Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07KOLKATA386
2007-12-26 11:22:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Kolkata
Cable title:  

MAOIST INSURGENTS IN EASTERN INDIA EXPAND INFLUENCE WITH

Tags:  PTER PHUM EIND ECON EINV ASEC IN 
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P 261122Z DEC 07
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1807
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1705
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 0778
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 0783
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0517
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0516
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0372
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0419
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0124
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2209
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KOLKATA 000386 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PHUM EIND ECON EINV ASEC IN
SUBJECT: MAOIST INSURGENTS IN EASTERN INDIA EXPAND INFLUENCE WITH
RURAL OPPOSITION TO INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS

REF: A) KOLKATA 0144 B) KOLKATA 345

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KOLKATA 000386

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PHUM EIND ECON EINV ASEC IN
SUBJECT: MAOIST INSURGENTS IN EASTERN INDIA EXPAND INFLUENCE WITH
RURAL OPPOSITION TO INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS

REF: A) KOLKATA 0144 B) KOLKATA 345


1. (SBU) Summary: Development projects in rural India
including India's Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have provided
the country's Maoist insurgents (or Naxalites) with an
opportunity to solidify their base and to increase their reach
into more semi-rural areas. In the extensive "red corridor" of
Orissa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and parts of West Bengal
the Maoists seek to project themselves as defenders of the poor
village and tribal populations against business and government
efforts to acquire land for industry. The Maoists receive
support through levies and additional cadres from small land
holders in exchange for protection from the government and
capitalist "land grabbers." The failure of the national and
state governments to effectively address the Maoist threat, as
noted by Prime Minister Singh in a December 20 conference, means
that the Maoists will continue to expand their influence into
areas closer to eastern India's urban centers. End Summary.


2. (SBU) The Communist Party of India-Maoist (Maoists) was
established in September 2004 following the merger of the
Peoples' War and the Maoists Communist Center of India. Since
the consolidation of the two groups, the Maoist insurgency has
been growing in India's Eastern hinterland (ref. A). On
December 20, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speaking to a
gathering of Chief Ministers, conceded that Maoist activity has
expanded and said, "Although the notions of a red corridor from
Nepal to Andhra Pradesh are exaggerated, we have to admit that
they have achieved some degree of success in enlarging their
areas of militancy. In some states, they have also become
involved in local struggles relating to land and other rights."
In the various states, the Maoists maintain a common focus and
ideology of violent struggle against corrupt local, state and
national governments unable or unwilling to address the basic
needs of India's rural population. The Maoists (or Naxalites)

are a banned political party in most Indian states (except West
Bengal) and remain outside of the electoral process. Unlike
their Nepali counterparts, India's Maoists have shown no
interest in entering the political mainstream and Maoist
sympathizer and Andhra Pradesh-based writer P. Varavara Rao
commented that joining electoral politics would mean "drifting
away from the ideology" of Mao Zedong.

-------------- --------------
India's Rural Development Projects create displacement
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) The creation and approval of 172 Special Economic
Zones (SEZs) and the designation of other rural land for
industrial development has threatened to displace tribal and
rural populations in Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and
West Bengal. As agricultural land is identified for industrial
development, some of the locals have turned to the Maoists for
support in retaining their land. Maoists are reportedly arming
and assisting small landowners and the tribal population in
these areas and using the popular discontent to expand their
insurgency into new territory. Maoist propaganda capitalizes on
and exacerbates the scope of rural disaffection. Violence has
already affected the USD 12 billion South Korean Pohang Iron and
Steel Company (POSCO) project in Orissa as local villagers
oppose losing land to the proposed large steel and port
facility.


4. (SBU) The Maoists maintain that tribal and rural populations
have nothing to gain from globalization. Local groups readily
accept the Maoist message as the GOI has failed to effectively
address the economic backwardness of the rural population.
Rural Indians in the Maoist-dominated red corridor are no longer
receptive to industrial development as one of the consequences
of "progress." In many instances, the state government has not
provided appropriate compensation to displaced villagers and
tribals. A senior police official from Bihar noted that, "The
issue of SEZs has given the Maoists a great opportunity to win
over the sympathy of the villagers."


5. (SBU) The Maoist-orchestrated November 19 general strike in
response to anti-industry violence in West Bengal's Nandigram,
just 70 kilometers from Kolkata, (ref. B) showed that the
Maoists are now seeking to expand their operations into
semi-rural India. One source claimed that the Maoists were able

KOLKATA 00000386 002 OF 003


to recruit at least 200 cadres following the Nandigram violence.
During the strike in West Bengal, the Maoists also blew up a
portion of a rail track in Birbhum district and disrupted train
services. Senior police officials from Bihar and Jharkhand
confirmed that Maoists have entered areas where major Indian
companies such as Reliance, Tata and Bharti, have started
projects.

--------------
The National Response
--------------


6. (U) During the October 3-5 Directors General of Police
conference held in New Delhi, a report was presented which noted
a large-scale Maoist penetration in all rural areas that were
slated for "development." The report noted GOI security
establishment's fears that Maoist sympathizers in semi-rural
areas provide support and can increase the Maoists capacity to
conduct operations closer to the country's urban centers. In
2006, Prime Minister Singh called the Maoists "the single
greatest threat to Indian national security" and was reportedly
"completely dissatisfied" with the home ministry's handling of
the issue.

--------------
The POSCO project and Maoist impact
--------------


7. (SBU) Sources from Orissa reported that there is some
evidence that the Maoists have penetrated the villages in the
area of the major POSCO development project complex in
Jagatsinghpur district. POSCO requires 4,000 acres but has only
managed to acquire one-third of the land (1,135 acres) as some
village groups have put up barricades and refused to vacate
their land. Villagers have formed the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram
Samiti (Committee for Defense and Struggle against POSCO),
reportedly with the help of the Maoists to oppose the
establishment of the plant.


8. (SBU) Maoist-backed violence has already spread to Orissa's
nearby Jajpur district where hundreds of tribal villagers
demolished a partly constructed boundary wall of the proposed
Tata Steel industrial complex. Orissa Home Secretary Tarunkanti
Mishra assured investors that the police would keep a close
watch over Maoist activities in the region. POSCO is also
planning to hire a large private security company to protect its
property. POSCO representative Gee Wong Sung emphasized that
the company remained committed to the project and plans to start
construction on the plant by April 2008.

--------------
The Maoist Threat Moves Across State Lines
--------------


9. (SBU) POSCO representative Sung remained confident of the
POSCO overall plans in Orissa but noted his concern with POSCO's
mining project close to the Orissa-Chhattisgarh border. The
Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh remains a Maoist stronghold.
On December 16, 299 prisoners (an estimated 105 Maoists amongst
them) escaped from Dantewada prison, after overpowering the
prison staff. The escaping prisoners also stole some rifles.
The Government of Chhattisgarh (GOCH) suspended the senior
police officer in charge of prison security in the state for
negligence. (One GOCH contact told AmCons Mumbai, that only
three guards were on duty when the jail-break occurred.) (Note:
Chhattisgarh is also home to the Salwa Judum Movement -- akin to
a village-level, self-defense militia -- which the GOI has
touted as a successful counterweight to the Maoist threat.
However, during the recent visit of a Mumbai ConOff to
Chhattisgarh, local journalists and NGOs discussed how the
movement was now in tatters as the members have grown
disillusioned watching fellow members settle grudges instead of
fighting the Maoists. End Note.)



10. Comment: (SBU) Although the GOI touts SEZs and other rural
development projects as vehicles for progress in the country's
hinterland, the Maoists continue to strengthen and to expand
their base in poor rural areas. The Maoists strategy of

KOLKATA 00000386 003 OF 003


expanding from rural bases and isolating urban centers was used
effectively in Nepal. Recent developments indicate that the
Maoists are following this model in India as well. It is ironic
that the policies ostensibly designed to include rural India in
the country's progress are the same policies that push these
communities into Maoist camp, as the central and state
governments still fail to adequately address the issue of land
reform, compensation and fail to provide basic services to the
rural poor and tribal groups. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
described the Maoists as India's single largest threat to
internal security but no effective measures have been taken to
combat the Maoists. Given these present trends, Maoist violence
will likely increase in the future and the Maoist presence will
be move closer to the India's urban centers in Eastern India.


11. (U) This message was coordinated with AmEmbassy New Delhi
and AmConsul Mumbai.
JARDINE