India: Stop Operation Kagaar
We hereby publish an unofficial translation of an article published by the Revolutionary Writers Association.
It has been nine months since the Indian government launched Operation Kagaar aimed at exterminating tribal people. A carnage under this operation is going on in the states of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Telangana. It is not limited to these four states. It is already spreading across the country in different forms. Operation Kagaar, which started in Central India, is reaching all the forest areas of the country, which have the most valuable natural resources. The central government in coordination with the state governments is waging this war to exterminate the adivasi tribes in those areas and hand over the natural resources there to corporations.
Global capitalism requires vast amounts of resources to increase productivity. For this, governments are extracting all the raw minerals on earth. The Central and State Governments have come up with favorable policies for corporations to exploit the resources in the tribal areas of our country. Corporatization is implemented by governments as their power politics. Governance has become about creating a suitable environment for corporations to take resources belonging to all the people of the country. A development policy that favors the corporate powers leaves the people completely devastated. This is evident in tribal areas. Forests are being cut down to exploit resources in the name of development. Roads are being built over tribal lands. Adivasi Goodes are being insulted on a large scale. All in all, governments claim development by giving the resources of forest areas to corporations.
The adivasis do not accept this destruction going on in the name of development. The adivasis say that they cannot violate the special protection laws given to them by the Constitution of India, and if they want to deny their right to live, then they should be prepared. The tribal people declare that destroying the forest and environment means destroying their livelihood, culture and nature. They are struggling in many areas against the policies of the Indian government. The struggle of the adivasis to protect the forest, environment and their existence is becoming stronger as the struggle against corporations.
The government standing on behalf of the corporations is not tolerating the resistance of the tribal people. It sent lakhs of soldiers into the forests to suppress their peaceful and constitutional struggles. Army troops who were supposed to be on the frontiers for national defense have now reached the forests of central India. Forests are being destroyed under the iron feet of corporates and Indian soldiers. The military duty of national defense has now turned into corporate protection. The government is also setting up base camps to quell tribal struggles to accept mining, road and network construction. The construction of military camps is a continuation of the destructive constructions going on in the name of corporate development. Various police, CRPF, DRG, Bastar Fighters, which has changed its name from the past, have been set up to be available in the forests to attack the tribal people and provide protection to the corporations. From the banks of the Godavari in Telangana, there are extensive camps all over central India. The Union Home Minister announced in the recent general elections, that there were 295 military camps in Chhattisgarh, since the elections 36 more are being set up.
From these camps, rocket launchers are being used to attack tribal goods. Drones are dropping bombs from the sky. They are killing those who are in the houses and those who are working in the fields. All this is to scare the tribal people. To take them out from forests. There is no situation in which the corporate system can survive without taking away the forest lands and looting the resources there. Governments have already made full arrangements to exterminate the adivasis who are opposing this. A large scale militarization was undertaken to drive the tribal people out of the forest and give the forest to corporates. This corporatization and militarization are completely against the Indian constitutional ideals. However, the government has been escalating corporatization and militarization in the tribal areas. The central government has intensified corporatization and militarization not only in the states of central India but also in Manipur and Kashmir.
Recently, the central government has approved the acquisition of 134,778 acres of land for setting up war tactics training camps against tribal people in Dandakaranya. Its main purpose was to train the army to struggle against the people of the country, especially the tribal people. For this, the government is ready to move not only the military forces on the borders but also the tanks and artillery to the forest areas of central India. All this is to make this country a tribal-free India and make it a corporate India.
Adivasis have no place in the New India announced by Prime Minister Modi in the name of Vikasit Bharat. In this plan to completely exterminate them, all the other oppressed groups like the tribal people will be victims. The government has not waged war on the people of the country on such a large scale to eliminate Muslims, Dalits, women and workers and make this country a corporate state. That is why the government named it as Operation Kagaar or the final war. But the government also knows that this is not an immediate end. Accelerating corporatization more than previous governments, the BJP government has prepared a long-term plan for tribal uprooting. As a part of this, they wanted to turn the whole of Dandakaranya into a vast war training center and a battlefield.
The government has already killed nearly two hundred people in the name of Operation Kagaar, which started on January 1 this year. If we look at the incidents that have been going on since last month, on August 29, three women were killed in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh. On the afternoon of September 1, they attacked using rocket launchers and drones at Singavaram, Kunta block of Sukuma district. Two tribal youths were taken and shot in that area. On 3rd in the afternoon, 9 people were shot in the Andri forest area of Lohagaon Purangel on the border of Dantewada and Bijapur. On 24th of this month, the police and DRG jawans surrounded Karaguda village under Chintalnar police station at 3 night and shot dead a tribal. The day before, Moolavasi Bachao Manch President Raghu was arrested by the police and detained and harassed in the name of investigation. Almost every day murders, arrests and attacks are happening somewhere in tribal areas.
Just as corporatization is rampant in India, it can be seen in Manipur as well. Manipur burns like a praise that has not been extinguished for a long time. The government is driving this carnage to give away the vast natural resources there to corporations. Exactly the same situation can be seen in Kashmir. The government is setting up a radar center of the Indian Navy in 2900 acres of Damagundam forests, which recently came to light in Telangana. It’s not in some remote area. About 70 km from Hyderabad, the government has set out to destroy the environment by destroying large-scale forests on the banks of the Musi river. Even if the government keeps an eye on the forests and the corporations encroach on them, the trees will fall to the ground first. The government wants to plant about twelve lakh trees in Damagundam forests to develop the country.
The destruction going on in Bastar, Hasdev forests and Damagund harms the environment. Humanity’s survival is in crisis. The government has nothing to do with this. It is working with the aim of advancing the corporate policy undertaken in the name of development. Protests are being heard all over the world against the government’s war on the rights given to the people of this country by the constitution. The democrats are protesting against the atrocities on the tribal people. As a part of this, the Adivasi Rights Struggle Platform formed in Andhra Pradesh staged a dharna in Ongolu town. We are calling people to make this a success.
