VANGUARD - Expressing the viewpoint of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)
For National Independence and Socialism • www.cpaml.org
Today, April 7, marks the beginning of an international week of solidarity with, and support for, the Indian revolutionary movement and the people’s war led by the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The CPI (M) and its armed forces, the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA), have waged armed struggle for years against the Indian ruling class and established a zone of conflict often referred to as the “Red Corridor”.
They have based their mass work on the “untouchable” Dalit villagers and on the tribal peoples, the Adivasis, of the forests and jungles who, despite certain Constitutional rights, have been threatened with dispossession and forced exile so that the big corporations that have state power on their side, can move in and exploit the timber and mineral resources on Adivasi lands.
The key to corporate conquest of Adivasi lands is the crushing of the Maoist insurgency,
It was tried and failed during Operation Greenhunt, which began a decades-long campaign of extra-judicial killings, faked surrenders, forced displacement and attacks on civil liberties.
Now, the fascist Modi government has switched to an even more murderous assault, known as Operation Kagar, deploying more than one hundred thousand paramilitary forces, backed by drones, helicopters and satellite surveillance.
The CPI (M) claims that more than 400 people, including Party leaders, members of the PLGA and local Adivasis, have been killed over the past 15 months.
In response to the increased repression by the Modi government on behalf of Indian finance capital including Adani, Ambani and the big landlords of India, the CPI (M) has offered to join the government in a ceasefire providing it calls off Operation Kagar.
CPI (Maoist) Central Committee spokesperson Comrade Abhay said on April 2, “We welcome the round table organized by the ‘Peace Talks Committee’ in Hyderabad on March 24 on the topic – the Union Government and the CPI (Maoist) should announce unconditional ceasefire and hold peace talks, in the present scenario.”
“We are always ready for peace talks keeping in view people’s interests. Hence, putting forward these proposals to the Central and State governments to create a conducive atmosphere for peace talks. If the Central and State governments positively respond to these proposals, we will immediately announce a ceasefire,” Comrade Abhay said in the statement.
Comrade Abhay further declared in the statement, “The Hindutva fascist BJP-led regime at the Centre launched a military offensive against its own people in the name of Operation Kagaar undermining the lives of tribal people and fundamental constitutional provisions. This brutal offensive is aimed at crushing the revolutionary movement for Jal, Jangle, Zameen rights of Adivasis, promoting corporate interests to allow plunder of the natural resources, eventually decimate the federal system in the country and establish an autocratic unitary State.”
The Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) salutes our Indian comrades, and calls on all Australians, including the Indian diaspora here in our country, irrespective of caste or religious identity, to support the call for an end to Operation Kagar and for a ceasefire on the terms offered by the CPI (Maoist).