Abduction of Malkangiri collector Vineel Krishna by the Maoists should remove any illusion about the real motive of the ultras. For ages, Arundhati Roy, Swami Agnivesh and other apologists like them have been deceiving the world by asserting that the Maoists are fighting the tribal cause.A case has been  built up over the years by taking advantage of the fact that the government doesn’t exist in most of the tribal dominated areas of central India, particularly in the Dandakaranya region in which Malkangiri falls. But this single incident demolishes that facade.

True, the government has been absent. But all evidences suggest that the collector was trying to reverse that position. He was reaching out to the tribals.  His very presence in the notorious Cut-Off Area of Chitrakonda tehsil in Orissa-Andhra border, from where he was abducted, is proof enough. The area, comprising 151 villages and a population of 26,000 has no link with the civilized world as the very name of the place suggests. There are no roads, no electricity, no telephones there. Geography isolated the place (one reservoir, two rivers and the Eastern Ghat hills cut it off from rest of the state) but Maoists have ensured that it remained so. Many attempts to build a bridge over the Gurupriya river to reach out to the tribals have been foiled by the Maoists.

It was Krishna’s effort that the Cut-Off Area was getting its first electricity connection. The public meeting that he attended hours before his abduction was meant to distribute pension and other benefits to the tribals and which he did. That he was roaming around without security only shows that he was probably taken in by the pronouncements of Arundhati Roys of the world that the Maoists were working for the welfare of the tribals. Read the statement of Sabyasachi Panda, Orissa’s Kishenji. He has been quoted as saying in the Indian Express that “By saying that the collector worked for the poor, the government can’t absolve itself of the sin of torturing poor tribals. Don’t blame us if the collector and the junior engineer are killed”.

So, it makes no difference to Panda and his fellow ultras that an official like Krishna was doing something for the very people they are claiming to champion. That this is a big lie was also proved by several protest rallies that have been taken out in several Maoist-infested districts like Malkangiri, Koraput, Kalhandi, Rayagada and Mayurbhanj by the tribals themselves.

If any further proof is need, look at the demands of the Maoists. Their three key demands are: (i) release of 7000 Maoists from various prisons in the state, (ii) remove all paramilitary forces from the district and (iii) stop Greyhound commandos of Andhra Pradesh from operating in the area.  The arrested Maoists include the wives of Panda and several other senior leaders.

The demand list doesn’t include electrification of the area, or a bridge to connect the area to the rest of the world, jobs or schools and hospitals for the tribals.

Who the Maoists are trying to fool by saying they are fighting for the welfare of the tribals?