Bharat Rakshak

Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said Naxalism is strong only in those states where Congress is not in power. "Naxalism is strong only in those states where Congress is not in power like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha among others," the Union Minister said, addressing a 'Parivartan Rally' in Bordha village of the district.

Ramesh said that whenever Congress is weakened in these states, Naxalism has grown stronger. However, he said that in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh Naxalism was not becoming strong as Congress and its organisation is stronger in the state.

nawabs wrote:Naxals strong in non-Congress ruled states, says Jairam Ramesh

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/naxals-stron ... 37-64.html

Hari Seldon wrote:

nawabs wrote:Naxals strong in non-Congress ruled states, says Jairam Ramesh

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/naxals-stron ... 37-64.html

Is he alluding to the existence of a 'tap' that can turn on/off the maoist menace? And by letting loose maoist killers in non-cong states, who gains? I recall Musharraf's 'jihadi taps' and how the snake got too big for its fauji charmers.

An analysis of recent events related to Maoist terrorism shows that the four-decades-old phenomenon has entered its most dangerous phase. The abduction of two Italian nationals, Paolo Bosusco and Claudio Colangelo, on 18 March, the deportation of 10 French tourists from Bihar in the last week of April, the abduction of the Odisha MLA Jhina Hikaka on 24 March, and the abduction of Alex Menon, the Sukma Collector in Chhattisgarh and the killing of his two bodyguards on 21 April — may appear ostensibly disparate occurrences, but are linked.

When pieced together, they suggest that Maoist terrorism has entered a critical phase wherein a final assault is being made on the political fabric – Indian democracy. Crucial to this assault are the international benefactors of the Maoists and their over-ground elements in the cloak of intellectuals and social-activists.

In fact, this assault was discernible some years ago and the foreign-hand was quite evident when members of the European Commission descended on Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, to witness the trial of Binayak Sen in the high court. The internal hand was also quite evident when subsequently an outrageous step was taken to appoint Binayak Sen as a member of a health committee of the Planning Commission. The idea was to ‘cock a snook’ at one segment of the Indian establishment even while another segment was hopelessly engaged in restraining the Maoists.

It was rather very intrepid of a Union minister to visit the worst Maoist-affected areas in Jharkhand (Latehar District) on a motorcycle during this period of heightened threat. Two months ago, the minister had visited Gadchiroli, a Maoist stronghold in Maharastra. His visit was answered by the Maoists three days later by way of a mineblast in which 12 CRPF personnel were killed

And so did Vinil Krishna, the collector of Malkangiri, who was abducted by the Maoists in February 2011. It is another matter that consequent to his release he had no qualms in allowing himself to be garlanded like a war hero. He now serves as the private secretary to the Union minister. His appointment, if some press reports are to be believed, was recommended by “professional interlocutors”, who offer their services whenever there is a hostage crisis involving the Maoists.

It is intriguing, rather revealing, that the two Italians chose to travel to Kandhamal area ignoring the travel advisory of the Italian government and warnings by the Indian government.

One of the Italians, Paolo Bosusco, had visited the area several times before and enjoyed the hospitality of the Maoists. His being taken hostage was a staged drama to humble the Indian state. Paolo is a member of an Italy based Ultra-Leftist organisation, Party of Committees to Support Resistance for Communism (CARC). In December 2011, the Maoist Communist Party of Manipur in a press release had acknowledged its association and support of some foreign based ultra-leftist outfits. They are: Communist Party of Philippines, Association for Proletarian Solidarity, Italy (ASP), Maoist Communist Party of France, Revolutionary Communist Party Canada (PCR – RCP), and Party of the Committees to Support Resistance for Communism (CARC), Italy. Some of the western countries had played a very dubious role in fanning Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in Nepal to facilitate religious conversion. Kandhamal district of Odisha suffers from the same paradigm. Nepal’s example should not be lost out on India.

As far as military prowess of the Maoists goes, there is evidence of AK-47s being supplied by the United Wa Army in Myanmar. The AK-47 manufacturing facility has been provided by China to the said insurgent outfit. The Maoist-ISI-LeT-militant groups nexus in Kashmir and the North-East is fairly well established. The Chinese, according to a national television channel, have also begun to supply sophisticated signal equipment with encryption capabilities to the Maoists.

The war is on. In this war the adversary has a deadly cocktail of ideology, foreign support, religious agenda, armed cadres, criminal financing and terror.

Some of the western countries had played a very dubious role in fanning Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in Nepal to facilitate religious conversion.

pushkar.bhat wrote:Holy cow.. The Maoist attacked the family loyalist in Chhattisgarh.. What defence will some of the NAC members have for this attack? And will the family now go all out to eliminate them the way they got rid of LTTE? Onleee time will tell..

Pranav wrote:

pushkar.bhat wrote:Holy cow.. The Maoist attacked the family loyalist in Chhattisgarh.. What defence will some of the NAC members have for this attack? And will the family now go all out to eliminate them the way they got rid of LTTE? Onleee time will tell..

Family loyalist is Jogi, who escaped unscathed. His rivals did get killed, however.

pushkar.bhat wrote:Holy cow.. The Maoist attacked the family loyalist in Chhattisgarh.. What defence will some of the NAC members have for this attack? And will the family now go all out to eliminate them the way they got rid of LTTE? Onleee time will tell..

The massive attack on Congress leaders that has also resulted in the death of Mahendra Karma and abduction of Nand Kumar Patel could influence the outcome of assembly elections due at the end of the year. But one thing is sure: Shukla would not be at the helm of affairs even if this attack elicits some sympathy for the Congress that so far looked all set to sit in the opposition again. It seems the Congress's mantle in Chhattisgarh would fall into the hands of Shukla's bete noire Ajit Jogi — someone he has been at loggerheads for long.

Mahendra Karma, the Congress leader who was the brain behind Salwa Judum – an anti-naxal movement by vigilante militia that started in 2006 – was the prime target. The Salwa Judum had managed to push back the naxals in many areas and police officers reckon that if the Supreme court had not stopped it in 2011, it could have cleaned up Bijapur and Dantewada of Maoist presence. It was in this patch that Maoists even had the audacity to collect toll tax, with `Chhattisgarh Sarkar‘ not worth the paper it was printed on.

RamaY wrote:

vasu raya wrote:Think they were Nishant's, more of the same were ordered says a news report

in-a-first-uav-used-to-record-gunfight-with-naxals-in-cgarh

Hopefully this puts rest to fake-encounter claims.

Amid the bloodbath that killed two top Congress leaders in Bastar Saturday, besides injuring several others, at least one person died by his own hands. According to eyewitnesses, former Union minister V C Shukla's PSO Prafulla Shukla shot himself with the last bullet he was left with after the shootout. "Sorry sahab, I could not protect you," he told the bleeding Shukla.

In fact, evidence indicates that rather than an attack to eliminate top Congress leaders, the Maoists' target was only two — PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel and Salwa Judum architect Mahendra Karma. All the others probably died in the crossfire, as Maoists later let the survivors go. They even gave water to some, including Konta MLA Kawasi Lakhma, and administered a painkiller injection to Congress leader Dr Shivnarain Dwivedi.

The other target, Mahendra Karma, surrendered soon after his securitymen ran out of bullets. Eyewitnesses say he told the Maoists to let the others go as he was their only enemy. The rebels then took him away and beat him before killing him. "We heard slogans, 'Mahendra Karma Murdabad',"Lakhma said.

Earlier they had planned to go to from Sukma to Dantewada via Gadiras. But the route was changed on the advice of a local leader of Dantewada, police sources said.

Police officials are trying to find put why the route was changed and the convoy went to Darba Ghati which is known to a Naxal stronghold. The convoy finally decided to not go through Gadiras but instead opted to take the Tongpal, Darba Ghati route after leaving Sukma.

What the NIA now needs to probe now is why the Congress' rally route was changed at the last minute, who took that decision and why. Earlier the rally had planned to go to from Sukma to Dantewada via Gadiras. But the route was changed on the advice of a local leader of Dantewada, police sources said. The convoy finally decided to not go through Gadiras but instead opted to take the Tongpal, Darba Ghati route after leaving Sukma.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/naxal-leader ... 3-235.html

Pranav wrote:Don't expect the NIA to get to the bottom of this ...

Even as the Chattisgarh police try to make sense out of the deadly naxal attack yesterday more glaring loop holes are coming out in the manner the situation was handled. The CrPF which has exclusive charge over the naxal menace had sanitised the area three hours prior to the attack, but were not around the area at the time of the attack.
There was ample intelligence to suggest that there would be a build up of naxalites in the area. The investigation suggests that there were more than 200 naxalites who had positioned themselves on a hillock.

The issue however is that the area was sanitised three hours prior to the attack, but none found traces of a deadly landmine that was planted. Police officials believe that the land mine made up of heavy Improvised Explosive Devices was placed about half an hour before the attack. This is why during the sanitisation process nothing was found, police sources informed.
For an atack of such a magnitude the CRPF was clearly missing. There were over 200 naxals who opened fire. There was retaliatory fire by the security part of the Congress convoy, but they ran out of ammunition. Even when the naxals approached the convoy they looked only for important leaders and a later on the spot inspection by the police found that the naxals had taken away all the mobiles during the attack thus virtually cutting off all means of communication. This helped them a great deal in prolonging the attack. No one was able to contact the state administration which could have pressed the CRPF into action as a result of this action.

Supratik wrote:X-post

Karma was a key anti-Naxal organizer. This is a big hit. I fail to understand why there can't be a proper CI operation against Naxals when there can be against separatists in J&K, Pj and NE. I think we have not grown out of our socialist mindset of glorifying Naxalites as some type of romantic renegades looking for justice. They are plain criminals and deserve to be liquidated.

Sachin wrote:

Pranav wrote:Don't expect the NIA to get to the bottom of this ...

+1. NIA is like a safe vault. Any case which goes there stays there for ever.

In the faction-riven Chhattisgarh Congress, Jogi is considered a controversial figure. A number of powerful leaders, including Shukla, Mahant, AICC treasurer Motilal Vora, and the now slain Karma and Patel, were seen as hostile to him.
Both Shukla and Vora, old warhorses, constantly campaigned at the Congress’s Delhi durbar to keep Jogi out. But the attack has changed the power equations drastically.

Bhavani Ramchandran ‏@rbhavani 4h
@Sootradhar @Marut_ at last moment a local Congress leader suggested that they change their route & go thru vulnerable Darbha Ghati 36/n

Bhavani Ramchandran ‏@rbhavani 4h
@Sootradhar @Marut_ Having learnt her lesson after YSR this time Nehru-Maino dynasty decided to bump off d sons along wit their dads 34/n

According to intelligence sources, since every drone takes off from Hyderabad, they can't spend sufficient number of hours hovering over the Naxal-affected regions in Chhattisgarh to gather intelligence. The Indian Air Force (IAF) never agreed to operate these UAVs from Jagdalpur, considering the region unfit for the stay its officials, the sources said.
The 12 Heron drones, bought from Israel in 2009, have failed to scan the Darbha forests or Sukma region as they never fly over these interior regions, the intelligence sources said.

C’garh encounter genocide: Ajit Jogi
May 24, 2013 - Rabindra Nath Choudhury

Last week’s encounter at Edesmeta in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, in which eight “innocent” tribals, including three children, were gunned down by security forces, seems to have provided fodder to the Opposition Congress in the poll-bound state to attack the Raman Singh government.

“It is not a fake encounter but genocide. The incident has clearly demonstrated the state BJP government’s insensitivity towards the helpless tribals of Bastar who are sandwiched between forces and Naxals,” former chief minister and senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi told reporters here on Thursday.

Calling for an immediate halt to killing of innocent tribals in Bastar in the name of anti-Maoist operation, Mr Jogi also demanded the security personnel involved in the Edesmeta massacre be booked under murder charges.

“The ministry of home affairs (MHA) should take urgent steps to prevent recurrence of such a terrible incident,” he added.
Describing May 18 Edesmeta killings as a replay of last year’s Sarkeguda encounter, in which 17 alleged innocent tribals were killed by forces in the same district, he remarked, “It appears the security establishment has learnt no lesson from the Sarkeguda incident, leading to occurrence of Edesmeta tragedy.”

Chhattisgarh home minister Nankiram Kanwar, however, flayed the Congress for blaming security forces for the Edesmeta incident.
“The forces had merely fired in self defence when the Naxals opened fire on them. One CRPF jawan was killed when he was hit by a bullet on his forehead, fired by Naxals,” he added.

In 2011, the Supreme Court struck down the Salwa Judum based on a writ petition filed by social anthropologist Professor Nandini Sundar and some others.

Nandini Sundar
Professor , Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
The Infosys Prize 2010 for Social Sciences - Social Anthropology is awarded to Nandini Sundar in recognition of her contributions as an outstanding analyst of social identities, including tribe and caste, and the politics of knowledge in modern India.

Professor Nandini Sundar obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University in 1989 and Master of Arts, Master of Philosophy and Ph.D. degrees in Anthropology from Columbia University in 1989, 1991 and 1995 respectively.
Professor Sundar is the co-editor of India's flagship sociology journal 'Contributions to Indian Sociology' along with Professor Amita Baviskar. She is associated with several governing boards of academic journals, government committees and non-governmental organizations in various capacities and working on issues related to the environment, tribal rights and discrimination/exclusion.
She is currently a Professor in and the Chairperson of the Department of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics. She has held visiting positions at Punjab, Yale, Michigan, Cambridge and Chandigarh universities. She was awarded the M. N. Srinivas Memorial Prize of the Indian Sociological Society in 2002-03, the L. M. Singhvi Visiting Fellowship at Cambridge in 2003 and the Hughes Visiting Fellowship at Michigan in 2005.
Her publications include Subalterns and Sovereigns: An Anthropological History of Bastar and Branching Out: Joint Forest Management in India. Her research interests are wide and include citizenship, war and counterinsurgency in South Asia, indigenous identity and politics in South Asia, the sociology of law and inequality.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

No room for ‘others’

http://www.hindustantimes.com/ViewsSect ... qus_thread
When Kashmiris say they don’t feel part of India, they are only reiterating a truth that Indian politicians and governments voice all the time. What else does it mean when politicians and large sections of the media talk of how happy ‘Indians’ are at the hanging of Afzal Guru, when his execution is touted as a cathartic closure for ‘India’.

“Teaching to hate: The RSS’s Pedagogical Program.” In Economic and Political Weekly 39 (16), 2004, 1605-1612 (Also in Tom Ewing ed. Revolution and Pedagogy, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2005, 195-218).

If schools are the one of the modes by which nations imagine and reproduce themselves, debates over schooling systems – availability, cost, curriculum, language, pedagogical techniques - are, at heart, debates over the style and content of this imagining. Increasingly in India, RSS notions of citizenship, nationhood and patriotism have come to be critical to this debate. This article is an attempt to explore some of the RSS/BJP’s educational interventions and their implications for the future production of ‘citizens’, first, at the national level through the textbook debate and then, through ethnographic fieldwork in RSS schools in Chhattisgarh.

“Indigenise, Nationalise and Spiritualise: An Agenda for Education?” In International Social Science Journal, 173, September 2002, 373-383.

This paper explores the relation between ‘indigenous knowledge’ and ‘formal education’ through the juxtaposition of two different but closely related examples from India – the inclusion of astrology as 'indigenous knowledge' in the university curriculum, and schooling among 'indigenous peoples'. In both cases, the valorization of a certain body of knowledge as indigenous and its incorporation into a formal system (which then certifies it as legitimate ‘knowledge’) depends on the status and power of the social group claiming indigenous status, rather than the substantive content of the knowledge. Vedic astrology finds a place in the Indian university curriculum because the group backing it, the Hindu right, has been successful in claiming indigeneity, and they have the political power to transmute their beliefs into certified ‘knowledge’. On the other hand, indigenous peoples have not been able to assert themselves politically, and therefore their languages and systems of knowledge remain marginal. Ultimately then, ‘indigenous knowledge’ is a political and contextual category rather than one with substantive content.

Govt says 'intrigued' by Chhattisgarh attack

In a curious related development, two days after Maoists struck in a big way in Chhattisgarh, the government today said it is "intrigued" by the attack in which almost the entire Congress leadership was wiped out.

"We are intrigued by the attack which has virtually taken the entire leadership of Congress in Chhattisgarh," an official source said about the strike in which state party chief along with another leader were killed and another leader V C Shukla badly injured.

Nandini Sundar
Professor , Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
The Infosys Prize 2010 for Social Sciences - Social Anthropology is awarded to Nandini Sundar in recognition of her contributions as an outstanding analyst of social identities, including tribe and caste, and the politics of knowledge in modern India.

chaanakya wrote:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/basta ... s/1121296/

Govt says 'intrigued' by Chhattisgarh attack

In a curious related development, two days after Maoists struck in a big way in Chhattisgarh, the government today said it is "intrigued" by the attack in which almost the entire Congress leadership was wiped out.

"We are intrigued by the attack which has virtually taken the entire leadership of Congress in Chhattisgarh," an official source said about the strike in which state party chief along with another leader were killed and another leader V C Shukla badly injured.