The Death Script: Dreams and Delusions in Naxal Country by Ashutosh Bhardwaj

Author:Ashutosh Bhardwaj [Bhardwaj, Ashutosh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9789353578107
Google: 4JnjDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B088KF2DFW
Publisher: Fourth Estate India
Published: 2020-06-24T23:00:00+00:00

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I had regular debates with the Maoists over several issues – state, democracy, revolution. Jaylal presided over a controversial Jan Adalat or people’s court in 2013. Kawasi Chandra, a resident of Konger village, was clubbed to death before his wife, parents and children by around 200 villagers. Jaylal ordered the public killing because the Maoists suspected him of being a police informer. ‘We wanted to convey a message through Chandra,’ Jaylal says. ‘The villagers had decided the punishment … Such lessons are necessary sometimes.’

Ask him what’s the difference between them and the police whom they accuse of torturing adivasis, and Jaylal looks towards the evening sky. A flock of parrots is returning home. After a long pause, he tries to defend himself, but then says: ‘Yes, you are right. It is bad.’ But he also adds, ‘Maybe it’s for the senior leaders to decide.’

Ramdher too admits that the killing of the state Congress president Nand Kumar Patel and his young son Dinesh was a major mistake during the Darbha attack. ‘A day before, Patel had given a statement against fake encounters. As we listened to this news on the radio, we said, oh, what have we done?’

Always argumentative, they are not unwilling to accept shortcomings in their ideology and procedures. When they bring up Mao and say, ‘All property is bad, monetary incentive for work makes one dishonest,’ I ask, ‘I earn a salary. If I work hard, I get incentives. Do you think I am corrupt? Why do you believe everything that Mao said?’

‘We will discuss it with senior leaders.’

Several theoretical foundations of their movement can be challenged, but since the state remains unwilling to engage with them and unable to comprehend them, the adivasi guerrillas continue to believe that weapons are the only option.

The lives of many guerrillas are consumed in fighting for the jungle. Besides the top leaders, very few have stepped out of the forest. As villagers of Bastar, their life centres around mahua, salfi, rice and tamarind chutney. Upon joining the Party, mahua gets replaced by a constant anticipation of death.

The city has moved closer in the last ten years to sell its products. Electricity has still not arrived, but some homes on the city’s periphery have got batteries, TV and DTH. It has made villagers a bit more familiar with the city, but they continue to suspect it. DTH can drastically mutate the jungle in no time. Abujhmad needed other amenities before TV channels.

Some senior Maoists have solar batteries, which they use for screening videos of police ambushes on their laptops to junior guerrillas. They also screen propaganda documentaries of their movement made by their supporters, and occasional movies, like King Kong.

A senior leader gave me three pen drives containing many videos. Since then, my laptop is placed on a high boulder every night, and the squad avidly watches the ambush videos. A guerrilla recalls that he had participated in the ambush being played onscreen, another remembers that he had lost his comrade friend in the assault.

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