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The AOB region comprises the thick forest and hilly
regions of North East AP and the border forest tracts in Orissa. It comprises
two divisions — the Srikakulam Agency area (Vijayanagaram and Vishakhapatnam
districts) and the East Godavari Agency area. Till 1995 East Godavari was part
of Dandakaranya, when it was brought under the APSC. In January 1996 East
Godavari and Srikakulam divisions formed the East Division Regional Committee,
under the APSC.
In mid-June 1980, one squad began work in the
agency area. As soon as the PW entered, the enemy took up a big campaign saying
these are murderers, thieves and instigated the people to catch them and hand
them over. Due to the lack of a strong mass base and weak tech methods most of
the squad members were arrested in 1981. But, work was once again revised after
three months, once they were released. By 1983 there were three squads — one in
the East Godavari region and two in the Vishakha region. These were being led by
two coordinators under the directions of the FLC (Forest Liaison Committee)
functioning through the Vishakha District Committee.
Due to the growth of the movement (8 CO centres + 5
squads) in end 1984 the first East Divisional Conference was held, and an East
Division Committee formed.
Initially the main demands taken was against the
harassment by the forest department and the wage rates for bamboo cutting. The
East Godavari region has huge tracts of bamboo forests which supplies wood to
two paper mills — Bhadrachalam Paper Mill and the AP Paper Mill. Roughly 50,000
people are engaged in bamboo cutting, gathering, casting, etc., work. There have
been big struggles for wage rates, cutting/gathering rates, etc.
As a result of these struggles people received big
benefits. This can be seen from the fact that the daily wage rate which was Rs.
2.5 then is now Rs. 40. For cutting a 5 cmt stack of bamboo the rate was Rs. 25,
now it is Rs. 215. Besides, the rates for dragging, filling, ex-gratia payments,
compensation for injuries/deaths etc., have all gone up.
Then from 1984 till the unleashing of the massive
repression in mid-1985 there was an upsurge in land struggles. Over the years
10,000 acres of land has been seized, including patta land of the landlords. In
addition 75,000 acres of forest land has been seized and distributed to the
landless and poor peasants. There were major land struggles even in the plain
areas of the East Division.
Then came the massive repression of the 1985-87
period. 106 villages were burnt down by the police, people were severely beaten,
women raped and hundreds arrested. The police launched extensive combing
operations to capture the leadership. Also the landlords formed associations
utilising hired goondas and unleashed brutal attacks. As a result of this major
offensive the mass organisations were disrupted and party recruitment dropped.
In 1987 the party began its retaliation. The now
famous kidnapping wave was initiated here. The first kidnapping took place when
a party organiser was arrested. A District Revenue Officer was kidnapped
demanding the release of the comrade. A few days later a swap took place. Later
in the year, the Divisional Secretary together with six other leaders were
arrested. Then came the sensational Gurthedu kidnap of 7 IAS officers (East
Godavari region) demanding the release of the seven comrades. After much
hesitancy, negotiations and country-wide publicity, all seven comrades were
released. Also the first raid by the Party on a police station took place in
1987 on the Seeleru town police station (Vishakha) when five weapons were
ceased. In August 1987 the first ambushes took place — one in Adilabad, and two
in East Division. All were successful; in the Daragadda ambush six police were
killed and six rifles seized.
With these counter-attacks the entire situation
changed. The morale of the police was shattered and the 63 police camps in the
area were reduced to 12. Of course, these camps were now highly fortified, with
a large police presence. Police attacks reduced, and people’s morale got a
boost. The landlords’ associations crumbled, some fled, many surrendered before
the Party. The Party had imposed four actions on the landlords’ associations : (i)
All false cases must be withdrawn (ii) All losses suffered by the people should
be compensated and damages paid — including property destroyed, treatment for
injuries, court costs in the false cases, etc. In total about Rs. 3-4 lakh were
paid as damages. (iii) Return all land that had been earlier seized; and (iv)
Give a public apology for their misdeeds in a people’s court.
After 1987 there was a complete change in the
situation. A mass upsurge developed in the entire region. There were huge land
struggles, mostly in the plains, and even mango and kaju groves were seized. A
campaign developed to build martyrs’ columns — 12 of which were roughly 30 feet
high. There was huge participation of the people in building these martyr’s
columns. The masses contributed money, material and labour to build these
columns in memory of their fallen comrades. Massive rallies took place with each
having between 50,000 to one lakh people. During this period the organisation
was consolidated and there was big recruitment to the Party.
Then came the next wave of repression (1991-1994)
which was even more severe than that of 1985-87. Much of the mass organisations
were damaged and recruitment suffered. Yet, on this occasion, there was open
resistance by the people. Also, as their informer network had to a large extent
been smashed, they were not able to sustain the intensity beyond 1994. Till 1993
the PW was on the defense in this region, but gradually the situation changed
and by 1995 the initiative had once again been regained. Though the GRDs
(militia) were being formed since 1988, the first GRCs (organs of power) began
to be formed from 1995.
In the five years from 1995 to 2000 not only have
the mass struggles intensified, the military actions have also grown in
intensity. In these five years major struggles were led on issues of drought,
daily wage rates, land, procurement price of agricultural produce, etc. Also in
these five years raids and ambushes in this region have yielded 100 weapons. The
1996 raid on the Yeleshwaram police station yielded 26 rifles. Yeleshwaram, is,
in fact, a major centre of the Agency area.
In this region two cash crops have been introduced,
on which large struggles have taken place. The multi-national company, ITC
(India Tobacco Company) has promoted tobacco growing; while the government,
through the Coffee Board, has been encouraging coffee.
The ITC has promoted a variety of tobacco — White
Berly -- which had a big export market to Germany. It was grown on about 30,000
acres. The ITC provided the seedlings from their nursery to farmers and also
loans for fertilisers and pesticides. They also assisted the peasants to
construct rooms to cure (smoke) the tobacco leaves. There are 8 grades of leaves
on which the company cheats the peasants, giving lower grades. Struggles
achieved better procurement rates, reduction in the cheating on grades, health
benefits and doctors to compensate the bad effects from tobacco growing. But
since 1998 there has been a crash in the international prices of tobacco
resulting in peasants having to dump and burn their leaves. The Party has been
encouraging the peasants to shift to food crops, not only because of the crash
in prices, but also because tobacco-growing eats up the fertility of the soil
and affects the health of the people.
The government earns big revenue from coffee
plantations and so has been giving loans, seedlings etc., to the peasants. Here
struggles have increased the daily wage rate for pickers from Rs. 3 per day to
Rs. 48 per day. The 1000-odd Tamil migrant labour have been made permanent and
given quarters. Even the ‘conductors’ (supervisors) have been unionised and
regularised.
Com. BK explained that building work in the
Srikakulam area was not that easy. After the setback of the 1970 movement the PW
had no real contacts and many other groups (like Mahadev Mukherjee, Janashakti,
etc) were already working in the area.
The Udhanam area, between the coast and the
national highway, was a major region of the earlier movement, from where the
famous Tamada Ganapathi originated (original DVC secretary). The PW started here
with some CO centres, spread to the Mahendragiri area (centre of the original
Srikakulam movement) and then entered the Kondabaridi hills (where Satyam and
Kailasam were martyred). In 1990 the first squad was formed in this region. In
the 1995/96 period there were big land struggles in the Chandanagiri area in
which 3,000 acres of landlords’ land were seized.
This region is a hotbed of reaction with a whole
crop of ministers and also the speaker of the Assembly, coming from here. The
anti-naxalite police chief, Dora, is also from this region — a notorious
relative of whom has been annihilated.
Till 1997 the repression was not particularly
severe, and there had been few encounters. But suddenly in that year there was a
massive concentration. In the Udhanam area over 100 militants were jailed
leading to some stagnation in a main region of activity. Then came the big loss
of cadres and leaders in the Gotta and Koperdang incidents in 1998. In the Gotta
incident in April 1998 some 20 comrades plus a JNM team was encircled. IN the
encounter that ensued 4 women comrades were martyred, including Com. Chittekka,
a relative of Tamada Ganapathi. In the Koperdang incident 11 senior comrades
were martyred. BK explained "though the
Party decided to take up resistance against the police and in 1997 itself
attacked a police outpost and annihilated a notorious head constable, it did not
realise the qualitative change in the enemy’s offensive. This resulted in those
big losses. Anyhow, of late we have retaliated through ambushes and striking at
their informer network. This has helped to rejuvenate the situation."
Then Com. BK went on to explain in detail the
nature of the government’s reform schemes and how the Party is attempting to
expose them. He said that since 1985 these reform programmes have been initiated
which took a major leap with the introduction of World Bank funds. To the
earlier schemes for untrained teachers, anganwadis, housing, kaju and
horticulture have now been added numerous projects for women, tribal development
etc. A total of 43 such schemes are now functioning in the region.
In order to expose it the Party did a 1½ month
study of these schemes. From their study they realised : 60-70% never get
implemented; the major beneficiaries are the committee members of the scheme; a
major purpose is to create a social base for the TDP in the village, which comes
in use during elections; it creates an intermediary section aligned to the
rulers — not only of the landlords, but of the rich peasants who are made
anti-movement; etc. BK explained that these schemes do create illusions amongst
the people, and unless exposed it is not easy to advance. They also act to
corrupt a section of the people. Also a small petti-bourgeoisie from tribals
have developed (eg. anganwadi teachers) who support these schemes.
He then elaborated how they concretely went about
exposing these schemes : "we took
photographs of a housing project, all of which had collapsed. We conducted a
survey of 14 lift irrigation projects. None were working. We also photographed
these. The photographs were necessary to counter the massive TDP/NGO propaganda
where people think that though unsuccessful in their own village it is
successful elsewhere. In the meetings where we exposed these projects we also
concretely pointed out who has gained from them."
Though to some extent successful, it has not been
sufficient to counter the aggressive TDP campaign and actions. Though the
benefits may be few, the TDP is using these schemes to aggressively set up
organisations in the villages parallel to those of the PW. So they have set up
School Defence Squads, Gram Committees, etc. The Mandal Development Officer
comes and organises these parallel bodies.
In addition to this the police too have been
conducting their reform programmes, taken up from the SP to the SI level. So, on
market days they install their so-called 3-Tent Programme — one Tent dispenses
medicine, another gives seeds and agricultural advice, the third is to respond
to people’s problems. They also give a small piece of dry fish (which tribals
love) to those who visit the tent. Also the police have their own cultural
troupe. This troupe moves around in a van (which turns into a stage) performing
plays, singing songs etc., against the movement and in praise of the police.
They have also taken up other programmes such as
the one to create ‘social workers scheme’ — to organise the youth in games and
create a network of informers. As BK explained
"we identified two of its ring leaders, who were
annihilated after they gave all the details of that scheme. 130 others
immediately resigned."
Then the police form the ‘Maitri Sangams’ in
the villages from amongst all the reactionary elements and lumpen youth. Their
task is to keep the police informed. Due to our campaign against these bodies,
most are not functioning.
The police have also taken up councilling campaigns
of families of activists and squad members. To counter this BK said
"we ran a counter campaign for 1½ months where
squad members themselves spoke to the press and their views were widely
propagated. In addition to this a 12-page answer was given by the family members
themselves which also was widely circulated. In this they explained that while
on the one hand the police destroy their crops and homes, on the other hand they
preach to the people to be democratic. Also a huge poster, handbill and
education campaign was conducted against the police propaganda."
Although all these methods to crush the movement
were not sufficient, the PW has had to contend with the revisionists as well.
Right from the start they had to contend with the bitter propaganda of the CPI.
They called the PW ‘Red Bandits’ and had close relations with the police. To
dupe the people they also say both fight for the same cause. Due to their links
with the police the PW was forced to annihilate six of their leaders, even those
at the state level.
Inspite of all these ups and downs, inspite of the
ruthless repression in the area, the AOB region continues to grow in strength as
the Party has deep roots amongst the masses. Besides, the excellent topography
of the area makes it highly conducive for guerrilla war. With its separation
from the APSC and its formation as a separate guerrilla zone area the potential
for concentrated growth has increased. Besides, as Com. BK said, with the latest
decisions of the Party they are confident of countering the enemy and taking the
struggle forward towards building a Base Area.
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