Shifting balance between Maoists and splinter groups

Published here
Manoharpur, April 17

The ongoing general elections may be the first time that what was showing up as an LWE statistic is being played out on the ground: while the CPI-Maoist retains unparalleled reach, the splinter groups to which it has ceded ground are flexing their muscle.

Despite recording the highest number of left wing extremism-related incidents (383) as well as deaths (150) in 2013, Jharkhand has remained relatively peaceful during the ongoing general elections.

This, even as fellow LWE-affected states Chhattisgarh as well as Bihar have witnessed attacks resulting in fatalities. As the second of three phases of polling ends in the state on April 17, all the eight most vulnerable Category A districts of Jharkhand have voted without any deaths in LWE-related incidents. The most serious incident came on Thursday morning, when four CRPF personnel and a driver were injured in two attacks in Bokaro's Jhumra hills.

An oft-overlooked LWE statistic gives an indication about how influential LWE organisations could have been this election: that 120 of the 150 killed in 2013 were civilians. This means that 80 per cent of the time, it is a civilian who dies due to LWE conflict; the figure was 65.16 per cent across the country excluding Jharkhand.

The spotlight remains on the CPI-Maoist, but the 20-odd splinter groups that claim to have left-leaning ideologies accounted for over 60 per cent of these incidents. As of 2013, almost all of them actively shied away from engaging security forces and are responsible for most of the 120 civilian deaths mostly because of their intimate involvement in the day-to-day running of the villages they are entrenched in. In 2014, the People’s Liberation Front of India overtook the CPI-Maoist in the incidents pie - the former accounts for around 36 per cent on its own, while the Maoists are responsible for around 34 percent.

This shift in the balance of power was evident on the ground this election. Though the Maoists made a lot of noise about poll boycott, the PLFI was probably the most influential LWE organisation in terms of actively having a say on election results.

The Maoists certainly had the most widespread influence - security personnel were mobilised to counter them, after all. The CPI-Maoist were successful in holding village-level meetings and putting up posters calling for a poll boycott in almost each of the Category A districts. At Khunti's Arki block, for example, campaigning for all parties was negligible. However, there were no reports of Maoist presence within the Saranda forest, the organisation's Eastern Regional Bureau headquarters till 2011. In the adjoining Porahat forest division, the Maoists managed to hold one boycott meeting within Gudri block and stuck posters.

It is difficult to estimate how effective the poll boycott call was - polling percentages have gone up across board, after all. The Maoists - rather, one of their senior leaders - came out in active support of one individual. Regional Committee member Nakul Yadav's support to JVM(P)'s Chatra candidate Nilam Devi was reportedly because of familial ties and not of ideological ones. Devi, even otherwise putting up strong fight, eventually came to be known as a "Maoist" candidate in the adivasi villages of Latehar district, within Chatra constituency.

In Chatra, the Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee did not name a favourite. This was unlike the 2010 Assembly elections, when Ganesh Ganjhu, brother of TSPC's supreme commander Brajesh Ganjhu, contested as a JMM candidate. Lawalong, the centre of TSPC's activities, had the presence of all party offices this time as opposed to 2010, when only the JMM flag flew. With Ganesh apparently favouring the BJP this time - he denied this in a conversation with this newspaper, his supporters worked for the party. However, the TSPC did not seem like it had a horse in the Chatra race. On the other hand, in the Palamu constituency, the TSPC reportedly supported an individual who was instrumental in the organisation's formation.

The PLFI, a ruthless and ambitious organisation that left behind the ideological guise long back, took a major decision when it attacked the police for the first time on March 25 in Khunti. They have been brazen during the election, reportedly campaigning for Jharkhand Party candidate and former state minister Anosh Ekka. Driving through Murhu town - a PLFI stronghold - on the morning of elections, only Ekka's flags and campaign office was visible. The PLFI has threatened Aam Aadmi Party's candidate Dayamani Barla's supporters twice, using Ekka's name during the second incident and demanding that they campaign for him. There are worries that the organisation will attack Barla's supporters post-elections.