BHOPAL: While septuagenarian farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal continues his fast-unto-death at the Punjab-Haryana border despite his deteriorating health, Maoists in the dense forests of Madhya Pradesh 1200 km away have called for a march to Delhi to support the ongoing farmers' stir.
Security forces engaged in anti-Maoist operations in the thick jungles of eastern MP’s Balaghat district (one of the three Maoist-affected districts of the state) have recovered two-page pamphlets and a red banner left by the outlaws in the Rupjhar jungles.
“The ongoing farmers' stir is not just the agitation of farmers from Punjab and Haryana, but is actually the movement of every farmer in the country, who has already been destroyed or is on the verge of being ruined due to the anti-farmer policies of the Modi government,” read the pamphlets issued under the name of the banned CPI (Maoist) Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh Special Zonal Committee.
“We appeal to people, farmers and labourers, besides allied organizations, environmentalists and intellectuals in the three states (Maharashtra, MP and Chhattisgarh) to support the ongoing farmers movement in all possible ways. We appeal to one and all to stage protests, demonstrations and road jams in cities and towns, resort to relay hunger strikes and also campaign on social media actively. If possible, march to Delhi and Punjab with the slogan, Shambhu aur Kanauri border Chalo,” the pamphlet read.
Similar content was written on a red banner put up by the Maoists on a Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana sign board in the same Maoist infested jungles of Balaghat district.
The development, which came to light on Monday, happened just a couple of days after a skirmish between a group of 10-12 armed Maoists cadres and the anti-Maoist operations force of the state police in the Lanji jungles of the same Balaghat district. A distance of around 50 km separates the two spots (place where the brief exchange of gunfire happened and the jungles where the pamphlets and banner were found) in the district, which neighbours Maoist-hit parts of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
While confirming the recovery of the pamphlets and banners in the jungles, the Balaghat-Zone’s Inspector General of Police Sanjay Kumar said, “Entire matter is being taken very seriously and a detailed probe is underway.”
This isn’t the first time such pamphlets have been found in Maoist-hit forests of eastern MP. Back in April 2021, the outlawed organization had supported the national farmers' stir in similar fashion, while in December 2016, the Maoists had launched pamphlets against the first Modi regime’s demonetisation move in the same jungles of MP.
According to sources in the state police establishment, the pamphlets by the left-wing extremists (LWEs) are part of their multi-pronged psychological-operation (psyop) strategy to make inroads into farmers and labourers particularly, besides infiltrating into the ongoing agitations across the country against the ruling establishments, which helps them stamp their national presence and impact.
Currently there are at least four dalams (groups) of the CPI(Maoists) armed cadres operational in the three Maoist-hit districts of eastern MP. The four dalams include Darre Khasa, Malajkhand, Bhoramdev and Khatia Mocha dalams. In the last few days, 20-25 fresh cadres have moved into these four dalams, possibly due to pressure of increased operations by security forces in neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
In November 2024, a jawan of the anti-Maoist Hawk Force of the MP police was injured critically after sustaining bullet wounds in the head in an encounter with the outlaws in the Kundal-Songuda jungles of Balaghat district.