Madhya Pradesh: Maoists Back Farmers' Protest, Call For ‘Dilli Chalo’ March

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Pamphlets and banners issued by the banned CPI (Maoist) extending their support to the ongoing farmers' protest at Delhi borders have surfaced in the forests of Balaghat district. The police have recovered two-page pamphlets and a banner in the Rupjhar area of the district, sources revealed on Wednesday.

The pamphlets, issued by the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh Special Zonal Committee of CPI (Maoist), call for a march to Delhi. The pamphlets state, “The ongoing farmers’ stir is not just the agitation of farmers from Punjab and Haryana but is, in fact, a movement of every farmer in the country, who has been ruined due to the anti-farmer policies of the Modi government.”

The Maoists have urged people, farmers, labourers, and allied organisations, including environmentalists and intellectuals in the three states—Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh—to support the farmers’ movement in every possible way.

They have requested people to vent their anger through protests, demonstrations, road jams, relay hunger strikes, and active social media campaigns, as well as marching to Delhi and Punjab with the slogan “Shambhu aur Kanauri border Chalo.”

A red banner with a similar content was also found on a Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana signboard in the same area of Balaghat. This is not the first time that Maoist-related pamphlets have been found in Balaghat. In April 2021, the outlawed group had expressed support for the national farmers’ stir in a similar manner.

Earlier, in December 2016, the Maoists had launched a pamphlet campaign against the Modi government’s demonetisation move. Top officers involved in anti-Naxal operations say that the pamphlet campaigns by the left-wing extremists are part of their multi-pronged psychological operation aimed at influencing farmers and labourers.

This tactic helps the Maoists extend their national presence and increase their impact. Presently, there are at least four Maoist groups, or dalams, operating in the three Maoist-affected districts of eastern Madhya Pradesh.