(Deleted email ids to protect the identity.)
Dear Shashi,
I'd start suspecting an approach, the moment it
- Starts painting that everything is broken and whole world is about to collapse
- starts justifying that violence is the only way to get justice in every situation
- harms the very subjects it's attempting to protect. in this case Naxal atrocities upon tribals, their assets and means/systems themselves (which enable them to leave a dignified lives, be it schools, clinics etc). The fact that Naxals need violence and muscle power to convince tribals, makes me suspect their real motives. If they can't convince tribals to choose Naxalite path, then either Naxals need to introspect or let go of tribals who don't follow them. There is no other word than terrorism to the heinous act of shooting anybody down who doesn't agree. And of course, it's unlikely to bring-in democracy even if it succeeded in it's objectives, if at all, you just need to peek into world history.
dhanyawaad,
Shekhar
Namaskar Shashi ji,
There is no denying about the real problems the people of India is facing either in cities or villages. Obviously, there is a failure of the govt. Be it , administration or police or political leaders or any other arms of democracy.
Naxal is a form of extreme Left terrorism connected to the ideology of Mao-lenin. Naxals have a set agenda. They are not for the tribals. They are just using the tribals.
Even if the problem would not have existed in India, we would still have faced these extreme leftist menace but in a different flavor.
Take the example of Nepal.
Having said that, Now coming back to your point of tribal's problem.
The failure is not limited to tribal areas alone. it is there in metros, cities, small towns, villages. Its everywhere. We all have faced and facing it continuously in our day today life.
As I said, your concerns are very true. We the social society should take the cudgels and work for the betterment.
The question is, Do naxals really working working for exploited masses?
The plain answer is NO.
The truth is, they are using poor state of tribals to advance their agenda. And the agenda is to replace the democratic Indian setup. It is getting the support of China.
--> Naxals complain about poor education system on their website - The fact is, they have blasted 1000s of newly constructed school building in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odissa and CG.
They kill teachers because teachers are part of the govt.
--> They complain about poor health system. - Health centers have same fate as that of school building.
You have given example of nexus between contractors & forest officials. Do these websites have written anything about what they have done to curb the malpractice?
Earlier, corrupt officials & contractor were exploiting tribals. Now, Naxals pocket all the money. Where are tribals now?
Jihadis tell that they are fighting for the cause of Islam. They have a mandate from the Allah to kill others.
Tell me, Do you believe in their arguments?
Go to their website and you will fine numerous examples/articles where they have justified each and every attack on innocents. You will find their arguments powerful too.
Similar to Islamic Jihadi, Naxals too are controlled from outside. You are taken texts from naxals's or left leaning website. I too have read them. The problems explained there is correct. But they have no solution.
We the social society has to do something. Your points are very much valid. But for the solutions, you are looking in the wrong direction.
Thanks
Aadi Naad
Dear Aadi Naad, Shekhar,
I have following comments to the views expressed by you:
Why go to Naxalite problem? Why go that far? Land grabbing in the name of development is occurs everywhere. Problems are everywhere. Question is, is the solution approach correct?
>> What solution are we talking about. If the agencies supposed to provide justice - judiciary (takes 15 years for a civil case to get resolved), government (i.e politicians of both right and centre type who give colour of nation's progress to own progress. There are a few exceptions), bureaucracy (bought out by corporates and forced by ministers), media (bought out by corporates through advertisements) fail, it is obvious for someone to look for extra-constitutional means. If the face of democracy is that of unjust regime, why should you expect people to keep following it and not overthrow it? What would be your prescription to these people being rooted out of their lives?
What do you think would be the reaction of a person in IT company who owns a bungalow in Deccan, Pune of market rate 10 crores if he is asked to vacate the house for 20 lacs, so that it can be handed over to a builder backed by minister, who wants to build a mall and earn profits? What do you think would be the reaction of a farmer who owns 5 acres (that is his only asset) and is asked to vacate it with a compensation of 5 lacs when the market rate of the property is 2 crores in the name of country's industrial development, progress, modernization. What is nation's development? Does progress only means industrialization, urbanization. Aren't improvement in farming methods development (in fact more sustainable). If the person has self respect he will not sit quiet. If he finds no way of getting justice, it is normal for him to resort to extra-constitutional means.
Illegal mining, deforestation, and lack of respectful life to vanavasis is the problem. Not being able to take the benefits of development to those areas is the problem, not just of the govt but us, society as a whole.
But Naxalism is a menace.
>> So, we know the root cause. But what are we doing to stop the injustice, exploitation? At least the naxalites are stopping the injustice being done to the people.
Problem is that the media/PR has defused the boundaries between the two.
Back to the solution to the real problem, long term issues need long-term solution and not short-term patch-work. As in case of your example of diabetes, taking an insulin injection is a short term solution which is not sustainable, controlling sugar with diet and exercise is the sustained way to win over it. Improvements are slow but durable... It took RSS 60 years to take this society from a point where people would say 'Call me a donkey but not Hindu' to a point where people now say it with pride, 'Yes I'm hindu'.
>> I would not like to get diverted by commenting on Sangh's contribution in bringing pride of hindu way of life and the effect it has on the society. Both tactical (short-term) as well as strategic (long term) measures are required for management of any problem. You cannot expect a diabetic who may contract gangarine and amputation to start improving lifestyle. Insulin has to be administered at the moment. The naxalites are providing a tactical solution. There is still a void who can solve the strategic solution. The political parties running the government are supposed to provide good governance and justice. If these are provided, there will be no local support to naxalites, without which they cannot sustain. I don't have any hopes from UPA. What is NDA (of which BJP is the biggest constituent - a parivar organization with sangh ideology) doing about it?
As part of the society who's mastered the art of critical thinking, we need to think through both, problem as well as solution, with our limbs and brains firmly grounded, And of course act on it...
>> Thoughts lead to actions. Hence, thoughts ought to be clear in the first place. No differences on requirement of action.
1. In Latehar district of Jharkhand, Naxals are indulge in the opium farming. Its a more than 100 crore business.
2. They collects more than 1000 crore of ransom from mining industries and local business.
2. They collects more than 1000 crore of ransom from mining industries and local business.
>> Anybody running a struggle against unjust government would resort to all means including smuggling arms (not listed above)
3. They command the forest produce such as tendu patta and Lac which was earlier controlled by the tribals.
>> What do you mean by tribals? They were contractors who bribe forest dept. and politicians to win tenders and exploit forest product collector vanvasis. At least naxalites stop the exploitation of the collectors.
To see the real face of these naxals, you have to visit the naxal infested areas.
>> I am not against visiting. It is one of the many ways of getting inputs. It is also important to listen to both the sides without prejudice to understand the correct situation and choose the correct way.
Dhanyavaad
Shashi
Subject: Re: Naxalite's side of story - please provide your views
namaste,
, you've hit the nail right on it's head!
Why go to Naxalite problem? Why go that far? Land grabbing in the name of development is occurs everywhere. Problems are everywhere. Question is, is the solution approach correct?
Illegal mining, deforestation, and lack of respectful life to vanavasis is the problem. Not being able to take the benefits of development to those areas is the problem, not just of the govt but us, society as a whole.
But Naxalism is a menace.
Problem is that the media/PR has defused the boundaries between the two.
Back to the solution to the real problem, long term issues need long-term solution and not short-term patch-work. As in case of your example of diabetes, taking an insulin injection is a short term solution which is not sustainable, controlling sugar with diet and exercise is the sustained way to win over it. Improvements are slow but durable... It took RSS 60 years to take this society from a point where people would say 'Call me a donkey but not Hindu' to a point where people now say it with pride, 'Yes I'm hindu'.
As part of the society who's mastered the art of critical thinking, we need to think through both, problem as well as solution, with our limbs and brains firmly grounded, And of course act on it...
dhanyawaad,
Shekhar
Subject: Re: Naxalite's side of story - please provide your viewsShashi Ji,
I respect your concerns for the Vanavasi ( forest dwellers) and exploited people. We need people like you to help those people.
My point was to show the real face of Naxals. Naxals are only misusing these exploited people to forward their agenda to capturing power by replacing the Indian state. In other words, they are also exploiting these tribals.
For Naxals, these tribals are just a pawn in the war.
Here are some points to ponder.
1. In Latehar district of Jharkhand, Naxals are indulge in the opium farming. Its a more than 100 crore business.
2. They collects more than 1000 crore of ransom from mining industries and local business.
3. They command the forest produce such as tendu patta and Lac which was earlier controlled by the tribals.
In the urban areas they have planted their people in the form of journalists, human rightists, & authors who act as a PR for them. They create a mass opinion to project themselves as a savior of the masses.
Which in fact they are not.
Of course, police, administration or politicians are the culprits who have not acted in a right way. What we need is to understand the correct situation and choose the correct way.
Regards
Aadi Naad
I read some of the links you sent to me. I have read many others too. I have read many other article which tells just opposite to what these articles are saying.
All this word-wars are happening in urban areas. Any one can be convinced with these articles.
To see the real face of these naxals, you have to visit the naxal infested areas.
On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 9:51 AM,
Namaskar Aadi Naad,
I read the material you have presented below. However, I am still not convinced that there is no place for Naxalites in today's society with the current injustice being meted out to lakhs of people for benefit of a few. Off course there are better alternatives like Vayam (http://vayamindia.wordpress.com , http://www.vayamindia.in) who are acheiving what the Naxalites try to achieve through arms, but the scale of such organizations is very minuscule compared to the problem.
I agree that efforts like Ekal Vidyalaya and Vanawasi kalyan Kendra are steps in right direction. However I feel they are very cosmetic in nature compared to the scale of exploitation. It is like putting an antiseptic ointment to an injury of a diabetic. Unless you eradicate the diabetes, your ointment is not going to solve his problem. We need more direct activities. Recently when I spoke to one of my acquaintance who works in tribal areas, he says that he put forward the problems and the required solutions to most senior functionaries of RSS. However what they did was gave a patient and serious hearing to what he said and "did nothing"! Doing nothing about the problem when you have vast resources at your disposal I think is bad than naxalism.
I would like to urge you to see this video:
SHOMA CHAUDHURY talks of how India's veering at the edge of a very dangerous precipice at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqjcQnFveew
and read this article:
1. Why you must read this censored chapter (http://www.tehelka.com/story_main45.asp?filename=Ne100710censoredchapter.asp )
2. NARAYANPUR AMBUSH - Top Maoist leader called to warn of attack hours before it happened
By Kunal Majumder (http://www.tehelka.com/story_main45.asp?filename=Ne100710narayanpur.asp )
3. CURRENT AFFAIRS - Windmills on lush, prime forest land, by forging papers and conning tribals. All in a day’s work
It is very easy to write off the problems presented in the articles as biased and somebody has to take the brunt for nation's progress. We need to understand that nation is made up of the same people and their contribution should be voluntary, not compulsory and ILLEGAL (by government). We have to answer these questions.
In essence Maoism is not a law and order problem, but is a problem of governance and justice.
धन्यवाद,
Thanks,
=============================
Subject: Re: Naxalite's side of story - please provide your views
Namaskar Shashi,
Its good that you have put forward this discussion.
This whole debate has come forward because of Arundhati Roy's article in Outlook.
Well, the purpose of her article has been served. The person like you has been convinced. The huge PR network of the Maoists are very successful in spreading their point of view in urban areas. Since you have read the romanticized version of maoists story with pictures of Tribal girls with gun in their hand. What she did not portray the real motive and their modus operandi.
Let me bring some facets of real maoism from a person who hails from Maoists hot-spot, Jharkhand. ( the spot where the Gyaneshwari express was derailed is not more 50 KM from Tatanagar. I have spent my childhood at chandil in Jharkhand 15 Km from Khunti in Dalma forest range, a place where Naxal leaders take refuse & recuperate )
Well, the main agenda of Naxals are to overthrow Indian state be armed revolution. To achieve this target they use various means at different places. Some example are land less peasants( W Bengal), land and caste in Bihar, Tribal issues in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhatisgargh.
Some fallacies in their argument:
1. They say, they are fighting for the poor, then why do they blast Schools building and health centers everywhere.
2. They do not allow any development work be it road, railway or drinking water projects
3. They do not allow school children to go to school. They kidnap school children from local schools and give them arm trainings to fight.
Reason is: their motive is not any development work. There are just exploiting the problems of the people to push their agenda. If any development work is done, people will not join them.
Then your question is why do the poor people and tribal support them?
To get the answer, you have to look at their modus operandi. When ever they enter any place, they hire few rouge local youths or small time criminals. Give them proper arms training and assign them some posts. Then they start threatening villagers and force them to support them. They torture and kill any govt supporter ( mainly sarpanch or local school teachers) in front of whole villagers. They instill fear in them. This is how they buy their support. They kill anyone who slightly deviate from their line of thought.
They start eliminating any signs of govt interference in those areas. This place is declared as liberated of free zone.
Financial aspect: The truth
They collect Hafta from local companies. This goes in hundreds of crores. Each company business located in Jharkhand, odissa or Chhatisgarh have to pay huge ransom amount to these naxals. Naxals pay, 4000-8000 rs as salary to their fighters. Rest goes up for procurement of arms and payment to the top leaders. money is routed through Hawala into safe zones abroad India. Money is also invested in India either in property or share market.
Let me give some information about the hierarchy of naxals. As you know, naxals or maoists are basically extreme leftist who draw support from China.
The top leaders of naxals are mainly urban people who are indoctrinated and hardened into communists thoughts. The first line of leaders are people like , Vinod Mishra, Dipankar Bhattacharya who give political leadership to these Naxal terrorists. There are many people like Arundhati Roy, Dr Sandep Pandey( asha ), Dr Vinayak Sen, Vara Vara Rao etc who give moral & intellectual support. They are the people who are master to media PR. They give lectures in colleges, write article in newspaper, give interviews on News channel. They are also very instrument in influencing youths to join communists movements.
The second level of leader are called Polit Beauro. They give strategic leadership. they are also based in Cities but they are underground. They are disguise themselves as some civil/human rightist, artists, or even environmentalists(latest trend )
The third level of leaders are based in Jungals. In this level majority of leader are from Andhra. people like Koteshwar rao, Laxman rao etc.
The fourth level of leader are local people like Bapi Mahto or Chatradhar Mahto who are the face of the naxal fight.
In initial protest or fight, they invite media and show women, children in bow and arrow fighting with police. Its mainly for PR purpose.
In short:
Naxals are cleverly using problems and political failure to reach the masses to push forward their agenda. We all know, in India there is no dearth of problems either in cities or villages. But this is true with all the countries.
While, the issues raised by Naxals are real and it needs to be addressed urgently. But don't get fooled by them. They are just harnessing the problems.
Our task: We should try to help locals and tribal. Many of the Govt's & Sangh's initiatives such as Ekal Vidyalaya and Vanawasi kalyan Kendra are doing excellent work.
Read
http://naxalwatch.blogspot.com
Thanks
Aadi Naad
Will discuss in detail whenever we meet in person.)
Namaskar,
Everybody portray naxalites as traitors, butchers and every possible bad adjective.
I think they deserve to be heard from themselves (not from media or state having vested interests). I would urge all on the forum to read about Naxalite's side of story from an article available at: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264738 . It raises some important questions about the basic structure of our society, government, development, corporate practices and ethics and what we do/can do about it. I strongly urge you to go through it.
To tell you prudently I felt a strong urge to donate at least a lakh rupees to this movement in the form of medicines that are nutritional supplements (iron, calcium, B complex, vitamins, etc).
Please read it without any prejudices in mind and think objectively about the problems presented.
You may reply with your comments directly to me.
Thanks,
Shashi
