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’.