The Maharashtra police claim an ‘urban Maoist’ thrust is underway and have arrests to show for it. Are the state’s urban centres hotbeds of Maoism or is it just another politically convenient conspiracy theory?
IN the early hours of June 6, the Pune city police arrested five activists from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi in connection with provocative speeches made at a conference in Pune on December 31 last year. The speeches made at the Elgar Parishad allegedly incited violence on January 1 in nearby Koregaon Bhima, where around 300,000 Dalits had gathered. One person was killed in the riots that later spread across Maharashtra.
Police have accused Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut from Nagpur, Sudhir Dhawale from Mumbai and Rona Wilson from Delhi of “misleading the Dalits and ingraining hardline thinking of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) to create a rift between communities”. Pune joint commissioner of police Ravindra Kadam said, “They have been booked for getting funds from Maoists to organise Elgar Parishad.” The police claim to have found evidence in Wilson’s laptop that the Parishad was funded by Maoists and that the event was preceded by two months of preparation.
The public prosecutor, Ujjwala Pawar, claimed in court that the evidence shows that funds were provided by the CPI (Maoist) to ‘comrade Sudhir’ for the Koregaon-Bhima ‘task’ and ‘Comrades Shoma and Surendra’ were authorised to provide funds for programmes in future.
Kadam said the Maoist suspects had been under watch for a long time. “They are the urban face of Maoists and it is their strategy to influence urban masses who feel deprived or nurture a sense of discrimination by the state,” Kadam said. The accused were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, under which the maximum sentence is seven years.
This story is from the June 25, 2018 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 25, 2018 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
AAMCHI ENGLISH
You'd think its history of language politics would have nixed such a possibility.
SULTANS OF AASMAN
It's harvest season for India's charter flight operators, as eager candidates hop on to rented choppers and small aircraft with sky-high ambitions.
Music to OUR EARS
After signing a record deal with Warner Music Group, Nora Fatehi sets her sights on being a global pop star
Rebel with a CAUSE
A retrospective of revolutionary artist Gobardhan Ash showcases four decades of his practice at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity
HYBRID FORMS
Mythic Femininities at DAG Delhi brings together a well-chosen crosssection of the late GOGI SAROJ PAL'S large body of work
OUT OF THE SHADOWS
JAI MEHTA makes his directorial debut with Disney+ Hotstar's web series Lootere
MAN OF MANY PARTS
Pratik Gandhi's transition from theatre and Gujarati cinema to mainstream Bollywood is an inspirational tale
THE DUNKI REPUBLIC
Rivers flowing down from the Himalayan massifs are known to have fickle habits-they curl about, meander and, if they stray far enough, get captured by bigger river systems.
A SENSE OF DEPRIVATION
As the Uddhav Sena gets a lion's share in the MVA seat-sharing deal, discontent brews within Congress ranks over the leadership conceding three key seats
Kshatriyas Declare War on Rupala
The minister's appeasement of Dalits has upset the warrior class, who want his candidature withdrawn or they will stir trouble for the BJP in all 26 seats