Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, June 11, 2011 (IANS) Hardly a week after a 500-strong army deployment landed in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region for the first time, Maoists Thursday midnight launched their most deadly attack - using nearly a tonne of explosives, the highest ever, blowing up an anti-landmine vehicle and killing 10 policemen.
The June 9 attack in Dantewada district, said to be the biggest rebel raid in terms of the quantity of explosives used in a single attack, is seen by experts as the Maoists way of taunting the army men.
Earlier the same day, the rebels gunned down five policemen in Narayanpur district.
In another raid, the Maoists attacked a CRPF camp Saturday and killed three jawans in Dantewada district.
The presence of the army has apparently not made any impact on the rebels, much to the worry of the security top brass in the state.
Over 500 army personnel descended for the first time in the heart of a Maoist insurgency-hit area in Bastar region between May 30-June 2. The deployment, according to security experts, was to "psychologically hit the rebels".
The army, however, explained that they have stepped into the violence-hit territory only "for jungle warfare training, and not for anti-Maoist operation".
A top police official who served in Chhattisgarh's "war zone" for a long period, said he suspected that Maoists had used about a tonne explosives for the June 9 Dantewada blast.
"Look at their (Maoists) guts. They are hitting police using a tonne of explosives to toss up an anti-landmine vehicle in the presence of the army in Bastar. The double attack on June 9 was aimed at taunting the army," the police officer told IANS.
The forested pocket where the Maoists gunned down five policemen June 9 morning in Narayanpur district is adjacent to a sprawling base camp area allotted by Chhattisgarh government to the army's central command for developing a jungle warfare training camp, the official said.
"The midnight attack was the biggest carried out by Maoists in terms of the quantity of explosives they used," counter-terrorism expert Brigadier (Retd.) B.K. Ponwar told IANS.
"It was not less than 60 kg explosives they used to blast the anti-landmine vehicle. It went up in the air several metres and then landed in pieces," Ponwar added.
According to Ponwar, who is director of the Bastar-based Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College, the previous biggest attack in terms of quantity of explosives - 40 kg - was in September 2005 when an anti-landmine vehicle was blasted for the first time. The attack killed 24 CRPF men.
Ponwar, who is a former commandant of the Indian Army's Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairengte in Mizoram, said "the twin attacks in Bastar region June 9 and 10 clearly indicate that the Maoists are showing their defiance to the presence of the army".
He wondered why the police forces are flouting jungle warfare manuals over and over again.
A police official posted at Dornapal in Dantewada district that witnessed several deadly attacks in recent years, said: "We usually rush to the jungles on a single-source information that is mostly planted by rebels to trap us in landmine sites.
"Thursday midnight too the rebels planted information of Maoists gathering at a certain place and police moved without checking and rechecking the input. Finally we paid for it."
"It looks like the Maoists have night vision devices too that are helping them to trigger landmine blasts even late at night," he added.
Chhattisgarh has suffered nearly 2,200 casualties of police personnel and civilians related to Maoist violence since it formed as a separate state in November 2000.
Some 90 percent casualties were reported in landmine attacks in the Bastar region that has about 20 percent of the country's iron ore deposits.
Monday, June 13, 2011
BJP keeps Maoist issue alive in Chhattisgarh: Congress
By Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, June 9, 2011 (IANS) Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has kept the Maoist issue alive for political advantage, says state Congress president Nand Kumar Patel, claiming that the number of insurgency affected districts has doubled under the ruling party.
"The Chhattisgarh government has adopted the 'divide and rule policy' in the Maoist, tribal dominated areas to manage votes," Patel said in an interview to IANS.
"It has kept the Maoist issue alive to get political advantage out of the problem," he added.
According to him, the Raman Singh government has pitted tribals against tribals to "manage their votes".
But this, he said, "has led to 10 times more killings of people in the state during the BJP regime compared to Congress rule", Patel alleged. The BJP has ruled Chhattisgarh since December 2003.
"The number of Maoist-affected districts in the BJP regime has risen to 10. This was just five during Congress rule," he added.
Patel was the home minister in the Ajit Jogi-led Congress government in Chhattisgarh that was voted out in 2003.
He was also home minister in the Digvijay Singh-led Congress government in undivided Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.
The Congress president questioned the BJP government's intent to solve the Maoist problem in the state. "Why this government is not holding talks with the tribals of Bastar?
"The tribal people will offer a quick solution to the insurgency problem if talks are held with them and their suggestions sought," Patel said.
"But this government is not doing it because it wants to get political advantage," he added.
The 58-year-old politician belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) that make up about 50 percent of the state's 2.55 crore population.
He has been in politics since 1979 and won the Kharasia assembly seat in Raigarh district in 2008 -- for the fifth time in a row.
Patel strongly denied that the Congress was facing factionalism and rivalry in Chhattisgarh.
He said: "All party leaders in Chhattisgarh are united against the BJP. We are working on a strategy to 'Root Out BJP in 2013'.
The state goes to the polls in late 2013.
Currently, in the 90-member assembly, the Congress has 39 members and the BJP 49. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has two members.
Asked how he would keep the morale of party workers high amid losses by the Congress in assembly bypolls and parliamentary polls from Bastar last month, Patel said: "I will expose Raman Singh before the public by bringing stunning facts about his government's corruption and scandals."
"His image is not clean as it has been widely publicised and projected."
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Raipur, June 9, 2011 (IANS) Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has kept the Maoist issue alive for political advantage, says state Congress president Nand Kumar Patel, claiming that the number of insurgency affected districts has doubled under the ruling party.
"The Chhattisgarh government has adopted the 'divide and rule policy' in the Maoist, tribal dominated areas to manage votes," Patel said in an interview to IANS.
"It has kept the Maoist issue alive to get political advantage out of the problem," he added.
According to him, the Raman Singh government has pitted tribals against tribals to "manage their votes".
But this, he said, "has led to 10 times more killings of people in the state during the BJP regime compared to Congress rule", Patel alleged. The BJP has ruled Chhattisgarh since December 2003.
"The number of Maoist-affected districts in the BJP regime has risen to 10. This was just five during Congress rule," he added.
Patel was the home minister in the Ajit Jogi-led Congress government in Chhattisgarh that was voted out in 2003.
He was also home minister in the Digvijay Singh-led Congress government in undivided Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.
The Congress president questioned the BJP government's intent to solve the Maoist problem in the state. "Why this government is not holding talks with the tribals of Bastar?
"The tribal people will offer a quick solution to the insurgency problem if talks are held with them and their suggestions sought," Patel said.
"But this government is not doing it because it wants to get political advantage," he added.
The 58-year-old politician belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) that make up about 50 percent of the state's 2.55 crore population.
He has been in politics since 1979 and won the Kharasia assembly seat in Raigarh district in 2008 -- for the fifth time in a row.
Patel strongly denied that the Congress was facing factionalism and rivalry in Chhattisgarh.
He said: "All party leaders in Chhattisgarh are united against the BJP. We are working on a strategy to 'Root Out BJP in 2013'.
The state goes to the polls in late 2013.
Currently, in the 90-member assembly, the Congress has 39 members and the BJP 49. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has two members.
Asked how he would keep the morale of party workers high amid losses by the Congress in assembly bypolls and parliamentary polls from Bastar last month, Patel said: "I will expose Raman Singh before the public by bringing stunning facts about his government's corruption and scandals."
"His image is not clean as it has been widely publicised and projected."
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Army’s entry into Maoist zone?
Sujeet kumar
The Statesman
RAIPUR, 2 June, 2011: A top counter-terrorism expert and senior police officers have hailed the entry of Indian Army troopers into the country’s worst insurgency-hit area in Chhattisgarh saying “it will make a major psychological impact on Maoist militants.”
A contingent of more than 500 troopers of Indian Army’s central command have descended for the first time on the nerve centre of Maoist terrorism in Chhattisgarh’s restive Bastar region this week amid growing call by people that Army be allowed to take on Leftist insurgents in the state.
But the Army has made it clear that it stepped into Maoist land only for “jungle warfare training not for anti-Maoist operation.”
“Maoists will feel the heat of Army’s entry in their terrain because the insurgents will have a feeling all the time that tigers (Army men) have positioned themselves just outside their den,’’ said Brigadier (retired) BK Ponwar, a former commandant of Indian Army’s Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School based at Vairengte in Mizoram.
Ponwar is now director of Bastar-region based Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College instituted by the Chhattisgarh government in 2005 to impart training to policemen to “fight guerrilla like a guerrilla”.
“Army’s entry into Red zone will have a huge psychological advantage over Maoists who were freely roaming in the sprawling area though Army’s role will be restricted in Bastar,’’ Ponwar said, adding “the presence of Army in Red zone is going to be highly significant”. The jawans will go through jungle warfare training in the Abujhmad forested area in Bastar region which is the nerve centre of Maoist militants since late 1980s.
“The Army jawans' training will be held right under the nose of Maoists, but men will not carry out any anti-Maoist operation but will fire at Maoists in self-defence, if attacked,’’ defence sources claim.
The Chhattisgarh government has agreed to hand over a huge forested terrain up to 750 sq km to the Army for developing it as a base for jungle warfare training in the heart of Maoists territory where top leaders of the banned outfit Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) have been holed up for years. Brigadier Amrik Singh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa sub-area commander, made it clear in Raipur on Tuesday that Army jawans have come to Bastar for the sole purpose of receiving training in a difficult forested terrain.
But top officials at police headquarters here are amused now with the Army’s entry in the Red zone where rebels have carried out a series of deadly attacks on police, para-military forces and civilians since 2005, including the massacre of 76 policemen in a single attack in April last year.
"They (Maoists) are on a killing spree since 2005 in Bastar. They have significantly increased their command areas in the past five-six years by recruiting minors in thousands plus monthly-paid fighters who have access to rocket launchers and mortars but it’s sure that the Army’s entry into their zone will create a lot of serious tension for them,’’ remarked an additional director-general rank police official.
The Statesman
RAIPUR, 2 June, 2011: A top counter-terrorism expert and senior police officers have hailed the entry of Indian Army troopers into the country’s worst insurgency-hit area in Chhattisgarh saying “it will make a major psychological impact on Maoist militants.”
A contingent of more than 500 troopers of Indian Army’s central command have descended for the first time on the nerve centre of Maoist terrorism in Chhattisgarh’s restive Bastar region this week amid growing call by people that Army be allowed to take on Leftist insurgents in the state.
But the Army has made it clear that it stepped into Maoist land only for “jungle warfare training not for anti-Maoist operation.”
“Maoists will feel the heat of Army’s entry in their terrain because the insurgents will have a feeling all the time that tigers (Army men) have positioned themselves just outside their den,’’ said Brigadier (retired) BK Ponwar, a former commandant of Indian Army’s Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School based at Vairengte in Mizoram.
Ponwar is now director of Bastar-region based Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College instituted by the Chhattisgarh government in 2005 to impart training to policemen to “fight guerrilla like a guerrilla”.
“Army’s entry into Red zone will have a huge psychological advantage over Maoists who were freely roaming in the sprawling area though Army’s role will be restricted in Bastar,’’ Ponwar said, adding “the presence of Army in Red zone is going to be highly significant”. The jawans will go through jungle warfare training in the Abujhmad forested area in Bastar region which is the nerve centre of Maoist militants since late 1980s.
“The Army jawans' training will be held right under the nose of Maoists, but men will not carry out any anti-Maoist operation but will fire at Maoists in self-defence, if attacked,’’ defence sources claim.
The Chhattisgarh government has agreed to hand over a huge forested terrain up to 750 sq km to the Army for developing it as a base for jungle warfare training in the heart of Maoists territory where top leaders of the banned outfit Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) have been holed up for years. Brigadier Amrik Singh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa sub-area commander, made it clear in Raipur on Tuesday that Army jawans have come to Bastar for the sole purpose of receiving training in a difficult forested terrain.
But top officials at police headquarters here are amused now with the Army’s entry in the Red zone where rebels have carried out a series of deadly attacks on police, para-military forces and civilians since 2005, including the massacre of 76 policemen in a single attack in April last year.
"They (Maoists) are on a killing spree since 2005 in Bastar. They have significantly increased their command areas in the past five-six years by recruiting minors in thousands plus monthly-paid fighters who have access to rocket launchers and mortars but it’s sure that the Army’s entry into their zone will create a lot of serious tension for them,’’ remarked an additional director-general rank police official.
Corrupt officer or innocent? The jury is divided
By Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, June 1, 2011 (IANS) The man alleged to be one of India's richest and most corrupt bureaucrats is not only still in service with the Chhattisgarh government but insists he is innocent.
Babulal Agrawal, a 1988 IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre, dismisses with contempt media reports that he has piled up a mind-boggling amount of illegally earned money.
A Masters in Political Science who is Secretary for Cooperatives in the state, Agrawal said the Income Tax department was wrongly clubbing his and his family's wealth.
"I belong to a business family. How can the IT department club the assets of my family members with mine?" an indignant Agrawal asked IANS, irritated by questions on his career and wealth.
"My brother, father and other (family) members, all have separate business activities since a long time. You can't show their income in my name. I will fight it out," he added.
There is no official word on how much assets Agrawal holds.
According to published reports which the government has not denied, these are estimated at a whopping Rs.253 crore.
Born in famine-prone Kalahandi in Orissa, the premises of the 45-year-old Agrawal and that of his chartered accountant were raided by the Income Tax department in February last year.
Agrawal was then secretary of the state's agriculture department.
Media reports attributed to unnamed official sources have alleged that he operated 473 bank accounts and had floated 30 companies over the past 11 years. The Bhopal-based IT office recently submitted a 5,000-page report to the Chhattisgarh government regarding the IAS officer.
Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government suspended him from the post after the raid but reinstated him after a few weeks. The government has not said why it called back an officer supposedly suspended for corruption.
True or not, the supposed IT report against the officer, who often makes foreign trips, is the talk of the town. This, Raipur residents say, is but natural considering the mounting mass anger against corruption nationwide.
It may have nothing to do with Agrawal but central Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily said during a visit to the state in March: "Chhattisgarh is the most corrupt place in the country."
Official sources say the IT report has referred to the rise of Agrawal, whose first posting was in 1988 as assistant collector of Khargone district in undivided Madhya Pradesh.
Agrawal calls the IT report "baseless" but is not ready to reveal what it says.
"The IT raid in February 2010 had found some Rs.8 lakh from my residence. It was all tax paid money," Agrawal told IANS.
"Newsmen should avoid conducting media trial on the issue because it's a sub-judice matter. I have moved the Chhattisgarh High Court against the report."
Chhattisgarh's Chief Secretary P. Joy Oommen is equally cautious on the issue, not willing to say anything that could go against or in favour of Agrawal.
"The whole issue of the IT raid and report has been sent to the Economic Offences Wing (of the state government) for its own investigation," Oommen told IANS.
"Action can be taken only after a final report of the Economic Offences Wing is received."
In the past 11 years, Agrawal held offices ranging from that of Collector in Durg and Rajnandgaon districts to Secretary in the health and agriculture departments of the Chhattisgarh government.
Despite all the adverse publicity, Agrawal has his share of admirers.
Some senior officials here recall his contribution to effectively executing key government schemes in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh in 1995 when he was the Collector.
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Raipur, June 1, 2011 (IANS) The man alleged to be one of India's richest and most corrupt bureaucrats is not only still in service with the Chhattisgarh government but insists he is innocent.
Babulal Agrawal, a 1988 IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre, dismisses with contempt media reports that he has piled up a mind-boggling amount of illegally earned money.
A Masters in Political Science who is Secretary for Cooperatives in the state, Agrawal said the Income Tax department was wrongly clubbing his and his family's wealth.
"I belong to a business family. How can the IT department club the assets of my family members with mine?" an indignant Agrawal asked IANS, irritated by questions on his career and wealth.
"My brother, father and other (family) members, all have separate business activities since a long time. You can't show their income in my name. I will fight it out," he added.
There is no official word on how much assets Agrawal holds.
According to published reports which the government has not denied, these are estimated at a whopping Rs.253 crore.
Born in famine-prone Kalahandi in Orissa, the premises of the 45-year-old Agrawal and that of his chartered accountant were raided by the Income Tax department in February last year.
Agrawal was then secretary of the state's agriculture department.
Media reports attributed to unnamed official sources have alleged that he operated 473 bank accounts and had floated 30 companies over the past 11 years. The Bhopal-based IT office recently submitted a 5,000-page report to the Chhattisgarh government regarding the IAS officer.
Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government suspended him from the post after the raid but reinstated him after a few weeks. The government has not said why it called back an officer supposedly suspended for corruption.
True or not, the supposed IT report against the officer, who often makes foreign trips, is the talk of the town. This, Raipur residents say, is but natural considering the mounting mass anger against corruption nationwide.
It may have nothing to do with Agrawal but central Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily said during a visit to the state in March: "Chhattisgarh is the most corrupt place in the country."
Official sources say the IT report has referred to the rise of Agrawal, whose first posting was in 1988 as assistant collector of Khargone district in undivided Madhya Pradesh.
Agrawal calls the IT report "baseless" but is not ready to reveal what it says.
"The IT raid in February 2010 had found some Rs.8 lakh from my residence. It was all tax paid money," Agrawal told IANS.
"Newsmen should avoid conducting media trial on the issue because it's a sub-judice matter. I have moved the Chhattisgarh High Court against the report."
Chhattisgarh's Chief Secretary P. Joy Oommen is equally cautious on the issue, not willing to say anything that could go against or in favour of Agrawal.
"The whole issue of the IT raid and report has been sent to the Economic Offences Wing (of the state government) for its own investigation," Oommen told IANS.
"Action can be taken only after a final report of the Economic Offences Wing is received."
In the past 11 years, Agrawal held offices ranging from that of Collector in Durg and Rajnandgaon districts to Secretary in the health and agriculture departments of the Chhattisgarh government.
Despite all the adverse publicity, Agrawal has his share of admirers.
Some senior officials here recall his contribution to effectively executing key government schemes in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh in 1995 when he was the Collector.
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Gang blinds Indian woman, accused of witchcraft, with scissors
RAIPUR, India | Sat May 21, 2011 5:58am EDT
RAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Eleven people stormed into a house in a central Indian village and assaulted a woman whom they accused of witchcraft, blinding her and her husband by stabbing them in the eyes with scissors, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place on Friday in the Raipur district of Chhattisgarh state. Police later arrested 10 suspects.
A family in Khaira village had been having money troubles and health problems, which they blamed on a 45-year-old woman, according to S.S. Baghel, a local police officer.
"The accused blamed the alleged witchcraft power of the lady for their problems and raided her house on Friday morning," Baghel told Reuters by phone. "First they beat her up and then a few of them held her hands and legs and then inserted scissors into both her eyes."
When her husband tried to intervene, the group turned on him and inserted scissors into his eyes as well, Baghel added. A doctor at a local hospital said the couple would likely never be able to see again.
The brutalities related to witchcraft, mainly against women, are not new for the interior illiterate pockets of Chhattisgarh, where woman accused of witchcraft are often killed or paraded them naked.
Chhattisgarh state passed the Witchcraft (Prevention) Act in 2005 to crack down on offenders. But the law has hardly made an impact in tribal areas, where atrocities against women accused of witchcraft still flourish and the majority of cases go unreported.
(Reporting by Sujeet Kumar Editing by Matthias Williams and Alex Richardson)
RAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Eleven people stormed into a house in a central Indian village and assaulted a woman whom they accused of witchcraft, blinding her and her husband by stabbing them in the eyes with scissors, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place on Friday in the Raipur district of Chhattisgarh state. Police later arrested 10 suspects.
A family in Khaira village had been having money troubles and health problems, which they blamed on a 45-year-old woman, according to S.S. Baghel, a local police officer.
"The accused blamed the alleged witchcraft power of the lady for their problems and raided her house on Friday morning," Baghel told Reuters by phone. "First they beat her up and then a few of them held her hands and legs and then inserted scissors into both her eyes."
When her husband tried to intervene, the group turned on him and inserted scissors into his eyes as well, Baghel added. A doctor at a local hospital said the couple would likely never be able to see again.
The brutalities related to witchcraft, mainly against women, are not new for the interior illiterate pockets of Chhattisgarh, where woman accused of witchcraft are often killed or paraded them naked.
Chhattisgarh state passed the Witchcraft (Prevention) Act in 2005 to crack down on offenders. But the law has hardly made an impact in tribal areas, where atrocities against women accused of witchcraft still flourish and the majority of cases go unreported.
(Reporting by Sujeet Kumar Editing by Matthias Williams and Alex Richardson)
India Maoists kill seven police, call for general strike
RAIPUR, India | Wed May 18, 2011 12:29pm IST
RAIPUR, India May 18 (Reuters) - Seven Indian policemen were killed in a Maoist rebel landmine blast in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh, police said on Wednesday, as the insurgents called for a 48-hour strike in six states across the country.
The Maoists are active in the country's poor, rural areas, and widespread violence in mineral-rich eastern districts has worried investors and disrupted mining and rail transport.
The landmine attack, the latest salvo in a four-decades long insurgency that has killed thousands, came late on Tuesday hours after the rebels called for a two-day general strike from May 21 to demand the release of three of their leaders.
"It was a powerful blast that ripped the roof off a vehicle carrying paramilitary personnel. Five men of the CRPF (federal police) second battalion were killed on the spot and two died a few hours later," district police chief Ankit Garg told Reuters.
Last April, the government faced strong criticism that security forces were ill-prepared to deal with the insurgent threat after 75 police were killed in an ambush in Chhattisgarh that led to the home minister tendering his resignation.
A recent crackdown on rebel-controlled areas has seen a decrease in attacks, raising hopes the government was winning the battle against what the prime minister has described as India's biggest internal security threat.
The Maoists' violent campaign against the government began as a peasant revolt in the late 1960s. The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and the disenfranchised. (Reporting by Sujeet Kumar; Writing by Henry Foy; Editing by Robert Birsel)
RAIPUR, India May 18 (Reuters) - Seven Indian policemen were killed in a Maoist rebel landmine blast in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh, police said on Wednesday, as the insurgents called for a 48-hour strike in six states across the country.
The Maoists are active in the country's poor, rural areas, and widespread violence in mineral-rich eastern districts has worried investors and disrupted mining and rail transport.
The landmine attack, the latest salvo in a four-decades long insurgency that has killed thousands, came late on Tuesday hours after the rebels called for a two-day general strike from May 21 to demand the release of three of their leaders.
"It was a powerful blast that ripped the roof off a vehicle carrying paramilitary personnel. Five men of the CRPF (federal police) second battalion were killed on the spot and two died a few hours later," district police chief Ankit Garg told Reuters.
Last April, the government faced strong criticism that security forces were ill-prepared to deal with the insurgent threat after 75 police were killed in an ambush in Chhattisgarh that led to the home minister tendering his resignation.
A recent crackdown on rebel-controlled areas has seen a decrease in attacks, raising hopes the government was winning the battle against what the prime minister has described as India's biggest internal security threat.
The Maoists' violent campaign against the government began as a peasant revolt in the late 1960s. The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and the disenfranchised. (Reporting by Sujeet Kumar; Writing by Henry Foy; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Battle for Bastar: tribal legislator threatens to dislodge BJP
By Sujeet Kumar
Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), May 7, 2011 (IANS) A tribal politician who has never attended school and can neither read nor write is making Chhattisgarh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) struggle to retain its "safe" Bastar Lok Sabha seat in the state's Maoist stronghold.
With just a day to go for the Bastar by-election Sunday, the Congress is hopeful that Kawasi Lakhma, the 55-year-old Gond tribal who has won the Konta assembly seat in the region thrice, will dislodge the BJP that has been representing Bastar in the Lok Sabha for four terms - and with huge margins.
The BJP has been dominating Bastar, tagged as one of the most violence-prone Lok Sabha constituency, for a while. It has not only been winning the Lok Sabha seat but also holds seven of the eight assembly seats from the sprawling constituency. The eighth has been held by Lakhma, who won it the first time in 1998, then in 2003 and then in 2008.
Now, the BJP admits, that easy ride to power has become a political obstacle course in a region few politicians dare to campaign in.
"No doubt, Lakhma has given us sleepless nights. We were expecting an easy ride till last week but now it's a toss-up between the BJP and the Congress," said a senior BJP leader.
"All credit goes to Lakhma, whose appeal 'give me a chance' is making a deep impression on voters across all the eight assembly segments, mainly in vast forested areas. Most leaders of all parties stayed away from campaigning because of fear of Maoists," the leader, who is coordinating the party campaign, admitted.
Based in Jagdalpur, headquarters of the Bastar region, about 300 km south of capital Raipur, the BJP leader said the Congress nominee, always in a dhoti and kurta, had seriously threatened the party's poll prospects.
"The discouraging inputs from interiors about the mood of the voters had forced the BJP to put all efforts and resources to save the tribal reserved Bastar seat, which the party has not lost since 1998."
While BJP leaders fret and fume, Lakhma is remarkably sanguine, even detached.
"I am not much bothered about victory or loss. The party instructed me to challenge the BJP at its stronghold and I am happy to mess up the battle despite the fact that I don't have the same back-up of funds and resources as the BJP," Lakhma told IANS.
"The good thing for me is all Congress factions got united in the battle for Bastar. If I manage to produce an upset here, it will be the perfect beginning for the end of the BJP regime under which poor tribals of Bastar have suffered a lot," Lakhma said, referring to the rise in civilian killings and people moving out of their ancestral villages after December 2003 when the BJP came to power.
The by-election has been necessitated by the death of BJP MP Baliram Kashyap in March. He had been winning the seat for the BJP for the last four elections and the party has now fielded his son Dinesh Kashyap in a bid to cash in on his popularity.
There are eight candidates in the fray for the seat that has 1,716 polling booths in four districts - Dantewada, Bijapur, Bastar and Narayanpur.
The Election Commission has relocated 200 polling booths from Maoist-commanded forest interiors to areas close to police stations and paramilitary camps as the roads in deep interiors are loaded with multiple-layer landmines for years.
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), May 7, 2011 (IANS) A tribal politician who has never attended school and can neither read nor write is making Chhattisgarh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) struggle to retain its "safe" Bastar Lok Sabha seat in the state's Maoist stronghold.
With just a day to go for the Bastar by-election Sunday, the Congress is hopeful that Kawasi Lakhma, the 55-year-old Gond tribal who has won the Konta assembly seat in the region thrice, will dislodge the BJP that has been representing Bastar in the Lok Sabha for four terms - and with huge margins.
The BJP has been dominating Bastar, tagged as one of the most violence-prone Lok Sabha constituency, for a while. It has not only been winning the Lok Sabha seat but also holds seven of the eight assembly seats from the sprawling constituency. The eighth has been held by Lakhma, who won it the first time in 1998, then in 2003 and then in 2008.
Now, the BJP admits, that easy ride to power has become a political obstacle course in a region few politicians dare to campaign in.
"No doubt, Lakhma has given us sleepless nights. We were expecting an easy ride till last week but now it's a toss-up between the BJP and the Congress," said a senior BJP leader.
"All credit goes to Lakhma, whose appeal 'give me a chance' is making a deep impression on voters across all the eight assembly segments, mainly in vast forested areas. Most leaders of all parties stayed away from campaigning because of fear of Maoists," the leader, who is coordinating the party campaign, admitted.
Based in Jagdalpur, headquarters of the Bastar region, about 300 km south of capital Raipur, the BJP leader said the Congress nominee, always in a dhoti and kurta, had seriously threatened the party's poll prospects.
"The discouraging inputs from interiors about the mood of the voters had forced the BJP to put all efforts and resources to save the tribal reserved Bastar seat, which the party has not lost since 1998."
While BJP leaders fret and fume, Lakhma is remarkably sanguine, even detached.
"I am not much bothered about victory or loss. The party instructed me to challenge the BJP at its stronghold and I am happy to mess up the battle despite the fact that I don't have the same back-up of funds and resources as the BJP," Lakhma told IANS.
"The good thing for me is all Congress factions got united in the battle for Bastar. If I manage to produce an upset here, it will be the perfect beginning for the end of the BJP regime under which poor tribals of Bastar have suffered a lot," Lakhma said, referring to the rise in civilian killings and people moving out of their ancestral villages after December 2003 when the BJP came to power.
The by-election has been necessitated by the death of BJP MP Baliram Kashyap in March. He had been winning the seat for the BJP for the last four elections and the party has now fielded his son Dinesh Kashyap in a bid to cash in on his popularity.
There are eight candidates in the fray for the seat that has 1,716 polling booths in four districts - Dantewada, Bijapur, Bastar and Narayanpur.
The Election Commission has relocated 200 polling booths from Maoist-commanded forest interiors to areas close to police stations and paramilitary camps as the roads in deep interiors are loaded with multiple-layer landmines for years.
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
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