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Politics and Public Policy in India

August 28, 2010 • 6:19 am 4

Rights based Left Liberalism has queered the pitch

Recent tweets

  • Must read highlights cognitive dissonance within UPA RT “@cbcnn_Pilid: Kaushik Basu’s full paper on Fin min website http://bit.ly/cheJ8Z
  • Interesting coincidence RT “@pragmatic_d: Shekhar Gupta on Congress’ left-turn. http://is.gd/eHzQ6”
  • But Shekhar Gupta must realize this left ward drift is significantly different from the earlier ones on two counts
  • It has not concentrated power in State instead it has marginalized it devolving power to quasi-constitutional bodies with no accountability
  • In doing so it has created a stake for a new class of leftist special interests going far beyond delhi’s leftist intellectual circles
  • There in lies the long term damage to the Constitutional Institutions and to Governance
  • Disagree with @swapan55 http://j.mp/9Qw1Kd backroom interventions in Parliament are not same as taking a coherent public position on policy
  • Let us be clear there is only one credible yardstick to measure if BJP is on it’s way to recovery or not
  • That yardstick is the degree to which BJP challenges the Congress’ left liberalism at it’s very root through direct public policy positions
  • All else like this intervention on nuclear liability issue is just feel good politics that’s far from making lasting impact on it’s fortunes
  • Urgently needed – a “Values based Constitutionalism” to pose a credible challenge to the Sonia Rahul “Rights based Entitlement Left Liberalism”
  • Absolutely true federalism will be a key constiutional value RT “@raoabhijeet: @offstumped Alternative is True Federalism”
  • BJP’s current non-strategy can be summed up: Nation will tire of Congress. Let us be non-shrill enough to be acceptable to lead a non-Congress coalition
  • Hence BJP non-strategy requires not taking strong ideological policy position against Left Liberal entitlements to humor noncongress rag tag
  • Need more proof that Rights based Entitlements have queered the pitch for Congress http://j.mp/dufX3j
  • That LK Advani could not think of a single Rural Enterprise success story as theme for Peepli Live and only NREGA came to his mind says lot
  • RT “@centerofright: @offstumped he shld hv read @rashmibansal‘s stay hungry stay foolish or connect the dots, both have good examples”

Original Blog Post

In 2007 then BJP National Vice President and Lok Sabha MP from Orissa Juel Oram had raised the banner of protest in Orissa against the state government’s move to sanction prospective license (PL) to Posco for mining at Khandadhar iron ore reserve. Two years before in 2005 Juel Oram had this to say of his opposition to mining projects in Orissa

displacement will affect the socio-economic conditions of the people and this is a major issue. “When a project comes up in any locality it affects not only the tribal people, but also the community as a whole,” says Oram. He has been vehemently opposing the12-million-tonne POSCO steel project near Paradip. Thousands of people who were displaced by the Rourkela Steel Plant, the Hirakud dam, the Rengali dam, and many other medium and small projects have not been compensated till date, he says.

But for Juel Oram’s opposition there is not much to glean from the last 5 years on where exactly the BJP stands on the issues related to Mining from the point of view of the environment and more importantly the Forest Rights Act. On the Forest Rights Act itself there is little that can be found by way of an informed policy position from the BJP. There are stray stories on Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh demanding speedy implementation of the Act and later on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi claiming credit for its implementation in his state. But beyond that there just is little to glean on

#1 what exactly was the BJP’s contribution to the debate on this legislation

#2 if there was an informed point of view on this Legislation that was both rooted in its political ideology and was derived from an enlightened political/electoral strategy

#3 if there was even an attempt by the BJP to influence public opinion one way or the other on the various aspects of the Act to bring to bear pressure on the UPA in shaping the contours of this Act

The story is not very much different when one looks at the BJP’s role in shaping and influencing other key Entitlement programs succesfully legislated by the UPA as Constitutional Rights.

Let us take the case of NREGA to which every BJP ruled state government has been a willing party. But for stray election time remarks on NREGA there has hardly been any firm political opposition to it. But for this criticism from Yashwant Sinha, it is hard to find any strong position on the NREGA. Only belatedly Narendra Modi has spoken up on corruption within the NREGA but not much beyond.

The BJP’s approach on Right to Education, RTE is no different either nor do we see any well formed position on the proposed Food Security bill.

So what we have here is the BJP mostly reacting to the Congress’ left liberal “rights based agenda”, riding on its bandwagon in states where it is in power while being mostly clueless on the long term strategic implications of this “rights based left liberal law making”.

The Vedanta episode highlights how these Rights based  laws like the FRA have effected a long term strategic advantage to the Congress. The Rights based Agenda allows the Congress to

#1 – appropriate a messianic political role making any opposition to its agenda look petty and belligerent

#2 – give a stake to a nationwide network of NGO activists who in turn return the favor by advocating  its cause if not overtly by proxy. This is happening on multiple dimensions ranging from mobilizing public opinion on local issues to beseiging its political opponents through litigation and popular protest.

#3 – remake the electoral landscape to suit its class rhetoric. The myriad challenges in the recognition of these newly granted Rights will ensure an abundance of victimhood that the Congress can conveniently exploit as is evident from the Vedanta episode

#4 - give a permanent stake to the Delhi based Left Liberal opinion making class (across the media, Judiciary and intelligenstia)  in law making and law enforcement as is evident from the dual role played by NAC members

#5 – distort the constitution with complex legislation that over the long term weakens the primary Institutions of the State, diffuses accountability while creating new special interests that no non-Congress government of the future can either displace or fully overcome

The BJP on account of its intellectual vaccum and myopia has shot itself in the foot by contributing unwittingly to this Left Liberal strategic shift in favor of the Congress.

What is worse the BJP still does not see a need to chart a fundamentally different course Legislatively or Politically to challenge the Congress.

The Congress under Sonia and Rahul Gandhi may be lacking in tactical political acumen as is evident from the political bungling over Telangana. But the mother and son duo have more than made up for that lack of tactical political leadership by effecting a long term strategic shift in favor of a messianic role for the dynasty. Unlike in the past this time they have nurtured a network of NGOs and Delhi based special interests to ensure the gains from this strategic shift are Institutionalized.

This has raised the threshold significantly against any effective politco-intellectual challenge to this” Rights based Left Liberal Agenda in favor of the Dynasty”.

The Indian voter does have a mind of its own. Electoral outcomes are far from pre-determined. The Congress has no immunity from the effects of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

This “Rights based Left Liberal agenda” may not guarantee electoral success to the Congress.

But it does queer the pitch in favor of the Congress forcing the BJP to play a me-too game. A game that does not come naturally to the BJP, thus making it look like an opportunistic B-Team of the Congress.

And we all know when given a choice between the Original and a pale imitation, what choice the voter will likely make !

Filed under: Assembly Polls 2009, bengal polls, betrayal of aam admi, Chattisgarh Polls 2008, Chhattisgarh Polls 2008, Delhi Polls 2008, Dharmayudh-2009, economic freedom, Gujarat Polls 2007, India Elections 2009, India Lok Sabha Elections 2009, Indira Gandhi, Left Liberalism, Local Governance, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Maharashtra Polls 2009, Manmohan Confidence Vote, Maoist Terrorism, Narendra Modi, Nitin Gadkari, Progressivism, Rajasthan Polls 2008, Telangana, UPA-II Critical Appraisal

April 26, 2010 • 4:01 am 6

Teachers for Terror

Update – See below Praveen Swami’s response to JTSA via Annie Zaidi’s blog.

Original blog post

It is a well established fact that a majority of Institutions of Higher Education in the nation’s capital are breeding grounds for extreme Left wing activism.

That perverse activism has now been taken to a new level.

A new benchmark has been set on not just batting for Islamist Terrorists of the home grown variety but also on baiting one of the nation’s well known anti-Terror reporter.

In a new low the Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association, JTSA has done a hit job on The Hindu’s Praveen Swami through this letter on countercurrents.

Offstumped will not dignify these low lives by reproducing their despicable letter.

It is however interesting to note how the Jamia Teachers’ interest has shifted far away from defending so called “innocent” students of Jamia accused in the Batla House encounter.

The letter wades into investigations into the Pune Blast and the recent Bangalore stadium blasts while seeking to undermine Praveen Swami’s credibility.

It is nobody’s case that reportage on terror investigations in India has been picture perfect. But when Jamia Millia Teachers’ Association feels entitled to pass snide remarks on Maharashtra ATS their motives are suspect.

The real target of this letter by the Teachers of Jamia are the investigative agencies and India’s Intelligence establishment. By seeking to undermine Praveen Swami’s credibility the Jamia Teachers Association is in effect discrediting India’s anti-terror efforts.

From apologising for Maoist Terror to shielding Terror accused, Delhi’s Universities have acquired unparalleled notoriety.

It is puzzling that Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal while seeking to reform education across the country has blinded himself to the rot in the Nation’s Capital on account of rampant extreme Left wing activism on-campus.

One has to wonder what kind of education is delivered in Jamia Millia, DU and JNU with Teachers like these who seek to undermine the legitimacy of the Indian State at every opportune occassion.

Their hypocrisy is without parallel for these parasites practice their left wing activism at the tax payers expense, shamelessly enjoying the patronage of the Indian State.

It is time to bring to an end this sorry state of affairs in the premier Institutions of Higher Education in the nation’s capital.

It is time DU, JNU and Jamia Millia were purged of Left wing extremists who bat for Maoist Terrorists and Islamist Jihadists.

Praveen Swami’s Response via Annie Zaidi’s Blog

In a letter to the Editor of CounterCurrents.org, Annie Zaidi rips apart what she calls “intellectually lazy” writing by the Jamia Teachers Solidarity Alliance, JTSA.

The letter also carries a detailed response from eminent Counter Terror reporter for The Hindu, Praveen Swami who was the target of the Campaign of Calumny by JTSA.

Praveen Swami’s letter to Annie Zaidi where he offers a point by point rebuttal to the JTSA is reproduced below (Note some formatting changes to the letter to enhance its readability).

Dear Annie:

Thank you for your letter. I’m glad that, unlike many people I know, you’ve actually sought my opinion on the allegations that the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association has levelled at me. Some people seem to have been perfectly content to circulate the allegations without any effort at verification. Since the JTSA’s allegations have not been addressed, to the best of my knowledge, to my Editors at The Hindu, I’ve had no opportunity to respond to what I believe are scurrilous allegations. However, I do hope you will not be upset if I take the liberty of circulating my reply to you to a few people who may be interested in what I have to say.

The principal JTSA claim, if my understanding is correct, is that I’ve invented a suspect for the Bangalore and Pune bombings, undermining my own earlier position—as they see it—that Hindutva groups had carried out the attacks.

Separately, the JTSA also makes two, somewhat mutually-contradictory claims: first that I blindly broadcast the views of India’s intelligence services, and secondly, that I make up stories. The first of these two charges is, by its nature, difficult to prove or disprove: after all, if someone has persuaded themselves that I am an agent of India’s intelligence services, my denials are hardly likely to persuade them otherwise.

It seems common-sense to me that the issue is not who I get my information from—which I am professionally bound, as you know, not to disclose—but how accurate that information is. This brings me to the second claim—i.e., that I have invented or misrepresented facts. This allegation is a serious one, but can be tested. Below, I’ve put my responses to their claims in the order in which they appear. Please make up your own mind.

JTSA

While the Pune police commissioned experts to draw sketches of the suspects based on this footage, ATS dismissed this exercise as “anything but useful”, as their source, the CCTV footage, was itself grainy. (Siasat, April 12). Where does Swami stand on this? He wrote in his 19th February piece: “All that investigators have by way of suspects are three men recorded holding brief meetings before the blast by a poor-quality closed-circuit television camera. From the videotape, it is unclear if the men had anything to do with the attack.” Exactly a month later, Swami conveniently develops an amnesia about Abhinav Bharat and even about the poor quality of CCTV footage. What was earlier ‘unclear” and hazy has in one month segued into solid shape: in the form of top Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Mohammad Zarar Siddi Bawa ie., Yasin Bhatkal….

My response

The JTSA is right: I did indeed write about grainy video footage obtained from a camera installed in a hotel opposite the German Bakery (I’ve dealt with the Abhinav Bharat issue they’ve raised below, to avoid confusing issues). What I didn’t know when I wrote the story was of the existence of footage from the second CCTV camera, installed above the cash counter in the German Bakery. Please note, though, that the existence of this footage was known to journalists other than me long before the Maharashtra Police Anti-Terrorism Squad disclosed its existence. Mid-Day, to cite just one of several examples that can easily be unearthed from the internet, had an account of its existence as early as February 17, 2010. The article made clear that the police had instructed witnesses not to talk about the footage: “Pravin Panth, cashier at the bakery, said, ‘I have seen the footage, but I cannot reveal the inputs. I have been advised to refrain from revealing details to the media as this may harm investigations’.” Please also note that Yasin Bhatkal’s possible role in the bombings was dwelt on at this stage of the investigation by other journalists.

JTSA

Clearly, Swami’s changing perceptions about the CCTV footage is in accord with the shifting attitude of the ATS itself.

My response

I wish my supposedly-formidable contacts in the intelligence services and elsewhere had told me about the cash-counter footage. That they didn’t should lead to some obvious inferences; the implications are too clear to need fleshing out here. As the JTSA points out, the Maharashtra Police Anti-Terrorism Squad did indeed claim that it had identified Yasin Bhatkal, from footage harvested from the cash-counter camera. This was widely reported in early April, before I wrote. I was, I have to say, sceptical—hence, I worked to access the footage, and see for myself if the man in the tape did indeed resemble Yasin Bhatkal. I was reasonably satisfied by what I found. In any case, if investigators changed their views when new evidence came to light, why is that a problem?

JTSA

Swami’s articles appear magically, faithfully reflecting the Intelligence reports. After the Batla House ‘encounter’, he launched a tirade against all those who were questioning the police account of the shootout labeling them all ‘Alices in wonderland’. He went so far as to identify ‘precisely’ how Inspector Sharma was shot by claiming that “abdomen wound was inflicted with [Atif] Amin’s weapon and the shoulder hit, by Mohammad Sajid”…. And no sir, Swami’s conclusion was not based on post mortem reports of the killed, fire arm examination report or ballistic report but on this innocent fact: “the investigators believe that…”

My response

The National Human Rights Commission studied the same evidence I did—and more which was not available when I wrote. It says: “…swabs which were taken from the right hands of Mohd Atif Ameen and Modh Sajid by the doctors at the time of post mortem in AIIMS were sent in sealed bottles to CFSL for dermal nitrate tests in the laboratory. The same were found to contain gun shot residue. This conclusively establishes that Mohd Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid had both used fire arms at the time of incident”. Unless it believes that the NHRC is an intelligence agency, the allegation made by the JTSA is untrue.

JTSA

Swami however felt no need to pen an article when the postmortem reports of Atif and Sajid revealed that they had been shot from close range and that neither of them sustained gunshot wounds in the frontal region of the body—an impossibility in the case of a genuine encounter.

My response

I didn’t. I still don’t. Having studied the available evidence, the NHRC concluded: “In such circumstances, the action taken by the police party in which Mohd. Atif Ameen and Mohd. Sajid received fatal injuries and died is fully protected by law”. Parenthetically, I note that members of the Facebook group I believe the 2008 Batla House encounter was FAKE insist that “not only the JTSA report, but also NHRC (a statutory body of GOI) says that the encounter is fake”. Either these people have not read the NHRC report—or are lying.

JTSA

When two crude bombs went off outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium ahead of the match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore on 17th April, the Karnataka Home Minister V.S. Acharya announced that the state Police were investigating the alleged involvement of the cricket betting lobby. He forcefully denied any link with the earlier blasts in the city in 2008.
But Yasin Bhatkal seems to have preoccupied Swami’s mind on 19th April for he evokes him again in connection with the stadium blasts (“Stadium Blasts herald new IM offensive”). Citing the ever cooperative ‘investigators’, he says that the ‘similarity in design’ and the manner in which some bombs failed to explode are a sure indicator of the IM hand

My response

Leaving aside the minor irony here—the JTSA’s great faith in an embarrassed BJP politician—there are two facts that need to be recorded. In pursuit of the government’s “betting mafia” story, the Karnataka Police arrested five Uttar Pradesh suspects. Those suspects were cleared of any involvement in the attacks by the Uttar Pradesh Police. Second, I clearly identified that suspicions directed at Mohammad Zarar Siddi Bawa, a.k.a. Yasin Bhatkal, were based on what investigators were telling me. Similarity in bomb design is quite evidently reasonable ground for suspicion—though it is not of course proof. Since I have no independent expertise in bomb forensics, the information was clearly attributed to investigators. Its up to readers whether they want to believe them or not.

JTSA

Swami here details the biographies of SIMI activists in South India, making the link, ever so cleverly, between SIMI—and yes, IM—and the stadium blasts, without providing any evidence of their actual linkage.

My response

I’m a little uncertain here about precisely what the allegation is here—but think the JTSA has some problem with my suggesting that SIMI and the Indian Mujahideen are linked to terrorism. I’m in good company, I think, in this belief. Javed Anand had a must-read article on the issue some time back. Yoginder Sikand had some good background earlier. If you’re willing to fork out a few bucks for more detail, do read C. Christine Fair on the subject. This is just a tiny part of a mass of literature—not including charge-sheets, trial records and so on—on the subject. You don’t need access to the Intelligence Services to access it—just a few hours in a good library

Like so many people driven by blind faith, the JTSA’s members don’t seem willing to be persuaded by fact. Increasingly, the positions of its supporters seem driven by bizarre conspiracy theories.

For instance, Omair Anas, one of the leading lights of the “Shut Up Praveen Swami” group (which includes among its members an odd array of Islamists linked to the Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing as well as members of that flag-bearer of Delhi’s regrettably unsubstantial radical-chic, Sarai), has this post up on his Facebook wall:

Omair Anas Who carried out 9/11 attack? Israel ! Israel! know how http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/israel-did-911-all-the-proof-in-the-world/
Sun at 23:55 • Share
Israel did 9/11, ALL THE PROOF IN THE WORLD!!

I have two points to make in conclusion:

First, a number of Islamist groups, as well as some of Maoist supporters, have been engaging in a wilful misrepresentation of my work—misrepresentation that, your letter leads me to believe, may be succeeding simply because the audiences for this campaign do not seem to take the trouble of reading what I have written.

For example, a Google Groups thread claims that I have been advocating targeted killing of “insurgent leaders (and cadres)! Understandably, away from the battlefields. Dragged out of homes or on the city streets? A la Mossad!?”

Please see for yourself if I actually said anything of the kind.

I did indeed point to a successful campaign targeting “the leadership and cadre of Khalistan terrorists”. I trust no sensible person would have objections to the targeting of these murderous criminals.

I concluded that “Learning from its own success stories, India needs to fight insurgencies in smarter, leaner ways. Like Andhra Pradesh, States must invest in training facilities that meet their particular needs; expand intelligence capabilities; and use technology effectively.

Instead of focussing on simply expanding the size of Central forces, the Union government must understand the need for them to be properly trained and equipped”.

Second,

it seems to me a little sad that my critics have chosen to use personal slurs and innuendo, instead of engaging in a debate on facts—a debate I think is important and healthy.

It is all the more dismaying when people you would expect to value civil debate engage in these kinds of tactics. I find these tactics despicable. I’m happy to be challenged on points of fact and interpretation.

I believe that informed criticism is good for public debate and good journalism. Sadly, I don’t think the JTSA statement has helped either cause.

Warm regards,

Praveen

    1. Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association, ‘Praveen Swami’s Not So Fabulous Fables’ (CounterCurrents.org: http://www.countercurrents.org/jtsa250410.htm)
    2. Bipin Kumar Singh and Kaumudi Gujjar, ‘Footage gave important leads: cops’ (MidDay: http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/feb/170210-german-bakery-blast-cctv-footage-vital-clues.htm), February17, 2010.
    3. Johnson TA, ‘Yasin Bhatkal is IM bombmaker, now in Karachi: Probe team’ (The Indian Express: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/yasin-bhatkal-is-im-bombmaker-now-in-karachi-probe-team/582699/), February 22, 2010.
    4. ‘IM leader Yasin Bhatkal mastermind of Pune blasts, claims ATS’, (Daily News and Analysis: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_im-leader-yasin-bhatkal-mastermind-of-pune-blasts-claims-ats_1368789), April 8, 2010.
    5. ‘Shri Kamran Siddique Gen.Secretary, Real Cause, New Delhi: 2811/30/8/08-09-FE’ (National Human Rights Commission: New Delhi, July 20, 2009). Online at nhrc.nic.in/Batla.doc. Page 21
    6. Shri Kamran Siddique Gen.Secretary, Real Cause, New Delhi: 2811/30/8/08-09-FE’ (National Human Rights Commission: New Delhi, July 20, 2009). Online at nhrc.nic.in/Batla.doc. Page 25
    7. http://ko-kr.facebook.com/BatlaHouse
      Aakash Singh
    8. ‘Suspects arrested for Chinnaswamy blast case are thieves from UP’ (MyNews.in: http://www.mynews.in/News/Suspects_arrested_for_Chinnaswamy_blast_case_are_thieves_from_UP_N49091.html),
    9. April 22, 2010
      Javed Anand ‘Suspect SIMI? Of course’, (The Indian Express: http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/349496/), August
    10. 16, 2008
      Yoginder Sikand, ‘The SIMI story’, (Countercurrents.org: http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-sikand150706.htm),
    11. July 15, 2006.
      C. Christine Fair, ‘Students Islamic Movement of India and the Indian Mujahideen: An Assessment’, Asian Policy Vol 9 (Washington DC: National Bureau of Asian Research),
    12. January 2010.

      http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115282715164932&ref=search&sid=100000903926148.964712540..1

      http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1383468305#!/profile.php?id=1383468305&v=wall

      http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth/browse_thread/thread/d9c6220d869a0cc5/f48d96c7a196bad5?lnk=raot&pli=1

    13. Praveen Swami, ‘For a review of counter-insurgency doctrine’, (The Hindu: http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article395529.ece), April 13, 2010.

Filed under: DesiPundit, Left Liberalism, Maoist Terrorism, Progressivism, War on Terror

April 8, 2010 • 5:00 am 13

Of Jesuits and Maoists

In an op-ed in the Hindustan Times titled “No Time for War” Samar Halankar says this

Third, the Maoist insurgency is based not religion but on an ideology of violent revolution first propounded by, obviously, Mao Tse Tung, as a revolutionary peasant struggle against the State and exploiting classes. In a religious, rapidly urbanising nation, a Maoist class struggle, however violent, will always struggle to find sympathisers in cities. The Taliban can strike metropolitan areas because they have support there.

Clearly Sameer has not read Govindan Kutty’s Urban Perspective nor has he paid much attention to the sympathies expressed by clergy in support of the Maoist cause.

The seeminly unnatural convergence of  interests between those of the Communist persuasions and those of the Christian persuasion has some history.

The Herald Journal on 1st August 1981 carried this story titled “Jesuit Priests told they can work with Marxist efforts for common good“.

The head of the world wide order of Jesuit Priests has told them that while “Marxist analysis” cannot be expected as whole, they could work with any of its efforts for the common good

The relationship between Christianity and Marxism is an immediate and explosive issue in Latin America where “liberation theologists” link some Marxist ideas with Christian objectives of justice

This influence of Communist ideas on the Jesuit order dates further back.

In a book titled “Breaking with Communism: the intellectual odyseey of Bertram D Wolfe“  published in 1990 one finds an interesting letter penned by Bertram D. Wolfe to a Jesuit by the name William Moynihan from July of 1972.  The letter is about lessons from Thomas Jefferson’s life. Expressing apprehensions on whether Thomas Jefferson would be presented accurately at a Jesuit symposium, Bertram Wolfe writes the below

This thought (Wolfe’s view of Jefferson) is particulary at a moment when on the margins of the Society of Jesus an infection is spreading, of Jesuit Maoism and Jesuit Marxism-Leninism

The weakening tissues of thought that prove the most frequent breeding ground for the spread of the infection are the coquetting I find fashionable in some Jesuit circles with the “Marxism of the young Marx”, which I take to be a desire to be “with it” and engage in a dialogue with the Marxist-Leninist as some sort of also-Marxist.

The letter delves further on Marxist influence within the Jesuit cause.

Closer home in India Jesuit Priest Ambrose Pinto who is on record saying the Maoists have a legitimate claim and a just cause. Writing in a catholic newspaper in 2009 this is what he had to say

at the heart of the problem is a battle between two models of development. Prime Minister Singh and mainstream national and state administrations are pursuing a “neo-liberal” model which encourages foreign investment and welcomes multi-national corporations. This approach, says Pinto, has seen tens of thousands of local and tribal people displaced to make way for such things as steel mills, power plants, mine developments and special economic zones. The global recession has caused havoc with this approach, spurred unemployment, misery and impoverishment, andprovided recruits for the Maoists, he said. “It is this model that the Naxals and Maoists are opposing,” wrote Pinto. “They are asking for a local model of development that would not destroy the life and livelihood of the people.”

Pinto says the Maoists and Naxalites have a legitimate claim to a share of the profits from the resources of their land

So it should come as no surprise that Gujarat based Jesuit groups have been actively advocating the Maoist cause within the secular banner of the Adivasi Mahasabha.

Filed under: Maoist Terrorism

April 7, 2010 • 5:00 am 17

Maoist Nexus with Evangelical Christian Groups

What was widely suspected in the murder of a Swami Lakshmananda in Kandhamal is turning out to be an established template borrowed from the Phillippines.

It is a bizarre convergence of interests between supposed men of faith and atheist Terrorists.

CathNewsIndia a Evangelical news network carried this story on a Gujarat based Jesuit Organization complaining about illegal detenion of Tribals in Gujarat.

“It appears that to demand one’s legal rights and to be a terrorist is the same thing in Gujarat,” Father Xavier Manjooran, a member of the Adivasi Mahasabha (federation of tribal organizations) of Gujarat, told UCA News April 5.

The so called Adivasi Mahasabha referenced here is no innocent organization. 

The Maoist Information Bulletin, of the CPI-Maoist, in its December 2009 edition (accessible via bannedthought.net, access to this maybe restricted in India) carried a letter against the planned offensive by the Government of India. 

The letter dated October 2009 appears on Page 30 and it lists Organizations from 10 states, Gujarat Adivasi Mahasabha being one of them.

Following this letter on the same page is also an undated letter of support for the Maoist Terrorists from an organization in the Phillipines called the Cordillera People’s Alliance.

The evangelical nexus becomes even more clearer when one digs further.

The trail on Cordillera People’s Alliance leads us to this story from the Episcopal Life on the Episcopal Church in Phillippines demanding the release of certain “health” workers most of who are associated with the Episcopal Church.

Of them is one founding member of the Cordillera People’s Alliance.

In September 2008, Episcopalian James Balao was abducted at gunpoint months after he complained to family and friends that he was under constant surveillance. Balao is a founding member of the Cordillera People’s Alliance, a federation of grassroots organizations dedicated to the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples’ rights. Balao remains missing.

Further digging on Cordillera Alliance reveals an active role played by the Cordillera Alliance in Maoist Terrorism affected areas going as far back as 2004 (more details can be found on bannedthought.net on Mumbai Resistance 2004 or MR-2004).

More on active collaboration between CPI-Maoist and Phillippines based groups can be found in other Maoist literature on bannedthought.net.

Amongst these is a document titled “CPI-Maoist – The Urban Perspective” authored by a Govindan Kutty.

The document is 53 pages long and describes the Urban Strategy and Focus of the Maoist Terrorists. The document is not dated but it references POTA and the 2001 census which gives us an idea of when it was authored.

 
 
 

the legal democratic organizations serve as important means to the Party’s attempts at the political mobilization of the urban masses. This is because repression normally prevents the open revolutionary mass organizations from functioning. The legal democratic movement is thus the arena where the masses can participate in thousands and lakhs and gain political experience.

It thus has a very important role in the revolution, complementary to the armed struggle in the countryside.

Revolutionaries in other countries, particularly the Philippines, have participated within and utilized the legal democratic movement very effectively.

In India too there is excellent scope to participate within, build, promote and develop legal democratic organizations and movement to advance the interests of revolution.

 

The collaboration between Maoists and Evangelical Christian outfits must be understood within this broad goal of engaging above the ground outfits that pursue advocacy on behalf of below the ground terrorists.

It is also interesting to note that the Evangelicals who bat for Maoist Terrorists do so under inoccuous secular sounding banners like the “Adivasi Mahasabha” or the “Cordillera Peoples Alliance”.

A brilliant exposition of how the Radical Communist outfits have infiltrated Church based groups in the Phillippines can be found here.

The radicalization of elements in the Catholic Church beginning in the late 1960s provided another avenue for the expansion of CPP front operations. Recognizing how the church’s unparalleled credibility and extensive infrastructure could benefit the revolution, the communists made the Catholic Church a primary target.

The party established a front, Christians for National Liberation, in 1972 with the express purpose of penetrating the church. In 1986 an activist claimed that Christians for National Liberation had a clandestine membership of over 3,000 clergy and layworkers.

Radical clergy and church activists, many adopting liberation theology (see Glossary), supported the insurgency in a variety of ways. Some church activities even provided facilities and financial and logistical support to the guerrillas.

Other church activists joined the NPA, and several well-known priests led guerrilla bands. As a result, the armed forces became deeply distrustful of the church’s role, especially in remote rural areas where the NPA was most active.

There, some of the Church’s Basic Christian Communities–support groups for poor peasants–fell under communist control

This same story also brings to light the so called nexus with “civil society” groups in Phillippines.

Another prominent target of CPP front operations was the workers’ movement (see Employment and Labor Relations , ch. 3). The communists’ flagship labor front was the Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement–KMU). An umbrella organization formed in 1980, the KMU claimed 19 affiliated labor federations, hundreds of unions, and 650,000 workers in 1989. Although it denied its ties to the CPP, the movement had an openly political and revolutionary agenda

Norma Binas who is a leader of the Kilusang Mayo Uno  incidentally was the main Keynote speaker at Mumbai Resistance- MR-2004 that saw above ground Maoist sympathisers including the Filipino Cordillera Alliance collaborate in India.

The CPP is of particular importance to us due to this report that members of CPP who escape from Phillippines are in India training Maoists.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is not only thriving, it is exporting its cadres to train Maoist insurgents in India, according to reports reaching the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

A DFA senior official, who asked not to be named saying he did not want to preempt an official reaction from the agency, said the Philippine government was expecting an official request from New Delhi for help in tracking down the CPP members in India.

Indian media reports over the weekend said two suspected Naxalites recently arrested in the western Indian state of Gujarat had confessed to their police interrogators that CPP members had been training them in guerrilla warfare.

This is the first time that the CPP—Southeast Asia’s longest-lived communist insurgent group—has been reported to have engaged in such training activities overseas.

The CPP was founded in 1968 by English teacher Jose Maria Sison, who is now 71 and lives in exile in the Netherlands.

Military officials say that the CPP has become irrelevant since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The officials say that the CPP’s armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), is nothing more than a bandit group engaged in blackmail and extortion.

The daily Indian Express described as “startling” the revelation that international Maoist groups were involved in arms training.

One such training took place in the forests of the southwestern state of Kerala, according to the suspects.

Police based in Gujarat’s Surat district who conducted the arrests said that the Naxalites were operating among landless tribal farmers in the neighboring Dang district.

The DFA official said it was possible that the CPP members who went to India came from Europe, saying most Filipinos who go to India are businessmen.

It is clear from connecting the dots above that there is a deliberate modus operandi at work in Maoist affected Tribal areas to replicate the Filipino model of targeting Church organisations for their credibility and the cover they provide.

All Evangelical activity in Tribal areas must be immediately put under the scanner to determine what kind of overt and covert support is being provided by them to Maoist Terrorists including alleged Military Training by filipino groups.

Filed under: DesiPundit, Maoist Terrorism

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