NEW DELHI: The erstwhile UPA government had in a counter-affidavit filed in Supreme Court in November 2013 said that academicians and activists in urban centres had come to control “mass organisations” organically linked to Maoists under the cover of human rights Indicating how governments, irrespective of political cover, have seen “urban Naxals” as a threat, the UPA affidavit said these fronts are “organically linked to CPI (Maoist)” and noted that these cadres are “in many ways more dangerous than cadres of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army PLGA )”.PLGA is the armed wing of the CPI(Maoist). Maoists have since the year 2001 killed 5,969 civilians, 2,147 security personnel and looted 3,567 firearms from various police and central paramilitary forces.The home ministry, then with Sushil Kumar Shinde, conceded that initiating legal proceedings against these “ideologues, including academicians and activists,” often resulted in negative publicity for enforcement agencies due to effectiveness of the Maoist propaganda machinery.The counter-affidavit, in the ‘Kishore Samrite Vs Union of India & Others’ case, detailed how urban Naxal warfare is part of a strategy of CPI (Maoist) to mobilise opinion through organisations linked to the party structure but which maintain a separate identity to avoid legal liability.“These ‘mass organisations’ are generally manned by ideologues, who include academicians and activists, fully committed to the party line.Such organisations ostensibly pursue human rights-related issues and are also adept at using the legal processes of the Indian State to undermine and emasculate enforcement action by the security forces and also attempt to malign the state institutions through propaganda and disinformation to further the cause of their ‘revolution’,” it had stated.The affidavit added that though Maoists had kidnapped proactive and sincere district collectors to block development from reaching marginalised sections, ideologues and supporters of the CPI (Maoist) in cities and towns run a concerted and systematic propaganda to project Maoists as champion of adivasi rights, “a claim contrary to their actions”.