Maoists losing ground in Bastar

Tribal support waning, say surrendered cadre

Former Moaist military company leader Sutte and his wife Asmati. Photo: Pavan Dahat

Former members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) who recently surrendered in Bastar say the Maoists are losing ground in the region. Support from the tribal communities too is waning.

Despite being the heartland of the Maoists, Bastar has witnessed a wave of surrenders — over 150 in the past three months, the police say.

Usaru Koram, alias Sutte, former commander of the Maoist military company no. 6, told

The Hindu that the “exploitation and discrimination” of the local Chhattisgarh-cadre by the “outsider” Andhra cadre was one of the main reasons for the increase.

“Almost all senior leaders are from Andhra Pradesh. In every incident, they ask us to lead and fight from the front, while they keep themselves in the back under security cover,” said Usaru, who was involved in six major incidents, including the killing of the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Rajnandgaon.

“The tough and challenging life in the forest is driving many Maoists to lay down arms,” said Chaitram Salam, former section commander of the Maoists’ central regional committee, who was also involved in the Jiram Ghati attack on a Congress convoy last year that took the lives of the senior Congress leaders V.C. Shukla and Mahendra Karma.

Chaitram’s wife, Manjula, a member of the Maoists’ military company, who was allegedly involved in the massacre of 76 CRPF men near Tadmetla village in 2010, said “indiscriminate killing” of many tribal people was eroding the party base. Manjula said women cadres faced problems from senior leaders.

“The discontinuation of the Salwa Judum campaign had a major effect on the party support base. Many tribal people from Bastar joined the party because of the excesses committed by Judum mobs,” said Sanjay Potam, alias Badru, former CPI (Maoists) divisional committee member in the Darbha area.