Hundreds of Farmer Suicides: Saddled With Debts Without Relief

On an average, at least two farmers have been committing suicide a day in Telangana State just this Kharif (harvested during the monsoon) season that is set to come to a close in the next 2-3 weeks. Trapped with insurmountable debts, In the last four months, nearly 250 have died.

The Times of India, November 2 2014, HYDERABAD: The Communist Party of India (Maoist) announced its return to action in Telangana on Saturday by calling for a one-day bandh on November 8 to protest the ‘inept policies’ of the TRS government that is resulting in farmer suicides.

India: Maoists Warn of Ruling Class Hysteria, Threats, Attacks, and False Promises

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) — CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release, June 11, 2013

See through the conspiracy of the ruling classes to launch bigger offensives on the people using the 25 May attack as a pretext

Unite, Fight back and Defeat the ‘War on People’

The gangster community that made Indian Parliament its lair is in panic. Terrified. Aflutter. Seething. Fuming. Up in arms. Baying for blood. Baring its fangs. Spitting poison. After all the May 25 Jeeramghati attack struck down one of their best trusted lieutenants in field. Quite Understandable.

Actually speaking, the scamster-gangster bunch does not care much for Mahendra Karma’s death because they knew that this was something waiting to happen even when they were carrying on mayhem and murder under Salwa Judum (SJ) which they all had contributed to create or let pester like senators watching gladiatorial contests in amphi-theaters, with Karma as SJ’s public face and with the support of fascist central and state mercenary armed forces. They are frightened more because in this country where every kind of exploitation, oppression, suppression, corruption and scam is carried on almost unchallenged, as the order of the day and shamelessly under public gaze, the fact that somebody ‘out there’ can bring these fascist scamster-gangsters to book and deliver justice is not so easy to stomach. It is like finding oneself completely naked and vulnerable with all robes of Z plus securities and paraphernalia of security suddenly vanishing into thin air with the fury of the suppressed masses breathing down their necks. Highly explicable. A strong reason to be upset.

Who knows who will be next? More chillingly, what would be in store if people completely vexed with the increasingly unbearable treacherous, undemocratic, slavish and wicked anti-people deeds of the pet-dog politicians choose to consider this as an option to vent their ire to put an end to their habitual comprador performance? Even worse, what if they consider doing away with the whole bunch by overthrowing the parliamentary system as the Maoists vouch to and call upon the people to follow? Very worrying indeed.

And for once it is better that they be. They better understand that not every politician can get away with the kind of neo-fascist suppression of the poorest of the poor of this country that was perpetrated in the name of a Salwa Judum, a Sendra, a Shanti Yatra, a Shanti Sena, a Harmad Bahini, a Bhairav Bahini, a TPC or an Operation Green Hunt, can get away with selling the riches of our country one by one as a daily routine at breakfast, lunch and dinner to fill the insatiable black-hole belly of the imperialist beast, can get away with turning every word that gives meaning to our existence as human beings like freedom, independence, sovereignty, self-reliance and democracy meaningless. They better realize for the umpteenth time (counting all such instances since the days of a Spartacus) that a people crushed so cruelly can never take everything lying down forever. For once it is better that they be alarmed.

Karma, a medieval type land lord, architect of SJ, looter, sadist, rapist and enemy of his own tribe; most of his security men, cannon fodder but undoubtedly deployed to aid in his mayhem and massacre; some SJ leaders; and some top Congress leaders were wiped out in the 25 May incident. Unfortunately a few others who got caught in the initial firing also died in spite of our sincere efforts to minimize the casualties once the main targets were caught and Comrade Gudsa Usendi, the Spokesperson of our Party’s DK unit had already tendered apology for it. The list of brutalities perpetrated by Karma and his ilk could fill many a volume. Though not all, many of them have been documented in detail by the CPI (Maoist), revolutionary and democratic mass organizations, civil and human rights organizations, democrats, journalists and concerned citizens for all those who want to see. There is no purpose to the various conspiracy theories doing their rounds in the media about the reasons for this attack other than diverting the people’s attention from the truth. An unabashed conspiracy by the corporate media to hide the truth about the brutality of the SJ and the role of the Indian Army, big corporate houses, central and state governments, the Congress and BJP parties and slaughterers like Karma in its creation and developing it into a man-eating monster. Such is its impatience to get rid of the Maoists that it did not even take into account that SJ was termed illegal by their own highest institution the Supreme Court. And all of them including Jairam Ramesh have once again repeated the most nonsensical and exhausted argument of ‘sandwich theory’ that Adivasis are being crushed between the armed forces on one side and the Maoists on the other. If they really believe in this then why don’t they demand first that the armed forces deployed in lakhs by the central and state governments be immediately withdrawn when they are agreeing that they suppress Adivasis? Their lies fly in their face with the fact that the overwhelming majority of Maoists are Adivasis in the strong areas of the movement. Our Party reiterates that we never work against the interests of the people. It is solely the ruling classes and their forces that suppress the people and our Party fights it back.

India–“Peals of Spring Thunder”: Oppressive System cannot control the struggle against oppression

[See two articles, below,  on India’s counter-revolutionary quandary.  —  Frontlines ed.]

May 27, 2013

The Naxalite Attacks at Sukma

by BINOY KAMPMARK, writing in CounterPunch

They have been considered one of India’s most pressing threats, and the recent attack by the Naxalites that ambushed a convoy of the Congress Party went that much further.  The ambush took place over the weekend in Sukma on the Maharashtra, Andra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh border. Reports suggest that there were as many as 200 Maoist rebels who inflicted heavy losses – 28 killed and 24 others wounded – before fleeing.

The attacks have shaken the establishment.  Among the dead were four state party leaders including Mahendra Karma of Chhattisgarh, and five police officers.  For BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar, “This new aggressive strategy of the Naxalities is a real threat to the Constitution and the rule of law. It is a challenge to sovereignty” (Times of India, May 26).  Former police chief of Punjab state KPS Gill is pessimistic about the new surge – the government of the day did not “have the political will and bureaucratic and police set-up to prevent such attacks” (Dhaka Tribune, May 26).

How the Naxalites have been treated has varied.  In 1967, when the movement first made its presence felt in the West Bengal village of Naxalbari, the Home Minister Y. B. Chavan treated the matter as a case of “lawlessness” in action.  The mistake was classic but fatal.  During the 1970s, the state authorities moved in on the movement hoping to crush it with repressive enthusiasm.  As usual with such measures, the quotient of extra-judicial killings and corrupt practices accompanied the operations.  Legislation was passed to enable various state authorities to take measures – the attempt, for example, by the N.T. Rama Rao government to free up arms licensing in Andra Pradesh in 1983 for individuals to protect themselves against the Naxals.

Questions of Freedom and People’s Emancipation — Part 4, by Kobad Ghandy

Kobad Ghandy after his arrest

[Kobad Ghandy, a member of the Politburo and Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), was captured by Indian Intelligence Bureau on  September 17, 2009.  Initially kept in illegal detention and tortured, he remains a political prisoner in Tihar Jail, where he continues his revolutionary studies and writings, organizes Maoist classes, and joins the struggles of other prisoners against the draconian conditions they face.  The following is the fourth of a 5 or 6 part series on freedom–its promise and the problems in its pathway.  The first article (covering Part I – The Context) and the second one (covering Part II – Search for Freedom through History) can be seen at https://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/questions-of-freedom-and-peoples-emancipation-by-kobad-ghandy/  The third installment, on Socialism and Existentialism, can be seen at https://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/questions-of-freedom-and-peoples-emancipation-part-3-by-kobad-ghandy/  — Frontlines ed.]

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Mainstream, VOL L No 47, November 10, 2012

PART IV — No Freedom without Values

When a man feels superiority over others, this sort of inward elation is called pride. A proud man will not tolerate any other to be on equal terms with himself. In private and public he expects that all should assume a respectful attitude towards him and acknowledge his superiority, treat him as a higher being… So long as man feels proud he will not like for others, what he likes for himself. His self-esteem will deprive him of humility, which is the essence of righteousness. He will neither be able to discard enmity and envy, resentment and wrath, slander and scorn, nor will he be able to cultivate truth and sincerity, and calmly listen to advice. In short, there is no evil which a proud man will not inevitably do in order to preserve his elation and self-esteem. Vices are like a chain of rings linked together which entangle the heart. —Al Ghazzali

So said the famous Sufi philosopher over one thousand years back.

One may have the best of ideologies, but without the inculcation of good values the ideology will remain hollow and hypocritical. One may seek an equitable economic transfor-mation, but if one does not acquire a commen-surate value system, the changes will remain illusory. One may create beautiful theories of freedom, but if one does not have decent values, it may be anarchy or extreme individualism, but certainly not freedom. One may evolve the most democratic of organisational structures, but if the individuals within it (particularly the leadership) do not have a set of proper values, any organisation, whatever the form, is bound to get distorted and become autocratic. One cannot expect nice sweet fruit from a mango tree by nurturing it on poisonous water. With filthy water we cannot expect to clean the vessel, however much we keep scrubbing it with glossy detergents.

Questions of Freedom and People’s Emancipation — Part 3, by Kobad Ghandy

Kobad Ghandy

[Kobad Ghandy, a member of the Politburo and Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), was captured by Indian Intelligence Bureau on  September 17, 2009.  Initially kept in illegal detention and tortured, he remains a political prisoner in Tihar Jail, where he continues his revolutionary studies and writings, organizes Maoist classes, and joins the struggles of other prisoners against the draconian conditions they face.  The following is the third part of a 5 or 6 part series on freedom–its promise and the problems in its pathway. The first article (covering Part I – The Context)  and the second one (covering Part II – Search for Freedom through History) can be seen at https://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/questions-of-freedom-and-peoples-emancipation-by-kobad-ghandy/— Frontlines ed.]

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Mainstream, VOL L No 42, October 6, 2012

PART III—Socialism and Existentialism

The 19th and 20th centuries witnessed two major schools of thought—socialism and existentialism. The former reflected the agony of the vast impoverished masses, the latter mirrored the acute alienation within society, strongly reflected in the middle classes. While socialism focused on the society, the existentialists concerned themselves more with the individual. Both these philosophical trends had a powerful impact till the 1980s.

I shall first briefly look at these two trends and then come to the present, post-1980s situation.

Socialist Trend

The agony of the impoverished people was beautifully portrayed in a large number of classics in the 19th and early 20th centuries. There was Engels’ Condition of the Working Class in Britain, a large number of novels by authors like Emile Zola, classics like the book Grapes of Wrath etc. which depicted how cruel capitalism was.

In the post-war period there were a number of African and Latin American writings which pictured the agony of colonial conquest like the book Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galaeno.

India: Revolutionaries honor the memory of fallen leaders and comrades

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

DANDAKARANYA SPECIAL ZONAL COMMITTEE

June 10, 2012

Observe Martyrs Week From July 28 to August 3!

Red Homage to Our Party’s Fore-founders and Beloved Teachers Comrades Charu Mazumdar and Kanhai Chatterjee!

Let’s rededicate ourselves to fulfill the cherished dreams of thousands of martyrs including Comrades Ramji, Shrikant, Sheshanna, Suneeta, Ranita, Sukku, Mahesh, Mangli, Paklu, Pramod and Shivaji!

July 28 has a special significance in the history of Indian Revolution. Comrade Charu Mazumdar and Comrade Kanhai Chatterjee, who broke the backs of the revisionism deep-rooted for decades in the Indian Communist Movement and established the path of protracted people’s war for the Indian Revolution, emerged as the founder-leaders of CPI (Maoist). On this day in 1972, Comrade Charu Mazumdar succumbed to police torture. In the path directed by these two great comrades, the Indian Revolution is marching forward unabatedly for the last 45 years facing many upheavals, defeats and setbacks. Even if it faced setback at one place, by gaining strength in other places, it stood as a ray of hope for all the oppressed masses of entire country. This 45-year bloodstained history contains invaluable sacrifices of more than 15 thousand martyrs. By virtue of these sacrifices, revolutionary movement has been advancing raising the slogan `Naxalbari Ek Hi Rasta’, with the aim of building liberated areas through area-wise seizure of political power. July 28 is an important day to commemorate the sacrifices of all the martyrs and to rededicate ourselves to fulfill their cherished dreams.

In the last one year, nearly 150 comrades have sacrificed their lives all over the country. Forty of them are from Dandakaranya (DK). These martyrs include higher leadership comrades, party members, PLGA commanders, red fighters, mass organization activists, revolutionary people’s committee representatives and revolutionary masses. Many of these have lost their lives in fake encounters carried out by government mercenary forces while others have laid down their lives fighting heroically with the enemy forces. Few of them have lost their lives due to illness and in accidents. On the occasion of July 28, let’s commemorate each and every martyr and pledge to fight relentlessly to fulfill their dream of building a new democratic India free of all forms of exploitation and oppression.

India: What happens when agreements are negotiated, but govt. promises were hollow?

Maoist leader warns Odisha of ‘consequences’

Bhubaneswar, May 21 — Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda has warned the Odisha government of consequences for not keeping promises made to secure the release of two Italians kidnapped by his group more than two months ago.

In an audio message released to the media late Sunday, which was also aired by local television channels, Panda, state organising secretary of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, said the government had promised to facilitate the release of several prisoners.

Besides it had also promised to fulfill other demands, including a halt on operations against the rebels and imposing a ban on tourism in tribal areas.

Accusing the government of not keeping those promises, Panda said his wife Subhashree had been released but had been framed with fresh charges. He added that another prisoner Arati Majhi was yet to come out of jail.

The guerrilla leader alleged that Majhi, a 22-year-old tribal woman was raped by security forces two years ago and was still in jail on a false charge. He said the government had been spreading lies through the media even though it had not fulfilled its promises.

CPI (Maoist): “Condemn the arrests and torture of Maoist activists in Kolkata and Mumbai!”

COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST) — CENTRAL COMMITTEE — Press Release — March 2, 2012

In the last week of February 2012, the police have arrested activists of our Party including some senior cadres from Kolkata and Mumbai. On the specific intelligence inputs provided by the murderous APSIB, joint forces of police and STF of AP, Maharashtra and West Bengal have raided the shelters of our comrades in Kolkata and Mumbai suburbs and arrested at least nine comrades including two women comrades. Comrades Sadanala Ramakrishna, Deepak Kumar Pargania, Sukumar Mandal, Bapi Mudi and Sambhu Charan were arrested from Kolkata while Comrades Dinesh Wankhede, Aasimkumar Bhattacharya, Suman Gawde and Paru Patel were picked up from Thane in Maharashtra. Comrades Sadanala Ramakrishna alias Santosh (62) and Aasimkumar Bhattacharya (65) were the seniors among the arrested. Senior comrade Sadanala Ramakrishna has been working for the revolution for at least four decades. He has been ailing with serious health problems for so many years. A mechanical engineer graduated in prestigious Regional Engineering College (REC) of Warangal from where martyr leaders like Surapaneni Janardhan and Azad were emerged as great revolutionaries of their times, Comrade Ramakrishna sacrificed his bright life for the cause of liberation of the downtrodden.

Both the two women comrades arrested – Vijaya and Suman – have been undergoing medical treatment for some time staying in the shelters outside the struggle zones. Particularly, comrade Vijaya has been suffering from serious heart problems.

The police forces, better known for worst kind of cruelty, have been torturing these comrades mentally and physically in custody. They have foisted several false cases against these comrades so that they could be languished behind the bars forever.

Pravasi Today (India): “Kishenji successor Rama Krishna, four others arrested”

[An Indian mainstream news report about an arrest of Maoists. — Frontlines ed.]

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Kolkata, March 1: A Maoist leader, said to be the successor of slain rebel chieftain Kishenji, and four of his aides were arrested from various parts of this West Bengal capital in a daylong operation, police said Thursday. A court has sent them to police custody till March 13.

“Rama Krishna alias R.K,, a mechanical engineer and chief of the (banned) Communist Party of India-Maoist’s Central Technical Committee who hails from Andhra Pradesh and is known to have succeeded Kishenji and four other Maoists were sent to custody of Kolkata Police till March 13,” chief police prosecutor S.C. Gupta said.

Maoist spokesman (allegedly Kishenji, before his murder by state special squads) spoke to the press

R.K. as well as Sukumar Mandal, Bapi Mudi, Sambhu Patra and Dipak Kumar were presented before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S. Bandyopadhyay under tight security.

The Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police along with Greyhounds, an elite commando force of Andhra Pradesh, nabbed the extremists from various parts of the city. An arms building workshop was busted and blueprints and several key components for building a rocket launcher, explosives, Rs.2.5 lakh and several rounds of live ammunition were seized in the process.

While R.K. and Dipak were arrested from north Kolkata Wednesday morning, Mudi, Patra and Mandal were nabbed from North 24 Parganas’ Belghoria late night following leads yielded by interrogation of the duo.

R.K. who supervised Maoist operations in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, took over the reins in West Bengal after Kishenji alias Koteshwar Rao was killed by security forces in a gun battle Nov 14 last year, Gupta said.

An STF officer said R.K., who had led the Maoists in the first-ever direct talks with the government in 2004, and Dipak were prize catches and it was a big setback for the Maoists in West Bengal who are already on the backfoot after Kishenji’s death.

His wife Padma, who carried a prize of Rs.2 lakh on her head, was arrested in Odisha’s Koraput in 2010.

The Andhra and the Odisha Police have been on the lookout for Rama Krishna who is also the secretary for Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee.

Source: pravasitoday.com

March 1st, 2012

India: Maoist political prisoner challenges trumped up charges, forces court to question government case

Supreme Court seeks evidence against Ghandy

New Delhi, Jan 4, (IANS)

Kobad Ghandy

The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the Andhra Pradesh government to prove that jailed Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy was involved in the killing of the deputy speaker of the assembly in 2005.

Narsi Reddy and 10 others were killed Aug 15, 2005 in Mahabubnagar district of the state.
Referring to the Andhra Pradesh High Court order granting bail to Ghandy, Supreme Court judges B.S. Chauhan and T.S. Thakur told counsel Mahavir Singh that the high court had said that there was no evidence against the Communist Party of India-Maoist leader.

The state government moved the apex court seeking cancellation of the bail.
When Mahavir Singh, appearing for the state government, told the court that Ghandy had confessed his role after his arrest in Delhi in 2009, the court said the statement cannot be considered evidence.

The government has been given two weeks to furnish evidence against him. Ghandy is now lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail from where he still writes for various magazines — and is known in the prison as “Gandhi Baba”.

India: Sanhati Statement condemning the state’s attack on the leaderships of people’s resistances

December 4, 2011

by Sanhati Collective

We strongly condemn the Indian government’s attempts to suppress the various peoples’ movements across the country against the exploitation, oppression and state-sponsored corporate plunder, by attempting to decapitate their leaderships. This seems to be the preferred policy, after having failed to throttle these movements by letting loose repression on the people.

On November 24, Koteswara Rao, alias Kishenji, one of the senior-most politburo members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), which is involved in an armed resistance movement across India, especially in the adivasi (indigeneous people)-populated forested regions, has been killed by security forces in the state of West Benga in what is increasingly evident as a fake encounter. Such extrajudicial killings to liquidate the top leadership of the Maoist movement seem to be the preferred solution of the government to neutralize this “threat”. The Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, has clearly stated that specific targeting of the Maoists’ leadership is the main task for tackling this insurgency, which has been repeatedly described by the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh (the architect of the neoliberal reforms which have devastated the Indian poor over the last two decades) as the “biggest internal security threat” to the Indian state. That this is in direct contravention of clear directives laid down by the National Human Rights Commission and judgements by various state high courts and the Supreme Court, seems to be of no consequence to this government which hypocritically empahsizes about the “rule of law”. Such extrajudicial killings, which have become the routine practice of the Indian state in countering resistances, are also in violation of the1949 Geneva conventions relating to armed conflict to which India is a signatory. It is even more reprehensible that the murder of Kishenji was committed while his party was trying to initiate talks with the West Bengal state administration via government-appointed interlocutors and had in fact earlier offered a period of cease-fire which the state failed to respond to. The deceptive nature of the state is borne out by the fact the West Bengal chief minister had been publicly maintaining that no operations of the joint forces were being conducted and was urging the interlocutors to proceed with the negotiations. This incident reminds us of the killing of Azad, the spokesperson of the CPI(Maoist), by the Andhra Pradesh police last year when he was similarly trying to initiate talks with the central government. These killings are therefore indicative of the fact that the state apparatus floats the possibility of such negotiations as a counterinsurgency measure in order to track and liquidate the leadership.

The armed resistance movements are not the only ones in the line of fire of the central and various state governments. Just as the news of the killing of the CPI(Maoist) leader was coming in, the Orissa police suddenly arrested Abhay Sahoo, the leader of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), during the evening of 25th November. For the last six years, the PPSS has been leading the peaceful resistance of the villagers in coastal Orissa against the proposed multi-billion dollar steel plant of the Korean multinational POSCO. This project has received clearance from the Environment Ministry in a grossly illegal manner, in direct violation of the Forest Rights Act and the Environmental Impact Assessment notification, despite two of the Ministry’s own inquiry committees’ recommendations that the granting of such a clearance would be a crime. While the matter is still being heard in court, and the people of the villages are bravely resisting the attempts of the government to forcibly occupy their lands, this arrest of the PPSS leader is a direct attempt by the state to break down the movement by robbing it of its leadership, as a precursor to unleashing the state forces on the villagers in an attempt to deprive them of their lives and livelihoods.

The killing of Kishenji and the arrest of Abhay Sahoo makes it evident that the Indian state is finding it increasingly difficult to suppress the spectrum of resistance that has developed against its neoliberal policies, with the multinational corporations becoming increasingly impatient in their wait for the promised lands and resources. Therefore it has adopted the policy of annihilating the leadership of these movements by killing or imprisoning the leaders. It is of no consequence whether the movements are armed or unarmed; it appears that the Indian state’s only response to them is repression and more repression. What the rulers of India, and the corporate interests they serve, do not realize is that this would just make the struggling people of India more resolved in their resistance and could also result in increased violence across the country.

We demand that the government immediately stop its ill-advised moves to annihilate or imprison the leaders of the peoples’ struggles that are going on in India, as a part of its security operations to crush these movements that are based on the peoples’ genuine aspirations toward a better life and for protecting their lives and livelihoods. We demand the immediate release of Abhay Sahoo, and the withdrawal of the trumped up charges against him. We also demand that the countrywide operations of the security forces going on in the name of Operation Green Hunt be immediately stopped as this is bringing untold misery to the lives of the most deprived and marginalized sections of the Indian population.

Kishenji Fought for a Better World

Indian ‘Republic Killing Its Own Children’ – Kishenji Fought for a Better World

by Bernard D’Mello 

India’s Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, West Bengal Chief Minister (also in charge of the province’s home affairs) Mamata Banerjee, Union Home Secretary R K Singh, and the top bosses of the security forces involved in the operation have all been bent on establishing one point: that the alleged encounter in the Burishol forest in West Midnapore district, 10 km from the West Bengal-Jharkhand border, in which Mallojula Koteswara Rao, popularly known by his nom de guerre Kishenji, a member of the politburo of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) [CPI (Maoist)], was supposedly killed was “real”.  Frankly, given the complicity of the media bosses and the journalistic profession (the latter, at the higher levels) with official mendacity, we must admit that the circumstances of his death are as yet unknown.  A press statement from Abhay, spokesperson of the Central Committee of the Party, dated 25 November 2011, unambiguously states that Kishenji was killed “after capturing him alive in a well planned conspiracy”.¹

The renowned radical Telugu poet Varavara Rao, who accompanied Kishenji’s niece Deepika to bring the body back to Kishenji’s hometown of Peddapalli in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, is reported to have said: “In the last 43 years, I have seen so many bodies killed in so-called encounters but have not seen a body like this one. . .  There is no place on the body where there is no injury.”²  Indeed, according to CDRO (Coordination of Democratic Rights’ Organisations) activists who saw the body before the commencement of the postmortem, “on the back side of the head, part of [the] skull [and] brain [was] missing”; the right eye had come out of the socket; the lower jaw was “missing”; there were four stab wounds on the face; knife injuries were observed on the throat; there were hand fractures and two bullet injuries under one of the arms; “one-third of the left hand index finger was removed”; there were signs of enrooted bullets through the lungs; the right knee was hacked; the foot of the left leg was “totally burnt”; in all, “there were more than 30 bayonet-like cut injuries on the front of the body”.  And, while there were “bullet, sharp cuts and burn injuries”, “surprisingly” there were “no injury marks on his [Kishenji’s] shirt and pant corresponding to [those on] his body parts”.  (The postmortem report is yet to be handed over to Kishenji’s relatives.)

A press release (“Killing the Talks and Faking an Encounter”, Kolkata, 2 December 2011) by the CDRO — based on the observations of a CDRO fact-finding team who visited the spot in Burishol forest where the alleged encounter took place on 24 November — states that “the extent of the damage caused to the body against the rather undisturbed surrounding of the spot where the body lay raises our suspicion about the official version”.  Indeed, “right next to where his [Kishenji’s] body lay on the ground is a termite hill” that “remains undamaged by all the alleged exchange of fire”.  Indeed, even nearby, “not a single termite hill was damaged and [there was] no visible sign of burn or fire due to heavy rifle and mortar firing!”  Clearly, the veracity of the official story must be seriously doubted (actually, there are now versions of it that are contradicting each other!) and it is high time that an independent judicial inquiry headed by a sitting or retired Supreme Court or High Court judge into the circumstances surrounding Kishenji’s death is constituted at the earliest.

Nepal Maoist party deplores Indian Maoist leader Kishenji’s killing

Telegraph Nepal, December 6, 2011

The Unified Maoists’ Party of Nepal has formally deplored the murder of Indian Maoist leader Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji by state led forces on November 24, 2011.

Kishenji was the military head and a politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

The Unified Maoist Party’s international bureau head Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Tuesday December 6, 2011, issued a statement and said that the government of India in a cowardly act has murdered Kishenji.

“We deplore the act of the Indian government in killing an unarmed Kishenji,” reads the statement and adds, “We urge the Indian government to resort to peaceful means instead of brutal killings and bloodshed to solve the problems.”

In the meantime, a 22-member team of four constituents of the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organization in India have demanded an independent judicial inquiry into the killing and said that Kishenji was killed while in custody but not in what has been given to understand by the Indian government.

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Official Press Statement from UCPN (Maoist) on death of Comrade Kishenji

Nepal: Leaders of Revolutionary Maoists Baidya, Badal condemn Kishenji killing; Prachanda and Bhattarai still silent

REPUBLICA KATHMANDU, Dec 1: The Mohan Baidya faction of the UCPN (Maoist) on Thursday issued a separate statement condemning the killing of Indian Maoist leader Mallojula Koteswara Rao a.k.a. Kishenji by the Indian security forces in the dense forest of Burishol, near West Bengal-Jharkhand border on Nov 24. “We strongly condemn the killing of Kishenji in the name of encounter, and demand the central as well as West Bengal government to form a panel to investigate the incident and bring the guilty to book,” states a press statement undersigned by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya and General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa. While expressing condolence over the death, Thapa and Baidya have “expressed solidarity with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in such a sad moment”. Party establishment leaders said they were unaware about such statement. “I have not seen any such statement,” said Maoist spokesman Dinanath Sharma from the party establishment. He added that the party has not discussed issuing any statement condemning the killing.

Indian Maoist Party: “Condemn the State Murder of Kishenji!”

  COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Press Release: November 25, 2011

Condemn the brutal murder of Comrade Mallojula Koteswara Rao, the beloved leader of the oppressed masses,
the leader of Indian revolution and CPI (Maoist) Politburo member!

Observe protest week from November 29 to December 5
and 48-hour ‘Bharat Bandh’ on December 4-5!!

November 24, 2011 would remain a black day in the annals of Indian revolutionary movement’s history. The fascist Sonia-Manmohan-Pranab-Chidambaram-Jairam Ramesh ruling clique who have been raising a din that CPI (Maoist) is ‘the biggest internal security threat’, in collusion with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, killed Comrade Mallojula Koteswara Rao after capturing him alive in a well planned conspiracy. This clique which had killed Comrade Azad, our party’s spokesperson on July 1, 2010 once again spread its dragnet and quenched its thirst for blood. Mamata Banerjee, who had shed crocodile’s tears over the murder of Comrade Azad before coming to power, while enacting the drama of talks on the one hand after assuming office, killed another topmost leader Comrade Koteswara Rao and thus displayed nakedly its anti-people and fascist facet.