The Red Menace

[chaanakya]

We should be grateful to Maoists for being Merciful to CRPF jawans killed in ambush on 27 June

Reports indicate that some of the securitymen killed had their throats slit and others had head injuries inflicted by axe-like weapons but none had their limbs chopped off.

EXPRESS reporter needs more lessons in reporting from jehadis from Kerala

[Stan_Savljevic]

Police today shot a Maoist dead in an encounter at Daujapla forest, about 97km from the district headquarters under Tamar police station area. A rifle, several rounds of ammunition, Naxalite literature and kit bags were recovered from the deceased after the afternoon encounter that lasted for nearly 30 minutes. He was identified as Etwa Munda (30), second-in-command of Krantikari Kisan Committee, a frontal organisation of CPI(Maoist) in Chalkad. Munda was wanted in more than six cases of landmine explosions and police attacks.
...
Sources said the encounter was the result of a tip-off by a network of informers nurtured by security personnel engaged in Operation Greenhunt. The breakthrough came just when villagers were desperately looking for Maoists who killed Sandhu Munda at Lagba village on Thursday night. The encounter’s success gave villagers a sense of satisfaction. “Though Etwa did not kill Sandhu, he was a part of the organisation which did,” claimed a villager.

Home Sec GK Pillai has said that the war on maoists will continue from at least three to seven years. Thank god for small happinesses, noone has yet promised an overnight withdrawal a la ombaba.

With the elimination of Azad, the number of Maoist politburo and central committee members either in jail or killed has risen to 16 since 2006. In an interview to Open magazine in October 2009, Maoist general secretary Mupalla Laxman Rao (Ganapathy) admitted this was causing them concern. “Well, it is a fact that we lost some senior leaders at the state and central level in the past four or five years. Some leaders were secretly arrested and murdered in the most cowardly manner. Many other leaders were arrested and placed behind bars in the recent past in Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Haryana and other states. The loss of leadership will have a grave impact on the party and Indian revolution as a whole,” Ganapathy said.

“This (Azad’s killing) is a very, very big loss for them,” says P.V. Ramana, research fellow at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, who tracks the Maoist insurgency. “From what I understand about how they function, there is bound to be a spectacular attack by them,” he says.

In describing the Andhra Pradesh Special Intelligence Branch as the “Indian Mossad”, the Maoists have put the police establishment in their cross-hairs. The Special Intelligence Branch and the police have had a hand in almost all big catches and/or killings of Maoist leaders. They tipped off the Delhi police on the whereabouts of Khobad Ghandy, politburo member, now in Tihar jail, last year. In 2008, they engineered the surrender of central committee member Lanka Venkata Papi Reddy, who had fallen from grace in the party, but was a prize catch for the state government that gave the Maoist leader the reward of Rs 12 lakh that was put on his head. The rebels will be wondering if Papi Reddy is singing.

Earlier this year, the Andhra Greyhounds interrogated Maoist leader and accomplice of Kishan identified as Telugu Deepak, who was arrested in Calcutta last year and is now in jail. A Greyhounds officer also visited the Bengal police headquarters and exchanged notes and video images to advise them on dealing with the Maoists in Lalgarh.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100706/j ... 650947.jsp

Andhra Pradesh appears to have achieved what none of the other Maoist-hit states has, killing one top guerrilla after another and almost crushing the insurgency on its soil after suffering it for almost half a century.

In the past five years, the state police have eliminated or captured 15 of the 23 members of the Maoist central committee — the latest being the guerrillas’ No. 3, Azad, who was killed on Friday. Among the over 60 others gunned down since 2005 are four Maoist state committee secretaries, 27 state committee members, four commanders and several technical committee members.

Sources said a string of factors had resulted in the success, the prime reason possibly being political will. After several state governments had flirted with the rebels and tried in vain to turn them around, chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy went full throttle in 2004, having lured the rebels out of their lair with the ruse of peace talks. The state raised four battalions of commandos, called Greyhounds, especially to take on the Maoists in their dens, safe houses and shelters. Then director-general of police Swaranjit Sen had got the police to drive deep into the Maoist heartland and demolish their hideouts.
...
Not that Sen’s boys — as he called his commandos — had no political pressure to contend with. In 2007, they were forced to release top gun Ramakrishna alias Akkiraju Hargopal and several others who had been captured in the Nallamala forests following an outcry from rights activists like Gaddar and Varavara Rao.

One way to get around such a “problem” may have been to eliminate the Maoists. Sixteen Maoist leaders have been killed in the first six months of 2010, often leading to complaints of fake encounters. To blunt the charges, the Andhra government opened a second front, which included measures to create a sense of well-being among villagers in the rebel-hit areas.

In early 2007, IPS officer Stephen Ravindra launched a campaign that involved interactions with the families of the Maoists in their native villages in Warangal and Karimnagar. “Many of the cadres surrendered following appeals by their family members,” said Ravindra. The Maoists retaliated by killing IPS officer K.S. Vyas, the architect of the Greyhound force, but the commandos had by then succeeded in driving many of the guerrillas away towards Chhattisgarh.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100706/j ... 650863.jsp
One other aspect that is noted is that one of the Politburo members, Tusharkant Bhattacharya got released by the High Court only to be recaptured in two months and docked again. Now this begs the question: how the hell did he escape the long arm of the law in the first place. Another oiseaule, Malla Raji Reddy escaped from Kerala, how, why, wtf.

In Kamal Nath's jargon, "the planners, not doers" have struck again .

The Planning Commission today decided in favour of pumping nearly Rs 14,000 crore into social and physical infrastructure building in some 35 Maoist-hit districts.

It also wants state governments to set up a “state mineral fund” and levy upto 10 per cent of the royalty now being collected for extracting minerals. This levy would be used for tribal welfare programmes. Annual mineral production in the country is estimated to be worth over Rs 99,000 crore. Most of this money comes from poor Naxalite-hit states, which suffer from what economists call a “resource curse” — rich in resources but poor in human capital and with low income levels. Over the last few years, the government has come round to the view that the only long-term solution to Maoist insurgency is to bring “the fruits of development to tribal people” and assuage their sense of deprivation.

We have the same problem for Uranium extraction in Meghalaya. The mineral extracted from the ground serves no purpose for the Khasis and Garos. Why not provide them a 10% return which GoI will use for infra building in Meghalaya? Why, why, why? Win, win for both sides, instead of having to bargain with morons such as KSU who will want a 200% return. Policies are getting rewritten, if only these had been written in the first place with a humanitarian viewpoint, how many lives could have been saved. Where is the wall? Why should the elephant always move only with a swift kick to the butt, why why why?
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100706/j ... 650849.jsp

[Sachin]

Another oiseaule, Malla Raji Reddy escaped from Kerala, how, why, wtf.

Are you sure this chap managed to escape? The Organiser reports that this chap was picked up by AP Police from Angamaly, in Kerala. If I am not mistaken this incident had generated some interest in the local media as well. The AP Police ambushed Malla Raja Reddy and another woman who was with him, whisked him to an unmarked police vehicle and tried to escape. Reddy and the woman starts howling, local people thought it was a kidnapping attempt and gave a chase. It was then AP police drove into the nearest police station and took K.P's help.

[Stan_Savljevic]

Another oiseaule, Malla Raji Reddy escaped from Kerala, how, why, wtf.

Are you sure this chap managed to escape? The Organiser reports that this chap was picked up by AP Police from Angamaly, in Kerala.

The data I collected says: Malla Raji Reddi -- arrested in Kerala’s Angamally, 20 km from Kochi, recently obtained bail from a Kerala court and reportedly went underground. I picked it from low-pass filtering ddm (http://expressbuzz.com/States/Kerala/to ... 48707.html), I could have missed it if he was arrested after that. In any case, there have been 3 people (maoist politburo members nonetheless -- tusharkant b, malla raji reddy and kobad gandhy) who have been able to get bail.

Plus one other Politburo member, Misir Besra, escaped when taken out of court on June 23, 2009. How??? Whose fault is that???? Who are these people playing with others' lives? We still ve nt laid our hands on the top 5 oiseaules of the maoists, Azad is not number 3 as ddm mentions. He is no 6 and he is the biggest catch so far. The closest we have come to laying hands on any one of the top 5 is when Kishen, the rat, got hit in his leg and escaped via Jharkhand. The problem is there is a big porous escape route all the way from WB, Bihar, Jharkhand through chattisgarh. Only AP has tightened the screws, and that too after sitting on the bs for 50+ years. Shibu Soren, Nitish Kumar, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Mamta Banerjee, all think that maoists are estranged cousins who can be coaxed into the right way. I just have this to tell them: "Hello, wake up and smell the coffee. And get a life, please." Who are the three overgroundoos that the maoists appointed to negotiate: Kabir Suman of Trinamool congress who is smelling the blood in seeing the demise of cpm from WB, BD Sharma, the former DGP of Bastar, and Mme. Arundhati Roy. What a black mark on the similarly named golden lady of Indian foreign policy.

The political will to kill is not there, and we may have to be sitting on this for another 50 years if the experience of AP is any indication. Get it right guys, this is a 50 year war, we should thank the stars if Home Sec. GK Pillai is proven correct. Good thing is India has been there, done that. We have been in J&K for 50+ years, nagaland for 50+, NE in general for 30-40+, so things wont get far worse, but it wont get any better unless someone close to a political bigwig dies (heaven forbid). Recall how the Sarath Fonseka and mahinda rajpakses got to terminating the ltte when their lives at stake, we may see a rehash of this. Till then, stay safe.

[RamaY]

That Sandhya woman is a standing analyst in a telugu channel TV9/ABN-Andhrajyothy.

These leftist scum are entertained by almost all media groups so they can twist and turn each and every issue to extend their goals.

[Yagnasri]

Ya we here this women giving us lectures about democracy.

[skaranam]

That Sandhya woman is a standing analyst in a telugu channel TV9/ABN-Andhrajyothy.

These leftist scum are entertained by almost all media groups so they can twist and turn each and every issue to extend their goals.

There is a new gal in the town by name devaki, also a leftist. She is more erudite than the other jokers. She will beat all of them hands down in a debate. What i see is that there is a romanticism about getting these leftys on TV Channels. TV9 is whole lot lefty channel with thier CEO Ravi Prakash boasting lot of connections. Of late, he has become a darling of the ruling party. In fact, he becomes the darling of the party in power.

[Prem Kumar]

The political will to kill is not there, and we may have to be sitting on this for another 50 years if the experience of AP is any indication. Get it right guys, this is a 50 year war, we should thank the stars if Home Sec. GK Pillai is proven correct. Good thing is India has been there, done that. We have been in J&K for 50+ years, nagaland for 50+, NE in general for 30-40+, so things wont get far worse, but it wont get any better unless someone close to a political bigwig dies (heaven forbid). Recall how the Sarath Fonseka and mahinda rajpakses got to terminating the ltte when their lives at stake, we may see a rehash of this. Till then, stay safe.

Stan: it is indeed sad if an optimist like you is resigned to accepting this as a 50 year war. And for all who say that the state will prevail eventually (which I take with a pinch of salt), it will "prevail" at what cost: tens of thousands of CRPF men & innocent tribals killed. Not to mention the astronomical economic costs.

[Muppalla]

It will not take 50 years. If there is a will power and also coordination among the state police forces and the central forces, it could be wiped out in less than five years.

Most important thing is the political will power. As Stan said, the CMs and leaders of various political parties should stop saying Moists as someone due to poverty, disgruntled elements etc. Just consider them as enemy-of-the-state then the results will comeout in less than five years.

AP also did not fight really for 50 years. The AP police hardly fought less than 10 years after the similar melodramas of "they are us", "they are our estranged cousins" etc. The new things that AP police is persuing is to go after them beyond the borders of AP. If there is a coordination and upgradation of police forces in all the affected states it should be done with in 5 to 10 years.

[RamaY]

^ +1

A focused approach can eliminate Naxalism and Maoists in 5 years. Communist extremism as a political need in 10 years.

I tend to think again and again about what JEM-saar said once. All these things will start fading away as the majority-community getting wealthier and start asserting their political rights.

[Stan_Savljevic]

AP's case was simple, almost every locale in AP is inhabited. How about 50k sq km of jungle which is the HQ of the maoists? maoists commit crimes in Jharkhand or WB and run back to CG. CRPF is a sitting duck and noisy "intellectuals" are debating whether afspa should be cooled down or gotten rid of, etc. If not for the maoist menace, did we even hear about
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091104/j ... 697058.jsp
and
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100407/j ... 311697.jsp ?
I never realized that we had no-go areas right in the middle of India that noone had even been aware of.

Case studies:
1) Mizoram:
Insurgency began 1959,
Population at peak of insurgency ~5 lakhs,
signs of political will 1966 (MNF outlawed 1967),
Peace accord signed 1987.
2) Punjab:
Trouble began ~1973,
Population at peak of insurgency ~17million,
signs of political will 1983,
Peace restored ~1993.
3) PWG and MCC union 2004,
Statistics of the affected region - 28,000 federal police patrol an area of around 1.9 million square kms (733,600 sq mile) with a population of more than 400 million,

Number of districts affected:
in early 90s - 15,
2001 - 56,
2010 - 34 (worst affected), 83 (slightly or partially affected), 220 (where maoist related incidents have taken place). In short, if we go by data we have at satp, the maoist menace has not yet hit a peak yet. And we are already into the 10th year of the insurgency. In fact, MHA put LWE in the top list only recently all the while when NREGS was providing oxygen to these terrorists. Police recruitment has nt picked up, whatever training we have is not complete yet, political will is nowhere seen, lets not kid ourselves and do an ombaba thing. This thing is going to take long, very long. I am trying to be realistic.

[Muppalla]

AP's case was simple, almost every locale in AP is inhabited. How about 50k sq km of jungle which is the HQ of the maoists? maoists commit crimes in Jharkhand or WB and run back to CG. CRPF is a sitting duck and noisy "intellectuals" are debating whether afspa should be cooled down or gotten rid of, etc. If not for the maoist menace, did we even hear about
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091104/j ... 697058.jsp
and
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100407/j ... 311697.jsp ?
I never realized that we had no-go areas right in the middle of India that noone had even been aware of.

Not all locales in AP are inhabited with Maoist activities. There are few districts where there are forests which are the vulenerable. This is the menace that was there almost since 1960s. Law and order was pretty decent for very long time. It was impossible to pull off something easily even before Greyhounds was formed. The spikes were there in early to mid 80s when TDP formed the government for the first time and during later CBN government. Having said that, I agree the police forces and intel wings are spread to every locale. There were/are no-go areas inside the vast dandakaaryanam spread across a portion of Telangana. The tribal AP (also called as agency areas) in the eastern ghats are not that bad either in the past or even currently.

Regarding the plight of Orissa, CG, WB and JHK, I have a different take for their plight. As compared to AP, the implementation of simple law and order in these states is pathetic (I don't have far worse word). Even before maoist takeover, there is nothing called as law and order even in simple terms. My brother used to study in Jamshedpur REC (RIT). I used to vist often and the students used to catch a bus ( very few city buses in this big city and you can't even compare to a D grade AP city in terms of services) and then hijack to whereever they want to go. Entire passengers do nothing out of fear. That is just a very small example of the so called law-and-order. Another example is these goons just go to any movie theatre and the owner comes like a beggar. Goons give whatever they think is fine and there is no way he can sell tickets. Again this is Jamshedpur, the biggest industrial city of JHK. By the way at RIT, 90% of the Bihari students carry katta (local gun). I had the opportunity to touch them and see inside the campus.

Regarding WB the less said the better. Everything is political and nothing less. There will be some or other bandh every alternative day. Violence is a norm and not an exception in this state. There is no police worth the salt.

All through 80s and 90s, In all these states (WB, JHK/Bihar and even MP too) if you are a small goon and have a very chota political connection, you could easily loot whatever you want (that is why every other person carries a gun these days). MP/CG is not bad when compared to other two biggies. Orissa is same too.Go back on time machine to 1990 and travel by Bokaro express train from Aleppy to Bokaro/Jamshedpur you will see what I am trying to say. The minute you cross Bobbili (last stop in AP) the difference is very visible thru Rourkela (Orissa) to all the places inside what we call JHK. First your reservation is already gone and anyone can come and occupy your seat.

Now the uphill task in such a non-existant police forces, you have to build a professional Greyhounds type ones and also intel network which is an uphil task because it will affect the non-maosit goons as well. These goons are nothing but henchmen of all political parties.

It is not really the 50 year war but it is just the improvement of regular law-and-order apparatus that will control substantial portion of this menace.

[Sachin]

+1 to Muppalla. IMHO, all the states now reeling heavily under the naxalite menace had pathetic law and order setup for quite some time. The chaltha hein attitude was all prevalent, and only goonda giri was the established business practise. It is quite obvious that criminals would make these areas as their camping grounds. In any state which had a strong law enforcement naxals have found it hard to strike there. A.P, Tamil Nadu and Kerala during the 1960s and 70s etc are examples of this.

Some times I feel sad that central government (and at times forces like A.P Greyhounds) have to take the extra efforts in dealing with problems, purely because of the state government's incompetency .

[Stan_Savljevic]

Venu tipped to succeed Azad
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100707/j ... 654822.jsp

Venugopal alias Sonu is a CPI (Maoist) politburo member and secretary of its Central Regional Bureau of Dandkaranya. He is No. 6 in the Maoist hierarchy and the brother of another top leader, Mallojula Koteswar Rao alias Kishen. Sources said Sonu, a graduate and a resident of Peddapalli in Karimnagar, is also likely to take over Azad’s job of supervising the Maoist publications Vanguard, People’s March and Kranti.

At present, Sonu is working as the intelligence chief of the People’s Security Services, an organisation he founded in March to monitor the movement of police and anti-Maoist forces in Dandkaranya. The agency also keeps tabs on suspected police informers in the Maoist ranks. Sonu had ordered three-tier security for top Maoist leaders but Azad had preferred to go without it, sources said. Azad was also not cautious about using his mobile phone or logging on to the Internet, both of which are believed to have given his location away to the police. Sonu has now advised all top leaders to reduce the use of mobiles and keep their whereabouts known to select members only. Although indications are that Sonu will step into Azad’s shoes, there is a buzz that central committee member Samballa Keshav Rao may be the chosen one. A final decision is likely to be taken at the Maoists’ politburo meeting slated to take place in August, sources said.

There is some internal fissure in maoists between Ganapathi and Kishen. Malla Raji Reddy is supposed to be close to G. Where do Katakam Sudarshan, Ramakrishna and Namballa Keshav Rao fit in in this power struggle is a mystery. Where does Prashanta Bose fit in? Kobad Gandhy is said to be close to Prashanta Bose. If you look at some of these guys, they could pass muster for a grand-grandfather. Look at this pic of one of the arrested central committee members, banshidhar singh.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100210/j ... 088371.jsp

[satyam]

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ch ... ck_1406857

[Stan_Savljevic]

A Maoist armed squad member and one of the masterminds of the Jnaneswari Express sabotage (~150 killed) was arrested in a joint raid by the Bengal and Orissa police at a village near Baripada this morning. “Manik Mahato (27) is a bigger catch than Bapi Mahato, whose interrogation led to Manik’s arrest,” said Bengal director-general of police Bhupinder Singh “He used to control the Maoist activities in 10 to 12 villages around his village in the Jhargram area,” he said.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100708/j ... 657599.jsp

[skaranam]

Kishenji Koteswara Rao injured, Bengal Maoists get new boss

The report indicates that frequent encounters with security forces and tighter police surveillance have forced Maoists to shift their core operational base from the Lalgarh-Belpahari area in West Midnapore to the Ayodhya hills of Purulia. This area is currently not covered by the security forces.

Hembram a.k.a. Anantada is from Binpur in Jhargram, and is popular among tribals. A Maoist regional and state committee member, Hembram is prime accused in the November 2008 Salboni attack. He was also named in the attack on a police camp in Bandwan in Purulia in 2005.

According to the officer, the CC had initially picked Sabyasachi Panda, in-charge of Orissa, to handle operations in Bengal. But Panda found it difficult to shuttle between three states and was also not experienced in handling Bengal, where the Maoists are also up against CPM cadres besides the security forces.

Is this the beginining of the end of AP Maoists?

[Yagnasri]

Attacks on CRPF camps is an effort to discredit and demoralize the CRPF. They are keeping the pressure on. Bandh call is also the same. Attacking the trains etc as happened in the resent past is fast creating a situation wherein their Jholawalas will find it difficult to defend the indefensible.

The media offensive on the killing of the so called Jurno fallen on its face by lack of co ordination among their own drama actors/Jholawalas and under ground spokes persons.

Now that lady claiming to be his wife wants to approach High Court. One more round of fighting after losing media war.

[Yagnasri]

AP top caste leaders have huge exposure to organizing this criminal gang. May be they also control the funds. I am not so sure it is easy for others to dethrone them. More over it may take some time for other people to grow in the organization also. One thing works against AP part of the gang is the AP Police who killed many of their top people in the resent past.

[ravar]

Bullets to Ballots - Art of Living

Bullets to Ballots is a short documentary that illustrates the transformational change the Art of Living is bringing about in Naxalite torn regions across India.

[Stan_Savljevic]

Tamar ITI is CRPF hub --- Tatas unable to start, but JSPL ready
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100713/j ... 677378.jsp

[jaibhim]

Did you not notice the caravan has pitched its tent in the university of hyderabad [source deccan chronicle] with arundhati talking of civil war in India. It is so worrying that this cynical message of hoplessness and support to murder is being spread to young impressionable students. In a central univeristy payed for by the taxpayer how could these maoist mouthpieces pitch tent to poison young minds, to produce more phd grandfathers to play politics in campus and contribute zero to resarch. Look forward to a guardian piece soon.

[Pranav]

US Citizen Siddharth Varadarajan of Chindu is apparently married to Maoist sympathizer and Delhi School of Economics Professor Nandini Sundar. He has lately been complaining loudly about media reports linking Nandini Sundar with terrorist activity (http://ibnlive.in.com/news/maoist-attac ... 572-3.html and http://www.indianexpress.com/news/named ... t/645692/0).

Siddharth's predecessor at the Chindu, Harish Khare was appointed MMS's media advisor.

Sonia Gandhi loyalist and ex-MP Mohan Delkar recently led a mob of Congressmen who freed a Maoist kingpin from jail in Silvassa (http://www.timesnow.tv/INDIA/Biggest-Ma ... 343436.cms).

Siddharth is the author of a book bashing Narendra Modi, and was recently protesting against alleged "media curbs" in Kashmir.

It is amazing how these cockroaches infest the Indian power elite.

By the way, is Harish Khare any way related to ex-Chief Justice of India VN Khare?

[VenkataS]

Naxal commander killed in police encounter in Andhra Pradesh

The Andhra Pradesh police shot down S Ramarao alias Ganesh, the self-styled Naxal team commander of CPI-ML New Democracy Group, in an encounter in a forest area in Warangal District on Tuesday.

[Samay]

A must read article on naxal breeding grounds

Dandakaranya’s red carpet

G Manjusainath discovers that Bastar is a far cry from Ram rajya today and indeed has been for many years.



Scenic Bastar is bleeding today. In its worst ever phase, Bastar has slipped into acute anarchy, often being termed as the Naxal heartland.

One can blame the absence of land reforms, lack of development, exploitation and corruption for the present state of Bastar but violence and anarchy were the fate of this tribal dominated area since the Ramayan era.

Bordering with Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa, Bastar region in the southern part of Chhattisgarh has emerged as the headquarters of the Naxalites ever since Andhra Pradesh intensified its operation against the rebels.

However, they are now facing protests from those natives who had once given them shelter. With the anti-Naxal movement, Slawa Judum, initiated by the local administration, now gaining ground in the region, the baffled rebels are not even sparing the poor tribals.

Salwa judum means gather together in local Halbi dialect. Generally this term is used to gather people for some noble cause.

Known as Dandakaranya in Indian mythology, the Bastar region was always fertile for insurgent elements. Covering three districts- Kanker, Bastar and Dantewada - this Dandakaranya zone was the turning point in Ramayana. Plot for the divine objectives of the Hindu Trinity to uproot the rakshasas from this pious land was formulated here only.

Indian mythology says that Lord Rama spent his precious 13 years in this region till the abduction of Goddess Sita.

As noted archaeologist and joint director of the Archaeology and Culture Department of Chhattisgarh, Rahul Singh, puts it, “We worship Lord Rama for he had eliminated the evil forces, who were encouraged by Ravana. Going through the Ramayana one can realise that Dandakaranya was the main area of operation of Ravana and his demon forces.”

“At least Ramayana gives clear indication that Dandakaranya was the breeding place for insurgency and it needed extra attention. We are now facing the results for ignoring the messages from the Ramayana. I can say that Ramayana is still relevant. What we need is a close study of this epic to compare it with present circumstances,” says Girija Shankar Dubey, a scholar.

Scholars say that the evidences of Ramayana era are spread everywhere in this region. A senior photojournalist Vinay S Harma, who travelled extensively in many parts of Bastar says, “I was amazed when I reached Geedam in Dantewada district. I heard an amazing story about this area.”

Cultural hotspots

According to Sharma, local residents claim that Geedam’s old name was Giddham. “It is the place where the vulture named Jatayu had fought with Ravana and laid down his life to save Sita from the demon king.” Sharma adds that there is a place near Kanker where one can find barren land in this densely covered forest. People believe that this place turned barren because of the heat generated from the ‘Pushpak Viman’, or the flying object of Ravana. People claim that at this place Lord Rama had his hut and from here Sita was abducted.

In Dantewada district, two rivers flow from near the Danteshwari temple. Their names are Shankini and Dankini. Underlining the dominion of the rakshasas, the rivers were believed to be named after two demon women Shaakini and Daakini.

Eminent archaeologist Deepak Sharma, who is also an MBBS doctor, claims the existence of Pampa Sarovar of Ramayana era at the border of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh near river Godawari. “Though thousands of years have passed, this water tank is still known as Pampa Sarovar. I have seen that sarovar (reservoir/lake). The water is still very clean and potable.”

Sharma strongly feels that Ramayana is not an imagination of a poet but a reality. “The circumstances of Ramayana era match those of today. At least Ramayana has proved that Dandakaranya was always the breeding ground for insurgency.”

There is no Rama now to bail out Bastar or the erstwhile Dandakaranya from insurgency. But with the salwa judum campaign, there is hope among the tribals to produce a formidable defence against the Naxalites. The fate of this beautiful land now lies at the hands of its own people.

We need a compassionate as well as strong will leadership for this

[darshhan]

Naxals attack NMDC office in Chhattisgarh.

http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jul/ ... isgarh.htm

[darshhan]

Kiran Bedi's interview on tackling maoists.

http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/ ... contentTop

[ramana]

^ +1

A focused approach can eliminate Naxalism and Maoists in 5 years. Communist extremism as a political need in 10 years.

I tend to think again and again about what JEM-saar said once. All these things will start fading away as the majority-community getting wealthier and start asserting their political rights.

AP CM also agrees with this method...

NATION | Thursday, July 15, 2010 | Email | Print | | Back


AP wants focused development for border districts

Pioneer News service | New Delhi

Andhra Pradesh wants the inclusion of its border districts for focused development programme initiated by the Centre to deal with the Maoists problem.

"If Andhra Pradesh has to sustain the gains of controlling Left-wing extremism on a permanent basis, it is imperative to categorise all eight border districts as special focus districts for development by bringing about necessary change in the selection criteria for this purpose," Chief Minister K Rosaiah said at the meeting of Chief Ministers of the Naxal-affected States called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Wednesday.

Rosaiah called for amending the criteria for choosing districts affected by Naxal-menace for a focused development programme of the Home Ministry and said at least Visakhapatnam should be added in the scheme for special development on priority basis.

Rosaiah also said that Naxal problems in affected districts like Adilabad, Karim Nagar, Warangal, Khammam, East Godavari, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam have been contained to a "reasonable extent" over a period of several decades through sustained efforts, but since they share borders with Left wing extremism-affected districts of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, they continued to face the risk of relapse.

"It will be appropriate to consolidate the gains," Rosaiah said adding the State had sent necessary proposals worth Rs 1,607 crore to the Home Ministry, which was pending approval. The State had also requested for 16 more companies of CRPF to augment the existing 24 companies, he said.

It had also requested the Home Ministry to provide the troop-carrier helicopter to be stationed in Vishakhapatanam for anti-extremist operations.

[skaranam]

Gujarat police arrest Janashakti leader

A special team of Gujarat police on Monday picked up top CPI (ML) Janashakti naxalite group leader, Kura Amar, from Nacharam here in connection with a criminal conspiracy case registered in that State six months ago.

Cyberabad police confirmed the arrest stating they were informed that Amar was picked up following a court warrant. The case was registered by Khamraj police of Surat district in Gujarat.

“A Scorpio hit our two-wheeler. Amar sustained bruises and was picked up by some Hindi-speaking men wearing plainclothes,” he told media persons.

This happened on July 12th, 2010

[Anindya]

From http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/maois ... rces-37738

New Delhi: Senior Maoist leader Cherikuri Rajkumar alias Azad, killed on July 2, was in Delhi for four months, sources have told NDTV. Azad was reportedly in touch with academics in Delhi who were helping him with logistics. (Read: Andhra Pradesh: Two top Maoist leaders killed in encounter)

...
Sources have told NDTV that Maoists went to Yunan in China and possibly were trained there as well. However, there's no evidence to suggest the involvement of the Chinese establishment in this, it could have been the mafia.

Meanwhile, the Maoists have tied up with banned Manipuri terror outfit Revolutionary People's Front, which is helping Maoists with training and logistics.

[satyam]

UN urges inquiry into death of Indian journalist
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... /101652/on

[satyam]

Maoists impacting Jamshedpur operations: Tata Steel

http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... /101651/on

[Raghavendra]

UN urges inquiry into death of Indian journalist
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... /101652/on

Lies, Lies and More Lies from Communist Party of India(Maoist)

The Communist Party of India-Maoist on Saturday claimed that the man killed along with top Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad in an alleged gun battle with police in Andhra Pradesh was a freelance journalist but police said he was a Maoist.

According to the outlawed outfit, Hem Chandra Pandey, a native of Dewaltal village in Uttarakhand, was killed along with Azad.

Pandey, 32, was a freelance journalist based in Delhi and was working for Hindi dailies Naidunia and Rashtriya Sahara, they said.

However, the Naidunia denied that Pandey had ever contributed to or reported for the paper.

"...no such person ever contributed or reported for Naidunia in our any edition," a statement by the daily's chief editor Alok Mehta said.

The CPI-Maoist had initially suspected the man to be its cadre, Sahadev. However, Gudsa Usendi, spokesman of the Dandakaranya special zone committee of the CPI-Maoist, claimed that the other slain person was a journalist.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/791 ... claim.html

Hey maoists if you are dreaming to rule over us ATLEAST learn to lie properly, pathetic bunch of losers

[Raghavendra]

Naxals kill 3 Indians daily
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jul/ ... mbaram.htm

Suspected Maoists kill three in West Bengal
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indi ... 175458.cms



Two Maoists lynched in Jharkhand
http://www.zeenews.com/news641344.html
Ranchi: Two Maoists were lynched by angry villagers in Jharkhand's Latehar district, police said Friday.

According to the police, five Maoist rebels went to Jalim village of Latehar district late Thursday night and demanded money from the villagers.

The rebels also roughed up some people, which angered the villagers. The villagers started pelting stones and beating them with sticks and iron rods. {Revolution went very bad for these two}

Three of the five rebels managed to escape while the remaining two were lynched.

Police reached the village Friday morning and the bodies have been sent for postmortem examination.

[chaanakya]

Two Maoists lynched in Jharkhand
http://www.zeenews.com/news641344.html
Ranchi: Two Maoists were lynched by angry villagers in Jharkhand's Latehar district, police said Friday.

According to the police, five Maoist rebels went to Jalim village of Latehar district late Thursday night and demanded money from the villagers.

The rebels also roughed up some people, which angered the villagers. The villagers started pelting stones and beating them with sticks and iron rods. {Revolution went very bad for these two}

Three of the five rebels managed to escape while the remaining two were lynched.

Well villagers can not be faulted for taking courageous stand when state machinery failed them so miserably. Public opinion would turn against maoists slowly by surely and then they would find it going tough.

[anchal]

UN urges inquiry into death of Indian journalist
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... /101652/on

When will India have the courage to show middle finger to these losers! However, that this naxalite's death is reaching to that level indicated Maoists large clout in international circles - their strategic value and second Maoist spread is NOT a poverty phenomena.

[Raghavendra]

UN urges inquiry into death of Indian journalist
http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... /101652/on

When will India have the courage to show middle finger to these losers! However, that this naxalite's death is reaching to that level indicated Maoists large clout in international circles - their strategic value and second Maoist spread is NOT a poverty phenomena.

Truth is a better weapon to use in this case. Show UN the dead person maoists claim to be a journalist is not one. Then maowadis will forever get tagged as liars and nobody will believe them.

[Samay]

The moaist agenda is to make the administrative authorities (even army) incapable of hitting them ,either by hiding in jungles or using the jholawalas to spread confusion and chaos in the minds of intellectuals .

[ajit_tr]

So Home-ministry making up its mind to deploy army in red corridor

Be prepared for anti-Naxal fight, Army chief tells officers

[Pranav]

Union Minister's kin supplied arms to Naxals

New Delhi/Kolkata: Startling allegations have been made about the Trinamool Congress by a Maoist leader who was recently arrested in West Bengal.

Madhushudan Mondal, a CPI-Maoist leader, revealed during interrogation that TMC MP Subhendu Adhikari had supplied arms and ammunition to the Maoists, especially during the Nandigram agitation in 2007.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/union-minist ... ml?from=tn