Bhadrapad Krushnapaksha 4, Kaliyug Varsha 5115
New Delhi : The Maoists have claimed that the killing of Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh on May 25 by their armed unit PLGA was one the party's well-planned, successful operations for which the CPI (Maoist) has congratulated its cadres, PLGA members and local people of Bastar.
The cover story of the latest issue of 'Prabhat', a Hindi quarterly brought out by CPI (Maoist), Dandakaranya special general committee, celebrates the ambush of a convoy of Congress leaders in which veteran V C Shukla, Chhattisgarh state Congress president Nand Kumar Patel and tribal leader Mahendra Karma were among 30 odd persons killed.
According to the report in Prabhat, Karma, who was also a leader of the Salwa Judum, was the main target of the attack since the Maoists had identified him as "anti-tribal". Karma was described as "torturer, looter, rapist and corrupt" in the report. It said Karma "died a dog's death and that has brought about a celebratory mood in the entire Bastar region".
While Shukla and Patel were also blamed for anti-tribal activities, the report regretted the death of some "innocent people and lower level Congress workers who were not our enemies" (of Maoists). The article congratulated PLGA for its "successful" venture and warned that those who indulge in activities against the interests of tribals in the area would be similarly punished.
The magazine is meant for circulation among supporters and sympathizers of the Maoists.
According to the Prabhat report, the PLGA strengthened its armoury by taking away nine AK-47 rifles, seven Insas rifles, two SLRs and five pistols. The haul from the attack also included 1,023 cartridges and 10 walkie-talkie sets.
The article includes a separate piece on Karma, which talks about his political career from a student of law when he started as an AISA activist and joined the CPI, but later moved to Congress, broke away from Congress with Madhavrao Scindia's group and rejoined Congress. According to the report, Karma's family has been exploiting tribals for generations. Among the things listed against Karma was the manner in which he opposed 6th Schedule being imposed in Bastar, for which a movement had started in the area in 1996, while the state was still part of Madhya Pradesh.
Source : TOI
