India: New State operation against guerrilla and Adivasi resistance

Map of Bastar’s region. Source: website tourismbastar

Earlier this month, the Indian State carried out new bombings in Bastar, in the state of Chhattisgarh. This was the fourth drone bombing in the area, and the State and their repressive forces always denies their responsibility in this bombings. Recently the Communist Party of India (Maoist), CPI (Maoist), has strongly condemned the attack. It explains the following: “At present the Bastar police has concentrated their forces and attacks particularly on the borders of Sukma and Bijapur Districs of Chhattisgarh state. They are openly declaring to eliminate of Battalion 1 and its commander Com. Hidma. They are constructing special roads to his village Puvvara. They have posted number of police camps to encircle the above said area with hundreds of special commando forces. The State Government accepted the Central Government operation and it is also increasing its brutal anti-people activities.”

Some local media explain the following about these attacks on Bastar: “What underlies this conflict with the Maoist insurgents in the forests of central India? Adivasis live in forests which exist over lands that often contain precious minerals underneath the earth. The corporate giants want to extract those minerals for fat pro ts. Unfortunately, the Adivasi are in the way. Rather than being bulldozed off their land, losing lives and livelihoods, which has all too often happened in the past, the Adivasis have learned to resist and defend their ancestral land. The conflict is between Adivasis and state-corporate nexus, with the security forces backing the entry of the mining corporations into these areas. This resistance has resulted in hundreds of Adivasi being killed in fake encounters, thousands ending up in prison as undertrials, and many instances of sexual violence against women.”. These attacks are much more than one bombing each several months. There is a all-out terror policy against the Adivasi people and against the resistance on this area.

We have previously made a translation of reports on these bombings in Bastar.

The CPI (Maoist) made an analysis and explained the plan in which these attacks are framed: “This plan was made in the reactionary Surajkund Chintan Shibir in the last October. This Shibir (Conference) was conducted to review their five years Samadhan military operation (2017-2022) which was heroically retaliated by our great revolutionary people and PLGA. In this conference the unpopular think tanks and police brass took part under the guidance of Indian Home Minister Amit Sha and addressed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They are in dire need of the raw materials to exploit from the mineral rich tribal belt.”