National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided the premises of a local artist and activist in Jamul area of Bhilai in Durg district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, July 25. The sleuths of the agency arrived at the doorsteps of activist and artist, Kala Das Dahariya and conducted a thorough raid at his premises lasting for around 4 hours.
During the raids a unit of Central Industrial Security Force and local police personnel were kept deployed outside the premises of Das, raising speculations among the locals.
Dahariya, an active member of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha Mazdoor Karyakarta Samiti is speculated to be raided for his association with individuals alleged to be part of the Urban Naxal group, a term used for those who sympathise with the Maoist’s cause providing moral and intellectual support to the terror entity alongside overseeing their movements in the urban parts of the country.
Though no official confirmation in this regard has been so far made by the premiere investigation agency whose officials during the raids have reported to seize digital devices including a damaged laptop, pen drive and mobile phone.
Interacting with the media, Dahariya who also runs a democratic cultural Non-Government Organisation (NGO), namely “Dahariya Rela” which deals with highlighting the issues faced by farmers, labourers and tribals alleged that the raids were conducted as he had recently penned a letter to the President and the government highlighting the issues of workers.
“I am an artist I visit many areas for programs, many people ask for my contact details, the NIA’s official asked me about having links with anti-national people, they also enquired about an individual whose contact details are saved in my phone,” said Dahariya.
When confronted about his programs in the Maoist infested areas, Dahariya while disagreeing said “Wherever there is injustice we raise our voices, be it Bastar, Hasdeo, Delhi or Mumbai.
Front organisations augmenting Maoist’s ideology
Notably, the banned Maoist outfit, Communist Party of India (Maoist) is known to have direct links with many small cultural and social organisations, NGO’s, right groups, activists, trade unions, professors, authors, journalists and others who primarily acts as a medium to augment the Maoist’s ideology in the urban parts of the country.
Most of these organisations who are alleged to be offshoots/front of the outlawed group operates under the guise of social and cultural work such as organising Nukkad Nataks (Street plays) aimed at promoting sectarian thoughts on caste lines, propagating selected literature to sow seeds of rebellion among youths eventually leading them to work for the Maoist’s group and other activities aimed at promoting dissent among the masses towards electoral process.
One prominent name among such which grabbed the nation’s attention popped up in the mainstream when the Maharashtra police nabbed a number of activists associated with a cultural group namely, Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) after the Elgar Parishad CPI Maoist case linked to Bhima-Koregaon riots of 2018.
Though the KKM claims to be an organisation fighting for the rights of Dalits and equality, it’s been alleged that the members of the outfit along with other organisations such as Republican Pather played a key role in organising the infamous Elgaar Parishad in Pune on December 31, 2017 which eventually led to rioting in Bhima-Koregaon on the next morning.
A number of activist associated with the outfit were later booked by the police under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for organising the ‘conference’ where ideologue of left and ultra-left come together on name of ‘caste’ as alleged by many.
It is noteworthy, that at the time of its emergence the CPI Maoist drafted five crucial strategy documents including ‘Strategy and Tactics of Indian Revolution’ in which the ideologue of the banned outfit had mentioned about exploiting special social sections and their issues to enhance the people’s war.
