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BBC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Basavaraju killing: Is India finally winning the decades-long war against Maoist insurgency?
Could India's decades-long jungle insurgency finally be approaching its end?Last week, the country's most-wanted Maoist, Nambala Keshava Rao - popularly known as Basavaraju - was killed along with 26 others in a major security operation in the central state of Chhattisgarh. Home Minister Amit Shah called it "the most decisive strike" against the insurgency in three decades. One police officer also died in the death marks more than a tactical victory - it signals a breach in the Maoists' last line of defence in Bastar, the forested heartland where the group carved out its fiercest stronghold since the also known as "Naxalites" after the 1967 uprising in Naxalbari village in West Bengal, have regrouped over the decades to carve out a "red corridor" across central and eastern India - stretching from Jharkhand in the east to Maharashtra in the west and spanning more than a third of the country's districts. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh had described the insurgency as India's "greatest internal security threat".The armed struggle for Communist rule has claimed nearly 12,000 lives since 2000, according to the South Asian Terrorism Portal. The rebels say they fight for the rights of indigenous tribes and the rural poor, citing decades of state neglect and land Maoist movement - officially known as Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) - took formal shape in 2004 with the merger of key Marxist-Leninist groups into the CPI (Maoist). This party traces its ideological roots to a 1946 peasant uprising in the southern state of Telangana. Now, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government pledging to end Maoism by March 2026, the battle-hardened rebellion stands at a crossroads: could this truly be the end - or just another pause in its long, bloody arc?"There will be a lull. But Marxist-Leninist movements have transcended such challenges when the top leadership of the Naxalites were killed in the 70s and yet we are talking about Naxalism," said N Venugopal, a journalist, social scientist and long-time observer of the movement, who is both a critic and sympathiser of the Maoists. One of the senior-most officials in India's home ministry who oversaw anti-Maoist operations, MA Ganapathy, holds a different view."At its core, the Maoist movement was an ideological struggle - but that ideology has lost traction, especially among the younger generation. Educated youth aren't interested anymore," says Mr Ganapathy."With Basavaraju neutralised, morale is low. They're on their last leg."The federal home ministry's latest report notes a 48% drop in violent incidents in Maoist-related violence - from 1,136 in 2013 to 594 in 2023 - and a 65% decline in related deaths, from 397 to 138. However, it acknowledges a slight rise in security force casualties in 2023 compared to 2022, attributed to intensified operations in core Maoist report says Chhattisgarh remained the worst-affected state in 2023, accounting for 63% of all Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) incidents and 66% of the related deaths. Jharkhand followed, with 27% of the violence and 23% of the deaths. The remaining incidents were reported from Maharashtra, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. The collapse of Maoism in Chhattisgarh, a stronghold of the insurgency, offers key clues to the movement's broader decline.A decade ago, the state's police were seen as weak, according to Mr Ganapathy."Today, precise state-led strikes, backed by central paramilitary forces, have changed the game. While paramilitary held the ground, state forces gathered intelligence and launched targeted operations. It was clear role delineation and coordination," he Ganapathy adds that access to mobile phones, social media, roads and connectivity have made people more aware and less inclined to support an armed underground movement."People have become aspirational, mobile phones and social media have become widespread and people are exposed to the outside world. Maoists also cannot operate in hiding in remote jungles while being out of sync with new social realities. "Without mass support, no insurgency can survive," he says.A former Maoist sympathiser, who did not want to be named, pointed to a deeper flaw behind the movement's collapse: a political disconnect."They delivered real change - social justice in Telangana, uniting tribespeople in Chhattisgarh - but failed to forge it into a cohesive political force," he the heart of the failure, he argued, was a dated revolutionary vision: building isolated "liberated zones" beyond the state's reach and "a theory to strike the state through a protracted people's war"."These pockets work only until the state pushes back. Then the zones collapse, and thousands die. It's time to ask - can a revolution really be led from cut-off forestlands in today's India?"The CPI (Maoist)'s 2007 political document clings to a Mao-era strategy: of creating a "liberated zone" and "encircling the cities from the countryside." But the sympathiser was blunt: "That doesn't work anymore." The party still retains some popular support in a few isolated pockets, primarily in the tribal regions of eastern Maharashtra, southern Chhattisgarh and parts of Odisha and Jharkhand - but without a strong military operations by state forces have significantly weakened the Maoist military infrastructure in their strongholds in southern Chhattisgarh. Cadres and leaders are now being killed regularly, reflecting the rebels' growing inability to defend Venugopal believes the strategy needs rethinking - not underground struggle has its place, he said, but "the real challenge is blending it with electoral politics".In contrast, Mr Ganapathy sees little hope for the Maoists to mount a meaningful fightback in the near future and argues that the time has come for a different approach - dialogue."It would be wise for them to go for talks now and perhaps unconditionally or even lay down the conditions and let the government consider them. This is the time to approach the government instead of unnecessarily sacrificing their own cadres, without a purpose," he enjoy support in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana from mainstream political parties. In Telangana, both the ruling Congress and the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) have backed calls for a ceasefire, along with 10 smaller Left parties - an effort widely seen as aimed at protecting the group's remaining leaders and cadres. The Maoist movement, rooted in past struggles against caste oppression, still carries social legitimacy in parts of these states. Civil society activists have also joined the push for a truce."We, along with other civil rights groups, demanded a two-step process - an immediate ceasefire followed by peace talks," said Ranjit Sur, general secretary of the Kolkata-based group Association for Protection of Democratic states remain resilient strongholds in part because they are rich in minerals - making them sites of intense resource battles. Mr Venugopal believes this is key to the CPI (Maoist's) enduring for instance, is India's sole producer of tin concentrates and moulding sand, and a leading source of coal, dolomite, bauxite and high-grade iron ore, according to the ministry of mines. It accounts for 36% of the country's tin, 20% iron ore, 18% coal, 11% dolomite and 4% of diamond and marble reserves. Yet, despite strong interest, mining companies - both global and national - have long struggled to access these resources."Multinational companies couldn't enter because the Maoist movement, built on the slogan 'Jal, Jangal, Jameen (Water, Forest, Land),' asserted that forests belong to tribespeople - not corporations," Mr Venugopal with the Maoists now weakened, at least four Chhattisgarh mines are set to go to "preferred bidders" after successful auctions in May, according to an official notification. Mr Venugopal believes that the resistance won't die with the death of Maoist leaders."Leaders may fall, but the anger remains. Wherever injustice exists, there will be movements. We may not call them Maoism anymore - but they'll be there."
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First Post
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- First Post
'The Kerala Story' producer Vipul Shah: 'It became the highest-grossing female-centric film of all time, didn't approach any A-list actress because...'
'The Kerala Story' talks about a group of women from Kerala who are forced into converting to Islam and joining the Islamic State read more Vipul Amrutlal Shah produced two films with Adah Sharma in 2023 and 2024- 'The Kerala Story' and 'Bastar', both based on real-life events that shook the nation. 'The Kerala Story' talks about a group of women from Kerala who are forced into converting to Islam and joining the Islamic State. Based on a true story, the film is premised on the Hindutva conspiracy theory of 'love jihad' and claims that thousands of Hindu women from Kerala have been converted to Islam and recruited into the Islamic State. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It made over Rs 250 crore at the box-office in India and was the highest-grossing female-oriented film in Hindi cinema. As the film turned one, Vipul Shah spoke exclusively to Firstpost. Edited excerpts from the interview What were your expectations when the film was released? The answer to that is nobody in its wildest of dreams can expect a film to be a blockbuster of this proportion. It became the highest ever grossing film in the history of cinema in the female-centric films genre. Now, this cannot be predicted by anybody. However, the most important thing for us was to expose the truth. And there was a lot of opposition against this, and a lot of people were trying to discredit us. But people saw through it, and people went in huge numbers to see the film. And even today, after two years, people talk about The Kerala Story. It was a massive success for Zee5, one of the highest viewed films on the platform. And wherever it goes, people connect with it, and people watch it in huge numbers. I mean, that's the biggest success for the film, that people have found it to be an absolutely true depiction of the situation in those parts of Kerala. And I think that that is what matters the most. What resonated with the audiences according to you? What resonated with the audience, according to me, is the exposé and the truthfulness of it. People cannot be misguided by a smear campaign. People can see through the smear campaign. For example, a person like Dhruv Rathee made a video and in that he said that our numbers were all wrong. There were no 32,000 numbers. Even in the Kerala Assembly, the document that was presented was showing a number of 2,000 and not 7,000 plus. And when we made a video in the month of June, which is a 17-minute video available on YouTube, which gives you the full account of the number of 32,000, in which we have put the paper, which was an assembly record, where the number is 7,700. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD We wanted Dhruv Rathee to react to it, but obviously he had shot and scooted. So he was not interested in engaging with us after what he had to do he had done. And people are smart enough to see through it. Nobody who are trying to call this film a lie. So people love the film for it having a complete true depiction of the picture of the serious problem that was happening in Kerala, that is still happening. And I think somewhere the pain of those girls connected with the audience, they could see their own daughters and sisters in that film. And that, I think, was the biggest reason why people connected with it. Did you ever approach any A-list actress for this role? I did not reach out to any Bollywood A-list actress, so it would be presumptuous of me to make any call whether they would or they would not. We wanted the film to look like all the actors playing characters should look like the characters and not the stars. And so we went ahead with the cast that we had. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD What's your take on the way Adah essayed this role? Adah Sharma has shown extreme courage to play this role. We had told her at the time that there could be huge trolling on social media, losing some work, and all kinds of fears that were surrounding this film. But she connected with the character and so she decided to take it on knowing very well all the consequences. So a big shout out to her. It requires a lot of courage to put everything at stake and do something that you believe in.
The Wire
02-05-2025
- Politics
- The Wire
Karregutta Hills, Madvi Hidma and the Vision of a New Republic
Today is the eleventh day. Like a fort besieged by the enemy in a medieval war, a thousand-strong rebel army is said to have dug into the hills deep inside central India. The hills are known by the name of Karregutta, unheard and unknown so far. We also hear of the army's commander, Madvi Hidma. Hidma is already a legendary name among many Adivasis in the area, the stuff of many make-believe stories. The besieging army are the security forces, drones and military helicopters of the modern Indian democratic state. Now we hear that they have discovered a tunnel inside a cave underneath the hill, complete with a shivling and a water source. Did the rebels hide here? As we can see, a completely mythical scene is unfolding in front of us today, yet all very real. It is more real than we can handle – more real than the simulated reality of our life inside the proverbial Matrix. The mythical, as Furio Jesi was fond of saying, allows the extra-temporal to disrupt historical time and expand our horizons. So let us pause for a minute in order to immerse in this moment and savour the broadening of our imagination. And we start in an unlikely place: a government website. If you go to the website of the Modi government's Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav , there is a section on 'parallel governments'. We are told about the great experiment of the parallel, or rebel, government ( prati sarkar ) that was formed in Satara in Maharashtra during 1943-46. Then we are told of the Tamluk National Government formed in Midnapore district of Bengal on December 17, 1942. We are also told of other such parallel governments that were formed in the run-up to the Independence of India. Also read: Why Indian Democracy Feels No Shame About the Bastar Killings There is high praise for these experiments of democracy and true empowerment of the masses. However, going beyond such homilies of praise, we have to ask: what do these parallel governments mean in terms of their political significance? The answer is not too far to find: they allow us to put the Indian republic we inherited into perspective; they allow us to see that this Republic was one among many other possibilities. That it was only because of other circumstantial factors that favoured the Republic which finally came into being, which is what we have today, that it became a fait accompli . Gail Omvedt is among few scholars who engaged with this question. I had earlier pointed out how the Indian Constitution displaced radical possibilities and narrowed our political imaginary. What is clear is that this Republic came into being by displacing several other concrete possibilities. Satara and Tamluk are just the names we have today for these possibilities. There could have been many others, not only in terms of parallel governments and practical experiments, but also in vision and political imaginaries that were never actualised in practice. For that matter, Bhagat Singh's vision too would have led to a different kind of a Republic. But somehow, after its founding, the present Indian Republic spawned a narrative which retroactively annulled the other possibilities whose erasure marked its birth. The centralising tendency of the Indian state must be understood in this light. Soon enough, the Telangana peasant uprising would be mercilessly crushed by Nehru in 1950-51 to coincide with the adoption of the constitution and the vision for a 'new democratic India'. Thus, the vision for a new Republic in India, if you like, the Second Indian Republic, could make an appearance only in a mythic form, as something fantastic and so out of joint with 'reality', as though from another world. We then have names like Karregutta and Hidma, hitting us all with such freshness and vigour. What is happening in Karregutta? An aerial view of the area surrounding Karregutta hills along Chhattisgarh-Telengana border. Photo: Special arrangement (via Ranu Tiwari) Karregutta hills is located somewhere along the boundaries between Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Hidma, by all accounts, seems to be the de facto head of the Janatana Sarkar (people's government), a parallel government existing in the area. They make small dams, try new agricultural practices, new human relations and culture. This involves the imagination and practice of a new political system. However, for us today, the present imposes itself with brute force. Thus Karregutta hills are under the direct watch of the shenanigans sitting on Raisina Hills. Based on reports that are sometimes conflicting, we know that these hills are surrounded by thousands of security forces: CRPF, Greyhounds, C-60 commandos, DRG, Bastar fighters with backup by Indian Air Force helicopters, drone surveillance and so on. So, God forbid, the hills might be waiting to be the Indian Republic's very own Jallianwala Bagh, as security forces seem all set to move in and massacre. But we must not already rein in the possibilities offered by the mythic even in the face of state terror. For there is, however, another reference to the Karregutta hills – the hills of Dombari Buru in Jharkhand. What are the Dombari hills? That is precisely where Birsa Munda died fighting in June 1900. Today, we are forced to ask the question: do we have a figure like Birsa Munda among us today? Bhumkaal Every year, Bastar comes alive with massive events and celebrations commemorating the Bhumkaal which took place in 1910. A Wikipedia search will tell you that the Bhumkaal was a fierce Adivasi rebellion against the British Raj in Bastar. This is true but we must also add that Bhumkaal is the time of the earth — the time of the Adivasi. The Adivasi did not just fight outsiders, but also fought to be close to the earth, fought for life close to the earth. Hidma upholds the Bhumkaal which was led by, as adivasis will tell you, the rebel leader Gundadhur. Every government and politician in Chhattisgarh wants to be seen as upholding the great legacy of Gundadhur. Also read: In Chhattisgarh, Zero Tolerance for Democracy Gundadhur died fighting, much like Birsa Munda. Legend has it that the great warrior never really died, but always comes back and in fact lives to inspire adivasis to keep fighting. There are great stories of his tact and magic feat to deceive and mislead the enemy. In the broad scale of history, we must tell those in the state today who are obsessed with Indian civilisation and Indic traditions, that they are involved in repeating the worst tropes of civilisational genocide, viz., killing the asuras. If they are so brazen about being such killers, then at least have the galls to believe in the theory of the Aryan invasion. A coloniser who kills is perhaps more tolerable than an insider who kills their own people. But that is precisely what is taking place in the Adivasi areas, where the state is at war with its own people. For Modi to kill Hidma today is no different than Indra who killed the Asura king Vritra through guile and deceit. We know what then happened to Indra, as told in an orthodox literature like the Mahabharata : Now when the mighty Vritra, terrible to the gods, was killed, Indra became overpowered by falsehood, and he became exceedingly sad…, overpowered by his own sins, he could not be recognised. And he lay concealed in water, just like a writhing snake… ( Udyoga Parva ). Modi also reminds us of the treachery of Lord Vishnu in the vamana avatar . As the Indian state and its mighty machinery are now shamelessly threatening to massacre a ragtag rebel army of Adivasis, we are reminded of Lord Vishnu's virat roop (immense form). And we know that this virat form was really about seizing all property and resources from King Bali, the king of the asuras, and exile him to the paatal lok , the netherworld. Hidma appears like the asura King Bali who never died, and who lives on, even as the Gods, devas , were bent upon denying 'immortality' to the asuras . Radicals must also keep in mind that declaring atheism against the sky gods (like Indra) will not suffice, as the earthly deities must first sort out their battles with them. Hidma on Karregutta Hills then completely spills the beans of Indian civilisation as also of the Indian Republic and all their lies. One is also reminded of the untouchable warriors of the 1818 Battle of Koregaon, who, as I pointed out earlier, could mobilise the 'powers of the other shore' . So, what is happening? Today we are on the eleventh day of the stalemate of the siege. The security forces have still not dared to move in. Nor do we have much indication of what exactly is going on inside the ranks of the rebels. We also do not have any fresh statements from Hidma. Maybe some of the rebels have already found their way out of Karregutta, giving the immense security build-up a marvellous slip; or maybe they are contemplating 'giving up', finding safe haven in Telangana or elsewhere. In any case, the Indian state hates this stalemate. It was hoping to just 'bump off' (in 'encounter') these rebels and move on, so that there will never be space for a conversation about their vision. The stories of encounter killings, false or real, kept the conversation within the narrow confines of judicial versus extra-judicial, what is lawful and what is unlawful, the constitutional and the unconstitutional. Now, the state's extra-judicial action is deferred and in the deferral there might be other pathways towards new outcomes. It is time for the world to not just ask for news reports of 'what is going on' and so on, but to step into the space opened up by the deferral and the gap. The Hidma strategy might be already working as the 'gap' and the deadlock at Karregutta inspires fantastic visions of excess and mythic epiphanies. A mythic disjunction in the present helps us break with our fundamental and unconscious attachments to the system – including with the existing Republic. Saroj Giri teaches Politics in University of Delhi and is part of the Forum Against Corporatisation and Militarisation (FACAM).
Hindustan Times
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
3 Maoists killed along Telangana-Chhattisgarh border
letters@ Three Maoists were killed on Thursday morning as security personnel from three states launched an operation along the inter-state border in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh following information that top Maoist commanders, Mandvi Hidma, Deva and Damodar, were present in the area, officials said. Over 10,000 personnel from Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Telangana, and paramilitary forces entered the forest on Tuesday evening, in one of the bigger anti-Maoist operations. The encounter was going on till the time of going to print. While bodies of three extremists were recovered from the site, several other Maoists are also suspected to have been killed in the fierce gun battle, a police officer said. 'Over 10, 000 paramilitary forces including Greyhounds of Telangana, Bastar fighters of Chhattisgarh and C-60 force of Maharashtra were said to be involved in the anti-Maoist operations. Base camps were being set up near the hillocks of Karreguttalu area for logistic support to the security forces,' an official of the state intelligence department said on condition of anonymity. Inspector general of police (IGP) Multi Zone-I, S Chandrashekhar Reddy, however, said that the Telangana police not involved in the ongoing operation at Karreguttalu forests. 'It is purely a joint operation being carried out by the Chhattisgarh police and the CRPF. There is no involvement of Telangana police forces, including Greyhounds,' Reddy told reporters at Warangal, where 14 Maoist cadres, including two area committee members of the Maoist party, surrendered to the police on Thursday. He said top police officers from Chhattisgarh had visited Venkatapur area in Mulugu district of Telangana bordering their state, but the Telangana government had no direct involvement in these operations. 'We do not have any specific information regarding the ongoing operation,' he clarified. The fierce and intense encounter has been going on in the Karreguttalu hill range of Bijapur, which had been a kind of shelter zone for the Maoists. The hillocks covered with dense forests are spread over 145 km and encompasses parts of Mulugu district. 'A few days ago, pamphlets in the name of Maoist party were circulated in the Telangana villages bordering Chhattisgarh, stating that they had planted landmines all around Karreguttalu and asked the villagers not to venture into that area,' a police official from Warangal, who did not wish to be quoted said. This has created a tense situation in the villages, as they fear the pamphlets were a kind of warning to the police forces against conducting any kind of combing operations in the area. 'Lending credence to their apprehensions, the Chhattisgarh police forces launched an offensive three days ago and the fierce battle has been going on since then,' he said. The Telangana police believe that about 1,000 Maoists including high-profile Maoist leaders such as Hidma, Deva, and Damodar, each carrying a reward of ₹1 crore, were camping on the Karreguttalu hillocks. 'So far, 250 Maoists have surrendered this year. Efforts are being made to encourage more Maoists to surrender,' Chandrasekhar Reddy said, adding 95 Maoists from Telangana were still underground at present in Chhattisgarh forests. Meanwhile, the Civil Liberties Committee of Telangana and other civil-society organisations on Wednesday made an appeal to the police forces to withdraw and suspend combing operations in the Karreguttalu area along the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border. State secretary of the civil liberties committee Madhan Kumaraswamy told reporters at Peddapalli that thousands of police and paramilitary personnel, supported by helicopters and drones, were unleashing a reign of terror in the border areas since April 22. 'The government should call off the military operations and initiate the dialogue process with Maoists, who have repeatedly expressed willingness to negotiate, both in writing and in recent interviews to YouTube channels,' Kumaraswamy said. He warned that the ongoing offensives endanger tribal communities and could derail any future peace process.
