Summary
Highlights
The video opens with a quote from Bhagat Singh, highlighting themes of exploitation and protracted war. It argues that post-independence, India has acted as a colonial power, waging war against its own people in regions like Nagaland, Manipur, Punjab, Kashmir, and with the Naxalite movement. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is cited as an example of draconian laws enabling atrocities. The narrative then shifts to the exploitation of indigenous communities in resource-rich areas like Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh. Corporations like Vedanta, owned by British billionaires, are depicted as major beneficiaries of this exploitation, backed by the Indian state. The Dongria tribe's struggle against Vedanta, their legal victory, and subsequent state repression, including arrests and deaths of activists, are highlighted. The scale of mineral wealth in these regions, worth trillions of dollars, and the small cut the government receives, underscore the financial motivations. The Dandakarnya forest, home to millions of indigenous people, is portrayed as a target for corporate mining, despite constitutional protections for tribal lands.
Operation Greenhunt, launched in 2009, is presented as a state-backed 'human hunting operation' disguised by an elaborate propaganda campaign demonizing indigenous people as 'Maoists.' Former Home Minister P. Chidambaram, with ties to Vedanta, declared left-wing extremism India's biggest internal threat. The video critiques the mainstream media's role in manufacturing consent for these operations and the use of draconian laws like UAPA to suppress dissent. It emphasizes the historical armed resistance of Adivasi communities against colonial powers and landlords, asserting that if such rebellions occurred today, they would be labeled as 'anti-India' and 'terrorist.' The ethnic and social differences between indigenous people and the security forces enforcing state violence are also discussed, as is the economic vulnerability of those joining these forces. The video points out that peace talks with Naxalites have been used as a tactic to assassinate leaders, citing the case of Azad.
The story of Naxalism begins in 1967 in Nakalbari, West Bengal, a region marked by extreme land inequality. The exploitation of tribal peasants by landlords, part of a colonial legacy perpetuated after India's independence, ignited the revolt. The incident involving Bigul Kishin and his assault by a landlord's goons sparked widespread peasant organization and land occupation. The subsequent police retaliations, including the killing of women and children, escalated the conflict. Charu Majumdar, a long-time communist, emerged as a key leader. His experiences with British imperialism, the Bengal famine, and the Tebhaga movement shaped his radical views. The internal divisions within the Indian Communist Party, influenced by the ideological split between the USSR and China, are examined. Charu's commitment to Mao's agrarian revolution model led him to split from the CPI(M) and form the CPI (ML) in 1969, advocating for the 'line of annihilation' against class enemies. This policy, however, proved controversial, leading to internal criticism and unintended consequences, including infiltration by state agents.
The 'line of annihilation' led to internal conflicts and increased state repression. Intelligence officer A.B. Das admitted to planting informers within the movement and using its internal divisions to suppress it. Charu Majumdar's capture and death in police custody in 1972, attributed to a heart attack but widely believed to be an assassination, highlighted the state's brutal response. Despite the crackdown, the underlying issues remained, leading to the movement's resurgence. Remaining Naxalite factions regrouped in the forests, engaging in self-criticism and refining their strategies. The People's War Group (PWG), formed in 1980, recognized the need for a standing army and a context-specific Indian approach, learning from previous mistakes. The PWG gained significant support among indigenous communities in Dandakarnya by addressing their material concerns, such as fair prices for forest produce and resisting corporate exploitation.
The PWG successfully agitated for higher wages for tendu leaf collectors and against the exploitation by paper mills, significantly improving the economic conditions for many indigenous people. Their organizing efforts countered the exploitative practices of the Forest Department, which often weaponized environmental regulations against local communities. The PWG's direct actions to reclaim land and redistribute it to landless peasants, a feat the government had failed to achieve, solidified their support. By the early 2000s, the PWG had grown significantly, establishing a system of 'Jantana Sarcars' or people's governments, which provided basic governance, agriculture, health, education, and defense in liberated zones. The women's wing of the party, CAMS, also campaigned against patriarchal norms. However, this parallel governance threatened the state and wealthy local chiefs, leading to further conflict.
Mahendra Karma, a local landlord and politician, initiated the 'Jan Jagran Abhiyan' and later the 'Salwa Judum' (purification hunt) in 2005. This was an ethnic cleansing campaign aimed at displacing indigenous people from their villages into police-controlled camps, a tactic similar to 'strategic hamleting.' The government declared anyone not moving into these camps as a 'Maoist,' giving security forces license to commit atrocities. Villages were burned, people displaced, and sexual violence was rampant. The media largely portrayed this as a spontaneous uprising against Naxalite terror. The Naxalites retaliated with guerrilla ambushes, targeting Salwa Judum camps and police barracks. A notable incident was the attack on a girls' hostel converted into a police barracks, which sparked outrage, yet brought attention to the military's occupation of civilian infrastructure. The Salwa Judum was eventually declared illegal by the Supreme Court in 2011, though the state continued similar tactics under different names, like the District Reserve Guard (DRG).
A government report exposed Essar Steel and Tata Steel as major financiers of the Salwa Judum, though these details were removed from the final official report. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's neoliberal economic policies, which opened up India's resources to multinational corporations, are identified as a key driver of the conflict. His statements about left-wing extremism fueled corporate interests, causing mining company share prices to soar. The video argues that India's democracy primarily serves the interests of the ultra-rich, leading to a two-tiered justice system. It describes the government's 'land redistribution' program as effectively transferring land from the poor to the rich. Israel's increasing role as India's largest arms supplier, including surveillance technology like Pegasus and Heron drones, is highlighted as facilitating the state's repression. Journalists, activists, and political opponents in India face unlawful surveillance, imprisonment under draconian laws, smear campaigns, and violence. The assassination of journalist Gauri Lankesh and the fabricated charges against human rights activist Rona Wilson, whose devices were infected with Pegasus spyware, are presented as examples of the state's tactics against dissenters. The 'Elgar Parishad' case, where a progressive Dalit festival was falsely framed as a Maoist conspiracy, further illustrates how dissent is criminalized, leading to the arrest and death of activists like Stan Swamy.
The video concludes by emphasizing that the violence and repression are not limited to CPI (Maoist) members, citing the persecution of the non-violent PCAPA (People's Committee Against Police Atrocities) as an example. The abysmal state of Indian journalism, often serving as a mouthpiece for the government, is criticized for muddying the waters and fostering a culture of contempt for ordinary people. The current BJP government's 'Operation Kagar' is portrayed as an overt ethnic cleansing campaign, aiming to clear resource-rich regions for parasitic billionaires, with no pretense of dialogue or welfare for indigenous people. Despite the overwhelming military presence and rebranding of security camps as 'welfare camps,' indigenous communities continue to resist. The banning of non-violent organizations like the Mulvasi Bachao Munch and the arrest of its members demonstrate the state's intolerance for any form of opposition. The video asserts that as long as corporate exploitation and marginalization persist, the indigenous people of India will continue their resistance, echoing a long history of struggle against various oppressive forces.