Interview given by CMC In-Charge Comrade Basavaraj for ‘Pahat’ Official organ of Maharashtra State Committee, CPI (Maoist)
Q 1 : Manmohan is saying that Maoists are the biggest internal security threat to the country. Maoists are saying that they are waging People’s War (PW). How would you define People’s War?
BR: Several democrats have already answered this question many times. We must try to find an answer to this by questioning what the reason is behind PM Manmohan Singh stating that Maoists are the biggest threat to the country. How can Maoists fighting for the interests of oppressed masses like workers and peasants of our country, for solving basic problems of the people, for a democratic economic system that promises political power and self-reliance for 90% of the population, for sovereignty of our country and for preserving the resources of our country be termed as biggest threat to the security of the country?
He announced for the first time in 2006 that Left Wing Extremism (LWE) is the biggest internal security threat to the country. Just some time earlier on September 21, 2004 two revolutionary parties CPI (ML) [PW] and MCCI that carried on their practice in the Indian revolutionary movement for a long time as two different streams merged into a single stream and CPI (Maoist) emerged. The People’s Guerilla Army and the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army that had been formed under their leadership merged and the new ‘People’s Liberation Guerilla Army’ (PLGA) was formed.
Already by then, the Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and other state governments had signed MoUs with several corporate companies belonging to the comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie (CBB) and the imperialists to loot the mineral deposits and the natural resources in the Adivasi areas. Corporate companies like Tata, Essar, Jindal, Mittal, Vedanta, Jaiswals NECO are swiftly penetrating into these areas. The comprador ruling class parties like the ruling UPA led by Congress, NDA led by BJP, CPI, CPI (M) and other regional parties are kowtowing before them.
In exchange for kickbacks worth crores of rupees, they are not hesitating to mortgage not only the riches of the country but even its sovereignty. In the background of the severe economic crisis that burst out all over the world since 2008, severe contention for the exploitation of natural resources in the backward countries began.
Bourgeois economists are themselves claiming that this crisis is very deep and surpasses the economic crisis of the 1930s. As a result, the imperialist and corporate companies are trying to loot the natural resources of our country more aggressively. But the Indian people are opposing this because allowing this complete exploitation would result in the destruction of Jal-Jungle-Zameen and displacement of millions of people and would in no way result in ‘development’ as claimed by the country’s rulers. We are demanding that Jal-Jungle-Zameen must belong to the Adivasis. CPI (Maoist) is standing in the forefront in the people’s resistance struggle. As a result, MoUs worth lakhs of crores of rupees are not getting implemented. In several places mining came to a standstill.
People are chasing away the mining mafias. The works of several heavy industries have stopped. The construction of several big dams stopped. Due to this, corporate companies and their imperialist masters, particularly the US imperialists are getting mad. Thus on the one hand the people, who are opposing the sham development of the exploiting ruling classes and the revolutionary masses led by our party in various areas of our country including Dandakaranya (DK) and Bihar-Jharkhand where revolutionary movement is stronger, are forming revolutionary democratic political power organs at a primary level.
The alternative development model brought forth by the ‘Revolutionary People’s Committee’ (RPC) or the ‘Krantikari Janatana Sarkar’ built by the oppressed masses by destroying the power of feudal lords and other reactionary forces is posing a serious challenge to the present political power of the feudal lords and comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie (CBB). Exactly due to this reason, the Indian comprador ruling classes tried severely to wipe out the revolutionary movement from 2004 to 2008 through counter-revolutionary campaigns, organizations and private armies like Sendra, Nagrik Suraksha Samiti in Jharkhand, various kinds of feudal private armies and reactionary organizations in Bihar, Salwa Judum in DK, social fascist Harmad Bahini and Bhairav Bahini belonging to Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and Santi Committee in Narayanapatna (Odisha) area.
They launched Operation Green Hunt (OGH) since 2009. It reached the second stage at present. This is getting intensified with each passing day and is taking a most cruel fascist form. 13 revolutionary activists were massacred in Longo village in East Singhbhum district in Jharkhand in 2003; nearly thousand common Adivasi people were massacred, 664 villages were razed down and 60,000 Adivasi people were displaced in Dantewada, Bijapur and Bastar districts during the white terror of Salwa Judum from 2005 to 2008;
Several covert murders including the murder of ten revolutionary activists in Manala covert operation in Nizamabad district in North Telangana in February 2005 and murder of nine revolutionary activists in Badwel covert operation in Andhra Pradesh (AP) in November 2006; massacre of nine revolutionary activists in Bhitar Amda covert operation in East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand in February 2008; massacre of 18 revolutionary activists in Kanchal (Bijapur district, DK) covert operation in March 2008; as part of OGH launched in 2009 – massacre of nearly 130 Adivasis in Lalgarh area; massacre of more than 250 Adivasis in DK; massacre of eight revolutionary activists in Phulwaria Kodasi (Jamui district, Bihar) in January 2010; poisoning and murdering of ten revolutionary activists on the banks of Ganga in September in the same district; the recent massacre of 20 people in the ‘Basaguda-Sarkinguda’ in Bijapur district (DK) in Chhattisgarh on June 28, 2012 – all these dozens of massacres are all indisputable proof of the War on People waged by the Indian ruling classes in the name of wiping out the ‘internal threat’.
The thing to be noticed by everyone is that this OGH is not just limited to the Maoist movement areas. This considers every person, every organization that proves to be a hurdle to corporate loot as its enemy. Turning the vast area consisting of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, AP and Maharashtra, the so-called ‘red corridor’ into ‘corporate corridor’ and ‘mopping up’ everybody that proves to be a hurdle to this is its aim.
That is why several democrats in our country are describing OGH as ‘War on People’. Clearly, the reply to this OGH or the ‘War on People’ is People’s War. This means that we must give a reply by coordinating mass struggles and the armed struggle waged for political power of the people, by making the people understand that People’s War is waged exclusively for the interests of the people and by bringing out their creativity, bravery and valor. It is possible to stop and defeat OGH only through People’s War and there is no other way.
That is why we are defining People’s War as a war where all classes and sections of people targeted by the OGH unify and fight under the leadership of the proletarian party against imperialists, their corporate companies and this country’s feudal and CBB ruling classes that kowtow to them. If the PW is to achieve its aim, the Maoist principle says that ‘armed struggle is the principal form of struggle and People’s Army is the principal form of organization’.
So, the guerilla war waged by the PLGA under the leadership of the party in the guerilla zones and red resistance areas in the strategic areas plays the prominent role in PW. It is not possible to wage guerilla war without a strong mass base. For this, we are arousing the oppressed masses that are getting crushed under the heels of the imperialist, CBB and big land lords and putting efforts to build a united front of the four classes on the basis of the worker-peasant unity and consisting of petty bourgeois and national bourgeois classes.
We are taking up legal-illegal, armed-unarmed mass struggles, struggles on day to day issues, and on political and rights issues in both open and secret methods. Oppressed masses are carrying on their struggle in several forms. Our party is putting efforts to ensure that all these struggles are waged against the common enemy and get coordinated with the armed struggle waged for the seizure of political power by overthrowing the rule of the exploiting ruling classes.
Q 2: The government is using the LIC policy to fight the revolt of the Maoists. What is your answer to this strategy of the government?
BR: It is a fact that the Indian exploiting ruling classes are using the US imperialist dictated LIC (Low Intensity Conflict) strategy and are concentrating the entire state machinery to wipe out the revolutionary movement led by our party. All democrats who are fighting against state violence know this fact.
LIC is nothing but an imperialist neo-colonial form of the feudal political principle that states that the enemy must be destroyed by using all kinds of methods – deliberation, carrot, divide and stick. There is no scope for justice in this. Its aim is to wipe out the enemy (for the ruling classes enemy means Maoists who represent the four classes consisting of workers-peasants, middle class and national bourgeoisie).
The LIC strategy formulated by the US imperialists is the present-day theory of counter-insurgency. LIC is the counter-revolutionary theory formulated and used by the imperialists, particularly US imperialists after Second World War against the just struggles of the oppressed nations and oppressed masses of the colonial and semi-colonial countries in the world. After Second World War the imperialists learnt lessons from the defeats suffered in fighting back the revolutions – the French imperialists in Indo-China and Algeria; British imperialists in Palestine, Cyprus and Malaysia, US imperialists in Indo-China, particularly in Vietnam – and formulated the counter-revolutionary warfare i.e., the LIC strategy against Protracted People’s Wars and national liberation movements.
This diverts the people from getting politically mobilized and consolidated under the leadership of revolutionary organizations and from waging armed struggle. In other words, devastating just revolutionary wars, suppressing and surrendering the people who are the base and support for these revolutionary wars is the aim of LIC. This strategy is being implemented in a deceitful manner in political, ideological, organizational, military, economic and cultural spheres, with immediate and long-term schemes; openly and secretly; directly and indirectly and in armed and unarmed methods.
There is no end to the scheming and conspiracies of the imperialists and the Indian ruling classes who are their reliable lackeys. That is why we call this the most deceitful, reactionary, cruel and destructive policy. Imperialism considerably weakened during the Second World War. Indirect rule in place of imperialist direct rule on colonies and neo-colonialism in place of colonialism became a common feature.
Even before the completion of anti-feudal democratic revolutions and anti-imperialist national democratic revolutions in semi-colonial countries, the local big land lords and comprador bourgeoisie who have colluded with the imperialists and are their loyal dogs seized power in the garb of independence and are carrying on dictatorial rules and serving as the base for neo-colonial exploitation.
Simultaneously, Maoism and PPW gained recognition of the world proletariat and the oppressed masses as the higher stage of Marxism-Leninism and the path of liberation for colonial and semi-colonial countries respectively. With the disintegration of Soviet Union and its fall as a Super Power, US came to the fore as the world gendarme and the no.1 enemy of the oppressed nations, people and the revolutionary movements.
As the world capitalist system went on facing crises, all the measures taken by it including neo-liberal economic policies failed and it is bogged down in a world-wide severe crisis. The sham of independence, sovereignty and democracy in semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries is getting exposed and the rulers of these countries are getting exposed as compradors and puppets of imperialists, as oppressors of people and as arch enemies to democracy, progress, freedom, sovereignty and self-reliance and as the main hurdle to all mass movements.
In several countries, Maoist parties took up the path of PPW, built People’s Armies and are waging guerilla warfare since a long time. It was in such a backdrop that LIC was formulated as the multi-pronged strategy of the imperialists to continue their neo-colonial exploitation and to suppress and surrender any kind of anti-imperialist movements, revolutionary movements and national liberation revolts.
US economy is based on wars. It is still able to survive only by selling weapons, war-related technology, war planes, UAVs and war related material. It would collapse as soon as wars stop. In all the countries where LIC strategy is being implemented, the imperialists are rapidly turning the economic, political, cultural, civic, administrative, legal and military departments and machinery into fascist institutions.
As part of this, the ruling classes in our country are forming special police, paramilitary and military forces on a huge scale very rapidly with the evil design of disintegrating the People’s War in our country and the just national liberation movements of Kashmir and North-East and surrendering the people. They are building special intelligence departments at centre and in the states. The entire civic-military departments are being centralized. They are carrying on psychological warfare on a huge scale to divert the people from basic problems and the fundamental revolutionary path of solving them and to push them towards sham development and fake peace.
They are using special forces and are carrying on inhuman massacres and destruction in the name of counter-insurgency operations on a severe scale. Psychological warfare is also being carried on as severely. While these are being carried on vastly and severely, internal dictatorship and the control of imperialists are also increasing on the same scale.
Due to this the exploitation and oppression of the oppressed nations and masses are also increasing on the same scale. On the other hand, the intensifying world capitalist economic and political crisis is jolting all the spheres in our country. Our country is increasingly going into the hands of the imperialists and degenerating more than ever. Due to the billions of dollars of debts borrowed by the Indian rulers since 1991 from imperialist institutions like IMF, World Bank and Asian Development Bank, the economy of our country is nearing collapse.
Exactly due to this, the economies of countries like Indonesia, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico and Peru got bogged down in debt crisis and collapsed due to bankruptcy of small and medium industries, unemployment, fall in purchasing power and price rises. This experience is going to be repeated in our country too. In spite of knowing this, the think tanks of imperialists and the comprador rulers of our country are propagating that India is going to become a Super Power by 2030. They are trying to include our country as a junior partner in contention with China.
The imperialists are pouring in billions of dollars for the creation of mind control manuals through psychologists to carry on psychological warfare on the people to turn their minds in accordance i.e., to make them believe that a country getting bogged down in crisis would develop into a Super Power. In fact, excepting billionaires and millionaires, common people are all getting severely affected due to severe economic crisis.
As a result, all social contradictions along with the major, fundamental and principal contradictions are intensifying. Contrary to the expectations of imperialists and the comprador rulers from the LIC strategy, the People’s War led by our party CPI (Maoist) is developing through ups and downs in a manner that proves that this strategy is bound to be ultimately defeated and that victory of people is inevitable.
Though nationality movements are also facing ups and downs, they are also continuously flaring. All this is proving that it is possible to defeat LIC through PPW. Our party Central Committee discussed in detail about the imperialist LIC strategy and formulated a policy in December 2008 to fight it back and defeat it. We believe that we would be able to defeat it by concentrating and working on ideological, political, economic, cultural and military affairs as mentioned in that policy. For this sake, we are firm on the matter of our party’s political line and the military strategy that would advance the revolutionary movement in the path of PPW.
We are being flexible in the matter of tactics. We are putting efforts to vastly mobilize the oppressed masses in class struggle apart from imparting Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to increase the active role of millions of oppressed masses in People’s War. We are intensifying our fight against reformism, economism, revisionism, Gandhian peace, post-modernism, sham democracy and fake independence that are proving a hurdle to this and taking our understanding into the people. We are putting efforts to increase and strengthen our mass base.
We are adhering firmly to class line and mass line and are putting efforts to politically mobilize the masses and make them participate in PW. We are trying to build a vast anti-imperialist, anti-feudal united front by mobilizing masses of oppressed classes and sections. We are working with the viewpoint of extending PW all over the country by expanding and intensifying guerilla warfare. Our party is trying to fight back through revolutionary propaganda the psychological warfare and foul propaganda carried on a huge scale by the exploiting ruling classes as part of LIC to damage the Maoist People’s War. It is placing before the people the facts about the revolutionary movement from time to time.
Q 3: The government possesses modern technology. It has satellites, UAVs, GPS, modern telecommunications and communication control war room. It would be using robots too in near future. How would you fight back this high-tech enemy?
BR: On July 14, 1956 comrade Mao in his conversation with two Latin American public figures said,“Now U.S. imperialism is quite powerful, but in reality it isn’t. It is very weak politically because it is divorced from the masses of the people and is disliked by everybody and by the American people too. In appearance it is very powerful but in reality it is nothing to be afraid of, it is a paper tiger. Outwardly a tiger, it is made of paper, unable to withstand the wind and the rain. I believe the United States is nothing but a paper tiger. … When we say U.S. imperialism is a paper tiger, we are speaking in terms of strategy.
Regarding it as a whole, we must despise it. But regarding each part, we must take it seriously. It has claws and fangs. We have to destroy it piecemeal. For instance, if it has ten fangs, knock off one the first time, and there will be nine left, knock off another, and there will be eight left. When all the fangs are gone, it will still have claws. … today the United States still has strength, turning out more than 100 million tons of steel a year and hitting out everywhere. That is why we must continue to wage struggles against it, fight it with all our might and wrest one position after another from it. And that takes time.” [US imperialism is a paper tiger, Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung: Vol. V]
What do we understand from the above words uttered by the great teacher Mao? We understand that it is not modern weapons or technology that decides the outcome in a war but that the conscious role of humans is the decisive factor. However strong the enemy may be, as long as they are reactionaries and anti-people, when they impose an unjust war on the people and face the wrath of the people, they become politically very weak.
Ninety percent of the people who are against the enemy would unite and defeat the enemy by turning into a united force. It is clear that the Indian government possesses very mighty state machinery and that it is increasing several fangs more than ever with each passing day. They have got the abundant support and help of imperialists, particularly the US imperialists. We also know that it is not an easy job to overthrow the Indian government.
On this occasion, we must think as to why the US imperialists possessing high technology in those days too had to face defeats in several wars of aggression. It was given a death blow in Vietnam during 1965-75. However, the revolutionary and national liberation struggles of those days got the support and help of the socialist camp till mid-50s and later that of socialist China till 1976.
Though there is no socialist country in the world at present, the national liberation struggles in Asia, Africa and Latin America countries, the Arab people’s surges against dictatorial rulers, the working class struggles developing on a huge scale in imperialist countries, the revolutionary movements in some countries and armed struggles of Islamic guerilla organizations in some countries against imperialist countries such as US and UK are making the imperialists sleepless. As a result, in the past one decade, the NATO troops led by US had to retreat from Iraq.
They are going to retreat from Afghanistan in the coming two years. The reason for this is nothing but their resorting to aggressive wars against the will of the people, perpetrating massacres and pushing the people into streets through exploitation and oppression. So, though there is no one socialist country at present, an excellent revolutionary situation is developing all over the world. If we can utilize this skillfully, the opportunities for revolutionary forces to advance victoriously are abundant.
As long as the Indian ruling classes continue their War on People and carry on their exploitation and oppression and perpetrate massacres of innocent people, they would not be able to emerge victorious in war how much ever powerful and modern the weapons they possess may be. They can never win over the people to their side. However, we must not forget on this occasion that the enemy is powerful in terms of tactics in a war. Keeping this and other such facts in view, our party took up the path of PPW to make success the revolution in semi-colonial, semi-feudal India.
We are following the PPW path that would ultimately overthrow the enemy by damaging one part after another and surrounding the cities after liberating the villages. The GPS systems, UAV/drones, helicopters, powerful scanners and other such modern technology are in fact not as mighty as the enemy is propagating. Another thing that we wish to point out on this occasion is that every weapon has an antidote.
This is a fundamental thing taught by Marxism to us. In swordplay, shield was created to defend from the sword. In boxing, blocking tactic was developed to defend from the punch. Defensive operations were formulated to defend from the enemy’s offensive operations. Torpedoes were created to destroy battleships. Anti-aircraft guns were brought into the field to hit war planes/helicopters. US military experts themselves had announced recently that it is possible to divert the drones that are claimed to be very mighty at present through ‘spoofing technique’.
Recently Iran intelligence made an US surveillance UAV to land in their country and seized it using this technique. Anybody who has studied military science would not be afraid of weapons. Particularly our party that is armed with the Maoist People’s War theory that is renowned as the proletarian military science in 20th century would never be afraid. History has proven several times that people are capable of using counter-tactics for every tactic used by the reactionaries.
When fascist Hitler occupied Soviet Russia in the Second World War, the Soviet people stood united and chased Hitler’s armies through the sacrifices of revolutionary masses and communists. US imperialists who were arrogant that they possessed the most modern atom bomb could not play a decisive role in defeating Hitler. That is why we state – in a People’s War the decisive force is not technology but people.
The modern technology of the enemy would either be destroyed in the deluge of the people or would be defused. When people participate in PW with revolutionary spirit, workers-peasants and other oppressed masses would utilize modern technology under the leadership of party, would formulate new tactics creatively and face the enemy formidably.
They would be able to fight back the reactionary tactics used by the enemy, defend the revolutionary movement and defeat the enemy. PLGA would have to firmly implement the Maoist guerilla war principles (secrecy, speed and determination) to fight back the modern technology possessed by the imperialists and their lackeys. The PLGA forces must always be mobile and carry on their movement in the most unimaginable manner to the enemy and fail his modern technology. Recently, imperialists and their lackeys increased the usage of UAV/drones.
Though they are claiming that US President Barack Obama is himself supervising their operations in Afghanistan, one can understand on whom this war is being waged by the fact that hundreds of common people are dying in these attacks. They are making preparations to use them in Maoist areas in India. People are agitating against the usage of drones in several parts of the world.
There is a need to take up mass movements against the usage of drones in our country too. We have the confidence that we would be able to defeat the mighty enemy through politically consolidating the people.
Q 4: PLGA completed ten years last year. Explain the successes achieved by PLGA in this decade.
BR: By December 2, 2010 PLGA completed one decade of its formation.It has been proven in this one decade that the formation of PLGA is a historic event. Never before has such a People’s Army been built in India’s history. This is the period when PLGA advanced with a mass base led by the proletarian party and based on worker-peasant unity and uniting with the petty bourgeois and national bourgeois classes.
As a detachment of the international communist red army, the PLGA led by CPI (Maoist) is putting efforts with the aim of making success the World Socialist Revolution and to make success the New Democratic Revolution that is being carried on as part of it. It had been achieving several successes in this decade and was gradually developing its abilities so as to fulfill its historical role.
The successes achieved by PLGA are as follows:
Formation of Central, State/Special Area/Special Zone Military Commissions; Regional, Zonal/Divisional/District, Area level Military Commands; Panchayat and Area level People’s Militia Commands.The formation of PLGA as a structure consisting of three forces that work in an interdependent manner – Main, Secondary and Base forces. The development of People’s Militia structures as a perennial source of recruitment into PLGA Coordination of PW with mass struggles. PLGA stood in support of mass struggles and mass movements.
For example, it stood in support of Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh in West Bengal; Narayanapatna, Kalinganagar and other struggles in Odisha; anti-bauxite struggle in Visakha of Andhra Pradesh; anti-mining struggle in Surjagarh of Maharashtra; various anti-mining struggles in Jharkhand; anti-displacement struggles in Lohandiguda, Raoghat, Pallemadi, Bodhghat etc in Chhattisgarh. PLGA that was formed in an embryonic form on December 2, 1999 gradually expanded and developed to company and battalion level.
It expanded with education, medical, technical, communications, supply, intelligence, and instructor teams and guards units and is advancing towards the formation of PLA (regular army). In dozens of campaigns conducted as part of hundreds of tactical counter-offensives like Kalimela, Srisailam-Sundipenta, Garhwa, Jagpura, Balagunj, Yellamanda, Uppalada, Barah, Ladipur-Sahugunj, Chandrapura, Saranda-1, Japla, Koraput, Saranda-2, Giridih, Jehanabad, R. Udayagiri, NMDC, Ranibodili, Bokaro, Kiriburu, Goelkera, Nayagarh, Jhajha, Lakhisarai, Urpalmetta, Tadimetla-1, Tonguda, Battiguda, Markanar, Tavvetola, Madanveda, Laheri, Mukaram-Tadimetla-2, Kongera, Kajara, Mamayil, Saranda resistance (2010) – several offensive campaigns of the enemy were defeated.
Moreover, 2,000 enemy soldiers were wiped out, 2,500 weapons and more than one lakh rounds of ammunition were seized. Hundreds of land lords, people’s enemies, reactionaries, enemy agents, informers, coverts, various counter-revolutionary private armies like Salwa Judum, Sendra, Nagrik Suraksha Samiti, Bhumi Sena, social fascist Harmad Vahihi, Santi Sena goons, goonda leaders and cruel political leaders belonging to various bourgeois and revisionist parties were annihilated.
PLGA served as a magic weapon in the building of Panchayat, Area and District level Revolutionary People’s Committees where political power of the enemy has been destroyed in the strategic areas. PLGA served as the principal instrument for fulfilling political, organizational, propaganda, defence and production tasks.
The Red Army detachment of India – the PLGA stood as a ray of hope for the oppressed and suppressed masses and oppressed nations of our country and the world. Arousing the women who are half the sky and developing them in political, organizational, military, cultural and other spheres so that they can lay claim to their share in struggle and helping the working class women gain self-reliance.
Q5: The government is making preparations to deploy Army if the police and paramilitary forces fail to fight back the Maoists. How would you fight back the Army?
BR: How we would fight back the Army depends on the aim with which the Indian Army is being deployed in our areas. In fact, it is the state machinery consisting of armed forces (Army, paramilitary, special and police forces), judicial system, jails, bureaucracy etc that conducts the affairs of the state. The primary components of this state machinery are its military armed forces.
So, an army belongs to the state. There is not a single army in this world that does not belong to a state. But what kind of a state is that? The present Indian state machinery serves as an instrument for the exploiting class rule of CBB and big land lords that serve the imperialists, for class oppression and class exploitation. Thus the Indian Army that came as a legacy of the British imperialists to the Indian comprador government is counter-revolutionary too. According to the Indian Constitution, the primary task of the Indian armed forces is to defend the borders of the country from the aggression of other countries and to serve the people during natural disasters.
But the Indian governments goaded its army on its own people several times. An army official stated the fact that the Indian Army participated in battles on the borders of our country for mere 143 days. In the name of so-called internal security it first waged war on Telangana people for the interests of the exploiting classes on the pretext of ‘liberation from Nizam’ (from September 1948 to October 1951).
Later it occupied North-East states and Kashmir. In July 1971, it carried on suppressive offensive on the struggle of Birbhum revolutionary masses. Similarly in 1990, they completely used the Indian Army on the pretext of ‘training’ against the will of the Punjab people. In these cruel suppressive campaigns – 30,000 people in North-East, 80,000 in Kashmir, 10,000 in Punjab, 5,000 in Telangana armed struggle (1946-51) and 200 people and activists in Birbhum were massacred. If we add the 13,000 women and men who lost their lives in the Maoist movement and in massacres carried on from Naxalbari and Srikakulam to the present by the paramilitary, police and special commando forces, lakhs of people were slaughtered by the government armed forces. Lakhs of people were tortured and put in jails.
People’s property worth crores of rupees was looted, razed down. Thousands of young women and men went missing. What do all these atrocities indicate? Is it not getting proved that the Army, paramilitary and police forces do not hesitate to massacre the people for the interests of these exploiting country-selling ruling classes (CBB, big land lords) for the super profits of imperialists? Are they not proving on their own that they are the running dogs of the imperialists? Did they not implement the government-dictated cruel, violent and murderous policies?
These forces would never abandon these policies. Recently, with the aim of wiping out the Maoist movement, Indian Army is advancing in phases towards areas in DK where the movement is strong since the end of May 2011 in the name of training. We can imagine what the results would be. Handing over the Maad hills that abound natural riches to imperialists and corporate companies, particularly occupying 750 sq.k.m. area in the Maad hills where the most ancient Adivasi community in the world – the Mariya Adivasis live and displacing them is its aim.
Apart from this, wiping out our party and the party leadership that is advancing the various Adivasi communities in DK along the revolutionary path is the other important aim behind this. Thus, this is not only anti-people but also reactionary. Maoism clarifies to us that even such a reactionary Indian Army can be defeated through PPW. The history of China and Vietnam People’s Wars is an indisputable example for this. The enemy is conducting the offensive with the aim of wiping out the revolutionary movement within 3 to 7 years period.
Our aim would be to extend this as far as possible thus bogging down the Indian Army in a protracted war that cannot be solved in any manner. Indian Armies have not yet been relieved from the suppressive operations being conducted on North-East nationality struggles and Kashmir nationality struggle. In a way, these got bogged down in a war since a long time there. We must push the Indian Armies to a situation where they cannot concentrate anywhere by intensifying the guerilla warfare in several guerilla zones and by creating newer guerilla zones.
We must develop guerilla warfare as an invincible warfare that can never be wiped out by the enemy by linking the struggles on people’s day to day issues, political, economic and rights movements with guerilla warfare and conducting them in a militant manner both in armed and unarmed methods. Displacement is an important life and death issue at present for the people.
People are fighting against the displacement policies of the Indian exploiting ruling classes. Our party, PLGA, revolutionary mass organizations, revolutionary Janatana Sarkars and People’s Militia must integrate further with those people. They must integrate with them like fish in water. These must be transformed into militant struggles from the beginning so that they can strongly fight back the military and police forces that come to suppress these struggles.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) coming into force along with the deployment of the Army and increase in mopping up measures like massacres of common people, missing of people, arrests, atrocities on women, razing down of villages, loot of people’s properties, destruction, fake encounter deaths as a result can be seen all along the history of the Army. So, we must mobilize people on a huge scale against AFSPA.
We must mobilize all the forces that would come together with the slogan ‘Indian Army Go Back’ and form a broad united front thus isolating the enemy. People must be mobilized vastly against fake encounters and for handing over of dead bodies to the families. People’s resistance struggles must be taken up. People’s movements must be conducted for civil rights. Only when we develop people’s movements as militant resistance struggles can we bring a sea change in PW.
The enemy is implementing ‘Integrated Action Plan’ as part of ‘Development activities-Police actions’ policy by following the tactic of ‘Winning Hearts and Minds’ as part of LIC policy. They are giving importance to building roads, electricity, communications etc than for providing basic necessities like irrigation. The paramilitary officers and even military officials who came recently to DK are conducting Civic Action Programs in villages.
They are conducting meetings with people. Military is doing voluntary labor as never before to deceive the people. In the name of teaching patriotic lessons to students in schools, they are spitting venom against Maoist revolutionaries. The aim of these reforms is to divide a section from the people, turn them into a stratum in the villages and use them as the main vehicles in the suppression of movements.
We must expose the sham of these reforms among the people. We must make the people understand that their basic issues would not be solved through these and that establishment of New Democratic power by overthrow of this exploitative system is the solution. Comrade Mao repeatedly taught us that only ‘People’s War that is conducted with a mass base would achieve victory’.
People who can no longer bear the exploitation, oppression and suppression of the ruling classes and their mercenary armed forces joining the resistance wars on a huge scale with the inspiration of revolutionary party and People’s Army can be seen in Russia, China, Vietnam revolutionary movements and in several national liberation struggles. This people’s resistance is the perennial source of strength for the People’s Army.
If the People’s Army is to expand with thousands and lakhs of members, then such people’s resistance struggles must be developed on a massive scale. Struggles like Lalgarh and Narayanapatna had already placed before us an ideal model. Studying the political weaknesses of the Indian Army would be primary in defeating it. It is clear that all the wars fought by the Indian Army were nothing but wars for the exploitation, suppression and oppression interests of the Indian exploiting classes. Its anti-people nature has already been exposed through this. So it would not have people’s support. This is its principal political weakness.
Though all the soldiers in the Indian Army were recruited from among the people, their working for the interests of the exploiting classes instead of for their class interests is a big contradiction. This means that they are serving a class that is not their own. Due to this contradiction, their nature would be mercenary instead of working with dedication. This is the reason for suicides and running away in these forces. Similarly, the impact of various progressive, revolutionary and national liberation struggles would be continuously hitting them.
There is always the possibility of revolts in Army like in revolutionary movements such as Russia and China and their joining the revolutionary people’s armies and national liberation armies when they realize about the exploitation, suppression and oppression of their oppressed classes. This is the biggest weakness of the Indian Army which the Indian ruling classes claim as mighty. Due to its mercenary nature, strategically it would not have the will to fight bravely.
It would not be able face the People’s Army that fights for the interests of the people and achieve strategic victory. Indian Army does not have much experience in guerilla warfare and in fighting back guerilla warfare. The experience it gained in guerilla warfare and in fighting back guerilla warfare as part of suppressing nationality struggles, Punjab people’s struggle and as part of war of aggression on LTTE is very limited.
It suffered a death blow in the war on LTTE. The Indian Army itself had reviewed that it faced defeat in the war on LTTE as it did not have strong intelligence. In fact, it is difficult for an army that resorts to offensives on the people, i.e., an anti-people army to form a strong human intelligence too. We must explain to the police, paramilitary and military forces the actual reasons for the contradictions between the lower level jawans and the officers in the Indian Army; between various armed forces and between the Army and the police.
We must explain to them at every possible opportunity that they must not work like mercenary killers for the exploiting classes. We must give a call to the young women and men that they must not join the exploiting government armed forces, that they must boycott the enemy recruitment campaigns and agitate for a life to be lived with dignity.
This call must be propagated widely. As the enemy is trying hard to conduct information based offensives to annihilate the leadership forces from the top to the village level in the movement areas after achieving successes in inflicting losses to the party leadership forces outside the zones and is waiting for an opportunity by even deploying UAVs, the task of protecting the leadership becomes a very important one.
For this, the party and the PLGA must pay attention to apply all kinds of counter-tactics continuously in practice. People’s intelligence must be strengthened from people’s resistance struggles. We must see to it that the information about the revolutionary movement’s leadership does not reach the enemy but that of the enemy reaches the party, PLGA, various mass organizations and the people.
Some or the other kind of misinformation must be given to the enemy and rumors must be spread on a daily basis. We must increase the active participation of the people in this. We must face the issue of informer network of the enemy by putting continuous political efforts such that the understanding about class line and mass line develops among the people. The victory of New Democratic Revolution is linked with the defeat of the Indian Army. We must chase away the Indian Army and defeat it by taking up the basic and day to day issues of the people and by building a strong people’s resistance war for the right to live of the people.
Q6: What is the meaning of the slogan ‘Let us develop PLGA into PLA’ given by the party?
BR : We need three magic weapons to make the revolution successful – Party, Army and United Front. The weapons of People’s Army and United Front in the hands of the warrior named Party are very much needed for the victory of the revolution. Our Unity Congress-9th Congress gave the central, principal and immediate task – “Develop guerilla warfare into mobile warfare and PLGA into PLA to transform Dandakaranya and Bihar-Jharkhand into liberated areas” to the entire party, PLGA, revolutionary mass organizations, RPCs/Krantikari Janatana Sarkars. It is inevitable to develop PLGA into PLA if we are to build liberated areas. PLA means regular army.
Only a regular army can develop guerilla warfare into mobile warfare. Due to the efforts put by PLGA under the leadership of our party in the past five years, the guerilla warfare is intensifying in various guerilla zones. PLGA conducted some actions that had mobile warfare nature. For example, the Mukaram-Tadimetla ambush, ‘Operation Ropeway’ – Nayagarh operation, Kajara, Lohardagga (Dhardharia) etc.
It conducted several more operations too. This means that the PLGA is steeling itself gradually while waging war. Similarly, we must develop battalions and regiments by expanding the PLGA formations through increasing the political consciousness of the people through mass struggles, arming them and making them part of PW and by developing the process of recruitment step by step. It must gain grip over terrain, observe the weaknesses of the enemy, apply guerilla tactics according to time and space creatively and always keep initiative in its hands.
It must gain the active support of the people, wipe out the enemy as far as possible, gain weapons, arm the new recruits and people and advance. We must put efforts in a planned manner to increase the fighting capacity of PLGA forces, to establish higher level discipline in them, to increase its weapon power by mainly depending on attacks on enemy forces and to gradually develop the auxiliary departments that are necessary for conducting war. It is only in this manner that we can develop PLGA into PLA. Only thus can we fulfill the central, principal and immediate task given by our party’s Unity Congress-9th Congress. This is the meaning of the slogan ‘Develop PLGA into PLA’.
