Only Jha-Pa in Lapa: the PLFI now has a political footprint

This was published, edited, here.

Rosalia - foreground - sitting outside the polling booth in Lapa.

Rosalia Barla (69) walked around the campus of the R.C. Primary Middle School in Khunti district's Lapa, beaming.

"They say Lapa is home to criminals. To them I say, Jharkhand is full of criminals. If criminals lived in my village, would we have such a peaceful election?" she said outside the school, booth number 18 within Torpa assembly constituency as the number of votes polled shot up to 132 in the third hour at 10.10 AM, from 11 and 70 each in the first two. The booth in Lapa, within Karra block, had 1047 registered voters from the village's five hamlets.

Even Rosalia - a resident of Lapa's Sarnatoli hamlet in which the school is located and who is also the president of Barkaspur panchayat - would not easily admit to the existence of the forces that have helped Lapa help pretend peace existed on Tuesday morning.

As it turned out, the village's most famous product had visited the previous night. "Dinesh told me to vote for the Jha-Pa candidate. I told him Jha-Pa would merely go and support a larger party and that we should support one of the two national parties. He just repeated that we have to vote for Jha-Pa," said an individual who claimed to have met with Dinesh Gope on Monday night.

xxxx

Dinesh Gope is the supremo of the People's Liberation Front of India, the largest left wing extremist splinter group in Jharkhand. Gope was born in the Morhatoli hamlet of Lapa. At times during this year, the PLFI was so virulent that it exceeded the CPI-Maoist in terms of violent incidents. The organisation, which has of late become all about the collection of protection money from individuals and enterprises, is often blamed to be the primary reason why Jharkhand has topped the country in LWE-related incidents in 2012: PLFI rarely fights the security forces and instead prefers to mostly kill civilians alleging them to be police informers. The PLFI is active mainly in the South Chotanagpur division - Khunti, Simdega, Gumla, Ranchi and Lohardaga districts.

The PLFI, which supported its former Zonal Commander Paulus Surin's successful bid from jail to be the Torpa MLA in 2009 on a JMM ticket, has abandoned him this time. Gope was reportedly angry with Surin's inability to successfully lobby the Hemant Soren government to lift a police picket outside a school owned by him. The PLFI has instead supported Jharkhand Party - Jha-Pa to villagers - candidate Suman Bhengra in Torpa. This will only raise the blood pressure of Surin, who never camped in Torpa during his tenure, instead preferring to travel all the way to his quarters within the state assembly campus each night.

The PLFI's support to Jha-Pa only raises suspicion that the party has now become a proxy for the extremist organisation. This should eventually lead to questions about its legality - Jha-Pa chief Anosh Ekka and MLA of Simdega district's Kolebira is currently in jail for a murder he allegedly ordered the PLFI to commit. Ekka, a former minister who is also a candidate, has long been suspected to be the main source of funding and political power to the PLFI. Ekka has also nominated his wife Menon Ekka to the Simdega constituency. Those who have heard the police's recording of tapped conversations between Ekka and PLFI area commander Vikram Gope claim Gope - and his bosses were reluctant to murder para-teacher Manoj Kumar, but had to carry it out on Ekka's insistence.

xxxx

Only the Jha-Pa managed to campaign within Lapa: this newspaper spotted a single cloth-banner featuring Ekka's picture on a tree in the village. "The Congress tried to come in, but some boys from the sangathan [PLFI] threatened them en route and turned them away," said a villager. Lapa is located on the border of Karra and is at the intersection of Ranchi's Lapung, Khunti's Torpa and Gumla's Kamdara, which makes it a tough spot to police. Across the river that runs along Bakaspur panchayat is Kamdara's Banpur, where the PLFI allegedly killed seven people on November 3. Gope was reportedly present for the massacre.

Rosalia was a government teacher and anganwadi sevika before she was elected unopposed. She does not deny the PLFI had a hand in it. "They insisted that I should be the mukhiya. I declined, but they kept coming back. I was scared, I even told the police station incharge that I would not contest," she said. Later, the police named her in an FIR along with multiple local self-government representatives for being allegedly PLFI supporters. The case against her has since been dropped. "I finally told the party that I will leave my good job and contest if they made sure I was elected unopposed. I didn't want to be the laughing stock of the village at this old age," she said.

On Tuesday, Lapa did not have the booth agents of any party: it would have been wasteful, because the villagers had already been told whom to vote for. The village received electricity only in November: they thank outgoing legislator Paulus Surin for it. Youngsters were conspicuous by their absence in the queue outside the booth. "A large number of villagers are out of the state, working as labourers. My son in working in someone's farm in Punjab," said Barla, who lost another son to migration: "He died the same day he arrived in Goa to work at a seafood-processing factory. They could not even send back his body."

Barla insists she does not support the PLFI. "I will not even contest in the next panchayat elections. I admit I have not been able to bring vikas to this village; I am taking solace in the fact that I managed to get 25 ration cards issued in my panchayat," she said. An individual who is familiar with the governance of the panchayat said the PLFI demands anywhere between 5-10 percent "levy" on every expense. "We don't even have shops in Lapa. The party asks for money even from them. The panchayat representatives are afraid to be corrupt for one major reason - if the party hears they take money, they will demand cuts from them, too," said the villager.

Barla refused to talk about how the PLFI interferes in local administration. However, she chuckled when she talked about how she managed once to convince Gope to do the right thing. "His boys were taking supplies away from our four public distribution shops. I managed to meet Dinesh and pleaded with him not to trouble the poor villagers. They stopped," she said.

Despite all this, Gope - a Yadav - retains the support of a large number of people in his village. "He took up a gun to resist the Rajputs of Barkatoli [one of the five hamlets of Lapa]. The Rajputs were troubling our girls, stealing our things and looking down on us. Now, they are scared," said the villager who refused to be named for this story.

To be a Maoist in Jharkhand

(This was published, edited, here.)

In the dark about what his bosses think about him, yest over-worked and under-rested. Separated from his wife and unable to see his mother who suffers from mouth cancer. 

Jeevan Kandulna (36) could be just be another Indian man who keeps his emotions bottled. However, Jeevan's is no ordinary life.

In a rare, candid interview, a platoon commander of the Communist Party of India-Maoist's People's Liberation Guerrilla Army spoke to this newspaper in the past week within the Porahat forest of Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district.

Jeevan assumed de-facto charge of the crucial Porahat sub-zone when senior leader Prasadji - whose real name is Krishan Ahir - was picked up by Ranchi police on August 13. "The party has not yet sent a replacement for Prasadji. In fact, no senior leader has talked to me since his arrest. I am supposed to co-ordinate with Bundu sub-zonal commander Dheeraj-da, but it has not been easy," said Jeevan, a Munda adivasi who uses the name Gajendra Singh, hails from Khunti district's Torpa block.

A full platoon of the PLGA comprises 30 fighters. There are at least two other platoons in the Porahat sub-zone. Kundan Pahan, the second-most wanted Maoist leader in the state, moves around with one of them.

The police made another significant arrest after Prasadji's, taking in Mukhlal Mahto (Mochu), who they say replaced Prasadji in Ranchi's Silli sub-zone. Jeevan disputes this: "As far as I know, the in-charge of Silli has been Pragati-da. But then, I wouldn't be so sure - I have not been reading newspapers for the last few months."

When this newspaper visited the site from where police say Mochu was arrested, villagers claimed he was brought in a police vehicle and that no encounter with his squad took place, as claimed by the police. With Prasadji, senior police officers have confirmed to this newspaper that he was picked up while on his way to meet his girlfriend and that no encounter had taken place as claimed before the the media.

Despite the arrests, Jeevan believes Silli has been a major gain. "The party was never present in Silli. We used to use it only as a corridor (connecting West Bengal's Purulia district) and could not afford to stay. We established a sub-zone and Prasadji was given additional charge of it earlier this year," said Jeevan.

The reason why Jeevan could not read newspapers was because he was down with brain malaria since June. Later, when Kundan Pahan's elder brother Dimba - a platoon commander who uses the name Suresh - joins us, he also reveals he was recently diagnosed with malaria.

Jeevan admits the party organisation is not in a healthy state in his region. "We had to hurriedly celebrate the Martyrs' Week (July) this year. The Foundation Week celebrations too, were held hurriedly in four places. The police were swarming here," he said. The Maoists have not managed to conduct the Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign - when they plan and execute major attacks against security forces - yet this year. The party is yet to announce its plan of action ahead of the assembly elections here.

"When a school teacher was arrested for being our supporter, we tried to conduct a mass agitation demanding that his replacement be posted immediately. People did not turn up in large numbers," he said. The party has been trying to mobilise alleged victims of sexual harrassment by security forces on anti-left wing extremist operations, but villagers remain scared to speak up. "I have asked a victim and her father to meet me. They are not coming forward," said Jeevan, constantly reminding us that his operational area shares space with Birsa Munda's.

Jeevan says the grassroots organisation has gone missing: "The party works through its committees. We don't have the Nari (Mukti Sangh) and (Krantikari) Kisan Committee are non-existent. I am the only person running the party here; there should be at least three." The situation is akin to a civilian head of state also being the chief of armed staff. In a sign that the Maoist party has come to be an overtly militaristic organisation, Jeevan says his militia is still strong. "Recruitment is still healthy. Our cadres could do with more training, though. Also, a number of them are not staying for long," he said.

In July this year, the West Singhbhum police had arrested a man travelling with 13 minors. He named Jeevan, saying the children had been on their way to join his squad. Most of the 10-15 sentries who secured the perimeter and kept watch looked like they were pushing the envelope when it comes to looking over 18 years old. When they were making their cadres pose for photographs, Suresh mumbled, "Only the two of us are left as seniors. Everyone else is gone."

Jeevan says he joined the party in 2009. His story is symptomatic of the conditions the CPI-Maoist operates in South Chotanagpur. "I joined after a neighbour who was with the PLFI (People's Liberation Front of India, the state's largest splinter group) killed one of my sisters. Those in my family then began attempting to kill him or his relatives," said Jeevan. Eventually, when he needed external support to counter the PLFI, Jeevan went over to the Maoists. His village is less than a kilometre from Jiten Gudiya's, the PLFI's second-in-command.

The PLFI is the enemy that knows the Maoists all too well and is the immediate threat. Jeevan admits of the three areas in his sub-zone, his party has no presence in one. "They keep coming into our territory. When we try to encounter them, they run away," he said.

The police are also closing in. Jeevan's wife Nirmala was arrested on July 8. This means Jeevan is yet to see his daughter, who was two months old then. He insists his wife was never a member of the party even while admitting two of his sisters were. "Recently, the police took my brother to meet my wife. It must have been to convince me to surrender, because he came back saying the government would give me land, money and five police security guards if I gave up arms," he said. Neither the state's or the central government's surrender policies have provisions for armed guards. He laughs at the suggestion, though. "It was easy to identify and fight the amgrez. On the other hand, these kala angrez - those who cheat our people - are not easy targets," he said.

Jeevan talks of a night early in October when he went to visit his mother, who has cancer in the mouth. "I had to see her because I had not been home for a long time due to my malaria. My parents keep telling me not to come as the police keep an eye out for me. As soon as I reached, the police arrived. I ran, hid in the forest for a day and escaped," he said.

As if it was an afterthought, Jeevan also says that his joining had to do with more than personal gains. "I was there when the Koel-Karo firing took place. I saw people die because they did not have anything to fight back with," he said. The February 2, 2001 firing, which took place in what is now Khunti district, resulted in the death of eight people when police took on those agitating against a hydroelectric project.

PLFI likes Anosh Ekka, threatens Dayamani Barla

Khunti, April 14

Instead of corruption, the Aam Aadmi Party in Jharkhand has found itself tackling a new enemy while attempting to mount an electoral challenge in the Khunti Lok Sabha constituency: the most dangerous left wing extremist organisation in the state.

AAP's Khunti candidate Dayamani Barla has registered two FIRs and written to the Election Commission after alleged cadres of the People's Liberation Front of India threatened and attacked her supporters. Barla's complaint alleges that the PLFI men asked her cadre to campaign for former state minister Anosh Ekka instead.

The PLFI, which has its origins in Khunti district's Torpa block, is now the most dangerous LWE organisation in the state in terms of incidents: they account for around 36 per cent of them. In comparison, the CPI-Maoist causes only about 34 per cent. With presence mostly in Khunti, Gumla and Simdega districts, the PLFI is considered the major reason why 120 of 150 LWE-related deaths in Jharkhand in 2013 - both national highs - were of civilians.

Barla said that the two attacks were on April 6 and 9 respectively. "At about 4 PM on April 9, six of my supporters and a driver were campaigning at Biguadag village within Karra block. Six armed people reached there in two motorcycles and beat the driver with the butt of a rifle. Meanwhile, everyone's mobile phones were taken away. One of the attackers had snatched away their mobile phones by then," she said. Barla, an adivasi land rights' activist, is up against seven-time BJP MP Kariya Munda apart from the Jharkhand Party's Ekka.

The AAP candidate said that her supporters were asked to campaign for Anosh Ekka, a minister in the Madhu Koda cabinet who faces - among others - cases on disproportionate assets. "One of the men claimed that he was a Zonal Commander of the PLFI. My supporters were made to hold their ears [as if in apology] and say that they would stop campaigning for me and do so only for Ekka. After that, they were told to leave the village, leaving one of the two women in the group back," said Barla.

The woman who was left back could have been killed if it were not for the police, according to Barla. "The held a revolver close to her and asked her to go around the village, touching the feet of people and asking for votes for Anosh Ekka. The police got there by the time she was doing it a third time," she said.

The first threat was on April 6 in Arki block's Birbanki, though AAP activists were not sure whether it was the PLFI. Around three in the afternoon, seven AAP activists were stopped by armed men on motorbikes, who took away their car keys, telling them they would be back within half an hour. When no on returned till seven in the evening, the men split up and escaped on foot, reaching safety by walking all night. Barla says the first signs of trouble came on the day she submitted her nomination papers, when some people tried to stop her supporters from reaching the district headquarters. "Someone also threatened that Jabda village in Karra would be set on fire because my supporters are from there," said Barla.

The AAP activists have not taken the threats lying down, though. "Some of our activists dared to go into Lepa, [PLFI's Supreme Commander] Dinesh Gope's village in Torpa and handed his chachi a pamphlet. We also went into Rania [where the PLFI is known to have held training camps] and nailed pamphlets to walls," said Vinay Bhat, a 30-year-old who has taken a three-month sabbatical from his job as a management consultant in the US to assist Barla's campaign.

The police offered Barla a security cover, which she turned down. "The PLFI men clicked my supporters' pictures on their mobile phones, so we are really worried about what happens when the elections are done," said Barla.

Barla, a former journalist with the Prabhat Khabar newspaper, still operates a tea shop on Ranchi city's Club Road. Two of her most biggest agitations were located within Khunti's Torpa block - the one against the Koel-Karo dam during which eight adivasis were shot dead on February 2, 2001 and against an ArcelorMittal steel plant that would have displaced people in 40 villages. "Back then too, there were threats. However, we did not really know whether it was the politicians of the area who wanted these projects or the extremists who were responsible," she said.

Anis Gupta, Khunti's Superintendent of Police said that the FIRs were being investigated. "There are no names in the April 6 case but we are trying to identify the six men responsible for the April 9 attack," he said.

Khunti has a significant adivasi Christian population, but they broadly fall into two denominations - the Gossner Evangelical Lutheran and Roman Catholic. Anosh Ekka hopes that the two will come together to help him make a stand against the BJP candidate. However, there is a feeling that some of the Catholic votes could go Barla's way.

PLFI, currently the most dangerous LWE organisation, attacks police for the first time

Ranchi, March 25

In what could be a major turning point in the battle between security forces and left wing extremists in Jharkhand, the state's largest splinter group on Tuesday made its first attack against the police.

Three policemen travelling in a vehicle were injured in Khunti district's Murhu after an Improvised Explosive Device allegedly planted by the People's Liberation Front of India went off early on Tuesday morning.

This comes at a time when the PLFI has taken over from the CPI-Maoist to become the largest LWE organisation in the state in terms of incidents. "The PLFI is now responsible for 36 per cent of LWE incidents; the CPI-Maoist's figure stands at around 33-34 per cent," said S.N. Pradhan, Additional Director General, CID.

Tuesday's incident is the first when the PLFI has attacked the police without provocation. "They have fired back during operations. They have also used IEDs against civilians to threaten them while extortion bibs. However, using an IED against the police is a first," added Pradhan.

The three - including the officer-in-charge of the Murhu police station, a Jharkhand Armed Police personnel and a driver - are out of danger. An unverified number of individuals have been detained by the district police for questioning. "This is a very, very worrying development and comes at a bad time. With the elections on, the movement of troops will have to be done more carefully now," said M.L. Meena, Inspector General, Ops.

ADG Pradhan said the PLFI was following up on a press statement issued recently. "They had put out a statement a few months back stating that they would now start targeting the police. This, they said, was because the police had taken out too many operations against them and left them with no choice," said Pradhan.

The PLFI, which is mostly present in Khunti and Gumla districts, has long left toeing the ideological line and has turned to extortionism. They have always been careful not to engage the police and concentrated on winning minor turf battles with the CPI-Maoist. However, an inordinate focus on the CPI-Maoist has let them grow and has allowed them to be ambitious - data available, from July 2011 to 2013 shows that even as the number of incidents attributed to the CPI-Maoist came down from 173 to 98, PLFI's numbers went from 46 to 83.

Pre-poll Ops: Forces injure themselves with no Maoist in sight

Ranchi, March 13

Six Jharkhand security personnel - including an Additional SP - managed to injure themselves in two separate incidents on Thursday, two days after 15 of their Chhattisgarh counterparts were killed in a CPI-Maoist ambush.

At least two CRPF personnel were injured in an alleged cross-firing incident in Latehar district in the morning, while four were airlifted to a Ranchi hospital from Chatra district in the afternoon when an CPI-Maoist IED they were trying to defuse went off.

First reports indicate that the Chatra incident was the result of a major lapse in terms of following Standard Operating Procedures, with the Additional SP attempting to defuse the IED even as the bomb squad was on its way.

With elections on the horizon, both the police as well as LWE organisations in the state have stepped up activities. Thursday’s setback to the police comes after a series of quality arrests of CPI-Maoist and PLFI commanders in Palamu and Khunti districts through the week.

Additional SP (Ops) R.S. Mishra, constables Kamra Vikram and Satbir Singh of the CRPF's 134th Battalion and ASI Manoj Toppo of the state police were injured when trying to defuse an IED in Chatra. "This happened within Pratappur Police Station, bordering Palamu. They had gone to defuse the IED placed near a bridge after obtaining specific intelligence input," said Prashant Kumar Karn, Chatra SP.

Mishra, on deputation from the CRPF, has reportedly damaged a leg and is critical. All four have been airlifted to Ranchi's Apollo Hospital.

A senior police officer said that the Chatra incident could have been avoided. "The Additional SP used to be an instructor on IEDs with the CRPF. He was confident that he could defuse it on his own and decided not to wait for the arrival of the Bomb Disposal and Detection Squad, which had started from its base in Hazaribagh district," said the officer on condition of anonymity.

The source said that officer Sharma had tried to defuse by using a rope, whereby the circuits are pulled out by tying a rope to them and then pulling from a safe distance. "Sharma underestimated the radius of the blast, which is why all the injured have been hit under the knee. The SOP for a situation like this is simple - isolate the area and wait for the BDDS to arrive, however late that may be. Even if it takes a day," said the officer.

In Latehar, Deputy Commandant Vivek Ojha and Sub Inspector Ashok Kumar Singh of the 214th Battalion suffered bullet injuries when two teams involved in a combing operation came up against each other in Garu Police Station limits at around 9.30 in the morning. Their condition is stable after admission to Apollo Hospital.

"Our information is that there was a confusion between two parties and that it did not involve the Maoists. It was an accidental firing between two police parties," said Latehar SP Michael Raj.

The state's DGP refused to concede that it was a case of friendly fire. "There are doubts, but we should have an inquiry first," said DGP Rajeev Kumar.

The last major case of cross-fire in Jharkhand was in Khunti district in July, 2012 when two CRPF personnel were killed and five injured. A DIG-level inquiry had been ordered into the incident, but its findings remain unknown.

AJSU leader gunned down; LWE organisation suspected

Ranchi, March 8

The AJSU Party has called for a statewide bandh on Sunday after its Chatra Lok Sabha constituency incharge Tileshwar Sahu was shot dead by two suspected members of the left wing extremist outfit PLFI in Hazaribagh district on Saturday afternoon.

Police are looking into whether the murder is linked to the death of Sahu's father Gajendra, allegedly killed by members of an LWE organisation in April 2008.

Police are monitoring Hazaribagh, where the murder took place and Gumla, where Sahu mostly lived. "Law and order remains under control. It is too early to consider imposing Section 144, etc. People have blocked the road as of now," said DGP Rajeev Kumar.

Sahu, whom party sources say was likely to be declared AJSU's candidate either from the Chatra seat this time or Barhi assembly constituency in the elections scheduled in 2015, was shot twice in Hazaribagh's Barhi by two men on a bike on his way home from a meeting to mark International Women's Day, where he was chief guest.

An, individual named Suraj Kumar who hails from Gumla district, where Sahu too is from, was chased and captured by AJSU workers and policemen. He been arrested and a pistol was recovered. "He has confessed to the murder. There was another youngster with him. We think he is from the PLFI," said Hazaribagh SP Manoj Kaushik. However, police are yet to believe Suraj's claims as his statements have been inconsistent.

The PLFI and Sahu have a history. In December 2013, a timer-fitted bomb was recovered in Simdega from a petrol pump owned by Sahu. "We later confirmed that it was a PLFI device. The same brand of timers were recovered when we raided a gun factory that the organisation used to operate," said Simdega SP Asim V. Minj.

Sahu, former chairperson of the state's Pollution Control Board, had in January complained to the Ranchi police that an LWE organisation had demanded an AK-47 and a carbine from him.

His father was gunned down in April 2008 within Kamdara police station of Gumla district. An FIR registered on the basis of a complaint by Sahu's mother had claimed then that then-minister Enos Ekka was behind the murder. "Ekka was later cleared, while six others mentioned in the FIR have been charge sheeted. They were all criminals; no single organisation was responsible," said Gumla SP Bhimsen Tuti.

Sahu, a prominent leader of the OBC Teli caste, was widely perceived as the rock on which Ekka built his empire in Simdega district's Kolebira. They had a falling out later, after which Ekka was instrumental in the arrest of Sahu in a case relating to the murder of six people in Simdega. They were killed by Shanti Sena in 2006, created by Sahu and claiming to an anti-Maoist force.