Jailed Maoists speak against ‘lavish lifestyle’ of senior comrades
A group of 21 jailed Maoists, led by former “sub-zonal commander” of the Sone-Ganga-Vindhyazal zone Sudama Oraon, have accused senior comrades of “living in town” and exploiting the lower cadre, mostly illiterate and poor tribals.
In a two-page “press release” on jail application paper, duly signed or carrying their thumb impression, the 21 say the senior Maoists “hobnob with jungle mafia and landlords, embezzle party funds and put the blame on the lower rung”.
Oraon, accused of killing Rohtas District Forest Officer Sanjay Singh in 2002, has been in Rohtas jail since 2006. Along with the 20 other hardcore Maoists — including state-level leaders Rajendra Uraon, Jagdish Chhero and Sitaram Chhero — he had formed the Adivasi Chetna Manch last September in Sasaram jail allegedly as he was disenchanted with top leaders of the outlawed outfit.
Oraon has also hinted at a caste war within the CPI (Maoist), with OBC Yadavs the dominant group.
“Senior leaders have started leading lavish lifestyle and their sons and daughters study in good schools. Lower cadre are humiliated and at times also face sexual exploitation,” says the letter. “As Maoists started getting more weapons and number of urban Maoists increased, there has been fast erosion of CPI (Maoist) ideology.”
Intelligence sources confirmed the simmering caste tension among the Maoists. “Abhay Yadav is the area commander of Rohtas, while Arvind Yadav, the man behind the Lakhisarai encounter, is the Munger area commander,” said one of them.
Naxals gun down NCP man in Gadchiroli
A Naxal action team on Friday gunned down a prominent local NCP leader and injured another person barely 300 metres from the police station of Etapalli town in Gadchiroli district.
“About 3-4 persons came to a kirana shop where Kewalrao Atkamwar alias Raju was standing and fired at him from close range around 7.30 pm,” police sources said. Another person Prashant Kukkalwar, also an NCP worker, was injured.
Atkamwar also took contracts of public works in Etapalli.
Superintendent of Police Veeresh Prabhu confirmed the incident. Asked why Atkamwar was targeted, Prabhu said, “It’s too early to say anything about the possible reason.”
Sources said Atkamwar, 42, a former member of Gadchiroli Zilla Parishad and former Chairman of Etapalli Panchayat Samiti, was on Naxal hit-list for his proximity to police. “He was asked by them not to contest the recent elections. So he had refrained from it. Yet, they killed him,” a source said.
In January, Naxals had gunned down a Congress leader and Chairman of Bhamragarh Panchayat Samiti Bahadurshah Alam. Alam was targeted for his involvement in organising a public meeting by Chhattisgarh Salwa Judum leader K Madhukar Rao in Bhamragarh. Incidentally, this is second murder by Naxal action team in Etapalli. They had killed contractor Sanjay Khedkar last year.
Source http://www.indianexpress.com/news/jailed-maoists-speak-against-lavish-lifestyle-of-senior-comrades/936570/0
In a two-page “press release” on jail application paper, duly signed or carrying their thumb impression, the 21 say the senior Maoists “hobnob with jungle mafia and landlords, embezzle party funds and put the blame on the lower rung”.
Oraon, accused of killing Rohtas District Forest Officer Sanjay Singh in 2002, has been in Rohtas jail since 2006. Along with the 20 other hardcore Maoists — including state-level leaders Rajendra Uraon, Jagdish Chhero and Sitaram Chhero — he had formed the Adivasi Chetna Manch last September in Sasaram jail allegedly as he was disenchanted with top leaders of the outlawed outfit.
Oraon has also hinted at a caste war within the CPI (Maoist), with OBC Yadavs the dominant group.
“Senior leaders have started leading lavish lifestyle and their sons and daughters study in good schools. Lower cadre are humiliated and at times also face sexual exploitation,” says the letter. “As Maoists started getting more weapons and number of urban Maoists increased, there has been fast erosion of CPI (Maoist) ideology.”
Intelligence sources confirmed the simmering caste tension among the Maoists. “Abhay Yadav is the area commander of Rohtas, while Arvind Yadav, the man behind the Lakhisarai encounter, is the Munger area commander,” said one of them.
Naxals gun down NCP man in Gadchiroli
A Naxal action team on Friday gunned down a prominent local NCP leader and injured another person barely 300 metres from the police station of Etapalli town in Gadchiroli district.
“About 3-4 persons came to a kirana shop where Kewalrao Atkamwar alias Raju was standing and fired at him from close range around 7.30 pm,” police sources said. Another person Prashant Kukkalwar, also an NCP worker, was injured.
Atkamwar also took contracts of public works in Etapalli.
Superintendent of Police Veeresh Prabhu confirmed the incident. Asked why Atkamwar was targeted, Prabhu said, “It’s too early to say anything about the possible reason.”
Sources said Atkamwar, 42, a former member of Gadchiroli Zilla Parishad and former Chairman of Etapalli Panchayat Samiti, was on Naxal hit-list for his proximity to police. “He was asked by them not to contest the recent elections. So he had refrained from it. Yet, they killed him,” a source said.
In January, Naxals had gunned down a Congress leader and Chairman of Bhamragarh Panchayat Samiti Bahadurshah Alam. Alam was targeted for his involvement in organising a public meeting by Chhattisgarh Salwa Judum leader K Madhukar Rao in Bhamragarh. Incidentally, this is second murder by Naxal action team in Etapalli. They had killed contractor Sanjay Khedkar last year.
Source http://www.indianexpress.com/news/jailed-maoists-speak-against-lavish-lifestyle-of-senior-comrades/936570/0
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