Pyarimohan challenges Naveen’s leadership

PRAFULLA DAS

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‘BJD has stopped functioning in a democratic manner’

ON THE OFFENSIVE:Odisha Janamorcha leader Pyarimohan Mahapatra addressing the media in Bhubaneswar on Friday. —PHOTO: LINGARAJ PANDA

Suspended Biju Janata Dal leader and Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra on Friday threw an open challenge to the party leadership by saying that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had lost his position as president of the party since July 2010.

Addressing the first press conference under the banner of the newly-formed Odisha Janamorcha here, Mr. Mohapatra accused Mr. Patnaik of violating the party's Constitution.

The party had stopped functioning in a democratic manner since July 10, 2010 as its State executive committee, which was to meet every six months, had not held its meeting after January 10, 2010, when the party's amended Constitution was adopted in the party's State Council meeting, Mr. Mohapatra observed. A new president of the party could be elected when the State executive committee holds its meeting, Mr. Mohapatra added.

Asked whether he would talk to Mr. Patnaik about the democratic functioning of the party, the Janamorcha leader said he would talk if Mr. Patnaik wanted to talk to him.

The rebel leader also blamed Mr. Patnaik for encouraging the bureaucrats to run the government instead of allowing the Ministers to function in a democratic way.

Mr. Mohapatra claimed that he had earlier complained before Mr. Patnaik about the bureaucratic supremacy which was affecting the governance in the State.

While talking about the aims and objectives of the Janamorcha, Mr. Mohapatra claimed that he and other leaders working for the Janamorcha were all BJD workers. The Janamorcha was not a political party or a mass organisation, but a movement within the BJD to fight for inner-party democracy. The Janamorcha would strive to work for development of self-sufficient villages by following the ideals of the State's great leaders such as Madhusudan Das, Gopabandhu Das, and Biju Patnaik, Mr. Mohapatra added.

Rallies planned

The Janamorcha announced to organise its first State-level rally called Kranti Samavesh in Bhubaneswar on October 28. The rally in Bhubaneswar will be followed by rallies in different regions.

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Naveen Patnaik encouraging bureaucrats to run the government, says Pyarimohan

Janamorcha to strive for self-sufficient villages

Kidnap as strategy

PRAFULLA DAS
in Bhubaneswar

Maoists strike again, this time in Chhattisgarh, by taking a District Collector in the Bastar region hostage.

ALEX PAUL MENON, Collector of Sukma district in Chhattisgarh.

A GROUP of armed Maoists kidnapped Alex Paul Menon, the first Collector of the newly formed Sukma district in Chhattisgarh, on April 21, confirming the fact that the rebels are able to strike at will wherever they have a presence. The abduction took place even as a beleaguered Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha was trying to ensure the safe release of Jhina Hikaka, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator representing the Laxmipur Assembly constituency, by acceding to the demands of the Maoists, and close on the heels of the release of two Italian citizens who were abducted by another group of Maoists in Odisha's Kandhamal district in mid-March.

Alex Paul was kidnapped in a manner similar to the kidnapping of R. Vineel Krishna, the Collector of Odisha's Malkangiri district, in February last year. A few weeks after Krishna was released, his services were sought by a Central Minister.

The abduction of Alex Paul, the fourth major abduction carried out by Maoists in the region in a little more than a year, came at a time when a number of battalions of Central paramilitary forces were engaged in anti-naxal operations in both Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

Alex Paul was taken hostage when he was returning from a farmers' meeting in Kerlapal village on National Highway 221, along with administration officials. (The farmers' meeting had been organised as part of the Gram Suraj Abhiyaan, a village contact programme under which officials and people's representatives hold meetings with rural residents to assess the progress of the government's welfare schemes.) The Left extremists gunned down two of his personal security guards who tried to intervene.

The Maoists ascertained the identity of the 32-year-old Collector before they took him away into the nearby forested area. The other officials were spared.

AFP 

ITALIAN NATIONAL BOSUSCO Paolo posing with tribal women at an undisclosed location in Odisha. A file photograph.

Alex Menon was kidnapped just a day after suspected Maoists struck in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. Three persons, including two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists, were killed when the rebels triggered a landmine blast as an official convoy passed through the area. A BJP legislator, Mahesh Gagda, and Bijapur District Collector Rajat Kumar escaped unhurt, but one of the eight vehicles in the convoy was blown up. Interestingly, the attack took place when the officials were monitoring the implementation of the Gram Suraj Abhiyaan project in the rural areas of the district, indicating that the Maoists are against official teams gaining entry into the areas where they have a strong presence.

The abduction of Alex Paul came soon after the release of the two Italians who were abducted on March 14, Bosusco Paolo and Claudio Colangelo. The Maoists reportedly demanded that the Odisha government stop Operation Green Hunt, a combing operation by Central paramilitary forces in the naxal-affected areas of the State, and initiate a dialogue with them. They wanted the Odisha government to act on long-standing demands such as the release of political prisoners.

The Maoists first released Claudio Colangelo on humanitarian grounds. They set free Bosusco Paolo, who had been running an adventure travel agency for the past 19 years in Puri, after the Naveen Patnaik government accepted some of their demands.

The Italians were freed after the Odisha government agreed to release several persons who had been jailed for their alleged links with the Maoists. The government accepted the Maoists' demands for the release of the hostages after negotiations were held between three government officials and two social activists, B.D. Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty, whose names were suggested as mediators by the Maoists.

The 37-year-old tribal leader Jhina Hikaka was kidnapped in the dead of night on March 24 when he was returning home from the district headquarters town of Koraput. The Maoists released Hikaka on April 26 although no negotiations were held between government officials or any interlocutors named by the Maoists. In fact, no dialogue was held between the government and the Maoists for Hikaka's release as right from the beginning the abductors had refused to hold any talks. While the government did keep the media informed about its stand, the Maoists released information about their demands through the media and through Nihar Ranjan Patnaik, a Koraput-based lawyer who had been fighting the cases of Maoist cadre as well as activists of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha (CMAS). The Maoists finally released Hikaka on the outskirts of Balipeta village in Narayanpatna block of Koraput district after extending the deadline for the release of 29 political prisoners.

Before Hikaka's release, the Andhra-Odisha border special zonal committee of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) had said that the legislator would be released as per the decision taken at a people's court held at an undisclosed location in the district. The Maoists had said that the decision to release Hikaka had been taken after he had given an undertaking before the people's court that he would try to get their demands fulfilled and that he would resign from his post if he failed to keep his promise.

PTI 

JHINA HIKAKA, A BJD MLA in Odisha. He was released by the Maoists in Koraput on April 26 after 34 days in captivity.

It may be recalled that the Maoists had organised a similar people's court before releasing Collector Vineel Krishna.

The abductors of Hikaka had demanded the release of 29 prisoners, but the government agreed to facilitate the release of 25 persons. But none of the 25 prisoners has been released so far despite the government reiterating that it is taking the necessary steps to facilitate their release.

The Odisha government had not made any commitment to release the remaining four persons, including Gananath Patra, adviser to the CMAS. Interestingly, the different groups of Maoists who abducted Vineel Krishna, the two Italians and Hikaka had demanded the release of Patra. The Patnaik government faced severe criticism from the opposition parties for its alleged failure to handle the twin cases of abduction.

In the case of Alex Paul, the Raman Singh government acted promptly and started the process of negotiations to facilitate his release. First, it sent essential medicines for the Collector, who is an asthma patient, to the Maoist hideout through former Communist Party of India (CPI) legislator Manish Kunjam, when negotiations were about to begin between Nirmala Buch and S.K. Mishra, the former Chief Secretaries of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively who acted as the government's negotiators, and B.D. Sharma and G. Hargopal, the two mediators named by the Maoists. Sharma is a former Chairperson of the National Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Commission, while Hargopal, a social activist, was one of the three mediators who held talks with the Patnaik government for the release of Vineel Krishna.

The abductors of Alex Paul have demanded the release of eight of their jailed leaders, including two women prisoners; a halt to Operation Green Hunt; and the withdrawal of the paramilitary forces from the Bastar region.

The immediate fallout of the recent abductions is that the anti-Maoist operations in the three contiguous States of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have been hit badly. While the combing operations were carried out in the forested districts of Koraput, Malkangiri, Ragayada, Gajapati and Kandhamal in Odisha, the exercise was affected in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, one of the major hotbeds of Maoist activity.

The development works started in recent months have come to a grinding halt as administration officials hesitate to venture out into rural areas. People's representatives are also equally scared of visiting their constituencies in the forested regions of the three States.

According to highly placed sources, when anti-naxal operations were put on hold, Maoists operating in Odisha and Chhattisgarh got a chance to regroup in the tribal-dominated regions where they were growing in strength despite differences between the various divisions of the CPI (Maoist).

Popular support

The presence of a large number of tribal people in the people's courts, organised for the release of hostages at different times, has indicated that the tribal people support the Maoists in inaccessible areas where the Left-wing extremists have been growing in strength despite the efforts by the Central government and the States that have been facing the menace. In fact, the Maoists are gaining control over newer areas despite the fact that many of their senior leaders have been killed in encounters and many others have surrendered before the authorities in recent years.

The Maoists have been gaining strength in the tribal regions, primarily because the fruits of development have not reached the local people. The extremists are taking advantage of the situation by making inroads into areas where the tribal people have been agitating over issues such as land rights, displacement and the mining of iron ore or bauxite for the establishment of industries.

In the absence of dialogue between the administration and the agitators, the tribal people's agitation for land rights or against mining operations is seen by the police as a pro-Maoist action. The Narayanpatna block in Koraput district where Hikaka was released has been witnessing an agitation by the tribal people for land rights for nearly two decades, but the Odisha government has not been able to sort out the issue to this day. The tribal people have alleged that their land has been taken over by non-tribal people by various means.

As the Maoists continue to resort to kidnappings to get their demands met, the law and order machinery in the naxal-affected States is now facing a serious challenge. In such a situation, many right-thinking people have started arguing that the Centre and the State governments concerned must start thinking of holding talks with Maoist leaders during normal times instead of starting negotiations only after someone is taken hostage. Civil society should also be involved in the exercise to check the growth of the Maoists and ensure the development of backward regions.

At a time when the States fighting the Maoist menace are feeling helpless, a change in approach seems to be the need of the hour to save the tribal people who continue to suffer owing to the presence of both the Maoists and paramilitary forces in their areas.

mediacop

Patnaik announces names of 27 Maoists to be freed

THE STATES

Maoist surge

PRAFULLA DAS
in Bhubaneswar and Kandhamal

Odisha: The latest round of kidnappings and killings by Maoists put the State government in a tight situation.

AFP 

Italian nationals Basusco Paolo and Claudio Colangelo (below), who were kidnapped by Maoists from Kandhamal district on March 14. Colangelo was released on March 17.

BISWARANJAN ROUT/AP 

In an unprecedented move, Maoist rebels, who have virtually held sway in Odisha in recent years, kidnapped two foreign nationals and a State legislator in March. While two Italian citizens, Basusco Paolo and Claudio Colangelo, were kidnapped from Kandhamal district on March 14, Jhina Hikaka, a legislator of the ruling Biju Janata Dal was abducted from Koraput district on March 24.

The news of the kidnapping of the Italians became public only when two residents from Puri who had been kidnapped along with them were released on the night of March 17.

It was from the Daringbadi tehsil of Kandhamal district that the Maoists abducted Paolo, a Puri-based Italian tour operator, and Colangelo, a tourist from Italy who had gone trekking in the forested hills of Gazalbadi. Daringbadi is a small hill station that has been popular since colonial days. Driving on the Gazalbadi ghat road is a Herculean task for those going to Daringbadi from Bhubaneswar, the State capital.

Media teams were quick to reach the place even as the Naveen Patnaik government was grappling with the issue. In Bhubaneswar, three senior State government officials negotiated with the interlocutors, social activists B.D. Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty, for the release of the Italians. However, there was no information about the kidnapped men until March 25, when the abductors handed over one of the two Italians to a small group of journalists they had called to the jungle.

The Italians were in the custody of top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda, organising secretary of the Odisha State Organising Committee (OSOC), one of the four major groups of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). Jhina Hikaka was kidnapped near Toyaput village while he was returning from Koraput town to Laxmipur, his constituency. The kidnapping was carried out by Maoists operating under the Srikakulam-Koraput division of the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC), another Maoist group.

Maoists operating in Malkangiri district, meanwhile, shot dead a sub-inspector of the State police in Khairaput market on March 20. Malkangiri district is under the control of the AOBSZC.

Government's failure

The Naveen Patnaik government, which has badly failed to check the Maoist menace and resolve the problems of the tribal people, seems unaware of the ground realities in the interior pockets of the State. The government, which came to power in March 2000, has been making tall claims about fighting naxalites and implementing various development projects. But the numerous incidents of arms loot, landmine blasts, killing of security personnel and police informers, and abduction of police and forest officials in recent years prove that it has not been able to check the growth of Maoists.

The fact is that as many as four committees of the CPI (Maoist) are now actively working in four major regions and have a presence in as many as 24 of the 30 districts of the State. These are the AOBSZC, the OSOC, the Mainpur Divisional Committee, and the Jharkhand Odisha Divisional Committee. Each of the committees is said to have hundreds of armed men in their cadre, besides tribal supporters.

It is not true to say that the State government, which receives much help from the Central government in the form of grants and deployment of paramilitary forces, has not taken any measures to corner the Maoists.

In fact, it has intensified anti-naxal operations in recent months. More than 350 tribal men and women have been put behind bars for their alleged links with the Maoists, while many Maoists have been arrested or killed by the security forces engaged in combing operations. Several Maoists have surrendered before the authorities.

While addressing the State Assembly on February 21, the opening day of the Budget session, Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare said that in 2011 there was considerable success with regard to the surrender of Maoist leaders. The number of cases of naxal violence had also dropped significantly from 130 in 2010 to 100 in 2011, he said. As per the records of the State government, the number of deaths of security personnel came down from 22 in 2010 to 15 in 2011.

Apart from adding 1,066 posts in the Special Operation Group (SOG), the State police recruited 1,384 constables, 3,127 sepoys and 511 sub-inspectors and other personnel. The government deployed an Mi-172 helicopter for the smooth movement of security forces in inaccessible areas and for the evacuation of injured personnel.

In another recent initiative, the government sanctioned the construction of 70 police stations in naxal-affected areas with an investment of Rs.2 crore for every police station. It is a different story that hundreds of families in these backward regions are yet to be allocated houses under the Indira Awas Yojana scheme and continue to live in hutments made of mud and wood.

Growing in number

But despite the government's efforts, the left-wing extremists have been capturing newer areas. In fact, they have been growing in number despite the lack of unity among the various groups of the CPI (Maoist) operating in the State and the surrender or arrest of their cadre from time to time.

The AOBSZC, along with its Srikakulam-Koraput Divisional Committee, has been operating in Malkangiri and Koraput districts, and parts of Rayagada district, and also in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. The OSOC had been working in Kandhamal, Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Nayagarh, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Deogarh and Jajpur districts.

The Mainpur Divisional Committee has been controlling operations in the districts of Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Bargarh and Subarnapur districts, while the Jharkhand Odisha Divisional Committee's work is concentrated in Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj districts.

According to a social activist, Maoist groups recruit their cadre from among the youth in the interior pockets of areas they control. The youth who join the Maoist ranks go inside the jungles after telling their neighbours and others that they are going to work in cities in other States. Whenever their presence is required at home, they come, pretending to have returned from a distant city. This aspect of the Maoist strategy has not been studied much thus far.

Such is the situation in Maoist-affected regions of the State that the government is not able to build roads or bridges there. Work on bridges at Motu and Janbai in Malkangiri, which were planned long ago, has not started to date. Construction of roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana has also been hampered in the red corridors of the State.

PTI 

The damaged Srikakulam-Koraput road at Toyaput near Koraput from where the Maoists abducted Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikaka (below) on March 24.

AFP 

Waking up from its slumber, the State government recently decided that two engineering battalions would be commissioned as part of the State police to take up construction activities in naxal-affected areas.

The administration, however, appears to be virtually absent in the inaccessible areas. People here have little access to health care facilities, primary education and drinking water. Government offices are situated in far-off places.

All one can find in the Maoist-affected areas are the camps set up for personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force, the Border Security Force or the SOG. The forces are to carry out combing operations in the areas allotted to them by the State police.

There are allegations that the security forces have been harassing the poor tribal people living in hamlets inside the jungles or on the forested hills. Social activists engaged in anti-displacement agitations in Rayagada and Koraput districts had alleged that the forces were looting the tribal families; at least four women in the area were gang-raped in the past one year. However, intelligence department officials suspect that the social activists are Maoist sympathisers.

As the war between the State government and the Maoists continue, the tribal people, caught in the crossfire, have become the worst sufferers. Such is the fear in the minds of the tribal people that they do not enter forests, apprehensive of the presence of either the Maoists or the police.

The tribal people seem to prefer the Maoists to the security forces. Though the Maoists have been blocking development works in the backward areas, they are not directly harming them. Many tribal youth joined the Maoists or became their supporters in the absence of employment opportunities. The youth who do not have Maoist leanings leave for cities in other parts of the country when they develop the feeling they have become virtually outsiders in their own territory.

The tribal people neither invited the Maoists to take up their cause nor asked the police to provide them security. The violent activities of the Maoists and the alleged excesses of paramilitary personnel have made life hell for them. A tribal youth lamented that their fight to secure basic rights was being perceived as a pro-Maoist action.

Strengthening their base

According to experts, the Maoists succeeded in strengthening their base in many tribal areas by extending open support to various social agitations of the tribal people – such as those against the liquor menace and the land mafia. In Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon blocks of Koraput, the Maoists gained ground by supporting the long-drawn agitations of the tribal people for land rights under the banners of two different groups of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha, a local outfit. Tribal land had been taken over by liquor traders and members of the local business community. The government has not been able to resolve the disputes so far.

Meanwhile, the police camps remain visible and static, while those of the Maoists are invisible and moving. In a situation where different camps of Maoists are resorting to violence, bandhs and abductions, the State administration is in a quandary inside the red bastions. The government has been concentrating more on tackling the various scams that have been unearthed in recent years than on dealing with the naxalite menace.