Bhubaneswar:
The Central Committee of the CPI-Maoist has come out openly in defence of the three abductions by Maoist groups in Odisha and Chhattisgarh saying these were not abductions but arrests carried out by the 'people' to put forth their long standing collective demands and as a reaction to the ongoing state repression unleashed against them. Coming down heavily on the Central government in general and the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in particular, Abhay, the spokesperson for the Central Committee of the Maoist party has denounced Chidambaram's statement in the Rajya Sabha on May 9 which said, "Maoists 'kidnapping' young Collectors, elected representatives and foreigners indicates a clear shift in the nature of the Maoist extremism and shows that Maoists are resorting to 'terror' tactics to bend the state government to their demands and that Maoists seek to stop development in those districts."
"Chidambaram was obviously referring to the recent 'kidnaps' of the Italian tourists and Jhina Hikaka (MLA) in Odisha and Collector Alex Paul Menon in Chhattisgarh. This statement also comes in the backdrop of the Centre pushing hard for the formation of the NCTC. The government wants to put each and every just struggle under the head of so-called 'terrorism' and suppress the movements that they are part of," the Maoists press release said.
Defending the abductions, the release states, "Firstly, we want to state that these are not 'kidnaps' done for ransom, vendetta, personal demands or settling scores. People are 'arresting' them and putting the genuine long-standing collective demands of the oppressed people, particularly the
adivasis in those areas in front of the government. All the demands are pertaining to the severe excruciating state repression that has been unleashed on them, particularly for the release of thousands of Adivasis incarcerated in the jails and their leaders. 3000 Adivasis are in jails in Chhattisgarh while 6000
adivasis are in jails in Jharkhand. Thousands more are jailed in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and other states for fighting against displacement and for Jal-Jungle-Zameen.
" A quick perusal of the main demands put forward during such arrests would give anybody a fair idea about the ordeal of people under Operation Green Hunt (OGH). They are demanding the release of ordinary
adivasis who were 'kidnapped' by the state and have been traceless since then or were put in jails under fabricated charges and they are demanding the release of their leaders. On such occasions, they are also focusing the demand to end the multi-pronged country-wide offensive named OGH but in reality a 'War on People' on the toiling masses of our country, most of whom are Dalits and
adivasis and half of whom are invariably women".
Abhay in his statement has further said, "The young collectors that Chidambaram is speaking of are implementing the 'development' part of the two-pronged strategy and this development leads to nothing but the impoverishment and displacement of the hundreds of thousands of
adivasis and is nothing but the other side of the coin that has repression on one side. And the foreigners he is speaking of were taking objectionable photos of
adivasi women as part of tourism that the Indian state wants to promote at the cost of the dignity of the
adivasi people. There is no need to write much about the 'elected representatives' that are part of the rotten parliamentary system reeking of corruption, nepotism and is implementing nothing but anti-people policies as dictated by their imperialist masters. These representatives have done nothing to get the poor Adivasis released from the jails and deliver justice to them in all the years of their tenure. In fact, they are very much part of the implementation of OGH in their areas."