On 16th September 2026, a special court setup by the Gestapo National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India sentenced ten people to death: Pramila Modiyam, Chaitu Lekam alias Munna, Sumita alias Punem Modiyam, Mukka Mandvi, Kosa Kavasi alias Kosaram, Aayata Markam, Madkami Deva, Joga Madkami, Banjami Sanna alias Chamru and Mahadev Nag. An 11th has died during the trial. Their crime? They are accused of participating in the 2013 Jhiram-valley attack, in which the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) of the CPI(Maoist) annihilated the entire leadership of the reactionary Indian National Congress (INC) in the state of Chattisgarh.
But why did this attack take place? On 25th of May, 2013, the state leadership of the INC was touring Jhiram-valley, an area dominated by India’s indigenous Adivasi people, to campaign for state elections. A convoy of 25 vehicles was carrying 200 INC members under the banner of ‘Parivartan Yatra’ (Change Rally), including former state ministers Mahendra Karma and Nand Kumar Patel. But what ‘parivartan’ did the INC seek to bring to Chattisgarh? Development for them meant mass-displacement of Adivasis from their ancestral lands to make way for big mining corporations looking for bauxite and steel. Among them was Tata Steel, which had been trying to setup a steel plant in the region since 2005.
Mahendra Karma had dedicated his life to the interests of these big corporations and local landlords which were colluding to oppress the Adivasis. When the CPI(Maoist) organised the peasants to resist and seize control of their lands, Karma set up and personally led the fascist militia known as ‘Salwa Judum’ to repress them. This was done with the express support and funding of Tata Steel, a fact that was admitted in the reactionary state’s own reports but later withdrawn.[1] Although its name literally translates to ‘Peace March’, we will let a CPI(Maoist) statement[2] describe its activities:
“One can hardly find any examples in the history to compare the severity of the devastation and barbarity caused by Salwa Judum to the lives of the Bastar people. It killed more than one thousand people in cold blood; torched 640 villages into ashes, robbed thousands of houses; ate or took away chickens, goats, pigs, etc.; forced more than two million people to be displaced; dragged more than 50 thousand people into state-run ‘relief’ camps. Thus the Salwa Judum became an anathema to the people. Hundreds of women were gang raped. Many women were murdered after rape. Massacres took place in many places. The atrocities perpetrated on the people and havoc created by the hooligans of Salwa Judum, the police and paramilitary forces, especially the Naga and Mizo battalions crossed all limits. There were several incidents in which people were brutally cut into pieces before being dumped in rivers.”
His accomplice Nand Kumar Patel was the first state home minister to mobilize the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), a fascist paramilitary force, to suppress the people’s revolts in Chattisgarh. He turned the region of Bastar into a warzone, a state which persists today with military outposts dotting the landscape, including some in children’s schools.
The convoy would not pass without an answer. As it passed through a deeply-forested area, it encountered a roadblock where an improvised explosive was detonated. In the ensuing confusion, over 250 armed members of the PLGA, many of them women, descended on this convoy. A fierce gun battle followed for over two hours, after which the reactionaries ran out of ammunition. INC leaders were then promptly identified and annihilated, among them the chief enemies of the people like Karma and Patel. Altogether 28 reactionaries met their maker in the ambush that day. Although some low-level activists of the INC were killed in the crossfire, most were let off as they were not considered to be enemies by the Communist party. The fighters also successfully seized dozens of weapons, including automatic rifles.
We do not know if any of the accused were present or played a role in this heroic operation. Their families have repeatedly claimed that they did not. What we do know is that they have spent 13 years of their life in prison while making rounds in a kangaroo court. In either case, the old state is plotting to murder those people who are either scapegoats or whose only ‘crime’ is to deliver justice to state terrorists.
We demand an immediate scrapping of this death penalty order and immediate release of all accused. We demand the disbandment of the CRPF and District Reserve Guard (successor of the Salwa Judum), which continue to terrorise the Adivasi masses of Bastar to this day. Lastly, we extend a warm salute the brave comrades who enacted justice on state terrorists when no one else dared to stand up for the people of India.
FREE THE JHIRAMGHATI 10!
DEATH TO ALL THE FASCIST INDIAN PARAMILITARIES!
CELEBRATE THE ANNIHILATION OF MAHENDRA KARMA AND NANDA KUMAR PATEL!
[1] “Gandhi, but with guns: Part Three”, Arundhati Roy, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/mar/27/arundhati-roy-india-tribal-maoists-3
[2] “Elimination of fascist Salwa Judum leader Mahendra Karma: Legitimate response to the inhuman atrocities, brutal murders and endless terror perpetrated on the Adivasis of Bastar!”, CPI(Maoist) Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, Banned Thought: https://www.bannedthought.net/India/CPI-Maoist-Docs/Statements-2013/130526-DK-OnMahendraKarmaAnnihilation-Eng-corrected.pdf
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