---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sukla Sen <[email protected]> Date: Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 8:05 AM Subject: [humanrights-movement:2009] Lalgarh Update: Chhatradhar Mahato Arrested To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
[There has got to be forceful demands for the release of Chhatradhar Mahato. In fact, the state must engage in talks with the PCPA that he leads. For this is the concrete manifestation of the democratic space between the Maoist insurgents spearheading gory armed violence, on the one hand, and the atrociously brutal state and the vigillante groups backed by it, on the other. (Chhatradhar Mahato has, for good reasons, been repeatedly branded as Maoist by the state and mainstream media despite the fact that he himself, with Trinamool background, has persistently denied. Led no armed campaign except for people with traditional arms. Actively engaged with the state during the last parliamentary election to ensure participation of Lalgarh people while disallowing the administration inside Lalgarh whereas the Maoists were carrying out their poll boycott campaign with full blast - literally and figuratively. He was essentially following the path open of mass mobilisation as contrasted from underground armed actions.) If this intermediate space is erased off, only brutal forces remain. And both want it that way. One legitimises the other. But that's too unsettling a prospect. Too bad. Too gory.] I/IV. The video news: <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videoshow/5060034.cms>. II. http://news.outlookindia..com/item.aspx?666802<http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?666802> Lalgarh Tribal Leader Chhatradhar Mahato Arrested KOLKATA Elusive tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato, spearheading an agitation since November last year against alleged police atrocities at Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, was arrested today. Mahato, the leader of People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), was arrested from Pirka near Lalgarh when he was preparing to give an interview to a journalist, who was trailed by the police, a top police official told PTI. The tribal leader, who had been giving regular interviews to local television news channels when the anti-Maoist operations by central para-military forces and the state police at Lalgarh began on June 19, had gone underground shortly afterwards. The tribals under him had "liberated" Lalgarh and had free run for nine months with the police withdrawing from camps before the central forces and the local police recaptured the areas from the grip of Maoists, who were assisting the tribal agitation. The agitation started after police raided the homes of tribals shortly after West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and then union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitin Prasada narrowly escaped a landmine blast at Salboni on November two. The tribals under Mahato had demanded that the then Superintendent of Police Rajesh Singh should appear before them and apologise for the "atrocities" committed by the police. Forward Bloc Critical of Timing of Arrest Left Front partner Forward Bloc today questioned the timing of the arrest of tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato, saying it could affect normalcy in the state which is hard-pressed to maintain law and order during Durga Puja festivities. "I wonder whether his arrest at this time would help normalise the situation. The state government should justify the timing of the arrest at a time when there is a warning from the Centre about a possible terrorist attack in the state," party's state general secretary Ashok Ghosh told PTI. Ghosh said that Mahato, who has been in open contact with political leaders for sometime and was issuing statements regularly, could have been arrested three months ago through the same process as today. "Every action has a reaction and the government should justify the timing of the arrest of Mahato," he said. He, however, parried questions on whether Mahato, who led an agitation against alleged police atrocities since November, last year in the Lalagarh area, was a Maoist and if his arrest was justified. III. http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article25288.ece KOLKATA, September 26, 2009 Ready to face any offensive: Maoist leaderRaktima Bose “The Centre and the West Bengal government willing, our movement in Lalgarh on people’s behalf will continue for another three years or maybe even 30 years. The onus is on the government to choose what it wants,” said the top Maoist leader Koteswar Molajella Rao, alias Kishanji. He was responding to the State government’s decision to seek additional Central forces to flush out Maoists from the Lalgarh region. Speaking to The Hindu over telephone from an undisclosed spot in the Lalgarh area on Friday, Kishanji, who is a member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), said: “Let the State government send as many contingents of Central forces as they want to to Lalgarh, I can assure them that none in the force will go back home.” On the Centre’s decision to escalate its war against the Maoists, he said: “The decision was made public immediately after Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s return from his recent U..S.A visit. “It indicates that the Pentagon has dictated the decision and we have evidence to support that… I want to tell the Centre that we are prepared to face any offensive at any moment.” *Refutes reports* Refuting reports that the Maoists suffered a major setback following the death of several cadres in the recent Operation Greenhunt in Chhattisgarh’s South Bastar district, Kishanji claimed, “only three Maoists were killed as opposed to the 30 declared [dead] by the police.” “The police is running a misinformation campaign. Out of the seven bodies recovered, three belonged to our comrades while the remaining four were innocent villagers killed purposely by the forces. If the police is claiming to have killed 30 of us, where are the rest of the bodies?” *‘Arrest created some disturbances’* Admitting that the arrest of Kobad Gandhy, a Polit Bureau member, who has been entrusted with spreading the revolutionary movement to urban areas, created “some disturbance in the party’s activities,” Kishanji said it would be “overcome” soon. “We will need some time to overcome the blow and re-arrange the set-up. The party general secretary will elect a member for the post soon.” IV. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/allies-warn-cpm-on-salwa-judum-plans/521765/ Allies warn CPM on ‘Salwa Judum’ plans *Express News Service* Posted: Sep 26, 2009 at 0255 hrs *Kolkata* With the CPM reportedly planning to pit volunteers against the Maoists in their bastion of West Midnapore district, the constituents of Left Front today voiced their fears saying an armed resistance would lead to “anarchy” and that the CPM should desist from any such move. LF allies like the Forward Bloc and the CPI said these volunteer groups would create additional problems in West Midnapore, especially Lalgarh and the surrounding areas. “It is a fact that CPM supporters are being killed by the Maoists every day, but armed revenge cannot be an option for a political party or a front,” state’s Minor Irrigation Minister and CPI leader Nandagopal Bhattacharya said. CPI sources said the state secretariat of the party has already decided to take up the issue with the CPM and would demand a discussion at the next Left Front meeting. “I do not know whether the issue will figure at LF meet, but officially we will ask CPM to discuss... a bi-lateral meeting can also be held to discuss the issue,” said Bhattacharya. A senior CPM leader said they are encouraging retaliation against the armed Maoists. Following the failure of joint operations, Maoists are killing people in and around Lalgarh. “Maoists are killing our supporters and taking shelter inside jungles. It is not possible for the police to protect each and every supporter. So, there must be a resistance group at the grass-roots level. We would not have to surrender to the Maoists then. Ask the leaders who are talking about a political battle against the Maoists as to how many of their supporters were killed by the Maoists,” said the leader. However, CPM’s ally Forward Bloc was of the view that the state government should take an initiative for talks with the Maoists. “A discussion can solve problems. We condemn frequent murders by the Maoists but an armed resistance will lead to anarchy,” said Debabrata Biswas, general secretary of the Bloc. Meanwhile, CPM state secretariat, the highest decision-making body in th!e state, discussed the issue and approved the idea of creating volunteer groups in villages. CPM West Midnapore district committee had floated the idea of village-level resistance groups. Sources said the 13-member CPM secretariat feels that once the Maoists are challenged at the grass-roots level, it will be easier for the government to act. “We are at the receiving end. The LF partners may raise some theoretical questions but we have to face the Maoist menace. So, we have planned to form the resistance groups,” said a secretariat member. V.. http://www.ilps-web.com/index..php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1817&Itemid=38<http://www.ilps-web.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1817&Itemid=38> International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) Interview with Kishanji, deputy leader of Communist Party of India (Maoist)[image: PDF]<http://www.ilps-web.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=1817>[image: Print]<http://www.ilps-web.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1817&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=38>[image: E-mail]<http://www.ilps-web.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=emailform&id=1817&itemid=38>Written by ILPS Info Bureau WEDNESDAY, 10 JUNE 2009*By Snigdhendu Bhattacharya<http://www.hindustantimes.com/Search/Search.aspx?q=Snigdhendu%20Bhattacharya&nodate=1> Hindustan Times, Email Author<http://in.mc952.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]&Subject=%E2%80%98We%20support%20Islamic%20terrorism%E2%80%99> * He is West Bengal’s most wanted man and one of India’s most dreaded outlaws. Koteswar Rao, better known to his cadres as Kishanji, is the deputy leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the underground party of Naxalites. After much effort, he agreed to meet HT’s Snigdhendu Bhattacharya deep in the jungles of West Bengal’s West Midnapore district. Short, shabbily dressed, late-50-ish and surprisingly mild and polite, Kishanji spoke animatedly for three hours in highly accented Bengali about his revolutionary dreams, Islamic terror and the state of his “movement”. Excerpts: *What’s the future of the so-called Indian revolution you are spearheading?* We have a considerable mass base in eight or nine states. Moreover, the capitalist economy is going through a crisis all over the world, and sooner or later,India will suffer the same fate as the West. So, the conditions are quite ripe for a revolution. *You had earlier supported Islamic militancy. Do you still do so after the Mumbai attacks?* We do not support the way they attacked the Victoria station (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, or CST), where most of the victims were Muslims. At the same time, we feel that the Islamic upsurge should not be opposed as it is basically anti-US and anti-imperialist in nature. We, therefore, want it to grow. *Please tell us about the attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (in November 2008).* I personally ordered the attack on the chief minister. We had to lay one kilometer of cables through the fields. However, during inspection, we found that mice had chewed it up at several places. So, we had to repair it. *How is your party faring in states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Maharastra?* Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa will be the new storm centres in Indian politics. We have our strongest base in Chhattisgarh – particularly in Old Bastar, which stretches across five districts—and it’s totally in our control now. Our militia in the state is more than one-lakh strong. We have the wherewithal to put up teams of 400-500 fighters, encircle hundreds of police and para-military troops, and wipe out them. We have also taken up development projects. Then, we are gaining strength in the other states you mentioned. *But you have almost no presence in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and many other major states. How then can you achieve your ambition of wresting power in Delhi?* We will have to concentrate on building our base in these states. In UP, especially, we need to concentrate on the Muslim population and the trade union sector.Punjab has very positive conditions (for a Maoist revolution) and also a history of Left movements. So, I’m hopeful of expanding our base there. *Your party suffered a major setback in Andhra Pradesh. What are you doing about it?* It’s true that we faced a major setback in Andhra Pradesh (when the police drove the Naxalites out of their former strongholds across the state). But we will definitely recover because most of our leadership is alive and safe in our Dandakaranya camps. Our mass base, built up over 30 years, is still intact. But in a war, there will always be ups and downs. VI. Quote How long can they defend the area from the might of the state? “I know an action (sic) is perhaps impending,” said Koteswar Rao, or Kishnaji, the second in command of the Indian Maoists, in an exclusive interview to the *Hindustan Times*. “But let them try once. It will be the last time they will eye this territory.” Unquote Excerpted from: 'Welcome to India’s newest, secret state', June 10 2009 at < http://www.hindustantimes.com/Welcome-to-India-s-newest-secret-state/H1-Article1-419859.aspx >. And compare this with the fact that the mayhem, gory bloodletting by the Maoists, started on June 12; the state forces launched operations on June 18; and Lalgarh police station was recaptured on June 20. Compare, "But let them try once. It will be the last time they will eye this territory" on June 10 2009 with "The Centre and the West Bengal government willing, our movement in Lalgarh on people’s behalf will continue for another three years or maybe even 30 years. The onus is on the government to choose what it wants" on September 26 2009. Peace Is Doable ------------------------------ Keep up with people you care about with Yahoo! India Mail. Learn how<http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_galaxy_1/*http://in.overview.mail.yahoo.com/connectmore> -- You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole. -AMBEDKAR http://venukm.blogspot.com http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
