Agenda of Saturday meet was to lift cadre’s drooping morale
THE IDEOLOGY
Mao Zedong provided ideological leadership for the Naxalbari movement. A large number of urban elite were also attracted to the ideology, which spread through Charu Majumdar’s writings, particularly the ‘Historic Eight Documents’ which formed the basis of Maoist ideology in India On April 22, 1969 (Lenin’s birthday), the CPI (Marxistleninist) was formed and Majumder became its first secretary general NAGPUR: The Maoists had called Sunday’s secret meeting in the Rela-kasnasur jungle in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra to discuss raising the target for collection of protection money from tendu leaf (beedi) contractors and lift the drooping morale of the cadre following the surrender and killing of several activists in recent months.
A special commando unit of Maharashtra police stormed the site of the meeting, sparking a gun battle in which 16 were killed; the bodies of 15 more Maoists have since been found, taking the death toll in the encounter to 31.
People familiar with the matter say the Maoists collect over ₹30 crore from Gadchiroli, Gondia and Chandrapur districts of Maharashtra every year during the tendu leaf plucking season that begins in April and ends by the first week of June. They also collect a sizeable amount from forest and road contractors.
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) was expecting to collect around ₹50 crore from tendu leaf contractors this year. Most of the amount is spent on buying arms and ammunition, including AK-47 assault rifles.
It is a difficult task for rebels to keep such a huge amount in cash and they usually store it in aluminium containers and burying these deep in the forests. There have been reports that several Maoist members had gone missing after stealing some of the money.
Rebels of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) have been active in Gadchiroli since 1980 and later spread to Chandrapur, Gondia, Bhandara and some areas of Yavatmal district, bordering Andhra Pradesh.
Gadchiroli district, particularly south Gadchiroli, bordering Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, is now the main centre for the Maoists of Maharashtra because of its logistical importance. The district borders Chandrapur to the west, Gondia to the north, Bastar, in Chhattisgarh, to the east, and Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh to the south and south-east. The forested tribal district is also among the most backward in Maharashtra.
The Maoists of the former Peoples’ War Group (PWG) cleverly exploited the backwardness of the area to strengthen the organisation, using the low wages paid to tendu leaf collectors ( ₹4 for 100 bundles of the leaf used to roll beedis). Contractors were compelled to hike it to ₹200-₹250 per 100 bundles.
The Maoists often organise so-called people’s courts to hand out punishment to village money lenders, “corrupt” forest personnel, school teachers and employees of government-run hospitals on the complaints of locals, in the process, cultivating the image of do-gooders.
The CPI (Maoist) has divided Gadchiroli district into three operational divisions: North Gadchiroli-gondia-rajnanadgaon division, North Gadchiroli, and South Gadchiroli. Of them, North Gadchiroli and South Gadchiroli come under the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee while North Gadchiroligondia-rajnandgaon falls under the Maharashtra unit.
At least 37 Maoists were killed in two separate encounters in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on April 22 and 23. Significantly, at the time of writing, no fatalities have been reported among security forces. Details of these incidents are still hazy. Nevertheless, it is important to recognise that while fatalities in single incidents cause great jubilation or distress — depending on which side you are on — they have little impact on the broader trajectory of a protracted conflict.
It is, indeed, within the context of this trajectory that these incidents acquire their greater, and from a Maoist perspective, potentially devastating, significance; they come in the wake of continuous reverses suffered by Maoists over the past years, both in Gadchiroli and across the wider theatre of their erstwhile dominance — the so-called Red Corridor.
Gadchiroli has been the epicentre of Maoist violence in Maharashtra and, at its peak in 2009, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (www.satp.org) database, at least 86 fatalities were registered in the district, including 52 security force personnel, 23 Maoists and 11 civilians, yielding an adverse security forces:maoist kill ratio of 2.26:1. The current year has recorded 47 Maoist-linked fatalities, including one trooper, one civilian, and 45 Maoists, an overwhelming 1:45 ratio in favour of security forces. Twenty-five fatalities were recorded through 2017, including three security force personnel, seven civilians, and 15 Maoists (a security force-maoist kill ratio of 1:5); adding to 26 fatalities in 2016, including two troopers, 12 civilians, and 12 Maoists (a security force-maoist kill ratio of 1:6).
This trajectory mimics the broad trends in belts across India where Maoists are active. From a peak of 1,180 fatalities in 2010, the number bottomed out at 251 in 2015, including 101 Naxalites,57 security force personnel, and 93 civilians. They rose to 433 in 2016, including 244 Maoists, 66 security force personnel and 123 civilians; and 332 in 2017, including 149 Maoists, 74 security force personnel, and 109 civilians; reflecting the largest increases in Maoist