Red Terror snippets

A Naxalite document — retrieved by security forces from an ultra’s laptop in Jharkhand last month — came in handy for home minister P Chidambaram on Monday to drive home the point that the Maoists’ threats had become deadly. Giving an insight into how Naxalites try to motivate their cadre, the 14-page document not only carries the ultras’ counter-plan to take on security forces but also appeals to its sympathisers to utlise “the worst-ever economic crisis” to build up their cadre. Interestingly, it drew its inspiration not only from Maoists in Nepal and China but also from Hamas in Gaza, Hizbollah in Lebanon and Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s Swat Valley and FATA. Citing the document at the conference of chief ministers on internal security, Chidambaram said, “Anyone reading that document will have no illusion about the nature and gravity of the threat.” The document titled ‘Post-Election Situation — Our Tasks’ was brought out by the CPI (Maoist) politburo on June 12. It had sent the document (with its Hindi, Telugu and Bengali translations) to all central committee members of the Red ultras. Security agencies got the document when they arrested some ultras in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa in July. Sensing the urgency of stepping up its armed struggle, CPI (Maoist) in its document expressed the need to recruit new members, train cadre, build new leadership, enthuse them with daring counter-offensives carried out by the ultras, mobilise them into militant mass struggles and also to “take up wide propaganda exposing state terror” with the help of their sympathisers and civil society. The politiburo also put detailed analysis of the parliamentary election results in the document, saying how the result shows the common people rejected all political parties and the socalled “economic reforms” of the Centre as well as states like West Bengal. Taking a dig at West Bengal, it said, “One cannot differentiate Buddhadeb’s government in the state with a Congress or a BJP government in any other state in the matter of neo-liberal reforms. An official said, “The document is certainly an eyeopener. It gives an insight into how the ultras have been motivating their cadres against the state forces. There is now a need on the part of the government as well to launch counter-propaganda against the naxalites who are killing innocent civilians across the country.”