COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) DANDAKARANYA SPECIAL ZONAL COMMITTEE-part 1

From Maoist Road;

May 26, 2013

Elimination of fascist Salwa Judum leader Mahendra Karma: Legitimate
response to the inhuman atrocities, brutal murders and endless terror
perpetrated on the Adivasis of Bastar!
Attack on top Congress leaders: Inevitable reprisal to the fascist Operation
Green Hunt being carried on by the UPA government hand in glove with various
state governments!
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On May 25, 2013, a detachment of the People's Liberation Guerilla Army
conducted a massive attack on the 20 plus vehicles convoy of Congress party
which resulted in wiping out of at least 27 Congress leaders, activists and
policemen including Mahendra Karma, the bitter enemy of the oppressed people
of Bastar and Nand Kumar Patel, president of the Congress' state unit. It
took place when the Congress party leaders were touring in Bastar region as
part of their 'Parivartan Yatra' program (i.e. March of Change) keeping
their eye on forthcoming assembly elections. At least 30 others also were
injured in this attack including ex-central minister and veteran Congress
leader Vidya Charan Shukla. The dog's death of Mahendra Karma, notorious
tyrant, murderer, rapist, robber and maligned as corrupt, in this historic
attack has created a festive atmosphere in entire Bastar region. Former
state home minister Nand Kumar Patel was also had the history of suppressing
the people. It was in his tenure, paramilitary force (CRPF) was deployed in
Bastar region for the first time. It was also not hidden from anyone that
the former central minister VC Shukla who had been in various portfolios
including Home ministry, was also a people's enemy who had acted as a loyal
servant of imperialists, comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie and landlords
and had played a key role in formulating and implementing exploitative
government policies. The goal of this attack was mainly to eliminate
Mahendra Karma and some other reactionary Congress top leaders as well.
However, during this massive attack some innocent people and some lower
level Congress party activists who were in fact not our enemies, were also
killed and injured caught in the two-hour long gun battle that ensued
between our guerrilla forces and the armed police forces. Dandakaranya
Special Zonal Committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist) regrets for
this and expresses condolence and sympathy to the families of the bereaved.
Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist)
takes absolute responsibility for this attack. We send our revolutionary
greetings to the PLGA commanders who led this daring ambush, to the red
fighters who contributed in this success, to the people who took part in it
by lending active support and to the entire revolutionary masses of Bastar
region. This attack has once again proved the historic fact that those
fascists who perpetrate violence, atrocities and massacres on the people,
will never be forgiven and they would inevitably be punished by the people.
The so-called tribal leader Mahendra Karma was born into a feudal manjhi
family. Both his grandfather Masa Karma and father Bodda Manjhi were
notorious harassers of the people in their times and were acted as trusted
agents of colonial rulers. His family's entire history is known of inhuman
exploitation and oppression of Adivasis. Mahendra Karma's political life was
started in 1975 as a member of AISF while he was studying the law. He was
elected as MLA from CPI first in 1978. Later in 1981, when he was denied
ticket by CPI, he joined Congress. In 1996, he had gone with a breakaway
faction of Madhavrao Scindhia and became member of Indian Parliament as an
independent candidate. Later he rejoined the Congress party.
In 1996, a massive movement took place in Bastar demanding the
implementation of Sixth Schedule. Though mainly CPI had led that movement,
our party - it was CPI (ML) [People's War] then - also took active part in
that movement mobilizing the masses on a large scale. But Mahendra Karma
took bitter stand against that movement proving himself as representative of
the selfish urban business people, who had come to Bastar as settlers and
had accumulated massive wealth. Then only his anti-adivasi and pro-comprador
nature was clearly exposed before the people. Since the 1980s, he had
strengthened the bonds with big business and capitalist classes in Bastar.
Then in 1999, Karma's name was exposed in a big scam called 'Malik Makbuja'.
A Lokayukta report revealed that in the period of 1992-96, Mahendra Karma
hand in glove with timber black-marketers had made millions of rupees by
cheating adivasi people and colluding with revenue and forest officials and
the district collector. Though a CBI probe was ordered into this scam,
nothing harm was done to the culprits as always happen.
Mahendra Karma was minister of jails in undivided Madhya Pradesh. Later
became industries and commerce minister in Ajit Jogi's government when
Chhattisgarh state was carved out of it.  At that time a forceful land
acquisition took place in Nagarnar for the proposed steel plant by
Romelt/NMDC. While the local people refused to give up their lands, Mahendra
Karma took stand against the people and in favor of the capitalists. He
played a key role in forcibly taking away the lands by suppressing the
people with support of brutal police force. The people who lost their lands
in Nagarnar received neither compensation nor the employment as government
had promised till now. They were forced to disperse.
From the very beginning, Mahendra Karma stood as an arch enemy of the
revolutionary movement. The reason is clear - hailed from a typical feudal
family and 'grown up' as an agent of big business and bourgeois classes. The
first Jan Jagaran ('awareness') campaign was launched in 1990-91 against the
revolutionary movement. The revisionist CPI had participated in that
counter-revolutionary campaign. Karma and many of his relatives belonged to
the landlord classes had actively participated in it. The second Jan Jagaran
campaign was launched in 1997-98 led by Mahendra Karma himself. This was
started in Mahendra Karma's own village Faraspal and its surrounding
villages and spread up to Bhairamgarh and Kutru areas. Hundreds of people
were tortured and arrested and sent to jails. Many an incidents of looting
and setting fire to houses took place. Womenfolk were raped. However, under
the leadership of our party and mass organizations people came together and
strongly countered this counter-revolutionary onslaught. Within a short
time, this campaign was defeated.
Later the revolutionary movement became more consolidated. Anti-feudal
struggles were intensified in many areas. Landlords like Podia Patel, the
brother of Mahendra Karma, and some close relatives of him were killed as
part of mass resistance actions. In many villages the power of feudal forces
and bad gentry was thrown out and the process of establishment of People's
Revolutionary Power organs began. The feudal forces including Mahendra Karma
were very furious as their lands were redistributed among the poor and
landless peasants and the customs like unjustly forcing the people to pay
penalties to the landlords were stopped. They opposed the progressive
changes like stopping of forced marriages of women, discouraging polygamy
etc. also. And at the same time, the revolutionary movement was seemed as a
hurdle by the corporate houses like Tatas and Essars who started their
attempts to plunder away the natural resources of Bastar region. So, they
naturally colluded with the counter-revolutionary elements like Mahendra
Karma. They fed him with millions of coffers in order to create conducive
atmosphere for their arbitrary depredations. On the other hand, after the
emergence of CPI (Maoist) as a country-wide consolidated party as an outcome
of the merger between the genuine revolutionary organizations, exploitative
ruling classes intensified their counter-revolutionary onslaught in the
guidance of the imperialists so as to crush the revolutionary movement.
Thus, a brutal attack in connivance with the Congress and the BJP has
started in Bastar region namely 'Salwa Judum'. So many followers and
relatives of Mahendra Karma like Soyam Muka, Rambhuvan Kushwaha, Ajay Singh,
Vikram Mandavi, Gannu Patel, Madhukarrao, and Gota Chinna etc. emerged as
key leaders of Salwa Judum.
One can hardly find any examples in the history to compare the severity of
the devastation and barbarity caused by Salwa Judum to the lives of the
Bastar people. It killed more than one thousand people in cold blood;
torched 640 villages into ashes, robbed thousands of houses; ate or took
away chickens, goats, pigs, etc.; forced more than two million people to be
displaced; dragged more than 50 thousand people into state-run 'relief'
camps. Thus the Salwa Judum became anathema to the people. Hundreds of women
were gang raped. Many women were murdered after rape. Massacres took place
in many places. The atrocities perpetrated on the people and havoc created
by the hooligans of Salwa Judum, the police and paramilitary forces,
especially the Naga and Mizo battalions crossed all limits. There were
several incidents in which people were brutally cut into pieces before being
dumped in rivers. Cherli, Kotrapal, Mankeli, Karremarka, Mosla, Munder,
Padeda, Paralnar, Pumbad, Gaganpalli. in many villages people were killed en
masse. Hundreds of tribal youth were recruited as SPOs and were turned into
hardened criminals. Mahendra Karma himself led the attacks on several
villages in the name of conducting meetings and marches. Many women were
raped by the goons with the direct instigation of Mahendra Karma. He was
directly involved in many incidents of burning the villages, torturing and
murdering the people. Thus, in the minds of the people of Bastar, Mahendra
Karma remained as an inhuman killer, rapist, dacoit and a loyal broker of
the big capitalists. In entire Bastar people have been demanding our party
and the PLGA for many years that he must be punished. Many of them came
forward voluntarily to give active support in this task. There were also a
few attempts, but due to petty mistakes and other reasons he was able to
escape.

(Gudsa Usendi)
Spokesperson
Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee
CPI (Maoist)

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) DANDAKARANYA SPECIAL ZONAL COMMITTEE -May
26, 2013