Maoists need to answer Bastar’s betrayed tribals |
The Maoist insurgency is unravelling in its last bastion — the tribal heartland of the Dandakaranya region (DKR). A large section of the divided Maoist leadership, through recently released press notes, has apologised to people saying that, in the process of revolution, the leadership made several tactical mistakes. The report card of the nearly half a century of Maoist action in DKR vis-à-vis tribal welfare is rather grim. This has all been about the exploitation of tribal aspirations for the ulterior motives of the Maoists.
The Maoist cadres entered DKR in the early 1980s, after suffering setbacks in Andhra Pradesh (AP). Their aim was to secure a safe haven and not to involve the local tribal population in the political struggle. Since the situation in AP did not become favourable again for the Maoists, they were compelled to stay on in DKR. The Maoists then started taking up tribal issues as they vied for the support of the local tribal population for sustenance.
The first issue taken up centred on the wages paid by contractors for the collection of tendu patta (leaf of tendu tree), which is used to make beedis. They started to negotiate better rates for the collection of tendu patta — tribal livelihood in the area........