Foreigner extending support to Naxals: Government

An instance of a foreigner extending support to the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its front organisations has come to notice, the government said on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Home Jitendra Singh told the Rajya Sabha that one Jan Myrdal, a pro-Maoist Swedish author, had visited India in January this year and attended pro-CPI (Maoist) conventions in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ludhiana and Delhi.

Singh said Myrdal supported CPI (Maoist) ideology of armed struggle against the state and spoke at length in a seminar in Delhi on the topic -- 'Let's stand against the Indian state's war on people', organised by 'Forum Against War on People', a front organisation of CPI (Maoist).

"Mr Jan Myrdal during his stay in India advised CPI (Maoist) to garner support from the middle-class in India by focusing on propaganda against security forces and highlighting human rights issues," he said.

However, there is no direct evidence to suggest that foreigners were engaged in an organised way to help CPI (Maoist) through NGOs in India, he said.

The minister said CPI (Maoist) had a number of front organisations active in many states and it resorted to overground activities to mobilise support.

"It has also been noticed that when CPI (Maoist) activists are arrested in different parts of India, a concerted campaign is launched by sending hundreds of identical email, many of them originating from foreign countries. Some of these front organisations clandestinely receiving foreign funds cannot be ruled out," he said.

Singh said CPI (Maoist) has developed close fraternal ties with many insurgent groups in the North East especially Revolutionary People's Front / People's Liberation Army of Manipur, and the outfit has trans-border linkages with certain groups.

"The government is closely monitoring the situation. Such issues are regularly taken up with the countries concerned at the diplomatic level," he said.