See through the conspiracy of the ruling classes to launch bigger offensives on the people using the 25 May attack as a pretext

Unite, Fight back and Defeat the ‘War on People’

The gangster community that made Indian Parliament its lair is in panic. Terrified. Aflutter. Seething. Fuming. Up in arms. Baying for blood. Baring its fangs. Spitting poison. After all the May 25 Jeeramghati attack struck down one of their best trusted lieutenants in field. Quite Understandable. Actually speaking, the scamster-gangster bunch does not care much for Mahendra Karma’s death because they knew that this was something waiting to happen even when they were carrying on mayhem and murder under Salwa Judum (SJ) which they all had contributed to create or let pester like senators watching gladiatorial contests in amphi-theaters, with Karma as SJ’s public face and with the support of fascist central and state mercenary armed forces.

They are frightened more because in this country where every kind of exploitation, oppression, suppression, corruption and scam is carried on almost unchallenged, as the order of the day and shamelessly under public gaze, the fact that somebody ‘out there’ can bring these fascist scamster-gangsters to book and deliver justice is not so easy to stomach. It is like finding oneself completely naked and vulnerable with all robes of Z plus securities and paraphernalia of security suddenly vanishing into thin air with the fury of the suppressed masses breathing down their necks. Highly explicable. A strong reason to be upset.

Who knows who will be next? More chillingly, what would be in store if people completely vexed with the increasingly unbearable treacherous, undemocratic, slavish and wicked anti-people deeds of the pet-dog politicians choose to consider this as an option to vent their ire to put an end to their habitual comprador performance? Even worse, what if they consider doing away with the whole bunch by overthrowing the parliamentary system as the Maoists vouch to and call upon the people to follow? Very worrying indeed. And for once it is better that they be. They better understand that not every politician can get away with the kind of neo-fascist suppression of the poorest of the poor of this country that was perpetrated in the name of a Salwa Judum, a Sendra, a Shanti Yatra, a Shanti Sena, a Harmad Bahini, a Bhairav Bahini, a TPC or an Operation Green Hunt, can get away with selling the riches of our country one by one as a daily routine at breakfast, lunch and dinner to fill the insatiable black-hole belly of the imperialist beast, can get away with turning every word that gives meaning to our existence as human beings like freedom, independence, sovereignty, self-reliance and democracy meaningless.

They better realize for the umpteenth time (counting all such instances since the days of a Spartacus) that a people crushed so cruelly can never take everything lying down forever. For once it is better that they be alarmed. Karma, a medieval type land lord, architect of SJ, looter, sadist, rapist and enemy of his own tribe; most of his security men, cannon fodder but undoubtedly deployed to aid in his mayhem and massacre; some SJ leaders; and some top Congress leaders were wiped out in the 25 May incident. Unfortunately a few others who got caught in the initial firing also died in spite of our sincere efforts to minimize the casualties once the main targets were caught and Comrade Gudsa Usendi, the Spokesperson of our Party’s DK unit had already tendered apology for it. The list of brutalities perpetrated by Karma and his ilk could fill many a volume.

Though not all, many of them have been documented in detail by the CPI (Maoist), revolutionary and democratic mass organizations, civil and human rights organizations, democrats, journalists and concerned citizens for all those who want to see. There is no purpose to the various conspiracy theories doing their rounds in the media about the reasons for this attack other than diverting the people’s attention from the truth. An unabashed conspiracy by the corporate media to hide the truth about the brutality of the SJ and the role of the Indian Army, big corporate houses, central and state governments, the Congress and BJP parties and slaughterers like Karma in its creation and developing it into a man-eating monster.

Such is its impatience to get rid of the Maoists that it did not even take into account that SJ was termed illegal by their own highest institution the Supreme Court. And all of them including Jairam Ramesh have once again repeated the most nonsensical and exhausted argument of ‘sandwich theory’ that Adivasis are being crushed between the armed forces on one side and the Maoists on the other. If they really believe in this then why don’t they demand first that the armed forces deployed in lakhs by the central and state governments be immediately withdrawn when they are agreeing that they suppress Adivasis?

Their lies fly in their face with the fact that the overwhelming majority of Maoists are Adivasis in the strong areas of the movement. Our Party reiterates that we never work against the interests of the people. It is solely the ruling classes and their forces that suppress the people and our Party fights it back. Let all the people’s enemies face the truth – the plain simple naked truth. Our Party and the PLGA defend the right of the people to defend themselves from oppressors and looters and on May 25 our brave PLGA guerillas led the people from the front to eliminate one of the arch enemies of the revolutionary people of India, particularly Dandakaranya people and more particularly Bastar people and some other people’s enemies as part of their broader resistance to big landlords and corporate exploitation and loot.

And we take this occasion to deafeningly declare one more time that our PLGA would continue defending the people and their right to defend themselves and would lead them from the front as long as government forces, state-sponsored vigilante gangs and class enemies continue their ‘War on People’. For, the oppressed have nothing without the People’s Army. This is as much as the 25 May incident is concerned. But what we really want to draw the attention of the people to is the perplexing way in which democracy comes up for discussion only when such attacks happen. Isn’t it too much of an oddity that it becomes the rarest of the rarest available commodity in the market square of the Parliament and is up for sale only when the toiling masses do a Bhagat Singh in some remote corners of our country?

In fact, we are also weary of the manner in which we Maoists also make headlines only during such incidents. So for a change, why don’t we look at what is happening as a routine in our daily lives to make democracy or Maoism a topic of everyday relevance? True to its social fascist character the CPI (M) politburo demanded “firm action” to put an end to “these Maoists depredations” and urged “all democratic forces to fight the politics of violence by the Maoists” and all the major political parties from Congress and BJP to SP and JD (U) went over the top in condemning this attack without speaking a single word about the actual reasons behind it. Corporate media was at its lying best and bayed for the blood of the Maoists more than any other so-called democratic institutions, bootlicking scoundrel that it is.

The meeting on internal security with the Chief Ministers and the later all-party meeting both held in the aftermath of the 25 May incident described it as a “direct attack on democracy and freedom”. The CMs unanimously declared – “We strongly disagree with the ideology of the Maoists. They want to overthrow parliamentary democracy and Constitution of India through violent means… this must be resisted with all our might.” They resolved “to use all legitimate means at their disposal” to counter the activities of the CPI (Maoist) and barked that they would not tolerate it or compromise about it. “We appeal to the youth of the affected states to give up violence and pursue their goals through legitimate and democratic means. We assure them that we are sensitive to their concerns and will make every effort to bring them into the mainstream of social and political life,” the resolution added.

The same feeling was expressed at the all-party meeting. Democracy? Freedom? Whose and what for? Better ask the women who were raped/gang raped and/or killed and the children who have been witnessing and are even victims of atrocities/massacres that are being committed by vigilante gangs like SJ and armed forces on their families and villages what these hollow words mean. The only democracy we see is democracy for the looters to hand over the riches of our country for peanuts to the imperialists and crave for their share in the remains. The only freedom we see is that of the armed forces to loot, destruct, rape, massacre and forcefully displace the oppressed masses for the interests of the imperialists, comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie (CBB) and the big land lords.

The Indian Parliament is one of the most rotten institutions in the world that allows and facilitates all this in the name of ‘democracy and freedom’. So what’s wrong in wanting to or calling upon to overthrow an institution that led the people of our country since six decades into a dark tunnel with no egress leaving no option but to destroy it? Have you not taught in schools that democracy is by the people, for the people and of the people? Then do the people not have a right to reject it or even overthrow it when it exists and works exactly to harm their interests? Leave aside attacks like a Tadimetla or a Jeeramghati. They are tactics and an inevitable part of people’s resistance when lakhs of forces get deployed with huge gear of modern weapons to repress them as mentioned above. Don’t reduce our political line and praxis to such attacks. CPI (Maoist) is a political party with a clear cut scientific ideology – Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, political line and political programme that would lead to the establishment of genuine democracy for the people of our country. Whoever wants to talk or write anything about Maoists better go through it first before labeling us with various names like terrorists, left wing extremists etc.

Briefly, it states – India is a semi-colonial semi-feudal country; the targets of our revolution are imperialism, the comprador bureaucratic capitalism and feudalism exploiting and oppressing the people of our country and are to be overthrown through New Democratic Revolution (NDR) to establish a People’s Democratic Federal Republic. Contradiction between feudalism and broad masses is the principal contradiction at present. During the process of resolving this contradiction through the armed agrarian revolution, which is the axis of the new democratic revolution, that is, protracted people’s war, the resolution of other contradictions will be facilitated. The semi-colonial semi-feudal character of Indian society determines that the Indian revolution would have to pass through two stages. The task of first stage is to change the semi –colonial, semi -feudal society into an independent new democratic society through the resolution of the two fundamental contradictions of the present Indian society, i.e. the contradiction of the Indian people with imperialism and the contradiction of the broad masses with feudalism. Again, in its continuity, the task of second stage is to establish the socialist system and continuing the revolution advancing towards communism on the world scale.

This new democratic state will be the people’s democratic dictatorship exercised by the united front comprising the proletariat, peasantry, petty-bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie class under the leadership of the proletariat based upon the worker-peasant alliance. The state will guarantee real democracy for the vast majority of the people while exercising dictatorship over the tiny minority of the exploiters. This new democratic revolution will bring national independence uprooting the imperialist slavery, exploitation and control, and will establish the people’s democracy uprooting the feudal autocracy. Workers, peasants and urban poor who form the overwhelming majority of the population in our country are living in utter poverty as victims of hunger, disease, inhuman feudal-imperialist exploitation and oppression and they would be liberated from all these through NDR.

It uproots the Brahminical feudal hierarchical inhuman caste system that kept crores of Dalits and other oppressed castes in suppression since centuries and the feudal and imperialist patriarchal social system that had been exploiting and oppressing half of the population i.e., women. It destroys the Hindu chauvinist domination that had been oppressing the religious minorities in our country particularly on Muslims and Christians. Vast majority of the Adivasis have long been deprived of their land and other traditional means of livelihood without providing any alternative and have been the major victims of ‘development’ and ‘displacement’. They would live a life of dignity, freedom and self-reliance in a new democratic society. Present day India is a prison-house of nationalities. The New Democratic state would unequivocally recognize the right to self-determination of the nationalities including the right to secession and the New Democratic India would be formed only with those states that voluntarily stay within it.

The rotten, decaying, antidemocratic, anti-people, obnoxious semi-colonial and semi-feudal culture that is dominating all the spheres of our life would be destroyed. Hatred for labour, patriarchy, superstition, autocracy, imperialist slavery, national chauvinism, communalism, casteism, blind greed, self-centredness, consumerist culture, and perverted sex-centered ideology and culture would be ended. Feudal culture which is primarily the Brahminical caste-based culture of engrained superiority would be extinguished. This state will try its best to peacefully and fairly settle border, water and other disputes with neighbouring countries and will develop friendly relations with them. This state will never exert any expansionist behaviour with the neighbouring countries. This People’s Democratic State will establish unity with the international proletariat and the oppressed nations of the world; opposes imperialist war and aggression, bullying, subversion and interference etc. It will support and help by all means the revolutionary struggles and revolutionary war, especially the ongoing struggles under the leadership of various Maoist revolutionary forces against capitalism, imperialism and reaction the world over.

A succinct 25-point programme of the People’s Democratic Federal Republic or New Democratic State is clearly laid down in the Party Programme of CPI (Maoist) for anybody who cares to go through it. Let any debates on Maoists center on it. The ruling classes are appealing to the youth to give up violence and pursue their goals through legitimate and democratic means. Fair enough? Isn’t it common sense that even to use ‘legitimate and democratic means’ you need some semblance of democracy at least? The workers organizations/trade unions, the peasant and agricultural laborer organizations, the women’s organizations, cultural organizations, student and youth organizations and even children’s organizations are banned. Voices of writers, cultural artistes, democrats, intellectuals and their organizations are stifled.

Fundamental rights get curbed on a daily basis. Draconian laws are promulgated or updated in the footsteps of the colonialists with unfailing regularity in step with the intensifying repressive measures. Courts side with the big scamster-gangsters, treacherous politicians, smugglers and criminals, while political and social activists and innocent people are thrown into jails, maimed with tortures and put to death. This is what the youth of our beloved country with huge potential to develop our country into a genuine independent sovereign prosperous democratic state is going through. The lakhs of youth that have been murdered in cold-blood by the Indian security forces in Kashmir, North-East and in the vast rural tracts of Andhra Pradesh, Dandakaranya, Bihar-Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, UP, Karnataka, Assam, MP and other areas of revolutionary movement is the cream of present day India with independent creative thinking and productivity that is forming/joining democratic, national liberation and revolutionary organizations and parties to give a better shape to the future of our beloved country.

The glaring fact is that youth have taken up arms as a historic task of the oppressed masses to shape their future with their own hands relying on their own strength and their own people only after decades of recurring and frustrating failure of the Indian State to respond to their usage of ‘legitimate and democratic means’ to gain their genuine demands and rights. Appealing to them to give up arms for ‘legitimate and democratic means’ is not only putting things upside down but also a cruel joke. Youth have not taken up guns because they fancy them or in an atmosphere where there was no dearth of legitimate and democratic means or because they don’t value democracy. It is quite the opposite. They are taking up guns because they want genuine democracy. Our NDR promises exactly that, which is the exact opposite of the present pseudo one.

The government that did not even mention basic concerns of the people like land, education, health etc in the CMs meet and the all-party meet is now announcing training programmes to train thousands of youth and particularly the Adivasis and women and is promising employment to at least half the trainees. This comes under the ‘development’ package (the other being the ‘repression’ package, the package of death and destitution with which the youth are more familiar in reality). You pull away the land from under their feet, displace them from their centuries old abodes, isolate them from their traditional means of living in forests and lands and then give just a few thousands of them training that does not really make them self-reliant, with false promises of jobs for even lesser number of people.

What a convoluted concept of development! Low paid jobs for a tiny section even if provided would not be enough to fulfill the basic minimum needs of a family. With access to all traditional means of subsistence that were available while living in a forest cut off and the devaluation of the rupee, the situation turns even worse. The audacity with which the ruling classes declare that ‘they are sensitive to the concerns of the youth’ baffles. As all these are sham concerns the galloping rate of unemployment and underemployment becomes the ground reality. If they are really sensitive then why are PESA, 5th and 6th Schedules and FRA that the Indian Parliament had itself passed and are ‘serious concerns of the youth’ not being implemented? One must realize that all this is done as part of the psychological warfare against the Maoist Party to wean the youth away from it. While the PM said government was willing to talk to all ‘extremist groups’ within the ambit of Constitution at the CMs meet, Home secretary RK Singh said there was no space for talks with Maoists after May 25 incident! So much for who decides such policies. However, our party had already several times in the past categorically stated our stand on going to talks with the government.

We just want to draw the attention of the people and democrats who are advocating talks with the government or seize fire to the backdrop of such offers to judge for themselves the sincerity behind such offers – not a single day passes without some operation by armed forces being carried on in the Maoist movement areas to kill, destruct, torture and rape and several of our top leaders are languishing in jails in inhumane conditions since many years denied even basic amenities and bails. Coming to the present context, the Indian ruling classes have already been making unprecedented preparations for another big offensive to finish off the Maoists but are now trying to use the 25 May incident as the pretext for it. The upcoming elections are another strong reason behind this intensification and expansion of OGH.

And it is by now a well documented and well established fact that all this is being done to forcefully implement the various MoUs for mining and other ‘development’ projects in Adivasi areas. We appeal to one and all to see through the ploy and don’t fall into the trap of thinking that incidents like May 25 are leading to more repression. In fact, massacres like in Edesmeta on May 17 where eight Adivasis including three children were killed by armed forces, just preceding it are part of the already intensified ‘War on People’. Along with massacres, the new offensive would mainly include air attacks, i.e. direct involvement of multiple units of helicopters of Indian Air Force and Unmanned Air Vehicles-Drones too. The Defence Minister said that Army would not be deployed but the fact is that the covert role of the Army has already increased manifold before and also after the May 25 attack.

The preparations are on war footing like invading another country. The people of Edesmeta after the May 17 massacre put it poignantly – ‘they want to finish us Adivasis off’. On this occasion, we once again appeal to the people who are fleeing from their villages after fascist massacres like Sarkinguda, Edesmeta etc fearing complete extinction not to do so and to stand united under the leadership of Krantikari Janatana Sarkars to fight back the Indian state’s offensive. The Party and PLGA vouch to defend you and your rights with our lives. We appeal to the workers, peasants, students, youth, intelligentsia, democrats, women, Dalits, Adivasis and people of oppressed nationalities and religious minorities and all the organizations of these classes, communities and sections i.e., the vast masses of our country to see through the evil designs of the ruling classes, the arch lackeys of imperialists, particularly US imperialists that are once again uniting for another big offensive as part of the more cruel-inhumane-fascist War on People.

Unite together as a mighty struggling force in an unprecedented and broadest possible manner to fight against it and to defeat the unjust war of suppression. Only by doing so we can march towards ending the ever threatening danger of the menace of state terrorism and achieving genuine democracy and real freedom and also save our youth – the most valuable treasure for the future of our country.

(Abhay) Spokesperson, Central Committee, CPI (Maoist)