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Increase in Maoist violence : 13 killed in Chhattisgarh

	March 27, 2006

There is no let up in Naxalite violence in the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh and Orissa.



CPI(Maoist) Naxalites triggered a landmine at Godha village in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh on Friday, March 24, killing 13 villagers and injuring four others. The victims, mostly local traders, were returning from a weekly market, when the Naxalites blew up their jeep. The attack came about a month after an incident where two trucks carrying tribal people were ambushed by the extremists killing 26 villagers. The state Government has announced relief for the families of the killed and those injured. Paramilitary forces have been sent to the affected areas to carry out combing operations.



In another incident, a large number of armed Maoists stormed a sub-jail in Udaigiri town in Orissa on March 24, and freed 40 prisoners. They also attacked a local police station and an armed police camp killing three policemen before fleeing with their arms. They took hostage the officer-in-charge of the police station and the jailer. According to reports, about 200 to 500 Naxalites were involved in the attack. The arms looted from the police camp included 25 self-loading rifles and an AK 47.



The incident was raised in the state assembly by the Opposition legislators who blamed Chief Minister Navin Patnaik for failure of law and order in the state. Patnaik also holds the Home portfolio.



According to reports, Naxalites have started using sophisticated arms, mostly available with the Army and paramilitary forces. They are also recruiting children into their cadres in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. An unnamed official of the Union Home Ministry said in New Delhi on March 24 that Naxalites are reported to be running gun factories in several parts of the country. The central security forces recently unearthed a mini gun factory run by Naxalites in Jharkhand.



Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh Government has taken exception to Union Home Ministry’s decision to withdraw a Central Reserve Police Force battalion from the Naxal-hit Balaghat district of the state. The state Government fears that the Left wing extremists would infiltrate into the state in the absence of a trained force like the CRPF because Balaghat borders Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, both states known to be Naxal infested,





Babbar Khalsa regrouping in Northern India



There are reports that terrorist outfit, Babbar Khalsa International is regrouping and setting up hideouts across northern India in a bid to revive militancy in the region with help from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The organization has been procuring arms from Pakistan for some time now, and is trying to set up bases in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi.



A police official said the outfit has been active in setting up bases in and around Delhi, but the police is on their trail.



Delhi police arrested Paramjeet Singh Bheora, the chief of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in India, along with his two associates after an exchange of fire on the GT Karnal Road in the early hours of Monday, March 20. A huge cache of arms was recovered form them.



Paramjit was one of the most wanted terrorists of the country and a number of state police forces were working for his arrest. He along with Jagtar Singh Hawara alias Prince, Jagtar Singh alias Tara and Devi Singh are the prime accused in the Beant Singh assassination case and had managed to escape from Burail Jail in Chandigarh in January 2004 after digging a 100 ft. tunnel.



While Hawara was arrested in June last year, the other three could not be traced.



In a related development, Chandigarh police arrested four alleged terrorists reportedly owing allegiance to the Babbar Khalsa on Monday, March 20. The police also recovered arms and explosives from them. The police said the four arrested persons were working for Jagtar Singh, prime aspect in the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.





BJP : Uma Bharti to launch new party



There appears to be no end to the infighting in the major opposition party, the BJP. Party rebel Uma Bharti has said that she will launch a new party on April 30. Addressing a rally in New Delhi on Tuesday, March 21, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said Hindutva will be the core ideology of the new party with aggressive nationalism and “life-with-dignity” as its guiding force.



Stating that the BJP’s coming to power also triggered its downfall, the firebrand leader said, “political managers are now running the show by sidelining the real leaders while the party’s stalwarts - Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani - have preferred to remain silent. The BJP has good leaders, but they are not daring enough to challenge injustice and discrimination.”



Pointing to senior leaders who joined her on the dais including former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana, former Union Minister Sanjay Paswan, Swami Chinmayanand, Sanghpriya Gautam, Tapan Sikdar and Prahlad Patel, Uma Bharti said these leaders who worked at the grassroots level to prop up the party have either been shown the door or sidelined. Some BJP MLAs from Madhya Pradesh and Delhi were also present. Bharti’s supporters from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttaranchal attended the rally.



Addressing the rally, another BJP rebel leader Madan Lal Khurana who was suspended on the eve of the rally, said he would soon launch a new forum - Delhi Bachao Morcha - to fight the ongoing demolitions and sealing of residential and commercial properties in the capital.



The BJP took swift action against party leaders who attended the Uma Bharti rally, suspending Sanghpriya Gautam and five others from the party’s primary membership.



Meanwhile, Khurana has termed his suspension from the BJP as an unwarranted step and blamed what he called “an influential coterie” close to Advani for his suspension. Refusing to disclose his future plans, Khurana said his biggest priority is to protect the people of the capital from the bulldozers of the MCD.





BJP against minority appeasement



Top leaders of the BJP have, in the meantime, criticised what they called minority appeasement of the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre and the upward trend of activities of terrorists. Party president Rajnath Singh said in Chennai on March 20 that the party’s twin yatras aimed to create greater public awareness of the votebank politics pursued by the Congress. He described the UPA as the United Platform of Appeasement. Specifically, he condemned the Centre’s proposal to include in the Foreigners’ Act the provisions of Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983 which had been scrapped by the Supreme Court.



In New Delhi, Advani on his part described the Government’s ‘appeasement’ of minorities as a crime against society. Speaking at a seminar on March 19, he said the appeasement isolates the minority communities from the mainstream. Advani said the UPA is adopting the policy of appeasement of Muslims for electoral gains. He said the BJP is not against the minorities, but does not believe in the concept of minoritism.



Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Parveen Togadia said at Erode, Tamil Nadu, that lack of unity in the Hindu society separated by caste barriers has weakened its strength and has resulted in various political parties lining up behind the minority communities for their votes.



The RSS has said that the organisation has nothing to do with Advani’s decision to launch yet another yatra. An RSS spokesman, Madandas Devi said in Lucknow that the BJP was in a bad shape at the moment. His statement holds weight in the light of the fact that he is the third man in the RSS hierarchy and has been instrumental in liaising between the BJP and the Sangh.



It may be recalled that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which owes its allegiance to the RSS, had criticised Advani for his fluctuating stand over Hinduism. “He did nothing for the Hindus when the BJP was in power. So we do not have anything to do with Advani’s yatra,” he had said last week.