The People's War Group and Janashakti on Thursday organised a massive show of strength in Hyderabad on the eve of their proposed peace talks with the Andhra Pradesh government in the second week of October.
Thousands of supporters of the two naxalite outfits converged on the city from all over of the state, especially north Telangana.
Top leaders of the naxalite groups skipped the rally-cum-public meeting -- the first such jamboree in 14 years. The meeting, titled "peace, self-reliance and land to the tiller," was addressed by the emissaries of the two groups and human rights activists. The only naxal leaders of any significance who attended the rally were Ganganna, a former Guntur district committee secretary of the PWG, and Chandranna of Janashakti.
PWG emissaries Varavara Rao and G Kalyan Rao, eminent advocate Bojja Tarakam, agricultural economist K R Chowdary and and expert from Delhi, Prempati, were among those who addressed the gathering.
Most of the speakers were highly critical of former Andhra chief minister Chandrababu Naidu for his alleged crackdown on the naxalites and poorer sections of society during his nine-year-long rule. They accused Chandrababu Naidu of running a "police state" and suppressing the basic rights and freedoms of the people. They charged him with the killing of over 1,500 naxalites in fake encounters. Terming the former CM as a lackey of the World Bank, the naxal leaders claimed that Naidu had virtually declared an "emergency" in the state. They claimed that there was no rule of law or democracy during his rule.
Prempati ridiculed Naidu for rushing to President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the National Human Rights Commission complaining against the killing of 30 Telugu Desam activists in post-election violence in the state. "He is feeling hurt when his party men are suffering. The same person was responsible for the killing of hundreds of innocent people and naxalites during his rule."
The sprawling Nizam College ground in the heart of the city was bursting at the seams with the surging crowds, which spilled over to the adjoining Lal Bahadur Stadium, the flyover and other roads adjoining the venue. The public meeting continued till late in the night.
The representatives said that the main objective of the proposed direct talks with the government was to restore the democratic rights of the rural population and to find solutions to its problems. The talks would broadly cover three areas democracy, land and land-related issues, and issues pertaining to weaker sections, farmers, peasants, workers, dalits, backward classes and minorities.
They said that the Congress and its allies, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist, had come round to the view that peace talks were the need of the hour since the problems of the people who voted for them could not be ignored any longer.
The representatives of the two groups pointed out that the Centre, too, was in favour of dialogue with the naxalites. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, while endorsing the AP government's efforts to hold peace talks, had stated that naxalism had political, social, economic and cultural dimensions and it was not merely a law and order problem.
The government has already named a nine-member team to hold the talks with the People's War Group and Janashakti and has invited them for the first round of discussions on October 2. However, in view of the public meeting organised on Thursday, the naxalite groups have expressed inability to hold the talks on October 2. The discussions are now expected to commence sometime in the second week of October. The government has also named mediators for the talks. A ceasefire monitoring committee has also been formed.
The government has decided to keep the contentious issue of naxalites carrying arms during the period of the peace talks in abeyance. Now, this issue will be taken up at the talks. The naxalite groups have also announced their emissaries, while the names of leaders to participate in direct talks are yet to be announced.
Thursday's rally was only the third such meeting held in Hyderabad in the last three decades. The first naxalite meeting was held in 1974, just a few months before the emergency, under the aegis of the CPI-ML (Central Organising Committee).
The second naxalite meeting was held on November 15, 1990, during the Congress rule. Thereafter, on May 21, 1992, the government imposed a ban on the People's War Group and six of its front organisations. The ban remained in force for almost 12 years, with a brief relaxation during 1995-96.
The Congress, which regained power in May 2004, declared a ceasefire in mid-June and lifted the ban on PWG in July as a prelude to peace talks.