People’s War: New actions in India
Feature image: Maoist banner and posters found after Maoists blew up a railway track at Binuan village, Odisha, between Rourkela and Manoharpur railway station on the 21st of December. Source: Deccan Chronicle
There have been reports of new actions in the People’s War in India, under the leadership of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
On the 21st of December, Maoists are reported to have blown up railway tracks in the federal states of Jharkhand and Odisha, severely affecting the Howrah-Mumbai route. The actions were done as part of the campaign for a nationwide strike on the 22nd of December. On both places posters and banners were also put up. We have previously reported on other actions for the nationwide strike.
On the 24th of December the manager of Shail Construction Company as well as two guards working for the company were reported to have been abducted by Maoists, in Gaya District of the federal state of Bihar. The two guards were released the following day, bringing with them a ransom demand of three million Indian rupee. After four days the manager was released.
Also on the 24th of December two soldiers of the anti-Maoist Special Operations Group (SOG) were injured by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), in the Kandhamal district of Odisha. The old Indian State suspects that the IED was planted by Maoists which they think have a large presence in the area. Ten days earlier a encounter between Odisha police and Maoists was reported in a nearby forest.
On the 5th of January, three soldiers of the SOG were injured by an IED blast in a forest on border of the districts of Boudh and Kandhamal in Odisha.
In Odisha also were found some posters from CPI (Maoist) in the Boudh district. This posters included some demands, among them the distribution of cultivable forest land among the local tribal people.
On the 6th of January three machines involved in railway construction are reported to have been set on fire by Maoists in the Latehar district of Jharkhand. Afterwards several rounds of fire were reported. Meanwhile in the Chatra district of Jharkhand, vehicles engaged in bridge construction were also set on fire. Media reports that Maoists “have disrupted vital infrastructure projects in Jharkhand, leading to chaos and panic in the region.”
Also in the state of Jharkhand, between the nights of the 8th and the 9th of January, in the Gumla district, a bauxite mine was attacked by Maoists, setting seven vehicles on fire, six trucks and one pick-up.
