India: New guerrilla actions in several states
Featured image: Trucks burned by Maoists in a recent guerrilla action: Source: Odishatv.
In the last two weeks there were several actions in the ongoing People’s War lead by Communist Party of India (Maoist) [CPI (Maoist)] against the Indian State in Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. We have reported on guerrilla actions before.
Most of the actions have occurred in the State of Odisha: on the 25th of June the CPI (Maoist) called for a bandh due to the torture and murder of three of their comrades: Lalit, alias Rajkamal, Ritu, alias Poja and Sandesh, alias Lakhu. On the same day, posters and banners appeared in villages of districts of Odisha such as Rayagada and Kalahandi.
On the 1st of July, a camp of crusher units, drillers and other similar machinery was attacked in the district of Rayagada: according to witnesses, ten Maoist guerrilla members arrived to the camp and set fire to nine vehicles. After the action, they left behind posters in which they explained that these machines were polluting this territory, and destroying the roads and the soil. Similar actions have been made previously by the Maoist guerrilla and were carried out against the big mining and construction companies that are attacking the peasantry.
Odisha is one of the territories with most activity of Maoist guerrilla in India, and several districts have been in alert for months.
In Chhattisgarh, a People’s Court found a sarpanch [Author’s note: local political authority in India] and a teacher guilty of being police informants. They were executed on the night of the 28th to the 29th of June, Also, it is well known that both of them were active defenders of the government and were spreading its ideas and alleged achievements among the people. Both of them were from Tadmetla, municipality which is considered a stronghold of Maoists in the State of Chhattisgarh. On Tuesday 4th of July there was another action of the Maoist guerrillas torching two vehicles of a mining company, near of the locality of Nayapara. Also on Tuesday 4th of July, there was an encounter between Maoist guerrilla members and the Indian police in the district of Bijapur without confirmed casualties.
In Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on Saturday 1st of July, the CPI(Maoist) made an statement warning the private schools and the Education Department that there would be severe consequences for them if they continue to plunder the families who are sending their children to school. As the CPI (Maoist) explains, the expenses have increased in between a 10 and a 30 percent since last year and the parents were “being exploited in the name of notebooks, uniforms and bus fees” and also, the schools “were also forcing the students to buy books and uniforms from the school, causing additional burden on the parents”.
