The beginning of 2025 witnessed the start of one of the most savage war on the adivasis under Operation Kagar. The dawn of Kagar, marking the arrival of a new year, saw the murder of a 6 month infant in Bijapur as the notorious District Reserve Guards (DRG), returned drunk from the New Year celebrations, unleashed a torrent of gunfire upon peaceful protesters. With the onset of Operation Kagar, for every 7 Adivasi persons in Abujhmarh, there are now 3 paramilitary personnel in the hills once fiercely defended by the Adivasis against the feudal Nizam rule and the imperialist British Raj for preserving their way of life. Since then this “Final war”, as it is meant for state's Anti-Naxal war, has seen endless bloodshed in Bastar, making 2024 the bloodiest year in the history of Bastar since 1910 Bhumkal Rebellion.

This region, home to the Gond, Muria, Abujmarhia and Halba tribes also falls in the area which contains 700 million tonnes of India's iron ore reserves, along with graphite ore, limestone and even uranium deposits. Behind the facade of a war, termed as a battle against Maoists, lies a darker truth: an orchestrated effort to plunder the invaluable minerals hidden beneath these lands. The true aim of this war is to transfer vast expanses of natural resources into the hands of big corporations. In this context, the movement of Adivasi peasants emerges as a formidable barrier against the Hindutva State-Corporate Nexus, defending both their land and their rights. And with this resistance came the criminalisation of the Adivasis and immense militarisation of their lands.

In the past 7-8 years, almost 230 security camps and fortified police stations have been set up in Bastar, with one camp every 2-5 km, transforming the region into a vast open prison. In February 2024, the IG Bastar announced the addition of 50 more camps.

Between 2020 and 2022, the Indian state established 20 Forward Operation Bases (FOBs also knowns as paramilitary camps) in Chhattisgarh, 18 in Jharkhand, 11 in Odisha, 6 in Madhya Pradesh, 1 each in Maharashtra, Telangana, and Bihar. By 2022, another 10 FOBs were planned for Chhattisgarh, 6 for Jharkhand, 7 for Maharashtra, and 1 each for Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. By the end of 2022, 18 new FOBs were operational, with 11 set up in Bastar alone in 2023, and 3 more FOBs recently established in the region.

Almost 300 people, across various mineral rich states but predominantly in Bastar, have fallen victim to the state's military approach towards the Maoist movement that has been considered to be a socio-economic and political question. Among those killed, half were either ordinary villagers or unarmed maoists, captured and killed, shredding every pretext of rule of law to pieces. The Indian state, led by the fascist BJP-RSS, labels them all as hardcore “parasitical Maoists”, yet countless villagers have come forward, sharing their harrowing accounts of the truth. They report that many of the deceased were, in fact, villagers.

Some of its bloody achievements include massacres of villagers and unarmed Maoists in fake encounters such killing of 3 villagers in Nendra (January 19), 2 unarmed Maoists and 4 villagers in Chipurbhatti (March 27), 10 villagers and 2 unarmed-ill Maoists in Pidiya (May 10), 4 villagers in Ghamandi forest (July 3), 5 villagers and 2 captured Maoists in Ghamandi (December 12) to name a few; the list is too long to be concluded. When it comes to women, bloodlust is not sufficient for the harbingers of “peace and development” in the region. A war is also waged on women's body and dignity. Apart from routine harassment such as groping in the name of frisking and drone surveillance of bathing women, brutal rape and murder is being committed against them. One such example is gang rape and murder of 16-year-old deaf and mute girl Kamli Kunjam in Nendra Village on April 2, 2024. This year also witnessed multiple mortar shellings as well as an aerial bombing attack on April 7, 2024, taking the count of aerial bombings to 5 times since 2021. Unexplored mortar shells, fired by security forces, are also a cause of great threat as two children lost their life when they accidentally triggered one shell on May 12, 2024.

Terming Maoism as solely a security threat neglects the belief held by many that it is one of many responses to the intensifying politico-economic and socio-cultural challenges facing India. This perspective underscores the need for a more nuanced understanding of the complex societal dynamics involved, highlighting the importance of accountability and a deeper analysis of the broader implications of these campaigns.

The Indian government has also announced plans to establish a maneuvering range for the army in the Abhujmaad region of Narayanpur district, Chhattisgarh, covering an extensive 54,543 hectares of land between the villages of Sonpur and Garpa along roadways. In parallel, the revenue department is conducting surveys of local properties, further encroaching on the lives and livelihoods of the people. This is not the first time the Indian state has deployed its military forces—special units like the Indian Air Force's Garud Commandos and the National Security Guard (NSG) are being utilized to wage a war against its own citizens.

There were over 34 protest sites resisting displacement and plundering of resources for Foreign and big Indian corporations under the facade of “vikas”. There are almost 175 mining leases granted by state of Chhattisgarh as of 31 March 2022. These leases covered an area of 26,210 hectares (ha). Of these, 51 are in Bastar region, covering 7128.32 hectares. On 13 March 2024, Chhattisgarh issued notices to invite tenders for three EL blocks for diamond and rare earth group minerals in the districts of Kondagaon, Narayanpur and Bastar for an area of 1,478 sq km. Operation Kagaar is also cracking down on popular mass movements of the Adivasis that have been waging at almost 30 protest sites under the banner of Moolwasi Bachao Manch in South Bastar and various other banners in North Bastar (Abujhmad). In this year alone, more than a dozen of leading Adivasi leaders such Surju Tekam, Sunita Pottam, Lakma Korram, Madkam Joshan, Madkam Joga, only to name a few front long list, have been arrested. Ordinary adivasi villagers are also rounded up in large numbers near sites of fake encounters to achieve a 3-fold goal: tampering with witnesses, creating fear psychosis among the locals, and project inflated number of arrested “naxalites”.

The Indian state has come down with the most brutal attack on people of India, devised under the infamous ‘Surajkund Scheme’ where corporatization, militarization, and Hindutva merged into a coalition. Surajkund Scheme aims to eradicate all form of democratic resistance to corporate plunder, exploitation and Brahmanical Hindutva Fascism by branding and attacking democratic forces as "urban naxals" and "Naxalism of Pen" while unleashing militarized repression on the masses resisting corporate loot.

Gestapo like agency NIA is being sent for witch-hunting the adivasi leaders in the name of anti-Maoist investigation. In a scenario, where the state is committing genocide by unleashing an asymmetric warfare and paramilitary forces in thousands of their numbers go out to “hunt” the Naxal guerrillas, encircle them and kill the numerically far less and technologically inferior force often armed with poor weapons.

The state is shredding to pieces every pretext of rule of law and due process of law in these regions, bans the organisation of Adivasis of Bastar like Moolwasi Bachao Manch, unleashes NIA and expects the world to believe that they are out to catch Maoists, in a place where they are killed even after being captured as seen in many encounters and alleged by the Maoists in Chhote Betia encounter on April 20 where 29 Maoists were killed. Maoists alleged that among 29 killed, 17 were captured injured and unarmed, tortured and then killed.

Let alone courts paying heed to allegations of Guerillas, none of the allegation of fake encounters, rape by security forces or aerial bombings have been heard even when villagers have protested in thousands of numbers.

Even superior most courts punish the victims approaching for justice as happened in the case of Gompad Massacre case in which 5 lakh fine was imposed on Human Rights Activist Himanshu Kumar.

Based on: “Unite to oppose corporate backed genocide in Central India” Forum against corporatisation and militarisation

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