Ideologically,Naxals oppose development initiatives by the Government in their areas of operation. So,authorities in Dhanora tehsil in Nagpur district were in for a pleasant New Year surprise this time. Between December 21 and 25,they recovered pamphlets by Naxals here egging on villagers to fight for issues like check dams,water reservoirs,fair-price shops and Rs 10,000 per acre for crop damage. Fight for these things from the government in view of the drought situation, the posters by the Akal Sangharsha Samiti of the CPI (Maoist) said. Get the government to declare Gadchiroli a drought-hit district,build new water reservoirs,deepen and desilt the existing ones,build check dams across rivers and nullahs,start fair-price shops in every village and give Rs 10,000 compensation per acre for crop damage. I am surprised, admitted Pankaj Gupta,Additional Director-General of Police (Anti-Naxalite Operations). The governments developmental initiatives will only harm their interest. The government has already initiated a lot of these measures in the district. The idea could be to grab credit for things already on government agenda, he said. Gupta gave the example of another recovered Maoist poster,which claimed credit for the distribution of land pattas to villagers under the new Tribal Act. The posters were found in the area where the police and the district administration had jointly started many programmes under Operation Sarvodaya, he told The Indian Express. The seizure of the posters comes in the wake of the surrender of nearly 50 local Naxal sangam members from Etapalli area of the district last year,who had told The Indian Express that one of the reasons they were giving up was the Maoist opposition to development. They were all members of the Maoist-inspired Janatana Sarkar (peoples government). Local Naxal cadres are known to be upset with top bosses for not allowing any developmental activity in their areas,leaving them to face uncomfortable questions from an angry public. I used to argue that either we (Naxalites) carry out the developmental works or allow the government to do the same since the people need them anyway,and question us about them, one of the surrendered Naxals,Suresh Harami of the North Gadchiroli Gondia Divisional Committee,had told The Indian Express. A local activist also played down the significance of the posters,saying Naxals are known to take such measures around droughts,the idea being to use the measures for their own gains.
