The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : People's War rules out giving up arms

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 19, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

People's War rules out giving up arms

By K. Srinivas Reddy

HYDERABAD, JULY 18. What would be the outcome of the peace talks if naxalites refused to give up arms? Would they not provide an opportunity for the People's War (PW) to strengthen itself during the ceasefire period?

These were some of the questions raised in the course of a six-hour interaction between mediapersons and a member of the PW Polit Bureau, Cherukuri Rajkumar, who goes by the nom deguerre of Prakash, and Shakamuri Appa Rao alias Ravi, a member of the secretariat of the Andhra Pradesh State Committee, in Nallamala forest area on Saturday. A select group of journalists trekked through the forest for over five hours to reach the naxalite camp.

The gist of the discussion ran thus: The Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) People's War says its sole intention in participating in talks with the State Government is the creation of a democratic space where people can follow their ideology. Since the PW is pursuing its own line of thought, there's no question of the group giving up arms or abandoning its ideology, which aims at establishing a democratic revolution through protracted armed struggle. The question of the PW strengthening itself during the ceasefire period does not arise, since the party has grown steadily, despite "severe repression during the nine-year Telugu Desam rule."

Explaining why the PW was prepared to hold talks, Mr. Prakash and Mr. Ravi said the naxalite party, which, they said, had always fought for the cause of the people, had grown in strength despite crackdowns by successive Governments. They said the PW was a political party with its own agenda. The means for achieving the agenda was educating people and inculcating in them a revolutionary spirit, ultimately seizing power. Such a seizure was possible only through people's participation, they said.

They explained that the PW had been forced to resort to violence because the State had hindered it from perusing its political agenda. "They have curtailed our movements. They don't allow our mass organisations to function. If we are allowed to meet people, there would be no necessity for members of the armed squad to visit villages," they said. They said people were resorting to violence as their freedom to preach an ideology was curtailed.

Questioned about the PW cadre carrying weapons during the ceasefire period, they said the weapons were meant for self-defence, and the cadre needed them to protect themselves from police and the private gangs maintained by them. "The carrying of a weapon must be seen from a political point of view. The question is: are we maintaining peace? The fact is that the has been no violence in Dandakaranya region, where we have good strength."

Conceding that the Government was willing to take the peace process ahead, the PW leaders said a section of police officers were against it. "Rajasekhara Reddy is in a piquant situation. He cannot ignore the police, neither can he deny the people's aspiration for peace. After all, the people expressed this aspiration by voting out the Telugu Desam regime. Running with the hare and hunting with the hound, that aptly sums up the predicament of the Government," they said.

Mr. Prakash ridiculed the Government's condition that the PW must confine itself to forest areas and not visit villages. He argued that Government had just one apprehension - if the PW was allowed to meet people, it would rouse them against the misdeeds of the system. The leaders claimed that in the areas administered by the PW in Dandakaranya, not single case of a farmer committing suicide had been reported. That was because the PW had waived all loans, while the Congress had only announced a moratorium. "This is the qualitative difference. If the PW is strong, no moneylender can harass farmers," they said.

The leaders said the police were trying to foil the peace process by engineering killings by "coverts,'' but the PW would show "utmost restraint" and go ahead with the talks. "We will not be the first to use guns. But we will not lag behind in defending ourselves. If we want to retaliate, we can hit a weak spot any time, like in Koraput," they said. Asked about the naxalite document seized during the Telugu Desam regime that said talks were only part of the PW's tactics and must be used to strengthen the party, Mr. Prakash explained that the document had been written when there had been "no sincerity" on the part of the TDP. "We were sure that the respite would last only for a short period. But now the Government appears to be committed," he said.

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