Shaju Philip - Kerala’s Maoists
NB: The elephant in the room: its the establishment and the ruling class that engages in violence via lynching, communal murder and 'encounter' killing. Those who celebrate Gandhi's assassination need not complain about Maoist violence. DS
Over the last decade or so, Kerala has seen overt and covert Maoist activities
in the northern districts of Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Palakkad, and
Malappuram. In 2018, Wayanad, Malappuram, and Palakkad joined the Centre’s list
of 90 leftwing extremism (LWE) affected districts across the country.
The ripples of the
Naxalbari uprising in North Bengal in the late 1960s reached Kerala as well.
North Kerala, including Wayanad, was a hotbed of the ultra-Left movement, and A
Varghese, a CPM leader who turned to Naxalism, and K Ajitha, who is now a
prominent feminist activist, inspired a series of revolts against landlords.
The so-called ‘Spring Thunder’, however, suffered a blow when Varghese, who had
won the hearts of tribals, was killed in an encounter - which was subsequently
revealed to have been fake - in 1970.
The nature of Maoist
operations in Kerala is different from that in other LWE-affected states. They
have never targeted civilians or caused human casualties, and use the
trijunction of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka — where a seamless forest
cover and difficult terrain hamper policing — as a safe organisational and
transit hub. Forest patches in Palakkad, Malappuram, and Wayanad are part of
this trijunction.
Over the past several
years, the Maoists set up three squads (dalams) in this area — the Kabani,
Nadukani, and Bhavani dalams — and added a fourth, the Varahini dalam, in 2017.
They typically enter villages or tribal hamlets bordering forests, address the
local people, and distribute leaflets in an attempt to drive home the argument
for an armed struggle against the state. They have not,
however, had any significant success in winning over youths in the tribal
hamlets, for which several factors are responsible: the socio-economic profile
and standard of living of tribals in Kerala is far better than elsewhere, and
improved policing and greater socialisation of tribal youths make recruitment
difficult. The Maoists mostly
return to the jungles after collecting provisions from the villages.
There have been stray
cases of Maoist attacks on resorts and stone quarrying units alleged to be
operating illegally or encroaching on lands of tribals. Forest outposts too,
have been occasionally targeted. Police sometimes register cases against
identifiable Maoists, based on complaints from local people....read more:
see also
Tavleen Singh: Without rule of law there can be no democracy
Do our leaders want to certify political assassination?
Tavleen Singh - Modernity or murder, Mr Modi? // Vipin Tripathi: Funds to help Pehlu Khan's family
Samjhauta Express blast case verdict: ‘Who will answer for death of my five children?’
