May 1 is observed as Labour Day in several parts of the world. It is also celebrated as Maharashtra Divas to commemorate the foundation of the state fifty-nine years ago. On this day, right in the middle of the world’s greatest general elections, Leftist extremists, better known as Naxals or Maoists, once again sent a grim and ghastly reminder of their power and presence in India’s most backward and tribal regions. Fifteen commandos of the Quick Response Team (QRT) were blown up by an improvised explosive device (IED). They were travelling in a private vehicle on the Kurkheda-Korchi road in north Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, a district bordering Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Their civilian driver was also killed.

What is noteworthy is that this was the second strike in a span of 24 hours. The previous night, Naxals torched some thirty-five vehicles nearby. This was possibly a trap to lure the QRT commandos to the site where a ghastly ambush awaited them. Most of the destroyed vehicles belonged to an infrastructure company contracted for road works at the Purada-Yerkad sector, National Highway 136. No surprise that Leftist-extremists are so dead set against development. The vehicles were incinerated towards the end of the week-long first-anniversary protest of the killing of 40 extremists by security personnel last year on April 22. But, the blast that killed our commandos was a blow far worse and more damaging than the loss of property. Left extremists use terror tactics as deadly as jihadi suicide bombers. The Gadchiroli massacre not only echoed the Sri Lankan Easter Day church massacre, but also, ironically, the start of the satirical movie Newton, which begins with an election-time explosion.

Why are Maoists succeeding against the state despite decade-long efforts to eliminate them? There are two reasons. The first is that they have managed to capture, whether by brainwashing, blackmail or brutal violence the hearts and minds of some of our most deprived and exploited Adivasi (indigenous) and Vanvasi (forest-dwelling) citizens. These folks have been neglected, abused, and oppressed for centuries by colonial, national, or local elites. The fruits of development have hardly reached them, whether better roads, schools, electricity, water, or medical facilities. Now, they are told that their forests and natural resources are also being sold to predatory capitalists in the name of progress and prosperity.

Captured by this powerful narrative, a small section of our neglected populace has been used by Left revolutionary insurgents against the state. What makes tribal Maoists formidable opponents is that they can persist on almost nothing in areas that are so deeply forested or remote as to be impenetrable to the more modernised and so-called civilised state-security forces. Moreover, tribal solidarity, cultural practices, information-gathering and sharing, and other survival mechanisms are beyond the normal or expected parameters. While other sectors of the Indian society have realised that both communism and insurgency are doomed to fail, such understanding has not yet clearly dawned upon some of our Maoist tribals.

The second reason why Leftist insurgents manage to kill our better-trained and equipped security forces is that they rarely engage in direct combat. Instead, they use IEDs and other remotely detonated explosives. It was in such an explosion that Bheema Mandavi, BJP MLA, was killed a few weeks earlier. We now know that a variety of such lethel stratagems including radio-controlled, victim-operated or wire-triggered explosives are used to target security forces. In addition, the better trained of the Maoists also deploy mines for foot patrols or launch rocket attacks on camps.&nbsp;

There are also periodic The silver lining to this dark cloud is that Leftist extremist fatalities have been steadily decreasing. From a shocking annual casualty rate over 1000 ten years back, we are down to less than a 100 this year. What is more, Gadchiroli-Chimur reported very high voting on 28 April during the 2nd phase of the Lok Sabha elections. A whopping 71.58 per cent&nbsp;of eligible voters exercised their franchise. There is little doubt that with adequate political will and sufficient deployment of resources Leftist-extremism will gradually become extinct somewhat like the dacoits of Chambal. Determined action, both at the state and national level, is imperative. 
 
This the current dispensation as opposed to earlier regimes, seems to have demonstrated in ample measure. In addition, if the benefits of progress also reach our Naxal-infested regions, this menace is bound to be a thing of the past.lapses on part of the security forces themselves, whether in intelligence gathering or in neglecting standard operating procedures. The resultant loss of life and limb is incalculable, especially considering how much effort and expense are invested to create and train even a single commando, who becomes a valuable national asset.

(This article was originally published on The DNA. Read the <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-grisly-reminder-of-leftist-extremism-at-gadchiroli-2745704">original article</a>)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)

May 1 is observed as Labour Day in several parts of the world. It is also celebrated as Maharashtra Divas to commemorate the foundation of the state fifty-nine years ago.

May 1 is observed as Labour Day in several parts of the world. It is also celebrated as Maharashtra Divas to commemorate the foundation of the state fifty-nine years ago. On this day, right in the middle of the world’s greatest general elections, Leftist extremists, better known as Naxals or Maoists, once again sent a grim and ghastly reminder of their power and presence in India’s most backward and tribal regions. Fifteen commandos of the Quick Response Team (QRT) were blown up by an improvised explosive device (IED). They were travelling in a private vehicle on the Kurkheda-Korchi road in north Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, a district bordering Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Their civilian driver was also killed. What is noteworthy is that this was the second strike in a span of 24 hours. The previous night, Naxals torched some thirty-five vehicles nearby. This was possibly a trap to lure the QRT commandos to the site where a ghastly ambush awaited them. Most of the destroyed vehicles belonged to an infrastructure company contracted for road works at the Purada-Yerkad sector, National Highway 136. No surprise that Leftist-extremists are so dead set against development. The vehicles were incinerated towards the end of the week-long first-anniversary protest of the killing of 40 extremists by security personnel last year on April 22. But, the blast that killed our commandos was a blow far worse and more damaging than the loss of property. Left extremists use terror tactics as deadly as jihadi suicide bombers. The Gadchiroli massacre not only echoed the Sri Lankan Easter Day church massacre, but also, ironically, the start of the satirical movie Newton, which begins with an election-time explosion. Why are Maoists succeeding against the state despite decade-long efforts to eliminate them? There are two reasons. The first is that they have managed to capture, whether by brainwashing, blackmail or brutal violence the hearts and minds of some of our most deprived and exploited Adivasi (indigenous) and Vanvasi (forest-dwelling) citizens. These folks have been neglected, abused, and oppressed for centuries by colonial, national, or local elites. The fruits of development have hardly reached them, whether better roads, schools, electricity, water, or medical facilities. Now, they are told that their forests and natural resources are also being sold to predatory capitalists in the name of progress and prosperity. Captured by this powerful narrative, a small section of our neglected populace has been used by Left revolutionary insurgents against the state. What makes tribal Maoists formidable opponents is that they can persist on almost nothing in areas that are so deeply forested or remote as to be impenetrable to the more modernised and so-called civilised state-security forces. Moreover, tribal solidarity, cultural practices, information-gathering and sharing, and other survival mechanisms are beyond the normal or expected parameters. While other sectors of the Indian society have realised that both communism and insurgency are doomed to fail, such understanding has not yet clearly dawned upon some of our Maoist tribals. The second reason why Leftist insurgents manage to kill our better-trained and equipped security forces is that they rarely engage in direct combat. Instead, they use IEDs and other remotely detonated explosives. It was in such an explosion that Bheema Mandavi, BJP MLA, was killed a few weeks earlier. We now know that a variety of such lethel stratagems including radio-controlled, victim-operated or wire-triggered explosives are used to target security forces. In addition, the better trained of the Maoists also deploy mines for foot patrols or launch rocket attacks on camps. There are also periodic The silver lining to this dark cloud is that Leftist extremist fatalities have been steadily decreasing. From a shocking annual casualty rate over 1000 ten years back, we are down to less than a 100 this year. What is more, Gadchiroli-Chimur reported very high voting on 28 April during the 2nd phase of the Lok Sabha elections. A whopping 71.58 per cent of eligible voters exercised their franchise. There is little doubt that with adequate political will and sufficient deployment of resources Leftist-extremism will gradually become extinct somewhat like the dacoits of Chambal. Determined action, both at the state and national level, is imperative. This the current dispensation as opposed to earlier regimes, seems to have demonstrated in ample measure. In addition, if the benefits of progress also reach our Naxal-infested regions, this menace is bound to be a thing of the past.lapses on part of the security forces themselves, whether in intelligence gathering or in neglecting standard operating procedures. The resultant loss of life and limb is incalculable, especially considering how much effort and expense are invested to create and train even a single commando, who becomes a valuable national asset. (This article was originally published on The DNA. Read the original article) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)

Grisly reminder of leftist extremism at Gadchiroli

Though the 2019 Lok Sabha election may go down in history as a different kind of electoral battle, there is no denying the fact that the Communist movement is facing a crisis of existence, almost a century after its birth in India.

Be it in Kerala or Bengal, and to a certain extent, Tripura and Begusarai, it may lose at the hands of secular parties and not the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It is certainly time for introspection for the mainstream Communist movement in India.

Interestingly, the Left has bounced back in Nepal, where they came to power 16 months ago, or in Mexico, where they won an election last summer. These developments took place more than a quarter century after the collapse of the Reds in Russia. In the same way, China is mostly Communist in name, while post-Castro Cuba is a different country now.

The Indian Communists may have their own political compulsions in Kerala where they are in power and the only force strong enough to take on the Congress. The saffron party has a relatively small base in that state. But in Bengal, there was some possibility of an alliance between the Left and Congress as they had contested the last Assembly election together, yet no such seat-sharing arrangement could be worked out this time. 
 
Notwithstanding the failure of an alliance with secular parties, people, in general, recognise contributions of the Left in fighting political opponents — be it Congress in the past, or the BJP now.

Perhaps they are missing personalities like Harkishen Singh Surjeet, Indrajit Gupta, Jyoti Basu and Somnath Chatterjee. Today there is a general feeling among the non-Communist secular parties that the Left is not following the line of Sitaram Yechury, but of Prakash Karat, the present general secretary of the CPM.

It was in Kerala that the first ever elected Communist government in the world came to power in 1957, when EMS Namboodiripad became the chief minister of the state. If things continue to go the way they are, Pinarayi Vijayan may end up becoming the last elected Chief Minister from the Left!

They have not only lost power in Bengal and Tripura, but have also become more or less politically irrelevant in these two states.

Incidentally, Kanhaiya Kumar the former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union — perhaps by default — has brought a glimmer of hope for the Communist movement. But he is too young and too new to the electoral battle of such a complex constituency as Begusarai, from where he has been fielded. That is why several Left-leaning activists have questioned the wisdom of the CPI to expose him to the rough and tumble of polls so early in his career. They are now asking as to why the Communists failed to build an alliance in Bengal and Begusarai — even if there was no scope for it in Kerala.

The Communists cannot put all the blame on the Congress in Bengal or the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar. From the very beginning, they started making unrealistic demands regarding sharing of seats in Bihar and Bengal. For example, the CPI demanded six Lok Sabha seats from the ‘Grand Alliance’ without any presence in the Bihar Assembly. 
 
The big question is even if Kanhaiya wins from Begusarai, how many seats will the Communists win in the rest of the country?

If the Communists end up winning just a handful of seats, Kanhaiya would not be in a position to wage the so-called war against communalism alone. It seems that the hard-line ideological position is taking its toll on the Communist movement in India.

Strangely, even the bitterest rivals of Communists have never questioned their political commitment and honesty of their leaders. Even in Bengal, where they ruled for 34 years, nobody charged them with corruption, though they have repeatedly been blamed for violence and political arm-twisting.

If the Indian Left is really in the lurch, they themselves are to blame. They perhaps failed to read the writing on the wall. 
 
(This article was originally published on The DNA. Read the <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-left-s-unrealistic-poll-demands-scuttled-alliances-2744403">original article</a>)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)&nbsp;

Though the 2019 Lok Sabha election may go down in history as a different kind of electoral battle, there is no denying the fact that the Communist movement is facing a crisis of existence, almost a century after its birth in India.

Though the 2019 Lok Sabha election may go down in history as a different kind of electoral battle, there is no denying the fact that the Communist movement is facing a crisis of existence, almost a century after its birth in India. Be it in Kerala or Bengal, and to a certain extent, Tripura and Begusarai, it may lose at the hands of secular parties and not the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It is certainly time for introspection for the mainstream Communist movement in India. Interestingly, the Left has bounced back in Nepal, where they came to power 16 months ago, or in Mexico, where they won an election last summer. These developments took place more than a quarter century after the collapse of the Reds in Russia. In the same way, China is mostly Communist in name, while post-Castro Cuba is a different country now. The Indian Communists may have their own political compulsions in Kerala where they are in power and the only force strong enough to take on the Congress. The saffron party has a relatively small base in that state. But in Bengal, there was some possibility of an alliance between the Left and Congress as they had contested the last Assembly election together, yet no such seat-sharing arrangement could be worked out this time. Notwithstanding the failure of an alliance with secular parties, people, in general, recognise contributions of the Left in fighting political opponents — be it Congress in the past, or the BJP now. Perhaps they are missing personalities like Harkishen Singh Surjeet, Indrajit Gupta, Jyoti Basu and Somnath Chatterjee. Today there is a general feeling among the non-Communist secular parties that the Left is not following the line of Sitaram Yechury, but of Prakash Karat, the present general secretary of the CPM. It was in Kerala that the first ever elected Communist government in the world came to power in 1957, when EMS Namboodiripad became the chief minister of the state. If things continue to go the way they are, Pinarayi Vijayan may end up becoming the last elected Chief Minister from the Left! They have not only lost power in Bengal and Tripura, but have also become more or less politically irrelevant in these two states. Incidentally, Kanhaiya Kumar the former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union — perhaps by default — has brought a glimmer of hope for the Communist movement. But he is too young and too new to the electoral battle of such a complex constituency as Begusarai, from where he has been fielded. That is why several Left-leaning activists have questioned the wisdom of the CPI to expose him to the rough and tumble of polls so early in his career. They are now asking as to why the Communists failed to build an alliance in Bengal and Begusarai — even if there was no scope for it in Kerala. The Communists cannot put all the blame on the Congress in Bengal or the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar. From the very beginning, they started making unrealistic demands regarding sharing of seats in Bihar and Bengal. For example, the CPI demanded six Lok Sabha seats from the ‘Grand Alliance’ without any presence in the Bihar Assembly. The big question is even if Kanhaiya wins from Begusarai, how many seats will the Communists win in the rest of the country? If the Communists end up winning just a handful of seats, Kanhaiya would not be in a position to wage the so-called war against communalism alone. It seems that the hard-line ideological position is taking its toll on the Communist movement in India. Strangely, even the bitterest rivals of Communists have never questioned their political commitment and honesty of their leaders. Even in Bengal, where they ruled for 34 years, nobody charged them with corruption, though they have repeatedly been blamed for violence and political arm-twisting. If the Indian Left is really in the lurch, they themselves are to blame. They perhaps failed to read the writing on the wall. (This article was originally published on The DNA. Read the original article) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)

2019 Lok Sabha polls: Left’s unrealistic poll demands scuttled alliances

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Grisly reminder of leftist extremism at Gadchiroli

2019 Lok Sabha polls: Left’s unrealistic poll demands scuttled alliances