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रंजीत वर्मा

पिछले दिनों छत्‍तीसगढ़ के बीजापुर में सीआरपीएफ आदिवासियों को माओवादी बता कर जब मार रही थी, तो हिंदी साहित्‍य के एक तबके में इस बात पर चिंता ज़ाहिर की जा रही थी कि भारत भवन का पराभव होने के बावजूद कुछ लेखक उसके आयोजनों में शिरकत क्‍यों कर रहे हैं। सब कुछ अपने समय से अलग, कटा हुआ, गोया हिंदी के लेखक समाज ने जान-बूझ कर दुनिया-जहान की ओर पीठ कर रखी हो। साहित्‍य से इंसानी जि़ंदगी के बेदखल हो जाने की वजह आखिर क्‍या है?

गुंटर ग्रास की कविता 'जो कहा जाना चाहिये' जब हिंदी में अनूदित होकर आयी तो इसने अपनी तरह से एक बहस खड़ी की। इस कविता के पीछे जो राजनीति काम कर रही थी उसके विरोध में हिंदी साहित्य का एक तबका अचानक सक्रिय हो गया था। यानी कि वे ऐसे लोग थे जो एकदम अमेरिकी लाइन पर चलते हुए ईरान को लोकतंत्र के लिये ज्यादा खतरनाक मान रहे थे और इज़राइल का बचाव कर रहे थे। ज़ाहिर है एक दूसरा तबका भी था जो कविता की लाइन को एकदम सही मान रहा था और इज़राइल को लोकतंत्र ही नहीं बल्कि समूची मानवता के दुश्‍मन के तौर पर देख रहा था। यह बात दो-तीन महीने पहले की है। और अभी जबकि इस बहस का गुबार बैठा भी नहीं है, कि तभी इज़राइल से जुड़ी दो और खबरें पढ़ने को मिलीं। एक खबर के अनुसार भारत के मशहूर तबला वादक ज़ाकिर हुसैन ने अपनी इज़राइल यात्रा रद्द कर दी। उन्हें वहां संगीत के कई कार्यक्रम देने के लिये जाना था। ऐसा उन्होंने 'इंडियन कैम्‍पेन फॉर द एकेडमिक ऐंड कल्चरल बायकॉट ऑफ इज़राइल' नामक संस्था की मुहीम के कारण किया। अखबार में छपी खबर के अनुसार जिन लोगों ने हस्ताक्षर जारी कर ज़ाकिर हुसैन से अनुरोध किया कि वे फलस्‍तीनियों पर जुल्म ढाने वाले इज़राइल के विरोध में वहां न जायें, उनमें से कुछ के नाम ये हैं- गार्गी सेन, गीता हरिहरन, ध्रुव संगारी, विद्या राव, सईद मिर्जा, सुधन्वा देशपाण्डे, एमके रैना, एन पुष्पमाला, राम रहमान, अमर कंवर, सबा हसन, आयशा अब्राहम और आनंद पटवर्धन। इनमें से एक भी नाम हिंदी के किसी साहित्यकार का नहीं है। कुछ ऐसे नाम हैं जो हिंदी में या तो फिल्में बनाते हैं या रंगकर्म से जुड़े हैं, जैसे सईद मिर्जा, आनंद पटवर्धन, एमके रैना आदि। यह बेहद चिंता का विषय है। लोगों का ध्यान इस ओर जाना चाहिये।

'जो कहा जाना चाहिये' कविता के समय हिंदी साहित्य में जो हलचल पैदा हुई थी वह इस वक्त नज़र नहीं आयी। क्या यह देख कर ऐसा नहीं लगता कि इज़राइल को समर्थन देना हो या विरोध करना, यह सिर्फ इसलिये संभव हुआ क्योंकि बीच में संयोग से एक कविता आ गयी थी वरना इन्हें क्या मतलब दुनिया जहान की राजनीति से। ये तो अपने आसपास भी नहीं झांकते। वह तो संयोग इसलिये बन पाया क्योंकि वह एक जर्मन कविता थी और जिसे गुंटर ग्रास जैसे महत्वपूर्ण कवि ने लिखा था। अगर यही कविता किसी ने हिंदी में लिखी होती तो निश्चित है कि बहस ज्यादा से ज्यादा साहित्यिक मूल्यांकन तक होती क्योंकि हममें से अधिकांश यह सोच ही नहीं पाते हैं कि कविता के ज़रिये बाहर की दुनिया पर भी बात की जा सकती है। सीधी बात जो मैं कहना चाह रहा हूं वह यह है कि घटनाओं से जुड़ना हिंदी कवि अभी तक सीख नहीं पाया है। क्या यही वह वजह नहीं है जिस कारण उसकी कविता भी घटनाओं और घटनाओं से घिरे आम जन से कभी जुड़ नहीं पाती? यह अलग-थलग रहना कविता या खुद कवि को पूरे समाज के लिये कितना अप्रासंगिक बना देता है, यह समझना ज़रूरी है क्योंकि सारी समस्याएं यहीं से शुरू होती हैं- जैसे कि कविता का अपठनीय हो जाना, विचार से एक निश्चित दूरी का बन जाना और कला के नाम पर एक अजीब वाग्जाल में कविता का उलझते चले जाना... वह कविता लिखने का काम हो या सुनने समझने का, सभी कुछ का एक उत्सवी माहौल में डूब जाना। इस तरह की न जाने कितनी समस्याएं हैं जो इसी एक बिंदु से शुरू होती हैं।

यह एक बहुत बड़ी वजह है कि घटनाओं को जोड़कर देखने का नज़रिया हम कविता का मूल्यांकन करते वक्त इस्तेमाल नहीं कर पाते। इस बात को इज़राइल से जुड़ी एक दूसरी खबर के ज़रिये समझा जा सकता है। एक दिन अचानक सीआरपीएफ को यह महसूस हुआ कि माओवादियों के पास ज्यादा आधुनिक आग्नेयास्त्र हैं अतः यह उसके लिये ज़रूरी है कि अपने अस्त्र-शस्त्र को भी उनकी ही तरह से वह सुसज्जित करे। फिर संबंधित मंत्रालय में मंत्रणा होती है और कई निर्णय लिये जाते हैं, जिनमें एक निर्णय यह होता है कि जिस तरह भारत आतंकवादियों से जूझ रहा है उसी तरह इज़राइल भी आतंकवादियों से जूझ रहा है और चूंकि उसने अपने आतंकवादियों का तोड़ पैदा कर लिया है अतः भारत के लिये ज़रूरी है कि वह इस मामले में इज़राइल से मदद ले। दूसरे शब्दों में यह कहा जा सकता है कि माओवाद या आतंकवाद से निपटने के लिये वे भारत को इज़राइल बना देने का निर्णय पलक झपकते ले लेते हैं। वही इजराइल जिसका अपने यहां कला और विवेक की दुनिया में विरोध किया जा रहा है। सवाल पूछा जा सकता है कि क्यों उसी देश का नाम हमारी सेना को युद्ध में सहयोग लेने के लिये याद आ रहा है? क्या इन खबरों को पढ़कर मन में अचानक यह तुलनात्मक अध्ययन नहीं चलने लगता है कि वे लोग कौन हैं जो इज़राइल से दूर रहना चाहते हैं? वहीं दूसरी ओर वे कौन लोग हैं जो इज़राइल से सहयोग लेने तक को तैयार हैं? क्या है वह चीज़ जो दोनों की सोच में यह अंतर पैदा कर रही है?  

क्या यह माना जाना चाहिये कि उस वक्त जो गुंटर ग्रास की कविता का विरोध कर रहे थे और कह रहे थे कि यह तो कोई कविता ही नहीं है या यह सपाट कविता है और जो ईरान का भय ज्यादा दिखा रहे थे और बता रहे थे कि इज़राइल से ज्यादा खतरनाक ईरान है, वे क्या युद्ध और दमन के पक्ष में थे और क्या वे बिल्कुल उसी मानसिकता में थे जिस मानसिकता में युद्ध करती सेना होती है? तो क्या यह सोचना गलत नहीं होगा कि वे शांति के पक्ष में नहीं थे। लेकिन वे तो कह रहे थे कि वे कला के पक्ष में हैं और हम यह सोच रहे थे कि वे ऐसा इसलिये कह रहे हैं क्योंकि वे विचार के विरोध में हैं, जबकि दरअसल वे युद्ध और दमन के पक्ष में थे। क्या इसी बात को इस तरह से नहीं कहा जा सकता कि विचार के विरोध में जाना दरअसल कला और शांति दोनों के विरोध में जाना भी होता है?  

आन्द्राई कादरेस्कू को उद्धृत करते हुए हिंदी के कवि व विचारक अशोक वाजपेयी ने अपने सुविचारित स्‍तंभ 'कभी-कभार' में जून की सड़ी गर्मियों में लिखा- ''कम्युनिस्ट मेनीफेस्टो में मार्क्‍स और एंगेल्स यह घोषित कर चुके थे कि जो कुछ भी ठोस था वह हवा में गल चुका था। एक बड़ा शून्य उभर रहा था। लेनिन और जारा इस शून्य की संभावनाओं को शिद्दत से महसूस कर रहे थे। लेनिन एक नयी विश्‍व व्यवस्था लाना चाहते थे और जारा नये विचारों का बीजारोपण करना चाहते थे।'' फिर आगे वे लिखते हैं कि कैसे लेनिन असफल हो गये और जारा का आंदोलन सफल हुआ। जारा को उन्होंने दुनिया का पहला अवांगार्द कहा है जिन्होंने कैफे को जन्म दिया और कैबरे को भी। यानी कि उनके हिसाब से आज कैबरे वालों की दुनिया है न कि विचार वालों की। क्योंकि जैसा कि वे कहते हैं कि सोवियत संघ के विघटन के साथ ही विचार का पटाक्षेप हो गया। जाहिर है कि ऐसे लोग युद्ध के पक्ष में हर उस वक्त खड़े दिखायी देंगे जब कभी भी उन्हें वैचारिक लड़ाई लड़ता कोई दिखायी देगा।

कितना अच्छा होता अगर वे यह सब कहने से पहले या आन्द्राई कादरेस्कू को उद्धृत करने से पहले एक बार खुद कम्युनिस्ट मेनीफेस्टो मन लगा कर पढ़ लेते। और अगर पूरा पढ़ने की ज़हमत उठाने को वे तैयार नहीं थे तो कम से कम वे वह भूमिका ही पढ़ लेते जिसे 1888 में एंगेल्स ने लिखा था जिसमें उन्होंने कम्युनिस्ट मेनीफेस्टो की आधारभूत प्रस्थापना को रखा है। लेकिन हिंदी भाषा का यह दुर्भाग्य है कि यहां जिस तरह से न दर्शनशास्‍त्र पर काम होता है न इतिहास पर, न विज्ञान में और न राजनीतिशास्‍त्र में, ठीक उसी तरह से हिंदी साहित्य में भी इन चीजों का एक अजीब नकार दिखायी देगा। यहां लेख तक में जब यह हाल है तो कविता और कहानी में इनका कितना इस्तेमाल किया जाता होगा इसकी कल्पना सहज ही की जा सकती है। कविता यहां सिर्फ कविता है और कहानी यहां सिर्फ कहानी। इसलिये यहां कई बार जिंदगी नहीं मिलती क्योंकि इतिहास, दर्शन, राजनीति और विज्ञान से निरपेक्ष किसी जिंदगी की न तो कोई कहानी होती है और न ही कोई कविता। देखा तो यहां तक जा रहा है कि चाहे वह खुद कवि की जिंदगी ही क्यों न हो, वह भी उसकी रचना से और रचना से ही क्या बल्कि उसके पूरे साहित्यिक कर्म से भी उसी तरह गायब रहती है जैसे कि किसी भी दूसरे की जिंदगी।

ऐसा नहीं कि यह सिर्फ यूं ही कहने की बात है इसलिये कह रहा हूं बल्कि यह एक कटु सच है इसलिये ऐसा कहना पड़ रहा है। ताज़ा उदाहरण के तौर पर उस प्रपत्र को देखा जा सकता है जिसे 5 जुलाई को हिंदी के तीन कवियों राजेश जोशी, कुमार अंबुज और नीलेश रघुवंशी ने जारी किया है। इसमें रचनाकारों से अपील की गयी है कि वे भारत भवन से लेकर प्रेमचंद, निराला और मुक्तिबोध के नाम पर बने सृजनपीठों आदि से दूर रहें क्योंकि इनका ''पिछले आठ नौ सालों में सुनियोजित रूप से पराभव कर दिया गया है''। वे हैरत में हैं कि एक प्रमुख लेखक संगठन की इस सलाह के बावजूद कि ''इन संस्थाओं में सीधी भागीदारी न करें'', कई चर्चित वामपंथी रचनाकारों ने उनके कार्यक्रमों में शिरकत की। यह एक लंबा प्रपत्र है जिसे काफी सुविचारित ढंग से और एक वाजिब चिंता के साथ लिखा गया है। लेकिन अपने समय, समाज और राजनीति के सच से इतना ज्यादा निरपेक्ष होकर यह साहित्यिक चिंता व्यक्त की गयी है कि सब कुछ अश्‍लील सा होकर रह गया है। और यह बात भी समझ में नहीं आती कि जिस भारत भवन का विरोध करते-सुनते हमारी पीढ़ी ने साहित्य में प्रवेश किया, आखिर वही भारत भवन कब और किन परिस्थितियों में उन्हें स्वीकार्य हो गया था कि एक बार फिर उसका बहिष्कार करने की अपील उन्हें करनी पड़ रही है। आश्‍चर्य होता है पीठ और तख्त को लेकर उनकी चिंता और पीठ के ठीक पीछे चल रहे हत्याओं के भयानक खेल को लेकर उनकी साजिश भरी चुप्पी देखकर! रोंगटे खड़े कर देने वाली है यह चुप्पी। प्रपत्र जारी किये जाने से आठ नौ दिन पहले यानी कि जब वे प्रपत्र को लेकर आपस में गहन विमर्श कर रहे होंगे और लिखने की तैयारी में रतजगा करते हुए आंखों में पानी के छींटे मार रहे होंगे, तभी उनके बगल के राज्य छत्तीसगढ़ में माओवादियों के नाम पर 19 मासूम आदिवासियों को सीआरपीएफ के जवान आधी रात गोलियों से उड़ा रहे थे, फिर भी ये निष्कंप लौ की तरह बिना डगमगाये अपने साहित्यिक कर्म को पूरा करने में लगे रहे। रात के अंधेरे में मारे जाने वालों में सात बच्चे भी थे। छत्तीसगढ़ के मुख्यमंत्री ने कहा कि इस घटना में अगर बच्चे मारे गये हैं तो इसके लिये राज्य या सीआरपीएफ को दोषी नहीं कहा जा सकता बल्कि इसका सारा दोष माओवादियों पर जाता है क्योंकि वे ही बच्चों और स्त्रियों का इस्तेमाल भागते वक्त ढाल के तौर पर करते हैं। क्या यह वही तर्क नहीं है जिसे मुकदमे के दौरान अर्जेंटीना के पूर्व तानाशाह जॉर्ज विदेला ने अदालत में दिया था? उन्होंने कहा था कि इन बच्चों के मां-बाप आतंकी थे जो बच्चों का इस्तेमाल अपनी ढाल के तौर पर करते थे। इन्हें अदालत ने अभी पिछले दिनों पचास साल कारावास की सज़ा सुनायी है। इन्होंने 1976 से 1983 के बीच 'डर्टी वॉर' के सात सालों के दौरान करीब 30,000 लोगों की हत्या करवायी थी। उन पर यह मुकदमा 1996 में सिर्फ 35 बच्चों के अपहरण के मामले में शुरू हुआ था। यहां तो यह संख्या कब का पार हो चुकी है। और वहां जो 'डर्टी वॉर' चला था, उससे कहीं ज्यादा वीभत्स युद्ध न जाने कितने सालों से चल रहा है, लेकिन इनका कोई कुछ बिगाड़ नहीं पा रहा। आखिर भारतीय विदेलाओं पर मुकदमा कब शुरू होगा? इन्हें पचास साल की सज़ा कब सुनायी जायेगी? क्यों यहां आज भी इन विदेलाओं के खिलाफ बोलने वालों को ही अदालतें सज़ा सुना रही हैं?

क्या ये सवाल उन रचनाकारों को बेचैन नहीं करते? क्या उन्हें पीठों और न्यासों का पराभव इन पराभवों से ज्यादा बड़ा दिखायी देता है? किस उम्मीद में वे इन पीठों और न्यासों की ओर मुंह किये खड़े हैं? व्यावहारिक मजबूरी दिखाते हुए उनके कार्यक्रमों में शरीक होना और सैद्धान्तिक स्तर पर विरोध करना- यह कैसी लड़ाई है? व्यवहार और सिद्धांत के बीच इस चौड़े फर्क के साथ यह आप कैसी लड़ाई लड़ रहे हैं? क्या ऐसी ही लड़ाई के ज़रिये आप जनाकांक्षाओं को साहित्यिक अभिव्यक्ति देने की बात सोच रहे हैं? क्या यह सत्ता में भागीदारी का मसला नहीं है, वह भी ऐसे वक्त में जब सत्ता हत्यारी हो चुकी है और उसको ध्वस्त किये बिना स्थितियों के बेहतर होने की उम्मीद आप नहीं कर सकते? क्या यह वही कलावाद नहीं है जो अशोक वाजपेयी को यह कहने को मजबूर कर रहा है कि यह कैफे और कैबरे के जनक का युग है। ये ऐसे सवाल हैं जिनके जवाब ढूंढे बिना उन समस्याओं के समाधान नहीं ढूंढे जा सकते जिसने साहित्य को शब्दों का कौशल मात्र बना कर रख दिया है।

विकास के नाम पर आदिवासियों की हो रही हत्या और अदालतों से आ रहे लगातार गलत फैसलों की ओर पीठ किये खड़े रहने के बावजूद साहित्य में बने रहने का मतलब आपको जल्द ही डीकोड कर लोगों को बताना होगा। आप जिसके प्रति जवाबदेह हैं, उसी को बतायें लेकिन बतायें ज़रूर!

'Patriotic' Criminals, 'Nationalist' Terrorists!

Why Crimes of Lt Col Purohit Are Being Sanitised ?

-Subhash Gatade

I.

Enter 'Our' Terrorist !

Lt. Col. Shrikant Purohit

Written in different times and under a different context, one discovers that George Orwell's classic novel 1984, which lampoons authoritarian regimes, is finding strange resonance in today's India. Readers may be reminded that the Ministry of truth also called 'minitrue' - one of the four ministries in Oceania -the fantasy land in the novel, whose job is 'to engage in any necessary falsification of historical events' has few slogans written on its wall. It unashamedly declares 'War Is Peace', 'Freedom is Slavery', 'Ignorance is Strength'.

As far as my knowledge goes there are no such slogans written on the walls of MHA - ministry of home affairs - here in Delhi whose job is supposed to put a tab on the internal situation of the country, but it appears that it is increasingly moving on similar lines where untruth is packaged and presented as 'truth'. It is not for nothing that it is finding itself increasingly mired in one controversy after the other. No sooner that it found itself at odds with reality about the illegal abduction of an engineer from Saudi Arabia came the news that it had put its seal of approval on a fake encounter of poor tribals in faraway Chhatisgarh where many other cabinet members of the ruling dispensation had termed it a 'cold blooded murder of innocents'. But nowhere does its ineptitude seems more blatant if one considers the way it deals with cases of stigmatisation of minorities especially Muslims or for that matter handling cases of what is known as Hindutva terror.

The debate is still on about the heinous murder of an undertrial Qateel Siddiqui inside the high security Yeravada jail by fellow 'patriotic' convicts - who were supposedly so infuriated by an act of bombing on a religious place  - an act for which Qateel was made an accused (which in fact had never taken place)- that they killed him on the last day of his remand at the jail. A enquiry has been ordered but we can very well prophesise that nothing is going to come out of it. Neither it is the first use of 'patriotic' criminals by the police/security agencies to further their dirty work nor it is going to be the last.

And close on the heels of a few of the accused in the Hindutva terror cases getting bail one after the other - for the simple reason that NIA (National Investigating Agency) could not file the chargesheet in the stipulated period - one is finding that preparations seem to be on so that Lt Col Purohit, a mastermind of many of the bomb explosions in different parts of the country, is allowed to go scot free. An indication of this can be had from the new spin which is being given to the role he played in the whole operation with the 'admission' by the terrorist that he had kept the military intelligence people in loop about his 'infiltration of Abhinav Bharat' - a 'Hindu' counterpart of say Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad. A weekly even carried out an interview with him - supposed to be the first of its kind - (Outlook, 9 th July 2012, I Infiltrated Abhinav Bharat, Did My Job, Kept Bosses In The Loop’). A leading newspaper gave a four column news announcing that ' NIA Sweats, 1 st Case Against Saffron Terror Flounders' (July 2, 2012, Times of India) which discussed 'short of evidence against Lt Col Purohit in Malegaon blast case'. The essence of the argument is that army's court of inquiry report on Purohit has supposedly revealed that he could have infiltrated Abhinav Bharat.

II.

Need To Probe Beyond Purohit

Anyone closely following the trajectory of Hindutva terror in this part of south asia would tell you that it is not for the first time that such 'nationalist' sounding spin is being given to the terror acts committed by Lt Col Purohit. There is enough documentary evidence available, a part of which is in the form of recorded tapes of meetings found on the laptop of Shankaracharya Dayanand Pandey, coaccused in the case, to prove how this man Lt Col Purohit was not acting as a mole but was leading the terror operations from front - making plans to sending emissaries to Israel and Nepal, collecting funds, managing explosives, interacting with senior leaders of RSS and its frontal organisations, floating organisation and most important of all putting forward the grand vision of a Hindu Rashtra and the way to its accomplishment. Not only that he was even contemplating assasination of two senior leaders of RSS - its supremo Mohan Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar - with the help of other hindutva fanatics.

Dayanand Pandey

..Dayanand Pandey: Now, listen about the plans. I have called the person with the chemicals, he will come to me... I will use the same guy to do the work. He will reach by the 8th.

Apte: I am doubtful. On the 18th, Mohan Bhagwat will reach Delhi. He is putting two plus two. Indresh [Kumar] must have told him, I may go to Yeshwant. So he must be waiting to discuss it with me. If he comes, then our job is over. I am not worried. I am insisting because they [Indresh and Bhagwat] are our enemies.

Pandey: I have another option. There is a guy in Varanasi, a professional, who can do the work for us. He said he could do it. He will take 50 percent before killing and 50 later. I have used him earlier, too.

Apte: Aapne Rs 5 lakh diye toh woh hain yaa nahi (You gave Rs 5 lakh, is it still there?)

Dayanand: That’s why I had mentioned about that chemical. The post-mortem won’t show the chemical, there is no risk for me. I have told him whatever time it takes, we are fine with it. I think this work will be done within two months...

(Refer to transcripts of Tapes Detailing Conversations between Colonel SP Purohit, Major Ramesh Upadhyay,  former BJP MP BL Sharma, Dayanand Pandey, Col. Dhar and RP Singh, an endocrinologist at Apollo Hospital, http://tehelka.com/story_main 46.asp? filename = Ne310710 TerrorTapes.asp)

It is also evident that the way a section of the Military Intelligence people have behaved in this case has definitely not brought them any glory but has even made it evident that they were also complicit at some levels in the criminal acts of Purohit and by providing a fig leaf to him to 'protect himself' they just want to ensure that the ambit of investigations does not move beyond the 'rogue' officer.

A trip down memory lane even tells us how from day one the army was not very cooperative in providing the information sought by  ATS (Anti Terrorist Squad) led by late Mr Hemant Karkare.

A perusal of a writeup in Outlook (A Much Tested Squad, 1 Dec 2008) by Smriti Koppikar provides details given by the ATS about its interaction with military people when it was on the lookout for accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case 2008.

In fact despite obtaining Purohit's custody for his role in the blast, the ATS was not able to know from army who provided help to Purohit in getting a fake identity card for Sudhakar Chaturvedi and who from the military helped him in issue an arms licence for Chaturvedi. Looking at the fact that Purohit made available explosives and weapons to the team, ATS wanted to know whether such things went missing from the army or not. When Narco tests on Purohit revealed that he met VHP leader Praveen Togadia on 1 st August in Mumbai, the investigating team wanted to know whether Purohit was granted leave on that day or not

    * The ATS was unable to recover Purohit's laptop for days after he was taken into custody though he had it with him in Panchmarhi, where he was last posted. ATS sources fear it may have been tampered with.

    * ATS sources say they have had to backtrack on their request to scan and interrogate three other serving officers whose names came up during the interrogation of those arrested in the case.

    * The ATS would also like the army to share a list of officers and men who were in close contact with Purohit at two stages—one during his stint in Jammu and Kashmir and later when he was posted at Nashik-Deolali.Fearing it might possibly open up a can of worms, this information has not been made available to investigators so far.

    * The army took its time, allege ATS sources, to furnish details of the Secret Service Fund accessed by Purohit.

When Purohit refused to share some information with the ATS under a plea that he would not reveal without permission from the army, senior army officers emphasised the fact that the defence establishment would not like Purohit to share such information with the investigators.

Contrary to provisions of Army rules ; Purohit is also alleged to have sold his 7.62 mm pistol to an arms dealer in Pune.In fact, there are enough blind spots in the whole case that people, formations seeking to reach the kernel of truth  have been demanding that the probe into Malegaon bomb blast should go beyond Col Purohit. The latest in series is a brief writeup in Tehelka ( 14 th July 2012) which provides details of the tapes of conversation between Purohit and many of the other accused in the case - which it had published earlier as well - emphasising the fact that it is high time that the investigations are taken up on the role of other Military Intelligence officials who find mention in the case.

But before coming to other details of l'affaire Purohit it would be opportune here to look at the metamorphosis of Shrikant Prasad Purohit, son of a bank clerk from Pune, to one of the most controversial military officers - accused of aiding and abetting terrorism - in the country.

III.

Militarising Minds, Hindutvaising the Nation

The Case of Bhonsla Military School

2001 : 40 days training camp of RSS-Bajrang Dal activists was organised on the premises of the Bhonsala military school, Nagpur. A total of 115 activists from all over the country, including 54 from Maharashtra, attended the camp. The trainees were imparted training in handling of weapons, making of bombs and exploding the same. Retired and serving army officers and retired senior IB officers were among the trainers (as disclosed in the investigation of Nanded blast case of 2006 and Malegaon blast case of 2008.)

(P. 43, ‘Who Killed Karkare’)

Pune, the eighth largest metropolies in India and the second largest in Maharashtra, is today a changed city. Traditionally supposed to be the cultural and educational hub of Maharashtra and a key centre of different political-social movements it also has another side, that of being home to militant Hindutva ideologies. Nathuram Godse, the first terrorist of independent India, was a resident of Pune only. And till date one finds a significant section of the elite entertaining sympathies with this exclusivist project. The exposure in the Malegaon bomb blast (Sep 2008) had once again underlined this aspect of the city. In fact many of the accused in the case belong to or have been associated with this city only.

One such gentleman happens to be Lt Col Jayant Chitale, a retired air defence artillery officer who runs the Maharashtra Military Foundation (MMF) and functions from his bunglow only. Few years back Maharashtra Military Foundation was in the news for organising a camp to ‘train youth on a suicide mission to counter terrorism’(Anti-terror training camp busted in Maharashtra, arms seized, Indian Express, 16 th Nov 2002, PTI, Posted online: Friday, November 15, 2002 at 1249 hours IST) In fact the ‘popularity’ of the MMF’s work in Maharashtra can be gauged from the fact that there was a news in a section of the media that ‘Gawli's party’ was ‘to donate funds to Maharashtra military group’ (Rediff On The NeT : Gawli's party to donate funds to Maharashtra ... www.rediff.com/news/aug/29mmf.htm - Cached)

According to Chitale, “This Malegaon blast could be the reaction of years of frustration within the army over denial of their rights and prestige. The politicians and the bureaucrats continue to ignore the military at their own peril and these acts could just be the beginning." In an interview to the ‘Outlook’ reporter (‘Godse’s War, Nov 17, 2008) Jayant Chitale told him that he had “[o]ver 1,000 of my boys serving in the three services today. Each one has been brainwashed by me. They are motivated, determined and will do anything for the nation." The visitor’s book which Chitale has carefully preserved lists the names of all the young men who were trained under him. Entry on February 20, 1993 tells us that Shrikant Prasad Purohit, Law College, Pune was also enrolled here. If one were to browse Purohit's other biographical details one learns that Shrikant Purohit had his brush with the Hindutva politics in his late teens when he attended a special coaching class for Short Service Commission officer-aspirants at the Bhonsala Military School in Nashik.

Founded in late thirties by one of the founders of RSS  Dr Munje, the said school has been recently in the news for the space it provided to organise meetings of the Hindutva terror people and even organising training camps in the use of bombs. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) investigating the Nanded bomb blast case 2006 had found that one of the ringleaders of the terror group Himanshu Panse - who had died in an explosion at a RSS activists house - had organised a training camp at the Bhonsala Military School in Nagpur, apart from other camps. Apart from mentioning their training in making pipe bombs near Pune it also talked about the fact that Panse and Wagh attended a 40-day training camp at Bhonsala Military School at Nagpur. The charge sheet and narco analysis of accused in the Nanded blast case made it very clear that a training camp was held in the Bhonsala Military School at Nagpur attended by 100 to 115 people in May 2000 from all over the country. City of Nanded witnessed another blast in February 2007, this time inside a bakery shop. Two persons died in the incident, both belonging to Hindutva organisations.Despite ample proof that Bhonsala Military School, was engaged in activities which are nothing but 'terror related' no action was taken against it.preparing the ground for similar acts in future.

Coming back to discussion about Purohit's military career it seems that it was not very remarkable.His participation in the counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir (2002) did not win him any special laurels. His tenure in Jammu and Kashmir continued upto January 2005, where he was transferred to the counter intelligence unit of the Military Intelligence Directorate. While his earlier stint in MMF or at Bhonsla Military School had convinced him about the weltanshauung (world view) of the Hindutva forces, his transfer to Maharashtra in 2005 seemed to have accelerated his attempts to work towards ‘building Hindu Rashtra’. His posting in the Military Intelligence Cell , which is meant for developing and maintaining links between army as well as the people , must have helped him a lot. It facilitated renewal of his contacts with the Hindutva activists, where Col S S Raikar, school commandant of Bhonsala Military School, played a key role, which later germinated in the form of Abhinav Bharat. He is reported to have even organised training camps in which dozens of people took part and were taught to handle arms. He also took initiative in organising camps in Pune but most of these camps took place in the campus of Bhonsla Military School only (Indian Express, 7 Nov 2008). Purohit said during the Faridabad meeting: “Whatever I have said today is in fact taken care of by the officers sitting there. The entire school is in my hands” (26 January Conversation: 25).

There is no doubt that he carefully used his position in the military intelligence unit, to develop contacts within the military and outside. In fact, he was smart enough to give an impression to many of his gullible colleagues that what he was doing was part of some’secret operations’ on behalf of the some higherups only. The chargesheet filed in the Malegaon case tells us a lot about it.

IV

The Other Fanatics in Uniform

Anyone who has had access to the chargesheet filed in the Malegaon (sep 2008) bomb blast case would tell you that it has testimonies of a few military personnel also - who knew Lt Col Purohit and whom he tried to rope in for his grand project of ‘Aryavarta Hindurashtra’. One gentleman’s - a colleague in the military - who was from Army Education Corps and ‘had experience to raise and run new schools at different places’ who had purchased a land in an underdeveloped area and had plans to ‘establish a school in that place, testimony is quite revealing. The gentleman seems to be a very religion-unbiased person who was instrumental in raising ‘16 schools at Kargil’ and persuaded the military establishment to make ‘Koran as part of curric4ulum’ and also visited Ajmer as part of ‘Mannat’ for his son’s good result for X th final.

Listening to his ideas Purohit had shown interest in his project and invited him to a meeting in Faridabad where he had promised that he would be able to meet some other people who would be helpful in his venture. It was a meeting of ‘Abhinav Bharat’ which was attended by many of those who are at present behind bars. Of course, it did not take much time for the enthusiastic gentleman to realise that Purohit had other plans and would not be of much use in the proposed school.

The chargsheet has also details of the telephonic conversation between Purohit and (retd.) Major Ramesh Upadhyaya whom Purohit addresses as ‘Sir’. Upadhyaya retired from the Army in 1988 and was the chief of the BJP’s ex-servicemen’s cell in Mumbai earlier and working president of Abhinav Bharat.According to Mail Today’ (18 July 2010) “The Maharashtra ATS claims he was a mere ‘member’ of the organisation, but from the tapes recovered from Pande it seems he was present in all meetings where the Malegaon bombing was planned. He used to interact at length with both Purohit and Pande. For all his talk of a ‘pure’ Hindu Rashtra, Upadhyaya had been arrested twice for stalking, threatening and posting indecent remarks about a woman whom he wanted to marry.”

At the meeting that took place in Faridabad in January 2008, one Col Aditya Dhar took part in the discussion, though very discreetly. Purohit introduced him by saying:

Purohit: I think we should introduce them to Col Aditya Dhar. He is in the Parachute regiment and I am posted with him right now in Panchmarhi.

Col Aditya Dhar: Since 23 years I have been in the Army.

Upadhyaya: He will be on the same plane for a Hindu Rashtra, a governing council, this will be the idea when we come in power (26 January Conversation: 10).

The way Purohit introduced him shows that he was recruiting in places where he worked. Three other officers have been named as strong contenders for the governing body that Purohit and his colleagues were willing to put in place (26 January Conversation: 29). Already, Purohit says, “Major Parag Modak is in charge of our international office” (26 January Conversation: 9).

The recordings of the meetings which were done by Swami Dayanand Pandey also provides details about the contacts the team had tried to establish with Israel and the king of Nepal who had promised them arms as well as training in arms. Another recording tells us about Delhi Hindu Mahasabha chief Ayodhya Prasad Tripathi’s loud claims about his links with an anti-Islamic group based in the UK headed by a ‘dreaded anti-communist and anti-Islamic’ David Gaus whose units ‘are growing rapidly in France, Germany, England and America’.

On these tapes Purohit is heard talking about starting a military school in every state, where recruits would be given rifle training during the summer. According to him these schools could be used to hide people in case of “any police action.” Interestingly, he emphasises that RSS’s name should not be linked in any way to the schools. “We have to assume such a name that is deceptive. We will work under the name ‘Bastion Guards.’

During the 2006 inquiry into the Nanded blast, a retired navy officer hailing from Pune, S R Bhate, who was associated with the RSS since 1996, declared to the police that as early as March-April 2000 he had been asked by the local Bajrang Dal leader “to train his activists in the use of gelatine sticks at a camp in the city” (Indian Express 2008) and then at a larger one in the BMS (Nasik).

Bhate told the ATS [Anti-Terror Squad] investigators that the camp had been organised by the RSS and about 115 activists from across the country were trained in karate, ground obstacles and firing of revolvers. Two retired ex-servicemen and a senior retired officer from the IB [Intelligence Bureau] were also present, he stated (Indian Express 2008).

Apart from the direct involvement of Ramesh Upadhyaya, a retired army Major, in the operations, one also gets to know from newspaper reports that the ATS under Mr Karkare had also interrogated Mr Raikar, Commandant of the Bhosla Military School for his knowledge of the whole conspiracy and the manner in which the premises of the School were freely given to others. In fact, Purohit had served with the new commandant of the school, Col S.S. Raikar, who also worked with military intelligence earlier, and had even requested him to let the Abhinav Bharat hold its meeting in the school.

Nashik, Nov 12, 2008 (PTI) The Principal and a clerk of Bhonsala Military School (BMS), where some of the arrested accused in Malegaon blast case held meetings, resigned today after both were questioned by Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad.

Principal Shailesh Raikar and clerk Rajan Gaidhani tendered their resignation to the city-based school management. Talking to PTI, BMS divisional secretary Diwakar Kulkarni said the management will discuss on the resignation issue at a meeting to be held tomorrow.

Both Raikar and Gaidhani has not given any reasons for their resignation but said the management has not asked for it.

The duo were recently taken by ATS in Mumbai for questioning in connection with the meeting the right wing group Abhinav Bharat held in the School premises on September 16, 13 days before the Malegaon blast. The meeting was attended by Lt Col P S Purohit and others.

Looking at the key role played by Bhosla Military School, which is run by a group of people whose sympathies with the RSS is no secret, one fails to understand why the chief bosses of the school were allowed to go scot free and were not arrested for their dubious role in facilitating and supporting outfits committed to Hindutva terror. Very few people even know that it is one of those rare schools who impart training on service pattern to the students alongwith regular courses which is aimed at encouraging and preparing them for entry into National Defence Academy (NDA), Indian Military Academy (IMA) etc and other defence services.

V.

The Not So Secret 'Infiltrator'

If one were to believe for a moment that Lt Col Purohit had kept his officers in the loop about his 'infiltration of Abhinav Bharat' then the immediate question arises why did the army hand him over to the Anti Terrorist Squad - and so quickly. Prof Christophe Jafferlot offers an explanation which is worth pondering over.

Given the opacity of the whole affair, we can only speculate. But two hypothesis - at least! - can be made. First, the army preferred to let Purohit appear as an Hindutva zealot turned terrorist rather than admitting that it was collecting intelligence in a place where it was not supposed to do so - Madhya Pradesh is not Jammu and Kashmir or the North East. The military institution preferred to sacrifice Purohit if this theory is right.

Or the second hypothesis could be that Purohit, who might have been an infiltrator first (something we need to corroborate on the basis of other testimonies), had become part and parcel of Abhinav Bharat and, therefore, a turn coat like David Headley vis-a-vis the US intelligence. This theory is well in tune with Purohit’s discourses during the Abhinav Bharat meetings.

Hopefully, a proper investigation will take place and its conclusions will be made public - since nobody should be above the law in a vibrant democracy like India. But neither the clarifications we’ve just received, nor the hypothesis we can make are comforting.

( Malegaon: Who’s Above the Law? - Christophe Jaffrelot, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVII No. 26-27, June 30, 2012 )

Interestingly contrary to army court's enquiry - whose extracts have rather created a confusion- an independent probe by the army makes it clear that Purohit was never authorised to infiltrate the right wing group Abhinav Bharat. (Malegaon bomb blast: Purohit had no orders to infiltrate Abhinav Bharat, finds Army probe, Rahul Tripathi,Manu Pubby, Indian Express, Posted: Jul 04, 2012 at 0217 hrs IST). It further adds that his '.. [a]ssociation with the group was in fact a breach of service rules, the force is said to have determined. Sources in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said the Army’s findings on the suspended officer would not impact the terror charges that it is investigating.'. NIA's investigation corroborates the fact that he was "acting independently” and never sought the permission of his seniors. He was also not mandated to hold meetings in Kolkata, Faridabad and Indore while being stationed in Deolali, sources said."

NIA sources said that contrary to Purohit’s claims that he was secretly infiltrating Abhinav Bharat, he had revealed his identity as an MI officer to Swami Aseemanand, another key accused in the case. ..

Investigators also suspect that a report by Purohit after the Malegaon blast naming Sadhvi Pragya and others — which is being cited in his defence that he kept his seniors in the loop — was a ploy to cover his tracks as he feared being linked to the blast after the Maharashtra ATS identified Pragya as a suspect.

The Army inquiry, sources said, has also found that Purohit violated other rules by procuring a bulletproof vest and a bugging device from his personal funds, and helping an accused in the case get a non-service pattern weapon. (Ref : -do-)

Question naturally arises about the extent and depth of right wing hindutva penetration in the army. It appears that the powers that be have never been very keen to broach the subject or undertake an investigation into the phenomenon. One still remembers the hurried manner in which Mr A.K. Antony, defence Minister of India, categorically stated after the arrest of Purohit, a serving army officer, the first of its kind in independent India, that he was the sole exception to the otherwise secular and democratic character of the army.

But was it really the case ?

Take the case of Sameer Bhate, or Col Dhar or Major Nitin Joshi :

A witness in the Malegaon case said that a ‘Colonel Dhar’ (later identified as Lt Col Bappaditya Dhar) was present in an Abhinav Bharat meeting. Purohit had also named several officers. “There are many respected men who are not there today,” Purohit is learnt to have said, adding, “There is a Col Raikar, Col Shailesh Raikar, a Major Nitin Joshi, and a Col Hasmukh Patel.” The ATS is learnt to have interrogated Raikar and Dhar extensively but could not move against them as it did not have a watertight case.(Mail Today, 18 July 2010, Saffron Terror’s Hall of Shame, By Krishna Kumar)

Perhaps it would be opportune here to listen to what Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, former Naval Chief, who was sacked by the BJP government, has to say on this issue. When the investigations into Malegaon bomb blast 2008 were going on he had shared his long experience of working with the military "There’s a clear majoritarian view in the military. The RSS has always had an agenda to infiltrate the armed forces, the intelligence services and the bureaucracy." Adml Vishnu Bhagwat, Former naval chief  (Something Not Uniform, Outlook, Nov 24, 2008)

As noted by observers, the language of the right has always had appeal for men in uniform in most democracies.It was symptomatic that 90s could be said to be the period in the Indian context when many ex-Army men joined BJP. When BJP came to power in 1998, two dozen ex-servicemen also preferred to side with it. Commenting on this phenomenon Mr Christophe Jafferlot writes: This inflow of ex-army men may reflect the increasingly communal atmosphere of the institution. In December 2003, a survey by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies for Tehelka, one of the first among army men — and probably the most comprehensive — showed that 19 per cent of the soldiers interviewed felt that the army practised some religious discrimination — and 24 per cent of the Muslims among them shared this view.(Hindutva Tradition of Terror, Saturday 7 February 2009, by Christophe Jaffrelot, Indian Express)

VI.

Too Clever By Half

The new developments in the investigations in Hindutva terror cases and the manner in which its selected extracts have appeared in a section of the press, are being watched with glee by the RSS and its frontal organisations. For them it has "..[e]xposed a deep-rooted conspiracy against Bharat, Hindus and the patriotic people of the country. The whole exercise allegedly conducted on instructions of a section of Congress leaders and some ministers in the UPA government to prove ‘safforn terror’ a reality and also to falsely implicate some Hindu saints and patriotic people in terror activities, now stands exposed." (Organiser, 15 th July 2012).It is worth emphaising that one also finds few nice words being expressed about Lt Col Purohit and Shankaracharya Dayanand Pandey - the duo which had conspired to kill RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar.

One is little bit surprised over the enthusiasm being expressed by the RSS over terror mastermind Purohit's feverish attempts to wriggle himself out of the terror tag and save his skin and letting his other accomplices in the 'mission' face the music. RSS must be thinking that Purohit's defence would help it as well in the long run as it finds itself on the defensive on this issue. With n number of RSS pracharaks behind the bars for their alleged role in Hindutva terror acts and many of them still absconding and with names of many senior leaders of the 'Parivar' doing rounds of the NIA for their role in this anti human conspiracy, it is also desperately looking for straws to save itself.

With their new found love for Lt Col Purohit the RSS top bosses have once again demonstrated that they suffer perenially from 'selective amnesia'.

In fact only last year no 2 in the RSS hierarchy had written a letter to Prime Minister asking him to form an independent commission to enquire into the alleged conspiracy hatched by the likes of Lt. Col. Purohit, Dayanand Pandey and others to kill Mohan Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar. The letter signed by Suresh (“Bhaiyaji”) Joshi, Sarkaryavah of the RSS and sent on 11 February, 2011, asked :

The fundamental question that arises, but not addressed, is: how could the RSS be bracketed with those who were viciously hostile to it and conspiring to kill its leaders? ..We believe that Col Purohit’s role was political and he was not acting on his own. Thorough probe is needed to find out those behind him in his attempts to divide the RSS and its friendly organisations from within. This larger political conspiracy cannot be unraveled by mere criminal investigation. Col. Purohit had been aggressively anti-BJP and anti-RSS as the Malegaon case evidence brings out. Hence arises the issue about his hidden political connections and agenda. It is needless to say that only those who would politically benefit from such strategies could have been behind him. But, only a thorough, independent investigation will expose his political agenda and connections. Similar probe is also required against Dayanand Pandey, whose role is equally mysterious. Otherwise the full truth would remain buried. (http://rssonnet.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=151)

Any layperson would like to ask Mr Mohan Bhagwat or Mr Suresh Joshi, whether they have got the necessary response about the 'aggressively anti-BJP and anti-RSS' Col Purohit from the Prime Minister that they are ready to take his words as gospel truth. Why this new found love for 'those who were viciously hostile to it and conspiring to kill its leaders?' and also attempted '.to divide the RSS and its friendly organisations from within.'

Would it be improper to say that this Bollywood mimicking turn in the love-hate relationship between RSS and Lt Col Purohit, rather vindicates a Marathi proverb which says that ‘A cat drinks milk with its eyes closed and thinks the world is not watching.’.

Shaikh Mohammed Afroz, cousin of murdered terror suspect Qateel Siddiqui has accused the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of being responsible for the murder of his deceased cousin inside the high security 'anda cell' of the Yerawada Central Jail.

Contact : subhash.gatade@gmail.com

Who did the CRPF shoot?

***  Protest and Demonstration against Bijapur Massacre on July 17th, Tuesday at 11.00 AM Chhattisgarh Bhawan.

(PUDR, AIFTU (New), SFR, KYS, KNS, INQILABI MAZDOOR KENDRA, RADICAL NOTES, MAZDOOR PATRIKA, SANHATI, PDFI & Other Democratic individuals.)

July 11, 2012

Report of the killing of adivasis by CRPF forces in Bijapur district, Chattisgarh

A CDRO Fact-Finding

An all-India fact-finding team of rights activists belonging to the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO) visited the area in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh where 17 adivasis died as a result of firing by CRPF forces on the night of June 28, 2012. The team visited the villages of Sarkeguda, Kottaguda and Rajpenta and elicited information about the events. The following is a brief report of the team. A more detailed report will follow in due course. The team visited the villages of Sarkeguda, Kottaguda and Rajpenta on July 6 and 7 and elicited information about the events.

All three villages are small settlements located close to each other and in the jurisdiction of the Basaguda police station which is located about a km. away. There is a CRPF camp at about three km from the three villages. While Sarkeguda with 25 households and Rajpenta (12 households) are in Korsagudem panchayat, Kottaguda with 30 households is in Cheepurupatti panchayat. Most residents of the three villages belong to the Dorla Koya tribe.

About 60 adivasis of these three villages assembled from around 8 pm on June 28 in an open area between Sarkeguda and Kottaguda. Such meetings where decisions have to be taken collectively are usually held during the night since adivasis are busy with work most of the day. As the sowing season was upcoming, the meeting was held to discuss several issues related to farming including fixing the date for the traditional seed sowing festival known as bija pondum- (this was to have taken place a few weeks earlier but was delayed because the pujari who conducts the ritual had died), distribution of land for tilling, lending help to those families who were without cattle, deciding the amount of rent for using the new tractor they had brought and how to raise fish. Arrears of Rs 10,000 due to the adivasis since two years for tendu leaf collection were paid only recently and they also wanted to discuss what use to put it to. It was a fairly cloudy night and visibility was poor. All those in the gathering were adivasi residents of the three villages and unarmed.

While the meeting was going on, a large contingent of CRPF personnel and CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action, a specialised anti-naxalite guerilla unit of the CRPF) commandos numbering well over a hundred, cordoned off the area. According to the villagers, at about 10 pm there was gunfire without any warning. The first burst was from towards the west and it hit three adivasis who died instantly. This was quickly followed by firing from three other directions. Terrified villagers began screaming and running. Most ran towards their respective villages. Some tried to hide in a hay-storing enclosure. Those who were fleeing for their lives were also fired upon. The firing continued for about 30 minutes after which, as if to survey the dead, the CRPF forces fired two flare guns that lit up the area. The forces stayed on in the area.

It was clear to the fact-finding team that a peaceful gathering of adivasis, none of whom carried any firearms, was surrounded by the CRPF and without any warning fired upon indiscriminately. As a result of this firing, 16 adivasis died — 15 that night and Irpa Suresh (15) in Bijapur hospital the next day. Six of the dead were minors, including a 12 year old girl Kaka Saraswati, daughter of K Rama. She was hit while fleeing towards her house in Kottaguda. Of the other five minors, two — Kaka Rahul (16) and Madkam Ramvilas (16) — were studying in class 10 at a school in Basaguda. Both stayed at a hostel in Basaguda and had come home during the summer vacations.
It was plain slaughter that night near Sarkeguda.

According to the villagers, those who did not die from the bullet wounds were killed by the police with axes they picked up from the village itself. Several eyewitnesses from outside the village, including mediapersons who saw the bodies before they were cremated, referred to some of them as having been brutalised with deep hacking cuts on the chests and foreheads.

The 17th victim of this senseless butchery was Irpa Ramesh, husband of I Lachmi and father of three children. After the firing began, he ran and made it to the safety of his house and stepped out at dawn at about 5 am to survey the area. He was fired upon immediately and though he was hit, managed to get back inside his house. The CRPF men followed him in and clobbered him to death with a brick in front of his family members. According to Ramesh’s father Irpa Raju, the CRPF men also stole Rs 5,000 from their house. The same night the police also stole Rs 30,000 from Irpa Narayana’s house in Rajpenta as well as Rs 2,000 from the house of Madkam Nagesh.

Those killed are:
From Kottaguda:
1. Kaka Saraswati (12), daughter of K Rama
2. Kaka Sammayya (32), farmer, husband of K Nagi.
3. Kaka Rahul (16), student of Class 10 at Basaguda, son of K Narayana.
4. Madkam Ramvilas (16), student of Class 10 at Basaguda and classmate of Kaka Rahul, son of M
Butchaiah.
5. Madkam Dileep (17), studied upto Class 8 at Pamed, assists his father M Muttaiah in farming.
6. Irpa Ramesh (30), farmer, husband of I Lachmi, father of three children.
7. Irpa Dinesh (25), farmer, husband of I Janaki, father of four children, is younger brother of Irpa Ramesh.
8. Madkam Nagesh (35), farmer, also a professional dholak player who performed during festivals, husband of M Sammi, father of two children. His wife is pregnant with their third child.
9. Madkam Suresh (30), farmer, husband of M Sammi and father of two children, is younger brother of Madkam Nagesh.
10. Irpa Narayana (45), farmer, husband of I Narsi, father of four children.
From Rajpenta:
11. Irpa Dharmayya (40), farmer, husband of I Bheeme, father of five children.
12. Irpa Suresh (15), studied upto class 5, son of I Chandrayya. Died at Bijapur hospital on June 29.
From Sarkeguda:
13. Sarke Ramanna (25), farmer, husband of S Somulu, father of three children.
14. Apka Meetu (16), son of A Sukhram, helps his father in farming.
15. Korsa Bichem (22), son of K Gutta, worked earlier for a borewell firm at Hyderabad, came home a month ago to help his family in farming.
16. Kunjam Malla (25), farmer, son of K Lakmadu.
17. Madvi Aithu (40), farmer, husband of M Kamli and father of four children.

Six adivasis were injured in the firing. Four of them, Kaka Ramesh (11) and Kaka Parvathi (10), Irpa Chinnakka (40) and Abka Chotu (16) were admitted to hospitals in Bijapur and Jagdalpur and have since returned home after treatment. Madkam Somayya (30) and Kaka Senti (19) were taken to a hospital in Raipur and are still undergoing treatment but are out of danger. Among the injured Kaka Ramesh (13) and his younger sister Kaka Parvathi (11) escaped narrowly. After the firing began, they ran in the direction of their house in Kottaguda and sustained bullet injuries on their left arms. Irpa Munna (26) and Sarka Pullaiah (20) who were also injured were not taken to the hospital by the CRPF. They are being treated with traditional medicine by their fellow adivasis in Sarkeguda and Kottaguda respectively. A few cattle also died in the firing.

The CRPF men camped in the ground that night and took away 15 of the dead to Basaguda the same night and Irpa Ramesh in the morning. Apart from the injured, they also took along with them about 25 villagers who were let off in the evening. The adivasis went to Basaguda the same day and demanded that the bodies be handed over. The police did so towards evening and the villagers performed their funeral the next day. While some were cremated others were buried. The body of Irpa Dinesh was not returned to the village since, according to the police, he was a Maoist. His body was buried near the police station at Basaguda.

Flouting standard norms, the CRPF men not only carried away the bodies but also scooped away the bloodstained ground beneath the bodies. The Bijapur superintendent of police has gone on record saying that “proper post mortem was conducted by a team of doctors at the Basaguda thana and a report is being prepared”. A post mortem has to be conducted at a hospital properly equipped for the routine and not a police thana. Significantly, the villagers are unanimous that no post mortem was carried out, a fact corroborated by several reporters who saw none of the tell-tale marks that show on the body after a post mortem procedure.

The fact-finding team was also told by the villagers that on the morning of the 29th, CRPF men dragged two women to the fields nearby and tore their clothes. Three other women were also abused, beaten up and threatened with rape.

While these are the plain facts, the police establishment — from the Bijapur SP to high-ranking officials in the CRPF establishment — have sought to portray this carnage on adivasi civilians as one of a prolonged exchange of fire with dreaded Maoists resulting in the deaths. Injuries sustained by six CRPF and CoBRA commandoes was repeatedly pointed out. These lies were duly parroted by the political class headed by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram. Broadly, the initial assertion was that an “Operation Silger” was planned several weeks ago and three teams of the CRPF and CoBRA personnel had planned to converge in an area where they had “intelligence inputs” of a big Maoist gathering. Even before the CPRF men could reach there, they came upon a congregation at Sarkeguda and before they could verify matters, they were fired upon because of which the CRPF men resorted to firing in “self defence” resulting in the death of many Maoists. According to IG (Operations), CRPF Pankaj Kumar Singh “a full-fledged Maoist training camp was being run there and the arrangements were such that if attacked they could wrap up everything and leave in 10 minutes. We have recovered IED’s, lot of literature, polythene tents, solar cells and muzzle loading guns.”

This is brazen falsehood to explain away a horrible crime. The plea of self-defence is a favourite invocation by the police and paramilitary forces to explain away extra-judicial killings. The fact-finding team is of the firm opinion that there was no exchange of fire and the firing was completely one-sided, emanating only from the side of the special forces. It was unannounced and unprovoked.
The injuries to six CRPF and CoBRA personnel on that night was repeatedly cited by CRPF officers to buttress their argument of an exchange of fire. The fact-finding team noticed dozens of bullet marks on trees around the area where the adivasis had assembled as well as bullet marks on some houses indicating that the adivasi gathering was fired upon from all directions. It is entirely plausible that the six personnel sustained the injuries because of the firing by their colleagues from the other sides. The villagers themselves are of the firm opinion that the six CRPF and CoBRA men were caught in their own crossfire. All adivasi residents that the fact-finding team spoke to stated emphatically that there were no Maoists present in their gathering and all of those attending the meeting that night were unarmed.

Following reports in the national media that there were a number of civilians, including minors, who were killed, the official version was toned down but the basic argument of armed Maoist presence at the meeting and a bonafide encounter continues to be insisted upon. The CRPF now says that seven of the deceased — Madkam Suresh, Madkam Nagesh, Madvi Ayatu, Kaka Sammayya, Korsa Bijje, Madkam Dilip and Irpa Narayana are Maoists and that there are various cases of violence of a serious nature lodged against them in various police stations across Chattisgarh state. In a macabre take on the death of adivasi civilians, Chattisgarh Chief Minister S Raman Singh said that the Maoists had used the adivasis as human shields and therefore were responsible for the death of civilians!

The more intelligent among the security establishment have now launched a discourse about “unfortunate collateral damage” and how that may be minimized in such engagements in future. Pertinently, there was no way that the CRPF and CoBRA men could have made out the presence of armed people in the gathering on a cloudy night and from the distance they were located at — about 100 metres away. They surrounded the gathering and began firing with murderous abandon. Even if the claim of the CRPF that they were fired upon and were only retaliating is true, there is absolutely no justification whatsoever in unleashing gunfire on a village gathering.

Over many years, terrible violence has visited the area. In particular after a combination of the police and criminal Salwa Judum vigilante gangs were let loose on the adivasis in south Bastar since 2005. In a six-month long reign of terror, residents of all three villages have faced attacks by Salwa Judum gangs, had their houses looted and burnt as a consequence of which they migrated, many of them to Khammam district in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Two adivasis, Madkam Billa and a minor Korse Bheema of Sarkeguda were also killed by the police at the time. In fact, the adivasis had returned about three years ago and were in the process of rebuilding their lives when the June 28 massacre happened.

In many villages of Korseguda and Cheepurupatti panchayats, instances of police harassment abound. While in the earlier phase of State brutality on adivasis, the common word one heard was that the “judum have done this”, now people say “the forces are causing a lot of problem” alluding to the CRPF and other paramilitary and special police that have been pumped into the area in large numbers over the past two years. The forces, they say, come and position themselves near the villages in the night and fire in the air. “They do this to see if any one comes out and runs so as to kill them.” People of Korseguda, Cheepurupatti and other nearby panchayats go to Basaguda to purchase supplies and also sell some of their produce. “But only the women go since the men will invariably be taken in by the police at Basaguda, questioned, abused, beaten and sometimes detained for weeks on end. The men started staying away after some of them were booked in false cases.”

As the fact-finding team was approaching the three villages, we saw several groups of heavily armed CRPF men in the forest. They viewed us suspiciously but did not intervene in any manner. They were present when the team was on its way back several hours later. Their presence, after having been responsible for the blood-shed a week ago, works against normal and fearless functioning of life in the area. Referring to the announcement by the Chattisgarh government of a judicial enquiry by a sitting High Court judge into the incident, the adivasis said it would only have any meaning if the enquiry was held in the village itself.

Amidst this inhumanity, there was in evidence a heartening defiance among the adivasis. Unlike during the horrendous mayhem of the early salwa judum, the adivasis are not considering leaving their villages anymore. Instead, there is a strong sense of the injustice done to them and an urge for redressal. The fact-finding team was witness to relief sent by the government being rejected outright. The SDM of Bhoopalapatnam RA Kuruvanshi had arrived in several vehicles with supplies of rice, dal, clothes and some utensils. Angry villagers virtually shouted him and other officials out of Kotteguda. “You kill our children and now you want to help?” “We are Maoists, are we not? Have you come here to give Maoists these supplies?”

The fact-finding team is of the opinion that the mowing down of 17 adivasis on June 28 is a fall-out of the current counter-insurgency strategy of the government in its fight against the Maoists. In Chattisgarh, time and again this has meant that adivasis perceived of being the support base of the Maoists are being deliberately targeted and subjected to terrible violence. This is an unacceptable violation of the right to life and liberty. Functionaries of the Central and State governments keep stating from time to time that Maoism is not merely a law and order problem but as one having strong socio-economic roots. However, in practice Maoism is being treated as nothing but an outbreak of mere criminality and deployment of killer security forces is seen as the only solution. This policy of brutal suppression must end. It is not our case that the police must turn a blind eye to violence by the Maoists. The police must carry out the task of prevention and investigation of crime and they must do so fully respecting people’s rights and must function strictly within the ambit of the law. The government should implement a policy which seriously addresses issues of social and economic deprivation. It must stop treating the law of the land and the Constitution with contempt. Governments must adopt a political approach to the Maoists in place of the policy of violent suppression that has been the State’s principal response all these many years.

Demands:

1. All CRPF and CoBRA personnel who participated in the operation near Sarkeguda village on the night June 28 must be charged under Section 302 of IPC relating to murder and other relevant provisions of the penal code as well as under the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and prosecuted.

2. All CRPF and CoBRA personnel who participated in the operation near Sarkeguda village on the night June 28 must be must be charged for sexually molesting women and looting and destroying of property. The above must be prosecuted under relevant sections of the IPC.

3. The Central and State governments must stop the ongoing policy of trying to brutally suppress the Maoists and must address that movement politically.

4. Governments must respect the Fifth Schedule mandate in letter and spirit and the adivasis’ right to land, forest and other natural resources in their region. Protective legislation for the adivasis must be sincerely implemented.

Members of the Fact-finding team:

1. Pritipal Singh of Association for Democratic Rights (AFDR), Punjab.
2. Prashant Halder, secretariat member of Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), West Bengal.
3. Ashish Gupta, of Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) and convenor, Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO) from Delhi.
4. R Shiva Shankar, Nellore district secretary of the Organisation for Protection of Democratic Rights (OPDR) and B Ram Reddy, OPDR Warangal district convener.
5. C Chandrasekhar, State general secretary of Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC), V Chittibabu and D Suresh Kumar State vice-presidents, N Srimanarayana, V. Raghunath and R Rajanandam State joint secretaries, Gunti Ravi State committee member and Balakrishna and Muralikrishna, members of Kurnool district of APCLC.
6. VS Krishna, State general secretary of Human Rights Forum (HRF), SK Khadar Babu and D Adinarayana, HRF president and general secretary, Khammam district.
(AFDR, APDR, PUDR, OPDR, APCLC and HRF are member organisations of CDRO.)

Dated: 10-7-2012

(All photos Courtesy The Hindu)