Maoists admit to facing major reverses

12 Jul 2023 07:00:54

Maoists 
 
 
By Kartik Lokhande
THE proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist) has, in its latest document, admitted to facing major reverses and losing senior leaders due to Government gaining upper hand with technical and human intelligence. At the same time, the Left Wing Extremist organisation has asked its cadres to engage in decentralised and mobile warfare. In the said document issued last month, the Maoists have cited ‘Surajkund Strategic Plan’ of the Government of India for the reverses faced by them. This is an apparent reference to the ‘Chintan Shivir’ of Home Ministers of States held in Surajkund in Haryana on October 27 and 28, 2022. During the ‘Chintan Shivir’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a call for uprooting every form of Naxalism ‘be it the one with guns or the one with pens’ so as to prevent the Naxalites from misleading the youth of the country. In their latest document, the Maoists have in a way acknowledged the success of the Government’s actions. In Maoists’ own admission, they have lost 97 of their ‘comrades’. These included the highest 58 lost in various actions in Dandakaranya (region spread over parts of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha) zone alone, nine each in Bihar-Jharkhand combined and Telangana and Odisha, five in Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) Special Zone, three in Andhra-Odisha border, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Western Ghats and West Bengal. Of these, Maoists have claimed, 28 were women.
 
Among the major leaders the Maoists lost in past one year were Katkam Sudarshan alias Anand alias Dula alias Parmeshwar, who died a natural death. He was Politburo Member of the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist). Besides, the outlaws lost three members of State Area Committee/Special Zonal Committee/Special Committee namely LSN Murthy from Andhra Pradesh, Gautam Paswan from Bihar-Jharkhand and Charlie (Ajit Uraon). LSN Murthy had previously worked as Editor of Naxalite/Maoist journals like ‘Kranthi’, ‘Prabhat’, and ‘People’s March’. Another veteran leader Chandi Sarkar alias Chandi Da from West Bengal had played a key role in the constitution of CPI (Maoist) by merger of Maoist Communist Centre of India and People’s War. The Maoists also suffered a setback as they lost Shankar Rao, Founder of cultural troupe ‘Chetana Natya Manch’. The Maoists have admitted that they suffered damage because of the Government’s concerted efforts through network of informants, covert networks, expansion of police base camps under carpet security plan, effective technical and human intelligence, tracking of Maoist leaders through various devices. Also, the Maoists are disturbed over the success of security agencies in disrupting the supply routes of the Left Wing Extremists.
 
In a bid to overcome the demoralisation of cadres due to strong Government action, the Maoists have decided to observe ‘Shaheed Smruti Saptah’ from July 28 to August 3 across the country to hail their deceased leaders and cadres. For the purpose, they are planning to organise programmes commemorating Katkam Sudarshan alias Anand, at various cities and universities. Probably for the first time, they have even mentioned about reaching out to the family members of the deceased leaders and cadres and inviting them to such commemorative programmes with an intention of strengthening association with them without drawing them into the outlawed organisation. Acknowledging the reverses and commenting on the International scenario, the CPI (Maoist) has also pointed out in its latest document that these losses were a result of ‘not shifting the base and not changing the method for a long time’.
 
“These losses could have been averted. We need to introspect on the mistakes made and draw appropriate lessons,” it added. In fact, according to experts, they have already reorganised their work in some urban areas but their leading faces are deliberately keeping a low-profile to evade the police and Intelligence attention. In some areas, the Maoists have recruited youngsters in their Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), and have also started agitation against new police camps, road projects, bridge construction, new projects. They have asked their cadres to ‘come out of non-military (civil) mindset’ and to explore new villages/areas for activities. At the same time, Communist Party of India (Maoist) has cautioned its cadres to avoid ‘unnecessary provocative actions’, apparently to avoid inviting the wrath of the security agencies. Rather, it has advised its cadres to resort to ‘decentralised’ and ‘mobile’ warfare with focus on ‘instant improvisations’. Also, it has highlighted the need for Maoist organisation to ‘strengthen the party, PLGA, and united front’ by way of reaching out to even the ‘oppressed nationality movements’ (which are nothing but secessionist and separatist forces). Besides, the Maoists have bared their plan to ‘develop’ Dandakaranya, Bihar-Jharkhand, East Bihar-NorthEast Jharkhand as ‘support bases’.
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