he head of the Maoist organisation in South Bastar has lashed out at the government, the police and the media for “fuelling speculation and indulging in propaganda” about the alleged rift between Telugu leaders and Bastar tribal cadres of the party.
“The media is being misled [by the police and the government] to spread rumours about a rift between Telugu-speaking leaders of the party and the tribals of Bastar. Are the people of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, who are working for the party, not the citizens of India?” asked Ganesh Uike, secretary of the South Regional Committee (SRC) of the banned CPI (Maoist) in a press statement.
“Many leaders and cadres of our party, who hailed from Andhra and Telangana areas, have sacrificed their lives while fighting for the rights of Bastar tribals. Our party does not work under the limitations of caste, creed, religion, sect and region,” claimed Mr. Uike, who is also a member of the Danda Karanya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) of the Maoists.
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The Maoist leader questioned the “miniscule and symbolic” importance given to some “powerless” leaders in the name of so-called representation by the mainstream political parties.
Listing the names of some non-tribal senior politicians, bureaucrats, police officers, contractors and businessmen working in Bastar, the SRC secretary asked if they were the original residents of Bastar.
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Taking a dig at mainstream political parties, Mr. Uike said his party did not work for bureaucrats, contractors and corporate houses.
“They [mainstream political parties and the government] call us anti-national. But we are the real patriots of this country and are fighting for the rights of the common people,” he claimed.
“Execution”
Mr. Uike accepted the “execution” of some Maoist leaders by their own party men and agreed that some senior party cadres had joined the police in the past few months in Bastar.
“Some senior cadres like Mallesh and Kiran have surrendered to the police. The police are utilising these politically corrupt people to spread misinformation in the media about the discrimination against the party’s tribal cadres by its Telugu-speaking leaders. The police are also spreading lies that this discrimination is leading to the spate of surrenders which is false,” he added.
On the killing of its own leaders by the party, the SRC secretary said, “The police are trying to weave a network of informers inside our party through some of our own leaders. Their aim was to target senior leaders of the party, however, we identified such traitors and destroyed the police conspiracy.”
Five senior Maoists active in the Darbha division of Bastar were killed by their own party men last month.
Mr. Uike, however, said that only two of them, Badaru and Bhagat, were “executed” as per the decision of the “people’s court” and the rest were spared.
“Kosi and Vagi were warned and sent back to their villages and Hurra ran away to join the police,” he said.
Blaming the presence of over one lakh security troops in Bastar for the “destruction” of the social and cultural life of tribals, Mr. Uike asked the people to condemn the “anti-people” propaganda of the police.
“Our party has seen many ups and downs since its inception. Be it Salwa Judum or the operation Green Hunt. But the revolutionary public does not get misled by the false propaganda and is standing behind the party to intensify the people’s war,” he claimed.
The media is misled about rift between Telugu-speaking leaders of the party and the tribals