Glossary of the Maoists

The Union Government does not sound to be professional in handling the Red Guerillas. It is highly unfortunate on the part of the Government to leak the confidential letter written by Kishenji, the Maoists leader to P.Chidambaram. In order to solve this major trouble the Government must conduct in a highly sensitive manner not like leaking bucket. If the media got the letter from the home ministry then Mr.P.C must plug all the loopholes in the North Block first. In the Telegana crisis too the media brought out the advanced information. With this kind of glaring loopholes the home minister cannot solve the major problems.

The Times of India writes about the vocabulary of the Maoists,

"Baraat aa gayi hai (The marriage procession has arrived)," one Maoist told his leader over cellphone on seeing cops marching towards their base camp in Jamui recently. "Dulha gora hai ya kaala (Is the groom fair or dark)?" he was asked.

That's only a small part of the conversations intercepted by the Bihar's Special task Force (STF) in Maoist-hit areas. 'Baraat' is Maoist codeword for police force and 'gora' for district armed policemen who wear khaki. STF or Central paramilitary forces are 'kaala' for those who wear black dungarees.

"Maoist jargon. That's what we call it. To camouflage their movement and operations, the extremists have evolved their a coded system of words for almost everything — from explosives and arms to areas of their operations," said a top Bihar cop associated with anti-Maoist operations.

To the guerrillas, 'DVD' means 'karrwai' or action and 'mela mein chalna hai' or 'we have to visit a fair' means a police picket has to be stormed. When there's a plan to ambush a police party, they say 'paidal jana hai' or 'we have to walk'.

Satyendra Singh, Maoist suspect caught from a house in Patna's Kankerbagh Colony with a laptop and Rs 18 lakh, also rattled off before cops several codewords used by his comrades. Potassium chlorate, ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and aluminium powder, used in making IEDs, are 'soda', 'sabudana', 'mishri' and 'cement' respectively in Maoist parlance. 'Sindoor' or vermilion means potassium dichromate while concentrated sulphuric acid is 'gulabjal'.

Their weaponry has also been code-named. M16 rifle is 'Mohan'; AK-47 'Akash'; Insas rifle 'Indrajeet'; SLR 'Sabarmati'; 9mm pistol 'Navin' and 12 bore rifle is 'Brahmadev'.

Bullets are 'dana' or grains; RDX is 'ghee' and cordex wire 'makkhan' or butter. Ordinary detonator is 'pencil' and electric detonator 'dot pen'.

There's more. Maoists refer to their bases located in Patna, Ara, Gaya, Aurangabad and Tatanagar as Arjun, Munna, Pankaj, Satendra Singh and Bajrangi respectively. Cops are yet to figure out how Patna is even remotely similar to Arjun or Ara to Munna and so on.

Naxal Terror Continues Unabated

Countless killings by Naxalites in the name of equal development hasn't provoked the government to crush these red killers totally. Only heroic speeches by the ministers and top bosses are increasing but there is no stopping of these killings.

The Times of India writes (10 October 2009)

The Naxalites, who have become the gravest internal security threat forcing the Centre to plan an all-out offensive against them,
have killed more than 2,600 people, including civilians, in the last three years.

The highest number of incidents of violence has taken place in four worst-affected states -- Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa -- where 2,212 people lost their lives from January 2006 to August this year.

"We have witnessed more than 5,800 incidents of Naxal violence across the country during the period forcing the government to announce a new strategy to deal with the menace which is growing at an alarming pace in many states," a Home Ministry official said.

In Chhattisgarh, 388 people were killed by the Maoists in 715 incidents in 2006. While 369 lost their lives in 2007, another 242 were killed in 2008. In 2009 till August, about 180 people lost their lives in the state.

Altogether 124 people were killed by Maoists in 2006 in Jharkhand, 157 people in 2007 while another 207 lost their lives in 2008. In 2009 till August, about 150 people were killed by the Naxals.

With nearly 40,000 para-military personnel, the Centre has readied its anti-Naxal plan which also includes a Rs 7,300-crore package for developmental works in areas cleared off the Left-wing extremists.

As part of its "holistic" anti-Naxal plan, the funds would be disbursed in this fiscal and spent over a span of three years in those areas where the Naxals were driven out.

The key factor in the current strategy is that the government will have a heavy concentration of security forces to ensure elimination of the Naxals and restoration of civil administration.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had described Left-wing extremism as the gravest internal security threat and called for a nuanced strategy to tackle Naxal violence which, despite best efforts of the security forces, continues in many parts of the country.

"We have not achieved as much success as we would have liked in containing it. It is a matter of concern that despite our efforts, the level of violence in the affected states continues to rise," he had said.

Home Minister P Chidambaram has said the Maoists have their influence in 20 states across the country.

"Over 2,000 police station areas in 223 districts in these states are partially or substantially affected by the menace," he had said.

Naxal Extortion Industry

In the name of fight for people rights Naxals are extorting money from rich and poor. This extortion industry in the red corriodors of India and Nepal is more than Rs.1500 crores.

The Times of India writes (17 August 2009)


Naxalism, which started off as a people's movement, has now become a nearly Rs 1500 crore organized extortion business in the form of
'levy', police and central security officials said.

CPI (Maoist) and especially its splinter groups, which extort the money hardly pump it back for running the movement but instead use it to maintain luxurious life-styles for their masters, the officials said.

The Naxal literature and documents seized by central security agencies and state police forces during their operations have revealed intricate details of "levy" extorted by groups which run in several hundred crores every year.

The 'levy' is not only paid by the contractors working in the areas dominated by the Naxals but also by the industrial houses including some of the nationally reputed ones, the officials said.

Though, CPI (Maoist) still remains the prominent Naxal group in Jharkhand, there are other splinter groups which too have now started imposing 'levy' besides indulging in kidnapping, looting and narcotics trade, which results in around Rs 300 crore as annual income from the state.

If a conservative estimate is taken of the income generated from 'levy' in the seven most Naxal-infested states -- Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra -- security agencies feel the collection from these areas, which are commonly referred to as 'red corridor', amount to nearly Rs 1,500 crore.

The Naxals have even come out with a card, recovered by forces, which clearly shows the exact amount of 'levy' to be paid by contractors, petrol pump owners and land owners.

It usually ranges from 10% of the project cost for those making unpaved roads to five per cent for small bridges and others.

Besides the fixed levy, the left-wing extremists groups also demand money from industries functioning in the areas "as and when they need" and even issue receipts for the same.

"There are six left-wing extremists groups operating in the state out of which the People's Liberation Front of India, earlier known as Jharkhand Liberation Tigers, is mostly made up of criminals. The groups operate no longer for ideology but purely for extortion," CRPF DIG (Jharkhand) Alok Raj said.

Interestingly, it is not just the Naxals who approach contractors for money but in some cases even the contractors approach the Naxals with money.

"It has come to our notice that in certain incidents, contractors have themselves approached the Naxals to blow up the roads built by them because they had used inferior material at first place. As the roads are blown away, no quality inspection takes place," Director General of Police (Jharkhand) V D Ram said.

Officials say, in most cases, the amount generated in the form of levy usually goes into a "luxurious lifestyle" of Naxal chiefs.

"The chiefs lead a luxurious life with all modern facilities. Though, they forcibly recruit children in their cadre, their own kids study in good public schools," officials said.

The Naxals also encourage local villagers to undertake opium cultivation, just like insurgents in Northeast states.

Of the total 1.07 lakh kg of ganja or marijuana seized in the country in 2007, heavy quantity of it was from Nagaland (15,489 kg), Madhya Pradesh (14,815 kg), Maharashtra (12,551 kg), Chhattisgarh (7,470 kg) and Andhra Pradesh (7,059 kg).

QnA: Why do you think the Naxal menace growing in Central India?

Arresting violence in Orissa

The Eastern state Orissa is rich in natural resources and forest wealth. Unfortunately the lack of basic human needs have kept the state in total backwardness. Despite MNCs and big Indian companies pumping crores of rupees it has become common for Orissa to get entangled in communal violence often. As the popular feeling goes in the country ‘myth and reality, superstitions and science, prosperity and poverty co-exists’.

Orissa is a standing example of this irony. Despite the forward movement in economy the state is yet to put an end to its persistent clashes on religious lines. One of the crucial reasons for the continuing in communal tensions is stop gap arrangements of the government. There are no long lasting solutions and programmes to identify, control and eliminate these clashes. The killing of eminent Hindu figurehead Swami. Lakshmananda Saraswati who was ninety years old denotes the height of communal frenzy in the state. Raping and burning of nuns is equally cruel. The culprits are clearly out to create burning fire in the society. The onus is on the state government to put an end to the menace. The clean headed and hearted Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is putting all possible efforts to counter the communal troubles. But a more hardened stance is required.

Conversion assignment of the Christian missionaries and active involvement of Hindu organizations to prevent the converts keep Orissa tense regularly. In addition to this religious angle, active movement and operation of the Naxalities challenge the authority of the state. With these multiple troubles all the developmental activities get nullified. To solve this long pending trouble both central and state governments need to work with a complete understanding. Any intrusion of petty politics will ruin the state in the long run. The consequence may not be confined to Orissa. It may spill over to neighbhouring states like Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andra Pradesh. As the Naxalite corridor is extensively active in these states, a well tuned strategy is required. In this mission, all the top police, intelligence and social heads need to devise appropriate methods. The National Security Advisor M.K.Narayanan, KPS.Gill, Walter Devaram, Kiran Bedi, Vijaya Kumar who gunned down forest brigand Veerapan can form this high level policing force.

The Central government should not wait any more to step in crush the twin evils of Orissa – Naxalism and communal frenzy. Political calculations should be dumped for the overall progress of the nation.