Maoist caders along with their propaganda documents somewhere along the Jharkhand-Bihar border

JHARKHAND-BIHAR BORDER: The outlawed CPI (Maoist) has described Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s coming to power as “a blessing in disguise” that has helped it gain popular support in recent years.

“When it comes to policies, there is no difference between BJP and Congress. But NDA rule has seen more attacks on religious minorities and state repression. This has made people turn to us for help,” Sanket , spokesperson for the Maoists ’ Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB), said while talking to TOI at a location close to the Jharkhand-Bihar border earlier this week.

“Subjugation of democratic principles, repression, dilution of labour laws and amendment of rules to dispossess tribals of their ancestral land have made people choose the path of struggle,” Sanket explained.

Sitting next to Sanket, Azaad , spokesperson for the Bihar-Jharkhand Special Area Committee (BJSAC), added, “We recently managed to hold a series of jan adalats in villages near the Jharkhand-Bihar border despite heavy deployment of forces. This was not possible earlier.”

Sanket claimed that “attacks on religious minorities in the name of cow protection” and “crackdowns on churches in Ranchi and Khunti” have made people lose their faith in the “semi-imperialist, capitalist government”.

Azaad said, “To help villagers fight for autonomy, we extended support to the pathalgarhi movement in Khunti . We stood by Muslim families who suffered at the hands of fascist forces.” He added, “Similarly, we support the para teachers who faced police action for fighting for their rights.”

The Maoists leaders admitted that their organisation has suffered many “military” setbacks in recent years. Sanket said, “This happened because many of our senior leaders in central India were either arrested or surrendered. Our rank and file were not unable to cope with new challenges.”

He added, “We support all nationalist movements, including the ones in Kashmir, Nagaland, Arunanchal Pradesh and Manipur. We are now preparing to strengthen our base there.” He expressed concern at the way “BJP is trying to scare the people of Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh by talking about an NRC-like survey”.

