[Assam] Armed Revolution is an Outdated Concept

[Chan Mahanta]

On May 21, 2010, at 10:00 PM, Babul Gogoi wrote:

> the author could have suggested to setup engineering college or IIT   
> in that
> area, apart for pappads making !!


*** The writer obviously is not playing with a full deck, as they will  
say it around this part of the world, Babul.
That however is not the only  place where he shows his brilliance, the  
whole piece is full of it :-).

Sure glad though that he has a fan in our own journo friend, Thakuria  
and NRI admirer Ram.




>
>
> On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 2:23 AM, Nava Thakuria  
> <navathakuria at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> http://www.sentinelassam.com/editorial/story.php?sec=3&subsec=0&id=36719&dtP=2010-05-22&ppr=1#36719
>>
>> Armed Revolution is an Outdated Concept
>>
>> The poor are told that violence alone will solve their problem when
>> violence does nothing of that kind. It will only add to their  
>> prevailing
>> misery
>> How long do we have to wait for the traitorous Naxalite rebellion  
>> to be
>> quelled? The UPA government is looking like a standing joke. If we  
>> are to
>> believe Home Minister P Chidambaram, the government will get rid of  
>> the
>> Naxals before the term of the UPA-II ends. Does he know how the  
>> former West
>> Bengal Chief Minister Siddartha Shankar Ray did his job?
>> After what happened at Dantewada, one of the poorest districts in  
>> India
>> with 66 per cent of the 7.2 lakh population of tribal origin, the UPA
>> government should have stepped down and fresh elections should have  
>> been
>> held. That the Naxalites should have succeeded in killing 74  
>> members of the
>> Alpha Company of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in an  
>> ambush at
>> Chintalnar indicates the sheer impudence of the Naxalites.  
>> Apparently,
>> throughout the tribal belt extending to an estimated 200 districts,  
>> Naxal
>> cadres number more than 10,000. What is more shocking and shameful  
>> is that
>> these forces have the tacit support of so-called intellectuals like
>> Arundhati Roy, who needs to be questioned. The exact number of  
>> Maoists is
>> open to guesswork, but again, according to another count, they number
>> “several thousand” and are well-equipped with Insas Rifles, AK-47s,  
>> grenades
>> and rocket launchers, additionally capable of making Improvised  
>> Explosive
>> Devises (IEDs).
>> Furthermore, they are also supported by an excellent intelligence  
>> service.
>> From where did the Naxalites get their weapons? Who stitched their  
>> uniform?
>> It is claimed by Minhaz Merchant, chairman of a media group, “that  
>> powerful
>> vested interests benefit from the Maoist insurgency” and that “the  
>> financial
>> nexus between politicians, businessmen and Maoists thrives in a  
>> manufactured
>> environment of lawlessness”. Are our intelligence agencies aware of  
>> who
>> these “politicians and businessmen” are? Should not they be  
>> interrogated?
>> Importantly, should not the Congress Party, which has been in power  
>> for the
>> last six years and more, have given serious thought to what has  
>> been going
>> on under its very nose?
>> The usual charges are that the tribals have been deprived of their  
>> forest
>> lands, that they have been denied access to jobs and other sources of
>> living, that they have been denied access to education, and that,  
>> by and
>> large, they have been largely ignored. Surely, all these charges  
>> can be
>> effectively met without having to take resort to violence? If the  
>> late Nana
>> Saheb Deshmukh could work wonder in his own chosen tribal field in
>> Maharashtra, surely others, equally deeply committed, can replicate  
>> his
>> success? Is violence the only way to draw the attention of the
>> powers-that-be for the betterment of tribal life? Several  
>> intellectual
>> supporters of Naxalism have expressed their views like Varavara Rao,
>> activist Himanshu Kumar and another one of the kind known as  
>> “Kishenji”.
>> To begin with, why does not the Government of India ask them to  
>> submit
>> detailed plans to help tribals? Surely that is not too much to ask?  
>> Instead
>> of attacking the government for establishing Salwa Jadum— in the  
>> face of
>> sustained violence — did the government have any other option?  
>> Cannot our
>> intellectuals change their mindset and provide the government with a
>> well-thought-out plan to bring tribals into the mainstream of  
>> Indian life?
>> Has anyone prevented them from developing a positive outlook  
>> towards tribal
>> enrichment? One gets the clear impression that some of our mentally  
>> sick
>> intellectuals prefer to romanticize the concept of “revolutionary
>> terrorism”, rather than to take over the earthy task of working out  
>> concrete
>> proposals to enrich tribal life. It sounds terribly romantic to  
>> wage war
>> against the country in the name of tribal needs, and the blame lies  
>> entirely
>> on the UPA government for its soft-kneed approach towards every issue
>> hurting
>> the motherland.
>> This columnist has in the past suggested the setting up of the  
>> separate
>> Indian Tribal Service, parallel to the Indian Administrative  
>> Service, to
>> serve exclusively in tribal areas, so that tribal needs and  
>> requirements are
>> identified and fully met. Roads can be laid down. Schools can be
>> established. Medical attention can be provided. Jobs within the  
>> tribal
>> jurisdiction can be created, and a rich and meaningful life can be
>> guaranteed to the tribal population. That is obviously not what our
>> revolutionaries want. They want glamour, publicity. Our screwball
>> intellectuals want to go back to the twenties and thirties and plan
>> ‘‘revolution’’. They want to raise funds through intimidating and  
>> blackmail,
>> make secret arms purchase, transport them under the very nose of  
>> the police
>> and bring death and destruction. The very concept of an “armed  
>> revolution”
>> is stupid in this day and age. It invites administrative reaction  
>> during
>> which many innocents would
>> inevitably get killed. One activist, Himanshu Kumar, is quoted as  
>> asking
>> why, granting Naxalism is a problem, that poor people are  
>> “attracted to
>> politics that will end in death”. The answer is obvious. The poor  
>> are told
>> that violence alone will solve their problem when violence does  
>> nothing of
>> that kind. It will only add to their prevailing misery. But how is  
>> one to
>> convince Naxalites that the prescription they offer is out of  
>> fashion and
>> today one has to turn to out-of-box solution for known problems?
>> One thing is obvious: the government of the day must undertake  
>> massive
>> public works and welfare schemes. Andhra Pradesh’s State Economic  
>> Adviser Mr
>> Somayajulu has been quoted as saying that economic development and  
>> welfare
>> schemes have transformed the Maoist scene in his State to the point  
>> that
>> Maoism has lost its attraction for the once unemployed youth. Maoist
>> incidents in Andhra Pradesh fell from 576 in 2005 to 62 in 2009,  
>> Maoist
>> killings from 211 to 17, and police deaths from 25 to zero. What  
>> was done in
>> Andhra Pradesh can be duplicated in Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand. But  
>> there,
>> surely, are other ways to help tribal people earn and decent  
>> livelihood like
>> production of pappads to making of dolls which can be marketed, not  
>> just in
>> India but worldwide. And, at the administrative level, there has to  
>> be a
>> proliferation of government offices equipped with the latest  
>> communication
>> technology. But one thing is absolutely a must. And that is to  
>> treat Maoists
>> not as fellow citizens, but as traitors and murderers. No mercy  
>> should be
>> shown to them. Their headquarters have to be bombed. An organization
>> responsible for the killing of upwards of 6,000 innocent people  
>> from 1996 to
>> 2009 has to be wiped out of the surface of the earth. Importantly,  
>> the
>> Maoists should get the message that there is a strong government in  
>> Delhi
>> which will not accept armed rebellion anywhere and those who  
>> indulge in will
>> have to pay a heavy price.
>> MV Kamath
>>
>>
>>
>>
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