The Maoist Reality

Is it true that Maoists have links with the Trinamool Congress? Is it true that Maoists have covert support of the CPI(M)? Is it true that the expelled cadres of the CPI(M) form a large chunk of the Maoist foot soldiers in West Bengal? These questions have time and again cropped up and confused the administration as well the observers of this low-intensity, protracted war underway in the jungles of the eastern State of India.


The Communist Party of India (Maoist) was founded in 2004 which aims to overthrow the Government of India and other States of the country. If this is the goal of the Maoists how can they become a friend of any political party, be it the Trinamool or the CPI(M). In West Bengal, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, the Maoists are waging a war against the respective State governments. And no where the Maoists are either the friends of the ruling party or the Opposition. The Maoists everywhere are working among the tribals and fighting the para-military forces tooth and nail.


So to think that in Bengal they are either with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee or Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee is ridiculous. In reality, the Maoists are waging an armed struggle where they have made development an issue to rally the tribals behind them to achieve their armed revolution. As in other States, the Maoists in Bengal are convincing the tribals, and rightly so, the government has done nothing for their development in the last six decades and it is time to overthrow them now. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that the Maoists are hands-in-gloves either with Buddha or Mamata.


As for the purged members of the CPI(M) joining the Maoists, this is a matter of huge speculation. But there is no doubt that with time, some not very Mao Zedong ideology-driven people have joined the rank and file of the Maoists. What's worse, the Maoist leadership has no control over their activities as well and these elements are bringing bad name to the revolutionary outfit by committing sins of omission and commission.


    


  










     

The Maoist Question

With politicians of all political hues calling the Maoists to the negotiating table, will the ultra-Left outfit finally give up arms for development? Or will they continue the low-intensity conflict and the War against the State?