Perpetrators of Thursday's bloody opening to voting for India's new Lok Sabha had given advance notice of their intentions. A frontline Naxalite group had announced it would target candidates campaigning in their area and,specifically,carry out concerted attacks against police and security forces to disrupt the Lok Sabha elections. Eleven securitymen and five poll officials were among the 17 dead in the violence spread across four states in central Indias Naxalism-hit red corridor. A senior leader of the CPI (Maoist),identified by the name Azad,and said to be spokesperson of the groups central committee,had been quoted in the latest issue of the Maoist Information Bulletin saying candidates violating the call for boycott of elections were being beaten and driven away from areas under their control. The CPI (Maoist) is active in 10-12 states including Jharkhand,Orissa,Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh,which voted on Thursday. We warn the parties not to venture out into our areas and when they do not heed to our warnings,we stop their campaign,beat them up if they are notorious elements,burn their vehicles,conduct people's court and make party representatives confess the misdeeds of their parties and seek apologies from the people, says Azad. We also carry out counter-offensive actions against the police and central forces who are used by the reactionary rulers to enforce elections at gun-point. Basically,our active boycott too is a political campaign though we undertake some actions aimed at destroying the enemy forces, he adds. There has been intelligence about the possibility of Naxalites targeting leaders,rallies and security forces. Azad does not,however,reveal any intention of carrying out political assassinations. Azad says the so-called Third Front that is sought to be forged by the CPI and the CPI(M). is actually a congregation of self-seeking discredited opportunists,all of whom had proved themselves to be hypocrites and double-dealers in their respective states. Who needs to be taught about the infamous history of Chandrababu Naidu,Jayalalithaa,Mayawati,Deve Gowda or Naveen Patnaik? These notorious leaders. who had at one time or the other,shared power with the Hindu chauvinist BJP,are being given a clean and secular-democratic image by the so-called Left. For our Marxist theoreticians and ideologues all these forces have suddenly become secular. And one should not be surprised if they once again become the tail of the Congress. The opportunism of the Indian Left has no limits, Azad says.
