The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is hunting for urban members, and ‘intellectual’ youth who can assist their ground-level cadre and educate tribals and Dalits, a member of the banned organisation told the Economic Times.

Due to a shortage in educated masses joining the party, the mouthpiece Lal Chingari Prakhashan called for urban youth and intellectuals to join their fight, said Prashanta Bose, alias Kishanda, after the BJP’s attempts to phrase the term ‘urban naxals’, in reference to the growing extremist ideology in urban areas.

The party has recently launched a retirement scheme for the aged, and physically unfit leaders, who cannot operate from the underground and carry out its activities, the report said.

They are looking for educated students, who can stand up ‘to their principles’. This is aimed at building the second and third generation leadership in the party. The case might hold truth, since most of the leadership’s top-brass is over the age of 60, and due to the fight against the Indian State, they have lost a lot of their senior politburo members, who have been killed or arrested.