Every day there are news reports of 17, 22, 31 “Maoists” killed. Many of those killed are simply tribal villagers caught in the crosshairs of the deadly, remote-controlled sophistry of modern weaponry. How do these weapons decide who is a Maoist? How do you throw a bomb from a helicopter and know it will land only on a Maoist? What does a Maoist look like? Nobody knows. If supporting the Adivasi cause or reading Karl Marx in your city apartment can get you labelled an urban naxal, then every forest-dweller clinging to her land can be a Maoist. The labels work like infrared emissions, attracting arrests and bullets with unerring regularity.
Frontline · Behind the State’s War on Adivasis to Make India Naxal Free by 2026Amit Shah’s deadline-driven, military-centric approach towards making India ‘naxal free’ by March 31, 2026, is of a piece with this government’s general direction, one driven by performative machismo and performed brutality.
this quote from Jaipal Singh, 77 years ago today:
