Communist Party of India (Maoist)
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The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is an underground Maoist political party in India. It was founded on September 21, 2004, through the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India. The merger was announced to the public on October 14 the same year. In the merger a provisional central committee was constituted, with PW leader Ganapati as General Secretary. The CPI (Maoist) are often referred to as Naxalites in reference to the Naxalbari insurrection by radical Maoists in West Bengal in 1967.
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[edit] Ideology
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is conducting 'people's war', a strategical line developed by Mao Zedong during the phase of guerrilla warfare of the Communist Party of China. Currently it has effective control over some regions of Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh as well as presence in Bihar and the tribal-dominated areas in the borderlands of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Orissa. The CPI(Maoist) aims to consolidate its power in this area and establish a Compact Revolutionary Zone from which to advance the people's war in other parts of India.
[edit] Organization
The military wings of the respective organisations, People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (military wing of MCCI) and People's Guerrilla Army (military wing of PW), were also merged. The name of the unified military organisation is People's Liberation Guerrilla Army. P.V. Ramana, of the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi estimates the Naxilites' current strength at 9,000 -10,000 armed fighters, with access to about 6,500 firearms.<ref name="Armed strength">* A spectre haunting India, the Economist Volume 380 Number 8491 August 19th-25th 2006</ref>
[edit] Status
The party is regarded by some as a "left-wing extremist entity" and a terrorist outfit and several of their members have been arrested by the Indian Government under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) <ref>CPI_M,South Asia Terrorism Portal</ref><ref>Article on CPI_M,MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base</ref>. The group is officially banned by the State Government of Orissa<ref>Eastern Indian state bans communist rebel group,The China Post</ref>.The party has protested the ban<ref>Maoists plan stir,The Hindu</ref>
[edit] Recent activities
- In February 2005 the CPI (Maoist) killed 7 policemen, a civilian and injured many more during a mass attack on a school building in Venkatammanahalli village, Pavgada, Tumkur, Karnataka <ref>6 cops killed in Naxal attack,Deccan Herald</ref>, <ref>Naxal attack Another cop succumbs,Deccan Herald</ref>. On August 17 2005, the government of Andhra Pradesh outlawed the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and various mass organizations close to it, and began to arrest suspected members and sympathizers days afterwards. The arrested included former emissaries at the peace talks of 2004.
- On 13 November 2005, CPI (Maoist) fighters stunned authorities by attacking Jehanabad in Bihar, freeing 250 captured comrades and taking twenty imprisoned right wing paramilitaries captive, executing their leader. They also detonated several bombs in the town <ref>Naxalites lay siege to Jehanabad, The Hindu</ref>. A prison guard was also reported killed.
- In August 2005, Maoists kidnapped from the Dantewada district of the state of Chhattisgarh.This fiollows violent incidents in 2004 in the same region when 50 policemen and about 300 villagers were killed in the Dantewada district and over 50,000 villagers were staying in relief camps out of fear from Maoists<ref>[1],Hindustan Times</ref>.
- On February 28, 2006, the Maoists attacked several anti-Maoist protesters in Erraboru village in Chhattisgarh using landmines. 25 people were killed in the attack <ref>[2],The Hindu</ref>.
- On July 16, 2006, the Maoists attacked a relief camp in the Dantewada district where several villagers were kidnapped. The death toll was 29 <ref>29 killed, 250 missing in Chattisgarh naxal attack,Hindustan Times</ref>.
- On December 2, 2006, the BBC reported that at least 14 Indian policemen have been killed by Maoists in a landmine ambush near the town of Bokaro, 80 miles from Ranchi, the capital of the State of Jharkhand. <ref>'Maoists' kill 14 Indian police',BBC</ref>
[edit] International connections
The CPI (Maoist) maintains dialogue with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) who control most of Nepal in the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organizations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA). [source needed]
[edit] References
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