Rattled by setbacks due to several of its cadres getting eliminated in encounter with security forces and also surrender of many of its senior cadres, the proscribed organisation Communist Party of India (Maoist) has now ‘appealed’ to the Government of India for ‘peace talks’. A statement issued in Telugu purportedly by Abhay, Spokesperson of the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist), calls for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ and ‘peace talks’, urging the Government of India to halt ‘Operation Kagaar’. In the said letter, the outlaws have claimed that the latest operation by the Government security forces had led to elimination of 400 people including Maoist leaders, cadres, and ‘tribals’. Facing reverses, the Red terrorists have urged the Government to withdraw security forces and cease counter-insurgency operations.

 

“If these conditions are met, we are willing for dialogue,” stated the letter. The letter is issued by Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Bhupati alias Sonu alias Sonudada alias Vivek alias Laxmirajan alias Lachhanna alias Abhay. Now 70-years-old, this Maoist leader is originally a resident of Peddapalli in Telangana. Identifying as Abhay, he is Central Committee member and spokesperson, Politburo member, Central Regional Bureau member. He has been active in Maad area, which is under intense pressure from the security forces of late. The Maoists have called for ‘halting’ the operations in Central India, which covers Maad area that has been a den of the Red terrorists for decades. Since the BJP-led Government of India, along with the State Governments of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana has launched ‘Operation Kagaar’ -- an intense counter-insurgency operation to rid several affected areas of Maoists -- the outlaws have been facing massive setbacks, sources told ‘The Hitavada’.

 

Many of the Maoists have either been killed in encounters with security forces or have surrendered or have been arrested. A few days ago, around 50 Maoists laid down arms in Bijapur ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Chhattisgarh. Several senior leaders of Maoists including Tarakka and Giridhar have surrendered in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. CPI (Maoist) has stated in its letter that over 400 Maoist leaders, commanders, and members of People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army have reportedly been killed. Of course, as fits the devious Maoists’ character, the letter levels allegations also against the security forces. Surprisingly, despite pleading for ‘peace talks’, the Maoists have also laid down certain ‘pre-conditions’ that include ‘immediate withdrawal of security forces from affected regions, end to deployment of new troop, suspension of counter-insurgency operations, not opening new police stations in deep areas’ etc.

 

CPI (Maoist), which is a banned organisation, has temerity to state that it will announce a ceasefire once the government ceases military operations. As part of their strategy to activate their ecosystem, the Left Wing Extremists have also urged the ‘intellectuals, rights groups, tribal and Dalit groups, journalists, students and youth, and environmental activists’ to mount pressure on the Government for ‘peace talks’ and has issued an appeal for ‘nation-wide campaigns’ in this regard. 

 

 

Though the Maoists have appealed to the Government of India to engage in ‘peace talks’, the history of the outlaws shows that their appeal for ‘talks’ is pure deception. In 2004, they had gathered at Hyderabad after the then government had accepted the erstwhile Naxalites’ offer for ‘negotiations’. Security forces had stopped action. Various Naxalite leaders took out marches and rallies, and also held their meetings openly in Hyderabad. However, as is the history, in September 2004, the Naxalite groups unilaterally declared that the talks had failed and had blamed the Government for the same. And, the Naxalites declared merger of two big groups -- Maoist Communist Centre of India and People’s War -- to form the new organisation CPI (Maoist).

 

Thus, the Red terrorists had used the ‘talks’ as an opportunity to regroup, reorganise, and gain new strength to continue with their anti-India subversive activities. Besides, about ‘talks’ with the Government, the then General Secretary of CPI (Maoist) Ganapathy had stated in an interview after the encounter in which high-ranking Maoist leader Azad was killed, “We see the issue of ‘talks’ and ‘peace’ as part of class struggle too. When class struggle intensifies, it would be in an armed form. In other circumstances it would be conducted in peaceful methods too.” This clearly indicates that the Maoists use ‘talks’ and ‘peace’ to bide time as part of strategy, and then continue with violence in the name of ‘protracted peoples war’ or ‘armed class struggle’.

 

Further, in a ‘press release’ issued on November 3, 2009, the then spokesperson of CPI (Maoist) Azad had, in a way, refused the Government offer for ‘talks’ by accusing the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram of resorting to ‘propaganda’. “The Central Committee of CPI (Maoist) unequivocally asserts that the Government’s proposal for peace talks is only a propaganda ploy that in no way differs from the peace proposals of Hitler prior to World War-II,” Azad had stated. Later on, the Maoists’ Central Committee spokesperson Abhay (who has issued the latest letter too) had dubbed the offer for ‘peace talks’ made by the then President of India Pratibha Patil as ‘nothing but a ploy to divert the people from the reality of Operation Green Hunt Phase-2’. The previous rejections of the Government’s offers for ‘peace talks’ by the Maoists, raise suspicion that the Left Wing Extremists’ latest appeal for ‘talks’ is nothing but a deception to bide time since they have become weaker than ever.