By K.N.Ramachandran,
The abduction of a district collector and a junior engineer by the Maoists in Orissa has become a major news now. The discussion by the mediators and the details of those going to be swapped for the release of the two etc are filling the pages of the newspapers and taking hours in the TV channels. Like some earlier similar episodes in AP and W.Bengal, this episode is now over with the release of the two, of course with the government accepting some demands.
Then what? Neither the CPI (Maoist) leadership nor those who are celebrating the episode are asking this question. If this is the way to achieve people’s demands, why can’t they kidnap a bigger fish and demand the New Democratic Revolution in return for the release? It will do a lot of good to the CPI(Maoist) if their leaders try to read what Mao told the rebel army officers of Chiang Kaishak who had taken him as a hostage.
What happened after the Maoist delegation led by a top leader of the PWG went to Hyderabad for talks with the then chief minister of AP facilitated by Varavara Rao and Kalyan Rao is well known. Utilising all the clues obtained while the Maoists came out and returned, the CPI (ML) People’s War was almost wiped out from the state. In Orissa, once the episode is over the autocratic Navin Patnaik government is going to utilise it not only to intensify the extermination campaign against the Maoists and the adivasis in the name of helping the annas, but also to intensify the campaign to suppress the mass movements going on in the state like the POSCO, Kalinganagar, Bhubaneswar Basti Suraksha movement etc. in the name of suppressing Maoists. What is done in Chathisgarh, Jharkhand, and in the few pockets in W.Bengal ,where the Maoist squads exist, by the state governments to suppress the people’s movements in the name of their squad actions or the cancellation of the train running between Kharagpur and Tatanagar still during night time in the name of the derailing of the Gnaneaswari express by them are well known.
The anarchists run away after an ‘action’, but it is the people and their movements which suffer because of them. Their actions are not helping the people’s movements in any manner. Their blasting of trains and abductions show that bereft of revolutionary ideas, without any concept about the need to develop the understanding about Marxist-Leninist theory and about revolutionary mass line and about proletarian democracy and development perspectives to overcome the mistakes happened in the ‘socialism that was in actual practice’, without efforts to mobilise the people who are disenchanted with the reversals in Soviet Union and China, without any effort to learn from past mistakes, in the name of sensational acts which provide media attention the Maoists have deviated to the line of LTTE, ULFA like outfits in practice.
The latest developments in Tunisia and Egypt followed by the uprisings in a number of countries in Maghreb and West Asia show that the people have once again started coming out on the streets and playing their role in creating history.
The Maoists do not understand that the Communists are not contractors of revolution, but the vanguard forces who prepare the people for making revolution. Theirs are anarchist actions which are rejected by history and which negate the role of people in making history.
The role played by the Maoists in W.Bengal where they support Mamta Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress and in Jharkhand where they support Shibu Soren’s JMM which is in alliance with BJP are not serving revolution, but counter revolution.
The CPI (ML) severely condemns such anarchist actions by the CPI (Maoist) and appeals to the people to rally for advancing the mass movements and in support of people’s uprisings taking place in the country and around the world. It warns the state government that if in the name of retaliation it tries to suppress the ongoing mass movements in the state the Party will retaliate uniting with all revolutionary left and democratic forces.
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K.N.Ramachandran is the General Secretary of CPI(ML)
