Days and Nights in the Heartland of Rebellion

Gautam Navlakha

Description

A report from the epicenter of the Naxalite war In its war against the Maoists, it is the Indian state that usually gets to tell its side of story. But official explanations are not meant to convey truth. Most often they attempt to cover up the reality and obscure it. The claim that only one warring side has the right to propagate its views whereas the other does not because they are projected as enemy is questionable when we know there are two sides to any conflict and where both sides comprise our own people. In this situation of internal war, not satisfied with the knowledge offered by books and documents, Gautam Navlakha went into the heart of Bastar to get to know the Maoists first hand. This book is an account of the fortnight he spent in the guerilla zone where the Maoists run their people s government, the Jantana Sarkar. His enquiry unflinching and his perspective critical but partisan, Navlakha succeeds in the difficult task of making the demonized human, laying bare the heartland of rebellion.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Revolutions
• Revolution

Informations

• Publié par: Penguin Books Ltd
• Date de parution: 01 août 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788184756548
• Langue: English

Extrait

GAUTAM NAVLAKHA
Days and Nights in the Heartland of the Rebellion

PENGUIN BOOKS
Contents
About the Author
Dedication
Preface
Introduction
Free Fall
Why the War?
Primitive Accumulation
Looting Begets Resistance
A Brief Comment on the Communist Movement
Inside the Guerrilla Zone
The Journey
First and Lasting Impression
What about Killings?
Why They Are Not Scared
How It All Began
The Issue of Land
White Terror
Towards RPCs
How It Works
Women: Against Superstition, Patriarchy and the State
War as a Metaphor for the Mobilization of People
Abujmaad
Collateral Damage
I Needed Some Answers
A Hurried and Much Too Short a Meeting
Unanswered Questions
End of Our Journey
What I Believe
Morality Rises on a Full Stomach
Maoists Play a Catalyst s Role
To Fight Honourably if Fight They Must
What Is the Alternative?
Finally
Map of Chhattisgarh
Notes
Acknowledgements
Copyright Page
PENGUIN BOOKS
DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE HEARTLAND OF REBELLION
Gautam Navlakha is a civil liberties activist working for the non-funded Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (Delhi) and was associated with Economic and Political Weekly for more than three decades. He lives in New Delhi.
In memory of Krishna Raj, editor of Economic and PoliticalWeekly (1969-2004), my colleague, mentor and friend
The tempestuous years of 1967-72 have shown howsuperficial is the serenity of the Indian countryside; it concealsthe inflammability of the desperate, hungry masses-thesmouldering fuse that is laboriously winding its way to thewild explosive that will shatter the present order. It threatensthe ruling powers with forebodings of a fatal judgment.
-Sumanta Bannerjee, In the Wake of Naxalbari
Preface
I woke up with the moon shining bright on my face. During the fifteen-day journey every night I saw the moon grow in size. From new moon to full moon, a fortnight was now coming to an end. Tonight would be full moon. It was 3.30 a.m. and I could not sleep. I sat up. It was the day we were to return. My heart felt heavy. I heard Jan stir next to me. He asked me, Is something wrong? I said, I am not able to fall asleep. I feel sad wondering if I will get to see them again. Will these young women and men with whom I spent days and nights be still around? The party members we got to know and with whom we shared so much-talking, arguing and discussing so frankly-will I get to meet them again? Jan said, Yes, it s been quite remarkable meeting all of them, and I for one have been treated as a grandfather, rather strange for someone like me who comes from Sweden, you know. But listen, he said, you can still return, whereas I am not only getting old but also do not think that I will be allowed to return.
We sat talking in whispers. But the feeling did not disappear. Just when it was time for us to bid goodbye at the border Niti came up to me and said, Bhai, mujhe bahut bura lag raha hai ki aap log ja rahe ho . (Brother, I feel bad that you all are leaving today.) I said that is our feeling too. She added, Hum yahi baat kar rahe the ki John sir se kabhi milna nahin hoga. Lekin aap vapas aaoge na? (We were discussing that we might not meet John Sir ever again, but you will come again, won t you?) I told her she could count on me that I will never give up trying to make my way back there to see them.
I meant every word. What a tragedy it would be if these men and women were to die at the hands of security forces that neither know nor appreciate the motivation of these courageous young people-what the party means to them, why they took up arms, what they have achieved, why they joined this resistance and what their dreams are.
When it comes to looking at military suppression by the Indian State there is a tendency to read it as less than a war. The reason we do not perceive it as war is because it takes place within the borders of the nation state where deployment of Armed Forces of the Union is considered legitimate, whatever be the reason. For instance, if one equates the promotion of mining and industrialization with development , then those who oppose this can be projected as unlawful and accused of disloyalty and treason and therefore designated as enemy . Never mind that the government and corporations feel free to acquire land through force and fraud. Those who organize resistance against this either face annihilation through military operations or get incapacitated by charges of sedition and waging war , stripped of their right to expression and association. And yet, it cannot be denied that it is our people who are being militarily suppressed.
The Doctrine for Sub-Conventional Operations brought out by the Integrated Headquarters in the Ministry of Defence (Army) 1 points out that in sub-conventional warfare there is a blurring of distinction between front and rear; strategic and tactical; combatants and non-combatants . 2 Therefore, there is a need to change a soldier s mindset from fighting the enemy in a conventional conflict, for which he is trained, to fighting his own people . 3 At another place the doctrine lays down what is expected from fighting one s own people and says that . . . the military operations should aim firstly, at neutralizing all hostile elements in the conflict zone that oppose or retard the peace initiatives and secondly, at transforming the will and attitudes of the people . . . The endeavour should be to bring about a realization that fighting the government is a no win situation and that their anti-government stance will only delay the return of peace and normalcy. Therefore, distancing from the terrorists is in their own interest and the only plausible course of action . However, the manifestation of such a realization can take from a couple of years to decades as attitudes take time to form and to change [emphasis mine]. 4
The actual conduct of such wars of suppression brings out the brutal nature of this form of warfare. It invariably involves disappearance, detention, torture, rape and a very high incidence of killings, with rare instances of justice. Therefore, when every abuse has been employed against the Maoists/Naxalites-when they are diagnosed, dissected and demonized-we would still be compelled to answer some fundamental questions: Why this war? Who are these single biggest threat to India s internal security? What is their politics? Why do they justify violence? How do they perceive their People s War (PW), their political goals and themselves? How do they intend to take a leap from their forest strongholds into the world outside?
There is also more than one side in a war. To claim that only one warring side has the right to propagate its views whereas the other does not because they are projected as enemy makes even less sense in a situation of internal war where both sides comprise our own people. Therefore, a desire to humanize the demonized, and to get to know the Maoists first hand-not just through sporadic conversations, books, documents but to travel and meet and see for myself-had been building up for many years. Twice I came close to making the trip. The first time I was let down by two young journalists who failed to show up at the rendezvous. Another time I was unable to prepare myself at short notice. I was not going to miss out on this third opportunity. Although what is called the guerrilla zone is still an area of contention and control between the government and the rebels, it is nevertheless an area where the Indian State has been forced to retreat and is using military force to re-establish its authority.
This book is based on a fortnight long visit in January 2010 to what the Maoists describe as a guerrilla zone in Bastar where they run their Janatam Sarkar (JS) or the people s government. It comprises three sections. The first section provides some insight into the reasons for this war, the politics of war and tries to bring out the salient features of the condition prevailing in the region of war. The second section is based on my observations, interactions as well as interviews with cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and documents provided to me to read. I try here to also provide a short history of the evolution of the movement in the Dandakaranya region of Central India, in order to contextualize their achievements and the significance of what I saw, heard, discussed and debated. The third and final section provides my impressions of the Maoist-led movement, analyses the issue of violence and discusses the challenges as well as the prospects of the movement.
Freedom of expression means the right to express one s views and share one s perspective and to engage critically with perspectives one regards as valuable and worthy. I believe law, which the government and their acolytes cite to suppress views contrary to theirs, is illegitimate. Law and legitimacy are two different things. Legitimacy is decided by factors beyond the law and based on the notion of consent. It is not law which makes man but man who makes law, said Marx. Bad or unjust laws need to be challenged because they confer power on authorities which are illegitimate and where their own subjective discretion is allowed free play.
In trying to humanize the Maoist movement, there is a likelihood of lapsing into demonizing the Indian State. This may indeed happen because there is an ideological affinity which makes me positively inclined towards popular movements, in particular to the resistance led by the Maoists. Conversely, I am less enamoured of the Indian State. Also, the vantage point from where I comprehend social reality is that of a democratic rights activist invariably confronted with acts of omission and commission of the State or persons in authority who often obstruct us from carrying out our mandate to probe violations of people s rights. We also remain at the receiving end of malicious propaganda of the authorities, political parties a