The successful elimination of top Naxalite leadership including their General Secretary Basav Raju has sent shockwaves through the anti-National organisation. The shock and Awe Offensive has destroyed the impregnable ‘Red Corridor’ which once extended from Pashupati to Tirupati. For more than two decades, it was like a Red Dagger slicing through Bharatiya heartland. A strong political will accompanied by effective police action has neutralised the most serious threat to internal security. A strong political will can give magical results.
But this is no time for euphoria or complacency. Only the armed Naxalite PLGA is paralysed, the leadership is fully intact, their violent ideology is alive, the Naxalite virus is not dead.
Maoist Agitations
It has to be remembered that this violent Communist problem has been a menace since the 1940s. Their Party names kept changing but the violent ideology resulting in bloodbath remained a big problem in different parts of the country. In the late 1940s, it was the Telangana agitation which lasted for about four years; approximately 4000 people died during this bloody agitation.
In the late 1960s & early 70s, it was the Naxalbari & Srikakulam movement which resulted in in the deaths of thousands of people. In the 1990s, it was the MCC in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha and the PWG in Andhra Pradesh which perpetrated such brutal violence that it shocked the whole country. During the two decades of 2000s these two organisations merged together to form the CPI (Maoist) Party.
This terrorist organisation became the single most serious threat to the internal security of Bharat. It had a well trained standing Army of thousands of cadres, their control extended from Pashupati to Tirupati which was rightly called as the ‘Red Corridor’. The situation was so pathetic that the ‘State’ had seized to exist in the Red Corridor. Against this background, the recent success of the Bharatiya security forces is most commendable.
It is pertinent to note that all these years, the extreme left wing terrorists have always used the Janjatiya living in the remote areas as foot-soldiers or mere ‘pawns’. In the Leftist parlance they are ‘useful idiots’. In various parts of the world, during different times, the Communists have used and misused numerous types of ‘useful idiots’ by manipulating and misusing the Janjatiya as mere ‘cannon fodder’. This has been going on for decades. At a very young age, Naxalite leadership indoctrinated the Janjatiya youths with the hateful ideology and trained to kill or die. At the behest of Maoists, they killed thousands of fellow trib and in the process, they themselves died at some stage in this violent moment.
Cannon Fodder
In the early stages, in the 1960s and 70s, the tribals Communist used a catchy slogan ‘Land to the Tiller’ in the Srikakulam uprising. The local ‘Sawara’ and ‘Jatapu’ tribes fell prey to this slogan and under the leadership of the Naxalites, launched a violent struggle. In the process, hundreds of tribals died and their families were destroyed.
Similar tactics were used by the Naxalites during the Naxalbari uprising. Using this same slogan, the Maoist Party trapped the local Santhal, Oraon and Rajabhanshi Janjatiya. These Janjatiya were used as cannon fodder to kill or die. Innumerable Janjatiya families were destroyed. In the recent past, the ‘Madia’ tribe had to suffer the same fate in the Bastar region.
To trap these Janjatiya, the Naxalites coined a new attractive slogan ‘Jal. Jungle, Jamin’. Since 1980s, the Telugu Maoists embedded themselves in the Madia tribe. They indoctrinated their youths, poisoned their minds and trained them to kill their own fellow tribals who did not accept the Maoist orders. For the last 40 years, these Maoist trained tribals had been mercilessly and brutally killing their fellow tribals. In this Maoist initiated and instigated violent movement, thousands of security forces personnel, civilians and Maoist cadres died. More than 95 per cent of the dead are trib. Just a small example of Gadchiroli district makes the whole picture very clear.
In Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, from 2004 to 2024, the number of Tribals killed by Naxalites is 254, Maoists killed in encounters is 161. It is very important to note that during this time, the number of Telugu Maoist caders who were killed in encounters was only six.
It is very clear from the above data that the Telugu Maoist top leaders have fooled the innocent Janjatiya in the Bastar region. These leaders send the tribals on the frontline to die while they themselves hide behind the tribals and remain safe. They turned simple and innocent tribals into ‘Killing Machines’. The once peaceful tribal area was converted into a ‘war zone’. The Maoists did not allow the Government to build roads and bridges. As they destroyed the existing roads, the tribal area became totally inaccessible – no roads, no schools, no colleges, no hospitals, no development of any sort. The janjatiya gained nothing but lost everything, even their lives.
