India: FACAM – Statement Against the building of a maneuver range in Bastar by the Indian army
We hereby share a statement we received from the Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM).
15th September, 2024
After the press conference by the home minister Amit Shah, there has been an intensification of militarisation in Chhattisgarh. The Chhattisgarh government has now asked the Narayanpur district administration to acquire and handover 54,543 hectares of land to build a maneuver range for the Indian army. This is to be done inside the forests of Abhujmad. The Indian state claims that these forests are the stronghold of the Maoists in Bastar. According to a letter sent by the revenue and disaster management ministry to the district administration, the maneuver range is to be built in the Sonpur-Garpa region, in the Orchha Tehsil.
A maneuver range is for the training for the army to do classified operations. These operations would involve the usage of drones and tanks. These tactics, that the army seeks to do training through maneuver range, are the same tactics used by the United States armed forces in low intensity conflicts like the Vietnam War. Here, the US army waged a genocidal war against the Vietnamese peasants. By setting up a maneuver range in Chhattisgarh, it is clear that the state seeks to utilize the army in Chhattisgarh. Many of the missions for which training is imparted through a maneuver range are classified in nature. The army uses such tactics for which training is done through maneuver ranges in Ladakh and Kashmir in classified missions. The fact that these missions are classified in nature, would mean that there will be much less knowledge available for the public regarding the actions taken by the army. Thus, the army can be used as a tool for genocidal actions in Bastar by the Indian state, without much public oversight. Moreover, the direct involvement of the army would mean an intensification of the genocidal violence against the people of Bastar.
The actions of the army in Kashmir is to be seen as a forewarning towards what would be going on in Bastar. In Kashmir, the army has been used as a tool for corporate loot. The army has acquired or cordoned off land in several parts of Kashmir and Ladakh, the same land is now being used for infrastructure development. The army has also been used by the Indian state to ensure the disappearance of multiple individuals including protestors who have raised their voice against the excesses of the Indian state and for the liberation of Kashmir. The Indian state is already doing encounter killings of protesting Adivasi peasants, through the central armed police, now the usage of the army will intensify this violence. To be short, just like how civil rights are being repressed by the army in Kashmir, in future, the army will be doing the same in Bastar. The already dismal state of civil rights in Bastar, will see further deterioration since the army has much greater resources and power. In Kashmir and the northeast, there has been violent repression of oppressed nationalities through laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Whether the same powers will be given to the armed forces in Bastar too is to be seen. The Indian army has even used Kashmiris as human shields. Disappearance of Kashmiris alleged to have been abducted by the army in Kashmir had become commonplace. One should not be expecting different actions by the Indian army in Bastar too. The state will force the army to violently repress the civil rights of the people. The Indian state is also doing a grave sin to the people of the country by sending those who should be defending the country to attack the people of their own country. The army exists to protect the borders of the country. Patriotic youth join the army for the same. Now, they are forced to be part of a genocidal campaign in Bastar. A campaign not to protect the interests of the people of this country, but to ensure the looting of the country by corporates and their foreign imperialist allies.
FACAM strongly condemns this move by the Indian state to bring in the Indian army, in its genocidal campaign in Bastar. The army exists to protect the borders not to attack Indian citizens, be it the Adivasi peasantry or oppressed nationalities of the country. We strongly demand the Indian state to stop this anti people policy and also request and urge the civil society and all progressive and democratic forces to fight against this attempt to intensify the Indian state genocidal campaign.
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FORUM AGAINST CORPORATIZATION AND MILITARIZATION
(FACAM)
Constituents: All India Revolutionary Students Organization (AIRSO), All India Students Association (AISA), All India Revolutionary Women’s Organization (AIRWO), Ambedkar Student Association- DU (ASA-DU), Bhim Army Student Federation (BASF), Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Students Organization (BASO), Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (bsCEM), Collective, Common Teachers Forum (CTF), Democratic Students Union (DSU), Fraternity Movement, Nazariya Magazine, Progressive Lawyers Association (PLA), Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS), Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI), Vishwavidyalaya Chhatra Federation (VCF)
