The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : `Naxals have understanding with Congress'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

`Naxals have understanding with Congress'

By Our Special Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA, NOV.9. The national general secretary of the CPI-ML (Liberation), Deepankar Bhattacharya, has expressed surprise that the erstwhile People's War should have agreed to the dialogue process initiated by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

Addressing a meet-the-press programme, organised by Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) here on Tuesday, Mr. Bhattacharya alleged that the erstwhile PW had an "invisible alliance" with the Congress in the recent elections to the State Assembly. There were no bilateral issues between the PW and the Congress or, for that matter, the Government. "The dialogue between the PW and the State Government is nothing but a continuation of the understanding," he quipped.

The extra-judicial killings were there and institutions like Greyhounds were intact, he said. No investigation had been ordered into any extra-judicial killing, nor had any case been booked against any police officer. In a democracy, negotiations should have certain goals. No matter what outcome might emerge from the talks, the merger of PW with Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) had comprehensively proved that the PW had moved out of its projected principles. The MCCI was bitterly opposed to the formation of the CPI-ML. They wanted to own up Charu Mazumdar, but not the CPI-ML's name.

`People sceptical'

Mr. Bhattacharya said that the internecine killings by MCCI and PW resulted in sectarianism, subjectivism and petty-bourgeoisie egoism. But, the CPI (Maoists), after merger, was asking for forgiveness of people for the trauma they were subjected to as part of "self-criticism", he said. People were sceptical about the longevity of the merger, he remarked.

The leftist leader said that the CPI (Maoist) was "hobnobbing" with the Congress in the State, just as it was doing with the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar, and was helping the political parties of the ruling class.

The very appointment of a committee to study the issue of land reforms by the State Government was an "open admission" that it was its "utter failure" to address the problem in the last 57 years. Absentee landlordism and occupation of lands by corporate houses and feudal lords needed to be checked. The surplus land should be distributed to the poor.

If the State did not distribute the land, people would come forward to take up the task on their own through popular initiative, he said.

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