Can Maoist terrorists be equated with Gandhians?

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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