Anti-Tribal politician Mahendra Karma Dead - Citizens congratulate Maoists

The assassination of Mahendra Karma , an anti-tribal politician and the face of Salwa Judum has sparked wide spread jubilation and celebration among netizens.

Netizens celebrate assassination of the Monster of Bastar.

Given below is a small sample of comments that have appeared online from ordinary citizens celebrating the death  of Mahendra Karma.

Keep Fighting  Keep Fighting About time the Exploited and Abused peoples of India wake up and do Justice because the Corrupt Upper class will Never ever allow any.. I Salute these people

ss (india) At least now the naxals are on the right track. 

Prince (Patna)This is something which I found better done at part of Naxal, as instead of killing the innocent common men, they have rightfully started attacking the corrupt politicians....the real meance and reason behid our sorrow. Anyone who today attacks the politicians of this naiton is unofficially declared real national hero. 

manoj jha  (nowhere) Good, Naxalite instead of targeting CRPF perosnnel settle there score with political class and let political class get the message what you reap is what you sow. 

zen world (Delhi) I wonder how Maoists have eventually recognized the right people! 

Vettrivel Tamil (Tamilnadu) First time i am noticing one thing 99 percent of the people feel happy one corrupted politician has been killed.. I feel sad how much these congressmen have tortured the tribals. so that they were forced to attack the corrupted politicians. My heart goes to all the Tribal people Brutalised and oppressed by congress politicians. 

Raj (Bangalore) Good news. Well done Maoists. Eliminate all these corrupt politicians. Death to the landlords and capitalists! Long live communism! Long live the working class! 

Prince (Patna) Well Done! Some burdens over this country is reduced. 

john.s (kolkata) politicians getting killed is a happy news . whichever way it comes 

Deepak (Bangalore) Even though anyone's killing should be condemned in the strongest of words but this is a good lesson to the political class who dont care for the common peoples suffering!. They will understand only when the problem comes to their doorsteps!. In that sense I welcome this move of naxalites to target the political class! 

Vineet (Trichy)The Maoists seem to be on the right track! For a change they're choosing their targets carefully and being effective at it! This should soften the hatred of the common people; as long as they don't harbour dreams of coming to power. 

Amit (Ranchi) Some one is saying very sad news!! How?? First time they recognized whom to attack and kill and they successfully did it. Hope they will continue with this tactics and stop killing common people and CRPF guys!! 

sourav0612 Roy (Dubai) At last God gave them the proper targets, only 2 is not enough there are thousands of such goons..nyway very good job done.. Perhaps this is the only way left to wipe out those b@$t@rd$.... They will never bring Jan lok pal.. neither they will do any good for 125Cr.. I salute those brave men 

K.parameshwar (Mysore) For once the maoists have done a good job. It is in national interest. Hats off to them.. 

Hushar_manus (Mumbai) Dear Naxalites - ' Why don't you target bigger white collar day light robbers like Kalmadi, A Raja, Bansal and others..." I am sure people of this country will appreciate your actions what they could not do the same in last 50 years to this bl00dy Congress... 

Notes Of A Madman (HINDU Republic Of INDIA) For the first time in these 50 Years, Maoist did something GOOD in their life. Hail it. 

deva (pune) naxlaite please go to delhi, lot many congressi will be there..they are looting motherland left right and center.not supporting of killing but dont mind if these congressi will be cleaned 

das (bangalore) Its not an attack on democracy but attack on corrupt criminal politicians. Maoists should get rid of all corrupt politicians. They are on the right track. 

Rakesh Goel (Lucknow) I think that the people in general would not care much if netas are killed. The naxalites should not target the policemen but the real culprits who are destroying the country. 

Santa Singh (Patiala) Forget Kejriwal, we all should join the Maoist. Great service to the nation. Moji aap aage badho, hum kapde samhalte hai.

Prathiba the (New Delhi) Indian People. You have the right to live in India. India is your country. Eliminate the corrupted terrorists from the earth. 

Prathiba the (New Delhi) People woke up. Good. Let the people take action against the terrorist group like Salwa Judum!! Notorious Congress Killer gang should be eliminated. 

Deba (Bangalore) well.. i would say good riddence. I read some of the comments posted here and most of the people are happy that these congress guys got killed, i am sure most of the nation will be happy today. But some are blaming the Maoists. Let me tell you about my experience that i had. I am sure most of the people who are commenting over here do not even know who the maoists are. Do you think that they are the mafia, goondas?? You are wrong. I have visited maoists stronghold in Odisha, Andhra. I have actually spoken to them, i have seen their way of life. The maoists are actually tribals, they are the poorest of the poor people of india. These tribals have lived a simple life based on forests for time immemorial. But suddenly, after independence when the govt, the politicians were supposed to work towards the betterment of these people, they were forgotten. Before independence the naxals, maoists were a part of the freedom struggle, They were a part of the govt till about the 70s when they decided to part ways, they were just not able to take the dirty politics and the corruption that had crept into the govt. even today, if you visit the villages of these tribals you will be amazed to see the conditions in which they live. Electricity is not there, their houses are made of sticks and mud, one kick and the entire house falls apart. and they live in those houses amongst tigers, elephants, bears. when they go to sleep in the night, they do not know if they will be alive the next morning or will they see their loved ones the next morning. That is the reality. the govt. employees, the police and now the soldiers are all bent on exploiting them to the fullest. A juniro engineer comes to the village to give approval for a tube well and sanction funds, to do that he will demand Rs.30000 as bribe and also will demand sex with the women folks of the villages. Tell me in all probability if you are a self respecting man in such a situation what will you do? What is wrong in picking up an axe, knife and killing that junior engineer? What is the harm in killing a police officer who exploits you and your family? The truth is far removed from what the corrupt congress govt. is trying to potray. Chidambaram is the biggest terrorist of this country, he alone is responsible for killing many tribals, infact so many that you can term it as genocide, and it is happening right infront of our eyes. Do not blame the maoists, naxals without knowing as to what is their motivation. One man can be wrong, even two, three can be wrong, but not lakhs and lakhs. There has to be fire for smoke to come out. 

vivek (bbsr) Blow up all those greedy politician. Only then they will fear to enter into ruling. Hats off naxalist. I think this is what all the public really wished in their mind to these politician. 

nicks (india) Dear maoists, please put one more name in your diary to eliminate... Its Mr. Sharad Pawar... Kindly do d needful as soon as possible... Thanking you, True Indian 

shailendra (delhi) Kill the corrupt congresis intea of innocent ccrpf jawans 

Dhirendra Singh (mumbai)After a long time such a good news is coming out..well done naxalites, Please do not target innocent peoples instead continue to do such kind of great job by eliminating greedy and corrupt looters (so called leaders). 

Dhirendra Singh (mumbai)A good job indeed by naxalites..wash out them...'A BIG CHANGE IN CHHATTISGARH'. Jogi must also have been killed.... 

Anjaan (USA) replies to jyotirmoyYou mo**er fu**er, have you ever asked yourself why these poor aboriginal people have taken up arms .....?? ....... these are brave people that do not accept the current corrupt system of looting the nation in the name of democracy ...... they can not wait another 100 years for social justice ...... the Indian army need to learn from these brave people ...... stop taking instructions from political leadership ......... 

All the above comments are taken from the below article published on the TOI.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Congress-leader-VC-Shukla-critically-injured-in-Maoist-ambush-one-killed/articleshow/20263979.cms

Update : 29/05/2013

There has been a flood of positive responses from the general public to the assassination of political leaders in Chhattisgarh. Government controlled media outlets have now embarked on a campaign to stifle public opinion. The comments section in newly published articles are no longer open ,as a reader has pointed out...

Anand  : I find it most amazing that the comments section is closed on almost all articles dealing with this naxal act barely withen an our of the posting. There is a definitely a tilt towards the ruling elite in the First post policy. 

Let me first mention that I am absolutely aganist any such acts of murder no matter what the reason may be. They should be condemned with the strongest words possible.
But still the fact remains that all govts irrespective of their political affliations are to be blamed for this. 

They have to realise that the Indian public has for too long tolerated their corrupt ways. One the day a backlash is going to happen. 

Today it is in the form of naxal actions, but if the politicians do not change their ways it will definitely spread to the rest of the country. Police or military action aganist naxals is not going to be the solution but will soon become a part of the problem. 

The only solution is that govt. policy must change. Corruption must stop. Economic benefits must be made available to the poorer section of the society. 

This is a country which has a amazingly vast chasm between the rich and poor - between the all powerful political elite and the common man. 

The politicians are completely out of touch with reality at the grass roots levels. They are living in a dream world of their own making. And until they accept the reality of the Indian masses such incidents will continue. 

Let's pray they come to their senses soon and avoid plunging this great country into the destructive cauldron of a revolution.

Source : http://www.firstpost.com/india/chhattisgarh-attack-live-post-mortem-report-shows-multiple-bullet-wounds-on-karmas-body-815801.html

Desktop Militants and Public Intellectuals : Social Opposition in the Age of Internet

Came across this article on another blog, reposting it here for readers.

Invited paper to be read at the “Symposium on Re-Publicness” Sponsored by the Chamber of Electrical Engineers. Ankara Turkey, December 9 – 10, 2011

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Social Opposition in the Age of Internet: Desktop “Militants” and Public Intellectuals

Introduction

The relation of information technology (IT) and more specifically the internet, to politics is a central issue facing contemporary social movements. Like many previous scientific advances the IT innovations have a dual purpose: on the one hand, it has accelerated the global flow of capital, especially financial capital and facilitated imperialist ‘globalization’. On the other hand the internet has served to provide alternative critical sources of analysis as well as easy communication to mobilize popular movements.

The IT industry has created a new class of billionaires, from Silicon Valley in California to Bangalore, India. They have played a central role in the expansion of economic colonialism via their monopoly control in diverse spheres of information flows and entertainment.

To paraphrase Marx “the internet has become the opium of the people”. Young and old, employed and unemployed alike spend hours passively gazing at spectacles, pornography, video games, online consumerism and even “news” in isolation from other citizens, fellow workers and employees.

In many cases the “overflow” of “news” on the internet has saturated the internet, absorbing time and energy and diverting the ‘watchers’ from reflection and action. Just as too little and biased news by the mass media distorts popular consciousness, too many internet messages can immobilize citizen action.

The internet, deliberately or not,has “privatized” political life. Many otherwise potential activists have come to believe that circulating manifestos to other individuals is a political act, forgetting that only public action, including confrontations with their adversaries in public spaces, in city centers and in the countryside, is the basis of political transformations.

IT and Financial Capital

Let us remember that the original impetus for the growth of “IT” came from the demands of big financial institutions, investment banks and speculative traders who sought to move billions of dollars and euros with the touch of a finger from one country to another, from one enterprise to another, from one commodity to another.

Internet technology was the motor force for the growth of globalization at the service of financial capital. In some ways IT played a major role in precipitating the two global financial crises of the past decade (2001-2002, 2008–2009). The bubble in IT stocks of 2001 was a result of the speculative promotion of overvalued “software firms” de-linked from the ‘real economy’. The global financial crash of 2008-2009 and its continuation today, was induced by the computerized packaging of financial swindles and underfunded real estate mortgages. The ‘virtues’ of the internet, its rapid relay of information in the context of speculator capitalism turned out to be a major contributing factor to the worse capitalist crises since the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

The Democratization of the Internet

The internet became accessible to the masses as a market for commercial enterprise and then spread to other social and political uses. Most importantly it became a means of informing the larger public of the exploitation and pillage of countries and people by multi-national banks. The internet exposed the lies which accompany US and EU imperialist wars in the Middle East and Sothern Asia.

The internet has become contested terrain, a new form of class struggle,engaging national liberation and pro-democracy movements. The major movements and leaders from the armed fighters in the mountains of Afghanistan to the pro-democracy activists in Egypt, to the student movements in Chile and including the poor peoples’ housing movement in Turkey, rely on the internet to inform the world of their struggles, programs, state repression and popular victories. The internet links peoples’ struggles across national boundaries – it is a key weapon in creating a new internationalism to counter capitalist globalization and imperial wars.

To paraphrase Lenin, we could argue that 21st century socialism can be summed up by the equation: “soviets plus internet = participatory socialism”.

The Internet and Class Politics

We should remember that computerized information techniques are not ‘neutral’ – their political impact depends on their users and overseers who determine who and what class interests they will serve. More generally the internet must be contextualized in terms of its insertion in public space.

Internet has served to mobilize thousands of workers in China and peasants in India against corporate exploiters and real estate developers. But computerized aerial warfare has become the NATO weapon of choice to bomb and destroy independent Libya.The US drones which send missiles that kill civilians in Pakistan, Yemen are directed by computer ‘intelligence’. The location of Colombian guerrillas and the deadly aerial bombings are computerized. In other words IT technology has dual uses: for popular liberation or imperial counter revolution.

Neoliberalism and Public Space

The discussion of “public space” has frequently assumed that “public” means greater state intervention on behalf of the welfare of the majority; greater regulation of capitalism and increased protection of the environment. In other words benign “public” actors are counter posed to exploitative private market forces.

In the context of the rise of neo-liberal ideology and policies, many progressive writers argue about the “decline of the public sphere”. This argument overlooks the fact that the “public sphere” has increased its role in society, economy and politics on behalf of capital, especially financial capital and foreign investors. The “public sphere”, specifically the state is much more intrusive in civil society as a repressive force, particularly as neo-liberal policies increase inequalities. Because of the intensification and deepening of the financial crises, the public sphere (the state) has undertaken a massive role in bailing out bankrupt banks.

Because of large scale fiscal deficits provoked by capitalist class tax evasion, colonial war spending and public subsidies to big business, the public sphere (state) imposes class based “austerity” program cutting social expenditures and prejudicing public employees, pensioners, and private wage and salaried employees.

The public sphere diminished its role in the productive sector of the economy. However, the military sector has grown with expansion of colonial and imperial wars.

The basic issue underlying any discussion of the public sphere and the social opposition is not its decline or growth but rather the class interests which define the role of the public sphere. Under neo-liberalism, the public sphere is directed by the use of public treasury to finance bank bailouts, militarism and expanded police state intervention. A public sphere directed by the “social opposition” (workers, farmers, professionals, employees) would enlarge the scope of public sphere activity with regard to health, education, pensions, environment and employment.

The concept of the “public sphere” has two opposing faces (Janus-like): one facing capital and the military; the other labor/social opposition. The role of the internet is also subject to this duality: on the one hand the internet facilitates large scale movements of capital and rapid imperial military interventions; on the other hand it provides rapid flow of information to mobilize the social opposition. The basic question is what kind of information is transmitted to what political actors and for what social interest?

The Internet and the Social Opposition: The Threat of State Repression

For the social opposition the internet is first and foremost a vital source of alternative critical information to educate and mobilize the “public” – especially among progressive opinion- leaders, professionals, trade unionists and peasant leaders, militants and activists. The internet is the alternative to the capitalist mass media and its propaganda, a source of news and information that relays manifestos and informs activists of sites for public action. Because of the internet’s progressive role as an instrument of the social opposition it is subject to surveillance by the repressive police-state apparatus. For example, in the USA over 800,000 functionaries are employed by the “Homeland Security” police agency to spy on billions of emails, faxes, telephone calls of millions of US citizens. How effective the policing of tons of information each day is another question. But the fact is that the internet is not a “free and secure source of information, debate and discussion. In fact as the internet becomes more effective in mobilizing the social movements in opposition to the imperial and colonial state, the greater is the likelihood of police-state intervention under the pretext “combating terrorism”.

The Internet and Contemporary Struggle: Is it Revolutionary?

It is important to recognize the importance of the internet in detonating certain social movements as well as relativizing its overall significance.

The internet has played a vital role in publicizing and mobilizing “spontaneous protests” like the ‘indignados’ (the indignant protestors) mostly unaffiliated unemployed youth in Spain and the protestors involved in the US “Occupy Wall Street”. In other instances, for example, the mass general strikes in Italy, Portugal, Greece and elsewhere the organized trade union confederations played a central role and the internet had a secondary impact.

In highly repressive countries like Egypt, Tunisia and China, the internet played a major role in publicizing public action and organizing mass protests. However, the internet has not led to any successful revolutions – it can inform, provide a forum for debate, and mobilize, but it cannot provide leadership and organization to sustain political action let alone a strategy for taking state power. The illusion that some internet gurus foster, that ‘computerized’ action replaces the need for a disciplined, political party, has been demonstrated to be false: the internet can facilitate movement but only an organized social opposition can provide the tactical and strategic direction which can sustain the movement against state repression and toward successful struggles.

In other words, the internet is not an “end in itself” – the self-congratulatory posture of internet ideologues in heralding a new “revolutionary” information age overlooks the fact that the NATO powers, Israel and their allies and clients now use the internet to plant viruses to disrupt economies, sabotage defense programs and promote ethno-religious uprisings. Israel sent damaging viruses to hinder Iran’s peaceful nuclear program; the US, France and Turkey incited client social opposition in Libya and Syria. In a word, the internet has become the new terrain of class and anti-imperialist struggle. The internet is a means not an end in itself. The internet is part of a public sphere whose purpose and results are determined by the larger class structure in which it is embedded.

Concluding Remarks: “Desktop Militants” and Public Intellectuals

The social opposition is defined by public action: the presence of collectivities in political meetings, individuals speaking at public meetings, activists marching in public squares, militant trade unionists confronting employers, poor people demanding sites for housing and public services from public authorities…

To address an active assembled public meeting, to formulate ideas, programs and propose programs and strategies through political action defines the role of the public intellectual. To sit at a desk in an office, in splendid isolation, sending out five manifestos per minute defines a “desktop militant”. It is a form pseudo-militancy that isolates the word from the deed. Desktop “militancy” is an act of verbal inaction, of inconsequential “activism”, a make-believe revolution of the mind. The exchange of internet communications becomes a political act when it engages in public social movements that challenge power. By necessity that involves risks for the public intellectual: of police assaults in public spaces and economic reprisals in the private sphere. The desktop “activists” risk nothing and accomplish little. The public intellectual links the private discontents of individuals to the social activism of the collectivity. The academic critic comes to a site of action, speaks and returns to their academic office. The public intellectual speaks and sustains a long-term political educational commitment with the social opposition in the public sphere via the internet and in face to face daily encounters.

Source : http://petras.lahaine.org/?p=1880

Restarting this blog - 4th Anniversary of Naxal Revolution

I have decided to partially restart this blog.This decision is influenced by many reasons but primarily because of the increase in traffic this blog has witnessed in the past few weeks.

The offline activities of the Maoists in India has in turn directed a large amount of traffic online with a lot of  people interested in knowing more about the Maoist Movement in India.

Traffic Increase to this blog after Dantewada Massacre.

Traffic increase to this blog after SPO bus was blown up and the second bump is from the train derailment.

In fact currently this blog receives more visitor traffic now than what it used to get 2 years ago even though I have posted only half a dozen times in past year.

Also in this month the 9th June,2010 is the 4th Anniversary of this blog.You could take a look at the first blog post here.It's difficult to believe four years have passed since I started this blog.It all seems like just yesterday.In the process we all have grown and our views have evolved.Many bloggers have stopped while new bloggers are there on the scene.

I have decided to break my self imposed exile from posting on this blog  and shall hence forth publish with an independent perspective on this blog

Clueless cops turn sitting ducks in Naxal land

Agencies.Raipur, May 13:
This month Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh have killed over 30 people, most of them security personnel. Security experts are saying the police are not following "basic points" of insurgency warfare and were thus often reduced to "sitting ducks".

The latest bout of criticism has come after 12 policemen and the driver of one of their buses were killed Sunday in the state's Dhamtari district, a new area of operation for the rebels, who had earlier been concentrated further south in the state's Bastar region.

In Dhamtari, about 150 armed rebels ambushed a 41-strong police team travelling in three vehicles. As the rebels' landmine blast tossed the vehicles up in the air, the Maoists started spraying bullets at the hapless policemen.

For about 16 hours, the police headquarters here did not have a clear idea of what had happened. Only around noon Monday did the officials say 12 men of their district force and a driver had been killed. Several of the bodies were found disfigured and charred and police are still to match each name to each mutilated body.

"The tenets of jungle warfare must be followed. I keep advising trainees they must follow 48 points and on top of the list is never use vehicles in jungle roads for operation purposes," Brigadier (retd.) B.K. Ponwar, director of the Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College (CTJWC), said.

"Vehicles should be used only for carriage of ration, stores and ammunition. But the forces are not following the basic points."

The CTJWC was set up by the Chhattisgarh government in 2005 in Kanker town of Bastar region, hardly 50 km from the site where guerrillas attacked the police convoy in Dhamtari. The college is meant to train policemen to "take on guerrillas like a guerrilla".

"As long as warfare points are not followed the policemen will continue to get killed as happened in Dhamtari. I don't know who ordered forces to go inside a hilly area riding vehicles without the road being cleared of landmines," Ponwar said.

"I keep insisting in warfare training for the policemen to go into the jungles with multi-directional assault plan but no one is ready to follow these basic things despite knowing 95 percent casualties in Chhattisgarh are linked to landmine blasts."

Before Sunday's killings, on May 5, a senior leader of state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was shot dead in Rajnandgaon district and a day after rebels ambushed 11 people included seven policemen in Dantewada district.

On May 7, the insurgents brutally killed Pharasgaon police station in-charge Abdul Wahid Khan in full public view in Narayanpur district. The killing took place within 150 metres of Pharasgaon police station and a camp of the Central Reserve Police Force's 39th battalion but no one intervened.

The string of attacks forced Chief Minister Raman Singh to chair an emergency meet with top police officers here May 8. After the meeting, Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar announced: "Police will answer bullets with bullets and there will be no peace talk with rebels by the state government".

The rebels responded within two days with the ambush at Dhamtari, which was carefully planned, with the policemen led into a trap by a tipoff which proved to be fake.

A senior officer at police headquarters here said Tuesday: "We are still not sure which officer took the decision to send a 41-member convoy, most of them constables of the District Force, without a senior officer to lead them. It looks like they were just led into a trap. There was not even any back-up. Other forces reached the spot 16 hours after the ambush, just to collect the disfigured bodies."

Another senior police officer who has spent years in Bastar told: "We do not seem to have a strategy now. We haven't had one since April, when (Director General of Police) Vishwaranjan, was forced to go on long leave by the Election Commission.

"As far as I can see, the police force deployed for anti-Maoist operations is now just acting as sitting ducks. There is no coordination at the higher levels. We're just hoping against hope that we can prevail against Maoists."

Central Chronicle

Long will live the Naxalite movement - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

Mark my words, the day is not far when they(Maoists) will rule a grand majority of India. These 200 districts will become 400 in no time, and inch towards more. No government in India will be able to stop their growth through police, Salva Judums or army. - Arindam Chaudhari (Management Guru and author of The Great Indian Dream )

The exact date of this article is not known...

Arindam Chaudhuri - IT’S NOT THEM, BUT INDIA’S CRONY CAPITALISM, WHICH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHHATTISGARH MASSACRE . . .

If you have been following popular media, then you must by now be of the viewpoint that Naxalites are India’s largest growing menace; and you must be pitying the 60 plus people left dead in the Chhattisgarh massacre, thanks to the Naxalites. The truth, however, is not that simple. The Naxalite movement in India is growing; that’s a truth. They are a menace to the Centre; that’s a truth. But Naxalites a menace to India? Well, perhaps this is farthest from the truth. In cities where we lead a cushy life, Naxalites are far from a menace. In the interiors where they rule, they aren’t really considered a menace either. They rule the Indian villages and backward areas – well, that’s an understatement – they are the emperors of a third of Indian districts today. Yes, 200 out of the 600 odd districts in India are today under Naxalite rule.

They rule there not because they are a menace. They rule there not just by force. They rule there because people in these places support them in a majority and believe in them; because the Naxalites are the brave armed revolutionaries in their lives who give them food, money and land snatched from the rich land owners and exploiters. Naxalites do kill when these rich protest; and at times are involved in atrocities as well . . . But on the whole, they are the only revolutionary group in this country at the centre of whose agenda are the poor and deprived. Their methods may involve violence, but then worldwide, all uprisings and revolutions have been violent. To the people against whom they fight, they are villains – terrorists if you may call them – but the people for whom they fight, they are the heroes.

And these Naxalites in India are there to stay and grow. Mark my words, the day is not far when they will rule a grand majority of India. These 200 districts will become 400 in no time, and inch towards more. No government in India will be able to stop their growth through police, Salva Judums (the Chhattisgarh version of State-backed armed forces of villagers and common men) or army. The police in this country have no loyalty for the Central leadership, and would too willingly hand over their arms to the Naxalites; police station after police station, at every given opportunity. For the police, their life is too precious, and many actually believe in the Naxals. On the other hand, the army will march on the streets while the Naxals fight from the jungles and places inaccessible by road.

So even the army stands no chance as has been proven in the North-East. Yes, the army might succeed if it uses the aerial route to bomb and create an internal war throughout India. No government in India will ever be able to do so. That leaves us with the criminal experiment of forcing the common people to become SPOs – Special Police Officers – by giving them some pathetic basic training in arms, the way Salva Judum is doing. This method has failed miserably earlier in North-East and Kashmir and is sure to fail everywhere, including in Chhattisgarh.

More importantly, the method in itself is criminal in nature and leaves the people-soldiers with nowhere to go – like in Chhattisgarh where villages after villages have been emptied and people have been brought to camps where they are given one small windowless room per family to stay in. The connection is ironic! When the State finds its own police machinery ill-equipped and dying, they conjure up a scheme where, instead of the police officers, those are the villagers – very often child soldiers – who have to confront Naxalites during their attacks, and die. More pathetically, it’s a trap from which the villagers can’t come out. If they go back to their villages where they had their land etc., they will be alone and would be killed by Naxalites for having become members of Salva Judum.

And if they stay, they will die in any case in a confrontation, or out of hunger itself – since in the camps, the government doesn’t even provide them with proper meals, and keeps them in near destitute conditions. In Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh itself (where the recent massacre took place), there are 20 Salva Judum camps with about 60,000 occupants living in utterly inhuman conditions, where they get food for about five days in a week, and the rest two days, go hungry. The camps, of course, have no toilets or bathrooms. And worse, they have to share the facilities with CRPF jawans (Naga battalion) who, after evening hours, get drunk and start inhuman torture on these people, women mainly. Rapes and abortions galore and the people have absolutely no voice. And on 15 March 2007, the Naxalites, who were looking for their chance to get back, attacked and left about 60 dead – more than two-thirds were these helpless people forcibly made to vacate their land and join this inhuman camp with the legal approval of the Centre and State.

Were the police innocent? Well, it depends; if you call the bribe seeking, soul selling perpetrators of the State’s crime machinery ‘innocent’, that is. But yes, those members of Salva Judum were innocent victims of this criminal governance. And this is just one case, many more will follow soon while we condemn the Naxalites blindly.

Who then is to blame? Clearly our Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers of successive governments. Let’s take this year’s budget for example. For the ‘land loot schemes’ of the government – popularly known as the SEZs – there has been an allocation of Rs 90,000 crore. For various subsidies that have gone into the corporate kitty, there has been another Rs 2,35,000 crore (that is, a shamelessly gross Rs 3,25,000 crore for the minuscule top rich in India). Guess how much has been allocated then for unemployment eradication programmes that were to guarantee at least ‘100 days job’ per person if the government meant to remove unemployment seriously.

Well, against a most urgent requirement of about Rs 2,25,000 crore, the allocation is a meagre Rs 11,000 crore. If the poor in a country are left to die out of hunger, curable diseases and poverty, Naxalites will rule. The only way to defeat them is for our governments to believe in fact in what the Naxalites are fighting for – food, health and employment. Till our governments allocate enough for such causes, many more Chhattisgarh carnages will happen; and unfortunately, I won’t be able to blame the Naxalites, or even call them terrorists.

It’s the State that is monstrous, and those are our Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers who have to realise the importance of working for the poor for the real future of India. Right now, they are instead busy giving thrust to crony capitalism – helping a few industrial houses acquire more and more land and public property. Chhattisgarh is no exception – while villages are being emptied, people are being uprooted and shifted to their Salva Judum death camps, with their mineral and iron-ore rich lands left behind being handed over to the Tatas and Mittals. And as long as India’s crony capitalism and heartless journey towards being a slave of the rich continues, long will live the Naxalite movement in India. Fortunately or unfortunately . . .

Link..

Thallappavu -A Movie on Com Varghese

As some of you may know we have previously published
articles on Com Varghese on this blog
which you can read here , here and here.

A picture of the real Com Varghese taken in his college days.

Com Varghese.

Trailor of Thallappavu - English/Malayalam


Review of Movie Thallappavu

Onam comes every year, but “Thalappavu” comes once a decade. There couldn’t be a better Onam gift for Malayalis and Malayalam cinema than “Thalappavu”. Watched the movie today, First day, at SreePadmanabha and I’m still searching for a fault line. This one goes right up there - An All time Classic.

Madhupal makes a dream debut as a director, Prithviraj and Lal give their best performances till date, Babu Janardanan delivers a world class script which will stand its ground in any film festival ,and Azhagappan mesmerises with the Camera. “Thalappavu” is one movie which puts to rest any doubts about the class and scope of malayalam movies. We rank right up there!
“Thalappavu” is a gripping movie, immensely watchable, it doesn’t drag a bit, there is no suspense (starts with the death of the central character), no violence, no comedy, no love lines. Its almost like a Rohinton Mistry novel with tragedy heaped over tragedy, and finally topped with some very sad tragedy. I hate sad movies, and this is not one of them. Its a classic.

In a recent article from the Rupesh Paul-Amal Neerad junta, Rupesh had pointed out that “Story” is not an important part of a movie. While nobody liked his movie, the point remains that, if Cinema is for telling a story then you could as well publish a short story. Making a movie for telling a story is as good as using Google for searching for porn alone, or using your Blackberry for incoming calls alone. Cinema as a medium has immense potential which needs to be tapped. “Thalappavu”, kudos to Madhupal, does exactly that. It uses the medium’s untapped potentials for handing down a classic.

A still from the movie Thallappavu

Story: Thalappavu is a movie about Naxal Varghese who was killed in one of the state’s most controversial police encounters, and P Ramachandran Nair the police constable who shot him (and after 3 decades brought to book his superiors Laxmana and Vijayan who ordered the murder). Lal plays Ravindran Pillai, the constable, who carries with him the burden of the crime for three decades and along the way loses his family, his home and his sanity. Prithvi plays Naxal Joseph and his ghost, which keeps Ravindran Pillai company. The story moves in multi dimension with threads falling in line at their own pace, with every character getting their own space and piece of the tragedy, with recurring and repeating scenes shot from varying perspectives. Dhanya Mary is a find, and she must be here to stay.
Excerpt from the film website,

‘Thalappavu’ (headgear or turban) is a symbol of authority. In many societies, those in the upper social strata wear the turban as a symbol of power and authority. For the working class it provides shade from the hot sun and pelting rain.
The relationship between a hardcore revolutionary and the masses is usually distressing as far as governments are concerned. Everywhere in the world, it is a common practice for the ruling class to fetter one who is ready to sacrifice his life for social causes. The basis of a constitution is that whatever the crime, it is the law of the land that has the right to mete out punishment. The Malayalam movie ‘Thalappavu’ tries to portray that it is the very watchdogs of law who shamelessly violate the rules that they bound to defined.

Good:
1. Script, Screenplay & Direction: “Vasthavam” flopping is one thing I hold against the malayalam audience, then “Thaniyavarthanam” flopped too. Babu Janardanan of “Vasthavam” and “Achanurangatha Veedu”, delivers a water tight script. One can see the effort that has gone into writing this marvel. Madhupal, as a director delivers the script with finesse, but ends up delivering more than the screenplay. It is an exceptional “Director’s movie”, which I guess would catapault Madhupal to Blessy’s seat, now that the latter has started making trash. The story line is spoon fed to the audience multiple times in the first half that we are ready with the details when the movie speeds up in the second half. The delivery is subtle, forceful and passionate. If you look close enough you could even see a Jesus thread hanging around.