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Wednesday, December 02, 2020

20TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDIAN PLGA AND 40 YEARS OF DANDAKARANYA

By Harsh Thakor

SALUTE THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF FORMATION OF PEOPLES GUERRILLA LIBERATION ARMY IN INDIA ON DECEMBER 2ND WHICH WROTE A NEW CHAPTER IN THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT. ALSO COMMEMORATE 40 YEARS SINCE DANDAKARNAYA ARMED STRUGGLE LED NOW BY C.P.I.(MAOIST)WHICH IN THE DEEPEST DEPTHS OF DESPAIR IS STILL BLAZING ITS SPARK TO CONFRONT BEO-FASCISM.DEBATABLE WHETHER MASS LINE IS PRACTICED OR SUBJECTIVE CONDITIONS EXIST TO ENACT PEOPLES WAR STILL  WHAT IS UNQUESTIONABLE INSPITE OF MAJOR ERRORS IS THAT IT HAS UNDERTAKEN ARMED RESISTANCE AT ITS STRONGEST POINT AGAINST THE ENEMY.

 

On December 2nd we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the formation of the 1st Peoples Liberation army in India. Led by the Communist Party India(Maoist)Without doubt it was an event of historical importance defining a new chapter or epoch in the Indian Maoist movement. It delivered a striking blow in enabling the C.P.I.(Maoist) to emulate  the history of Chinese Communist Party led by Chairman Mao and later the Communist parties of Philippines and Peru. It deserves congratulation for being the strongest red army in the world today and possibly even in the history of the world. It is the 25th anniversary of the culmination of the formation of the Gram Rajya Commitees in 1995 or People’s Court, instrumental in shaping the course of the upheaval.

  

APPRAISAL OF PLA AND DANDAKARNYA MOVEMENT

 

We have to strike the balance by not glorifying the PLGA or reducing it a set of roving bands. Amongst Indian intellectuals this trend is predominant like Sumanta Banerjee, Rahul Foundation(C.L.I.) or Communist Party India (Marxist Leninist) Red Star which dubbed the Maoists as anarchists. Such people or forces fail to give respect to the complexities of India and the deep intensification of power to Neo-fascist or anti-Communist forces worldwide.

 

No country in the world faces the diversity of India with its numerous nationalities, religions and above al the Caste System. The enemy is stronger today in India than it was in per-revolutionary China with much more sustained firepower and infrastructure. India also possesses a much more firmly entrenched bourgeois democratic structure and can thus disguise its neo-fascist nature with far more subtlety.

 

 

For any genuine revolutionary democratic resistance given to counter oppression and entail democratic development credit should be given to the PLA who have dug to the deepest depth. Other democratic forces have also rallied around them. It is notable that they are unleashing their striking power to confront or check the penetration of corporate industries or mines. Great innovation or creativity has been revealed in organizing self defense or attempting encirclement to ambush enemy forces. In junctures mass organizations mobilized staggering numbers of 50000 to lakh To have withstood such a powerful enemy in one with such consistency for a considerable tenure ranks without doubt amongst the greatest achievements in Maoist armed struggles.

 

I have the utmost praise of the spirit they display even when down in the barrel with all pages of Maoist online organ ‘Peoples March’ blazing the torch of the Red Flag and tooth and nail defending the fact that that they are still in contention for creating liberated zones and confronting neo-fascism at the very core. In an interview in the Wire in 2016 after facing a debacle of a state attack the Maoist leader showed great humility that accordingly the armed struggle would have to turn towards a defensive tone, with self –defense given priority.

 

What has to be admired that the formation of the Indian Peoples Guerrilla it was not just a haphazard event of freak nature or a hasty formation but precede with intense armed resistance by armed squads led by the C.P.I. (M.L.) Peoples War Group. Of Central importance was its integrating itself with the landless, poor and middle peasantry and the Adivasis or Girijans in forests. This co-relationship with mass resistance and integrating armed actions accordingly led to its establishment. It gave vivid memories of how the Chinese Communist party in 1930's established the red army after facing a severe battering from the Kuomintang army in 1928. Similarly the Indian People's Liberation army was formed to shimmer the torch of vengeance to avenge the cold blooded killings of Comrades Murali, Shyam and Naresh. Those staged assassinations broke the backbone of the revolutionary movement in North Telengana and the formation of such an army to save the movement in Dandakaranya and divert forces there was a necessary perquisite. A series of striking armed actions to avenge the killings of the 3 comrades also inspired formation of the PLA.

 

Since 2000 a historical event took place with a merger of the People's Guerilla army formed by the erstwhile Maoist Communist Centre in 2004.The emergence of the People's Guerilla army marked a turning point in giving the armed resistance movement in Dandakaranya a cutting edge like a sword sharpened to its zenith or a pot of water simmering at it's boiling point. It consolidated the revolutionary democratic forms of power into Janatana Sarakars in 2006. Courage and sacrifice was displayed at a crescendo comparable to the Chinese people’s Liberation army confronting their enemies before the revolution. Hardly an adjective can do justice to their phenomenal intensity or determination. Immaculate skill was displayed in blending consolidation of area with dispersing forces and defense with attack. Even if numerically overpowered it undertook some of the most daunting retaliatory actions to send shivers down the spine of the ruling classes. It was unbelievable how at times they could shatter the morale of the enemy with their relentless spirit...The PLA literally travelled like a fish in water symbolizing the aspirations of the Adivasis. In Sukma in 2013 to avenge killings of it’s cadre in fascist attacks by army in Salwa Judum in a  daring operation it executed  Congress minister Nand Kumar Patel, former state minster Narendra Sharma and Vidya Charan Shukla.

  

I deeply complement the work or writings of Jan Myrdal, Gautam Navlakha, Amit Bhattacharya, and Pani Pinaaka. With most insightful and meticulous research they have elaborated how the Maoist Peoples Guerrilla Liberation army is based in the very heart of the masses, like a heart pumping blood in a body. Navlakha summed up that it was only as a result of the Maoist army that self-confidence was instilled in the Adivasis in Chattisgarh or any adrelanin pumped in their hearts to give a striking blow to the oppressor classes. He also did justice to how some genuine democratic powers were installed which were non -existent before. Bhattacharya in great detail summed up how in every facet of life the Maoists infiltrated to incorporate genuine democracy. Comrade Pani Pinaaka went to the very heart of Chattisgarh to get first hand information and concluded that a new life had literally been created trough the Janathana Sarkars. Myrdal compared the Indian forces with those under Chairman Mao in pre-revolutionary China.

 

In peak periods the PLGA had a membership of around 15000 persons and may have mobilized up to 5000- strong militia fighters. Quoting an interview in October 2020 issue of Peoples March of PLGA members:

 

‘I learned to read and write;’ ‘I started to know the world;’ ‘I knew how to fight with the enemy;’ ‘I knew how to serve the people;’ ‘I learnt discipline;’ ‘PLGA is working for the liberation of the oppressed, so I shall also work to serve the people;’ ‘the PLGA molded me into a Professional Revolutionary.’

 

‘I could overcome patriarchy in my ideas that the society imposed, I can now move around freely without inhibitions among men.’ The daughters and sons of the soil thus sprouted in the People’s Army. Then they started to understand the politics of it. They said – ‘PLGA is working in the guidance of the CPI (Maoist);’ ‘it brings down the power of the village gentry;’ ‘It establishes people’s power;’ ‘It protects jal-jungle-zameen, the mineral wealth and the natural resources;’ ‘PLGA drove out the forest looters and established the right of the people to forest;’ ‘it shall change the lives of the people.’ In the PLGA they saw a totally different social milieu. It is anti-feudal and is egalitarian in more than one aspect.

 

This is how the comrades described the work style of PLGA – ‘There is equality among men and women. There is no discrimination such as race and caste;’ ‘PLGA is training the people to fight against the exploiters;’ ‘The poor people are empowered with PLGA;’ ‘it helps the people in their agricultural work;’ ‘it stands steadfast amidst severe enemy offensive;’ ‘it shakes the enemy and contains them from attacking the people.’

 

The comrades are now very clear about the benefits out of the People’s Army. They are confident that PLGA defends and protects and also betters the people’s lives. They affirmed – PLGA defeated Salwa Judum. It gave a stiff resistance to Operation Green Hunt and is now giving ‘samadhan’ (answer) to the strategic offensive SAMADHAN.

 

‘Without this resistance the people cannot continue their agricultural activities;’ ‘the people give life to PLGA and the PLGA gives life to the people;’ ‘the people can have no life, no land and no change without PLGA;’ ‘PLGA works under the Party that is our mother.’

 

‘PLGA is not distant from the people. It is born, grows, protects and is protected by the people;’ ‘the people are enthused with the achievements of PLGA and are increasingly recruiting their children into the Army.’

 

‘We can understand how the PLGA members prepared for the sacrifice,’ they explained – ‘I know that we cannot live without the Party and PLGA. So I am prepared to die for the people as a member of PLGA;’ ‘my parents know that without the Party and PLGA the people cannot have a better

living and so they sent me into the people’s army.’

 

Why do Maoists kill the police who also come from poor classes is a normally posed question by urban dwellers? This is what the PLGA members have to say about it – ‘The police protect the exploiters that are the enemies of the people. We do not wish to kill them. But when they come to attack us on behalf of the exploiting classes we are forced to attack them;’ ‘this is class struggle and those who come in the way must be wiped out;’ ‘we do not make violence, but the question is if we want power, we will have to apply force.’

 

DANDAKARANYA MOVEMENT

  

A. INTRODUCTION

 

Dandakaranya is a vast region located in Central Indi a with cutting regions of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, The revolutionary movement encompasses an area of 60000 square kilometres. With a population of almost 6 million.Gonda Adivasis inhabit 42 districts of the region. The Gonds were deliberately divided by the ruling classes into several administrative territories. The Gonds lost their traditional lands to the non-adivasis who came from outer regions to grab their land. With the construction of roads, railways and bridges, civilians from neighbouring regions swamped in to uproot the Adivasis from their lands. Thus the local Adivasis were rendered landless and reduced to destitution.

  

The British colonialists mercilessly demolished the economy, society, and culture of the Adivasi Communities. They undertook mining exploration, set up plantations  and constructed railways to pave the way to unscrupulously plunder the natural wealth Mines were dug to extract iron ore, manganese, coal, bauxite, gold  diamonds and limestone. Sal, Teak and bamboo were razed to the ground in forests. Thus they extracted every tooth of the vast mineral and forest resources..

 

Bastar had a deep rooted tradition or legacy of anti-colonial  struggle. The Santhalu rebellion led by Birsa Munda, Siddhu Kanu, the Halb arebellion of 1774-79, the Parlkot rebellion of Gond Singh in 1825, the Murria rebellion of 1876, Abhujumad rebellion of 1910, the Rampa rebellion led by Alluri Settharama Raju in East Godavri and the Gond rebellion in Adilabad led by Khammuram Bhemu were all shining examples of valour. These revolts were virtually resurrected 40 years ago with the influx of revolutionary cadre of the C.P.I.(M.L.) Peoples War Group.

  

The Bastar region was so backward that people could not avail of facilities of education, medicine or facilities for agriculture. The Adivasis could sustain their lives only by selling forest produce, hunting and wage labour. British and Indian rulers expropriated all the mineral and forest wealth and robbed and cheated the Adivasis. The Adivasis were paid a pittance for bamboo cut for a paper company or for Tendu paata leaves they grabbed. They were cheated for forest produce with the forest officials banning them from agriculture or even cutting firewood in the forest land. They were even robbed of their goats, chicken ad other produce. Since 1947, Large-scale eviction of tribals is the order of the day. Millions of Adivasis were displaced from their natural habitat by irrigation projects, hyro-electric and multi-purpose projects, thermal plants or even national parks.

 

Around 40 years ago around 35 comrades from the Peoples War Group dipped their feet in Dandakaranya from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh having roots in movements of Karimnagar and Adilabad. Inspite of not knowing the Koya language they integrated with the Dandakaranya tribals being influenced by the ideology of Subbarao Panigrahi, Cherabanda Raju and other comrades. With relentless spirit they shimmered spark of Naxalbari and Mao thought. On November 2nd 1980, Peddi Shankkar became the first comrade to make the supreme sacrifice in Dandakaranya.His martyrdom sowed the seeds for a spark into a prairie fire

  

In 1984 the mass Organisation Adivasi Mazdoor Kisan Sanghatana was formed in Kamlapur in Gadricholi. It was attacked by the police who sealed all road to block all protestors as well as encompassed  forest paths. Ironically the conference was staged within jail bars.

 

 

In 1989 the Adivasi Mazdoor Kisan Sanghatana was re-formulated or re-structured with a state wide expansion. Vast numbers of workers and peasants were mobilized.

 

From 1985-1990 a series of retaliatory actions were undertaken like in Sarsundi village. Where lathi charge and firing was launched by the police. The people snatched 2 rifles.

 

In 1991-92 special commandos were sent breaking the backbone of the Adivasi Mazdoor Kisan Sanghatana with mass organization leaders arrested  and police openly shooting mass leaders in 1993.In retaliation in Bastar in 19990 armed squads of the Peoples War Group launched a counter offensive in retaliation putting the enemy forces in retreat.

 

Guerrilla squads formed in 1993 were converted into platoon s in 1995.Ambushse and raids were undertaken with surgical skill seizing many modern weapons. In 1995, 25 years ago, the first platoons were established. This intensified people’s warfare.

 

Guerrilla squads formed in 1993 were converted into platoon s in 1995.Ambushse and raids were undertaken with surgical skill seizing many modern weapons.

 

In Bhumkal in 2001 Bhumkal day was observed with substantial preparations made for it50 volunteers toured each and every village for  a period of one month. For the final even ten thousand persons attended of which four thousand were women. It literally was a festival of the masses with people carting red banners, placards and flags as well as traditional musical instruments.

 

B. ACHIEVEMENTS

 

By 1995 the mass organization sin the DK reached a membership of 60000. In 2010 it was over 2 lakhs.

 

These are the notable achievements.

1. Inspired confidence in Adivasist to assert their rights. Now they will not bow down before any authority. They all have land, freely move in forest, and get a just wage for labour.

2. Better living conditions

They now have clothes, radios cycles, torches and other commodities. Diet has improved considerably. Earlier they had no clothes to wear.

3. Health Care

Medicines are distributed at cost price. Local youth are taught basic medicine and anatomy.

4. Education

Every youth is taught to read and write, They see that government schools function. Classes are given in Marxism-Leninism.

5. Children

Children are organized into Bal Sanghams and take up tasks which help them develop. They learn to read, write, sing revolutionary songs and act as watchdogs for the party.

6. Women

Conventional practices like child and forced marriage have been abolished and superstitions eradicated.40% of the guerrilla forces comprise women. However patriarchy still exists in a subtle form.

7. Development

Co-operative forms of framing are introduced.100miniirrigation projects were set up. They have been converted into fish breeding which gives people a better diet. Capital intensive framing was countered and Orchards planted to grow vegetables. People are educated in forest conservation and planting trees and poultry, goat, and pig rearing is encouraged.

8. Cultural Changes

An alternative culture has been created combating or replacing Hinduisation. Traditional Adivasi forms have been adopted to create revolutionary themes, songs and plays. Hundreds of cultural troupes exist. Language of Gondi has been developed in a revolutionary

form.

9. The New Power

Revolutionary Peoples Committees have been formed .They exercise peoples new power at ground level. They have departments like developmental, justice, defense, education and health. Gradually they are developing into Janathana Sarkars which are administrative units harbouring larger populations. This new power is a thorn i the flesh to the rulers.

 

In 1991 the women’s organization Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sanghatana was formed. Earlier it was titled the ‘Adivasi Mahila Sanghatana. In 2010 the organization boasts of a membership around 1 lakh.

 

This organization made very deep penetration into the day to day struggles of the oppressed people by integrating new art forms. In 2003 protesting state violence on women in South Bastar 50propoganda teams were formed Three thousand five hundred women attended the meeting in Basagudem. On March 8th on International Women’s day 20,000 women from 70 villages attended four meetings in South Bastar and six thousand in West Bastar. Here Hindu Communalist attacks were confronted ideologically and attack son Adivasi culture.

 

C. CHETNA NATYA MANCH DEVELOPMENT

 

In 2004 The Chetana Natya Manch was set up as a further development which galvanised huge numbers of people A Dandakaranya Cultural sub committee was formed in 2003 to examine the problems of the cultural field and the building of the CNM as a mass organization and the spread of it’s work methods. A Constitution and manifesto of CNM was formed. Since 2004 forces have galvanized considerable to crystallise the writers, artists and lovers of art and literature into an organizational form. Earlier separate cultural squads resembling the Jana Natya Mandali squads of North Telengana came into existence in 1998.This inspired creating Chetana Natya Manch.

 

It has taken the shape of a very broad based mass organisation, having thousands of women and children as members. It Functions at village and zonal level. With great consistency the revolutionary torch is shimmered amongst the masses. After village level CNM units are formed  in an a area level,exective committee ,is elected so as to provide leadership to them, and when area level Executive Commitees are formed in 3 or 4 areas  of a division, then a divisional executive Committee is formed. Executive Committees are only elected in the conferences. Today the DKCNM operates from village level to zonal level with all zonal and area level teams comprising of full timers.

 

CULTURAL MOVEMENT

 

Great strides were established in the literary sphere in the Cultural movement. ’Peeto’ was devised as an art form  or ‘Vesod’ in Bastar. When some respectable elders die ,then this Peeto  is performed in Gituls for three days. In this form, women, men, children and others participate. A singer guru recites. Revolutionary artists improvised or innovated smaller versions of Peeto with revolutionary content to disseminate radical ideas. Such work was created by Sadhana in Gadricholi on historical process of development. Similarly Sukhdev created a Peeto on Tallaguden martyrs and Pandu did one on martys of Bhumkal.

 

Plays were written illuminating the terrible living conditions touching issues like elections, militia’s attack on police, invasion of Hindu Culture, surrenders, superstitions countering informers, marriage, recruitment into squads, patents, SalwaJudum, The Grat Bhumkal. Green Hunt. And Media. None of these messages had a duration for more than half an hour but still hit the nail on the head with perfection to project the message. The most notable plays were Kanha Park, Tiger and Bharat.

 

Short Stories, Novels and Poems were written which read like anthropological studies, social histories and explorations on poetical and military mobilizations. Jwala’s story Dorla Bidda glorifies an Adivasi turning into a guerrilla fighter and narrates the technical modalties of the people’s militia. At least 24 stories are written by cadres or tribal activists such as Jwala,Kaadi,Swathi,Chinna,Thoorpu,Indravati,Vekava,Pravin,Ramesh.Ajad,Janam and Devannna.Komuram Bheem the first novel based on the area about the historical figure who fought against the Nizam’s rule. It was written jointly by Sahu ,one of the first activists of the Adilbad region. It is an inspiring account of  the Gond hero of the 1940’s. Recounting his mobilisation methods, representations to Nizam’s govt. and his armed struggles.

 

A writer translated and started singing marty Subba Rao Panigrahi’s ‘We are Communist, We are Toilers.’ The writer translated a line in the songnyayann poojakeekom as satyamthune pujakeekom. Not being familiar with word Stayam Thune they starte sining it as Tattamuthine pujakeekom. which means ‘worship our wives.’

 

In education and Culture literacy has been inducted at the very grassroots or base, Squad schools, Primary schools, mobile academic schools, mobile political schools and ashramas were set up. Collective study is a daily programme in which a party magazine. The Maoists teach people not just to fight but also how to read and write. A timetable is set for the day which also includes physical exercise .Many prominent party magazines are published like ‘People’s War,’ Viyyukka, ’Jhankar’, ’Padiyara Pollo’ and Sangarsharath Mhaila at the Central Level. They are printed in Gondi or Hindi languages.

 

A major impact has been made on Children organized under banner of Revolutionary Chidren’s Organisation. They are learning and singing revolutionary songs, dance, street plays, participating in mass meetings, performing dances to songs, propagating against using tobacco, gutka, manjan, arrack, Toddy etc. They also undertake sentry duty in villages ,patrolling, keeping surveillance on the movements of the police or paramilitary and handing information to the PLGA. They also join primary level military camps, conducted by the people’s militia.

 

Children’s cultural teams are formed with ‘War Dance’ used as a popular art form. Children also undertake jobs to earn money for the movement. They engage in growing vegetables in cooperative farms by participating in collective labour.

 

Adivasi children strive to emulate Maoist squads playing games of ambush in the way kids play hide and seek.

 

The major achievements of the Dandakarnya cultural movement were

1. Organising people and mobilizing them in struggles.

2. Building of Janathana Sarcars which traversed new regions to revolutionise many parts of the superstructure.

3, Young Adivasi artists and poets have been mobilised into the Chetan Natya Manch.

4. All the artists in the mass organisation are educated with the politics of New Democratic Revolution.

5. People’s Cultural Heritage is preserved.

6. Revolutionary songs are being synchronised with peoples war and dance with song.

 

EMERGENCE OF JANTHANA SARKARS

 

The Janata Sarkar intervened in nine spheres concerning different issues with regard to war, revolution and people’s welfare. These were People’s Defence, Finance, Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Judiciciary, Education and Culture ,Health and Social Welfare ,Forest and Public relations. The Janthana Sarkar paved the path for cooperative life and collective spirit. It produced cooperative teams that focused on class outlook. The common work of the villages was taken up by the teams. Collective agricultural farms sprung up,. It also liberated women from the chains of patriarchy or bondage on a household. The people completely entrusted the Janathana Sarkars, which were elected voluntarily.

 

Quoting Amit Bhattacharya “In DK a new society has been built and is consolidating itself.” People oppressed for ages have stood up with their heads held high. The DK region is the scene of numerous new social, economic and political experiments and these become possible because of their inseparable ties with the ongoing armed revolutionary struggle. In DK region, even when the rest of the Country witnessed a huge famine in 1997 taking a heavy toll of lives, not a single person perished.

 

Professor Amit Bhattacharya in ‘Storming the Gates of Heaven’ has in deep detail delved into the contribution of the ‘Janthan a Sarcars.’ In 2006 the Janathana Sarkars were formed which were initially Gram Rajya Commitees. Morally they were sown in 1996 as Village Committees. The Janathana Sarkar intervened in nine spheres concerning different issues with regard to war, revolution and people’s welfare. These were People’s Defence, Finance, Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Judiciary, Education and Culture, Health and Social Welfare, Forest and Public relations. The Janathana Sarkar paved the path for cooperative life and collective spirit. It produced cooperative teams that focused on class outlook. The common work of the villages was taken up by the teams. Collective agricultural farms sprung up. It also liberated women from the chains of f patriarchy or bondage on a household. The people completely entrusted the Janathana Sarkars, which were elected voluntarily. 

 

Development work was undertaken through agriculture related schemes with the implementation of the; land to the tiller ‘programme. Lakes and Tanks were constructed. Fish –rearing was undertaken, Vegetables were cultivated, Revolutionary Co-operatives or Mutual aid groups established.

  

JUSTICE OF PEOPLES COURTS

 

A new system of Justice of People’s court and prison was established. Peoples Courts challenged the anti-people judicial system. In 1995, the Gram Rajya Committee was inducted with a depart of justice encompassing the entire area covered by the Revolutionary peasants Committee. Some classical peoples courts were conducted in villages of Chitral, Petti,Nayum and Kellial, Pandhe  and Kistaram range. Here injustice was confronted at its highest zenith or crescendo.

 

In Kitral, sarpanch Daubhal was brought to the book, for committing adultery and killing his first wife. 400 people were mobilized by the RPC, In the People’s Court meeting.

 

In Petti, a peasant named Maral with four other peasants stole money from the place party funds were kept. The RPC investigated the matter after the money was found missing and after instituting an inquiry found the culprits. All five pleaded guilty and returned the money.

 

In Nayum, the DKSZC issued a press statement for committing a mistake of wrongly punishing a villager, by mistaking him as a police informer. It was widely circulated to all the papers of Raipur. In another case similarly a person who was extremely ill was interrogated for a duration of fifteen days, but still nothing was conclusive.

 

 In Kellial village a young man from Guntur came to seek employment but pretended that he aspired to join the ranks of the revolutionary movement. The RPC detained him on grounds of suspicion as he did not speak the Gondi language and eventually the peasant took back their son. The mass organization leaders told the young man to join mass movements in his native Guntur.

 

In Dokke village a peasant was punished for employing and injuring a ten year old girl named Raago to keep watch over his paddy as a child labourer. Ruthlessly Pandhe punished Raago when cows damaged his crops by hitting her on the head. The People’s court awarded him a sentence for 15 days. However later the term was reduced and he was allotted the same duty of protecting the crops as the little girl.

  

In Kistaram a person name Anadalua,a police informer ,was executed after a trial in a People’s court. Earlier the villagers had detained him on grounds of collecting information about guerrilla squads .It was found that Anadalu had joined the enemy ranks and showed no repentance for his deeds. The PGA pleaded to his father to make his son give an undertaking that he would not participate in such anti-people activities. However the son refused.

 

It is significant that in the place of mass organizations the judicial department of the revolutionary govt. has started taking steps, even if in a rudimentary form, to resolve the people’s problems. The Maoist party in it’s appraisal highlighted 11 achievements. They were replacing panchayat system with democratic organs, destroying age-old judicial system controlled by elders ,awarding punishments on class basis, emergence of new ideas, diffusing of social customs, eradicating customs of untouchability and marriage, people’s authority no more commanded on factors like individual profits, Undertaking  of work now even without performing  in festivals ,much less social humiliation of prisoners.

 

APPRAISAL BY INTELLECTUALS

 

Quoting Amit Bhattacharya “In DK a new society has been built and is consolidating itself. ‘People oppressed for ages have stood up with their heads held high. The DK region is the scene of numerous new social, economic and political experiments and these become possible because of their inseparable ties with the ongoing armed revolutionary struggle. In DK region, even when the rest of the Country witnessed a huge famine in 1997 taking a heavy toll of lives, not a single person perished.

 

Quoting Amit Bhattacharya “Such developments of the people’s political prison are unprecedented in the history of the country, not to speak only of revolutionary communist movement.”

 

Gautam Navlakha in ‘Dyas and Nights of Heratland Rebellion’was convinced that the Maoists were spiritual heirs of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. No force in his view since 1947 has shown such fortitude or relentless commitment to ‘serving the people’ through social transformation. He felt they were firmly rooted in the people. Which is the very reason they survived and expanded. “Two generations have grown up and a third is getting influenced by the idea of rebellion. against an autocratic state. This gives the movement a continuity and firm root sin the people. The Maoist movement gives us a sharp reminder that the unleashing of coercive force by the state will received a continuous or protracted resistance from those confronting oppression”

 

Navalkha was convinced that in terms of agrarian land distribution the movement went one up on Andhra Pradesh previously, where1,00,000 acres of  land was after distribution usurped with police and civil authorities preventing Dalits from cultivation  or destroyed their harvest. In Bastar ousted landlords have been unable to capture or sell their lands reclaimed. Adivasi peasants here return to cultivate their lands and area of lands which remains shallow is shrunk. Ousted landlords have no avenues to re-occupy the land. The Janathana Sarkar extends credit and seeds to the poor peasants and loans to purchase pairs of bullocks, to encourage them to plough their fields, rather than using shovels. An important rectification document of the Maoist party was a precursor in formulating this change. Without securing a firm social base it would not have been possible for Squads to crystallise into platoons and companies. It is also remarkable that the party base  is strongly built among the poor Adivasis and women.

 

Recently in Potali Panchayat in the Andhra-Orissa border the Adivasis have heroically confronted the installation of police camps. Mass resistance was crystallised to the core galvanising even social activists and journalists .With traditional weapons the people combated the police raising powerful slogans who in retaliation mercilessly beat them with batons. For four consecutive days the administration was taken to ransomby the bravado of the Adivasis.

  

WEAKNESSES OF PLGA AND DANDKARANYA MOVEMENT

 

However the army is too beset by weaknesses and setbacks. The most important aspect is the subjective factors which were not conducive to undertaking peoples war .Agrarian revolutionary movement had not sharpened or been consolidated sufficiently to precipitate formation or integration of a red army .Land re-distribution was mainly undertaken by the armed squad of the party and not necessarily by the poor or landless peasantry. This was also the case in the judgments of people's courts or Jan Adalats. No doubt the armed squad members comprised the mainly of te opressed dalit or Adivasi Communities and derived from movements like in Karimnagar or Adilabad. However there was hardly co-relation between the building of the red army corpses and the movements of mass resistance of the people. In the 1980's there was tendency for armed squads to undertake actions which substituted peoples revolutionary mass action or initiative. Another phenomenon was the armed squads utilising mass organizations bastions to protect themselves or providing shelter.

 

Today in 3 major instances the Ruling state forces have delivered a major blow to the Maoist red army in Malkangiri, Gadricholi and Chattisgarh regions. In the Orissa,-Chattisgarh border in October 2016 , it ripped the flesh of the PLGA through concentric or surgical operations. It was literally like surprisingly capturing tigers in an ambush, infiltrating the Peoples Red Army in their very ribcage. Adequate precautions were hardly made to insulate it’s forces. Also in the last decade hundreds of their important leaders have been eliminated which the Maoist party admitting that it’s forces are dwindling, facing huge losses in recent times.

  

In most cases the army has been unable to replenish its own losses and many members have deserted it to join Border security forces. Some participants in the PLA float between government job s and performing armed squad duties. An erroneous tendency has been adopted towards demanding levy from contractors and assassinating heads of panchayats or rich peasantry. There exists a striking dichotomy between how the Chinese red army was built or based in respect to the United front with the workers and middle peasants and the distribution of land and agrarian revolution. In Dandakarnya or Jharkhand self governance of life or people running their own lives is not taking place like it was in the base areas of pre-1949 China in Nanchang or China.

 

Many offensive actions have arguably had superficial impact like the elimination of Jawans or security forces like killing the mosquitoes but not destroying the breeding pit that planted them.

 

CONCLUSION

 

Still we should we take for granted intellectuals who claim Dandakaranya is in the process of being  a liberated area or base area or that democratic mass organizations have been properly developed .This is predominant in intellectuals like Varavara Rao or other Maoist sympathisers. I also strongly feel that online organ ‘People’s March; however vibrant or positive to an extent distorts level of power exercised by the RPC’s or Janathana Sarkars.

 

What counts against them is the failure to master the variance of Indian conditions from that of pre-revolutionary China in terms of the distinction between the Indian 'semi-feudalism' with the Chinese version. Also a strong tendency exists to overemphasize Brahmanic fascism which overrides or dilutes Class politics with Caste Politics. Identity politics replacing Leninist line is also revealed in establishing unity with Islamic fundamentalist forces or Muslim organizations. Democratic functioning still does not completely permeate in their mass organizations which to an extent still subordinate to the dictates of the party.

  

In my view the movement has faced reversal in the last six years never reaching the intensity or scale of 2010 or preceding years. Newspaper interviews or reports confirm that the Maoist party has received major blows in their backbone with the killings of thousands of their cadre. Hundreds of the Revolutionary Peoples Committees have been destroyed and cadre considerably reduced in the PLGA and the mass Organizations.

 

I have the utmost praise of the spirit they display even when down in the barrel with all pages of Maoist online organ ‘Peoples March’ blazing the torch f the Red Flag and tooth and nail defending the fact that that they are still in contention for creating liberated zones and confronting neo-fascism at the very core. In an interview in the Wire in 2016 after facing a debacle of a state attack the Maoist leader showed great humility that accordingly the armed struggle would have to turn towards a defensive tone, with self –defense given priority.

 

Recently in Potali Panchayat in the Andhra-Orissa border the Adivasis have heroically confronted the installation of police camps. Mass resistance was crystallised to the core galvanising even social activists and journalists .With traditional weapons the people combated the police raising powerful slogans who in retaliation mercilessly beat them with batons. For four consecutive days the administration was taken to ransom by the bravado of the Adivasis.

 

Dogmatically it still adheres to tactics of 'Boycott' of elections failing to understand level of people's revolutionary consciousness. It is not prepared to utilize any legal tactics.

 

The army can hardly fortify itself today to substitute its losses to confront the regular Armed forces. Land distribution movements are sill largely based on squad initiative and not on independent will of tribals.

 

The Indian red army can hardly navigate beyond prescribed boundaries and it is hard to foresee how in near future it will defend its gains. I very much doubt it could in near future encircle the big cities or even the plain areas, in context of being on the receiving end of such battering by the rulers in power. In many ways it resembles a cornered tiger entrenched in an aree.

 

Even if backed by a considerable plethora of intellectuals it has strong critiques within the civil rights movement and has nor completely adhered to correct behaviour towards the civil rights or democratic rights movement. Civil rights activist Bela Bhatia is an ideal example who has written extensively on mass movements. Without doubt they have also undertaken some unwarranted actions of innocent people which must be exposed

 

Still I strongly envisage that it will continue to illuminate the torch of liberation even with the enemy sweeping the strongest revolutionary wind.

  

Is mass line being genuinely practiced like the Chinese Communist Party under Chairman Mao? It is a very complex question but my abrupt answer is yes and no. Democratic forms of power have been created and armed striking resistance to confront the enemy and oppressor classes. However still it is not the people who are the complete determinants of the fate of the guerrilla armed actions or participants in them. Nor is the people's striking capacity consistently enhanced by the armed struggle who still cannot undertake self-governance.

  

Perhaps the most rational account on the Maoist PLGA has been done by Bernard De Mello and also to a considerable extent  by Gautam Navlakha..

 

With strong conviction Bernard recognizes their accomplishments in confronting the state and establishing guerrilla zones. However he finds it problematic how they would evolve into base areas like in China and how they would integral with the working class. He also exposed how the party constitution subordinated a mass organization to its dictates. In a partial sense I agree that the PLGA practice is akin to that of Che Gueverist focoism. However in quick retort I would say that Indian conditions like Cuba, are in variance with pre-1949 China.

 

Navlakha highlights the great strides in shaping revolutionary democracy but exposes the glaring weaknesses in approach ,particularly in light of working in urban areas and initiating open mass movements.






Here are some terms used in this article and their meaning: Dengist,



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