Quote And, there is nobody called Azad; Maoists just take turns to write statements on his behalf. Unquote
Compare: Quote There are/were quite a few Azads around, it seems. Anyway, the official spokesperson always identifies *himself* as "Azad". Unquote (Excerpted from my earlier message: 3 July 2010 07:44) Quote Whatever the truth behind Azad’s death, there is scant doubt that his demise is a big blow to the Maoist apparatus, as is the arrest or death of several key leaders in the past three years. More than blunting the movement, however, we will likely see the quickening of the process of the next level of leadership moving in to key positions, as Ajay has done. Unquote While the first sentence is an assessment based on what has actually happened, the last one is more a bit of speculation not exactly substantiated by earlier Andhra experience, leave alone wider global experiences, from Peru in particular. Even in India, it took quite some time for the movement to rise again after the capture and death of Charu Mazumdar. But, to be sure, neither "Azad" nor any other individual leader today enjoys the status of a Guzman or a Mazumdar. Moreover, Azad, like Kobad Ghandy, did not, understandably, belong to the military commission. So, the setback for the moment is going to far more modest. Never mind the drumbeating of the mainstream media. Nevertheless it looks like an uncertain beginning of the Andhra process. In any case, it's an unequal war. *If Maoists had to abandon insurgency in rank backward Nepal after ten long gruelling years and despite pretty much impressive initial success, what chances could they stand in today's India?* Sukla http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Kishenji-brother-to-succeed-Azad/643230/ Kishenji brother to succeed Azad *Wed Jul 07 2010** ** Mallojula Venugopal Rao, brother of Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji, is likely to be nominated as spokesperson of CPI(Maoist). Venugopal succeeds Cherukuri Rajkumar known as Azad who was shot dead by the Andhra Pradesh Police in an alleged encounter last week in Adilabad district. Venugopal joined the Naxalite movement in the 1980s a few months after his elder brother Kishenji joined the former CPI-ML (People’s War). Venugopal at present is reportedly tending to his elder brother who got a bullet injury in his leg in Lalgarh. Sources said Venugopal had been assigned by the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist) the task of organising the operations in Lalgarh, Salboni and Belpahari. * ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: sandy singh <[email protected]> Date: 8 July 2010 11:00 Subject: Fwd: Reality in the Myth of the Maoists To: free-binayaksen <[email protected]> by *the author of* Red Sun, Sudeep Chakravarti Reality in the Myth of the Maoists The masked leader of the Zapatista army who led, from 1994, an insurrection of the indigenous Mayan population in Chiapas, Mexico, often seemed to be everywhere at once: in the jungle, in the media, leading a battle, publishing books, leading a rousing march. Subcomandante Marcos, chief-spokesperson-poet of the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, became as much myth as person. I’ve heard talk from pro-government commentators that the names behind India’s Maoist rebel leadership are a myth, a trick of alias. There is no Ganapathy, a reference to the nom de guerre of Communist Party of India (Maoist) chief Muppala Laxman Rao. There is no Kishenji—this a reference to Mallojula Koteswara Rao, much wanted in eastern India. And, there is nobody called Azad; Maoists just take turns to write statements on his behalf. As much as his two senior colleagues, Cherukuri Rajkumar, aka Azad, was real. He is now dead. On July 3, two days after Andhra police said he died in an encounter in Adilabad, I received a press release from his successor, “Ajay”, claiming that Andhra police intelligence arrested him and a colleague at Nagpur railway station on 1 July, and staged an encounter. Ajay is real. Also, there is nothing unreal about the Maoist accusation of staged—or “fake”—encounters. The police in Andhra Pradesh and their colleagues in West Bengal and Bihar have used the approach for decades to stem revolt (separatism in Punjab birthed its own version of police justice; and Maharashtra’s “encounter cops” are even part of Bollywood lore). Several senior police officers I have spoken to admit that sometimes “there is no other way” but this manner of instant remedy. Whatever the truth behind Azad’s death, there is scant doubt that his demise is a big blow to the Maoist apparatus, as is the arrest or death of several key leaders in the past three years. More than blunting the movement, however, we will likely see the quickening of the process of the next level of leadership moving in to key positions, as Ajay has done. Equally, another tier will begin to go underground, take to the jungle and new areas marked for expansion, in the same way as those of Azad’s generation did in the 1980s in, say, the Bastar district of the then undivided Madhya Pradesh. It was a deliberate strategy to spread northward from Andhra Pradesh. The stealthy move—leaders on the make gradually learning the language of several tribes, establishing an initially benign presence with propaganda, promising to help these wretchedly poor, ignored people—has led to the influence the rebels wield in large parts of the present-day state of Chhattisgarh. There have been three major attacks against Central Reserve Police Force personnel in the past three months. A future generation of radical leaders will be paying attention to documents such as the “Social investigation—South Bastar”, from 2004. Written by “Kamlesh”, besides meticulously mapping the region in a socio-political-economic-military grid, it made some non-surprising suggestions. “People will participate in guerrilla war actively only if we solve their basic problems,” he suggested to his leaders midway through the document. “By enhancing production, we will be able to solve the problem of food to guerrillas. By developing agriculture collectively class struggle will develop and we will be able to face the government reforms efficiently…this shall be a model to the political power to be formed countrywide.” Then came an unusual bit—unusual from the stereotype of the Maoist rebel as a crazed individual, instead of a more logical stereotype of being a deeply angry one. “We have to develop irrigation, develop fertilizers, small agricultural industries (oil, *kanuga* or castor oil, production of electricity, soaps, *poha*, *putnalu* and other such things). We have to develop paper manufacture and rice mills with forest produce (and) vegetables and fish. We have to sell treasury bonds for the capital for people to develop agriculture and agriculture-based small industries. This development is not possible with the local Adivasi people. We need persons from areas where agriculture is developed. We need the help of engineers.” Kamlesh stressed: “Party must concentrate and send one or two engineers… We must not postpone this and must develop it right from now… We cannot separate political power, war and production.” Such thinking makes movements, not myths. Perhaps that is what makes the establishment nervous, these encounters with unpalatable thought. *Sudeep Chakravarti writes on issues related to conflict in South Asia. He is the author of* Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country. *He writes a column alternate Thursdays on conflicts that directly affect business.* *Respond to this column at [email protected]* -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Free Binayak Sen" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]<free-binayaksen%[email protected]> . For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/free-binayaksen?hl=en-GB. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an 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.
