The Communist Party of India (Maoist) had engineered the violence and subsequent exit of the Tata Nano plant from Singur, West Bengal, less than two years ago. Now, the banned outfit has openly claimed credit for what it calls a success of the “revolutionary people’s agitation”.
The Maoists have made this claim in pamphlets issued by the CPI (Maoists), Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, Maharashtra division, on December 14. Hindustan Times has a copy of the literature, printed in Hindi and distributed in Gadchiroli district.
The two-page pamphlet, which is like a mass appeal, puts the success at Singur in the same bracket as agitations in Nandigram and Lalgarh in West Bengal and other parts of the country like Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. “These were the places where the exploited masses put up valiant protests,” the pamphlet said. It said that these agitations had sent industrial groups, wishing to set up plants in these areas, packing and prevented mass forcible evictions.
This self-congratulatory communication has strengthened allegations that Union Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamta Banerjee had planned the violent agitations in Singur in August 2008 with help from the Maoists. The Trinamool Congress has, so far, denied this.
The literature ridicules Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that Naxalism is the greatest threat to the country’s internal security. It also lists several ‘developmental’ plans undertaken by Maoists in the areas under their control and highlights the failure of the government machinery in these areas.
The timing of this communication has led security analysts to believe that it could be an emotional appeal by the Maoists’ Central Committee to keep its flock of sympathisers intact before the launch of Operation Green Hunt against the insurgents. The Maoists, analysts suspect, have probably begun preparing for retaliation. “This propaganda could well be a part of that,” said an analyst who has been watching the Naxalite movement closely.
The Maoists have also appealed to policemen, paramilitary forces and the Army to refuse postings in areas under Maoist control and defy commands for operation against Naxalites.
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