relation
between the building of the red army corpses and the movements of mass
resistance of the people. In the 1980's there was tendency for armed squads to
undertake actions which substituted peoples revolutionary mass action or
initiative. Another phenomenon was the armed squads utilising mass
organizations bastions to protect themselves or providing shelter.
Today in 3 major
instances the Ruling state forces have delivered a major blow to the
Maoist red army in Malkangiri, Gadricholi and Chattisgarh regions. In the
Orissa,-Chattisgarh border in October 2016 , it ripped the flesh of the
PLGA through concentric or surgical operations. It was literally like
surprisingly capturing tigers in an ambush, infiltrating the Peoples Red Army
in their very ribcage. Adequate precautions were hardly made to insulate it’s
forces. Also in the last decade hundreds of their important leaders have been
eliminated which the Maoist party admitting that it’s forces are dwindling,
facing huge losses in recent times.
In most cases the
army has been unable to replenish its own losses and many members have deserted
it to join Border security forces. Some participants in the PLA float between
government job s and performing armed squad duties. An erroneous tendency has
been adopted towards demanding levy from contractors and assassinating heads of
panchayats or rich peasantry. There exists a striking dichotomy between how the
Chinese red army was built or based in respect to the United front with the
workers and middle peasants and the distribution of land and agrarian
revolution. In Dandakarnya or Jharkhand self governance of life or people
running their own lives is not taking place like it was in the base areas of
pre-1949
Many offensive
actions have arguably had superficial impact like the elimination of Jawans or
security forces like killing the mosquitoes but not destroying the breeding pit
that planted them.
CONCLUSION
Still we should
we take for granted intellectuals who claim Dandakaranya is in the process of
being a liberated area or base area or that democratic mass organizations
have been properly developed .This is predominant in intellectuals like
Varavara Rao or other Maoist sympathisers. I also strongly feel that online
organ ‘People’s March; however vibrant or positive to an extent distorts level
of power exercised by the RPC’s or Janathana Sarkars.
What counts
against them is the failure to master the variance of Indian conditions from
that of pre-revolutionary
In my view the
movement has faced reversal in the last six years never reaching the intensity
or scale of 2010 or preceding years. Newspaper interviews or reports confirm
that the Maoist party has received major blows in their backbone with the
killings of thousands of their cadre. Hundreds of the Revolutionary Peoples
Committees have been destroyed and cadre considerably reduced in the PLGA and
the mass Organizations.
I have the utmost
praise of the spirit they display even when down in the barrel with all pages
of Maoist online organ ‘Peoples March’ blazing the torch f the Red Flag and
tooth and nail defending the fact that that they are still in contention for
creating liberated zones and confronting neo-fascism at the very core. In an
interview in the Wire in 2016 after facing a debacle of a state attack the
Maoist leader showed great humility that accordingly the armed struggle would
have to turn towards a defensive tone, with self –defense given priority.
Recently in
Potali Panchayat in the Andhra-Orissa border the Adivasis have heroically
confronted the installation of police camps. Mass resistance was crystallised
to the core galvanising even social activists and journalists .With traditional
weapons the people combated the police raising powerful slogans who in
retaliation mercilessly beat them with batons. For four consecutive days the administration
was taken to ransom by the bravado of the Adivasis.
Dogmatically it
still adheres to tactics of 'Boycott' of elections failing to understand level
of people's revolutionary consciousness. It is not prepared to utilize any
legal tactics.
The army can
hardly fortify itself today to substitute its losses to confront the regular
Armed forces. Land distribution movements are sill largely based on squad
initiative and not on independent will of tribals.
The Indian red
army can hardly navigate beyond prescribed boundaries and it is hard to foresee
how in near future it will defend its gains. I very much doubt it could in near
future encircle the big cities or even the plain areas, in context of being on
the receiving end of such battering by the rulers in power. In many ways it
resembles a cornered tiger entrenched in an aree.
Even if backed by
a considerable plethora of intellectuals it has strong critiques within the
civil rights movement and has nor completely adhered to correct behaviour
towards the civil rights or democratic rights movement. Civil rights activist
Bela Bhatia is an ideal example who has written extensively on mass movements.
Without doubt they have also undertaken some unwarranted actions of innocent
people which must be exposed
Still I strongly
envisage that it will continue to illuminate the torch of liberation even with
the enemy sweeping the strongest revolutionary wind.
Is mass line
being genuinely practiced like the Chinese Communist Party under Chairman Mao?
It is a very complex question but my abrupt answer is yes and no. Democratic
forms of power have been created and armed striking resistance to confront the
enemy and oppressor classes. However still it is not the people who are the
complete determinants of the fate of the guerrilla armed actions or
participants in them. Nor is the people's striking capacity consistently
enhanced by the armed struggle who still cannot undertake self-governance.
Perhaps the most
rational account on the Maoist PLGA has been done by Bernard De Mello and also
to a considerable extent by Gautam Navlakha..
With strong
conviction Bernard recognizes their accomplishments in confronting the state
and establishing guerrilla zones. However he finds it problematic how they
would evolve into base areas like in
Navlakha
highlights the great strides in shaping revolutionary democracy but exposes the
glaring weaknesses in approach ,particularly in light of working in urban areas
and initiating open mass movements.
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