NAXAL/ MAOISTS- 2010 - Indian Social Institute

villages suspected of having other political affiliations. In 2008, in Nandigram, before the gram panchayat
elections, they snatched away the voter identification of people in Nandigram. At least 10 to 15 people
were admitted in the local hospital, in “critically injured condition”, reported The Times of India. In Bankura
district, Baksi village was emptied of 70 per cent of its residents by a joint force of police and the harmath.
“They misbehave with the women and burn our food stocks,” says Satyan Hansda. “The police do
nothing.” The intimidation was to stop all groupings they suspected of political ambitions. “The PCPA
does not function here because most of its members were driven away. They keep beating us saying that
we are Maoists. We have not even seen a Maoist in our village.” A senior CPM leader accepts, on
condition of anonymity, that the party maintains an armed group of “volunteers”. “There is dadaism. Not
everyone in the party favours force to regain lost areas and there is factionalism within the party over
this.” He adds after a while, “but every party has an armed wing, even the Trinamool Congress.” The term
harmath came into the Bengali lexicon with the Portugese raiders who came in the 15th century. “They
travelled in groups and were ruthless.” The word had not been used in the local vocabulary for years but it
regained popularity during the Nandigram struggle, when people started calling the CPM goons by this
name. “It could be the people who were attacked themselves, it could be the intelligentsia who were
commenting on it, nobody knows for sure how the word became popular again. But today, it is a term
used to refer to CPM goons,” says Jagabandhu Adikhari of the Association of People for Democratic
Rights (APDR). These types of armed groups have been part of the CPM from the Eighties, according to
Adhikari. “But the concentration of the harmath group has definitely increased in the past few years.” “The
primary task of this group is to make sure that no other political party or organisation can function in an
area,” says Pratyut Ghosh, the Trinamool Congress District Secretary of the West Midnapore region. And
to do this, they do not look for people who are ideologically inclined. They simply pay people with criminal
records, according to Adhikari. “Sometimes they coerce people with criminal records to work for them or
risk being arrested again.” Their job could also be to spy on their own neighbours. “Harmath sometimes
cover their faces and attack, because they are neighbours or from neighbouring villages,” says Ashish
Mahato, spokesperson of the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities. Harmath are hired by giving a
lump sum — two to four lakh rupees — to a family and then they are promised an amount at regular
intervals. “If a harmath runs a successful campaign (which means to get rid of, chase away or silence
people who have other political leanings) then he is rewarded with a few lakhs again. A promise is made
that if the harmath is killed in campaign, the family will be taken care of. But in the cases where we have
heard, that support is discontinued in a few months.” In every village, either the harmath accompany the
police or they follow the police. “The harmath are even trained by the police,” says Adhikari. How are
they armed? “Every party has arms,” says the CPM leader. “The ruling party keeps arms, so does the
opposition.” According to the TMC secretary, ‘they get their arms from Bihar and Pune.” The funding is
done through a teacher’s network. “The government appoints teachers. If they want the posting, they
need to pledge a portion of the salary to the funding of this group,” says Congress district secretary of
West Midnapore, Nirmal Ghosh. Adhikari says the relationship is a bit more complex. In 2008, teachers
got an unexpected raise of a few thousands. “Teachers were expected to give them a portion of the
arrears. When one teacher in Chandrakona refused, he was accosted and threatened. Finally he had to
give the Rs 10,000 they demanded of him.” The contribution can vary between Rs 5,000 and Rs 20,000,
according to Adhikari. The CPM leader is not happy with the compromises the party has made over the
years. “When we started, we had a list of do’s and don’ts. Over the past 32 years as the ruling party, we
seem to be doing more of the dont’s.” People like him want the party to lose this time around so that they
can rework internally and improve it, says his friend laughing. The leader does not argue.(Express Buzz
7/3/10)
Maoists turning Ahmedabad-Mumbai stretch into 'Red Corridor'? (12)
SURAT: Plans are afoot for quite some time now to turn the Ahmedabad-Mumbai stretch into a ‘Red
Corridor' with bases of Maoists in several towns along the route and headquarters in Surat. This startling
revelation was made by Surya Devra Prabhakar, a Maoist, during his interrogation by Mumbai ATS. The
information has been passed on to Gujarat police following which police swung into action and lodged a
complaint highlighting Naxal operations in the tribal region. The complaint has been lodged under various
sections of criminal conspiracy, sedition and promoting enmity between groups. When Prabhakar was
arrested in January 15 from Suvarna region in Maharashtra the Mumbai ATS was not aware how big a
fish they have netted. But as soon as Prabhakar started spilling the beans police realised that he is
among the top leaders of Naxal movement in Maharashtra and adjoining states. Police recovered around
Rs 10 lakh from Prabhakar, "which was portion of total Rs 25 lakh collected from Surat during last few
years," said a senior police official. Prabhakar is said to have informed the Mumbai ATS that the blue print
of making the stretch from Ahmedabad to Mumbai a _Red Corridor' was planned almost 10 years ago
and Surat has been chosen as HQ because of its huge migrant population _ around 20 lakh from Naxal