Representative Image, Inset- Maoists' banner
Maoists have once again issued warnings to locally elected political representatives in Jagdalpur, Bastar. In the latest episode, the Purvi (Eastern) Bastar Division Committee of the proscribed Communist Party of India has dropped pamphlets and placed banners issuing warnings for a Sarpanch (village head) and deputy Sarpanch.
The said banners and posters have surfaced in the Mardum police station limits of Lohridunga of Bastar district, through which the extremists have warned the village heads for allegedly torturing the people of the Christian community over conversion.
In the pamphlets dropped, the outlaws have warned the village head of Kasturpaal village, Kamlu Kartam, and the deputy village head of Paaspur village, Omprakash Thakur, for allegedly creating a rift in the tribal society over the conversion issue.
Maoists have also instructed the duo to apologise before the people of their panchayats, asserting that disobeying the order could lead to dire consequences. Further, the ultras have also been instructed not to cause harm to the harvest and properties of people of the Masihi Samaj (Christian community).
After the unravelling of the banners and posters by the Maoist, a sense of panic and fear is prevailing among the residents, who have already witnessed a tussle in society over illegal conversion.
Notably, the tribal dominated region of Bastar has witnessed several incidents of communal scuffles between the local Vanvasi Hindus and the newly converted over illegal conversion and other conversion born issues such as tussle over crematorium and traditional practices.
In most of the cases, the scuffle started over alleged promotion of illegal conversion by mission backed group, leading to clashes between the communities. In other incidents, the tussle broke out after the local Hindu community objected to the cremations of dead members of the Christian community, citing that the latter should cremate their deceased in Christian crematoriums.
The growing uneasiness among the local Hindu community over augmenting attempts of illegal conversion have also inspired them to hit the streets on many occasions over the years demanding a stringent anti-conversion law and de-listing exercise, a nationwide identification process to identify those among the tribal community who have embraced any other religion and have left practicing age old traditions of the tribal community.
Threat of Maoist attack on elected representatives
Moreover, it is worth mentioning here that this is not the first time that the Maoist have issued diktats against local village heads or elected representatives of the areas under their influence and similar warning notes have been keep coming to the fore from the Maoist-hit areas of Bastar on regular intervals.
Earlier, the outlaws had also warned village heads and other representatives of Narayanpur district, following which dozens of them were forced to leave their villages and take shelter in the district headquarters.
Most of the village heads who had to flee their ancestral villages to evade targeted attacks by the Maoist were accused by the latter for working in favor of development and mining projects.
Additionally, the ultras in the last one and a half year have also carried out a series of targeted killings of political representatives, mostly of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party workers, after labelling charges of espionage on them.
According to security experts, the targeting killings of civilians and other elected representatives showcases nothing but the brewing frustration among the banned outfit, which is briskly losing its hold on the locals who were once sympathetic to their cause in the tribal heartland.
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