11-05-14
NEWS ANALYSIS
By Kartik Lokhande
Seven cops killed, two injured in a landmine blast triggered by Maoists in Chamorshi tehsil of Gadchiroli district.
The news came on Sunday morning. More details like names of the deceased
jawans, shifting of two injured cops to Nagpur, intensification of
combing operation by Gadchiroli Police etc emerged by the evening.
However, one thing was missing sorely -- condemnation of the killing of
these seven individuals.
The so-called civil society and intellectuals and scholars who talk of
‘human rights’ of hardcore Maoist/Naxal cadres, whenever the cops arrest
or kill or injure them in encounters, went mute when ‘human beings’
serving in the capacity of policemen were killed in landmine blast by
the outlaws. These intellectuals, who take pride in devising the
deceptive expressions like ‘Gandhians with guns’, went mute when the
news of these killings was all over.
It is not that the English-speaking elitist scholars and writers had
decided to shun the ‘ideology of convenience’ of raising the pitch for
protection of human rights. Just a couple of days ago, when Gadchiroli
Police arrested G N Saibaba, a Professor in Delhi University, and
brought him to Gadchiroli to produce him before Aheri Court, many
individuals in the ‘civil society circuit’ started flooding social media
with messages condemning his arrest. They also cried and sobbed and
pleaded that Saibaba was wheelchair-bound. They went a step further and
passed the judgement that he was not associated with any of the banned
organisation like CPI (Maoist). They talked of his human rights, though
the Gadchiroli Police claimed to have seized ‘clinching evidence’ of his
association with Maoist terrorists, during the raid conducted at his
place in August 2013.
In the process, they forgot to check ‘You Tube’ for Saibaba’s speeches
and websites with articles or interviews of Saibaba in which he has
resorted to India-bashing as a matter of regular practice. As if to
protest Saibaba’s arrest, Maoists triggered a landmine blast in
Gadchiroli district on Sunday and killed seven policemen. But, the same
bunch of activists who were outraged at Saibaba’s arrest could not find
time to flood the same social media with condemnation of Maoists’
actions.
But then, lot many of these elitists are ignorant about the nefarious
designs of the Maoists. Their minds are clouded by intellectuals who
describe the Maoists as ‘Gandhians with guns’. In fact, the recipient of
prestigious Man Booker Prize for her literary genius Arundhati Roy,
went on to write about Maoists, “This army is more Gandhian than any
Gandhian, even in sabotage. Before burning a police vehicle, it’s
stripped down, the parts cannibalised.” Of course, people who know the
pressure exerted by Maoist terrorists on social activists doing
humanitarian work in remote tribal areas, would ridicule this
description even if it comes from an acclaimed author.
For, when one takes a look at things objectively, one realises that the
State is always democratic while the Maoist organisation is
‘undemocratic’. Maoist leaders are exploiting the cadres, resorting to
financial corruption, and adopting ‘autocratic, undemocratic sectarian
approach’. This has been pointed out by a Maoist leader himself --
Sabyasachi Panda -- in his letter to CPI (Maoist) Central Committee.
Panda has cited several specific instances with names of Maoist leaders
and exploited cadres, in his letter.
After knowing this, one would not commit the foolish act of equating the
Maoist outlaws with Mahatma Gandhi. What Mahatma Gandhi stood for was
peace, non-violence, and satyagraha (democratic protest). And, what the
Maoists stand for is unbridled hunger for seizure of power with the gun.
The designs of Maoists have been clearly laid out by Mao in his famous
quote, “The seizure of power by armed force, the settlement of the issue
by war, is the central task and highest form of revolution.” In fact,
the ‘Strategy and Tactics’ document of CPI (Maoist) also minces no words
when it states, “The Central task of the Indian revolution also is the
seizure of political power. To accomplish this Central task, the Indian
people will have to be organized in the people’s army and will have to
wipe out the armed forces of the counter-revolutionary Indian state
through war and will have to establish, in its place, their own state -
the People’s Democratic State and will have to establish their own
political authority. The very act of establishment of the state
machinery of the people by destroying, through war, the present
autocratic state machinery - the army, the police, and the bureaucracy
of the reactionary ruling classes - is the Central task of the People’s
Democratic Revolution of India.”
Do these statements give any hint, whatsoever, of the Maoists believing
in democratic manner of protests? Or, do these statements reflect the
Gandhian values of peace, non-violence, and satyagraha? The plain answer
is ‘NO’. But, the intellectuals and scholars do not want to think
objectively about the entire issue. They just want to coin new terms to
confuse the semi-intellectuals, and create for them the mindless herd of
rallyists. Unfortunately, the semi-intellectuals also forget the ground
realities and borrow the view-points of pro-Maoist thinkers/supporters.
It is from such mindless support that the pro-Maoist
thinkers/supporters dare to commit the unpardonable sin of calling the
values embodied by ‘Father of the Nation’ Mahatma Gandhi as ‘pious
humbug’.
It is time for the so-called intellectuals to prove themselves to be
useful to the society at large and work for progress of the nation based
on core value of patriotism. It is also time to ask pro-Maoist
intellectuals whether the plea of ‘human rights’ is to be applied only
in case of anti-nationals? It is also the time to ask Maoist
sympathisers -- Can anyone killing the people (cops or civilians) be
equated with Gandhi?
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